FIC: Cleansing

[Patrick Kelly <bandits@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: Cleansing
Author: Pat Kelly
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After "Like..Fate". Still takes place during "Faith, Hope, and Trick". There's a
couple more things the slayers have to deal with. More parts to come.
Disclaimer: Joss and Mutant Enemy only. I do not own..
No money is being made.

CLEANSING

The alarm clock on the bedside dresser woke Faith up first. She craned her neck with a
groan, to see that the clock read 6:30 A.M. She hit it, and Buffy awoke with a start.

"Is there a reason you wanted to be up this damn early, B?" Faith asked, puzzled.

"School."

Buffy immediately snapped into her pre-school, early morning routine of rushing to the
bathroom to practice good hygiene habits, getting dressed&the basic necessities. When she
hurried off to do that, Faith fell back onto the blankets in relief.

"Have a good day." Faith called. "I'll just count some more sheep."

"Oh no you won't. Giles is the librarian. You're coming with me. It's a brand new day for
you and the sheep. They need to get sheared, and you need a shower. So get a move on."

"I haven't been domesticated in a hell of a long time, okay? I'm not a morning person."

Buffy came back into the room wearing a towel. "Domesticated? When did you become a dog?"

"You know what I meant." Faith growled slightly.

"Take the first shower. It'll wake you up."

Faith walked out into the hall, but then peered her head around the corner, back into the
room. "About last night&what happened&"

"Talking or&?"

"Not that part. The other&look, if you just wanna forget it, I won't hold anything against
ya. It was pretty heavy last and&uh&thanks."

"Thanks for sharing. It meant a lot to me." She paused. "Okay, the&kiss. I don't wanna
forget it, and don't regret it. Hey, that rhymed." Buffy smiled, pleased with herself. "I
don't know where we're going, but&"

"Just as long as it's not some rebound deal. Cause of Angel and everything."

"Honestly? It helped. I've been thinking about him so much, but he's gone. It's not
healthy. When we&that's the first time in months that I haven't felt alone. It felt good.
I felt good."

"Whoa." A simple 'no' would have sufficed. "So that's a negative on regret, right?"

"Yep." Buffy said with a nod.

"How do you feel about conserving water then?" Buffy was agape. "Gotcha."

Faith winked, and went to get her shower. A speechless Buffy just sat shaking her head in
disbelief, with a goofy grin on her face. After about fifteen minutes, Faith came back
into the room, her hair wet, with a towel around her, when they both knew she could have
easily dried off in the bathroom and put her clothes back on.
The blonde found herself very parched just then.

"It's all yours." Faith watched Buffy scurry away as quickly as she could. She laughed out
loud. Listening for the sound of water next, she grinned widely when she heard Buffy's
yelp of surprise. "Like you didn't need a cold shower!" She yelled.

***

They entered the library at quarter after seven to find the whole gang lounging there,
enjoying doughnuts that Xander had purchased. As soon as he saw the two slayers, he
grabbed two doughnuts, and handed them to the girls. Faith readily accepted the Krispy
Kreme, and seemed to experience almost orgasmic pleasure in eating it.

Xander cleared his throat. "Morning, ladies." He greeted them. Giles exited his office
then. "Giles, you gotta hear this one story."

Buffy looked at the angry expression on Cordelia's face.

"Xander, are you trying to piss off your girlfriend?" He noticed what the blonde had
noticed, and went to sit back down. Buffy whispered to Faith. "And you're not helping."

"Is it my fault that I really like doughnuts?"

As they went to sit down, Buffy promised herself she wasn't going to laugh. It wasn't
humorous. But Faith really knew how to respond to things in a way that caused her to go
into shock, and then to want to laugh hysterically. She couldn't. Her friend was in the
doghouse, and her other friend was not happy with him. Laughing would have been in poor
taste. It was hard not to though, and Faith knew it.

She sat in between her fellow slayer, and Willow.

"Hey, Red." Faith said, addressing Willow. "Everything five by five?" Willow's face was
blank. "Good? Fine? Okay?"

"Oh. Yeah. Thanks for asking." The redhead smiled. "And yourself?"

"Can't complain."

"Did you two have a good night?"

The slayers looked at each other.

"We had a night all right." Faith said.

"Sure did." Buffy agreed.

The brunette looked at Oz. He was sitting next to Willow, completely calm and relaxed. He
looked like one of those people who always took things in stride.

"Is he mellow as a rule?" Faith asked quietly.

Willow nodded. "It's why I love him. I'm pretty&jittery a lot, and he relaxes me."

"Bet he does." Faith said suggestively.

The hacker blushed. "I didn't mean&we haven't&"

"It's okay, Will. Just take deep breaths." Buffy said to her friend, rubbing her back.

Faith had just learned how innocent and inexperienced Willow was, and how close the
redhead and the blonde were. Sexual innuendoes apparently weren't the hacker's cup of tea,
and the last thing she wanted to do was alienate herself from these people. If Buffy was
friends with them, she wanted to be friends with them too. She'd just tone it down. Well,
she'd try, anyway.

"Sorry, Red. I was just messing with ya." She offered in apology.

"No, it's fine. We're just waiting for the&right time."

"You should. Looks like you got a good thing going." Giles approached the group carrying a
newspaper, and Faith looked him up and down. "Who's the stud?"

"Uh&this is Giles. He and 'stud'&as in&same sentence? That's like two things that don't&go
together. English? Yes. Tweed? Yes. Stud? Well&which one of these three doesn't belong?"
Buffy looked up at Giles. "Er&no offense."

"Right. None taken." He turned his attention to the slayer doing all the flattering.
"Ah, hello. You must be Faith."

"I must be." She whispered in Buffy's ear. "Relax, B. He's got nothin' on you."

That comforted Buffy, oddly enough.

"Willow told me that your watcher is at the retreat?" Giles continued.

"Yeah&yeah she is. How come you didn't go?"

"It's in the Cotswolds. It's a lovely spot. It's very s&serene. There's horse riding and
hiking and punting," He smiled, lost in his thoughts, as he walked to the other end of the
table, "and lectures and discussions. It&it's...it's a great honor to be invited." He
cleared his throat. "Or so I'm told."

"Nah. Forget it. While they're all sitting on their asses drinkin' tea, you're here saving
the world. Screw 'em."

"Yes, well, all that aside, it was rather fortuitous that you arrived now."

"Something evil." The gang echoed as one voice, and then let out a collective sigh.

Faith raised her eyebrows.

"I don't know how big it is." Giles went on. "It may be just the usual -"

"Vamp hijinks?" Xander asked.

"I've always wondered what a vampire circus would be like." Oz said, out of the blue.

"Human audience participation would be a big part, I bet."

"Oh! I know! Cause of the blood." Willow said, getting it.

"The good thing is that they're already pale, so the ones playing clowns wouldn't have to
put on that stupid white makeup. It destroys the pores, you know." Cordelia contributed.

"The funny cars are still a mystery to me." Oz said.

Giles shook his head, and held out the paper to Buffy. She reached over the table, and
grabbed it. "Two people have disappeared from the Sunset Ridge District."

Faith was looking it over with the blonde. "First co-op slayage. I'm there."

"I'm ready for it."

They high-fived. And then the bell rang.

"The only drawback to school." Xander said.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Class." Oz answered.

"You guys have it easy. I've gotta take that health-science makeup." Buffy said, groaning.
"Anyone wanna give Faith the tour while I'm occupied?"

"I will!" Xander volunteered.

"We will." Willow said, knowing if Xander went around school with Faith, alone, that
Cordelia would kill him.

They all got up, and Faith followed her guides. Buffy was moving slower, in no rush to go
test.

"Faith?" The brunette turned around. "Be good?"

"For you, B? Anything." She answered sweetly. Too sweetly. Faith grinned, turned back
around, and started to walk out. "Enjoy that health test."

***

Buffy smiled, and when she and Giles were alone in the library, she started to move.

"Can I talk to you for a second, Buffy?"

She stopped. After all, she *did* want to stall for as long as possible.

"Sure, what's up?"

"You seem pleased that she's here." He started off by saying.

"We go back." Buffy said simply.

"I can tell. And I'm happy to see you in good spirits, but there's something I think I
should tell you."

"Uh oh."

"Before you came in, I was on the phone with the Council, and I asked them about Faith."
Giles said. "It's protocol to notify them if a slayer comes to an area without being
accompanied by a watcher." He made sure to add.

Buffy frowned. "Are they making her go somewhere else? Because -"

"No, it's not that. I've asked them to allow her to stay, actually. Given your friendship,
I told them that I believed it would be beneficial to you to have a partner you know and
trust. Especially here. I'd become her watcher as well as yours. They're thinking it
over."

"Oh. Good." She smiled. "But what will her watcher say?"

"Well&according to the Council, she was invited to the retreat, but it started a week
ago."

"And?"

"She never arrived. They looked into it and apparently, about two weeks ago, she was
murdered by a vampire that had settled in the area around Boston."

She let it sink in. Faith's watcher was dead? Why didn't she tell her?

"So Faith wasn't called because of Kendra?"

"No." Giles shook his head. "The vampire's name is Kakistos. He's very old and very
dangerous. So old in fact, that his hands are cloven."

"You're drifting, Giles."

"Sorry. The Council says that he's recently disappeared from Massachusetts. More than
likely, Faith is the reason for that."

Buffy drew in a breath. "She's been on the run."

***

When Buffy and Faith returned home after the school day was over, they found out that
Joyce had come back after being very successful at the auction in Washington. It took her
a minute to realize who Faith was, but once she remembered, she started talking the
brunette's ear off. Faith being a slayer was just too perfect, in her opinion.

They were sitting at the dining room table eating cheeseburgers and homemade fries now.
Faith couldn't get enough.

"Safety in numbers." Joyce said, nodding. "I like that idea."

"Me too." Buffy said, staring at Faith. "I think I'm just gonna call her the 'Superhuman
Vacuum Cleaner' from now on."

Faith looked up from her food. "Bite -" She remembered that Buffy's mom was in the room,
and stopped abruptly.

Buffy smirked. "So&she can stay here, right mom?"

"As long as she wants. I can clean out the storage room so you could sleep in there,
Faith. I remember a bed being in the room when we moved in."

"Don't worry about it, Mrs. S. I think I can stand bunking with Buffy."

"Gee, I'm touched." Buffy said sarcastically. "Well, now that it's official, we can run by
that motel and get your stuff after work."

"Sounds like a plan, honey."

Joyce found the banter amusing, and decided it was time to make her exit. She stood up.
"I'll just clean this up."

"I'll help." Buffy offered, beginning to rise.

"No, just sit. Relax. You should conserve your energy."

"Really, it's cool. I'll help too. It's not like washing plates and cups is that
complicated." Faith said.

"Sit." Joyce said forcefully.

"Got it." The girls said together.

The elder Summers gathered up the dishes, and then made her way to the kitchen.
They sat in silence, and Faith started wondering why Buffy looked so distracted all of the
sudden.

"Why so off?"

"It's nothing."

"You know I'm not gonna get off your back until you spill."

"It's&" Buffy sighed.

"Come on, B. Patience is not one of my virtues. Not like I have that many in the first
place -"

Did she really want to do this now? It was bugging her, and Faith wanted to hear, so&

"Fine." She'd be direct. "How come you didn't tell me about your watcher?" Faith's eyes
went wide. "Giles talked to the Council."

The younger slayer closed her eyes, and then got up, rubbing her hands together.

"So&ready to stake?"

"Fai -"

She moved to Buffy's chair. "Not here."

***

The slayers made their way to the district where Giles and the paper said the
disappearances had occurred, and were currently patrolling an alley that was littered with
construction equipment. Faith was nervous, so she was twirling her stake as she walked.
Buffy decided to broach the subject again.

"Did you not trust me? I would have understood. I do."

Faith was quick to shake her head. "That's not -"

"Because, you know, my first watcher got killed. I found his body."

This caused the brunette to stop. "Really?"

"Yep. In LA. It was hard. Back then, he was the only one who got what I had to do for a
living. Couldn't tell anybody else. When I lost him, I didn't want to slay again. Oh, I
dusted the vamp that killed him, and the gym along with it, but I was anti-stakes after
that. Until I met Giles and learned that I couldn't run from the destiny thing, that is.

"And I was this close," She brought her thumb and her forefinger close together, "to
losing him because Angel decided to work on his torturing techniques." She shuddered. "My
point, is that sometimes, no matter how much we want to, we're not always gonna be able to
save everybody."

Faith was quiet, absorbing what Buffy had said, and thinking about what she was going to
say.

"I was gonna tell you last night, cause I knew you were gonna find out anyway, but by the
time we got off my childhood, I was pretty drained. But I don't think you really get it.
You couldn't. Not totally. G told you about Kakistos, I guess?"

"Yeah, he did."

"Well, I was there when he did it. I watched as he sliced her up. Played with her. Bad
mind visuals, B. And they're still fresh." She made her hands into fists. She started
squeezing them tighter and tighter, and they started to shake. "She was the only authority
figure I knew besides my parents. There was a major diff there too. She taught me how to
defend myself, where and they taught me not to.

"I got close to her. Well, not close, close. She was still a watcher, and she kept her
distance. Which was cool, cause she never crossed any lines. But I respected her. I liked
her. I went out after slaying and picked up a guy or two sometimes, and came back early in
the morning. I think she wanted to say something, but she never did. There were rules
against getting personal. I don't know if I woulda listened or not.

"But I always did my job, so she never had to scold me. One night on patrol I musta dusted
the wrong vamp though, cause the night after, I was being chased by this freaking huge&"

"It was Kakistos?" Buffy asked gently.

Faith nodded with a sigh. "He got really good shots in, messed me up pretty bad. I was
scared as hell. I don't know what was going through my head, or how I got away, but I ran
back to the apartment where we were staying. Crying like a river, wasn't pretty, I told
her everything. I broke."

Faith stopped, and chewed on her lip.

Buffy walked up to her. "This is the bad part, isn't it?'

"Kakistos&'convinced' the owner of the place to let him in, got the key to our room, and
killed him. He surprised the hell out of us, and had himself a party. He started on her,
and I couldn't move&I just couldn't." Her voice croaked, and silent tears went down her
cheeks, as she was quiet, remembering. "I should've stopped him. I was right there."

"You're only human. You were scared, and you saw someone who was good to you&being...you
froze. Anyone in your position -"

"But I'm not anyone! I'm a slayer! Freezing is something you're not allowed to do."

"I'm sure she doesn't blame you."

"You don't know that!" Faith said, raising her voice. She saw Buffy flinch, and took a
deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"You can st -"

Faith held up her hand. "When he was done, he looked at me. I snapped out of it, smashed
the window, and cut up the side of his face with one of the shards. I think I sliced his
eye too. I should've killed him, but I just jumped out."

"You would have been dead if you didn't. It was the right thing to do." The brunette
didn't respond. "You've been running ever since?"

"When I remembered that she had said your name, and where you were, I knew I wanted to get
here. I wasn't sure it was you, but when I saw it was&" She smiled for the first time
since starting her story. "Anyway, I don't know if I lost him or not. I'm just tired, B.
Of running, of moistening my eyeballs&"

"If he's here, we'll take him down. You won't have to go anywhere."

"Thanks." Faith said softly, as Buffy gripped her in a hug.

It hurt, but it was out. She had finally told someone. Told someone she trusted, and knew
wouldn't judge her. There were no secrets left between them, and it was a relief not
having to feel so much weight on her shoulders anymore. Buffy had volunteered to share it
with her.

Not in so many words, but Faith got the message. She considered telling Buffy that she
shouldn't have to take on her baggage, but it would have been pointless. So she'd just be
grateful. They separated then, and looked into each other's eyes, just standing there.

"What is this?" Buffy asked. "Happening between us?"

Faith shrugged. "I don't know. But I like it."

Buffy nodded in silent agreement. That same feeling from last night was back again, but
this time Faith was the one who did the initiating of the kiss. She didn't want to feel
sad anymore, and when they touched, it was just as good as the night before. Almost
cleansing. And they got even closer.

They got lost in it, the feeling of peace, of&pure happiness. Buffy started to put her
arms around Faith's neck, and as she did, she felt Faith stiffen. Wondering what was
wrong, she heard the growls before she turned around and saw their source.

"Goddamn it." Faith cursed.

"I really hate it when my makeout sessions are cut short." Buffy said with anger,
preparing her stake.

"Then let's get this done. Cause I was nowhere near finished."

"Promise?" Buffy asked, and was happy when Faith nodded.

With that, they went to face their fanged foes.

***

The first vampire Buffy came into contact with, she punched in the gut, which sent him
flying on to his back. One of his cohorts came in next, and took a swing at her, which she
ducked.

"I wanna play too, boys." Faith complained.

She grabbed the first vampire that had attacked Buffy, stood him up, and did a front kick
to his face, knocking him down again. She ran over then, and grabbed a trashcan.

Meanwhile, her partner was still dealing with the other one. Buffy blocked his wide-arced
punch and quickly blocked the one after that. She went on the offensive, and her fists
connected repeatedly with his face and gut. Not wasting a second, she gripped his head,
and twisted it. He rolled onto his back, falling down, and she staked him.

"How you doing?" She called to Faith over her shoulder.

"Oh I'm enjoying myself." The brunette hit the vampire she was battling, who was
struggling to get upright, over the head with the can. He didn't go down, but he was
dizzy. "You?"

"I'm just -" Another vampire ran in and punched the blonde in the face. He went behind
her, kicked her back of her legs, which made her knees buckle and made her, fall to the
ground. "Peachy."

Faith, still gripping the can, pushed her vampire into a sheet of drywall. The board broke
and fell on top of him, causing him to fall over. She was tired of throwing him around, so
she commenced with the dusting. Yet another vampire rushed in, and tried to dive for
Buffy, but Faith caught him by his shirt collar, and stopped him.

"Where the hell are they coming from?" She asked

"Don't know," Buffy kicked her leg up and hit her opponent's jaw, causing him to stumble
back, which allowed her to get back up. "And right now, I really don't care."

"I hear that."

Faith's opponent head-butted her, causing her to lose her grip on his shirt. He turned
around, and she tried to shake the cobwebs away. He kicked her in the side and she bent
over a little, but she bounced back, and kicked him in the stomach. He fell back into a
pipe that was hanging behind him. She was now pissed at him, and she was going to make him
feel just how pissed she was.

"Tsk, tsk. Hitting is bad manners."

Buffy's vampire attacker barreled into her, and threw her on top of a stack of plywood.
Her head hit the wall behind it, but she quickly got to her feet. The vampire jumped onto
the stack, which was a mistake. Buffy planted her foot hard into his stomach, and he flew
back, landing on a dumpster and then rolling down onto the ground.

Faith didn't even register the two punches her vampire hit her face with. She blocked his
next two attempts, and then backhanded him. Grabbing him by his shirt, she threw him onto
a couple more sheets of drywall. They snapped. She ran up to him, and punched him in the
face some more.

Buffy was busy with her opponent, and flipped him so he landed on a large duct pipe, which
crushed underneath him. She looked over at Faith, who was getting ready to finish the job.
The other slayer had raised her stake, but the vampire had to get a few last words in.

"For Kakistos we live! For Kakistos you'll die!"

Faith's eyes bugged out. He *was* here. She turned her stake around, and in a mixture of
fear and anger, she began pounding the vampire's face with it.

"He. Won't. Beat. Me. You hear that, you bastard?"

Another vampire appeared almost out of nowhere, and began double teaming Buffy with his
buddy. He grabbed her by her jacket and threw her to the ground. She landed on her stomach
near a two-by-four. One of the vampires, she couldn't tell which, grabbed hair and yanked,
while the other one began kicking her in her side.

"Faith!" She screamed.

The younger slayer turned her head, and saw how much trouble her partner was in.

"Damn it!" She should have been paying attention. "Buffy!" She turned back towards the
vampire underneath her. "Correction. He won't beat *us*." It was ash in an instant.

She ran at the one kicking the blonde first, and pulled him away. When he was out of the
picture, for the moment at least, she elbowed the other one in the face. Grabbing the two
by four, she staked him fast, and with deadly accuracy, she threw the piece of wood right
into the other one's heart. As the dust settled, the wood hit the pavement.

Faith pulled Buffy up. "Thanks." She said, very grateful.

"You okay? I should've -"

"You saved my life. And we're both *not* mortally injured. We survived. K?"

"He's here." Faith's voice was small.

"I heard. And it'll be okay." She reached for Faith's hand. "We'll think of something.
Why don't we just go get your stuff at the motel and call it a night? Giles and the gang
can research and figure out where Kakistos might holed up at, tomorrow, and that way, we
can have an element of surprise. Sound good?"

Faith nodded, and she left the alley with Buffy, a very firm grip on her hand.

***

They walked to the apartments that were near the edge of town, and Faith led Buffy to her
room. The blonde shut her the door behind her, and Faith hurriedly started to pack.

"Man, am I glad I'm gettin' outta this hole."

"I don't know much health codes, but this place has got to be breaking all of them."

Buffy sighed, as she watched her friend pack. Faith's admission about her watcher, and her
feeling like she didn't do her job, got the older slayer thinking about the people she
couldn't save. She just started speaking the names aloud, as they popped into her head.
She didn't even realize it.

"Jesse&Principal Flutie&Ford&Miss Calendar&Kendra&Ricky&not to mention the tons of others
that I *didn't* know and never even met. God."

Faith had been listening. "Ever stop hurting?"

Buffy realized that she was being asked a question. She shook her head.

"I wish. But that's the life of a slayer. I look at my friends, and they remind me why I
can't stop. They're braver than I am, anyway. They're not slayers, but they still risk
their lives just to watch my back."

"Lucky." She continued to stuff clothes into a bag.

"They're your friends too, you know. Plus, now we've got each other for motivation,
right?"

Faith smiled. They were her friends? That was a nice thought.

"Think I'm gonna like it here." She paused. "How'd&how'd that principal die?"

"Um&eaten."

There was shock on the brunette's face. "By what?"

"Bunch of students."

"Maybe dropping out wasn't such a bad thing, after all. I mean, I heard that education
wasn't the best thing going for the country anymore, but&wicked gross."

"Tell me about it."

Faith finished packing, but then there was a knock on the door. The slayers exchanged a
look, and Faith looked out the peephole to see that it was the manager. She opened the
door, annoyed.

"I'm checkin' out, so you can stop taking time out of your busy schedule to -"

That was when she noticed that Kakistos was standing behind the manager, holding his body
up. The disfigured vampire dropped the dead man, and licked his lips.

"Faith."

***

Kakistos roared and grabbed Faith by the neck. She reached up and got a hold his wrist to
try and pull him off, but it wasn't doing any good.

"No!"

Buffy got in between them, and pulled Faith back into the room. Kakistos had to let go,
and she slammed the door on his arm. He yelled in anger, removed his arm to keep it from
crushed any more, and Buffy shut the door. She then quickly locked it, and slipped the
safety chain into place.

"I really hate déjà vu." Faith said, shaking.

"Let's get -" Kakistos punched through the door and tried to reach for Buffy. "Out of
here."

Faith grabbed her head. "Why won't he just leave me alone!"

"Cause he's someone who wants to kill you! So escape now!"

The brunette grabbed Buffy's hand and pulled her away from her enemy. She wasn't going to
let him kill Buffy. They ran into the bathroom just as Kakistos kicked in the door. Faith
smashed the window that was in there, and jumped out. Yep, it was definitely déjà vu.
Buffy was right behind her.

They grasped hands again when they hit the ground, and ran, taking a left at the end of
the alley they were in. Faith glanced behind her, and saw Trick leading four vampires. He
was Kakistos' lackey. No wonder the ancient vampire was always able to find her. Trick was
the more up to date one. He had all the connections. She cursed. One member of his group
followed them, and she lost track of the others. They ran faster.

There was a warehouse up ahead. Buffy crashed through one of its windows first, and then
Faith followed suit. They got to their feet, and were instantly on guard.

"Thanks for back there." Buffy said, winded.

"It isn't over yet, B." Faith was trying to get her bearings.

"But it will be."

"No."

"Yes."

Faith pointed over Buffy's shoulder, shaking, feeling her toughness slip away again. Buffy
turned around and saw a pile of bodies lying in a corner.

"This is his place." The younger slayer realized.

"He drove us here."

One of the vampires appeared at an entrance close to them, and growled. They immediately
ran further into the warehouse, both hating feeling like prey. Two more came in a side
door, and cut the slayers off. They halted, and Buffy saw a bucket by her feet. She put
her foot in, kicked it into one of the vampire's faces, and he fell backward over a chair.
She did a spinning kick to the other vampire and a side one to another vampire coming up
behind her. He collapsed onto a table.

Kakistos walked into the building, eyeing Faith predatorily. Buffy stood up on the table,
and kicked the vampire off. She picked up a crowbar that was sitting there, and swung it
at another vampire, female, that was coming at her. She knocked it down, and tossed the
crowbar to Faith, so she could defend herself.

"You can do it!"

Faith caught the crowbar, but Kakistos knocked her into a bunch of large wooden beams that
were leaning against the wall, before she could do anything. The beams fell down around
her, and Kakistos reached down, grabbed her shirt, and picked her up.

"No!" She screamed, as he punched her hard in the face.

Buffy had gotten off the table, and round-housed the vampire that she had just kicked off
of it. She staked him, and saw that Faith was in serious trouble. Kakistos hit her hard
enough to knock her from his grip, and to the floor. Buffy ran to attack him, and
round-housed the back of his knee. She spun and tried to backhand him, but he blocked her.
She spun around again and connected with a second, successful, backhand.

Faith watched the fight, and also saw Trick watching too. The female vampire that Buffy
had hit with the crowbar, got up finally, and joined him. She couldn't hear what they were
talking about, but a minute later, they were leaving. She focused back on Buffy.

The blonde tried to stake Kakistos, but the stake didn't go through. He retaliated by
grabbing her hair, and throwing her back against the wall. Buffy came right back at him,
and threw a hard punch to his face. He countered, but she ducked and tried to stake him
again. Strike two. He shoved her back into the wall again, and was prepared to end her
life. He had had enough.

"I guess you need a bigger stake, Slayer!" He laughed deep in his throat.

Faith was sick of it all. Buffy was fighting a battle she shouldn't have had to. Her
battle. She was going to kill him now. No more running. The déjà vu was going to stop.

She saw that one of the beams had a sharp, broken end, and she picked it up. Before
Kakistos could do anything else, she shoved it through his chest, and he crumbled, wasting
away to ash. Faith let the beam clatter to the ground, and Buffy came and stood by her.

"Damn." The brunette said, out of breath. "He trashed my wardrobe."

"That's what credit cards are for, my friend." Buffy allowed herself to grin. "Hungry?"

"Starved."

***

Later, Faith was crashing on the couch. Buffy was in the kitchen, making the third bag of
microwave popcorn of the night. They had eaten two already. Physically and emotionally
exhausted, there would be no more long talks tonight, and hopefully, no more for awhile.
Everything was taken care of. The truth about her past, about her watcher, and she had
faced her fear, and killed Kakistos. Had gotten her revenge. Now she could truly settle
into Sunnydale.

The phone had rung, and Faith guessed Buffy had answered it. A few minutes later, Buffy
came into the living room carrying another bowl of popcorn.

"That was Giles. You can stay." Buffy smiled, and Faith got a little bit comfier on the
couch. She'd be sticking around. "But they're trying to find a watcher for you. When they
do, the person's gonna come here."

"Can't win 'em all." Faith shrugged. She happened to like Giles.

Buffy sat next to her, and handed over the bowl. The inhaling began.

"Um&uh&" She stuttered after a couple minutes of eating.

"Yesss?" Faith hissed playfully.

"I just remember&that we were uh&doing something before&and -"

Faith sat the bowl on the table. "I always keep my promises, B. Where's your mom?"

"Sleeping soundly."

"Just what I wanted to hear."

The kissing then commenced.

"This feels&" Buffy said, but trailed off as Faith planted soft ones all over her lips.

"I know." Faith said, nodding. "So shut up, and we can keep doing it."

Not another word was said.


--
"I wanna set the record straight. I thought the cop was a prostitute." (Homer J. Simpson)

"You think you know? What's to come? What you are? You haven't even begun."
(Tara to Buffy, BTVS)


"Since when is there a cowboy in 'Death of a Salesman' anyway?" (Willow, BTVS)