ALONE
"Lower! Lower! Jesus, I know you have better technique than that! Ooh! Oh! Go...right there! Yes! Plunge it in deep! Yes! Yes!" Buffy screamed frantically at the computer screen.
Faith was virtually boxing Mike Tyson, and she had just knocked him down. They both counted along with the referee, and when he reached ten, Buffy jumped up, and Faith pulled off the helmet with a grin.
"I whooped his ass!"
"Yep." Buffy smiled, helping the brunette out of the suit. "You're ready to rumble any boxer out there."
"Good thing he didn't try to bite my ear off, freakin' psycho." Faith cleared her throat. "Guess who called while you and Willow went to get ice cream yesterday?"
"Who?"
"Giles. Sounded like he had a woman stashed away in the background."
Buffy's eyes bugged out. "You're making that up."
"Nope. 'Fraid not."
"What did he say?"
"Just said he hoped we were havin' a good time, and that he'd see us tomorrow night."
"Did you ask -?"
"I didn't bring up the chick, but there was definitely one there, B."
"We leave home for two weeks and he has a gir...I can't even say it."
"When are you gonna realize he's a guy with needs?" She poked Buffy in the chest.
"Eew."
"He's had sex probably." Buffy began walking out the room. Faith followed closely behind her, grinning. "And I bet he's got a wide, muscular chest..."
"Go any lower and I'll..." She started reaching to cover her ears.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He isn't *hard* on the eyes."
"If you're so attracted to him, why don't you just marry him?"
"So we're in kindergarten now?" Faith was getting the silent treatment. She hated the silent treatment. "Oh come on."
Nothing.
"Buffy!"
***
A week had passed since the incident with Faith's father and Kakistos' lackeys, and their two-week vacation was up. They'd be leaving tonight. That is, if they could find Buffy. After Faith had teased the blonde about Giles the day before, Buffy said she was going for a walk, in that mock, hurt tone of voice that had no effect on Faith anymore. She knew the routine.
She was supposed to give Buffy a few minutes head start, then follow her and they would "make up." They never actually fought of course, but everyone knew that make up kissing, and make up sex couldn't be beat. At least according to Seinfeld. So Faith followed standard procedure, and knew Buffy would be at the tree, only there was one problem.
Buffy *wasn't* at the tree. Nor was she at any of the places they used to go to when they were younger. Faith was worried. Buffy messed around, but not for this long. It had been a day for crying out loud. Nobody had seen her. Not Willow, Oz, Joyce...Buffy hadn't been by Sarah's offices, either. This was not good at all. First her father, and now Buffy had vanished.
She vowed never to take a vacation again. Ever. Faith decided that she had one more option left, and it wasn't going to be pleasant. She was searching for the quickest way to get in touch with Boston's seedy underbelly. At the moment, she was standing outside "The Hammer." It was dead during the day, so she wouldn't have to deal with any problems, and if the same guy she had known four years ago still ran the place, she could get information easily.
Entering the establishment, the sight was pretty much as she expected. There were hangers on from the night before, asleep with their heads on table, or people just waking up with hangovers. She approached the bar, and Nick was behind it, cleaning it off. He was an okay guy. When the distributor was out of beer, he used to give her a supply she could take back to her parents.
He looked tough, and he was, but he had a soft spot too. Earring, well built, tattoos all over his arms, moustache and stubble covering his face, and his long brown hair was hanging down the back of his leather jacket. Hearing the door open and the footsteps, he looked up. When he looked up to see who it was, he half smiled, half smirked.
"Well, well, well. Look who grown up." Nick said. "Faith, I'll be damned. I heard you were back in town, didn't really believe it."
"People been talkin' about me?" Faith asked, sitting on a stool.
"They seen ya on the street. You were my only Coke drinkin' customer. Sticks out in a place like this."
"Doin' okay?""
"Place doesn't wanna die." He said hoarsely, and lit up a cigarette. "I get by. What're you here for?"
"Lookin' for someone. Don't know if you remember, but I brought a blonde girl in here one time."
Nick thought. "Yeah, I remember. She was into you."
"We hooked up again few months ago, came here for some R'n'R. Supposed to get outta here tonight, but she disappeared. You hear anythin'?"
He leaned over. "Back. Be careful."
"Thanks, Nick." She slid off the stool, and headed for the back room of the bar. She could hear voices inside. Opening the door, she saw Taylor's gang standing over a table going over their haul. Car radios, VCRs, cheap TVs...petty stuff. "What's up, fellas?"
Faith walked inside and kicked the door shut behind her as the six people turned to see who was interrupting them. Taylor's eyes went wide with fear, but he pulled a gun out of his jacket, and started aiming it. Faith ran to him, grabbed his wrist, twisted, and the firearm dropped to the ground. Taylor was in pain.
"Empty your pieces. Now." The five others revealed their guns, and took the magazines out. "Kick 'em over to the corner. Knives too."
Faith waited for them to comply, and then released her grip on Taylor.
"What the hell do you want, Faith?" He hissed.
"Answers. I saw you eyein' us last week."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Be smart, Tay. Last week, Southie, my old place."
"We were there, yeah. So what?"
"Tell me where she is."
"We don't know nothin'." He said smugly.
She didn't have time for this. Faith slugged him, and he fell on his back. Then she sat on his chest, and grabbed the lapels of his jacket.
"You get one more chance. Tell. Me."
"All right, all right. Few days ago, these guys in uniform -"
Faith raised her eyebrows. "Uniform?"
"They looked like army or somethin', I dunno. They were askin' around, showing people pictures of your girl. Wanted to know where they could find her. I happened to know a guy who knew a guy..."
"And you told them?" She seethed.
"Hell yeah. They said they'd clear our records, get the cops to take the heat off. And I really don't like you."
"So you decided to piss me off? Bad idea."
"Look, they never said what they wanted with her, okay?"
Faith raised her fist, and Taylor squeezed his eyes shut. He only opened them when he heard the door slam shut.
***
Willow saw Faith from her position at one of the computers in the "technology
room" of the house. The slayer trudged over to her, and didn't look very
happy. The redhead then thought that if Oz had disappeared on her, how
she would feel.
Completely devastated would just about cover it. And Buffy was her
best friend. She wasn't doing very well either.
"Any luck?"
"Uncle Sam has her." Faith muttered.
"Huh?"
"Never mind. He was jerking me around, anyway."
"Oh." Willow frowned. "Mrs. Summers and Sarah called from the police station. The cops can't file a missing persons report until after forty-eight hours."
"We don't have that long."
"I know, and they even talked to that detective you and..." She trailed
off when
Faith's eyes saddened. "He didn't budge, and nobody likes a non-budger."
"What else can I do, Willow?" Only on rare occasions did Faith use her
real name.
"It's not like I have any other sources I can check."
"Wait and see if she phones?" Willow suggested, and the brunette stared at her incredulously. "What I mean is...she can take care of herself. And she can be hard to find when she wants to be, uh, hard to find. There was that whole three-month side trip thing."
"Why would she, though?" Willow had no answer. "Something's not right."
"I guess you can tell that being a slayer and all."
"Doesn't really have anything to do with bein' a slayer." The hacker's lips formed an 'O'. Faith leaned towards the monitor. "Is there any way you can check to see -"
"There was nobody matching her description in the morgue." Willow assured her.
"I was gonna say, if the military had come into town." Buffy being dead was a possibility she had blocked from her mind, and paled now that she had been forced to consider it.
Willow blushed. "Uh...anything specific?"
"Just 'anything' will do."
"Sure, but it could take a little bit." She realized then how tired the young slayer looked. "You should get some sleep. I'll wake you if I get something."
"Thanks." Faith smiled a little. "Hey, where's Oz?"
"Buying double-mint chocolate chip. It soothes my nerves. Underneath this calm and collected exterior, I'm as scared as you are."
"That's actually kinda comforting."
"Glad I could help."
***
Buffy was woozy, and had no idea where she was. Couldn't remember what had happened, either. She just kept fading in and out, occasionally hearing voices, but beyond that, she couldn't really think or feel anything. Before she slipped back into full unconsciousness, she could make out two phrases.
"Wanted her off guard", and "New experiment."
***
Was this Boston's way of telling them that they weren't wanted here anymore? That they shouldn't have come back?
Those were the questions Faith was asking herself as she lied down on the bed in the basement. That's when she knew she was losing her mind. Thinking a city was trying to tell her something. Or maybe she was being taught some things. She learned that she had to face her father, and maybe now she had to learn how to live without Buffy for awhile.
She had done it for four years at one time, so why was it so hard now? Simple. Because things were different. It had only been twenty-four hours give or take, yet already, it felt like a part of her was dying. Ceasing to exist. She was still expecting Buffy to come hop on the bed and lie down beside her. All she wanted to do was hold her. She had never felt as much a part of someone as she did with Buffy, and being apart caused more and more of her heart to be ripped out.
There was guilt creeping in again, too. They both knew that their last conversation had been all in fun, though it did seem like Buffy had actually been a little jealous. But maybe if she had never brought it up, hadn't taken it so far, the blonde wouldn't have gone for a walk, and none of this would have happened. Faith cursed. She really had to stop blaming herself. It was Angel's influence, and it was a good thing he left, because she didn't want to have to tell him that Buffy was missing.
Deciding to get up, Faith walked over to the closet with a frustrated sigh. Opening it, she reached up to the top shelf, and grabbed Mrs. Gorda.
"Least you're not alone, huh?"
She reached in again, as far back as her arm would go, and felt Mr. Gordo. Taking him out, something else came with the pig, and it fell to the ground.
"Let's see what you were sittin' on."
She picked up the object, took the pigs, and went to sit on the bed. It was a picture frame, with a picture inside showing Sarah and another woman standing outside Sarah's old house. The other woman was cute. Short, black hair, blue eyes, one of those people who stuck out. Faith didn't have any idea who she was, though. She put it back, and laid down again with the stuffed animals at her side, intending to go to sleep.
But she didn't. Instead, she picked up the phone next to the bed, and dialed a number.
"Giles? Hey. You feel like talkin'?"
***
Was she moving? Felt like a truck, because she could faintly hear the engine. The haze was clearing; she was finally coming out of it.
"Another shot. Now." Someone was saying.
Buffy felt the prick of a needle, and her eyes were closing. It wasn't fair. All she wanted to do was get back to Faith.
***
"All I got were flights scheduled for officers coming home for Fourth of July weekend." Willow said later, as they were finishing packing in the living room. "You didn't sleep."
Faith shook her head. "That's it? We go back without her?" She slammed her fist into the nearest wall. "God, I feel useless."
Willow came up to her cautiously, and squeezed her hand. Oz walked in with more clothes.
"What about vampires?"
"She's too good. They wouldn't get the drop on her. Besides, I checked that out already. Giles talked to Willy, but if he knows somethin', he ain't spillin'."
Faith left the room them then, and headed up to Sarah's room. Her and Joyce were talking.
"How can I just leave?" Joyce asked her sister.
"It won't do you any good to stay here." Sarah said softly. "You need to get back to work, and the kids need to get home."
"You're right." She sighed.
"I'm sure she's all right, and Faith won't stop until she tracks her down. None of them will."
"We won't." The brunette confirmed from the doorway. "I swear, Mrs. S."
Joyce turned to face her. "How are you doing?"
"Not real good."
The older Summers understood the girl's pain all too well. She felt just as useless, and just as afraid. They gave one another a light hug.
"Guess I'll start putting some of the luggage in the car."
Sarah and Faith watched Joyce go, and then they looked at each other.
"I'll go to the cops again tomorrow." Sarah promised. "Get them to file the report. If she's here, they'll find her."
"Here's hopin'."
"My niece comes to visit me, and she disappears. And I thought I moved into a good neighborhood."
"It's not your fault. Nobody woulda nabbed her in Sunnydale, and that place is Evil Central." She thought to herself silently, that maybe that was the point.
"Do you think she's okay?"
"If I didn't think so, I wouldn't be able to move right now. She's tough."
"You need anything, you call me."
"Yeah...thanks." She faced the door, and then turned her head. "I saw a picture of you and your honey down in the basement. I think it was your honey."
"Lauren."
"I don't know why she isn't around or anything, but if you can get together again, do it. Bein' lonely sucks, and I haven't even been doin' it for long."
"Yeah, it does." Sarah said quietly.
"I might be stickin' my nose in, but if you love her, don't waste time."
***
At the terminal, the four of them sat waiting for the boarding call. Sarah had left after Joyce assured her that they'd be all right. The quiet became unbearable after awhile, and Faith feared that she would break down into tears if she sat still any longer, so she wordlessly got up and went for a walk.
Moving through the airport, she stopped into a souvenir shop she had seen on the way in. The usual stuff. Cards, pointless things like key chains, little toy cars, and teddy bears with T-shirts that said, 'I (heart) Boston'. Faith found herself taking off the 'oston' part in her mind, and thinking back to the tree in the Commons. She hoped that their second flight wouldn't be their last.
None of the items in the shop appealed at all to her, but she knew Buffy would love to have each and every one of them. They were different people, that was obvious, but they were also very much alike. Whenever they were together, those differences seemed to meld. They got each other in a way no one else ever would. It was just the two of them.
She wasn't just Faith, and Buffy wasn't just Buffy. They were Buffy and Faith. It fit. Maybe it was partially slayer related, because when they fought vampires, they always knew what the other was going to do. That's why they were so coordinated. Or maybe it was because they knew one another so well.
They met not knowing about their destinies or what was in store for them, so it wasn't like they only related on the 'slayer' level. There wasn't anything supernatural in terms of their relationship, they were...well, Faith couldn't really explain it. Cordelia had summed it up pretty nicely. They just "clicked." On so many levels. And that's how she knew they'd make it.
She couldn't pick out one single thing she liked about Buffy; she liked the whole package. Everything. She was remembering Seinfeld for the second time that day. The way the show exploited the littlest, everyday problem made her feel good, because she didn't have to worry about all that crap. She had to worry about big things like saving the world. Focusing, she remembered the episode where Jerry was fixing George up with one of Elaine's friends, and George asked all these questions.
"Does she have nice hair? Can you run your hand through it without getting stuck?"
Dumb, meaningless things like that. If anybody was in a relationship where they were so picky, or could only think of one or two things they liked about the person, it wasn't going to last. It wasn't like that with her and Buffy. She thought the blonde was attractive, and played up the sexual innuendoes, but it didn't matter if Buffy's hair was purple, or if one leg was longer than the other was, or...she'd stay with her forever.
This was so hard. She wanted her girlfriend back.
Going to the back corner, she saw one of those quarter machines. The ones with the round glass balls that had prizes inside. Just for the hell of it, she got a quarter out of her pocket, put it in the machine, and pushed the button. She took her prize. A light blue, plastic ring. That brought a smile to her face, and she liked to think it meant she should keep being positive.
Sticking the ring in her pocket, she headed out of the store. Turning to go back, she spotted a man that looked to be decked out in a full military get up.
"Son of a bitch." She muttered. "Hey!"
He turned around with worried eyes, and gave himself away. Then he started to run. Faith took off after him, pushing past people, knocking them down...she wasn't thinking, just going on instinct. She lost him at one point when he entered a crowd, and when it dispersed, she found herself standing outside a terminal with no departure or arrival time, and no airline name. But it was boarding, because the jet way door was open.
Getting closer, she saw the man moving down it, but before she could do anything, there was an airport personnel person closing the door.
"Excuse me, where's that go?" The slayer asked.
"Private runway. Military uses it, or the President, when he visits." The woman explained.
"And that plane -?"
"Jet."
"Whatever. Where's it going?" The woman glanced around nervously. "Please."
"California."
"Really?" She grinned.
***
Fifteen minutes later, Faith was in a window seat beside Joyce, staring out at the sky. After a few moments, she looked at the ring, holding it between her fingers.
***
Buffy didn't know what day or time it was, when she saw that she was in a white walled cell. Nor did she know where she was. The light was bright, and she had to squint until her eyes adjusted. Her slayer sense was going crazy. It was telling her that there were demons everywhere, but she didn't see any.
She walked up to the glass that let her see across the hallway. Everything was white in this place. Putting her hand on the glass, she felt a shock, and jerked it away. She hated being cramped, and even more, she hated being alone. Then again, maybe she had thought too soon.
A woman in a lab coat appeared, blocking her view.
"And here we thought you were a myth."
--
"We can start our own game. Where people throw ducks at balloons and
nothing is as it
seems." (Homer J. Simpson)
"You think you know? What's to come? What you are? You haven't even
begun."
(Tara and Dracula to Buffy, BTVS)
"I'm telling mom you slayed in front of me." (Dawn, BTVS)