Fic: My Slayer Lady 3/?

[angelina2006@xxxxxxxxxxx]

TITLE: My Slayer Lady
AUTHOR: Angelina 
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. 
SUMMARY: Faith gets ready to go and gets a couple of phone calls that 
give her pause for thought.
SPOILERS: None really, set quite near the beginning of Season 3 and 
doesn't fit in with the time line at all. Sort of in the same 
universe as Girls Interrupted (same relationships going on here- and 
maybe a few new ones)
DISTRIBUTION ? You want it? It's yours, just drop me an e-mail.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All feedback welcome. "Mochas?" "Yes please!" 

The big day had finally arrived and Faith had a strange feeling in 
her stomach. Sort of like the sensation she got when there was a 
vampire or other supernatural nasty in close proximity, but not quite 
the same. She wasn't?she couldn't be?was it nerves? Faith laughed 
out loud at this thought. She was a slayer, people were afraid of 
her, she could kill things with her bare hands. And here she was, 
nervous about going to a high school dance with a normal teenage 
guy. Scott would be by to pick her up soon. She checked her 
appearance in the mirror. She no longer felt weird in the dress. It 
felt as it it had been made just for her. She supposed that she had 
Cordelia's fashion sense to thank for that.  

Cordelia. Now there was a puzzling girl. At first she had regarded 
Faith with a thinly veiled air of disdain, making some less than nice 
comments about her hair colour. But lately she seemed to want to 
talk and hang out and stuff. If she didn't know better Faith would 
have sworn that Cordelia was crushing on her. She considered this.  
Would it be such a bad thing? People were often surprised to find 
out that Faith had never experimented with girls. She had never 
really thought about it until now. Not the best time to start 
really, what with her very male date coming to collect her and all.  
Was there something in the water in Sunnydale? Faith had never seen 
two people more in love than Buffy and Willow. Could it work for her 
and?. She was prevented from going any further in this thought by 
the shrill sound of the telephone startling her.

"Hello?"

"Hey Faith, ready for the big date?" It was Buffy.

"Ready as I'll ever be B." Faith swallowed, noticing that her throat 
had gone dry.

"Just remember what we talked about."

"Right, yeah, OK, no swearin', no sex talk, no sittin' with my legs 
apart, no hittin' people, no sexy dancin', no feelin' Scott up on the 
dance floor, no spikin' the punch and?what was the other thing again?"

"Just be yourself."

"Be myself, right." Faith rolled her eyes, thinking that if she 
adhered to all those rules she'd be the exact opposite of herself.  

"What's that honey?" Faith was about to reply when she realised that 
Buffy was talking to Willow. She listed to their conversation over 
the phone, straining to hear Willow's voice in the background.

[I said, I'm never going to forgive you.]

"I said I'm sorry."

[Our first homecoming dance together and you go and do this!] Faith 
wondered what monumental crime Buffy had committed. [What will the 
pictures be like?]

"They'll be fine, you can't even see it. The concealer worked really 
well."

[Can't even see it? Buffy, there's a hickey the size of Nebraska on 
my neck, I think people might notice!] Faith had a mental picture of 
Willow's distress and had to stop herself from laughing out loud.  
Buffy seemed to remember that there was someone on the other end of 
the phone.

"Uh, Faith, I gotta go."

"So I hear. Spending too much time around vamps B? Picking up their 
habits?"

Buffy lowered her voice. "Please just don't mention it when you see 
her. My life'll be a living hell if someone comments on it."

"I thought you said you couldn't see it."

"Well?it's faint."

"OK, I promise I won't mention it."

"Thanks, see you in a little while."

"Yeah, see ya B."

Faith hung up the phone and checked her make up in the mirror.  
Almost immediately the phone rang again.

"Hello?"

"Hi Faith, it's Cordelia."

"Oh?hey."

"Yeah?so, listen, I was thinking about what we talked about earlier, 
about how you should act at the dance."

"It's OK, B just phoned and went over it again."

"Oh?well, I was going to say that I think you should forget it. All 
of it. I think you should just be yourself. I think that Scott Hope 
should think himself lucky that he's going to the dance with someone 
like you and if he doesn't like the way you act then tough, you 
should find someone who likes you for who you are, not the way we've 
made you think you should be. Just be yourself Faith." Cordelia 
held her breath, unable to believe that she'd just said all that.  
Faith too was a bit shocked.

"Uh, OK, I probably woulda forgot half the stuff I wasn't meant to do 
anyway."

"Yeah?so?I'll see you at the dance."

"Yeah."

"OK?bye."

"Cordelia."

"What?"

"Thanks"

"No problem.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Faith hung up the phone this time with a sigh. OK, so there was no 
doubt now, Cordelia was definitely crushing on her. The question 
was, how did she feel about that? And what was she going to do about 
it? And how was she going to act normal around her now? A car horn 
honked outside.

"Oh God. Here goes nothing." Faith opened the door and stepped out, 
ready for what would be one of the most bizarre nights of her life.  
And with Faith, that was really saying something.

TBC