FIC: Back In Boston Ch 18 (R-for swearing again)

["CDS" <callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's chapter 18.

Enjoy.

? Title: Back In Boston
? Author: Callisto's Dark Side
? Email: callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx
? Feedback: The more I get, the faster I write.
? Distribution: Can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/callistosdarkside/BackInBoston.htm
? Spoilers: Season 4, but since Dawn's in it, I guess there's also some of
season 5. It's an alternate universe in which Faith never joined up with
the mayor.
? Rating: Mostly PG-13, but there will be some R and NC-17 stuff as well.
? Pairings: B/F, B/W, and D/F. (Note: It's a love quartet, meaning humor
and angst)
? Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are copyright
Joss Whedon and 20th Century Fox.
? Summary: Faith convinces Buffy to go back to Boston with her for Christmas
Holidays, but Buffy only agrees if Willow comes along as well. Dawn tags
along, much to Buffy's dismay.


Willow thought about it for a few moments, before loosening her grip on the
box, and allowing Buffy to take it in both her hands.

Buffy cradled the box gently, expecting the redhead to turn her head any
minute, and sure enough she did.

Willow needed to see Buffy's reaction, even if it hurt.


Chapter 18


Buffy slowly undid the tiny red bow around the box she held in her hand.
The box wasn't a cube, as much as it was rectangular.

The wrapping was simple yet elegant. The Slayer could tell that Willow had
went through a lot of trouble selecting the wrapping, and making it look
perfect.

Buffy looked up to catch the redhead's eyes, making sure that Willow really
wanted her to open it now.

Willow's eyes began to water, but she didn't protest.

So the Slayer began to carefully peel off the wrapping, making sure not to
rip it as she pulled at the tape.

Willow watched intently, as Buffy's fingers peeled the wrapping off
completely and placed it on the bed.

Left now was the box, small and rectangular.

Buffy wondered what in the world, could a small, rectangular box hold. It
was from Willow, so she knew it would be thoughtful, she just didn't know
how thoughtful.

******

Faith had searched everywhere she thought a young teenager with a broken
heart would run off to in the middle of a snow storm, and she had no luck
locating the teen, or her big sister.

A part of Faith didn't want to find the distraught girl, as she had no idea
what to say. All she could do was make it worse.

But she knew she had to save her from the biting cold. Of course, there was
the possibility of Buffy finding Dawn instead, which would be alright with
the brunette Slayer. Only that really didn't solve anything, and it might
actually be worse for the heartbroken girl.

Wrapping her arms around her body, Faith decided she'd make her way back to
the motel to check if Buffy had found Dawn and brought her back.

If not, she'd continue her search, but it'd be pointless if Buffy had
already found the girl. So Faith cut through the snow with Slayer speed and
headed back to the once happy motel room.

******

"Oh my God, Will?" Buffy gasped, as she opened the box and read the words.

The two words were simple, 'Ice Capades,' and it was written in big bold
letters on two tickets.

Willow's heart leapt at she saw the look of joy on Buffy's face.

"I can't believe you got me this," Buffy enthused as she moved up onto the
bed and wrapped Willow up in a hug, who happened to still be lying down.

"I just thought?" Willow trailed off, as she lost herself in the warmth of
Buffy's embrace.

The Wicca hesitantly brought her hands up to stroke Buffy's back, feeling
the taught muscles of the Slayer. Her heart began beating furiously as
Buffy's weight and body pressed down on her, but all too soon it was gone.

Buffy pulled away, but only slightly.

Willow was still able to loosely hold onto the Slayer, her hands still on
the Slayer's back as Buffy hovered just above her on the bed.

The Slayer had a glowing smile as she stared down at Willow.

The redhead blushed tremendously, as she realized just how close they were,
Buffy's face only inches from hers.

"How did you know?" Buffy breathed, her breath tickling the Wicca's throat.

"You told me," Willow squeaked out.

"When?"

"When we first met."

Buffy furrowed her brow to when she had first met her best friend, back to
the day when she had told her about her dad.

"I can't believe you remembered," Buffy almost cried, extremely touched that
Willow would remember something they had only talked about once, and from so
long ago.

Before Willow could respond, Buffy crushed the Wicca in another intense hug.

Willow relished the hug, trying to remember every detail, as the Slayer's
body pressed against hers. The warmth, the softness, and the Slayer's
heavenly scent, made Willow extremely happy and sad at the same time.

"I love it Will," Buffy gushed semi-coherently against Willow's left ear.

"I love you too, Buffy," Willow sniffled, hugging the Slayer even tighter
against her body than she had thought possible.

Buffy's body tensed at Willow's words for a split second, but relaxed almost
just as quickly, as she realized that Willow probably misheard her. And
it's not like they didn't love each other, they told each other all the
time, Buffy thought. Of course, it was a bit unusual now, now that Buffy
realized she liked girls.

In their intense hug fest, neither girl realized there was a person watching
from outside. An insanely jealous person. An insanely jealous Slayer.

******

Faith watched, stunned, through the window just outside the motel room. She
had watched Buffy open the gift, she had watched Buffy practically throw
herself on top of Willow, not once, but twice.

And then, she had read the redhead's lips, "I love you too, Buffy." Which
meant Buffy had declared her love for Willow first, Faith thought.

Even though the brunette couldn't read Buffy's lips since she had her head
buried in red hair, she must have said that for Willow to reply like that,
Faith reckoned.

If it wasn't for the snow blustering in her face, Faith would've normally
had no problem hearing what the two were saying.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Faith noticed that Buffy had removed the
bracelet she'd given her. Removed it! Faith's mind screamed.

Unable to take any more, Faith stalked off into the storm once again.

******

Willow continued the hug for as long as she could, relishing every second of
it.

All too soon, Buffy pulled away, but not far as she leaned on her elbow,
just next to Willow.

Buffy fondled one of the tickets in her hands.

"Can I ask you something, Will?"

"Sure, of course, I mean, you can ask me anything," Willow babbled,
wondering what was on the Slayer's mind.

Buffy smiled at the sudden Willow babble.

"Did Faith find you?"

Willow's heart dropped. For just a few seconds, Willow had forgotten about
Faith, but now she was right there in her mind again, front and center.

"Yes," Willow admitted softly.

"Where'd she go?"

"I think she went to look for you and Dawn," Willow admitted.

Buffy furrowed her brow, "She must be freezing out there."

"But she's a Slayer," Willow pointed out, "Slayer's don't freeze."

"Oh, we freeze alright," Buffy admitted.

"But you said you liked the cold. You even trained in the middle of a snow
storm, remember?"

"I lied."

Those two words hit Willow with a force she didn't know was possible. Even
though she knew she shouldn't have taken it personally, she still felt
betrayed that Buffy would make up an outright lie like that.

"What do you mean?" Willow demanded, but she only raised her voice a hitch.

"I only said that to hide the fact that I was getting Faith's present."

"You mean?"

"Uh huh," Buffy smiled goofily.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to burden you with the secret," Buffy lied, knowing the real
reason she didn't tell Willow was because she had fallen in love with Faith,
but couldn't even admit it to herself.

"So you don't trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, Will."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Willow demanded more strongly, sitting up in
the bed.

"I told you, I didn't want to burden you with the secret."

"Why would it burden me?"

"I don't know," Buffy lied again, averting her eyes from Willow's accusing
gaze.

"You don't trust me," Willow huffed.

"How can you say that?" Buffy cried before she looked up and saw Willow's
watery eyes.

The sight made Buffy feel all kinds of guilt, as she brought the sniffling
Wicca into another soft embrace.

"I'm sorry, Will," Buffy apologized, not truly understanding why Willow was
so bent out of shape over a single lie. " I won't lie to you again," Buffy
promised, consoling the teary redhead.

******

Faith kicked her foot through a bank of snow, sending the snow flying onto
the already covered road.

"She didn't mean it," Faith muttered to herself. "Why would B say she loved
Red?" Faith argued, kicking some more snow.

"I'll tell ya why, Faith," The brunette Slayer said to herself, "It's cuz of
those damn tickets!" Faith yelled into the storm.

"What the fuck's with the Ice Capades anyway? I mean, if I knew B really
wanted those, I coulda got them myself. Damn Red, always two steps ahead
when it comes to B. Known her for a whole two fuckin' years longer than me,
and takin' full advantage of that fact," Faith growled.

"And why the fuck ain't B wearing my bracelet any more?"

Faith looked down at the bracelet Buffy had gotten her and traced her finger
over the ice cold silver.

"Gotta be a good explanation," Faith shook her head, not wanting to believe
that Buffy had lost it, and yet at the same time, not wanting to believe
that Buffy had voluntarily taken it off so soon.

"Damn tix," Faith cussed again.

"Yeah, well Red, you may think you're all sneaky with the tickets, but I got
something you don't have," Faith smirked, as a realization hit her.


To be continued.