FIC: Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain (17a/?)

["Bill Gopher" <asagiri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Three Years in Hell, A Lifetime of Pain

By Red Demon & Bill Gopher

Disclaimers - Buffy and Co. belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, UPN. We're just
borrowing them for a little.

Pairing - Beth/Faith

Archiving - As our girl Faith liked to say; Want, Take, Have. So go ahead,
just drop us a line so we know where it is.

Spoiler – Not really, no. The story starts 3 years after what would have
been Season 5. So everything after the beginning ep of Season 5 never
happened.

Summary – An AU where Buffy is framed for the murder of Deputy Mayor Finch
and ends up in the US Marines.

Feedback - All comments and criticisms are welcome. However, flames will be
summarily deleted!!! billgopher@xxxxxxxxxxxx



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“I am the sun…I am the air,
I am here and I need to be loved,
Just like everybody else does.
See I’ve already waited too long,
and all my hope is gone.”
--“How Soon Is Now?”
Love Spit Love

Chapter 17

The Next Morning…

Beth turned around in bed and looked over at Faith who was lying under the
sheets next to her awake, but with her eyes closed. “Faith. Wake up.”

Turning towards Beth’s voice Faith opened one eye to look at her. “What is
it B? I’m trying to sleep.”

“We can’t go south, can we?”

Opening both eyes Faith looked over at Beth and realized Beth wasn’t really
asking her a question, it was a statement so she stayed quiet.

“I mean ‘I’ can’t go back to the Corps.”

“No,” Faith said softly as she saw the pain on Beth’s face. “Not now at
least. Especially if those demons have managed to find a way to track you.
The next time they find you too many people would get killed in the
crossfire trying to stop them. And how would you explain either them or your
abilities? Especially once they see you going toe to toe with those demons
or how fast you heal…well I don’t think it’d be good.”

“Yeah,” Beth replied despondently and rolled onto her back.

Propping herself up Faith scooted next to Beth. “B, it’s not a permanent
thing but right now we need to figure out who’s after you and why. And we
can’t do that locked up and a couple of hundred miles away from anyone who
can help us.” Faith watched as Beth ignored her.

“B, it not like you can’t go back ever. But right now we need to get back to
the LA and get Wesley and Angel helping us…out…” Faith hesitated as she saw
a tear falling down Beth’s face. “B?”

“It hurts Faith, the feeling that I’m betraying everything I swore to do
when I joined the Corps.” Wiping the tear away angrily, “Forget it Faith, it
’s nothing.”

Faith watched as Beth closed herself off emotionally and rolled away from
her, so that Beth’s back was facing her. Faith reached over and put her hand
on Beth’s shoulder and rolled her onto her back. In a quick move Faith
straddled Beth keeping her from being able to turn away from her. “B it’s
not nothing. Not when it’s tearing you up inside, now spill.”

Beth looked up at Faith, “Part of me is yelling to go back south to the
Corps, that it’s my duty and my responsibility to head back to my unit…”

“And?”

“And the other part of me is telling me not to go back.”

Faith bit back the reply to tell Beth that she should stay with her and
never go back. “You can go back when we get everything sorted out B.”

“That’s the problem Faith. Right now I’m just a KIA on the books, if I go
back now I’ll wind up under arrest for being a deserter and UA for the last
few months. And if I go back after we’ve settled this mess it’ll still be
the same, I’ll still be arrested, confined and tried and either way there’s
a very good chance I’ll either end up in Leavenworth or worse. Desertion and
UA which is what they call AWOL now isn’t something the Corps takes
lightly.”

“What are you talking about B and what’s a UA?”

Beth sighed silently, “I broke my oath and I’ve been gone for months without
trying to get back to the Corps Faith, I can and will be put through a
General Court Martial for what I’ve done or rather ‘not’ done in their eyes.
And under Articles 85, 86 and 134 of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice
I’ll wind up with a 10 – 15 years sentence in Leavenworth or maybe even
death. Although in my case I’d probably first serve time in Leavenworth and
then get transferred to a California State Prison to finish my life
sentence…” Beth stopped, not sure what else to say to Faith

Faith listened in shock at what Beth had just told her, “But…but they can’
t…I mean d…death B? You haven’t done anything wrong!!” Faith sputtered,
unable to even say it.

Beth smiled grimly, “Yes then can Fai, desertion is a capital offense
especially during a war.” Beth saw the fear reflected in Faith’s eyes and
regretted saying anything. <Well that was stupid Beth!> Beth’s little voice
yelled at her.

“I’m sorry Faith, I shouldn’t have said anything,” Beth reached over and
laced her fingers with Faith’s.

“How can you even think of going back then B? If that’s what’s waiting for
you, then going back is nuts!”

Beth smiled gently at Faith, “Maybe, but I took an oath to do whatever I
could if I was captured to get back to my unit and not betray them, by not
going back when I could I broke that oath Faith.” Beth reached over and
laced her fingers with Faith’s.

“Then what…” Faith felt Beth’s fingers on her lips silencing her.

Beth could literally feel the tension and fear flying off of Faith and
regretted saying anything. “It’ll be okay Fai, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep B!” Faith said angrily, not wanting to
be treated as if she were a child.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t. I’m sorry Faith.”

“I just don’t want you to treat me like a child and tell me everything’s
going to be all right. I’m your friend, your partner and your lover B, I
know you want to protect me but you can’t. And I can’t help you if you don’t
tell me, okay?”

“Okay, no more hiding anything, I promise.”

Beth put her hands on Faith’s waist and lightly moved her fingers up and
down Faith’s side, “Now…”

Faith cocked an eyebrow, “Now B? What does that mean?” Faith asked somewhat
still annoyed.

“Now means I stop worrying about what ‘may’ happen later on and concentrate
on what’s right in front of me,”

Faith felt Beth’s hands tease and tickle up her waist and caress her
breasts. Faith growled and leaned into Beth’s touch as her nipples hardened,
aching for Beth’s touch, “You need to do this more…”

Beth suddenly slowed her hands, “Do what more Fai?” Beth teased and then ran
one finger up the inside of Faith’s thigh stopping as she brushed Faith’s
wet center.

Faith inhaled sharply when she felt Beth’s finger touch her, “You. Are. A.
Tease. B.” Faith leaned down and hungrily captured Beth’s lips with her
own.

***************************

Several Hours Later…

So what’s next B?”

“We’re going to head north out of France and up towards the ports in
northern Germany like Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven so we can get out of
here and back to the States and get this mess solved. And trying to make any
decisions now would be stupid, we’ll figure out what were going to do
afterwards.” Beth smiled at Faith and kissed her gently on the lips. “Okay?”

Faith smiled back, a sense of relief washed over her. <Admit it girl, you
were still scared that she was going to go back to her Marines and leave
you,> said Faith’s little voice. “Okay. So when do you want to leave then?”

“Tomorrow,” Beth replied huskily as she pulled the sheet aside and straddled
Faith before moving her . “Right now I have plans for the rest of today…”

“B, you’re just positively becoming a hedonist,” Faith teased as she
captured one of Beth’s nipples with her lips and felt it harden as she
sucked on it and heard Beth groan.

===========================


The Next Day…

Faith stopped at the top of the hill and adjusted the straps on her
backpack. “Hey B, how close you think are we to the German border?”

Squinting as she looked ahead and ran some calculations in her head, “Hmmmm.
75 klicks or so, give or take. One…two days walking maybe. Depends on
whether we want to pick up the pace some. If we double-timed it we could
probably be there tonight…why?” Beth asked as she looked at her lover who
was sweating heavily in the sweltering French spring heat.

“Just curious,” Faith pulled out her canteen and took a long drink of the
cool water, pulling off the wide-brimmed hat she poured some of the water
over her head soaking it. “Ahhhh, that feels good.” Faith mumbled.

>From where she stood Beth started looking for a place to stop and rest,
<This heat’s really killing her, we need a place to rest and that small set
of trees and shade over there’ll do nicely.> “Fai, why don’t we stop and
take a break for a while? There’s a little spot I saw just a little further
down the road.”

Shaking her head, “I’ll be okay B. I just needed to stop and get my second
wind.”

Beth frowned as she listened to Faith, “Not! Faith, you’re wiped and we’re
not in any rush to get to the border so come on. We can have lunch and rest
there for a few.”

<<<<<<>>>>>>

“You feeling better Fai?” Beth asked.

Peeking one eye open, “Yeah I do.”

“Good. Before we pull out though we need to go through everything in the
packs and ditch anything military or US in them, including the rifles.”

Opening her eyes Faith shook off the comfortable lethargy and gave Beth her
full attention.

“We’re crossing the border illegally and once we’re in Germany if we run
into any of the government run police, the Polizei, I don’t want anything to
seem out of the ordinary for two college kids hiking across Europe.”

“Makes sense, but what about the 9mm’s? Are we dumping them too? Cause I don
’t like the idea of traveling without any firepower.”

Beth shook her head, “We’ll keep them, I’ll break them down since we can
hide most of the pieces and then later on re-assemble them. But just make
sure there are no BDU’s or unit patches or….”

Putting her hand up, “B, I get the picture. Nothing that looks vaguely
military.”

Smiling, “Sorry, I’m just a little nervous I guess, but yeah.” Feeling
foolish Beth looked down into her bag, anywhere but at Faith.

“Beth, don’t worry about it,” Faith reached over and squeezed Beth’s
shoulder and then put her hand under Beth’s chin and moved her head up “We’
ll get across fine, it’ll be okay.” Faith smiled reassuringly.

cont'd chapt 17b