Fic: Of Slayers and Angels Part 12/?

["frank_8281" <frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx>]

Author: Bob Head
Disclaimer: None of the characters below (Except for the Slayer's 
Shadow) belong to me. All the BtVS people belong to Joss Whedon, 
Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. I'm just trying to have fun.
Pairing: Buffy/Willow, of course.
Spoilers: One for Season 1, a few for Season 2, more for Season 3. So 
if you haven't seen the first three seasons& Of course, if you 
haven't seen them, you've probably been living under a rock for the 
last decade, so what are you doing here anyway? 
Rating: NC-17
Feedback: Well, Yeah! frank_8281@xxxxxxxxx   

 

                OF Slayers AND  Angels



Part 12

Faith's POV

Son of a BITCH! Where the fuck are they all coming from! It's like a 
Vampire convention! I dust one and two more pop up. I swing the sword 
around my head to clear a space and backflip to get a little distance 
then I see a mausoleum of to my left. I spin and decapitate one vamp 
then slice the arm off another with the backstroke. I dropkick 
another one and roll to come up with the wall of the mausoleum at my 
back and do a quick head count. Shit! Twelve. And I've already 
dusted  seven! 

I grimace as I feel ribs grinding together in my left side. When the 
fuck did that happen? I take a better grip on the sword hilt and get 
ready to take as many of them down as I can when I go.

Buffy's POV

I'm still running flat out when I hit the cemetery. I slow for a 
second as I hear the sounds of a fight in the distance. Then I take 
off again at full speed praying to whoever might be listening to let 
me be in time! I'm inside of fifty yards when I can finally see them. 
I draw `Mr. Pointy' and increase speed as the Slayer in me takes over 
and assigns threat levels to the Vamps I can see. The two closest to 
Faith have to go right now! I throw `Mister Pointy' on the fly and it 
passes through them both leaving Faith facing two clouds of dust. I 
do a handspring and spin using the steel toes on my boots to crush 
two Vamps' skulls. Then pop up to put the knuckle saps to good use by 
slamming my fists into the chests of the two Vamps in front of me and 
ripping their hearts out. Faith yells.

"Buffy! Catch!"

I whirl and catch the sword she throws to me as she slumps to the 
ground. I continue the spin and six strokes later I'm moving through 
a cloud of dust to check on Faith.

Faith's POV

I growl deep in my throat as two of them start to move in. Then 
without warning they're dust. That's when I feel her. Then she's 
among them, moving so fast I can barely follow her with my eyes. 
She's taken down six of them in about as many seconds. And that's 
when I realize she doesn't have a weapon. I call out to her as my 
knees start to give way.

"Buffy! Catch!"

I throw the sword to her as I collapse to the dirt. She snatches it 
out of the air and the damn thing seems to come alive in her hands! 
She keeps whirlin' and spinnin', the blade a silver blur. It's almost 
like she's dancin'. As far as the Vamps are concerned it's a dance of 
death and just like that it's over. Almost before the dust settles 
she's at my side. A serious look on her face, even so she looks like 
an angel, my angel. Shit, where the fuck did that come from?  Must be 
hurt worse than I thought.

Buffy's POV

I do a quick once over to see if she has any major wounds, I don't 
see anything too serious. She might need some stitching up though.

"Faith, can you walk?"

"Yeah, if we don't go too fast. I got some busted ribs on the left."

"We'll take it slow then, but we need to move in case these goons 
have friends."

We move as fast as Faith's injuries will allow, which isn't very. But 
we make steady progress toward my first goal, to get us out of the 
cemetery. I head us straight for the wall instead of the gate. 
Fortunately this is one of Sunnydale's older cemeteries and the wall 
is only about three and a half feet tall so even hurt Faith shouldn't 
have too much trouble getting over it. Besides, once we get over the 
wall it's just a few blocks to Giles' apartment. I help Faith climb 
over as gently as I can and she still groans in pain. Knowing Faith 
that means she's hurt worse than she's letting on. Dammit!

Faith's POV

Fuck, this REALLY hurts! Side feels like it's on fire. Can't let on 
to B though. Then she'd think I was a wuss. On top of thinkin' that 
I'm useless as a Slayer. Goddammit I HATE bein' weaker than B! How 
the hell does she DO it? I train, I practice and I'm still nowhere 
near as good at Slaying as she is! There shouldn't be any difference 
between us but she's just stronger than me and it's pissing me off! 
What is it , why is she better at this than me? And is she hot in 
that outfit or what? Huh? Where the fuck did THAT come from?

Giles' POV

I have been trying to reach Quentin for days, with no success! That 
blasted assistant of his insists that he has been passing on my 
messages but why hasn't he returned my calls then? Does he know that 
I'm having doubts about this& this barbarity? This dosage cannot be 
correct. As I understand it, this drug is supposed to reduce the 
Slayer's power. But at this level it will virtually strip her of it. 
Buffy will have no more strength than a normal& Damn! That's my 
phone. I lay down the text I've been reading and answer it.

"Hello, Rupert Giles here."

"Rupert, I understand you've been trying to contact me?" Quentin! And 
from the sound of it this is NOT a transatlantic connection.

"Yes Quentin, it's about the preparation for the Cruciamentum. The 
dosage of the drug, it& um, it seems much too high.."
Quentin sighs into the phone. I take note of a distinctive sound in 
the background. "Have you begun administering it yet?"

"Of course not. According to my calculations Quentin, the dose should 
be at LEAST one third less than what your instructions call for. I 
have researched this very thoroughly and all the records of past 
Cruciamentums that I have been able to uncover stress, in no 
uncertain terms, that a very specific formula must be used to 
determine the correct dosage to administer in order to weaken the 
Slayer's abilities. Deviating from this formula risks leaving the 
Slayer completely defenseless or& killing her outright."

"Rupert! What possible reason what possible reason could the council 
have to kill a Slayer? ANY Slayer! Especially your Miss Summers. Who 
is the most successful Slayer in our histories. Now I admit we 
consider her methods& unorthodox to say the least. However, 
considering who her first Watcher was, it is entirely understandable 
that she would be more independent than most Slayers."

I grow quickly annoyed at this unwarranted criticism of Buffy's first 
Watcher and my friend.

I put a warning tone in my voice. "Merrick was a good man Quentin."

"No one is suggesting otherwise, I assure you. I am merely saying 
that had another, more traditional Watcher been available, perhaps 
Miss Summers might be a bit more& tractable. More inclined to take 
instructions."

"Be that as it may Quentin, I am still concerned that the dosage of 
the Cruciamentum drug is too high to be used safely." I say.

"Yes, well." He says. Then adopting an official tone; "The Council, 
after careful review of Merrick's journals and your own evaluations, 
has determined that Miss Summers is without question the most 
powerful Slayer ever. We felt therefore, that to ensure the validity 
of the test, the dosage would have to be increased to compensate."

"Validity of the test&" I begin, the there is a knock on my door and 
it immediately opens to reveal an oddly clothed Buffy supporting an 
obviously injured Faith.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to call me back at another time" I hang up 
the phone and hastily cross the room to help Buffy move Faith onto 
the sofa.

Buffy's POV

Just as Faith and I make it to Giles' apartment I hear his voice thru 
the door.

"Validity of the test&" I knock and open up without waiting for a 
response. Giles looks up with this shocked expression and says;

"I'm sorry, you'll have to call me back at another time." He drops 
the phone on the cradle and helps me settle Faith on the couch.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Got jumped by a nest& ow! Take it easy G! I'm kinda banged up here." 
She replies.

"I'm sorry Faith, I'm trying to determine the extent of your 
injuries." Giles says, gently examining her.

"Is she going to be alright Giles?" I ask.

"Yes, I think so. Some of these lacerations will need sutures and her 
ribs will need to be wrapped, but she should be fine in a day or two."

"Good." I pat her knee and say. "I need you mobile, not laid up or 
dead.

"Shit, B. I don't think you need me at all." She says quietly. "I was 
fighting those Vamps for a good twenty minutes and only staked seven 
of `em. You show up and take out a dozen in less than a minute. If 
you hadn't& I'da been Vamp chow."

I sit there next to her, listening, and I realize that she sounds 
depressed. Which is very un-Faith-like. Damn. Shadow's right, She 
needs something, well some ONE. And I just SUCK at matchmaking Maybe 
Wills can help. In the meantime, I've got to say something to try to 
make her feel better!

"Vamps are very single minded. When they thought they had Slayer on 
the menu, that's all they were focused on. It gave me the advantage 
of surprise. That always makes things easier." 

"Well I hope I made a good diversion at least." She says dejectedly.

Shit! Smooth move Buffy. Way to make the girl feel worse. While I've 
been putting my foot in my mouth, Giles has been going through his 
medical kit, laying out supplies to patch Faith up with. Slayer 
metabolism being what it is it's hard to get local anesthetics to 
last very long on us. So the Council came up with what Giles 
calls `an effective combination of painkillers, muscle relaxers and 
tranquilizers'. I just call it a Slayer cocktail. It makes it easier 
to work on a Slayer if we need stitches or to have a bone set. Or my 
personal favorite, putting a dislocated shoulder back into place. I 
don't like it much cause it makes me feel loopy, but it's nice to 
have when you really need it.

Giles fills a syringe with carefully measured amounts of different 
colored liquids from several bottles. 

"Faith, it'll be much easier to tape your ribs and suture these 
wounds if I use this medication to relax you." He says.

"Will it make me sleep?" She asks, in a kind of little girl lost 
voice. Again, very un-Faith-like.

I answer, trying to reassure her. "Eventually yeah, but not for a 
couple of hours. Until then you will definitely be felling NO pain. 
If you don't let him use it it's gonna hurt like a bitch when Giles 
tapes you up."

She looks at me. "So you've used this shit before B?"

"A couple of times. `Course I had to learn the hard way. Once I 
dislocated my shoulder fighting a BIG demon. Giles wanted to use the 
cocktail to make it easier to fix. I told him `no' because I was the 
big tough Slayer."

Faith asked; "So& what happened?"

"Um, I almost passed out when he popped it back in. One of his 
neighbors even called the police because they thought he was 
murdering someone because of the screams."

"Screams, from you B?" She looks like she doesn't believe me.

"It hurt." I said simply. "But I never argued with him again about 
using it after that!" Then I noticed the smirk on Giles' face.

"Hey! That story wasn't supposed to give you a happy!"

"Well, I was simply recalling that you seemed more inclined to listen 
to me afterwards. I did tell you to be careful using any throwing 
techniques against that particular creature due to its mass."

"I listened before that." I say with a pout. Giles just glares at me.

"Yes well, back to the question at hand," he holds up the 
syringe. "Yes, or no."

Faith looks away as Giles holds up the syringe. That's when it sinks 
in.

Faith, are you& are you afraid of needles?"

"No!" She snaps. "I am not AFRAID of anything!" Then more 
quietly, "But I don't fucking like needles."

She's looking at me so Giles gestures to keep her distracted. I take 
her hand (to keep her from punching me) then I reach over and gently 
prod her ribs.

"Oh, fuck B! What'd you do THAT for!" She's twisted away Giles in 
reaction to the renewed pain. He jabs the needle into her right hip 
and injects the contents quickly.

"Hey." She looks at Giles venomously. "Damn sneaky& W-whoa. What the 
fuck was IN that shit?" She asks woozily.

Did I mention how fast that stuff works? Two minutes after injection 
a horde of Demons could charge right by and you'd just smile and 
say `ooo what a pretty shade of green.'."  

Giles' phone rings and he's starting to stitch Faith up. "Buffy can 
you get that please? Faith! Hold still." Faith giggles. Oh yeah, 
she's feeling NO pain.

"I got it Giles, you take care of her."

I move around to Giles's desk and pick up the phone. Trying not to 
laugh as he struggles to stitch one of Faith's cuts while at the same 
time ducking her attempts to hug him.

"Hello, Giles walk-in clinic, can I help you?"

My smart-ass comment gets me another glare from Giles and a panicked 
cry from Willow over the phone. My foot is going back to it's 
favorite home, my mouth!

"Buffy! Are you hurt? Your Mom can drive me over if&"

"Willow, I'm all right, calm down! Baby I'm okay." Mentally kicking 
myself for speaking before thinking.

At the mention of Will's name Faith starts yelling. "Hey! Is that Red 
on the phone? Tell her I said `Hi'!"

"For God's sake! Sit still Faith, and please DON'T take that off!"

"Buffy, was that Faith I heard?"

"Hold on a minute Will. Faith!" She looks up. "Stay still for Giles 
and leave the bra ON! He doesn't need you THAT undressed to tape your 
ribs." She sticks her tongue out at me and I have to fight not to 
laugh as I turn my attention back to Willow.

"Sorry about that Will, what's the up?" I ask.

"What's the& Buffy do you know what time it is?" Uh oh, I've heard 
that tone before.

"I thought you and Mom were at the movies Will?"

"We were Buffy, until they closed!"

"Oh, uh& Why didn't you call me on my cell?"

"You mean the one I'm using to call you now?"

"I left it at home huh?"

"Yup. Buffy, did Giles give Faith one of those shots?" Okay, that's 
kind of a weird question.

"Uh, yeah, she got a little banged up&" 

Willow interrupts me. "I'm on my way Buffy. I'll explain when I get 
there, DON"T leave with Faith, Okay?" She hangs up without waiting 
for an answer, and I'm left staring at the phone wondering what the 
HELL was that all about?

TBC 




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Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                     'Choices'

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