This Is How It Goes

"Faith!" she yelled frantically, except her voice was swallowed up in the rushing. She tried to move and couldn't, her feet feeling as if they were planted to the ground. Her body was shuddering under the spell, under her violent attempts to move.

"Stop it!" Buffy shouted as loud as she could. "Stop the spell!" Except it sounded as though her voice hadn't even left her mouth.

The several minutes where she could only helplessly look at Faith's limp, unmoving body, clench her fists and dig her fingernails into her palms felt like hours. The rippling waves of the spell receded and she stumbled forward, her knees buckling slightly as she sprinted over to Faith's side.

Buffy grasped Faith's shoulders and turned her over, seeing her eyes closed and her face terrifyingly slack.

"Giles!" she yelled brokenly. He was there suddenly, putting a hand to Faith's neck.

"She's alive," he said, and Buffy closed her eyes in weak relief. "Her pulse is faint."

Buffy glanced up and saw everyone else congregating around them. Willow looked pale and shaky, her eyes oddly bright in the colorlessness of her face, clutching Xander's arm as they made their way over to them.

"Bring her over to the table," Giles said firmly, grasping Faith's legs.

Buffy took hold of her shoulders and they carried her to the table, laying her down gently. Giles grabbed his jacket and rolled it up, placing it under Faith's limp head. Buffy stared at her, feeling a chaotic panic surging through her. She looked so small, so weak.

"Get me a towel and some water," Giles said loudly, glancing at the group. Willow sat down in a nearby chair, looking positively faint, while Xander ran out. Wesley looked lost.

"Hospital?" Buffy asked anxiously.

Giles shook his head. "It's mystical. Medicine can't help."

"What the hell does that mean?" Buffy said angrily. Giles looked at her sharply.

"It means that we have to wait," he said slowly, resolutely, and Buffy twitched. "We have to see if the spell had any negative effects on her."

"She's unconscious, Giles!" Buffy yelled, pointing at Faith. "That seems pretty friggin' negative to me!"

Giles grabbed her shoulder tightly. "Calm down, Buffy," he said firmly. "Panicking won't help matters. Faith needs to wake up on her own. And then we can determine if she has any serious injuries."

Buffy glared at him for a second before closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, slowly. "Okay. I'm okay. I'm calm," she said quietly, trying to reassure herself.

"What happened?" Willow asked in a small, fearful voice from her chair. Xander skidded into the room, his shoes screeching against the floor, holding a cup and rag.

Giles shook his head, frowning. "I — I'm not sure. It appears that Faith was hit with some sort of magical backlash." He looked at Willow. "Did — did the spell work? Did you see, or receive any information about the box?"

Willow shook her head. "No, nothing. I — I don't know what went wrong." She leaned forward slightly and Buffy saw her arms were still shaking. "What did I do? I must have read it wrong, or one of the ingredients ..."

"We can't be sure. It may be the box itself, somehow immune or impervious to magic," Giles said pensively, brow furrowed.

There was a small moaning sound from the table. Buffy snapped her eyes down to see Faith moving her head, her eyelids fluttering.

"Faith?" she asked anxiously, leaning over.

Faith's eyelids began to open blearily. Buffy saw her eyes trying to focus and put her hand on Faith's cheek, stroking softly. The other Slayer's vision narrowed at Buffy's touch, focusing on her concerned face.

"B?" she croaked, and Buffy almost started crying with relief.

"I'm right here, Faith," she said unevenly.

"What the hell happened?" Faith asked hoarsely, her eyes beginning to wander around the room.

"The spell. You — you got hit by some magic wave thingy," Buffy answered, her hand still tracing Faith's cheek.

"How do you feel?" Giles asked, peering into Faith's eyes.

"Like I drank a pint of JD's and got put through a demonic trash compactor," Faith responded weakly. She tried to sit up, clutching her head and cringing, but Giles put a steady hand on her shoulder.

"Stay lying down, Faith." He turned his head around. "Xander?"

Xander walked over with the water, looking uncertain. Giles took the cup and put it to Faith's mouth, tipping it slightly.

"Slowly," he said, and Faith swallowed, coughing. Buffy grasped the other Slayer's hand tightly and squeezed it. Faith turned to give her a small smile.

"Don't worry, B. Takes more than a lame magic wave thingy to flat-line this chick," Faith said, gripping back, and Buffy smiled weakly.

"Faith, you were hit with some part of the spell," Giles said. "Do you — do you feel any different? Anything feel off?"

Faith's eyes narrowed as she stared at him suspiciously. "What exactly am I supposed to be lookin' for, G? Demon possession? A tail?"

"Well, we're, uh, not entirely sure," Giles said, taking off his glasses and looking flustered and anxious. "That was a joke, right? You — you don't have either of those things?"

"No," Faith answered, frowning and quickly twisting her arm around to feel behind her. "But, I mean, that creepy little Exorcist girl didn't go all Charles Manson for a while, right?" she asked plaintively, looking at Buffy. "Can this shit pop up later?"

Giles grimaced, put his glasses back on. "Um," he began, and both Buffy and Faith looked at him sharply.

"Um?" Buffy repeated incredulously, glaring at him. "Giles, unless that's a new British slang word for a long, elaborate explanation, you're gonna have to share a little more."

"I — I don't know?" Giles said helplessly, shrugging. Buffy growled. "We, uh — we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled for anything unusual. In the meantime," he said, his voice becoming stronger, "Faith should rest." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, brow furrowed. "We have to find another way to deal with this bloody box. Magic doesn't seem to be particularly effective."

"Fine," Buffy muttered angrily. "I can take Faith back to her hotel." She began tenderly helping the other Slayer up.

"Be careful," Giles said tightly. "I don't believe the Mayor is going to be especially happy with his ritual being disrupted. He may send people after us, or after the box."

"Well, who knows? Faith could probably fight them off with her new, undiscovered demon powers," Buffy said irritably. Giles gave her a look and she cringed. "Sorry."

~ — ~ — ~

Buffy and Faith walked cautiously through the town, growing more anxious as dusk enveloped Sunnydale. They opened the door to Faith's room, to the now-familiar peeling plaster, unpleasant smells of the motel, clothes strewn haphazardly around the room and unmade bed. Buffy had one arm wrapped around Faith's waist and the other holding her elbow, and she could feel how weak the other Slayer was, how unstable and trembling she was. It scared her.

She gently helped Faith undress, ignoring her sexually charged comments and suggestions, and helped her into bed.

"You say one more word about the power of sexual healing and I'm knocking you unconscious. Again," Buffy said sternly, and Faith smirked weakly.

There was a certain forced nonchalance to Faith's teasing that made Buffy think she was more unnerved than she was letting on. Almost as if Faith was trying to cover up the fear of her own fragility with jokes and innuendoes.

"You need rest. And by rest I mean sleep, not lying on your back," Buffy said affectionately, trying to keep the concern out of her voice.

She lay Faith down gently, pulled the covers over her and brushed a stray hair off her face. Faith was looking back up at her, eyes half-closed with exhaustion and full of implicit trust.

"B?" she said, propping herself up and suddenly looking more alert as Buffy stepped back.

"Yeah?"

"Could, uh — could you stay with me?" Faith asked in a small, hesitant voice. Buffy's heart did a strange complicated flip.

She smiled. "'Course I will." Faith relaxed against the pillow, eyes closing again. "Lemme call my mom to let her know."

Buffy hung up the phone several minutes later, after explaining the situation to her mom, to see Faith already semi-dead to the world, mouth open slightly and breathing deep, steady breaths. She drew back the covers and quietly crawled next to her, feeling Faith shift and press herself along Buffy's back. Her arm snaked itself around Buffy's stomach, her body molding perfectly. Buffy grasped Faith's arm tighter, felt the other Slayer's head and warm breath against her shoulder, and sank into her.

Chapter 24: Inside

Author's Notes:

The air was unusually thick the following night in the cemetery. Buffy and Faith were walking side-by-side, doing a routine patrol after Giles essentially kicked them out of the library for being too obnoxious. They were growing tired of researching, feeling that overwhelming itch under their skin to move, to slay, so they decided, or were quite possibly forced to, get some fresh air and look for the Mayor's flunkies.

Faith had woken up that morning looking and feeling much stronger, to Buffy's immense relief. It appeared the spell had just knocked her out, without any other unfortunate consequences.

"You'd tell me if some demon part was sticking out of me, right?" Faith asked, gazing at Buffy with a pleading, earnest expression. "I mean, you wouldn't be all like, 'No, Faith, of course there's not a third arm comin' out your back,' just to spare my feelings, right?"

Buffy looked at her skeptically. "You kidding? I'd be taking pictures and selling them to the highest buyer if that happened. I'd make you into a lucrative circus freak." She grinned.

Faith gave her a dirty look. "Thanks for the comfort, blondie. Here I am, being all vulnerable and shit, and you're taking advantage of my fragile state."

Buffy shrugged, smirking at her. "I take advantage of you every other way, so why not?"

Faith laughed at that. "Props, B. Glad you've decided to own up to how you use me shamelessly. 'Course, if -" she stopped talking abruptly, looking away sharply. Buffy followed her head and grinned in anticipation, feeling it too.

"Score," Faith said excitedly. She looked at Buffy with a predatory grin and took off suddenly. Buffy rolled her eyes, muttering insults under her breath, and ran after her.

She skirted a mausoleum and saw Faith already pounding on a regular, non-Mayor-employed vampire, looking positively gleeful. Faith, not the vampire. The vampire was looking distinctly like he was getting his ass kicked by a violence-deprived Slayer. Buffy skidded to a stop, leaned against a gravestone, crossed her arms, and watched. God, how she had missed this. Watching Faith in motion, watching as she twisted and punched, muscles tightening under the surface, that fluid grace that only she possessed. Buffy saw her face, glowing with happiness and the thrill of the fight. Her eyes were flashing with a deep, feral threat. It had been far too long since either of them had this kind of simple brawl.

Buffy tore her eyes reluctantly from the acrobatic show in front of her to see three more vampires, suited up and growling, approaching them.

"Faith! We got incoming!" Buffy yelled, and turned to face them.

She was expecting some sort of interrogation, some sort of questioning as to where the Mayor's box was, but the vampires spread out silently and lunged at her in a coordinated wave.

Oh, penis.

Ducked and weaved, jabbed, right-left-kick, head snapping back with a fist to the chin, body thrumming and heart pounding. She could see Faith in the corner of her vision, wailing on the same vampire, and felt a rush of irritated fear.

"Faith?" she shouted. "Little help?"

Faith utterly, completely, totally ignored her, and proceeded to toss the non-Mayor-sponsored vampire into a tree. What the hell? There wasn't really time for anything more than a frustrated obscenity before Buffy was thrown onto her back with a kick to the chest. Vaulted up with her fist clamped down on a stake, eyes hard and body tight.

"Step up, boys. Looks like my girlfriend decided to be a raving bitch, so it's just you, me, and the expectant guy with the pitchfork," Buffy said rigidly.

The vampires advanced, snarling, and Buffy suddenly wished for a rocket launcher. Dropped to the ground, spun her foot around and caught two of them unaware, sending them crashing to the grass. Furious jabs from the other vamp and no chance to stake them. The two others scrambled up and lunged at her. She realized this was a losing battle. These vampires were fast, organized, executing synchronized moves that left her bloody and weak.

"Faith!" she yelled desperately, as loud as she possibly could. She saw the other Slayer blink, freeze for a moment, and then shake her head and snap it around to see the rest of the vampires congregating on Buffy.

Buffy dodged a punch, saw Faith stake the vampire she had been beating to a bloody pulp and sprint over to do a brutal jump-kick into one of the vampires' backs.

"About freaking time," Buffy muttered angrily, and managed to out-maneuver one of the Mayor's vamps and plunge the stake into his chest.

The remaining vampire, seeing two unhappy Slayers converge on him, stakes out and raised, made a quick decision and ran as fast as he could in the other direction.

"Spineless little shit!" Faith called after him, but made no move to follow.

Buffy strode over, feeling her body humming with anger and adrenaline, and moved right up into the other Slayer's face. Faith looked back at her, and Buffy saw something nakedly lethal, something blatant and carnal in her eyes. Heat was rolling off of her in hazy rippling waves.

"What the hell happened back there, Faith?" Buffy asked furiously, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Last time I checked, we're supposed to have each others' backs, not go off on our own solo homicidal missions!"

"I just got caught up in the fight," Faith responded distantly, her voice rough and deep, her eyes running hungrily over Buffy's face and body. "Felt too good." She snapped her head up and Buffy shivered under the intensity of Faith's gaze, gazing into dark pupils so dilated they swallowed her whole. "It's been too long, B." Except Buffy didn't think she was referring to fighting any more.

"What -" was all that Buffy was able to utter in a shaky voice before Faith grabbed her shoulders and actually lifted her off the ground, slamming her roughly into the tree behind them. Her breath was wrenched from her, her stomach soaring and clenching.

Buffy opened her mouth to suck in a breath and Faith's tongue was suddenly inside, sweeping in forcefully and claiming it. She found herself pressed into the tree, bark rubbing coarsely against her back, Faith's breasts pushing sharply into hers. There was a moment of pure shock before Buffy's body responded to the flare of heat, her mind still lagging four feet behind. Her lips moved back, tongue meeting Faith's, her movements growing desperate, hips bucking, waves of heat and arousal surging through her, her entire body searching for friction.