Portal

She regards me with smoky-painted eyes. "Don't hurt me, Buffy," she says, taking a subtle step closer to me. Her voice has lost all of its innocent, baby-doll lilt in favor of a more gravely tone. It's like City Hall was stripped away with her short mini-dress and only Faith Lehane remains.

I would never hurt you, Faith. I never want to hurt you ever again.

"I won't," I lick my lips and take a step closer to her. She reaches for my face and her skin feels like it's on fire. "I promise."

The next morning, I wake up to a mixture of honking horns and the chirping of birds. I stretch my arms above my body, and fill my lungs with air. It's still early and the congestion of car exhaust hasn't yet tainted the morning air.

To my left in bed, City continues to soundly sleep. Her body is positioned so she's facing me, and I take this private moment to enjoy the view. The light quilt covers her naked breasts, but I can still see their slight swell as the blanket rises and falls with every deep, even breath. Her clavicle is deliciously defined, and I feel slightly cannibalistic for wanting to nibble on that bone.

I slowly sit up in bed and slide out from beneath the covers, not wanting to disturb her deep sleep. I'm naked, but the sun is already warm on my bare body. I feel surprisingly alive, like I've never rested so well as I did last night. I take the moment to stretch fully, my arms high in the air, my eyes closed, and a smile on my face.

"Looking good!" I hear someone call out. The praise is immediately followed by a wolf whistle.

Oh God. My eyes flip open and my body stiffens. Across the city skyline, I see two guys on a balcony a few hundred feet from where I stand. And they're giving me a standing ovation. Their applause sounds crisp and taunting.

My thoughts are consumed by one thought: Where are my pants? Where are my pants?

Quickly forgetting about the beautiful woman still sleeping soundly on the rooftop mattress, I gather up a handful of clothes, along with the remnants of my modesty. I scramble toward the fire exit door, pulling on my discarded pajama pants and tank top as I do so.

I feel bad for leaving City on the roof, but I need to escape the voyeuristic view of those boys. And I need coffee. And a hairbrush. And possibly a mint.

I push through the noisy metal door, wincing as it screams. I've probably just woken up everyone on the floor beneath me. The hallway is dark and my eyes take a while to adjust. I run my fingertips along the walls, using them as my guide, and hope I can find my way back to City's apartment. All the directional notes from last night seem to have magically disappeared.

And suddenly the floor disappears, and I'm falling through the air again, surrounded by that non-familiar green glow. I just can't seem to get a break.

Chapter 11: I've done this before

Author: lizardmm

Rated: R

The blonde slayer landed hard on solid pavement, her boots nearly an inch-high in rainwater. "Another portal, another dirty alley," Buffy grumbled to herself, stepping gingerly out of the deep puddle.

She looked down and sighed when she recognized her dingy clothes. The same dirty jeans, the same ruined boots. Why couldn't these portals be equipped with OxyClean? Magic scrubbing bubbles? Oh well. At least she didn't have a penis this time.

The sound of glass shattering in the near vicinity alerted the California native, her Slayer senses automatically going on alert. If experience had taught her anything, all of this alternate universe jumping usually landed her right in the middle of conflict.

Buffy reflexively reached into the lining of her denim jacket and pulled out the familiar weapon she kept there. She searched for a place to hide.

The sound of boots echoed down the empty corridor. "What kind of demon wears boots?" Buffy wondered to herself, trying to mentally narrow down her options.

The stranger's steps clunked closer and closer, until finally coming to a stop a few feet from the experienced slayer. From her crouched position behind the large metal dumpster, Buffy couldn't see who her stalker was, but the tingles at the base of her spine told her to remain alert.

The Chosen One took a deep breath. The disciplined muscles of her crouched legs twitched in anticipation of her attack. Finally, she sprung out from behind the alley dumpster, her weapon flying forward along with her body.

"Faith?!" the blonde girl exclaimed, abruptly stopping her attack mid-air.

"Were you expecting someone else?" the mysterious form responded. The woman's face showed neither alarm nor relief that Buffy had stopped her attack just in time.

The blonde girl stared open-mouthed at the Slayer standing calmly before her, smoking a cigarette. "Actually. Yes," she admitted vaguely.

"Who you waitin' on?" Faith asked, taking a lazy pull from her cigarette. "Gotta secret rendezvous or somethin'?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"No. No rendezvous," Buffy mumbled, feeling slightly shaken as she tucked her stake back into the lining of her jean jacket.

"That's a pity," the dark-haired girl snickered. "Thought by now you woulda found the fun." She took a final drag and dropped the wasted cigarette to the pavement, stamping out the smoldering butt with the toe of her heavy boots. "So why were you hiding?" she asked in her usual raspy voice. "Are you hurt or somethin'?"

"I wasn't hiding," Buffy protested. "I was..." Her sentence trailed off and she blinked a few times. "...setting a trap." Wait a minute.

The Bostonian smirked. "Setting a trap, eh? And you were the bait?"

A loud shriek interrupted the two women's banter. Buffy's eyes went wide, and she reflexively reached out to grab the dark-haired slayer's wrist. A mangy grey cat jumped on top of a wooden crate and arched its back, hissing at the two women.

"I've done this before," she stated aloud, holding Faith's hand in a tight grip.

Was this really happening? After all the portals and bizarre Faith look-alike run-ins, could she actually be back in her own world? Had she actually returned to her version of Cleveland? Was it just that easy?

"You were in South Korea," the blonde slayer murmured, more to herself than to her startled colleague.

Faith looked a mix of surprised and impressed. "Wow, Blondie," she stated, a small smirk on her face, "didn't know you were keepin' track of my worldly travels."

Buffy shook her head. "No, I thought you were in Japan before. You showed up in this alley, and I nearly attacked you, and then you made fun of me for hiding and you said you were back from Korea, but I had thought you had been in Japan. And then there was a cat and a giant rock thing," she babbled. "Honestly though, I can't tell one Asian country from the other. It's all Greek to me. Or...Japanese...or Korean... or...something."

The Boston girl slightly narrowed her eyes in confusion. "I'm not followin', B." She chuckled. "Not like I usually can follow where your thoughts are headin' though once the Buffy-train's gotta a full head of steam."

Buffy did a slow turn in the dark alleyway. "I've done this all before," she repeated, her voice filled with awe.

The ground shook slightly as though a small earthquake quivered through the alleyway. The standing water in various shallow puddles rippled like a small stone had been thrown into their centers.

"Something tells me that's not another cat," the dark-haired slayer observed. She grabbed into the waistband of her black denim pants and pulled out the wooden stake she always had on her.

The tingles at the base of Buffy's spine grew stronger. She knew what was coming. But she didn't know yet how to defeat it. Despite all the various worlds in which she'd been flung, not one of them had told her how to defeat the demon that had started it all. And she'd only seen the creature one other time.

The demon's ominous words echoed in her mind: "I'm not here to hurt you."

First a foot, then a second, stepped out of the darkness of the nearly abandoned alley. A massive hulk of a monster stood before the two slayers. It lumbered tall above the experienced fighters, nearly as wide as it was tall. The creature didn't appear to have any special powers or weapons on its body, but the massive size of its rocky fists alone suggested it would be a formidable opponent.

Buffy turned her head when she heard her sister-slayer release a low whistle at the sight of the bulky monster. Faith readied herself, forming closed fists in front of her body in a defensive pose. "And here I thought I was gonna get a little vacation comin' back here," she stated wryly.

"Well, you know life on the Hellmouth," Buffy stated, the words falling easily from her mouth like a rehearsed play. "It's not a normal day unless someone's vacation gets ruined."

"Mind if I have a crack at it first?" the Boston girl questioned, keeping her eyes trained on the slowly advancing demon.

Buffy opened her mouth and closed it. How had this gone down before? How could she avoid repeating her past mistake? She couldn't help but feel a little like Tru Davies in this moment. What had she done last time that got her tossed into a dimensional portal?

"Actually," she shot out hastily, "I think I'll handle it."

Faith dropped her guard momentarily, the weapon in her hand resting near her side. "Damn, Princess. Didn't know I was crampin' your style."

The Californian shook her head briskly. "It's not that," she reasoned. "It's just...It's just that we've done this before."

The brunette slayer raised an eyebrow and took a subtle step away from the elder woman. "You keep saying that."

"Slayer," the looming giant growled, speaking for the first time. Both women turned to face the demon. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"That record's getting pretty old," the blonde slayer quipped. "Have any new ones for me?"

In that moment, all of Buffy's dimensional experiences flashed through her head. She saw all the faces, all the personas, all of Faith's doppelgangers that she had come into contact with that evening. What was the connection? What had been the purpose of her adventures?

Buffy looked at her sister-Slayer out of the corner of her eye. The Boston girl's face, always beautiful, looked focused and intense as she glared at the unknown threat.

"I think I know what it wants," Buffy murmured.

Faith hazarded a quick glance at her smaller colleague. "What's that? And don't even tell me it's some kinda ritual involving kittens."

"Kittens?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Long, freaky story that went down when I was in Korea," Faith explained. "I'll tell ya when you're older."

The blonde girl took a deep breath. It was now or never. If she was wrong, she might get her skull cracked open. And then she would still have to deal with the angry, rock demon.

Buffy wet her lips, nervously swiping her tongue along her lower lip. "Faith," she murmured, garnering the Boston girl's attention once more.

The brunette turned her head away from the formidable monster once again to look at her sister-Slayer. "Yeah, B?"

The small Californian's hands slid around the taller woman's slender waist. Faith's body stiffened slightly at the unexpected touch. Buffy slid her hand up Faith's neck, her palm coming to rest at the side of her face, and the brunette slayer made a strangled noise of surprise.

Buffy wet her lips again, her thick eyelashes fluttering. The Boston woman was frozen in her spot as she watched the shorter woman slightly stand on her tiptoes to narrow the distance between their mouths. The blonde's tongue poked slightly out and she brushed the tip along Faith's full lower lip. Summoning her remaining courage, Buffy pushed forward, pressing her mouth fully against the brunette slayer's lips.

Faith pulled away from her sister-Slayer. "What the Hell are you doing, B?" she blustered in an angry tone. Her dark eyes flashed. "This isn't the time for-,"

Buffy interrupted the dark slayer's protest with another crushing kiss. But instead of pulling away as she had done before, Faith moaned quietly this time when the elder slayer's tongue thrust into her open mouth. The brunette allowed the elder woman to explore, and she brought her hands up to Buffy's waist, sliding them up and under her denim jacket. The Californian's svelte form was slender, but strong, just as Faith had always imagined she'd feel.

"Aw, fuck it," the dark-haired slayer laughed gruffly when the two momentarily pulled apart for air. She flung her weapon away, and it clattered on the pavement in the distance. Faith took the smaller woman's face more fully in her hands. "If this is the moment I die," she murmured, looking hard into Buffy's hazel-green eyes, "I might as well die happy."

Buffy's breath hitched in her throat as she watched the Boston girl's dark eyes flutter close. Faith once again narrowed the distance between their mouths, but this time she was in control. She sucked the smaller slayer's lower lip into her mouth and lightly nibbled on the flesh. Buffy felt her knees wobble slightly, but was glad for the stability and strength her sister-Slayer's close form provided.

And although the Californian didn't want to compare this kiss with all the lip-locks she had experienced with the look-a-likes, she was personally pleased that Faith Lehane's kisses destroyed them all.

A green, pulsing portal opened unannounced, its eerie glow spreading across the brick wall of one of the alleyway buildings. Taking one last look at the two distracted women, the demon stepped into the gateway and it quickly closed, swallowing up behind the creature's massive form.

"What the fuck was that thing?" Faith declared, her breath slightly ragged from Buffy's embrace.

Buffy grabbed onto the taller woman's chin and smiled as she gazed up into the dark confusion in her former nemesis's eyes. "Would you think I was crazy if I said I thought it was Cupid?"

A small smile formed at the corners of the Boston-born woman's mouth. "Kiss me again," she said in her rough voice, "and I'll let you know what I think afterwards."

And the blonde slayer was only too happy to oblige.

FIN