Chapter Four: No Hurry For Home

Faith sat in a chair in the basement of the magic shop, her feet propped up onto the table in front of her. Idly she flipped through the pages of the glossy magazine, circling the weapons that caught her eye. She could hear the others above her as they moved around, or as Anya forced them to help with the incoming customers. Hence why she was hidin' out. Retail was never her gig, and she didn't want a repeat of last time when she told some lady to stick her chicken's feet where the sun don't shine.

She nodded her head to the music drifting from her ipod, chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to decide on which cross bow would be the most effective against a demon. The big one or the really big one? She tapped her pen on her jeans covered thigh, her brown eyes shifting to the wooden stairs as footsteps broke though the sounds of Deftone's cover of No Ordinary Love.

Buffy jogged down into the room, pulling at the tiny straps of her baby blue camisole. She headed over to an old shelf and stared at it, dragging her hands up and down along the sides of her tan pants. She gawked at the weird things in the various jars, her face scrunched in concentration.

The brunette smirked and turned back to her magazine, ripping out the order form in the back. She could tell that the blonde was trying to be all discreet and look at her, though to be honest she was failin'. And is wasn't the first time of course. She'd watched her and Carly for the rest of the night at the Bronze, sipping her coke and pretendin' to be looking elsewhere when she glanced over. Must be hard for her though...dealin' with a new world and shit. Seein' people she knew act different. Seein' people she'd written off all...normal.

The whole idea of other dimensions and shit really interested her, though not enough to like study them or whatever. But it really made her think about her life and how different it could be. How she could have easily freaked the fuck out if it hadn't been for Giles and his crew layin' the responsibility on thick. She'd never exactly admit it, but she was glad they'd stepped up. Glad she had people she could count on in a tight fix.

Pushing those thoughts away since they weren't really her deal, she yawned and stretched her arms over her head. She filled in the blank spaces on the form, giving Giles' addy for where she wanted the stuff to be delivered. Just needed to get the cash part down.

She heard a dejected groan and snickered, putting her feet on the floor. Itching at her cheek, she cleared her throat and pulled out her right ear bud. "Lookin' for somethin'?"

Buffy glanced over and nodded. "Um yeah. Do you know where the crocodile eyes are?"

"Top shelf." She motioned with her head.

The blonde looked up, then pouted. "I think Giles discriminates against short people. Is there a step ladder around?"

Cracking her knuckles, Faith put down her things and stood, strolling over to where everything was. She crowded Buffy's space, but it was her own fault for not movin' out of the way. She just pressed back to the shelf with eyes like a deer caught in massive head lights.

Being an inch or so taller than the other Slayer, Faith stood on her tippy toes and finagled the container down, catching it before it hit the floor. "Here ya go."

Buffy took it and smiled, quickly moving to the side. "Thanks. I--I'll just um...yeah." Turning, she rounded the staircase and headed back up into the main area.

She didn't look back because she knew if she did, Faith would probably be smirking like the smart ass she was, with those smart ass-y dimples. What had that even been, anyway? Okay so yeah she couldn't reach the eyeballs and yes she'd needed help. And maybe it didn't cross her mind to actually move, but it wasn't like she had to press against her to get them. She could have used a stick or...yodeled.

'You're making a mountain out of a mole hill'. Her mind told her. 'Or is it a glacier out of an ice cube?'

Point; well she didn't really have one to be honest. It was just odd to have Faith so close and there be no ulterior motive. No knives or punches. Just Faith, smelling good and looking good and...being good.

"Buffy, do you have my crocodile eyes? The customer wants them and if she doesn't get them, she won't give us money. And we need money. It's money." Anya said expectantly as she wandered back onto the main floor.

Snapping back to attention, she placed the jar onto the counter. "Here ya go."

"Yay." The other blonde smiled. "We are very busy today; I love it so much."

"Yeah it's nice." Buffy chuckled. She walked over to the round table where everyone was and sat down. "What cha guys doing?"

Willow gestured to all of the books. "Just looking into portals and such. There are like many ways to open one but...well...it being the right one is the tricky part."

Tara nodded. "Yeah. We could send you home or t--to Guam. Or a world of nothing but shrimp."

The Slayer made a face. "Could you send me to a world of nothing but designer clothes?"

"Not sure that exists. Bu--but there is a world of nothing but shiny stuff." She grinned, tucking hair behind her ear.

"That could work too." Buffy drummed her fingers on the table. "I wanna get home but, I dunno. Not really worried. I--I mean it's not like I'm burning in hell or floatin' around without a head. I'm...comfy."

Xander spoke up. "But what about the 'us' back there? Don't cha think they are worried about you?"

Probably. "Yeah, I'm sure they are. But I know them. Will is no doubt trying to find a way to get me back from wherever I might have went. They are all probably in research mode or whatever."

"Sounds to me like you like it here."

"It doesn't suck."

"Didja hear that guys? We don't suck! To non sucking!"

"Ha ha."

"I--I think it's okay if you li--like it here." Tara related softly. "Maybe it's cause of Faith."

Buffy's head jerked up. "What do you mean? Why would she make me like it here?"

The shy blonde bit her bottom lip. "Cause--cause you can just sit back and let her do all the work."

"Oh." That made sense. "I guess. I do enjoy gettin' to be a bum for a bit. Especially after everything that I went through before I got here."

Willow pulled at her earring. "Then don't let us poop on your party. Yo--you relax and enjoy yourself. You'll get home...eventually."

"And if not, you might get to enjoy some tasty shrimp every day for the rest of your life." Xander mused, then caught their expressions. "What?"

~*~

Sitting on the couch at Giles' apartment, Buffy yawned loudly and closed the incredibly boring book. She placed it on the table and sighed, rubbing the back of her sore neck. It wasn't that she didn't wanna go home because she did. She totally did but, she just wasn't stressing it. Which was not of the norm since she could stress like no one else on the planet. But everyone she knew was here, and they weren't pod people. She didn't feel left out or unloved at all, so it made it hard to tell the difference sometimes.

Especially since things were more or less how they used to be now before Dawn showed up. If she closed her eyes and pretended Faith was a figment of her imagination.

Although..."Hey, Faith?"

The brunette poked her head out of the fridge. "Hey, what?"

"You guys didn't happen to have to fight some kinda Hell God, did you?"

"Heh yeah. Dude was like, psycho. But makes sense I guess, what with him eatin' dog brains."

"Was his name Glory by any chance?"

"Nope. They called him Honoricon."

"And he was looking for a key that monks turned into a human?"

"Um, no. He was lookin' for a lock that turned out to be the hellmouth."

Buffy arched a brow. "Wait, what?"

Faith straightened up and closed the refrigerator door. "He wanted to make our world into his world, but he needed the hellmouth to do it. So we opened it, let it loose on his ass and then fought it back down after it ate him."

She blinked slowly, processing the news. "The lock was the hellmouth itself? Wow that's so weird. I mean, no it's just really weird." She paused, turning and leaning over the back of the sofa. "Where I'm from, it was this nut job named Glory. And these monk dudes turned the key into--well my little sister because they knew I'd protect it with my life. Gave her memories and all sorts of things. Her blood opened the portal that sent me here."

"She bite it?" The younger girl asked, and Buffy shook her head no. "Hm."

"I've been thinking about my death here, and how much it's changed things. Everything is going good; kinda makes me wonder if I really made a difference with the whole living thing." The blonde replied, seemingly out of nowhere.

The brunette popped open a can of soda. "Sure ya did. And do. Don't really think ya can compare the two anyways. The things that went down here weren't like the Dale where you live. Apples and oranges, babe."

"Aha!" They heard from the bedroom. Giles emerged with what else but a book, flipping the dusty pages quickly as he skimmed over them. He glanced at the two girls and smiled. "I think I may have found a way to help discover which energy will get you home, Buffy."

"Oh?" She didn't sound too enthusiastic. "What's that?"

"Well it uh--it's a spell of course, and I shall need a few things. One being the bones of a corpse at least one hundred years old." He explained matter-of-factly. "A skull preferably."

Faith tilted her head to the side. "You want us to go grave robbin'?"

He shrugged slightly. "It's not grave robbing. You can return it after I am done with it. Besides..." He trailed off. "...not like whoever is still using it."

Buffy chuckled. "That's one of the reasons why they called you Ripper, wasn't it?"

He blushed and cleaned his glasses with a handkerchief. "Be that as it may, there are quite a few mausoleums around Sunnydale so it should not be hard to find at least one skull in uh...moderate condition."

Swigging down some of her drink, Faith shook out her shoulders. "Aight, G. Might as well hit 'em up since we got nothin' better to do." Grabbing up her leather jacket, she headed for the door. "Ya comin', B?"

She nodded and pulled herself up, smoothing down her top. She slipped on her own khaki colored coat and they were off. They walked in silence for the most part towards the cemetery that was the nearest. In a town with more than ten, they didn't have to be picky. Which was disturbing in more ways than one.

The grass was soft underneath their feet as they entered the wrought iron gates and looked out at all of the many headstones. The moon was high above, mist rose up from the dew drop ground, giving the area a higher creep factor than usual. Buffy jerked when Faith hit her shoulder and started for a large mausoleum with the name Evans carved into the smooth marble. She mumbled and followed her, keeping her eyes alert for any vampires that may be around. She didn't see any fresh graves, but that never stopped the undead.

Faith forced open the heavy door and stepped in, waving gnats out of her face. She slid up beside the stone coffin and jimmied the lid to the side, peering down at some dead guy. Or what was left of some dead guy. "Least he doesn't smell like pork and beans."

Buffy fought off a long spider's web that had attacked her hair. "Why would he smell like pork and beans?"

"Dunno. But I've met a few corpses that had a bean like quality to 'em." She reached inside and yanked up the skull, then turned to the blonde and made it talk. "Wanna come over here and gimme some head? Get it...head..."

The blonde snorted at the lame joke, but laughed in spite of herself. "You should take that act on the road with Carrot Top."

"Ouch." She smirked, grabbing her chest. "Your words cut like knives, B."

Hehehe. B. "Uh, let's go. The sooner we get that back to Giles, the sooner I can eat those cookies he has hid in the back of his cabinet."

"Yeah, aight." Faith agreed. She made for the door, then cursed and pushed it closed the best she could. "We got a problem."

"What's that?" Buffy inquired slowly. "Vamps? Demons? Security?"

"Demons. Four."

"Why are they a problem? We kill them, remember? Punchy punchy, stab stab."

"These dudes are wicked rowdy, and they don't play fair. Best to just chill here and let 'em pass for now."

Buffy was shocked to see Faith wanting to hide from anything. Usually she just jumped in with guns blazing and decided the out come at a moment's notice. In fact she remembered the whole "if you don't come in after me, I might die" spiel she'd spouted off a few weeks after they'd met. And it couldn't be because she was scared--that just did not compute in her brain. Yet there she was, trying to wedge the lid off the crypt more so that she could fit into it.

"You're hiding? Am I missing something?" She asked, confused. "It's two against four. Two Slayers against four demons, we could kick their asses."

"Believe me B, the last thing I wanna do is be layin' in this crap. Trust me though, they aren't just regular demons." Faith replied as she dragged her over to the coffin. "Giles doesn't know the deal with 'em yet, but we know they hit like hurricanes and break bones on contact. I'd rather not have my jaw dislocated again til I can figure out the master plan." She crawled over into sarcophagus, kicking bones out of her way. "C'mon. Get in."

The blonde balked. "I am not gettin' in there. Eww factor aside, I'm pretty sure we should just try to beat them anyway."

Faith scowled, making lines appear between her brows. Not bothering to respond, she simply grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her over the side like a rag doll. A struggling, bitching rag doll but a rag doll all the same. She then edged the lid nearly back into place and listened carefully as the demons stalked around outside of the area speaking in their odd language.

Buffy was--she was pretty sure she was mad but with the whole being on top of Faith, she was finding it hard to concentrate on just one emotion. She'd never been this close to another girl before, not even in a joking way. And it didn't help that her shirt had rode up, so she could feel the hot softness of Faith's stomach against her own. She knew that it was illogical to actually be slightly nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about! Couldn't a girl lay on top of another girl in a platonic way?

Yes. Yes she could if they were friends. Though she didn't know many friends who did that. She'd certainty never laid on Willow like that. She'd never laid on Xander like that either for that matter.

Grumbling, she tried to lift her head but the back hit the lid. "Oww..."

"Shh..." Faith shushed her, her hands on her lower back. "The whole point of hidin' is to not be found. Runnin' ya trap kinda defeats the purpose, ya dig?"

"Whatever." She whispered, trying to stay still. If she moved she could feel the material of the other girl's jeans rub against the crotch of her pants, and although it wasn't unpleasant by any means, she couldn't justify thinking it was right either. "Can't believe we are doing this. The Faith I know would be out there right now, putting her foot in their faces."

"No wonder she ended up in jail." The brunette remarked, her voice husky and low. "Chick needs to practice restraint. 'Sides you think I wanna be in here? Hell no, but I also don't wanna get my ass kicked again."

"So why am I in here?"

"See no reason to let you get yours kicked either."

The theme of the Twilight Zone suddenly popped up into her head, but she ignored it. It wasn't all that strange to think of Faith, any Faith looking out for her. Even after her Faith had killed Alan Finch and decided to skip town, she'd still stopped Trick from biting her. And in the whole dream scape thing, she'd given her the knowledge it took to bring down the Mayor. So it sort of proved that the emotion or ability for her to care was there, maybe just buried deeply beneath a host of other things. Rage and depression being at the top of the list.

Raising her head the best she could, she stared at the girl under her, tracing her face with her eyes. She'd always found her pretty; Faith had always had defined yet delicate features. Especially her lips. Her supple, pouty lips. And her eyes had always been so dark unless she was standing in sunlight, then they'd flare to a warm honey brown. She couldn't count the time those eyes had looked at her with nothing but trouble swimming around, though not always the bad kind.

Yet right now they were dusky, reflecting the glow of the small shaft of moonlight that just barely hit them.

"You aight?" Faith asked.

Actually, suddenly her mouth had went dry. "Um, why do you ask?"

"I can feel ya heart racin'." The brunette pointed out. "Claustrophobic?"

Buffy shifted despite the friction it caused, her lashes fluttering. "No..."

"Want me to get on top?"

"What?"

"Would you feel more comfortable on the bottom? Less squished..."

Brain. Refusing. To. Work. "No I--I'm good." Something was happening. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was here and it was happening, making the air in the small enclosed space even warmer. Thoughts she'd never had before were whizzing through her head, clouding her mind and dancing behind her eyes. Stupid thoughts.

She wet her lips slowly, the action drawing Faith's attention to them. They were so close...much closer than the dancing they'd did the other night. And there was no music to deflect the situation. Just body against body and flesh against flesh. Maybe it was the atomosphere or the threat of danger outside the door, in any case it was causing the tiny hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.

She blamed them for her next move, pushing shiny locks out of Faith's face and tucking them behind her ear.

"I think they're gone." The brunette said several seconds later.

"Who?" Buffy questioned. "Oh! The demons. Right."

Faith smirked and reached up, pushing the stone lid to the side to give them enough room to get out. Buffy all but leapt out and stumbled into the open. The younger girl jumped out, pulling cobwebs off her clothes. "Gotta say B, I don't usually get horizontal with a chick til she buys me dinner first."

The blonde tried to play down the butterflies in her stomach. "What makes me the exception?"

She shrugged. "Dunno really. Guess I got a hidden jones for lil blonde things. Anyway let's go before they double back."

Nodding, Buffy watched her walk out and then exhaled, trying to get her bearings. There had to be some kind of explanation for the wackiness that had just ensued. Yeah. The portal--it had did weird things to her. Things that she was totally gonna look into tomorrow.

After all, if Giles didn't have books on spontaneous and unwanted attraction, the magic shop probably did.