The Faith Factor

Part 2

"Yeah, I want to talk to you...hold on just a sec." Again she shut the door in his face. Harsh.

She turned around to talk to me, but before she could say anything, I said, "Oh no. Sorry B, but there's no way I'm going back in that closet, not on any level." A sudden chilling thought occurred to me. "Unless you're planning on going back to him..."

B winced at the look I gave her, and pulled me into a hug. "I love you. I want to be with you. But I care about Riley; I don't want to hurt him. Let's just...see if we can make this as gentle as possible, ok?"

I let out the breath I was holding. "Yeah, ok. You know me, gentle as a kitten." I took a seat at B's desk, leaning back and propping up my feet.

B shook her head a little, and then opened the door. "C'mon in." Riley walked in and gave me a look. "Hello," he said; his voice was pleasant enough, but he had a look on his face like he knew he should hate me, but wasn't sure why. Guess he hadn't placed the face yet.

"Hey." I said, stifling a grin. I'm probably a real bitch for saying this, but I like winning. I like it a lot.

Buffy walked over and sat on her bed. "Riley, I needed a few days to get some things straight in my mind--"

"Are we going to talk about this here, with..." He waved a hand in my direction.

"What I have to say concerns her as much as you or me," Buffy said.

He took a closer look at me now. "Faith." Man, he was bitter. Can't say as I'm surprised, though.

There really must be no justice in this world. Here I was, the person who tried to make B's life miserable by sleeping with her boyfriend, and she falls in love with me. And now here is said boyfriend, as sweet and vanilla a person to ever come out of the hideously dull midwest, about to be dumped.

Well, cry me a fuckin' river. I saw her first.

"Yes, Faith. These past couple of weeks have really shaken things up, made me look at things in my life--"

Riley interrupted her. "Why is she here? I've heard nothing except how she," he pointed at me now, "is a criminally insane psycho killer. And now she's hanging out in your dorm room like she's your best friend? Buffy, what the hell is going on here?"

B was trying her best to get Beefstick calmed down. "Look, Riley, things between Faith and I have been very complicated in the past. It's really not a pretty story, in fact some parts get really ugly. But we're not dwelling on that anymore."

"And what about all the terrible stuff she's done recently?"

"I've forgiven her for that." B's voice was pretty quiet; I could tell this was really hurting her. I wanted to sit next to her, put my arm around her like she did for me when I was hurting, but...

"You've forgiven her, but you can't forgive me."

B shook her head. "It's not a matter of forgiving you. I know you didn't cheat on me, not really."

"Then what's the deal, Buffy?" He glanced at me sideways, and knelt down in front of her, all 'sensitive new age guy' and shit. He wrapped his hands around hers, and I wanted to put my fist through his face. I almost did it, too, but I knew that B didn't want that and I'd be making trouble for myself. So I held off, just barely.

"I can't be with you anymore, Riley." She never looked at him; if I knew B, I'd say she felt too guilty about hurting him.

"Why?" Damn, he was going to be an asshole and press her on it, I was sure of it.

"It's...There's someone else."

"Who?" Riley glanced at me, and I knew he already knew the answer, he just wanted Buffy to have to say it. Fuck that, this interview is over.

"That's it, just give her a break," I said, getting out of my chair and opening the door.

"Who?" He repeated; fuckin' Beefstick just ignored me. Well that's it, I tried to play nice.

"I told you, that's it," I said, grabbing Beefstick and tossing him toward the door like he was a ragdoll. He didn't put up much of a fight; he tried, though. I didn't mind. I just pushed him outside into the hall and shut the door behind me. "Just back off. She's obviously made her choice." I grinned and lowered my voice so not even Slayer hearing could pick it up past a few feet. "Why would she want to bother with a mortal man when she could have a Slayer?" I saw the hatred in his eyes, and my grin widened. I licked my top lip slowly and turned my back on him, going back into the room.

B was still sitting in the same position as before. I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulders, feeling her relax.

"That wasn't fun," she said softly.

It could have been worse, I thought, but I decided that the story about one of my mom's boyfriends holding her at gunpoint could wait for another time. "Nope," I said, moving to lay down on the bed and pulling her with me. She wrapped her arm around me, and I felt her smile.

"Thanks for being here."

I shrugged one-shouldered, not wanting to disturb her leaning on the other one. "Hell, it's nothing. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had to do that in the first place."

"Yeah, I would have. Riley is sweet and nice and everything, but he's not who I thought he was when I started falling for him." She stopped talking, and I really didn't have anything to say. Didn't take long before her breathing got regular, like she was asleep.

I just watched her. Wasn't the first time I watched her sleep, and every single time I did, the thoughts were the same. This is too perfect. Of all the people who want Buffy, there's only one person she wants -- me.

I should leave. My mind is screaming at me to leave, but my body won't budge, won't move a muscle. Because I know that I don't want to give this up. I can't.

Red came in, grinning like she just ate the fuckin' canary. Guess things went pretty well with the Wicca chick. She looked over at us, so mushed out that she didn't even realize Buffy and I were in a clinch.

"Hey Red," I said, and I felt B wake up.

"Hi guys!" She said, obviously excited.

"Hey Will," B replied, rolling off of me and rubbing her eyes. "How'd everything go."

"Great!" She was so goddamn excited she almost squeaked. "Tara and I talked...we're going out to dinner tomorrow night." She looked between Buffy and I, trying to gauge our response. Hell, she should know it by now.

"That's great!" B grabbed her up in a big hug, and I couldn't keep from grinning. Red really was a pretty cool chick, and now that she had Wicca chick to loosen her up I figured we'd get along pretty well. "What are you going to wear?"

Red gasped. "I don't know!" She and B immediately went into "fashion consultant mode", and I just rolled my eyes.

They spent a good half hour trying to decide on Red's outfit for her date; they finally settled on a light sweater and skirt combo. It looked good, in a wholesome sort of way.

The whole time I could see that B's mind was working away, trying to come up with a good way to tell Red about us. It wasn't a pretty sight, and I could tell that if B didn't get it out soon, she was going to start second-guessing telling her at all. And after second-guessing comes what I call 'reality leakage.'

I've seen it before with girlfriends who were closeted, but really didn't want to be. They bring up all sorts of weird topics of conversation, in the hopes that they get their perfect chance to tell family or friends or whoever that they're now dating a girl. Usually they end up chickening out, and just getting a rep for being a freak. It's got to come out somehow, so it usually ends up leaking out around the edges.

It better not go that far, because if it does, I'll have to do something about it.

Luckily, Red saved the day. "Oh! I forgot to tell you before. Riley was looking for you."

Buffy frowned. "He found us." Her eyes shifted, like she was nervous. Hell, she probably was. She'd never done this before. "I told him I couldn't see him any more."

Red just nodded, like she was expecting it.

"To tell the truth, there's someone else," Buffy continued.

Red just nodded again, and had a hard time not grinning this time. I almost laughed. I wonder when the little witch figured it out. "I figured as much...when I came in here and saw you and Faith all snuggled up together."

B blushed, and I choked. "Snuggle? Now wait a goddamn minute, Red, I do not snuggle."

She just kept grinning. "Ok. Cuddled, then."

I mock growled at the little witch, and B burst out laughing. "Down girl." She smiled at Red. "You're the first person we've told... Well, except for Riley. And if you hadn't been preoccupied with a certain blonde witch, then you really would have been the first."

Red just smiled and pulled B into a big hug. "I'm happy for you guys," she said, and looked over at me. I knew she meant it, and I couldn't help smiling in response. Best of all, she seemed to really snap Buffy out of the funk Riley put her in.

"You know, Will, there's something...a favor I want to ask you."

"Anything, Buffy, you know that." Red caught the serious tone of Buffy's voice; made me wish I knew what the hell she was talking about.

"Now that the heat's off of Faith a little bit, I was wondering if there's anything you can do to the police records, you know, work a little of that hacker magic." Oh. That.

"Cracker," Red corrected automatically. She thought for a sec, and then said, "Yeah, I think there is." She hopped up and down like she was excited or something, and sat down and started typing away at her computer. B and I just looked at each other and sat down to watch TV. Red wouldn't even talk to us until she was done.

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't feel any different."

"You look pretty good for a five foot tall Samoan woman," Buffy said.

"Just to be sure, I modified the status of the case, so that you aren't even wanted for questioning anymore. Oh, and one other thing..." She looked at us like she was so fuckin' pleased with herself she couldn't stand it. "That apartment the Mayor bought for you? I've switched the title from his name to yours."

I just stared at Red; I almost couldn't believe my ears. "What?"

"It belongs to you now. I wasn't sure what to put down for your last name, so I put down Summers. We can change it."

I looked at Buffy for a long time and she looked at me right back, smiling. "Faith Summers..." I said. "Nah. I think I like that just fine."

"Ok." Red did some additional tapping away and soon after shut down her computer. Grabbing her jacket, she said, "I'm going over to Tara's. There's a spell we can do that will cloud the police's memory of you, Faith, so that they have to rely on those fake computer records."

I smirked. "You're going over to Tara's...to cast spells." Yeah, right.

She blushed. "Among other things."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," B added. Red just grinned.

"No fear of that, is there?"

This isn't me. Since when is this me?

Since B was willing to share her life with me, that's when. It's what I wanted all along, wasn't it? Poor, pitiful Faith. Got no home, got no family, got no friends. Only... Now I have a home, family, and friends. So what the hell is the problem?

I'll tell you what the problem is. The same goddamn thing that comes up every single time I start to get close to someone. That feeling like it's all going to go away, like I'm going to fuck it up like I always do.

"What'cha thinking?" B asks me. She must've noticed I'm not really watching the TV.

"I'll fuck it up, as usual."

"No you won't." It's a familiar speech by now, but one which made me feel a little better every time I hear her say it. "You're stuck with me, because I'm not letting you go. I love you too much."

I smile and shake my head. Un-fucking-believable, what she does to me. "I love you too."

"Glad to hear it. You want to go check out your kinda-new place?"

"Yeah. I think I do."