The Faith Factor

Part 6

B got up, rubbing her tailbone. "Trust me, I'm not going easy on you. You're just getting better. A lot better."

I grinned to myself, bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. B and I were sparring in my -- our? -- loft; it was nice, and a hell of a lot less lethal than the last time we fought here.

B was right, though; I was getting better. I didn't feel that weird, stretchy feeling in my chest anymore, and my breathing was back to normal. Gotta love Slayer healing; less than two days since I got out of the hospital, and I'm already almost one hundred goddamn percent.

Maybe once I healed up, all those doubts I had about myself and B would disappear too?

Who the hell was I trying to bullshit.

"Guess we should call it a morning... We have that meeting at Giles' to go to, and I'd kinda like to shower. I'd rather not have our friends smell me before they see me." B gave me a quick kiss and went into the bathroom.

Our friends. B was saying stuff like that more often. Our friends, our place, us, we. I'd never really been a part of anything before, unless you count the Watcher's Council, and that was a major clusterfuck. But she always included me, I don't even know if she did it on purpose or not.

When I came back here after getting out of the hospital, we both kinda agreed it would be better for B to move in here, unofficially at least. She wanted to be near me, in case I needed anything, and I wanted to be near her. What a laugh -- big, bad Faith didn't even like sleeping alone anymore. But can you blame me? When you've got B sleeping next to you, anything else is a wicked letdown.

What I tried to tell her was, "Buffy, I think things between us are better than they've ever been. I love you, and I need you. I would be happy beyond words to have you move in here with me. I know it's not much, but it would mean a lot to me." What I actually said was, "You know, you should bring over some of your stuff. That way it won't be such a pain in the ass if you spend the night over here."

She got it -- at least, I think she did. B just smiled at me and said, "I think that's a great idea. I'd love to." And so she dragged over a bunch of her clothes and stuff. Red gave her a little bit of a hard time, but it wasn't like she was spending a whole bunch of her nights at the dorm room, either. The little witch was keeping her plenty busy.

I listened to the sound of the shower running for a couple of minutes before it really sunk in, and then I began to wonder what I was doing out here when she was in there.

This is California after all; gotta do what I can to save water. And if that means showering together, I guess I'll just have to make that sacrifice.

As if she had to worry. I sighed. Guess I'd have to straighten that out, too.

"I've got a list of several of the different demon types from which he was constructed," Giles said, holding up a piece of paper. "He has been given extraordinary strength, and above-average speed. He has, of course, the skewers in his arms from the Polgara demon, but that seems to be his primary weapon."

"Aside from his fists," I said, rubbing my arm. Giles nodded at me.

"So he likes to get in close," B said, pacing around now. "Problem is, so do we. But we can't inflict the same damage on him that he can on us."

I shrugged. "Piece of cake, then." They all looked at me like crazy, so I explained. "I seem to remember hearing about the great Slayer Buffy Summers, who once pulled out a fuckin' rocket launcher to finish off some demon or other who couldn't be killed with normal weapons."

B thought about that for a second. "Yeah, but unlike the Judge, Adam knows what a rocket launcher is, and he probably won't stand still for it."

Xander spoke up. "He's got some computer thing in his chest...can't we use that to attack him?"

Everyone looked at Red now. "Maybe...but we'd have to give him a disk and trick him into reading it," Willow said. "But I can't write a virus unless I know a lot more about his hardware and operating system."

"Can you get that information from the Initiative's computers?" Buffy asked.

"Probably...but the Initiative probably uses C2 security, at a minimum." Red got blank looks from everyone. "That means their network is isolated." More blank looks. "It means I can't just break into their system from outside."

"Can Riley help us get in to their system?" Xander asked.

B and I exchanged looks. "I don't think we can count on Riley's help with this one," Buffy said evenly. "He and the Initiative will be hunting Adam separately."

"Which leaves us with the massive brute force approach," I said, jumping off the breakfast bar I was sitting on. "All we have to do is make sure Adam doesn't see it. He can't see it, he can't dodge it, right?"

"Only one problem," Xander said. "Rocket launchers make a big noise and a big flash before they make the big boom. There's no way you'd be able to keep that a secret."

"So we can't use a rocket launcher," B said, looking around. "Is there anything else we can use?"

I grinned at her. "I think I have an idea."

I walked over and sat down next to her, watching with some smugness as she moved over to try to get some of her personal space back. I knew all the intimidation tricks, and getting in someone's face is definitely one of them.

"You got a problem with me?" I asked, wicked casual.

"You're after Xander." Direct and to the point. I could get to like this girl, if she stops being such a bitch.

"He told you we slept together, didn't he?"

She nodded, still glaring.

"Well, trust me, I'm not looking for a repeat performance. It was just a quickie, I'm-horny-you're-horny thing, ok? Didn't mean anything, and if I knew how B and her friends felt about casual sex, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Got it?"

The chick looked confused. "How can anyone have sex with Xander, and not want to have sex with him again?"

Now, see, this is a conversation I like to have; no BS, no beating around the bush. "All I can say is that he must have practiced before boinking you, because when we did it, he was ok, but not great. I've had better."

"Really? Who?"

I shrugged. "Plenty of people. I mean, if Xander is ringing all your bells, that's great, stick with that. He just doesn't do it for me, ya know?"

"Because you have Buffy, right?"

My eyebrows shot up. Two points for perception. "Yeah." No reason to deny it.

"You two are orgasm friends?"

That's an interesting way to put it. "At least. I..." Shit, Faith, you can do this. "I love Buffy. I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, including cheating on her with Xander. Okay?"

She thought about that for a minute before she nodded. "Good," I said, and glanced up just in time to see two pairs of eyes look down wicked fast at a book. I grinned to myself and got up, walking around behind Red and Tara. Leaning down, I said, "See anything interesting?"

Two heads shook.

I just smiled and went over to turn on the TV.

"Faith, if you're done having a religious experience with your new toy..." Buffy said, smiling.

I looked up, tearing my eyes away from the gorgeous, black compound bow that Giles and Buffy picked up as part of their shopping trip. "Sure, sorry B. But the experience I was having wasn't religious."

That got a grin from B, but Giles cleared his throat. "Well, we're all familiar with the plan of attack. The only question that remains is, how do we implement it?"

"We have to lure out Adam, right?" Red asked. "How do we do that?"

"By giving him something that he wants," I said. "Me."

B shook her head. "No way. Besides, Faith, if the plan is going to work, you've got to be hiding when Adam comes out. I'll need to be the one out there."

"He'll know it's a trick," Red pointed out. "He's not stupid."

"But he thinks we are..." I thought for a sec, twirling a broadhead arrow between my fingers. "When you're trying to pull a con, the best thing to do is to feint, let the mark catch you goofing up on a smaller con, so the big one doesn't get noticed. It's a great way to get someone to underestimate you."

"Do I even want to know how you know all this?" B shook her head, smiling. "So he's going to assume it's an ambush, unless we give him another trick to figure out."

I grinned and nodded. I was juiced now, all the pieces were clicking into place. "You know, B, you'd look good as a brunette."

Red looked up from the book she was reading. She and Tara were sitting a little closer together, getting a little more daring with the whole PDA thing. "It takes a little while to get to Willy's and back. I'm sure she's ok."

I grunted and kept pacing. I should have gone with her, but we didn't want to make it too obvious. The trick is in making it just obvious enough.

Seconds later, the door opened, and B walked in. Goddamn, looking at her, I could hardly breathe. She was wearing stuff that I would normally wear: boots, tight black leather pants, black tube top and black denim jacket. The only difference was that she had a brown-haired wig covering her hair; a wig which she took off as soon as she got through the door.

I was gonna keep my cool, but I couldn't help it. I jumped into her arms as soon as the door closed, and gave her a nice, long kiss.

"I should be greeted like this more often," she whispered to me after breaking the kiss.

"I missed you," I told her, huskily. We heard a small cough, and looked over to where Red was clearing her throat. Not that she gave a rat's ass what we were doing, but she pointed at Giles and Xander, whose eyebrows had reached their hairlines.

"Uh oh," Buffy said to me, in a low voice. "Now we've done it."

"I couldn't help myself," I told her. "In that outfit, you're wicked sexy."

"Guess I should hang onto it, then." She grinned at me, and winked. Turning to the two guys, she said, "I guess it's kinda obvious that Faith and I are a little bit more than friends."

Giles seemed to snap out of the haze he was in. "Ah, yes. Well, I'm sure everything is...good. Can I get anyone a drink?" And he beat a hasty exit to the kitchen.

Xander just stared at us. B frowned, all worried for the guy. "Are you ok, Xander? Does this bother you?" I snickered. I coulda told her he was ok, considering all the blood left his brain in a rush.

His jaw worked for a minute before any sound came out. "Two beautiful, leather-wearing, strong, gorgeous -- did I mention leather-wearing? -- Slayers french kissing right in front of me. You know, I can't tell if it's bothering me or not. Could you do it again, so I can make sure?"

I shrugged. "Sure," I said, and put my arms around B.

B, in turn, almost jumped out of her skin. "Xander! Faith!" She gave us both a glare that was completely unconvincing.

I just shrugged again. "Shit, wouldn't be the first time I let a guy watch," I said. That got a whole hell of a lot of shocked looks from everyone, Xander included.

"Ok, that's enough," Anya said, dropping the magazine she was reading. "C'mon Xander, let's go back to your basement."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, Anya," Xander said, still in a daze. "We need to go and...do stuff. You know...do stuff."

Anya looked pleasantly surprised. "That's the second time today. I should let him watch you guys kiss more often," she said, and dragged him out of the house.

"So," I said, casual as all hell. "How did it go over at Willy's?"

B looked at me, and blinked a couple of times. "Oh, it went fine; I found one of Adam's vamp goons, told him I was Faith and that I was sorry our last meeting went bad. Told him to let Adam know that I could deliver him Buffy, and to meet me tomorrow night at the cemetery."

"Great." I grinned. "Did he fall for it?"

"Not really," B said. "He kept looking at me, like he recognized me as Buffy. But he didn't say anything."

"So Adam will think the trick is an ambush by Buffy?" Tara asked, her voice so quiet it barely carried to the other side of the room. Gonna have to work on loosening that girl up.

I nodded. "That's the plan."

"You know," Buffy began, facing the group, "no one should feel like they have to come with us. This is going to be pretty dangerous, and if anyone feels like they shouldn't risk their lives, that's cool."

Red looked at Tara, and the witch girl just slid her hand into Red's. Guess that was her answer. Red looked at B and said, "We're with you, Buffy. We want to help fight the big, nasty evil. You'll need our help."

"She's right, Buffy." Giles nodded. "Not helping you is not an option worth considering."

B grinned; I smiled, too. It was nice having friends to watch your back. "I love you guys," B said, getting all misty-eyed and shit.

"Ah hell," I said, blinking. "If this is turning into the caring circle, I'm going home."

Red and Tara got up from the couch. "Guess we'd better go back, before it gets late. Big day tomorrow." They said their goodbyes, and took off.

B looked at me, sliding her arms around my waist. "Tomorrow's going to be pretty dangerous, huh?"

I shrugged, holding her close. "Could be."

She was going to say something, and stopped to lick her lips; I barely held back from doing it for her. "It's not too late; I'd kinda like for us to visit with my mom. Try to get things straightened out before tomorrow."

Woah. Didn't see that coming. "Now, I don't want you to be all getting your affairs in order here, B. Cuz you ain't going anywhere tomorrow, ya know?"

"I know." B nodded. "But I want to get past that. Go into the fight tomorrow with a clear head."

I couldn't argue with that, but I didn't know how much would actually get resolved. "Okay, I'm game."