The Faith Factor

Part 9

Don't get your hopes up, it wasn't even half as much fun as it sounded. Miniature Golf. It was boring as shit when the boss used to drag me out here, and even with the current company it really hadn't gotten all that much more exciting.

"Yeah, nice shot Tara," Buffy said, smiling at the shy witch.

B had asked Red and Tara out to dinner with us, and somehow that morphed into a night of hamburgers -- except Tara, who was a vegetarian; go fig --, frosty chocolate milkshakes, and miniature golf. How I had gotten sucked into this Pleasantville nightmare, I had no idea.

Thing was though, I knew exactly how. I looked over at Buffy, who was lining up to take a shot, her face scrunched up in that look she always got when she was in deep concentration mode. I caught Red giving me this knowing glance, and I realized that I was grinning like a total goof for everyone to see. I shot Red a pretty fierce glare and she just smiled, and pretended she was looking somewhere else.

This 'love' crap was really ruining my rep.

"We need something to make this more interesting," I said smoothly. At B's arched eyebrow, I continued. "Like a wager."

Red's eyebrows came together worriedly. "Um, what kind of wager?"

I leaned against my putter as casually as possible, and said, "Like if I get a hole in one on this next shot, I get to pick the next activity for the evening."

B and Red exchanged glances, but Tara just shrugged. "S-sure, I mean, that sounds fine." Red gave Tara a kind of worried look, like she didn't trust Tara to be able to handle whatever I had planned. Couldn't say I blamed her.

B was a little harder to convince, though. "What do we get if you miss?"

I gave her a winning smile. "If I miss, you get to drag me anywhere you want tonight."

"We're already doing that," B shot back with a grin.

"And, I won't bitch about it," I finished.

"Done," B replied almost instantly.

"Good." I swaggered, yeah swaggered, up to the tee and dropped my ball. I lined up and took a couple practice swings, even going so far as to sight down my putter to see if the shaft curved. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw B roll her eyes and I smiled.

What they all didn't know, what they couldn't know, was that I always got a hole-in-one here. The Boss was a lot of things -- psychotic, devil-worshipping, power-hungry, homicidal -- but the man knew his miniature golf.

I took my shot, and seconds later three pairs of eyes turned toward me in surprise. I blew on my putter like it was a smoking gun.

"I believe that's game," I said, grinning widely.

"Don't worry, it's only a club," I answered. "Just some music, some dancing, some hangin' out...stuff like that."

"Oh. Like the Bronze?" Red asked hopefully.

I flashed her a grin. "Something like that."

Didn't look like I reassured her much; she still kept picking at the sleeve of her jacket. I had made Red, B, and Tara stop by the dorms to change into something a little more rave-appropriate. But even with the new outfits, Red and Tara still had that air of wholesomeness that a real predator could spot a mile away. You just couldn't cover up that kind of thing with black Docs and eyeshadow.

A couple blocks from the club the two of them shot each other alarmed glances at the fact that you could feel the bass of the music in the sidewalk. A block or so from the club, and they caught their first glimpse of it: the unassuming steel door, the scraggly, tattooed bouncer, the goths and hardcore ravers stumbling in and out.

Their eyes wide, they stared up at the big piece of spray-painted steel over the door which read, "The Succubus."

B leaned close and whispered to me, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I flashed her a wicked grin. "This is sure to get those two loosened up. It worked on you, didn't it?"

"Good point," she mumbled.

I tossed a bill at the doorman, herding everyone inside the lion's den.

Red and Tara immediately wigged, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads from the sight of the dancers and various other people in the club. I don't know if it was because of all the leather, or the fact that they had never seen so many nipple piercings in one place before.

The Succubus was just about the same as usual. Hell, a place like this was never really different, it just rotated people and music every so often, like a full blood change. Dirty halogens lighting up the dance floor, dark shadows everywhere else; music which pounded the air, leaking from the club at the seams; and people who had a tendency to wear their fetishes for everyone to see. Kinda like me.

"C'mon," I said, steering them toward a table on the edge of the dance floor. They stumbled over and sat down; Red couldn't stop staring at everyone, and Tara couldn't stop blushing. I swear, if that girl pulled into herself any more, she'd implode.

I grabbed B by the elbow and leaned in close so she could hear me above the music. "I'm going to grab some drinks, see if you can keep Red's girl from having a heart attack, k?"

She smiled and sat next to Tara, using that wanna-be Homecoming Queen charm to start a conversation. Or try to, anyway, considering some Marilyn Manson remix was blasting through the speakers at a volume level roughly equivalent to a jet engine at full throttle.

I got the drinks from the bar, and when I came back I noticed that B had done a bang-up job; she had actually gotten the two witches to start smiling a little. I set down the drinks and dropped into the chair next to B, draping my arm across the back of her seat. The Wiccan Two drank up, either not really noticing the added taste of JD to the Coke, or not caring.

The music switched to a remix of Rob Zombie's "Living Dead Girl", and I jumped to my feet. "I love this song!" I said, looking around the table. "Who wants to dance?"

"Dance?" Red squeaked. "You mean dance, dance-in-public dance? Of course you mean dance-in-public dance, I mean, there's no place around here to dance-in-private dance, at least not that I've seen, but..."

I rolled my eyes and went over to stand behind Tara's chair. Leaning down close, I said in her ear, "You want to dance, don't you? C'mon..." I got her out to the dance floor without any trouble, but it wasn't because she wanted to dance, it was more because she was almost paralyzed with nervousness.

I started moving to the beat, but the blonde witch just kinda stood there, head bowed and her hair covering her face. Apparently more drastic measures were needed, so I got up right behind her and put my hands on her hips. She stiffened, ready to bolt as soon as she could figure out where to run. "Relax," I said in her ear, guiding her with my hands. "Just loosen up and have fun."

I don't know if my words had an effect or if it was the alcohol, but she started swaying under my touch, and after a minute or so she was moving without any prompting from me whatsoever. She even tossed her hair back, and I could see a small smile forming. I glanced over at Red who had such a look of raw need on her face that it would have almost put my best to shame. She had it bad for the little Wiccan, and at that point she didn't care who knew it.

I pointed an index finger at her and gave her a 'come here' gesture. She came over to us and I slid out of the way so Red could take my place behind her blonde witch. I turned around -- and came face-to-face with B, who slid her arms around my waist and began to dance.

There was a little bit of a rocky start at the beginning, but this evening was turning out damn near perfect. Kind of like the whole big, crazy thing that was my life lately.

By the time we left the club, the two witches had been three sheets, not to mention all over each other, so we had walked 'em home. Rather than head back to my apartment right away, though, we had decided to take a walk on the beach; work out some of the alcohol before we hit the sack. B really didn't want a repeat performance of her last hangover.

"I had a really great time tonight," B said, leaning back against me. My arms were wrapped around her waist, to shield her from the cold wind. Whoever came up with the term "ocean breezes" obviously never came to Sunnydale beach at 3 o'clock in the morning.

"Yeah, me too."

B chuckled. "I think Willow and Tara had a pretty good time, too."

"I knew we could loosen them up," I said, feeling a smug grin coming on.

"You know what I love most about you?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"The way you walk into a room and change everyone's lives," B replied, smiling. "No one's ever prepared for it, but it happens anyway. Kinda like a..."

"Natural disaster?" I supplied helpfully.

She smirked at me. "I was going to say 'force of nature'."

"And is this a good force of nature, or bad force of nature?"

"Good, of course. Usually it happens to people whose lives really need shaking up. Like mine."

I smiled slightly. "Well, I did such a bang-up job with my own life, why not turn my talent to someone else's?"

"You did a great job with your life. I wouldn't have you any other way," she said quietly.

I bowed my head, resting my cheek against the top of her head. We stood there for a few minutes, just listening to the surf.

"Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you marry me?"

I froze, like I always do whenever I'm scared of fucking things up. Sure, my body wasn't moving, but my heart and mind both were racing around a hundred miles a minute. "I don't think that's legal," I chuckled weakly.

B turned around, her arms slipping around my waist. She looked up at me, her eyes dark in the moonlight. "Yeah, you're probably right." She sounded disappointed, and it hurt. "But would you want to?"

I reached up to stroke her face; my hand was trembling just a little bit, and I think she noticed. "Buffy. You know I'm not that good with the whole caring and sharing thing," I said, smiling sarcastically at myself. "But I do love you. I've loved you since the minute I saw you, since before I saw you, even. Hell, probably ever since I heard the stories about a chick who had such a pair on her that she pulled out a rocket launcher to waste some demon twice her size.

"You saved me. And I don't mean 'saved my life', cuz we've done that plenty of times for each other. I mean you saved me. My soul. Shit, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead or in jail by now." I took her hands in mine and kissed them; as someone who up until recently fought and fucked with pretty wild abandon, it was the most gentle thing I've ever done.

I bared my soul to her, and I never meant anything as seriously as I did right then. "B, we are forever. As far as I'm concerned, there is no place I'd rather be, and no one I'd rather be with. And not in a till-death-do-you-part way either. Because after I'm gone, hell won't be able to hold me. I will fight to be by your side no matter where I am, and no one, no one is going to keep me away. I love you, Buffy Summers."

Her eyes filled with tears and she buried her face in my jacket, holding me tightly.

"I love you, Faith Summers."

Yeah, we'd had a pretty turbulent past, you could say. It was amazing to think that we were together at all, and a goddamn miracle that the two of us could stay together for months, much less years.

But that's a whole other story, isn't it?

Don't make any mistake about it, there are more stories. When it comes down to it, nothing and no one could stand against the Chosen Two. Because what I told her that night was absolutely true.

We are forever.