FF Aliceinwonderbra - Chutes & Ladders

Buffy the Vampire Slayer fiction

When Faith celebrates her 18th birthday in Sunnydale, her slayer abilities begin to disappear. As Buffy struggles to help her, the two grow closer. Buffy/Faith, alt season 3, Faith cruciamentum fic.




I have build this book from its author's site.
http://chosentwofanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=36

You can find my entire collection here:
http://kickasstorrents.ee/user/perellopis/uploads/




Part 1 : Friday

Rupert Giles clutched the cordless phone tightly to his ear while pacing back and forth through his office. "I don't believe it's necessary." He paused abruptly to listen to the voice on the phone. His fingers tightened reflexively around the plastic as if he could strangle the caller through the line. "Because it's barbaric!" He insisted.

"Giles!" Buffy and her friends could be heard entering the library, Xander's laugh louder than his two female companions. Giles covered the receiver with his palm. "Just a moment!" He called toward the kids, and quickly closed his office door. Uncovering the phone he tried again, "The cruciamentum is absolutely-" Interrupted again, he stopped, his brow furrowing in frustration. He listened for several long moments without speaking. Finally he sighed regretfully. "Very well." He could see Willow and Xander sitting at the table now, the former pulling textbooks from inside her purple backpack. "Yes, I understand." He clicked off the phone with a sigh and opened his door. Sliding his glasses from his nose, he began to polish them as he left the office. Trying to clear his face of his troubled thoughts, he smiled slightly and joined them in the main library.

Xander was leaning toward Willow, trying to see what she was looking for in the bag. The redhead coughed lightly, her face turning pink. "Uh, Xander,"

"Right!" He rapidly aligned his back with the stiff wooden chair. "Keeping a friendly distance. A distance that friends keep!"

Buffy smiled tiredly at the two of them from across the table. "It's okay, Xand. I don't think Cordelia and Oz are lurking in the stacks trying to catch you."

Giles leaned casually against the counter, not really paying attention to their discussion, but instead worrying over the conversation he had just finished.

Willow was still pink but trying to steer the conversation away from her and Xander. "Any sign of Angel, Buffy?"

The slayer shook her head, dropping her eyes to her hands. "No," She sighed. "As far as I can tell he made good on his promise to leave town."

"Good!" Xander chimed enthusiastically. Off their dirty looks, "I mean, err, good. For Buffy!" He fumbled. "Because… you said you didn't want to see him anymore!" He finished triumphantly, pointing one finger in the air in a "Eureka!" pose.

Willow gaped at him disapprovingly for a moment before turning sympathetic eyes to her friend. "Are you doing okay?" She brightened. "Because if you're not, we could have a girls' night!"

"Girls' night?" Faith's gravely voice interrupted them as she sauntered into the library. Hopping up on the counter in one quick movement, she landed next to Giles.

The librarian startled and stood up straighter. "Faith. Hello."

She smirked at him. "G." Glancing at the three friends, "B. Guys." Her gaze turned lazily toward Willow. "Girls' night?"

The hacker flushed again, her fingers twisting nervously in her lap. "Yeah, to ease the post breakup sadness."

"Will there be pillow fights?" Xander asked hopefully. "And nighties that get tangled and removed during the pillow fights?"

Buffy stifled a smile. "Girls' night, Xander."

"Yeah, no boy cooties allowed!" Willow reaffirmed.

Faith jumped from the counter and moved to drop herself into the chair beside Buffy. "Never figured you were that into girl cooties, Red, but hey, I'm down if you're down."

Willow sputtered, her eyes widening in horror at having walked into the sexual innuendo. Buffy's eyes rolled and she gave Faith a long suffering smile. "Do you want to come or not?"

"Will there be pillow fights?" Faith asked, imitating Xander's hopeful voice.

"No!" Cried Willow vehemently. "Just ice cream, and boy talk, and movies, and maybe crying." Her cheeks started returning to their normal color.

"There won't be any crying." The blonde slayer replied patiently, with a pointed look to Willow. "I'm fine, Will, really." She tried to smile brightly and was semi-successful. She looked toward the other slayer expectantly, "So?"

"Eh," Faith replied noncommittally, casually picking up a book from the table and leafing through it with disinterest. She gazed at Buffy from the corner of her eye, trying to gauge whether the other slayer was actually sincere in the invitation. Things between the two of them had been tense ever since Faith had found out the blonde slayer was hiding her recently returned from hell vampire boyfriend. And then there was the Gwendolyn Post thing. Buffy had come by the motel room later that night and their conversation had been replaying in Faith's mind ever since. The blonde slayer wanted Faith to trust her. "I'm on your side." She'd said with what seemed like sincerity. Faith had almost believed her, even called out her name to draw her back. She'd stalled, freaking herself out as she thought of the words to respond to Buffy. Even if the other slayer was lying when she said Faith could count on her, lying was more effort than most people had made with her. But looking at Buffy's expectant face, she couldn't force herself to say anything. If she did, she'd be letting Buffy in. And Faith had learned, was still learning after this shit with Mrs. Post, that vulnerability never helped anything. "Nothing," She'd replied, and ignored the way her stomach clenched when she watched Buffy pad lightly down the stairs and disappear up the street.

The blonde cocked a challenging eyebrow. "You got something better to do?"

Faith felt herself bristling. Bitch. Did she think Faith couldn't have something better to do? She gave Buffy a dismissive eye roll and leaned back in her chair, propping her feet on the smooth library table. Ignoring Giles's disapproving cluck, she replied, "Anything I do would be better than that, B."

Willow looked relieved, but tried hard not to show it. Buffy, on the other hand, appraised her counterpart for a long moment and then tried to switch tactics. "Come on," She wheedled. "It could be fun." Turning to Willow, "Right, Will?"

"Yeah, super fun." Willow responded, without a hint of enthusiasm. It was clear she'd just been expecting this girls' evening to include her and Buffy.

Off Faith's skeptical look, Buffy dipped her head so their eyes met. "I want you to come." She said firmly.

Faith was surprised, but she covered it well. Forcing down the sudden urge to smile, she found herself nodding. "Alright. I'll be there."

Buffy nodded affirmatively. "Good." She turned to her friends. "Lunch now? Growing slayers need their…" She gestured loosely.

"Meatloaf?" Xander asked, with a sympathetic wince as he climbed to his feet.

The blonde frowned and sighed. She looked to Giles dramatically. "If only I had a watcher who understood my dietary needs and would write me a pass to leave school grounds for lunch."

Giles seemed lost in thought as the four teens all shuffled to their feet and prepared to leave.

"Giles?" Buffy waved her hand helpfully in front of him.

"Hmm?" He glanced up surprised. "Yes, Buffy, quite right."

Her expression was exasperated. "You weren't even listening to anything we've been saying."

"Of course I was!" He insisted, and then looked at them in alarm. "You're leaving?"

Xander patted his arm carefully as he passed by. "Should we be concerned about how many times he's hit his head?"

Ignoring the boy, Giles cleared his throat. "Err, Faith, if you would, I'd like to speak with you a few minutes."

Buffy and Faith both looked surprised. The blonde slayer waved confusedly to her counterpart. "I'll meet you tonight then? Early patrol and then girls' night at my place?"

"Sure, B." The brunette responded and watched longingly as the other Scoobs made their escape from the library.

"Well," Said Giles, reaching under the library counter once the doors had swung shut behind the others. "I've been meaning to talk with you about meditation. I have some crystals here that might be useful…"

Faith sagged dramatically against the counter, wishing she'd stayed out of Sunnydale longer.

Buffy walked gracefully through the cemetery, her black boots making barely a whisper on the deteriorating grass underfoot. Faith was a few yards behind her, making quite a bit more noise as she scanned the horizons for any threats. Things had gone this way for most of the evening, with each girl lost in her own thoughts.

Most of Buffy's thoughts centered around Angel. The blonde would not have categorized them as thoughts per se, but more like an intrusive squeal of pain that she could not shake no matter how she tried to will herself to think of something else. True, she had told Angel they couldn't see each other anymore. But somehow she still felt hurt that he'd decide to move on from Sunnydale and see where else he might do some good.

And then there was this tension going on with Giles. Buffy could understand why he was angry that she'd kept Angel's return from them. She'd just been unsure what to do, and she hadn't wanted to upset the gang and have them jump to conclusions like she knew they would. Of course they did anyway, and Xander and Faith had—Wait. Where was Faith?

Glancing behind her, Buffy noticed her slaying partner was moving a little slower than usual. "You okay, Faith?" She called back.

Faith shrugged nonchalantly and picked up her pace. "Five by five, B."

"You just look a little tired or something."

For Buffy to notice, Faith must have looked a lot worse than that. Buffy hardly even seemed to notice Faith was there, let alone look at her for long enough to notice something was wrong. Faith wasn't sure what she'd been expecting when she'd been on her way to meet the other slayer. But whatever it was, it hadn't happened. The infamous Buffy Summers was actually pretty self absorbed when you thought about it. Far from being happy to have another slayer around, Buffy at worst seemed resentful of her presence and at best indifferent. True there were times when Faith thought she saw a spark of something more in Buffy's eyes, like after a particularly hard kill when they'd gaze at each other for a moment, huge grins plastered on both their faces. Or dancing in the Bronze when Buffy'd flip her hair back and look up at Faith through her eyelashes. And Faith would think, Finally. Here it is. And she'd feel her lungs lung tighten in her chest as she smiled back. But then Buffy would glance away and her eyes would wall over like Faith went back to not existing. Faith looked at her back now, curiously. "Little run down tonight." She admitted.

Buffy stopped walking and glanced at her, concerned. "Maybe you should go to a doctor? Slayers don't usually get sick." She paused. "Well, I don't."

Faith's eye roll displayed her irritation. "Yeah, B, you're just about perfect, aren't you?"

The blonde slayer started walking again, biting back her snide response. She tried again, "Just wanna make sure you're okay, F." She smiled as she spotted three vampires ahead of them, moving through the graveyard. "I don't wanna lose my other half."

Faith glanced at her quickly, her face startled but pleased. But Buffy was already picking up her pace, her hand reaching in her jacket to clutch her stake. "Giles'll kill me if you get eaten on patrol."

The dark slayer scowled, pulling out her own stake. "Don't worry, B." She replied, forcing her tired muscles to move faster than Buffy's. "Not plannin' on getting eaten til later."

Buffy's mouth fell open as the other slayer darted in front of her, running at full speed toward the vampires ahead of them. "Do you ever NOT think about sex?"

"Nope," Faith replied. She had reached the surprised vampires and was sailing through the air. Her left foot connected solidly with the closest demon's chest, sending him tumbling to the ground. Buffy barreled in behind her, making quick work of the first vampire and focusing her energy on the third member of the trio.

"So when are you planning on doing that?" Buffy called in Faith's general direction, trading blows with the vampire in front of her.

"Doin' what?" Faith inquired, just before catching a hard cross to her cheekbone. She stumbled slightly before righting herself and throwing out a kick that should have shattered his knee. But it hardly seemed to slow him down, and Faith quickly threw out a flurry of punches to his chest.

"Getting eaten." Buffy yelled back, embarrassed that she was following this conversation anywhere. "You're not getting out of girls' night!"

The vampire hissed and reached for Buffy's throat as she was waiting for Faith's response. "Slayer," He growled. "I can't wait to taste your bl-"

"Do you mind?" Buffy cried, stopping his speech with an accompanying punch to his solar plexus. "We're having a private conversation here."

Several feet away Faith evaded an ill planned dive from her vampire, and watched as he stumbled to the ground. "Well, B, I've seen movies. I know all about these girls' nights." She grinned over to Buffy as her demon climbed unsteadily to his feet and prepared to relaunch himself at her. "Thought you and me'd wait for Red to pass out. Work out some of the post slay jitters." Her eyebrows waggled.

Buffy cleanly staked her vampire and smiled as his shocked face disintegrated. "I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."

As she looked up, Faith stepped through the dust of her own vampire and stopped inches from Buffy's face. "Oh I won't, B." She purred. "I'm sure you smell, and taste, just fine."

Buffy flushed a horrified red, her mouth hanging open.

Faith sheathed her stake in the pocket of her tight black jeans. "Gonna take your silence as a 'yes'." She smirked.

Shaking her head indignantly, Buffy found her voice. "Well, then you're gonna be a little disappointed tonight, Faith."

Shrugging, Faith started to walk toward the cemetery's open gates. "We'll see about that." Once Buffy was behind her, Faith let her shoulders sag forward. She was tired. That fight had taken more out of her than it should have. She flexed her fingers experimentally. Even her hands felt kind of worn out. Suddenly, she stumbled on the pathway and reached out her hands reflexively to catch her fall. Strong hands with freshly chipped pink nail polish caught her under her elbows and righted her into a vertical position.

"Are you okay?" Buffy's brow was creased in concern. One hand dropped but the other remained on Faith's right arm as if afraid she would fall over without the assistance.

"Fine, B." The brunette slayer glanced pointedly at Buffy's hand on her arm. "If you couldn't wait til we got back to the house, why didn't you just say so?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, but otherwise ignored Faith's statement. "I think we should get you checked out Faith, you don't seem yourself."

Irritably, the dark slayer tried to shake off Buffy's lingering grip. "Told you, B. I'm five by five. Now let's get back to your place. Red's probably waiting for us."

Buffy frowned but obligingly released Faith's arm. The brunette slayer started walking again in the general direction of Revello Drive.

"Faith?" Buffy's hand was warm as she reached out to grab Faith's fingers.

"B?" Faith gave her an exasperated look.

"Can we at least mention it to Giles?" Buffy smiled at her cajolingly. "You did say you were a little tired."

"Fine, B. Whatever. Can we get moving now?"

"Sure." Buffy said, happy to have gotten her way. She didn't immediately release Faith's hand, which the brunette slayer found odd.

"I know the way," She said pointedly, lifting their joined hands and then allowing them to drop back between them.

"I know," Buffy replied, walking besi