Faith slashed across the vampire, diagonally from above the left shoulder to under the right arm. It fell in two pieces, and then she took the one next to it, the individual pieces still being alive - well, undead anyway - despite their severed state. Stepping over them, she took off after the one that was running away, trusting Xander to finish them off and free the sacrifice, a division of labor they had gotten down to a fine art.
It was not their only kind of demon fighting teamwork, of course, but it was the one agreed for this situation. Faith had taken on Xander as her backup, and it had been his idea to try to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each, and work out how to cover the weaknesses of one with the strength of the other. It was not so much soldier Xander possession memories, as reasoning ability and reading up on tactics and strategy coming out.
"So, boytoy, who's the charming lady?" The intended victim was, cute, sexy in a disheveled way, generously curved but not fat, lips promising... 'ok Faith,' she suddenly thought to herself, 'calm down, you can wait till you get back to Xander's place, wipe the drool off before it becomes obvious, easy does it'. 'Lets not look like a drooling psycho slut to the woman who was nearly a human sacrifice, you're one of the good guys now, try to act like it.'
"Tracey, and what were those things?" She had recently arrived to study at UCS, and now this happens. Crazy deformed people kidnap her to be a human sacrifice, then she gets rescued by two sword wielding maniacs, and now this girl is clearly fighting the urge to go down on her here and now.
"Would you believe a gang on PCP?" Xander asked hopefully.
"No."
"Vampires, they were vampires, I'm Faith, and he's Xander." The dark slayer brought herself under control by force of will. The 'hungry and horny' thing was no joke; right now she could eat a side of beef and fuck Xander for hours. Or eat Tracey and THEN the side of beef, depending on what was on offer.
"We'll escort you home." The construction boss said, in his best gentleman knight manner. "And give you some advice on Sunnydale survival on the way."
"So, Faith, Xander, thank you, and, its been a real education." Faith was stuffing the second empty pizza box in a garbage bin; they had stopped at Antonio's on the way.
"It's ok, we do this regularly." He was modest in tone, but grinning, they didn't get thanked nearly often enough, or at all, for the most part.
They stood in the doorway, uncertain for a moment.
"Would the two of you like to come in, I have the room to myself." The student asked hesitantly.
"I have to get to bed soon." Xander commented. It was late and he was going to work the next day.
"That's the idea, did I mention I have a king-size bed because the room was intended for a couple?" Tracey was inviting, and uncertain at the same time.
"Cool." Faith said, dragging the man of the three inside, thinking that the superhero thing had some advantages after all.
None of them got as much sleep as they had really needed, but they didn't complain too much.
Anya had closed up and gone on a date straight after. Her thing with Faith and Xander was not a relationship, it was just part of her 'trying to work out who Anya is' quest. Ever since D'Hoffran killed her only real demon friend, she had realized how lost she was, how she had always simply conformed to the expectations of those around her. Sex with Faith proved she enjoyed women, now she was trying to find if she could romance one, or was it just her conforming to a male fantasy.
Faith felt that her plan to romance Xander was going well. He was the first man she had ever slept with, the first person she had ever slept with actually. Certainly she had done and amazing variety of kinky things with people of both sexes, but she had never SLEPT with one of them afterwards. Whatever or whoever she did in other beds, shower stalls, etc, he was the one she wanted, and was rapidly growing to need, to wake up with.
"Xander, have I told you how special you are to me?" The Boston slayer asked quietly. They were all gathered around, researching, as usual. Nothing much was happening, but it was felt to be important, at least by Giles, to get ahead of the evil things out there.
"No, but there has been a definite 'action speaks louder than words' factor since you got back." Her including him in the slaying, training him and teaming with him was hugely important to him. And yes, he had noticed that she always came home to him, even if it meant getting out of some woman or couples' bed in the early morning to do it.
The lack of her screwing other single men was also notable; she just didn't accept propositions from them anymore. Her offhand remark 'why would I go after another guy when I have you?' was also ego boosting, given Faith's history.
'Face fact Harris' he had thought to himself very early in the involvement 'this is Faith, she's never going to act like a girl off a Norman Rockwell painting.' The idea of trying to make her conform never occurred to him, other than confirming to the laws about Murder, Armed Robbery, Square Dancing in a Round House...
"Xander Harris, you are a very special guy and I don't want to think about life without you. I was thinking of us formally being a couple, ya know." The dark slayer was nervous, she knew what she was asking and felt unworthy of actually getting it. But she couldn't handle his leaving her simply because he didn't know she was after more than 'friends who fuck' status. As he would, with Anya officially on the market, if she didn't make a claim.
"Does that mean no more evenings like last night? Because, well I sort of enjoy those..." Faith slapped him on the arm, then hugged him. Then she kissed him, intense, and with a lot of tongue, then hands, and then a piercing whistle in the background cut through the haze of lust.
"If you two are quite finished." Giles said firmly.
"Well, no, just getting started actually gman, but finishing here would be uncomfortable, wouldn't it?' Faith said, with a huge smile on her face.
"As I was about to say, Willow and Kennedy are going to England to try to bring the Watcher's council records into the twenty first century." The former librarian, and now senior Watcher announced. "They shall be gone for some time, apparently."
"Well, yes, I can't just scan the books in, because then you couldn't have the data base sort through the material properly, because they would be image files, and we need them to be properly entered, and a decent security system put in, and then any watcher anywhere will be able to get everything the council had from anywhere on the net." The red head explained, all without taking a breath. For a while it was like having the old Willow back.
"When does this happen?" Buffy asked. More of the old certainties of life were becoming uncertain. On the other hand, those certainties had killed her twice, and gotten her into be with Spike, of all people. Change seemed to be good, and she looked for the good in this.
"We leave the first of next month." Kennedy announced. She would go wherever the council, which was effectively just Giles now, sent her. He was sending her with Willow, because he could not separate them, not with the red head needing her so much. And anyway, she had to go somewhere to continue her education, why not England?
The blonde slayer smiled, and hugged the couple. The good in it was simple. Buffy needed someone to survive, someone she cared about, and as long as they were all fighting the good fight, none of her friends would. With the first evil in retirement, a library in rural England was probably the safest place the red head and her lover could be. Buffy felt something she had not felt in a long time.
Hope.