They spent most of the night playing and since it was Friday and no-one had to work the next morning, they played part way into the morning as well. Which would have been fine, except for the knock on the door at a quarter till six AM. Even before Buffy opened the door, she knew who would be standing there. “I had a feeling you would come wandering this way, Faith.”
“Where are they?” Faith demanded coldly.
Instead of answering Buffy opened the door, revealing what had been a fun and light hearted scene only moments ago. But at Faith’s arrival, you would think she had walked on them after they had just committed a murder. Everyone except for Spike looked like they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar and Buffy had a funny feeling she would be the one to get all the blame.
“I though you didn’t want my life but it’s looks like you just moved right on in.” Faith accused her tersely.
“Hey this is my room, they all came to me.” Buffy protested with a roll of her eyes. Judging by Faith’s clenched fists, she had a pretty idea she was going to throw a punch before to much longer. But that just gave her another idea. “Well all of them except for Riley. I came across him while I was looking for my car and asked if he could come with me incase his commando friends showed back up.”
When Faith glared at him accusingly, Riley quickly saw what Buffy was trying to do. “It was the least I could do,” he said with a casual shrug.
“I don’t think she was looking for your protection, I think she was hoping to get inside your wallet.” Faith said crisply.
“I told you I wasn’t looking to get paid while I was in town.” Buffy add a low throaty purr to her voice and looked down Riley, like he was everything she had ever wanted and more. “But I never said I wouldn’t take in the local sights.”
“You hit on my boyfriend?” Faith asked, flooded with jealousy.
“I was tempted but since for some reason, he actually seems to be in love with you, I let it go.” Buffy said filling her voice with regret. “Spike was waiting outside when we pulled up and Riley didn’t feel right leaving me alone with him. You’re a lucky girl Faith, he’s really a one of a kind.”
“I know exactly how lucky I am so you just stay away from him!” Faith said turning to look at her.
She missed Riley’s pleased smile but Buffy didn’t and she decided she done one good deed for the day so you might as well keep going. “Even if I wanted him, I don’t stand a chance and I only start fights I know I can win. So don’t worry he’s safe from the likes of me.”
“Now tell her the truth Buffy.” Riley said, deciding now was the perfect time to fight his own battles.
“What is he talking about?” Faith asked her.
“You want to know you ask him.” Buffy said walking over to sit back on the bed. She had no idea what was going through Riley’s head but just in case she wanted out of striking distance.
“Riley?”
“I came here looking to ask her about Angel. She didn’t even make a pass at me.”
“If you wanted to know something about Angel why didn’t you ask me?”
“You know, it’s kinda early and it’s going to be a long day…so I think it’s about time to go.” Xander said getting up off of the floor.
“Yeah, busy day ahead better go get some sleep while we can.” Willow said while she and the others fled the room like rats trying to escape a sinking ship.
“Aren’t you two going to give us some privacy?” Faith asked Spike and Buffy.
“It looks to me like, solider boy finally found his stones and I wouldn’t want to miss that.” Spike said making himself comfortable on the bed.
“It’s my place so you two want to quarrel you can take it outside or pretend I’m not here.” Buffy said laying her head down on the pillow. Like Spike, she didn‘t really want to miss this. “Don’t worry I’m a really sound sleeper so you two aren’t bothering me a bit…stay as long as you like.”
Since leaving felt like running, Faith decided that she and Riley would have it out right here. “Why didn’t you ask me about Angel? Why did you have to come to her?”
“Because unlike you, she told me the truth. Xander told me about Angel’s trigger when he helped me relocate to the high school. We got to talking and somehow we ended up talking about Angel and he let it slip thinking I already knew.”
“No wonder he ran out of here, he is the deadest man in all of deadonia.” Faith muttered murderously.
“How I found out isn’t the point, what is important is the fact that you didn’t tell me.”
“I know you’re sensitive about Angel, so I wanted to spare you…”
That was the wrong thing to say, Riley thought feeling anger pump into his blood. “I’m not someone you have to protect Faith. I may not have your powers but I am not less than you. I was fighting demons before I met you and it wasn’t like I was a virgin. But it isn‘t my past that keeps cropping up to bite you in the ass but yours. I am tired of being pushed out of your life a little more each day. I deserve more than that and if you can‘t give me that, then I‘m not about to stick around.”
“So what, she’s in town one day and suddenly our relationship isn’t good enough for you!”
“This isn’t about her Faith, this is about you. Last night after she left did you bother asking me what I thought about her, like you did the others?” Riley shot back.
“I didn’t think…”
“That’s right, you didn’t think about me for a second. Tell me Faith how long did it take you to figure out I hadn’t been home all night or even if you knew at all? Because right now I’m thinking you came looking for the others and I just happened to be here as well. You never thought about me until she got you jealous. So I guess I should really ask you if that was because you loved me or just because you didn’t like her playing with your favorite toy?”
“You know I love you Riley.”
“You keep saying that, but I don’t feel it. I can be holding you in my arms and it’s like you’re not there. You called Buffy a walking corpse but sometimes I think you’re more dead inside than she will ever be…because at least she can admit to it.”
“What do you want me to admit Riley, just what do you want me to say that will fix this.” Faith asked on the verge of tears.
“Admit that you’re not over him or even that you are afraid to let yourself love me. Just admit to whatever it is that just keeps holding you back so that we can face it together or I am going to walk out of that door right now and this is over.” Riley said giving her a choice about where their relationship would go from here.
“I don’t do ultimatums Riley. If you want to leave, I’m not about to stop you.”
“That answers that,” he said walking to the door. “You don’t love me enough to ask me to stay. Goodbye Faith.”
Faith watched him walk out of the door, out of her life and she knew exactly whose fault it was. “Are you happy, you won.”
Buffy told herself that it wasn’t her problem, that she shouldn’t get involved but nothing she told herself could make her forget the broken look in Riley’s eyes. “I’m not the one who just let the man I love walk out. So Faith are you happy, you won the battle but lost the war.”
“What are you talking about?”
Buffy got up and walked over to stand in front of Faith. “I know about you and Angel. He walked away without giving you a chance to stop him. I bet that pissed you off but I am going to tell you the same thing I told him. If he loved you as much as he said he did, he never would have been able to walk away. Riley isn’t like Angel, he wasn’t walking away because he was looking for more, Riley walked away because he wanted everything…you. So are you going to just let him go because you’re afraid of getting hurt again or are you going to go after him because you love him to much to let him go?” Which is stronger Faith, your fear or your love, because if the answer isn’t love you should just let him walk away.”
“Why are you trying to help me?” Faith asked, the first tears trembling down from her lashes.
Buffy thought about giving some flippant reply but she decided to go with the honest truth. “I’m never going to find the kind of love you have a chance at having with him. It’s to late for me to try to start my life over from scratch. The emptiness is always going to be a part of me and its not something I would wish on anyone. I made my peace with that a long time ago but I can’t just sit here and watch you throw it away.”
“How do you know that it’s not already too late for me?” Faith asked as the full reality of Buffy’s life crested over her like a full moon. There was light but no warmth and Faith knew she didn’t want to live in that kind of world.
Buffy reached over and captured one of Faith’s tears on her finger. She lifted it up so that it could shimmer is the warm golden light of the rising sun that was creeping past the gap of the curtains and into the room. “It’s not to late if you can still cry, my tears dried up a long time ago.”
Without another word Faith ran from the room, for the first time running towards her destiny instead of away of it.
Buffy closed the door behind her and forgetting that she wasn’t alone, stared down at the tear drop still resting on her finger. To other people it was nothing but a bit moisture but since it had been years since she felt a tear against her own skin, she knew it was so much more than it appeared to be. It was misery released, a confounding amount of emotion stored within such a minuscule space. She had swallowed her tears and like acid they had eaten away her misery and every other emotion along with it. She was free from the pain in a way of speaking but she had also lost the happiness that made it all worth bearing.
Unable to watch her wistfully stare down at the tear like it was more precious that gold, Spike got off of the bed and walked over to stand beside her, carefully avoiding the harmful rays of the sun. “When was the last time you cried luv?”
“The day the social worker told me my mother had died of an overdose and I was trapped in the system.” She admitted never raising her eyes to his.
“How long had you already been in?”
“Less than a week but it had been long enough to realize I was in hell and that I was never getting out.”
“You escaped that place years ago pet.” He said tilting her face up to his.
“Hell isn’t a single place and even if you make it out, you never really escape. All that is missing inside of me, is back there.” Rubbing her fingertips together, she erased the tear and the rest of her thoughts on the matter. “Thanks for not blowing the cover I tried to give Riley.”
“I guess you owe me one.”
Mistaking the tenderness in his eyes as lust, she decided to oblige him. She trailed her hands up his chest and tangled them in the back of his hair. Slowly, she brought her lips to his as if she had all day to savor the taste of him and she wasn’t in the slightest hurry. She brushed her top lip over his bottom one, lightly sucking it into her mouth. Using her tongue she traced along the ridge where lip met skin but only for a brief moment before taking his mouth fully with hers. She felt his arms wrap around her, felt his muscles contracting against her skin but she never felt the slightest bit of emotion. She moaned, low in her throat, to let him imagine that she was enjoying it as much as him. As far as kisses went, it was top of the line, but it was nothing more than skin touching skin.
He was smoldering and her illusion would have fooled him on that alone, if he couldn’t hear her heartbeat slowly counting away the time. When he had said she owed him, he never expected her to take it that way and with her hands sliding against his chest it was hard to refuse. Especially since it was being freely offered, she could have just as easily told him to bugger off. He had thought the way to her heart wouldn’t be through her parted legs and lips and now he was certain of it. This wasn’t a matter of seduction, no he knew it wasn’t a simple as that. What he had to do was make her feel again, in essence bring her back to life. Since he was dead himself, that would have been a problem but he was romantic enough to know nothing was impossible.
He pulled away from her gently, so that she wouldn’t think he wasn’t interested. “I actually had something else in mind pet.” When she opened her mouth to refuse, he laid his fingertips against her still moist lips. “I want your warmth luv, but not through your blood. I want to sleep with you, just sleep holding you close so that your skin can warm my own.”
It was a weird request but she had heard and done weirder things in the past. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I sleep in the nude.” She told him before walking away to clear off the bed.
He nearly swallowed his tongue at the idea of her curvy body deliciously naked and pressing so close against his, all but begging for a tender intrusion. Then he remind himself that all good things come in time, so he would just have to wait. And to make sure that happened, he was keeping his own clothes on as a precaution, he decided flinging off his jacket.
[Reviews - 249]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 3454 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +