shiraz – Hey there. Thanks so much for posting the feedback. And if you’ve never posted fb on this one then thanks all the more. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
I totally love Dawn and Faith because I feel like both were underused in the series. And I feel like they’re good foils for each other. It’s kind of what I feel about Tara and Faith – one is nothing but power and passion and the other is nothing but gentle and compassion. Both could use a little of the other’s mojo. Same with Dawn and Faith plus both of them have been too ignored but they can be the center of each other’s universe.
Quote:
I like the idea that Tara has some new kickass powers and anticipate a bit of mama bear reaction on Faith's face in Cleveland when Faith either fesses up or Tara's intuition and apparent talent for visioning kickt in wink
We’ll see about that mama bearness and I can promise some revelations in the trip.
Thanks again and here’s chapter 8.
Working It Out
Chapter 8 – A new Hellhole
Author – JustSkipIt
Pairing – Willow/Tara, Faith/Dawn
Feedback – Yes, please. Let me know that people are still here enjoying my stories.
Spoilers – None
Rating – PG
Disclaimer – Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy own Willow, Tara, and the Buffyverse and Angelverse and all characters and locations from those universes. No copyright infringement is meant by this fic and I will not make any money from it.
Faith drummed her fingers on her legs as she watched the flight attendants readying the plane for take-off. She curled and recurled the magazine in her hands while rocking forward and then back in her seat. After a few minutes of very nervous fidgeting she finally half-muttered under her breath.
“Sure. Let’s go to Cleveland. I mean this won’t be awkward at all.”
Tara smiled at the Slayer’s words. It was obvious that the girl was nervous, even afraid and the Witch could well imagine why but she didn’t want to challenge the girl right off, figuring it would just make her more uneasy. “Just think it could probably be more awkward if we t-tried to make small talk. So how
was prison?”
She was relieved to see Faith almost smile. “Really really shitty. Thanks for asking. How was being dead?”
“Really, really wonderful but I missed everyone.”
“They missed you. A lot.” Her head snapped up as the flight attendant secured the final door and Tara noticed that Faith was obviously struggling to remain calm, taking deep breaths.
She reached over and showed the other woman the palm of her hand. “Can I h-help you?”
Faith shook her head as her fingers gripped the armrests. “I don’t think so. I just… you know… locked doors, no weapons. I got this really nice knife and I’ve been carrying it right here.” She leaned forward and patted her back before returning her hands to squeezing the non-life out of the armrests. “But here it’s more like three hours of prison.”
Tara nodded her head and bit at her lip. “My f-father was… he was not a very nice man.” She glanced over at the Slayer who seemed confused by the turn in the conversation. “I used to hide under my bed or in the closet, p-pulling all the clothes over me, when I h-heard shouting. It was hours… and I would just sit or lie there in the dark praying with everything that I had that he wouldn’t think to come look for me and that my mother would still be alive when the sun rose. Sometimes I imagined I was in my own coffin.” She took another breath. "I know a little about being trapped in small spaces." As she spoke she had slid her hand closer so that she was barely touching the back of Faith’s with her fingertips.
The dark-haired slayer took a deep breath. “You doin’ mojo on me, Blondie?”
“Not yet, Faith. I wouldn’t do that without your approval. But I can make it easier.”
Faith took as deep a breath as she could and opened her fist to extend her hand. “Your lady would jump at the chance to turn me into a frog. I’m countin’ on you really helping me instead.”
“I wouldn’t do that, Faith, and I don’t think Willow would either.” The Slayer shrugged and then nodded toward their hands in a look that said, “go ahead would you?”
Tara grasped the Slayer’s hand in her own, closed her eyes, and chanted under her breath for a moment. Within seconds she had dropped Faith’s hand. “Uh… is that … b-better?”
Faith nodded vigorously. “Wow. That was… well, better than quite a few of the better experiences I’ve ever had and believe me I’ve had quite a few. Oh shit. You’re not gonna tell Red I said that are you?”
Tara took measured breaths. “Wow. Um, yeah. Better experiences and no, not telling Willow.”
Faith leaned back feeling slightly relaxed for the first time since they had left the Hyperion. "You seem surprised or something."
The blond shook her head. "I don't know, Faith. I mean there's nothing to worry about. I'm just... stronger than I was before. First reading you the other day when I didn't mean to and now this. It's very eerie. I mean, I know my p-powers and have always but ... this is new and it doesn't feel like me."
"Weird, huh?"
"Yes. Very weird." Tara yawned. "I'm going to nap."
"Didn't get much sleep last night, Blondie?"
"Did you want me to draw you a picture?" The blond smirked and closed her eyes before Faith could answer falling asleep almost instantly.
[blockquote]You ripped that door open, Blondie! That damn bitch had her puppies on your mama's best rug. What you gonna do about that, stupid girl? You can't protect any of them. Are you involved? It's coming. We're coming. The lock's not broken but it needs the right key. You hold the sword at this end. Get in line? You're in line now![/blockquote]
She awoke suddenly with no awareness of where she was and the feeling that she was trapped in her own grave.
Before she could scream, she felt a hand on hers and another covering her mouth gently. "I got ya, Blondie." Tara attempted to get her breath, feeling her chest heaving but not feeling like she could get any air into her lungs.
Blondie.
Faith.
Tara relaxed just enough that Faith read the move. "I'm gonna move my hand off your mouth, ok?"
The Slayer did exactly as she described but continued holding Tara's hand. "Bad one?"
Tara nodded and looked over at Faith's folded down tabletop which held a drink of some clear liquid. Before she could even ask the dark-haired Slayer was holding it out. "It's Sprite."
Tara took a long sip and closed her eyes again. "Thanks, Faith." She handed back the drink.
Faith nodded her head. "No problem, Blondie. I know a little something about bad dreams." She took a drink from the same cup while attempting to flag down a flight attendant. "Can you bring another drink?" She waited for the woman to return and give her a new cup of ice and can. After she'd poured she spoke again. "I had 'em as a kid. Then, well it all comes with the Slayer gig. Dreams. Prophetic ones. Bad ones. A few good ones. Some come true. Some don't. And in prison. And that damn night. Him coming out too fast. Too stupid and shouldn't have been there." She shook her head. "You got me talking and I don't know how. Some witchy thing. Or something. I don't know. I guess I'm saying I understand about the dreams and is it anything you want to talk about?"
Tara sipped at her drink. "I think... I think I had one this morning too. I remember waking up screaming but I forgot until now. Something's coming, Faith."
"Ain't it always?"
Before Tara could answer, the flight attendant came up the aisle for their drinks and informed them that the plane would be landing shortly. "You ever been to Cleveland?"
Once the pair had landed they picked up their carry-on bags and rented a car. After putting their bags into the trunk, Tara pulled out her phone and held it up. Faith stepped a respectable distance away and also pulled out her phone. Tara dialed and waited for only a few seconds before hearing her lover's voice.
"Hey honey. How are you? How was the flight? Was Faith awful? Was she rude and crude and did she make a pass at you? I bet she did. I would. Did you have to seal her mouth closed? Ooo. That sounds fun."
Tara laughed. "Hello, sweetie. The flight was fine and Faith was fine. She seems nice."
"Faith is not nice." Willow scoffed. "What's she doing right now? Looking for a hook-up? Robbing a liquor store?"
Tara listened for a minute before realizing what she was doing. The dark-haired girl was across the parking lot sitting on a concrete barrier with the phone to her ear. "I think I'm missing you more." Then a pause. "She's nice. I can see why you're so crazy about her. Kinda explains your whole crush thing." She laughed. "You know I'm just teasing you." Another pause. "Because it's fun and I like to imagine you turning red like when I ... " she began to whisper but Tara found it easy to hear. And what she heard was...
I should not be listening to this. I should not be able to hear this.
"Tara. Can you hear me?" She finally focused on Willow's voice.
"Yeah, baby. I'm sorry. I just spaced out for a minute there." She could still feel the heat in her face from what Faith had been saying on the phone. "I uh... a b-bus just drove by and I could hardly hear you. What was that?"
She concentrated for the next five minutes on the report from L.A. on the research they had done into the reappearance of certain demons. Willow had done a spell and found that something had come into their dimension from another. Whatever it was had far greater power than it had when it left and it had left open a doorway. It was quite cryptic and Giles was pulling out all stops in an attempt to learn whatever they could about it. Buffy, Gunn, and Angel had a full-on patrol planned for the night to attempt to learn whatever they could from anyone who would talk.
"Hey, honey. Here comes Faith. Why don't I call you later? We need to eat and then meet with that leasing agent you found." They spent a few minutes exchanging good-byes and I love yous before she snapped the phone shut and slid it into her pocket.
Faith opened the passenger door but not before puckering her lips and making kissy-face noises. "I love you, baby. Oh, I love you more. No I love you more. No I love you more..."
Tara started the car with a laugh before lowering her voice. "... because it's fun and I like to imagine you turning red like when I..."
Faith stared at the blonde. "No damn witchy eavesdropping, Blondie! And I mean it. That phone call is my business and none of yours so you want to just keep your ears off my mouth. Or something."
Tara shrugged as she exited the airport parking lot.
"So uh... did you hear anything else?"
Tara shrugged again. "Maybe."
Faith crossed her arms over her chest. "Now I think you're just screwing with me."
Tara shrugged again, then motioned out the window toward a fast food restaurant. When Faith nodded she pulled into the parking lot. "I didn't hear who you were talking to, if that's what you're wondering. But I can guess."
"You can guess?"
The blonde shut off the car and checked that she had cash in as well as her phone. "Look, Faith. There's like 50 new Slayers lounging around the Hyperion all the time and I'm assuming they're just as H&H as you. Don't look at me like that. I've heard plenty about the H&H from Buffy and Xander over the years."
"He'd know," Faith muttered.
"What you do and who you do it with is none of my business, Faith. You're an adult and I'm assuming whatever girl or girls you've swept off their recently patrolling feet are too so do what you want."
The two girls exited the car and locked it, Faith giving Tara a strange look. "How do you know Red again? Cause this ain't the speech I'd expect to hear from her."
They ordered their lunches and sat down to eat. "I'm not Willow, Faith. If I understand her big board, you and I will both be stationed in Cleveland so you should probably know me a little." Both women took bites of their food before Tara continued. "Willow loved Xander, then Oz, then me. She never sowed any oats. She just ... loved and when she did, she loved and loves completely. The idea of sex without love would make no sense to her so she can't understand you. She never lived a minute in your world, Faith."
"That ain't entirely my world, Blondie."
Tara shook her head. "I didn't mean that. I just meant that Willow literally can't understand your sexual needs and wants or your fulfilling them."
"And you?"
Tara shrugged. "I'm not Willow, Faith."
Faith took a bite before smiling like she'd learned the world's best secret. "Blondie got her some lovin' before Willow came along. Something illicit I'm thinking. Maybe a high school teacher or cheerleader. Or maybe just some random girl she met at Starbucks. Oh yeah." She took another drink. "I hope Willow's living up to your expectations, Blondie." When Tara laughed, Faith set down her sandwich. "You ain't getting all mad."
Tara laughed again. "That's going to drive you crazy, isn't it?"
Faith shoved the remainder of her sandwich in her mouth and then picked up both her and Tara's drink cups and motioned that she was going to go refill them. "I think I like you, Blondie. And I can see why the Kid is so crazy about you too."
When she returned, she saw that Tara was still eating and leaned back in her chair. "I know we need to meet with this leasing agent and all that shit. But what do you say we check out the night life around here? See what kinda beasties lurk in the dark?" She raised her eyebrows comically a few times. "Kill some stuff? Sound fun?"
Tara laughed. "You're like a little kid, Faith." She ate her last few fries and nodded. "At first I didn't know if you meant going out dancing or patrolling."
"You ready to go?" The brunette nodded toward the wrapper Tara was balling up. "We can go dancing too. I wasn't really thinking about that for one thing because of your girlfriend's tendency to get all up in my grill even if I ain't doin anything wrong."
Tara laughed as she refilled her drink again. "Willow's not as bad as you think, Faith but I don't really feel like going dancing. Patrol sounds fine though." She shrugged. 'I haven't done anything ... helpful since I got back you know."
Faith patted the blonde on the back. "I think your being back is helpful enough for most of these folks. Let's face it, Blondie. We got some damaged and growth-stunted people in our gang."
Tara considered it for a minute. "That might be sort of harsh but I can see what you're saying too, Faith."
Faith fastened her seat belt. "Ok, you got Xander and his parents are total drunks. He's dated like some demons and almost married one. Plus me."
She was surprised by Tara's interruption. "So you kids are calling what you did 'dating' now?"
Faith laughed. "Touche or whatever. And I think I'm older than you so none of this calling me 'you kids.'"
"I thought you were the same age as Buffy and she's a year younger than me."
Faith shrugged. "Oh. Well, then yeah. You're three years older than me." She continued. "Anyway, you got Buffy who's dad is a loser and mom kicked it. Oh yeah, and she has relationships with vampires. And you've got Willow who's parents are like completely out of the picture and her one true love got killed so she went on a violence spree." She snorted. "Sure, well adjusted normal folks."
"What about Dawn?"
Faith shrugged. "Shit. Like I know the Kid that well. She seems to have come through the same shitstorm pretty good, you know. I mean I think she's a good person. Plus smart."
"Uh huh..."
"What's that mean?"
Tara glanced over at the girl in the passenger seat. "Should it mean something, Faith?"
"Look. If you're playing word games with me, I don't know as many words as you. Part of what I was getting at earlier was if we're gonna patrol later, we're gonna need some stakes and shit like that. You wanna look for a lumber store or something? I think this thing's got GPS."
Tara looked at the clock on the dashboard. "We're not scheduled to meet the agent until 5:00 so why don't you find us a store and we can go now."
Once they'd reached the home improvement store, Tara followed Faith as the Slayer choose a few knives, a sharpening stone, and some remainder wood from which to carve stakes for the next few nights. Her attention was split between observing this woman who seemed quite different from how Willow has always described her, the words
cleavegy slut-bomb having always been emphasized in any conversation about Faith, and a few nagging thoughts at the back and sides of her mind. At one point, Faith was weighing a few knives and dropped one. Before Tara could even think about it she saw the sharp end turning end over end as it fell to the floor and possibly Faith's foot. It was like it was happening in slow motion and she stuck out her hand, catching the sharp end easily and sweeping it away from Faith before setting it on the counter.
"Shit. Oh really shit." Faith grabbed Tara's hand and turned it over in hers. "Are you ok? What... the fu... You're not cut. How'd you..."
Tara stared at the knife as one of the nagging thoughts at the edge of her brain slid firmly into place. "I... I don't know, Faith."
Faith stared at the blonde. "You know I couldn't catch that, right?"
The witch nodded.
"And you know I'm the fastest Slayer right? I mean Buffy's stronger. Not much but she is. But I'm wicked faster than her."
"Ok."
"And you just caught that knife."
Tara nodded again, almost unable to speak.
Faith looked the shaken woman up and down. "How about we buy this stuff and get the fuck out of here?"
Tara nodded, leaning against the knife case as Faith pulled her wallet out of her pocket and paid for their purchases. When she was done, she tucked the bag holding the two knives as well as the chunks of wood under one arm and wrapped her other hand around the blonde's upper arm to walk them from the store. At the car, she set the purchases on the trunk and held out her hands for the keys which Tara handed her without argument. Once she'd put the purchases in the trunk, Faith opened the driver door and waited until Tara had sat down to close the door.
After she'd entered the car, Faith waited for Tara to say something or start to cry or freak out or something. She was just about to ask about what had happened in the store but wasn't sure how well able Tara would be to talk about it so she decided to play to the blonde's strengths. "If you wanted to take someone on a date, what would you do?"
Tara slowly swiveled her head to stare at the other woman. "Seriously?"
Faith nodded. "Yeah. I was supposed to take this girl on a date tomorrow but of course now I'm here, ya know? But still. I mean I'd like it to be something nice. And I had an idea of what I wanted to do but, you know, what if it wasn't fun for her and she's expecting something totally different?"
Tara smiled slowly. Clearly Faith was trying to distract her from freaking out about what had happened inside the store. "Well, what does she like to do?"
Faith looked at her hands on the steering wheel. "Well, I'm not sure. I mean I know some stuff she likes to do."
"I bet."
The Slayer laughed. "Hey there! I say stuff like that not goody-Belinda the cute blonde witch. Anyway, I know some stuff she likes but what if I plan a big thing and she's just not into it? Or thinks it's lame?"
"Well. I guess just try to do stuff you think she might like and stuff that interests you too. Outdoor dates are fun and romantic. Definitely a date where you do something rather than sit and watch something." Faith nodded as Tara spoke. "And if all else fails, there's always sex."
Faith laughed again. "Damn, Blondie. Don't you think we've already had some of those dates?"
"From what I've heard on the phone, yes." When both women had finished laughing Tara looked at the clock on the dashboard. "We b-better meet that agent."
Faith nodded and leaned forward to punch the address into the GPS on the dashboard. "After that, maybe we can revisit your new knife catching hobby?"
Tara nodded. "Yeah. That might be a conversation." She picked up her cup and took a drink. "Hey, did you want to drive?"
Faith shrugged. "Uh yeah. I don't actually know how. I mean I know that you put the keys in there and turn the wheel and stuff but I've never tried."
Tara pulled into traffic. "Do you remember the first time we met?"
"Yeah..."
Tara attempted an impression of Faith's voice. "So... Willow's not driving stick anymore?"
"Well, I was a bitch but I was right. Damn, I bet it was months before B figured it out too. Or did Willow have to drop a big coming out anvil on her head?"
"Oh, I think it's up h-here." Tara waved her hand toward a small building with a sign out front and started to parallel park in front of the office. "Pretty much an anvil."
Faith laughed. "That must have been great. I bet B really did need a picture. 'When you say girlfriend you mean...?'"
The two women entered the leasing office glad that Willow had both set up the appointment and given them a cover story -- basically they worked for an organization that worked with formerly "at-risk" youth, giving them a place to stay, helping them finish school, and attempting to teach them life skills.
The agent introduced herself and reviewed with them the information she had that they would need a location with 20-25 bedrooms, adequate bathrooms, an industrial kitchen, common rooms, and preferably a gymnasium facility on site or close enough to lease it as well. They agreed and she said that she had three possibilities which she would drive them to. "They're all in perfectly safe neighborhoods but I just don't always feel safe being out after dark."
"I bet," Faith muttered to which Tara pinched her arm as they got into the agent's SUV.
---
Hours later the two women had visited the three properties, ruled out one and planned to return to one the next day with a recommended contractor to discuss some necessary remodeling changes. When they finished with the agent, they had dinner, and then checked into their hotel.
"I'm going to call Willow and shower and change and you'll probably want to talk to your
girlfriend." Tara hoped the final word would bother Faith and she wasn't wrong.
"Yo. I don't know that she's my girlfriend."
"Right," Tara agreed weakly. "Why don't we plan to head out in about 45 minutes. You can ... you know... talk to anyone you might want to visit with..."
"I'm tellin' you. I may not even make a phone call at all." The Slayer slid her card key into the slot and pushed the handle down just as her phone rang. Tara didn't miss the way that the girl's eyes lit up when she saw the name on the caller id and hit the button. "Hey, you. Uh... huh. Yeah. One may work. There was one room you'll really love. Hey, hold on." She turned to look at Tara. "I'll be ready in 45 minutes and don't look at me like that."
Tara's own phone rang before she could tease the Slayer and she answered it quickly. "Hi, honey..."