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Friends With Benefits	By : Electra126 Category: -Buffy the Vampire Slayer > FemmeSlash - Female/Female > Buffy/Faith Views: 13275 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
A/N:� We all knew it would get angsty
at some point, right? *chuckles* So, here goes.� Oh, and please note that I haven�t used my
Spanish skills in many many years.� I apologize to any Spanish-speaking people
for butchering your language, but then again . . . I butcher English pretty
badly too.� :p

I�d love to hear what you think, if you can spare the time.
:)

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Chapter Nine

The days passed by faster than anyone could have
anticipated.� Before everyone knew it,
Giles was off on a plane to England,
ready to start the Council anew and get the ball rolling for all of the new
slayers.� Everyone else was abuzz with
making their own plans, booking train and plane tickets, arranging rides to and
from the airport, and placing all of the last minute phone calls that they
could manage.

Buffy and Dawn had done much of their own planning, most of
it over the internet.� They took virtual
tours of apartment buildings and, with a bit of finagling, managed to find and
rent a really nice apartment.� They would
work on getting Dawn into the school of her choice when they got there; it
wasn�t exactly as if they could contact Sunnydale High School
and have her records sent over.

Dawn had been bopping around excitedly for days now, ever
since she found out that they were going to Italy.� She even coaxed Angel into buying her a
�Learn to Speak Italian� CD, which she played constantly in her CD player.

Buffy, on the other hand, found herself
becoming sadder and sadder as the days passed.�
Sure, the prospect of having a nice and normal life sounded good to
her.� But in having that, she was pretty
much leaving everything she knew and had become accustomed to behind.

Her home, even though it was buried
underneath a million pounds of rubble.�
Her friends.�
Her father-figure.� Her calling.

Her Faith.

And that was where it seemed to hurt the most . . . the fact
that she was leaving Faith behind.

She wasn�t sure exactly when or how it happened, but she had
really grown close to Faith.� After years
of pretending that they had been friends, they finally were.� But it was so much more than that.� So much stronger than could
be attributed to any friendship or slayer bond.

In fact, she was pretty sure that it had something to do
with her heart, but she could barely begin to let herself think about that, let
alone say it aloud.� She had spent some
alone time with Willow and Xander one night, just hanging out like old times
while Faith and Kennedy did some type of job for Angel.� Willow
didn�t want to come right out and ask Buffy how she felt, but she had hinted
and insinuated as much as she could without making it seem like she was
pressing.

Xander, on the other hand, basically sat there with a big
grin on his face, lost in his own fantasies.

Buffy told Willow
that yes, she was pretty sure that she felt something stronger than friendship
for Faith, but that she couldn�t really put her finger on what it was.� She explained that it wasn�t like what she
had with Angel, or Riley, or even Spike.

And that�s when Xander finally chimed in with something
useful and mentioned that maybe it was because she actually loved Faith; it wasn�t some teenage
infatuation or her pretending to feel something just to be normal.

The conversation freaked Buffy out more than she could say; still
she was more than grateful for having such open-minded friends.� They didn�t jump on her back, or scold, or
even act overly-surprised.� But she
didn�t dwell on the conversation.

She couldn�t dwell on it.�
She knew that in a few short days she�d be leaving, leaving everything
behind, and she couldn�t do so with a clear conscious knowing that she was
leaving something that had the potential to be so good behind in her wake.

And now, after several days of planning and over-thinking,
and perhaps not thinking enough where it counted the most, the group of friends
was getting together for what was their last night in LA.

Buffy and Faith tried to pretend that everything was
okay.� That it was just another day, another
stage in their lives.� That they hadn�t
spent the last several days feverishly making love at every chance that arose
because they knew that they were going to lose what they had.�

They went to the final get together, held in the same room
where they had had their previous group meeting, side by side.� It was almost as if they were trying not to
touch. Trying not to remember what their skin felt like when they touched, as
it caused their hearts to flutter yet drop at the same time.

Still, they couldn�t fight what their bodies were trying to
tell them. What they both wanted so badly.�
As they walked across the threshold into the conference room, they
clasped their hands together and didn�t leave one another�s side for the rest
of the evening.

There weren�t that many people left on that last night.� Many of the slayers had already been sent
home, others were busy training with Angel and his gang, leaving only the
older, familiar slayers to attend the shindig.�
Willow
and Kennedy were there, as well as Xander, Dawn, and Andrew.

Andrew was supposed to have left with Giles, but Giles found
that he didn�t think he could stand a 13 hour flight with the boy.� Instead, Giles booked him on a flight with a
few of the younger slayers bound for England as well; told him that his first
job in training to be a Watcher was to . . . watch over the girls.

Shortly after everyone had arrived, the catering staff brought in several trays of hot food, letting the group of
friends eat and drink and enjoy the night at their own pace.� Dawn spent half of the night trying to teach
Andrew the Macarena, and Andrew spent half of the night complaining that he was
rhythm impaired.

Buffy and Faith sat together, silent for the most part, just
watching everyone have fun around them. �They tried to have some fun too, of
course.� Faith had fun flinging peanuts
at Xander from across the room, and Xander had fun trying to protect his
remaining good eye.� When a rogue peanut thwapped him on his forehead just above his good eye, he
panicked and called the game off, truly worried that Faith might maim him with
her slayer-strength peanut flicking skills.

Buffy tried to be active in conversations, tried to voice
enthusiasm about the big changes that were coming up in her future, but she
found that her heart just wasn�t in it.�
She was too focused on the way her hand felt in Faith�s, soft and warm
and safe.

She never wanted to let go.

Faith, too, found herself almost
completely distracted from the festivities that were going on around them.� With the exception of the peanut-flinging
incident, she sat back almost the whole night, only half-listening to the
conversations going on around her.� She
focused instead on how she felt sat next to Buffy; content, and happy, and . .
. as if she had finally found her place in the world.� Her home.� Her self.

As the night began to wind down, people started making their
way back to their rooms one by one.�
Mostly everyone was leaving pretty early in the morning, save for Faith
who had a late afternoon flight.� Kennedy
and Willow were
the first to leave as they had an exceptionally early flight.� They wanted to make sure to get some good
sleep to be rested properly for their travels.

Buffy and Faith, however, made a pact the night before that
they wouldn�t sleep on their last night together.� �I�ll sleep when I�m dead,� Faith had joked,
earning a smack on the butt from Buffy.�
Instead, they agreed that they could sleep on their respective
flights.�

They didn�t want to waste their last night together sleeping.� Not when there was so much else that they
wanted to do, needed to do . . . needed to say.

Hand in hand, they made their way back to their room,
dragging their feet the whole way.� They
knew that once they entered that room, the next time they would leave it would
be to walk away from each other, and that thought was almost unbearable.

Faith took her keycard out of her back pocket and opened the
door, standing back so that Buffy could enter first.� Buffy turned around and walked in backwards,
hooking her finger in Faith�s belt-loop and pulling the girl along as she
treaded slowly into the room.� Before the
door even had time to close behind them, Buffy had wrapped her arms around
Faith�s neck and pulled her close.� And
just like that, they were kissing, soft and slow and deep.�

Buffy whimpered softly as she tasted what was distinctly
Faith . . . cinnamon and spice and everything that she had grown to love.

Faith kissed her more passionately yet still soft and
gently, hoping to push down the tears she knew they were both fighting
now.� She didn�t want there to be tears;
tears could come when they were all alone.�
She wanted their last night together to be memorable, and beautiful, but
most of all happy.

She slid her hands up Buffy�s sides, over her shoulders, and
to the sides of her face, holding it gently as they continued to kiss.� After a moment she pulled back so that she
could look at Buffy�s face.� She wanted
to remember every inch of it.� Every dip and every curve.�
She traced her thumbs over Buffy�s kiss-swollen lips, over her cheeks,
softly over Buffy�s closed eye-lids and over her brow before leaning in and
kissing her gently.�

Her forehead.� Her eyebrows.� Her eyelids.� Her cheeks.� The corners of her mouth.� Her chin.� Her upper lip.� Her bottom lip.

Buffy�s breath caught in her throat, her eyes still closed
as she memorized every single one of Faith�s kisses.� Every press of her lips to her heated
flesh.� She waited for the moment when
she felt Faith�s lips press softly to her own, and then she kissed back, with
everything that she had.

Still gentle, yet more insistent now.� She wanted more.� She wanted more than just Faith�s
kisses.� She wanted her touch, her body .
. . her very soul, if it was possible.

And Faith was feeling exactly the same way.� She walked them toward the bed, her
fingertips pushing under the hem of Buffy�s shirt as they walked along
slowly.� She traced her fingertips along
Buffy�s sides, earning a small giggle from the girl.� Faith smiled against Buffy�s lips, her heart
beating hard in her chest.

She had never felt like this before.� So much emotion . . . she was so happy, so
excited just to be touching Buffy, yet she wanted to fall to the floor and cry
at the same time.� She wanted to scream
about fairness and the lack of it in her life, yet all she could do was
continue to kiss Buffy, to touch Buffy, to slowly free Buffy of her confining
shirt.

Buffy, too, was trying to undress Faith, her fingers
fumbling as a rush of emotions passed over her again and again.� She managed to pull off the offending shirt
just as she felt the back of her knees hit the bed, sending them both toppling
onto the soft mattress.

They laughed as they landed in a heap,
Faith sprawled over Buffy, and Buffy clinging to her as if she were the most
precious item in this world.

�You�re holding on pretty tight there, B, you can ease up if
you want.� Don�t worry,
I won�t let you fall off.�� Faith said
with a chuckle, holding herself up so that she could
look down into Buffy�s eyes.

Buffy�s smile faded into a much more serious look as she
finally admitted, her words shaky and uneven,

�I don�t wanna let go.�
I . . . I don�t wanna let go, Faith.�

Her eyes began to well up with tears, but before they could
fall, Faith was kissing her again.�
Kissing her with everything she had.�
With everything she felt.

�Don�t let go, Buffy,� she said breathlessly as they
shimmied up the mattress, pushing off their remaining clothing as they
struggled to find the center of the large bed.

When they finally found themselves naked and in a suitable
position, Faith propped herself up above Buffy and looked down at her, just
staring into her eyes and lightly brushing her hair away from her face.

�You�re so beautiful,� Faith whispered, her warm breath
tickling softly over Buffy�s flushed skin.�
�I . . .� love you, she thought but her voice caught in her
throat so that she couldn�t finish her sentence.

�Shh,� Buffy interrupted Faith,
shaking her head slightly, �I know . . . I know, Faith.�� She moved her hand up to Faith�s cheek and
looked deeply into her eyes, giving her a small nod so that Faith knew she
understood.

Almost hesitantly, Faith leaned down and pressed her lips to
Buffy�s, afraid that if she didn�t occupy her mouth, the words that she was
dying yet terrified to say would come flying out.

Slowly, she moved her lips to the corner of Buffy�s mouth,
over her cheek, down her jaw, and began descending her body, placing soft,
lingering kisses on every inch of Buffy�s skin along the way.

Buffy closed her eyes and braced herself, not because of
Faith�s unyielding lips, but for the tears that she knew were dying to fall
from her eyes.

**********

The sound of a vacuum running in the next room over stirred
Buffy from her slumber.� She lifted her
head from the pillow and glanced at the alarm clock, noting that she should
really be up and getting herself situated.�
She stretched for a moment as she lay on her stomach, working out all of
her sore muscles, then rolled partly over . . . and then
completely over as she realized that she was alone in the bed.

She closed her eyes and sat up, straining her ears to hear
over the buzzing of the vacuum cleaner.� Upon
hearing nothing, she called out into the room.

�Faith?�

A few moments passed before she opened her eyes and allowed
herself to survey the large room.

No boots.� No leather
jacket.� No black duffel bag.

And most importantly, no Faith.

Buffy furrowed her eyebrows, barely able to believe that she
was waking up alone.� She swung her legs
over the edge of the bed and stood up, grabbing a crumpled tee-shirt from the
floor and hastily threw it on.�

With one last ounce of hope that maybe Faith hadn�t really
taken off, she made her way to the bathroom and, after pausing a second to
listen, pushed the door open gently.� Alas,
there was no Faith to be found, but there was a piece of hotel paper left on
the vanity.� She picked it up and read it
aloud.

�Never was one for goodbyes, guess that never changes.� Take care of you, B.� Thanks for giving me a second chance; I�ll
never forget it.� �Faith.��

Buffy sighed, trying hard not to let it bother her as much
as it was.� She and Faith had no
commitments.� Friends
with benefits.� She never should
have expected a teary finale or even a kiss goodbye.� Still, it didn�t stop her from bringing the
note up to her face and breathing in deep to take in any last remaining traces
of Faith.

After a moment, she walked across the room and held her arm
out, letting the note fall like a feather into the garbage bin.� She sat there are looked at it laying in the pale-colored
bin, noting in truly dramatic Buffy fashion that she may as well have thrown in
her heart.

However, her dramatic thoughts finally caught up with her
and she chuckled aloud before stripping off her shirt and making her way to the
shower.

�Drama Queen much, Buffy?� she said aloud to herself.� �Get a grip . . . you have a long day ahead
of yourself.�

With that said, she shook her head
and focused, determined to tie up the loose ends that needed to be tidied
before they left for the airport.� She
couldn�t be losing her head at a time like this; not when Dawn was depending on
her, not when she had a whole new future to be looking forward to and planning.

She stepped into the shower and let the warm water beat down
on her, letting it wash away the last remaining traces of Faith from her body,
but not from her mind.

**********

Buffy made her way down the hotel corridor, her simple red
duffel bag slung over her shoulder.� She
stopped at Willow
and Kennedy�s room and knocked, knowing fully well that they had already left,
but taking her chances anyhow.� After a
moment, a stout little cleaning lady opened the door, a feather duster in her
hand.

�Umm, hi!�� Buffy said, a bit
surprised.� �You�re not Willow.� I guess she�s gone too, then.��

The short lady smiled and shrugged, obviously not
understanding a word that Buffy said.

�Right, you don�t speak English,� Buffy commented, feeling a
bit foolish.� �I guess it�s
better that way.�� Then a thought crossed
her mind: Maybe the cleaning lady had seen Faith leave.� Maybe it had just been a while ago, and maybe
Faith was still in the hotel somewhere.�
Her eyes grew wide.

�Umm . . . I�m looking for my friend . . .� she fumbled,
trying to recall the Spanish lessons she took when she was in middle school,
but came up completely blank,� . . . my friend-o?� She�s about this tall,� she held her arm up
just a bit over her own head, �brown hair . . . umm, el brunetto
. . . mucho attitude-o . . . nice butt . . . nice-o butt-o?�

She paused to see the stout woman giving her a bewildered
look.

�Yeah, you�re not getting any of this, are you?�� She asked, looking around the hall to see if
there was anyone that could help her translate.�
She all but froze when she saw Dawn watching her with a very amused look
on her face.

�Freak much, Buffy?��
Dawn asked with a grin, watching how uncomfortable her sister became
upon realizing that Dawn had witnessed the interaction.� �Yunno, the Spanish language consists of more
than just adding �o� to the end of words.�

Buffy sneered at Dawn and gave her a fake laugh.

�I thought you were the expert on Italian, Dawn.�� She paused as a thought crossed her
mind.� �Hey, you took Spanish this year .
. . ask her if she�s seen Faith.�

Dawn frowned.

�Buffy, I took Spanish in a school that closed down early
because demons kept popping up out of the basement before it, you know . . .
imploded.� I hardly think I�m capable of
. . .� she trailed off when she saw Buffy�s desperate face.� �. . . oh, fine.�

Dawn turned to the stout woman who now looked both confused
and slightly scared.� She put on her best
smile and, after choosing her words carefully, asked the woman the question in
her best Spanish.

After a moment of trying to understand Dawn�s bad and broken
Spanish, the woman shook her head and nodded.

�Si,
vi a su amiga.� Ella dejo
temprano esta manana.� Ella parecia muy
triste.�

Dawn smiled at the woman.�
�Gracias,� she said, then grabbed Buffy�s arm and pulled her down the
corridor so that the frightened woman could go back to her job.

�Okay,� Dawn began, �she either said that she saw Faith
leave early this morning and that she looked really sad, or that Faith�s a DJ
with a bad temper and a thirsty parcel.�

Buffy thought it over.�

�Well, she does have a bad temper sometimes.�

Dawn chuckled, then began to slowly
walk alongside her sister as they made their way down the hall toward the
elevator.

�So, she didn�t say goodbye then?�� Dawn asked, trying
hard not to open up what was possibly a painful would.

Buffy smiled wryly.

�I got a letter.� At
least that�s something.�

Dawn stopped, her mouth open wide.

�She Dear John-ed you?�

Buffy stopped and turned to look at her sister.� �It�s not a big deal, Dawnie.� Whatever happened is over now, just as we
planned from the beginning.� It was a
good solution to a persistent problem, and . . . the problem is over now.� No need to linger.�

She was trying really hard to convince herself of that as
well.

Dawn stared her sister down for a good minute, then rolled her eyes before starting down the hallway again.

�Keep telling yourself that, Buffy.� Denial isn�t just a river in Egypt.� We all saw the schmoopy-ness
between the two of you.� Call it what you
want, but don�t play like it didn�t mean anything.� You�re only fooling yourself.�

Buffy stood for a moment or two before following after Dawn.

�Oh, this is gonna be a really fun 14 hour flight,� she
mumbled under her breath.

**********

The bumper-to-bumper ride to the airport in the incredibly smelly
taxi didn�t help Buffy�s mood at all.�
She kept fluctuating between sadness, frustration, and sadness
again.� A few times she felt herself
close to tears, unable to believe that she actually had to leave.� That Faith had actually left.

But this was the path that they had chosen.� This was what they had to do.

Still, that didn�t mean that they couldn�t have had some
closure.� That they couldn�t have said
goodbye with respect, as two adults should do.

Then again, she wasn�t sure what she would have said had
they found themselves in that position.

What exactly do you say to the person that you l . . . lust
after . . . when you know that your lives are leading in two separate
directions?

Maybe things were better as they were now.� Maybe Faith was smarter than Buffy had given
her credit for.

But she didn�t have any more time to mull it over in her
mind, as the taxi finally pulled up to the bustling airport and was dropping
them off at the curb.

�Dawn, make sure you have everything,� Buffy called out from
inside the cab as Dawn jumped out, taking a huge breath of fresh air.� Buffy stepped out of the cab too, situating
herself as she looked for her sister.�
�You don�t want to leave anything . . .� she paused as her eyes landed
on Faith, leaning against the building and wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, �.
. . behind.�

She did her best to appear unaffected, but couldn�t help the
small smile that appeared on her face as Faith smiled sheepishly and began
making her way over.

Dawn intercepted Faith first, who pulled her into a big hug.

�Be good, ok kiddo?�
Take care of your big sis, and watch out for those Italian guys, they
think they�re all kindsa smooth.� Remember:�
kick first, ask questions later.�

Dawn hugged Faith tight and replied, �I will.� Take care of yourself too.� Alright, Faith?� I mean it.�

She pulled back and looked into Faith�s eyes, happy that the
girl had decided to come and do the right thing after all.

�You know it,� Faith said with a smile, then watched as Dawn
grabbed her bag and made her way into the building.� After a moment, she dragged her eyes back to
Buffy, who stood watching the scene with a small smile on her face.� Hesitantly, she took a few steps until she
was finally face to face with the girl.

�Hey,� she said, shoving her hands deep into her pockets.

�Hey back,� Buffy answered, trying hard not to let her
emotions take over.

�I may have mentioned that I�m not too good with goodbyes,� Faith
began with a nervous chuckle.

Buffy smiled, trying to offer Faith a bit of comfort so she
wasn�t so tense.� �Yeah, you may have.�

A moment later, Buffy saw Faith take a step forward, and
then she felt a pair of strong arms holding her tight.� She surrendered to the hug, resting her head
snugly on Faith�s shoulder.

Faith breathed in deep, inhaling Buffy�s sent.� It intoxicated her, making her forget herself
for a moment.

�God I�m gonna miss you,� she said before she could censor
herself.� She stiffened up, but realized
that it was too late to take back.�
Instead, she ran her hands up and down Buffy�s back, caressing her gently.

�I�m gonna miss you too,� Buffy admitted, lost in the scent
of Faith�s perfume mixed with her shampoo.�
Unconsciously, she let her lips press to Faith�s neck, just tasting her
skin lightly.� One last time, she
thought.

Faith shivered, then brought her arms up to Buffy�s face and
held it softly in her hands before leaning in and giving Buffy a soft, chaste
kiss on her lips.� She rested her
forehead against Buffy�s and closed her eyes, allowing herself just one more
moment to bask.

�It�s always been you, Buffy.�� Faith whispered before she
stepping back and allowing herself one more look at the girl.� A moment later, she turned and walked away
down the busy sidewalk.� It only took a
few moments before she disappeared within the masses of people getting into and
out of taxis, as if she had never been there at all.

Buffy held her fingertips softly to her lips, overcome with
such emotion that she could barely stand it.

And finally, she let the tears come that had been waiting so
long to fall.

TBC��zomg,
angst.� Don�t kill me, ok?� I�ll fix it, I promise.� :p
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Friends With Benefits