"No, *you* don't get it. I don't care."

And it was almost entirely true -- Faith had never seen the point of elaborate funerals. For Faith, the human body was nothing without animus (though she wouldn't think of it quite that way), and since the only real *bad* trouble she and Buffy could get into had gone glug-glug-glug with the corpse...

Well, there was nothing to worry about. Except that Buffy was doing just that. Worrying. Fretting.

*Thinking*.

In her trendy-yet-good girl clothes, in her cute little shoes, in her carefully mussed hair... Buffy was one of those girls who could wear colors that weren't really right for her and still look cute and fashionably waifish, somehow.

"Buffy..."

"Faith, you have to know this isn't right."

And the look in Buffy's eyes just underscored the words. Faith *had* to do this, because everyone had to do this because that was how it was.

Not for the first time, or even the fifteenth, Faith decided that what Buffy *really* needed was extensive deprogramming. Really, Faith had only been doing her civic duty.

Faith sighed, ran one had through her hair. It was still damp from the last-minute scrubbing (and Faith wondered why after better than 7 years of bloodstain removal the process never got any easier), and the dampness added a certain amount of unintentional hesitation to the movement. Faith frowned.

"Faith --"

She shot Buffy a look.

"Fine, so the conversation is over. But why can't we just talk to someone?"

"Anyone?" Faith smirked in a way she thought was entirely internal. She knew Buffy's 'we' was mostly 'I.' Perfectly understandable. Buffy certainly had no reason to believe there would ever be a time when there simply *wasn't* anyone to talk to.

"Giles might know... something we can do."

"Like what? Dredge the lake and retrieve Mr. The Corpse for tasteful mounting?"

Buffy started turning a neat shade of pastel green that blended well with her coat.

"There's *nothing*, Buffy. We were getting attacked right and left by vampires. They were, you might remember, falling from the sky. I made a mistake, and there is *no* way to go back. You need to understand that.

"You also need to understand that we *still* can't save the world from prison."

"And there's *still* a difference between slaying and killing."

Faith flopped down on the squeaky little bed, stretched her legs and crossed her arms. Any other person would've gotten kicked out. Bodily, if necessary. But all Buffy had to do was stand her ground and Faith would let her claim it.

It was pathetic. But Buffy *was* a Slayer, too... had to be some leeway somewhere for fellow slayers. Had to trust the one who had your back. Something.

But being with another Slayer also meant that you never had to take it easy. "Is there really a difference? I mean, think about it. We kill night and *day*. It's not like we stop and get to know these things --"

"They're *things*, Faith. A thing is different from a person, hence the whole calling things 'things' thing."

"I dare you to say that five times fast."

Buffy grinned at Faith for a heartstopping moment of what Faith would classify as 'victory' before pulling back the humor and looking down.

"There's a difference, Faith."

"Which explains why you're dating a vampire. Uh, huh."

"Don't talk about Angel."

file://Because I'm not good enough?// Faith brushed it off. "OK, so we only kill the Bad Ones."

"Exactly."

"And the ones who are unlucky enough to pick easy-to-find nests..."

"Stupidity is no excuse."

Faith snorted. "Hey, I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying we had no idea if those were the same vampires who were working for Evil with a capital E."

"I reiterate, Faith: Things. Things that kill people on a nightly basis, whether or not those people are us."

"Bear with me. You guys got Angel's soul back --"

"Don't --"

"So why not try to capture the beasts alive and work that ol' White magic instead of *always* slaying?"

"Even if I was naive enough to think you believed even a fraction of the bullshit it would *still* be bullshit, Faith."

"You're cute when you curse."

"Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit."

They giggled together briefly. Buffy always seemed to find Faith's enjoyment of Buffy's relative innocence... interesting.

Faith turned and crawled over to the foot of the bed. Patted the tattered coverlet. "C'mon, girlfriend. You look *forlorn* standing there all alone. I keep expecting some bad painter to come around to immortalize that look of yours on black velvet."

Buffy responded with the 'you're not going to distract me from this Important Issue' look. Faith had a briefly surreal moment when she realized that it was the exact same look whether they were talking about routine patrols or manslaughter. She shook it off when Buffy snuggled up next to her for a moment before letting herself fall backwards on the bed, leaving Faith face-to-face with what would be Buffy's navel should all those nice girl clothes be removed.

"Faith, how are we supposed to deal with this?"

"I already dealt with it." She could hear the edge in her voice.

"I.... I didn't mean it that way."

The other woman's voice was so quiet this time Faith only barely heard it. The implications made her freeze, even if she had been hopefully aiming for something just like it. Faith twisted until she was resting her head on Buffy's abdomen. Reached over to coax Buffy's hand into her own. Her almost ludicrously small palm was a little damp.

It made the calluses... softer.

Faith made her voice as gentle as she could. "Sometimes there's nothing."

Buffy stiffened briefly, then Faith felt her consciously relax again. For a moment, Faith wished her body could come up with another reaction to trust than the same old horniness it offered for everything from boredom to abject terror.

"This is just... this is just *wrong*, Faith. We shouldn't be able to... to just do *anything* because we're Slayers."

file://We *have* to be able to do anything.// Faith shifted again, bringing more of her body into contact with Buffy's and stifling both the groan and the predatory smile that wanted to surface. She knew Buffy would put up with all sorts of groping so long as Faith didn't go Too Far. "But that's just it. We do what we have to, and we do our best. We can't always be perfect..."

"But murder..."

"... was a fuckup of phenomenal proportions. But there's nothing more we can do. Not and still manage to do our jobs... Shit, Buffy, *everything* we do is life and death. Something like this had to happen someday, don't you see?"

Faith rested her head on Buffy's chest, resisted the urge to nestle more than was strictly reflexive. They stayed that way for a while, and Faith let herself relax to the rhythm of the other woman's heart, didn't let go of Buffy's hand.

"But, Faith --"

Faith growled and pounced, silencing Buffy with a short and carefully more-aggressive-than-lustful kiss.

"Yahhh! Faith!"

Faith kissed her again, if only for making her name two syllables. This time she kept her eyes open, and drank in the scandalized terror in Buffy's own.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I am the Evil Slayer, come to take your virtue away! Surrender, for there is no escape!" And then Faith threw back her head and cackled maniacally.

At which point Buffy flipped her off the bed.

"You know, you really should consider seeing a doctor about this."

Buffy was laughing, the edge nearly gone...

Faith arranged herself into a slightly more dignified position on the floor. "What this? The absolute comfort in my own aggressively healthy sexuality this?"

"Oh, I already knew there was no hope for that. I was thinking more along the lines of fixing your tendency to make weird grunting and cackle noises."

Faith narrowed her eyes and curled her lip. "There's only one way to respond to that."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

Faith twisted herself into a crouch and pounced, knocking them both back onto the bed and then to the floor on the other side. "Yeah."

Buffy let Faith pin her arms. "And what's that?"

"Unnngh." Faith emphasized her point with a slow full-body grind that was hard enough to let her know for sure that Buffy was wearing buttonfly jeans somewhere under that coat. Buffy was also giggling, presumably at the lust that Faith knew was only a little bit exaggerated.

How long would it take Buffy to notice just how hot she was getting?

She didn't even think about relinquishing her position.

Buffy pushed up against her hands a little harder, Faith pushed back a little harder. They increased the tension push by push until Faith could almost *hear* the way normal mortal bones would break given the same treatment as their own.

Faith wasn't sure when she'd started thrusting against Buffy, but they'd also maintained eye contact this entire time, and the only thing in Buffy's eyes was that smug little look of determination and a bit of that wide-eyed 'ooh, what's next, sis?' that Faith had come to expect from the other woman.

So she didn't stop.

"Faith..."

"Um-hmm..."

"Does this count as sex?"

"Ummm. Depends."

"On what?"

"Will you make me stop if I say yes?"

Buffy nodded, expression not-at-all firmly entrenched in 'and this is the way it is' mode.

"Then no..." Faith brought their hands down a little from the high point above Buffy's head and slid down the other woman's body. Bit the few closed buttons of Buffy's powder blue pseudotrench off and nudged the fabric away with her face. "This isn't remotely sexual."

And then Faith dove in and sucked one nipple into her mouth through Buffy's thin t-shirt and bra. She pulled hard and made sure to get the fabric as wet as possible. Buffy froze beneath her, then moaned. Faith stopped suckling long enough to blow cool air over Buffy's shirt.

The other woman jerked beneath her and abruptly twisted hard enough to free her hands. Faith sighed to herself and rolled off, watching Buffy stand up and back away a bit, holding her coat together with one hand. After pacing a little, she said:

"This falls into the realm of things I'm not comfortable with."

"I guessed that while you were walking around wondering where and how you should stand so that I received no mixed messages."

"God, that's annoying."

"Hey, you can find a vampire through a muddy footprint, I can tell when I've raised the little hairs on the back of someone's neck in a bad way. We all have our special skills, Buffy."

"Fuck that. You are not allowed to be pissed that I said 'no.'"

"Not *allowed*?"

"It's in the girl handbook, Faith. Look it up."

Faith put her head in her hands for a minute and laughed. "OK, fine. I'm not pissed at you. Happy?"

Buffy looked around the room a moment, apparently focusing on duct tape and dirty clothes and the general sense of shab Faith knew her place couldn't help but give off. She was probably trying to remember why she'd came here in the first place, and Faith didn't really want that to happen.

"Look, I'm attracted to you. Big shock, I know, but I am. And sometimes when I look at you I think I might have a little chance..."

And that was enough to get Buffy looking at her again, focusing on Faith as opposed to her own thoughts.

"I'm not gay, Faith."

Faith shrugged. "I know. Personally, I don't think that has shit to do with anything."

"Enlighten me, Sexy Spice."

"Laugh if you want, but nerves are nerves. Some things feel good, whether or not we think they should. So why bother to get hung up on who's making you feel good?" Faith grinned with as much cheer as she could manage, gave Buffy a conspiratorial look. "Hey, I'm even a friend. We're golden."

Buffy crossed her arms, rocked a little on her heels before meeting Faith's gaze again. She looked a little sad, which made Faith's guts twist. "Because that's not who I am."

"Yeah. OK."

A few moments of awkward silence.

"I guess I should get going..."

"Yeah, I've got some shit to do, too..."

Buffy turned for the door, paused.

Faith spoke into the silence. "I guess it would be pretty pointless to mention that the Ho Handbook says it's not cheating if you're doing it with a member of the same sex."

Quiet laugh. "What if you're *dating* a member of the same sex?"

"Well, then it's cheating. But you *are* allowed to do it with members of the opposite sex."

"That's... helpful."

Faith stared at the soft hairs on the back of Buffy's neck. Thought about licking there, slowly. "But not convincing, hunh?"

The other woman turned back to face her. Shook her head and smiled ruefully. It wasn't *actually* condescending...

And then Buffy walked out and closed the door behind her.

End.