Title: An Adventure in Babysitting
Author:
aaronlisaRating: FR13
Pairing/Characters: Faith Lehane, Cordelia Chase, Dawn Summers
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon and company.
Prompts: Written for the
cya_ficathon, the prompt that I received was: Insert Dawn into Season Three. I’d like to see her interact with Faith and/or Cordelia.
Notes: Set during early Season Three.
Summary: Faith’s left babysitting Dawn while Buffy and the others go after a big bad without her.
Word Count: 1654
Faith sighed as she lazily turned the page of a fashion magazine that Cordelia had left lying around in the library. She wasn't even really reading it but it beat staring at the clock and watching it slowly count down the seconds and minutes. Instead of actually helping out Buffy with some big and nasty monster that had required everyone else, Faith was stuck in the library babysitting Buffy's annoying kid sister.
It wasn't that Faith actually hated the kid or anything like that, for the most part Faith actually got along really well with Dawn. However, tonight Dawn seemed to be determined to be as annoying as humanly possible by asking Faith some stupid question every five minutes or so. This combined with the fact that Buffy had seen fit to bring the barely capable witch and the class clown with her while she hunted some big and nasty while leaving the other Slayer in town with her kid sister made for a very impatient Faith. The whole situation stung a lot more than Faith cared to admit, even to herself.
"I'm bored," Dawn whined as she threw her pencil down on the desk.
"B said that you had to do your homework," Faith replied without looking up.
"But I don't wanna."
"Tough," Faith said.
"Buffy's not the boss of me."
Faith rolled her eyes at the remark, even though she secretly agreed with Dawn. It wouldn't win her any favours with Buffy, if she didn't at least attempt to make the kid do her homework. Faith carefully set the magazine down on the table and turned to face Dawn.
"She's not the boss of you, but she's your big sister. So maybe you should do what she says."
"Do you do everything that Buffy tells you to do?" Dawn asked.
Before Faith could respond to Dawn's casual remark, the library doors swung open revealing Cordelia Chase. Faith held her breath as she fervently wished that the other brunette would go somewhere else when she didn't see Buffy and her Scoobies. Of course, Cordelia sauntered into the library, dashing Faith's hope and effectively guaranteeing that an already bad evening would become worse. The authoritative click of the cheerleader's high heels on the floor made Faith grit her teeth in frustration.
"Where are the rest of the freaks?" Cordelia asked.
"Out," Faith taciturnly replied.
"Out on patrol," Dawn helpfully supplied causing Faith to glare at her.
"And they left you here," Cordelia asked in disbelief.
"Nah, it just looks that way."
The two brunettes glared at one another before Cordelia elegantly sat down in the chair beside Dawn and looked at the younger girl's homework before turning her attention back to Faith.
"Well it could be worse," Cordelia finally said, breaking the uneasy silence between them.
"Really?"
"You could be baby-sitting Oz on a full moon."
"Been there, done that," Faith replied as she rolled her eyes at the cheerleader.
"With Dawn," Cordelia replied with a smirk.
"Hey!" Dawn exclaimed as both Cordelia and Faith broke into laughter.
Dawn silently fumed as the two older girls managed to stop laughing.
"Oh Dawnie, I'm sorry, it's just that..." Cordelia began.
"It's just that what?" Dawn demanded.
"You're a bit of a handful at times, kid," Faith supplied.
"I am not," Dawn protested.
"You are too," Cordelia said with a smirk.
"I am not!"
"And we can do this all night," Faith stated, "How about we go for ice cream, instead?"
Dawn instantly brightened at the idea as she turned towards Cordelia, looking to the other girl for approval. Cordelia smiled and nodded before standing up.
"Why not?"
"Let's get outta here," Faith stated as she pulled on her leather jacket.
The trio decided to walk to the ice cream shop that was located in downtown Sunnydale, only fifteen minutes away from the high school, both Cordelia and Faith were certain that nothing could go wrong on the early fall evening. At least nothing that a Slayer couldn't handle on her own. It seemed near impossible but Cordelia and Faith found themselves enjoying the walk and the conversation. Every time that the conversation faded between the two of them, Dawn would find something to talk about that would make either of the older teenagers smile and laugh. At the ice cream store, Dawn ordered a huge banana split sundae that they all ended up sharing.
For once, Faith felt as if she had finally found a place where she belonged, even it was a million miles away from fulfilling her role as the Chosen One. Even Cordelia seemed more relaxed than she did when they were with the others, causing Faith to re-evaluate the cheerleader. When Dawn had decided that she couldn't eat another bite of the sundae, Faith looked up at the clock to find that an hour had passed.
“Shit,” Faith quietly stated.
“What?” Cordelia asked as she carefully replied her lipstick.
“We’ve been here for an hour.”
“So?” Dawn asked.
“Your sister isn’t going to be too thrilled if she finds us missing.”
“We better get back then,” Cordelia offered.
The walk back to the high school wasn’t as pleasant as the walk from had been. Both Cordelia and Faith were tense with the fear of what Buffy’s possible attitude might be, especially since Dawn hadn’t finished her homework.
“I know a short cut,” Cordelia said, “It’s through that cemetery. It’ll get us back a lot faster.”
Even though Faith knew that it was probably tempting fate, she was willing to take the chance at whatever fate through her way rather than the wrath of Buffy. She nodded in response and followed Cordelia’s lead, her hand gripping the smooth wood of the stake that she had had tucked in her pants.
At first, it seemed like they were going to make it through the creepy cemetery without mishap, until a vampire jumped out at them. Dawn screamed as Faith ran at the vampire, brandishing her stake, tension and fear making her clumsy. Cordelia grabbed Dawn and pulled her out of the way, tripping on a tree root causing them both to fall.
Although everything seemed to move in slow motion for Faith, everything was over in a matter of seconds instead of the agonizing hours that it seemed to be. The vampire managed to get in a couple of good punches, splitting her lip and bruising her arm, but she managed to stake it. It exploded into bitter ash and dust as she turned to find Cordelia and Dawn. The older girl was holding her ankle with a pained expression as Dawn gave a little shout of glee.
“That was awesome! Did you see how it just exploded, Cordy, did you?” Dawn exclaimed as she stood up and touched the dust with the tip of her toe, “That was so cool!”
Faith made her way to Cordelia and felt her ankle.
“Are you okay?”
“I think so,” Cordelia said as she looked up at Faith.
“It doesn’t feel like you broke anything.”
“It really hurts.”
“Do you think you can stand up?” Faith asked as she placed a comforting hand on Cordelia’s arm.
“Yeah.”
The Slayer cautiously helped Cordelia to stand, carefully watching her face for any sign that the ankle was hurt more. All the time, Dawn was going on about how the vampire and exploded and how fast Faith had been. Neither Cordelia nor Faith paid her much attention, both focused on their injuries.
“Give me a hand, kid,” Faith stated.
Dawn moved to Cordelia’s other side, while Faith let Cordelia lean into her, and they slowly started to make their way back to the school. Cordelia tried to walk without making any sound; strangely enough she didn’t want Faith to feel bad about the injury. She felt as if she should have known better about suggesting that they use the cemetery as a short cut, especially when they were in a hurry.
Faith, on the other hand, was focused on what would happen when Buffy found out, it was clear that the other Slayer already doubted her ability when it came to hunting monsters. She could just see Buffy’s face as they came closer and closer to the school. Her eyes would be narrowed, and her mouth would be formed into a moue of disgust and all of her anger would be focused on Faith. It wouldn’t matter that Cordelia had been with her or that Cordelia had suggested that they use the cemetery nor would the fact that Dawn didn’t have a scratch on her. All that would matter was that Faith had put Buffy’s kid sister in the path of danger.
“It’ll be okay,” Cordelia quietly offered as they stood in front of the doors to the school.
“Let’s get you in there so you can rest your ankle,” Faith stated.
The hallways were strangely silent as they made their way towards whatever fate that awaited them. When they reached the library, they weren’t surprised to find Buffy and the others back from their patrol. However, both Cordelia and Faith were surprised to find Buffy in a good mood.
Instead of the anger that they were sure would greet them, Buffy merely laughed as she listened to their misadventure. She smiled as Dawn went on about how Faith had taken down a vampire that had suddenly grown foot long fangs and wickedly sharp claws before she told her sister to finish her homework.
“She can be quite the handful,” Buffy stated as she smiled at Faith. “Thanks for watching her; I knew she’d be safe with you.”
Faith looked at Cordelia in surprise before they both made noises of agreement at the blonde. It certainly wasn’t the reaction they were expecting, but they quickly decided to go with it before both silently vowing that the next time they had to baby sit Dawn, they wouldn’t take any chances.
**END**