Fic for urban_folk_girl
Femslash ’07 fic for urban_folk_girl
Title: Feels Like COming Home.
Author: globalfruitbat
Recipient: urban_folk_girl
Rating: G, maaaybe PG
Pairing(s): Faith/Tara, Willow/Tara
Author’s Notes: Thanks so much to Lia for Beta-ing for me. Thanks to spikendru, gillo, and ekatarina for the song suggestions! Thanks to urban_folk_girl for requesting this pairing. I didn’t think I could write it, or rather, I never had. But I did, and I enjoyed it very much! I hope you enjoy reading it. This is a pretty up-beat fic, which is off the beaten path for me as well, so I hope it works! Also, I own none of this - Joss, ME and others far richer than I do. Lines from Faith, Hope and Trick used without permission.
Word Count: 1,860 words
Summary: Post-Chosen, four or five years. You wake up, you do your job and then you look around - you’re home.
Faith is in Toronto, dealing with some vampires who have been feeding off tourists when she gets the e-mail:
Hey Faith,
Just wanted to drop you a line, let you know there’s a new Scooby in town. More like an old one - Willow says Tara’s back. We’ll be in touch if we need you.
Xander
She doesn’t really know why he even told her about it. She knows that Kennedy and Willow have been over for a while, and if this isn’t Tara, and is instead some Big Bad (or even the First, back again), they aren’t gonna be calling her for help.
But Xander tries to keep them all connected. Dawn tries too.
Faith doesn’t really care - Buffy doesn’t seem to try that hard either. They’re both dealin’ with the whole “every girl who could be, is” thing in their own way. Faith is goin’ out and kicking as much demon ass as she can.
She heads down to L.A. every few months or so - after Angel’s deal went south, and they all had to pitch in to drag whatever was left of his team outta there, the place is even worse than before. Worse than Sunnydale, in a lot of ways.
Better than Sunnydale in most ways though. Of course, that’s not hard.
***
It’s almost another year before Faith hears anything more about Willow and Tara. Anything worth remembering, anyway, beyond the fact that it was Tara and they didn’t know how or why she was back. Buffy had tried to explain to Faith how they knew it was her during the twice-yearly meeting in London, but Faith tuned her out once she knew it wasn’t the First again. She didn’t care - it wasn’t her business.
If she’s learned anything from that first year in Sunnydale, it’s that the Scoobies don’t like Faith sticking her nose into their relationships. So she doesn’t even think about what’s going on in Rio until it pops up in front of her face, the next time she’s in L.A.
Everyone’s there this time - it's apocalypse season and they need all the fire-power they’ve got. Xander and Dawn flew in from London with Giles on the Council jet. They’re the first ones to show up at the suites Faith’s booked for them on her Council card.
It’s nice to have money.
Since she’s been spending the most time here over the last few years, dealing with the demons and vamps and power-players that filled in after Wolfram and Hart left (and how much does that suck for Angel - his team won and he still lost everyone except for Spike and Illyria. And himself, but Faith’s not to sure that he feels it was any sort win for him), Faith’s in charge of the de-briefing.
She’ll be running this apocalypse. The first one where she’s the go-to person. It’s a cool feeling. She’s been in touch with Giles and Buffy pretty much daily since the Guv’Avmashik Brayed showed up three months ago and started turning parts of the city into their home hell dimension. They were real stealth with it, too. People didn’t just wake up in sulfur pools or anything - the home dimension was real similar to normal L.A. - just with a lot more crazy people and some of those crazies liked to light other people on fire with their eyes. Or eat kids. Or turn humans into demons like themselves.
Not the most fun she’s ever had - not knowing when some normal person was suddenly going to turn into a flesh-eating monster in the grocery line, or when some kid’s nanny would turn out to be one of the Brayed and rip its arm off at the playground.
So Faith’s been feeling - not worried, but, maybe four by five. Having Giles and Xander and Dawn there was helping some, and as the rest of the team starts showing up over the next few days, she’s starting to feel like not only are they going to have no trouble with this fight, but she’s gonna do just fine at leading them into battle.
She never used to worry about this sort of thing. She always knew she was gonna win - until she led those girls into battle and they got blown up. She hasn’t wanted to lead anyone anywhere ever since. In the years since Sunnydale collapsed, she’s been fighting on her own. Probably why things ended with Robin. She didn’t want to be leading him anywhere and he wanted nothing more than to help form the new Slayer Army.
***
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara show up last. Faith knew that Buffy was going to be last - Angel wasn’t sure if he was going to make this fight or not and Buffy didn’t want to show up with Spike if Angel was going to be there.
But he isn’t going to show, so Buffy doesn’t care. Faith doesn’t know when she and Buffy started having conversations, but she doesn’t mind.
Willow’s looking pretty much the same as the last time Faith saw her - three or four months ago, they were both in the same city at the same time. They had caught up on evil and how the fight was going, while Faith waited for her flight and Willow waited for her cab, in some airport somewhere in Germany. But Faith hasn’t seen Tara since Faith was in Buffy’s body - and it wasn’t like Faith was all too interested then.
Faith’s interested now. She can tell that things aren’t good between Willow and Tara. She’d be surprised if they’re even still together, the way they sit and stand. Also, the way that Tara’s looking back at Faith the way Faith’s looking at Tara.
“So, Faith, shall we get started?” Giles’ interrupts her thoughts and Faith straightens up. Time to get to work.
***
Three days later and it’s all over. No death on their side - the local Slayer contingent had been fighting with Faith since the beginning of the Brayed invasion, so when it had come down to fighting, they’d known how to fight. And the girls that came with Dawn and Xander from London hadn’t been any slouches either.
But it hadn’t been Slayers saving the day this time - it’d been Tara and Willow and Dawn. Dawn had been the one to figure out the weak spots in the portals and Tara and Willow had pulled the parts of L.A. out of the Brayed dimension and swapped them for the Brayed parts here.
Or something, Faith hadn’t been paying much attention then. Now, she’s just trying to get the demon goo off so that she can get dressed and take everyone out and show them all how you celebrate, Faith Lehane style. She knows a great club with wicked cheap drinks and she’s feeling pretty good. She came through in the end. She planned the attack, she ran the attack, she won.
They won. And it’s still the best feeling - winning and being able to look over and see someone happy with her. Happy for her.
At the very end of the battle, when the last of the Brayed had been spinning back home, she’d ended up beside Tara. Tara damn well didn’t seem like the type, but when Faith caught her eye as Tara threw some magic at the portal or something, Tara had the same look that Faith knows she gets.
”Doesn’t Slayin’ always make you hungry and horny?”
Faith knows this is probably a bad idea. She knows Willow has a problem with Faith playing with her toys, but damn - Tara is just so much more than Faith ever thought.
She steps out of the shower, the last of the goo gone from her hair, and towels off. Definitely a bad idea.
***
Buffy and Dawn are the lightest-weights Faith’s seen in a long time. Must be a Summers thing, because they both have had maybe three hard lemonades between them, and Dawn’s yelling in Faith’s ear about needing to dance on the bar with Buffy.
“Since I turned twenty one!” she yells. “Every time we go to a new bar! It was Buffy’s idea!”
And Faith can see that that’s true, because Buffy’s over at the bar, talking to the bartender, waving her arms around wildly, pointing at Dawn, who gets up and bounds over to Buffy.
Three minutes later, they’re up on the bar and Bif Naked’s “Rich and Filthy” is pounding through the speakers. Faith looks closer and sees that Spike and Xander are near the bar too --- looking like they’re ready to catch anyone who might go flying.
“They do this all the time.” Tara’s standing right behind Faith, looking like she’s had a few drinks herself. “Every time I’m in London the same time as Buffy and Spike, Dawn and Buffy make me go out with them. And then this happens. Last time, Dawn almost fell off, the bartender grabbed her and Buffy thought he was trying to feel up her sister. We got thrown out.”
“Really? Buffy? Picked a fight in a club? B’s really changed.” Faith steps a little closer. Just so she can hear better.
Even she doesn’t believe that.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve only been around for a year or so, but she has. She’s…” Tara looks over at Buffy and Dawn, who have hopped off the bar and have apparently decided that tequila is the next order of business. “She’s happy. Everyone’s so much happier now, than when I…left.”
Faith can believe that. Part of the new conversation relationship she has with Buffy means that Buffy told her about Willow trying to destroy the world - and exactly how Buffy and Spike had gotten together.
“But you? I mean, I don’t think you and Red are together any more, right? So, are you happier?” As she asks this, Faith puts her hands on Tara’s hips. Guess the three or four drinks Faith’s had are doin’ their thing, too.
“I’m - not really, I guess, ‘cause I was so happy then. When…it happened. But, we couldn’t be together anymore. She’s changed, I’ve changed. I’ve talked to Buffy a lot. Been there, done that, you know?”
Faith knows. She also knows that she wants to take Tara back to her hotel room, really badly.
“Faith - do you want to get some air?” Tara’s looking at Faith the way Faith’s looking back at her. And Tara just used the oldest line ever on her. Does Faith want air?
Faith looks around the club. Fourteen or so Slayers are on the dance floor, gettin’ down with Giles and Andrew and Wood to some Queen remix. Buffy, Dawn, Spike, and Xander have pulled Willow up to the bar and she and Buffy and Dawn seem to be preparing for another show.
Faith brought these people here, showed them how to party here. She planned this fight, she won this fight. All these people wanted to be near her. And Tara wants to get some air with her.
Better than Sunnydale in almost every way.
Title: Feels Like COming Home.
Author: globalfruitbat
Recipient: urban_folk_girl
Rating: G, maaaybe PG
Pairing(s): Faith/Tara, Willow/Tara
Author’s Notes: Thanks so much to Lia for Beta-ing for me. Thanks to spikendru, gillo, and ekatarina for the song suggestions! Thanks to urban_folk_girl for requesting this pairing. I didn’t think I could write it, or rather, I never had. But I did, and I enjoyed it very much! I hope you enjoy reading it. This is a pretty up-beat fic, which is off the beaten path for me as well, so I hope it works! Also, I own none of this - Joss, ME and others far richer than I do. Lines from Faith, Hope and Trick used without permission.
Word Count: 1,860 words
Summary: Post-Chosen, four or five years. You wake up, you do your job and then you look around - you’re home.
Faith is in Toronto, dealing with some vampires who have been feeding off tourists when she gets the e-mail:
Hey Faith,
Just wanted to drop you a line, let you know there’s a new Scooby in town. More like an old one - Willow says Tara’s back. We’ll be in touch if we need you.
Xander
She doesn’t really know why he even told her about it. She knows that Kennedy and Willow have been over for a while, and if this isn’t Tara, and is instead some Big Bad (or even the First, back again), they aren’t gonna be calling her for help.
But Xander tries to keep them all connected. Dawn tries too.
Faith doesn’t really care - Buffy doesn’t seem to try that hard either. They’re both dealin’ with the whole “every girl who could be, is” thing in their own way. Faith is goin’ out and kicking as much demon ass as she can.
She heads down to L.A. every few months or so - after Angel’s deal went south, and they all had to pitch in to drag whatever was left of his team outta there, the place is even worse than before. Worse than Sunnydale, in a lot of ways.
Better than Sunnydale in most ways though. Of course, that’s not hard.
***
It’s almost another year before Faith hears anything more about Willow and Tara. Anything worth remembering, anyway, beyond the fact that it was Tara and they didn’t know how or why she was back. Buffy had tried to explain to Faith how they knew it was her during the twice-yearly meeting in London, but Faith tuned her out once she knew it wasn’t the First again. She didn’t care - it wasn’t her business.
If she’s learned anything from that first year in Sunnydale, it’s that the Scoobies don’t like Faith sticking her nose into their relationships. So she doesn’t even think about what’s going on in Rio until it pops up in front of her face, the next time she’s in L.A.
Everyone’s there this time - it's apocalypse season and they need all the fire-power they’ve got. Xander and Dawn flew in from London with Giles on the Council jet. They’re the first ones to show up at the suites Faith’s booked for them on her Council card.
It’s nice to have money.
Since she’s been spending the most time here over the last few years, dealing with the demons and vamps and power-players that filled in after Wolfram and Hart left (and how much does that suck for Angel - his team won and he still lost everyone except for Spike and Illyria. And himself, but Faith’s not to sure that he feels it was any sort win for him), Faith’s in charge of the de-briefing.
She’ll be running this apocalypse. The first one where she’s the go-to person. It’s a cool feeling. She’s been in touch with Giles and Buffy pretty much daily since the Guv’Avmashik Brayed showed up three months ago and started turning parts of the city into their home hell dimension. They were real stealth with it, too. People didn’t just wake up in sulfur pools or anything - the home dimension was real similar to normal L.A. - just with a lot more crazy people and some of those crazies liked to light other people on fire with their eyes. Or eat kids. Or turn humans into demons like themselves.
Not the most fun she’s ever had - not knowing when some normal person was suddenly going to turn into a flesh-eating monster in the grocery line, or when some kid’s nanny would turn out to be one of the Brayed and rip its arm off at the playground.
So Faith’s been feeling - not worried, but, maybe four by five. Having Giles and Xander and Dawn there was helping some, and as the rest of the team starts showing up over the next few days, she’s starting to feel like not only are they going to have no trouble with this fight, but she’s gonna do just fine at leading them into battle.
She never used to worry about this sort of thing. She always knew she was gonna win - until she led those girls into battle and they got blown up. She hasn’t wanted to lead anyone anywhere ever since. In the years since Sunnydale collapsed, she’s been fighting on her own. Probably why things ended with Robin. She didn’t want to be leading him anywhere and he wanted nothing more than to help form the new Slayer Army.
***
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara show up last. Faith knew that Buffy was going to be last - Angel wasn’t sure if he was going to make this fight or not and Buffy didn’t want to show up with Spike if Angel was going to be there.
But he isn’t going to show, so Buffy doesn’t care. Faith doesn’t know when she and Buffy started having conversations, but she doesn’t mind.
Willow’s looking pretty much the same as the last time Faith saw her - three or four months ago, they were both in the same city at the same time. They had caught up on evil and how the fight was going, while Faith waited for her flight and Willow waited for her cab, in some airport somewhere in Germany. But Faith hasn’t seen Tara since Faith was in Buffy’s body - and it wasn’t like Faith was all too interested then.
Faith’s interested now. She can tell that things aren’t good between Willow and Tara. She’d be surprised if they’re even still together, the way they sit and stand. Also, the way that Tara’s looking back at Faith the way Faith’s looking at Tara.
“So, Faith, shall we get started?” Giles’ interrupts her thoughts and Faith straightens up. Time to get to work.
***
Three days later and it’s all over. No death on their side - the local Slayer contingent had been fighting with Faith since the beginning of the Brayed invasion, so when it had come down to fighting, they’d known how to fight. And the girls that came with Dawn and Xander from London hadn’t been any slouches either.
But it hadn’t been Slayers saving the day this time - it’d been Tara and Willow and Dawn. Dawn had been the one to figure out the weak spots in the portals and Tara and Willow had pulled the parts of L.A. out of the Brayed dimension and swapped them for the Brayed parts here.
Or something, Faith hadn’t been paying much attention then. Now, she’s just trying to get the demon goo off so that she can get dressed and take everyone out and show them all how you celebrate, Faith Lehane style. She knows a great club with wicked cheap drinks and she’s feeling pretty good. She came through in the end. She planned the attack, she ran the attack, she won.
They won. And it’s still the best feeling - winning and being able to look over and see someone happy with her. Happy for her.
At the very end of the battle, when the last of the Brayed had been spinning back home, she’d ended up beside Tara. Tara damn well didn’t seem like the type, but when Faith caught her eye as Tara threw some magic at the portal or something, Tara had the same look that Faith knows she gets.
”Doesn’t Slayin’ always make you hungry and horny?”
Faith knows this is probably a bad idea. She knows Willow has a problem with Faith playing with her toys, but damn - Tara is just so much more than Faith ever thought.
She steps out of the shower, the last of the goo gone from her hair, and towels off. Definitely a bad idea.
***
Buffy and Dawn are the lightest-weights Faith’s seen in a long time. Must be a Summers thing, because they both have had maybe three hard lemonades between them, and Dawn’s yelling in Faith’s ear about needing to dance on the bar with Buffy.
“Since I turned twenty one!” she yells. “Every time we go to a new bar! It was Buffy’s idea!”
And Faith can see that that’s true, because Buffy’s over at the bar, talking to the bartender, waving her arms around wildly, pointing at Dawn, who gets up and bounds over to Buffy.
Three minutes later, they’re up on the bar and Bif Naked’s “Rich and Filthy” is pounding through the speakers. Faith looks closer and sees that Spike and Xander are near the bar too --- looking like they’re ready to catch anyone who might go flying.
“They do this all the time.” Tara’s standing right behind Faith, looking like she’s had a few drinks herself. “Every time I’m in London the same time as Buffy and Spike, Dawn and Buffy make me go out with them. And then this happens. Last time, Dawn almost fell off, the bartender grabbed her and Buffy thought he was trying to feel up her sister. We got thrown out.”
“Really? Buffy? Picked a fight in a club? B’s really changed.” Faith steps a little closer. Just so she can hear better.
Even she doesn’t believe that.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve only been around for a year or so, but she has. She’s…” Tara looks over at Buffy and Dawn, who have hopped off the bar and have apparently decided that tequila is the next order of business. “She’s happy. Everyone’s so much happier now, than when I…left.”
Faith can believe that. Part of the new conversation relationship she has with Buffy means that Buffy told her about Willow trying to destroy the world - and exactly how Buffy and Spike had gotten together.
“But you? I mean, I don’t think you and Red are together any more, right? So, are you happier?” As she asks this, Faith puts her hands on Tara’s hips. Guess the three or four drinks Faith’s had are doin’ their thing, too.
“I’m - not really, I guess, ‘cause I was so happy then. When…it happened. But, we couldn’t be together anymore. She’s changed, I’ve changed. I’ve talked to Buffy a lot. Been there, done that, you know?”
Faith knows. She also knows that she wants to take Tara back to her hotel room, really badly.
“Faith - do you want to get some air?” Tara’s looking at Faith the way Faith’s looking back at her. And Tara just used the oldest line ever on her. Does Faith want air?
Faith looks around the club. Fourteen or so Slayers are on the dance floor, gettin’ down with Giles and Andrew and Wood to some Queen remix. Buffy, Dawn, Spike, and Xander have pulled Willow up to the bar and she and Buffy and Dawn seem to be preparing for another show.
Faith brought these people here, showed them how to party here. She planned this fight, she won this fight. All these people wanted to be near her. And Tara wants to get some air with her.
Better than Sunnydale in almost every way.