Breaking Away
Title: Breaking Away
Author: Paige (The Manic Slayer, Queen of the F Word,
Phreaky Spice)
E-Mail: paigerz328@yahoo.com
Rating: PG (Language)
Summary: It's a great party, only not so much.
Spoilers: Graduation One and Two
Disclaimer: They're Joss's. I'm just borrowing for
fun. Sue me, and you'll know about bleeding rocks.
Distribution: Ask first.
Feedback: Pretty please?
Author's Note: Sequel to "Something Good." For Angel,
who told me it was postworthy.
===
They had joked that this was her coming out party.
"Coming out of what?" Faith had asked, grinning
impishly. She could do that. It's just that she hadn't
in a few months.
"I dunno..." Oz had teased. "A coma, maybe?"
"Could be," she'd nodded, working her leg muscles. It
felt good to use them again. It felt better, now that
she'd healed enough to use them regularly. She and Oz
had been working on that. He was a great motivater for
her.
They'd been at it for three weeks, since before Faith
had been released from Sunnydale General Hospital.
Oz's parents had, in fact, moved her into the
appartment above their garage. She still needed to
thank them for that. It wasn't like she had all that
many resources, since Mayor Wilkins's death by
explosion, and her misguided attempt to help him take
over the world.
Now, she was standing, leaning against the wall, just
outside the back door. She couldn't do this, not
knowing who would be there.
She heard the laughing. In the time since she'd woken
up, Oz had been keeping her posted. Xander was still
in town, and following Buffy around like a puppy.
Faith was a little jealous, but not much. It's not
like he'd been anything but a convenient release of
frustrations. But, still....
"What the fuck is your problem?" she quietly beraited
herself. "These people are scared of *you*, not the
other way around." Steeling herself for the looks of
shock, and the stares, and even a panicked whimper or
two, Faith pushed herself off the wall, and walked
through the door.
She was in the kitchen. There was Devon, with a couple
of the guys. This was good. She could work her way up
to facing Buffy and company. "Hey," she said, keeping
her voice fairly non-committal. She could have just as
easily have been advising them to do something fairly
dificult, anatomicly speaking.
"Hey, Legs," Devon smirked. He'd been around alot,
since the Willow-and-Oz dehyphanation. With all the
work on getting Faith back to her feet, his intoxicant
addled mind had dubbed Faith "Legs," since it seemed
to be a natural fit.
"Doin' your part to keep the rest of us sober, or did
ya show up smashed?" Faith countered, giving the
singer her best 'I could hurt you in eighty seven
ways, and make you get off on all of them' smile. She
honestly liked Oz's band friends. They didn't judge
her. Of course, she and Oz had kept *why* she'd been
in a coma a big secret. Somehow, multiple killings
just didn't seem to be the kind of thing to endear her
to the guys.
He glowered at her for just a second, trying to figure
out how serious she was. "Okay, I was buzzin' when I
got here," Devon finally admitted.
"Thought so," Faith grinned, draping herself over the
singer, so she could kiss his cheek. "So... ya seen Oz
around?"
Devon stiffened, and not in the way Faith was used to,
when she was in a guy's lap. "It's his place. I'd
assume he's around." Okay, that was evasive, but he
really didn't need to get into anything with the Buffy
Groupies, and their disgruntled exes.
"An', I was wonderin' where... in his place... he
might be," Faith replied, the sweetness in her voice
not making it to her face. She was pretty sure where
Oz was, after Devon's reaction. Her face softened, as
she silently asked if she was thinking along the right
lines.
Devon nodded. "He tell ya 'bout their 'talk'?" he
asked quietly.
"Y'mean the one where she told him he had no ambition,
he called her a bitch, an' she told him she
wouldn't've let him fuck her, if she'd known what an
ass he was?"
The singer nodded again. They shared a look. "Living
room," Devon finally told her.
"Thanks, D," she threw over her shoulder, as she
sauntered into the main room of the house. Faith had
an air of confidence. She exudeded it in a way that
very few people could manage, especially with the
butterflies she felt.
"But... why *not*?" That was Willow, near tears. She
was hoping she and Oz could work out their problems.
She hadn't really meant what she'd said. "Oz, I'm
*sorry*," she pleaded. "I *love* your music. You know
that...."
"Willow," he said calmly. "I'm sorry. This just... It
won't work out." Oz. Man of few words. Inside, he had
all these things he wanted her to know. He had
everything mapped out about how she was still too
dependant on her mother and father, about how the two
of them valued different things... He just couldn't
bring himself to say it, and see her face crumble ever
farther.
Faith approached quietly, tapping Oz on the shoulder.
"Hey," she offered, trying to ignore the bordering on
appauled looks of the three people who'd decided to
play Pick on Oz.
Xander was the first to react. Really, who would have
ever guessed? "So, as opposed to getting a day job,
you decide to fuck around with a homicidal maniac.
Y'know, man... I *used* to have some respect for you."
"Oz, that's Faith," Willow added, her voice quiet.
"That's Faith that tried to kill me."
"Right, Red," Faith snapped. "And, which one of us
actually got *cut* with that knife?" Okay, it was
shameless, but so were those crocodile tears.
Buffy stiffened. This was neither the time, nor the
place. "We should go," she said flatly, giving Willow
and Xander her pattented 'I'm moody, and I've got
superhuman strength' look. "Away. Now."
"Yeah, but you deserved it," Willow snapped, then
immediatly clapped both hands over her mouth. That was
totally not appropriate, and she knew it. From the
look of actual hurt in Faith's eyes, she knew she'd
gone from righteously indignant to all out bitchy.
Faith looked at Buffy. For just a moment, there was an
unspoken communication between them. Buffy knew that
Faith had changed since the fall from her building.
"Yeah..." Faith nodded. "You guys might wanna get
gone, before Mister 'Respect the girlfriend right out
from under ya' and I get to play footsies through his
spleen."
Buffy would have said more, but Xander decided that he
needed to get a word in. "Sure, Faith. It's not like
you haven't *already* tried to kill me..." he growled.
Now, Oz had always been a pretty laid back kind of
guy, but there were some things that really got to
him. Seeing Faith get ganged like that was one of
those things. Unfortunatly, he couldn't direct a
violent outburst at any of the three people before
him. He still cared about Willow, just not in the same
way. Buffy could easily kill him. And, Xander... Well,
Oz just didn't feel like doing the violence thing.
So, he did something else. Something that he'd been
meaning to do for a couple of weeks, and could
remember wanting to do several months earlier. He
turned to face the dark Slayer, brushing a lock of
brown hair away from her face, and kissed her.
Faith's breath caught. It was a good kiss, really. All
lips and teeth, with just enough tongue for intimacy,
without being all skanky and slobbery. And, there were
hands. Anybody that says that you don't kiss with your
hands isn't doing it right. It wasn't a pawing and
groping thing. It was just touching, caressing,
holding.
Willow's eyes widened. Unlike her two friends, she had
intimate knowledge of what Faith was feeling. Granted,
Willow's kissing experience only spanned two boys, but
she knew how soft Oz's lips were, how warm his mouth
was against hers... Against Faith's.
At that horrified gasp, Faith's heart beat just a
little faster. It was the kind of sound that kept her
knees from buckling.
When Oz finally pulled away, he didn't look at the
others. He hadn't really done it for their benifit,
anyway. "You okay?" he asked Faith, searching her face
for some kind of response. They'd both been a little
blindsided by that.
Faith just looked at him for a second. "Yeah..." she
responded, her voice wairy. "Five by five...."
The two of them just looked at eachother, staring for
a long moment. "Hello?" Xander demanded. His face had
taken on a nearly purple color.
"This is us leaving," Buffy smiled, her hand in a
death grip on Xander's arm.