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The lock is smashed out of the front door when I get home. I feel a surge of fear. "Faith?!"

Silence.

I break into a run. "Faith?!"

A tiny voice. "Back here, Buffy."

Faith is sitting in the back doorway, looking at a dead demon on the lawn. I can smell it from here. Looks like she broke its neck... among other things. I think slaying's like riding a bike. You never forget how. I let out a breath it feels like I've been holding for days.

I don't know what state she's in. I don't know how to approach her. "Good kill," I finally settle on. "That's a.... Krakor demon isn't it? Wow." I stand behind her and put my hands on her shoulders. "What happened, sweetie? Did you send out for demons?" She's shaking a little. She doesn't respond.

"Faith?"

She turns shakily and looks up. "It thought there was some... talisman here. Something to make it powerful. A talisman in a leather case. I don't know what it was talking about. But the case sounded familiar. Blood-red pentagram markings. Ring any bells?"

I shrug. "Giles can hit the books on it tomorrow. He loves looking for pictures of stuff. Did the thing say who told it the talisman was here?"

"No, but it was pretty damn determined to find it."

"Weird." I tug her hair a little. "Hey... look at you with the door all open... can I assume you're feeling a little more yourself?"

But when she climbs to her feet, she still flinches away from the world outside.

I pull her into a hug. "Did you fight out there?"

"In the hall upstairs. I beat it up. Then I broke its neck. Then I beat it up again."

I'm reminded of our first time slaying together. She beat a vampire to a pulp without staking it. I knew from that very first day that she had issues. But don't we all?

I lower my hands to her hips and look at her with concern. "So how did it end up outside?"

She shrugs. "I just wanted that stinky thing out. Out of my house. I was still buzzing from the fight, and I couldn't stand it being here... and I forgot to be afraid I guess. I just... opened the door."

"So you've been out!"

"No. As soon as I opened the door, the fear hit me like a ton of bricks. I threw it out from here."

But she didn't close the door afterward. I think the fear isn't as many bricks as she thinks. She's looking outside, and that can't be a bad thing. That's a start. I slip a hand behind her neck and we kiss.

"You look like you're in one piece," I observe. I'd say she killed the Krakor without even breaking a sweat. "Didn't put up much of a fight, did it?"

"Actually it was as strong as it looks. There's a godawful mess upstairs. But I'm OK."

"We got the Magic Box all squared away. How about you? What did you do all evening?"

She rubs her nose on mine. "I tried to be useful. Vacuumed. Folded your laundry. Dusted. Offed a demon. You know, house cleaning."

"Well, darling," I say, with a gleam in my eye, "there's more slaying where that came from... I have to go on patrol now. Cemetery duty. I'm on my own tonight. What do you say... shall we make it a date? I hear they have vampires!"

She smiles a little but shakes her head no. "I think I better pass, B. I'd kinda like to clean up upstairs... maybe nail the front door shut, just for now."

"Xander can come fix that. He comes by every Wednesday to fix the week's damage, but we can call him now." Since Faith got back, I've been neglecting to mention that indoors isn't as safe as she seems to think. The fact is, that demon's not the first one to get in, and it won't be the last.

"I kinda want to get things squared away now, B. I hate that thing coming in and wrecking our house! And I can't go out there. Really. I wish you wouldn't either."

I guess one little fight wasn't enough to shake her back to her old self. I wish I could do something more than offer peer pressure. I sigh, frustrated that I can't help my wife, can't magically make everything all better. "Dawn's coming back from Cassie's soon. Keep an eye open for her?"

Faith nods, and I can see by her expression that she's heard about the feelings Dawn told me about on the way to school this morning. "Dawn told you about her little crush."

She smiles a little. "Yeah. Is she headed for a letdown? I think it makes her lonely to see everybody in love but her."

We make her... lonely? I think about that... Yeah. Maybe we do... I think Faith has put her finger on it. She understands Dawn better than I do sometimes. I'm a little jealous. "I'm worried about a letdown, yeah. Cassie and Dawn are just about inseparable. But if Cassie's gay, she's in major denial. She talks about boys too much. And her creepy little premonitions, of course. She's a spooky one. Sweet girl, though." Actually, I'm more than a little nervous to let Dawn have Cassie over with Faith around. I think she might have some predictions about my wife, and I'm not sure I want to hear them.

Faith shakes her head. "Poor little Creature. She's got it bad for this girl."

"I was kinda hoping Dawnie would never have to face a broken heart. But we'll look out for her!" Faith nods with a small smile.

I pull my hair back into a ponytail, slip a black knit cap over it, and arm myself with a stake for the night's hunting. "You sure you won't come? Just one little practice patrol around the block?" I touch her cheek, worried that she needs to take a risk now, while she's been shaken up, or she never will. And with the job thing threatening to send her back to jail, she may not have more than a day or two to get her act together.

But I can think of nothing to say. My wife needs help and I don't know how to give it.

She tugs my hat down tighter and kisses me again. Little bit of an extra spark in it tonight? "I'm sure. You go on. Do that Slayer thing!"

 

---

 

Slaying's never fun for me like it once was for Faith. Satisfying at best. But I'm feeling extra gloomy tonight. For a second there, when I saw her in the back door looking at her kill, I thought we'd be out slaying together at long last. It would have been a blast. But here I am alone as always. Slaying's just a job that destiny won't let me quit. I kick a headstone in frustration. Faith is free! Why can't it be all magical and perfect? I guess I should know better than anyone that life just doesn't always work out.

Or is the problem me? I think back on how I was about slaying when she was locked up. She loved the stories. Did I exaggerate? Make things sound worse than they were, with Glory and all the rest? Did I build her up for a breakdown? Or maybe it's that we always got her help with planning and strategy, and never asked her for help fighting. It's not like I needed her to tell me how to train, or what different weapons are good for... but maybe I should have asked anyway. Maybe I turned her into a backseat Slayer without even meaning to.

Or maybe I was there for her too much. The fear that I've tried to deny bubbles up. What if I visited her too often? What if I seemed too content with each CV? What if I called her too much? What if... what if I made prison too good? I made sure she knew that we were tied forever, would always share the same love, no matter how long she was in there. And she told me lots of times that no matter how much it hurt to be kept from me, it was still the happiest time in her whole life. Did I make her feel that our relationship was safe and secure and perfect... and so maybe nothing should change? I know she doesn't know how to function now. She doesn't even know how to answer the phone! Maybe she doesn't know how to be us anymore, either! I can't forget how I fail to arouse her body or her passion anymore.

I've been angry at her, in spite of myself, thinking she might let herself be taken from me. But maybe part of her wants to be taken back so that she doesn't lose me! If life outside is a big unknown... then maybe our future is a big unknown for her too. And she's been going on about dying, about how we both have to give up slaying. If I could give up slaying, it would have happened years ago!

I climb some vines to the roof of a mausoleum and scan in all directions. I ran across two vampires about an hour ago, pulling a struggling boy into a crypt. I killed one, but her companion got away. Luckily, so did the kid. Now I've been trying to track down other vamp. He's silent and he's smart.

But not smart enough. I see his shoulder sticking out just a little behind an obelisk. I leap down and hurry in that direction as fast as I can go without making noise.

He's gone when I get there. And then I'm kicked to the ground from behind! Sneaky bastard! I was meant to see his shoulder!

I roll with my momentum, spring to my feet, and dodge a fist holding a rock.

I do my thing and he does his. Not an easy kill, but I'm wearing him down. Finally I see my opening and reach for Mr. Pointy.

The stake is gone from my belt. The vamp laughs and spins me away with a kick to the head. "Looking for this?" He holds up my only weapon and throws it far away into the trees.

Fine. Whatever. "Oh no! That was the only sharp stick in the whole world, whatever shall I do?" I come at him again, looking around for a new weapon. Nothing but gravestones, a few flowers, and a small sapling about an inch wide. I consider trying to tear the little tree up to make a stake, but there's no time for that. No biggie. I'll just have to knock him out and then go get my stake. He's good, but all I need is one decent kick to the head and he'll be out cold.

I hear a sharp snapping sound nearby as we fight, but I'm too busy to pay much attention. He's tiring faster than I am, but he's still holding his own.

I notice an arrow sticking out of the sapling. That wasn't there a second ago! I pull it free, spin around, and dust the beast. Finally!

I look around for the new threat. Nobody else here. Except... way off in the distance I see a sinister figure dressed in black, crouching on top of a tombstone.

I've never run faster in my life.

I tackle the figure, knocking it back onto the ground. "Baby!"

"Easy there, B, this was a gift!" She gestures with her new longbow. Not a little Watcher-approved crossbow, but a big, modern, top-of-the-line hunting bow. The kind she used to be able to split a walnut with at a hundred feet. The rack of wood-shafted arrows on the side cost me almost as much as the bow. Only the very best for my wife!

She grabs my ears, plants a kiss on my mouth, and kicks me off of her.

"Faith, you crazy show-off! Did it ever occur to you to just shoot the vampire?" I look back where I came from. Hitting that tree at this distance was one hell of a shot!

She shrugs. "I thought about it."

"Did you even practice with that first?" I hand her back the arrow, smiling in amazement.

"Of course. Where do you think I've been for the last three hours? Doing housework?"

"But... how can you be out here? You were so freaked!" I fall on her again, kissing her once more.

"Thank the stinky demon! With some help from your sister."

"Oh?" I sit up, straddling her hips and holding her hands, weaving my fingers into hers.

"I tidied up and then sat in the back door some more. Dawn was so happy to see me looking outside when she got home. She went out and sat on the bench and asked me to join her. She said 'You're the Slayer, Faith... whatever's out there, it's more scared of you than you are of it.' She said if I could walk just a few feet and sit next to her, I could do anything."

"And you went to her?"

"Yeah. It seemed so simple. There was Dawnie, and there was space on the bench... and why couldn't I sit there, if I can kill a Krakor demon? I mean, that was a pretty big demon, and I really kicked its ass, B!"

"You sure did, baby."

"I almost froze up walking those few feet. Hell, I almost passed out! But I just looked at Dawn, and walked forward, and sat down. I was scared, and Dawn held my hand." She smiles sheepishly. "And then I smelled the dead demon... and I got pissed off all over again. I got up and pounded on it some more just for smelling so damn bad! I think I scared Dawn a little. But I calmed down, and sat back on the grass, and felt the night all around me... and it wasn't scary anymore, it was... it was right. The night was my place, just like the house. I wanted to be out in it. I wanted to try my new bow. I wanted to find you!"

I can't stop smiling. "You're a Slayer again."

"Always was, B. We don't have a choice. Giles was right. I get that now. But it did take me a while to get my feet under me tonight." She looks embarrassed. "I actually screamed when I saw my first vampire. I..." she looks down, blushing a little.

"You...what?"

"I peed myself, B. Peed right in my pants like a baby. Some Slayer, huh?"

I lift my butt off of her pelvis slightly. These are her only pants! I must be making a face because she hurriedly adds, "I went home and washed 'em, B!"

"I'm glad. That's the part Xander always forgets."

"I staked her, though, I wasn't too afraid to fight. And I went right back out after I dried my pants. Staked some more. I'm on a roll now, B! Dawn wanted to come with me, but I didn't want to have to look out for her."

"She can take care of herself better than you think. You'll be surprised."

"I'm not done being surprised that I can take care of myself. Hell, I can probably even face job interviews at this rate! You know what, B? Slaying is wicked cool! And I haven't lost it! I am having so much fun. I've been dying to find you!"

I grin, eyes full of happy tears. "Well slaying just got fun for me too. You certainly haven't lost your aim!" I laugh, squeezing her hands. I'm so happy I'm actually bouncing up and down! My wife is OK! Faith is Faith again! "You'll be dusting vamps left and right before you know it!"

"Are you kidding, B? How many vamps did you nail tonight?"

"Faith! You know I don't do that any... Oh. Three."

She points at herself with her thumb and smiles smugly. "Five."

"I'm impressed. But Faith... promise me something. I know how you hunt. Rush in first and ask questions later. Promise me you'll plan ahead just a little. No more jumping blind into manholes?"

"Don't worry, Buffy. Back in those days I didn't much care if I lived or died. But I care now. And don't forget who's been planning your patrols for months!"

That's an exaggeration, but I take her point. I pull her into another kiss. A longer one. There is humping. "Nice to have you back, Slayer..."

She thrusts her hips up under me, launches me off her, and flips to her feet. I raise an eyebrow, poised to strike. Does she want to start something?

But she doesn't attack. Not yet, anyway. She bends down to pick up her bow, and I notice that she's modified her tank top for my benefit. "Good grief, baby, that's some serious cleavage!"

 

---

 

I'm not going to say slaying is better than sex. But with Faith it's darned close. I have never had this much fun in my entire life! We still make one seriously bad-ass team. Slaying a big ugly demon seems to have been just what Faith needed to start feeling like herself again.

"I think we did it," I joke, watching her leap from tombstone to tombstone, ending up on top of a giant ball-shaped monument. "It's every Slayer's dream come true," I laugh, "We've slain all the vampires!"

"Sure seems like it! But don't worry, B, they'll make more!" She's turning in a circle, itching for something else to shoot. Nothing. She sits down cross-legged on the big stone ball and beams down at me, twirling her bow.

"God, I love you, Buffy!"

Should that smile still be able to make my knees weak? It does. "You too, baby... are you planning on coming down from there?"

But she's on her feet again, turning in a circle. We are both so wired and slap-happy it's not even funny. "I love my wife! I love Buffy Summers!" she begins to chant, louder and louder. Somewhere, a dog starts barking.

I put my hands on my hips and watch, shaking my head and grinning from ear to ear.

"I love Buffy Summers!" she screams at the top of her lungs, and jumps. Oh, shit!

Slam! She knocks the wind out of me. I can't breathe at all. May as well kiss, then! Eventually I take my tongue out of her mouth and turn to the side, gasping. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"You love it."

Yeah. I do. I roll on top of her. "You better hope we find some more vamps soon, or I'm gonna turn on you."

"You think you can take me, B? Well bring it on!" She shoves me off, drops her bow, and we start to circle one another. We're not used to sparring with all this space! That cocky gleam in her eye just drives me wild. We are so overdue for this!

"I love you, Faith. So, so much. This is gonna hurt me worse than it hurts you." I kick from the left, and when she dodges I punch her hard from the right. She slams back against the base of the monument. "Guess I was wrong," I taunt, "That actually didn't hurt me much at all."

I just want to kiss that evil smile, but I really ought to be afraid of it.

"It will, B!"

 

---

 

We pause in our front lawn, looking around at the darkness. We want something to jump out and try to take us! But I think every demon that stupid for miles around is already dead. I take Faith's hand. "I don't want it to end, either... but there other ways to pass the time..." Every time I've kissed her tonight has been hotter than the last. Including some kisses in the middle of fighting each other with everything we've got. This kiss turns into a full-on sweating, grunting, make-out session.

"There sure are, B..." she gasps, squeezing my butt and my breast at the same time.

My hand is unsnapping her pants before I know that I'm doing. I slip inside her panties and then pull my hand out dripping wet. "Either you peed yourself again, or a night of slaying got you past your little problem!" With the amount of slaying we've been doing, it would be a miracle if we weren't both turned on beyond belief. All part of being a Slayer.

I sniff my glistening fingers. Question answered! Oh my God how I have missed the scent of my woman! I lick my fingers and go back for more, rational thought evaporating in a haze of pure lust. I bite her lower lip, let her taste herself on my tongue, and feel my own pants slip down a little. My butt is half exposed to the cool night air. My pulse pounds as we rub and squeeze one another. "Faith... Faith... I love you... I need you..."

We tumble to the ground, gasping and clawing at each others' clothing. "Buffy... baby... I love you too... You are about to get yourself seriously fucked!"

I silence her foul but lovely mouth with a kiss and start pulling her top up.

Part of me wants to make love right here on the lawn. Hell, most of me does. But... "Faith... let's... take it to... the bedroom."

I lurch up the front steps with my wife clinging to me, and I barely get the door open before my pants come down all the way. We collapse inside the door and I manage to get her top off while staggering up the first few stairs to our room. No bra, of course. Halfway up we fall down in a tangle of sweating limbs and rapidly vanishing clothing.

"Shhhh!" I warn, "Dawn's home!"

And that's the last contribution my brain has to make. Other parts of my anatomy stage a rapid coups, and I'm just along for the ride. I'm feeling, tasting, biting and otherwise pleasuring things that I have missed for a long, long time. Soon a wave of something between an orgasm and nuclear bomb starts to build. And build. And build. I try to speak, to tell her how I feel her soul inside me, not just her tongue. But I can't speak, and I know she feels the same thing. Faith... I mouth her name silently as white-hot ecstasy overtakes me, oh so slowly. And eventually....

 

---

 

Red diamonds. What am I looking at? Where am I? Dark red diamonds... the carpet on the stairs... and lowering my dazed eyes, my wife's vagina. Even my eyebrows are sticky.

"Did I black out?"

"I... I... I...." Faith is in no state to answer.

I slump weakly, resting my cheek between Faith's legs and trying to catch my breath. "I think all my blood is in my head! How did I get to be the one head-down?"

"Stop... yer whining..." she pants, "I've got four steps... jammed in my back!"

Somehow we've wound up completely naked on the stairs, heads between each others' legs. Is there any chance Dawn didn't hear us? I think back on the fragments of returning memory. Obviously we never made it to the bedroom. Whatever we did, it lasted a while.

"Say, you had the door nailed shut, didn't you? I must have torn it–" I gasp and my eyes widen. "Faith...! You have no business sticking fingers in there!"

"Well you got no business liking it so much!" She starts doing about six different things to me at once. How can she be ready to go again already?

For that matter, how can I be?

"St.... stop... we have to go upstairs... stop... No, don't stop... don't stop!!" I give in to passion again, and start using my lips and fingers on my wife in return. "Oh, God, I love you..."

In the back of my mind, something about the broken door is still bothering me. I stare at the door trying to put my finger on it, but liquid sounds and the feel of my wife's teeth push the thought away.

I close my own mouth around something tender and shut my eyes to savor the taste.

Then my eyes snap open, staring down at the door. "Stop, Faith! The door... the door..." But she keeps on doing things I've never felt before, and it's making it hard to hold a thought!

"The door, Faith... the door..." my protests get weaker, and muffled by what I'm doing to her. "The door... is still open... Faith... the door... mmmmhhhhh.... ohhhhhh!"

What is a door?

 

~ Continued with "CV-20" ~

 

If you're enjoying this story, try I Have Never Been to Boston. Dawn sets out to say goodbye to someone she loves–but who she knows never even existed!

I always appreciate feedback in my Guestbook, or by email. Reader responses will determine whether I publish more stories, and will help improve them! Thanks for reading! (If you'd like to be notified when I post new stories, let me know.)

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