Faith strolled into the school library, knowing Giles would already be there in research mode.

“Ah, Faith. Is it dinner time so soon?” Giles looked up from the book he currently had his bespectacled head stuck in.

Well, not literally stuck in. Even though they were just above the hellmouth he hadn’t actually been genetically spliced with the book or anything else equally as weird. He was just obviously engrossed.

“Hey, what is this, pick on Faith day?” The brunette threw her hands in the air, growing tired of people thinking she was incapable of getting up before noon.

Fair enough, she wasn’t generally an early riser, but then there really was no reason to get up at the crack of dawn. She was always up late slaying, and didn’t usually meet Buffy until lunch, so she would normally show her face then and not before. Some days called for an extra effort, however. Like today, because she had wanted to see Buffy early.

She walked across the library to the table Giles currently had covered in old books. He was meticulously trawling through his ancient texts; the thick dusty records of demons and occult happenings scattered in front of him. Some were open at various pages, while others sat awaiting inspection. Peering over the watcher’s shoulder, Faith shook her head. The book he was reading was a jumble of strange and lost forgotten languages.

“Found anything on that dog thing?” Faith asked as she moved around the table to the other side, sitting in the chair there.

“No, no luck so far. There are more ‘dog things’ - as you say - than one might think.” He pinched the bridge of his nose above the glasses perched on the end.

It looked like the guy had been up at sunrise researching. He would never complain though, Faith knew that much already. He was there for Buffy no matter what. She had to respect the guy’s commitment and devotion to the blonde slayer, and Faith found herself wondering what things would be like if he was her watcher too. Even though she detested authority she didn’t find the idea entirely objectionable. Especially considering the fact that the Watcher’s Council still didn’t know what to do about her.

Faith slid down in her seat, relaxing in the quiet atmosphere and clomping her feet up onto the desk. She grinned at Giles’ disapproving look despite her respect for the guy. He had pretty much given up on asking her to refrain from putting her feet on his table now anyway, probably because she would never comply for long.

“Have you seen Buffy this morning?” Giles questioned Faith.

“Yeah.” For some reason Faith felt a little awkward talking to Giles about Buffy. She hoped that he couldn’t detect just how much she liked her. He was a ‘watcher’ after all.

“How was the injury Buffy sustained? Not causing her any problems I hope.” Giles seemed to be getting at something, but Faith didn’t quite know what.

She thought about telling him how strange Buffy had been acting towards her that morning, but decided against it. After all, she hadn’t really known the other girl for that long. For all she knew, Buffy could have been well known for being a tad strange now and again. She was already aware that the other girl could be somewhat quirky.

Faith was thinking that maybe Buffy’s weird mood had something to do with the way they had been with each other, especially over the last two days. It was obvious there was some kind of tension between them and Faith doubted it had just passed Buffy by. She was fairly sure Buffy had to have been feeling that there was ‘something’ going on, whether Buffy was happy about it or not, or even fully aware of what it meant.

Faith ran her hand through her thick wavy hair sighing a little, unable to wrap her head around what was going on. She had no idea what Buffy really felt about her, if anything. Plus, she wasn’t positive what she was feeling herself either.

“Faith?” Giles took his glasses off and looked directly at the dark girl.

She had wandered off into her own world.

“Sorry, G man, rough night. You were saying?” She knew exactly what Giles had asked, but she wanted to buy a little more time, still deciding whether or not to say anything about Buffy’s possible ‘crazy’ behaviour.

“I was asking you about Buffy. Was she alright this morning? There was nothing out of the ordinary or anything?” He waited for an answer.

“Err, no, not as far as I could tell.” She would keep her slight doubt about Buffy to herself for now as there was no need to go worrying Giles without reason.

Faith stood up, not liking the whole sitting around thing too much. Research and books wasn’t her favourite pastime as she would much rather do something more active and keep her body moving. The slayer in her was never willing to rest for too long.

She was aware that Buffy also had the same kind of reaction when she was sat idle. Although the brunette had concluded that she was generally more restless than Buffy.

“Do ya mind if I practice a few moves?” she asked.

She needed to stretch herself out and get her muscles working, hoping maybe some kind of exercise would help ease the tension within her.

“Of course not, Faith. It’s always good to train. You need to keep in top shape.” He smiled gently at her, and then buried his head back in the current book he was looking through.

Faith removed her denim jacket, throwing it onto the library counter near the door. She stretched her tight muscles, preparing them for her fast and accurate movements as she ran through some fighting moves.

She spent the next two hours or so working out her frustration with some technical flips, rotations, punches and kicks, her abilities being tested as she moved through various fighting styles. She moved with a powerful grace, looking almost like a lethal killing machine doing the tango. The brunette’s toned body reacted on instinct, remembering moves much quicker than her brain ever could. It was meant to come naturally, and it did.

Her style differed to Buffy. Although they were similar in strength and ability, Faith tended to rely more on power. Buffy preferred to use quicker less obvious moves, and sometimes Faith would be captivated by her whilst she slayed, or even when just training.

She would get caught up in the movement of the other girl, unable to take her eyes from her delicate body as it performed its job as a slayer. Faith loved the way Buffy looked whilst she was in full flow; she would get hypnotised by her whenever she took the time to watch her.

As the young slayer slowed her movements to a stop, finally feeling some semblance of fatigue overcoming her; regaining control of her racing heart she turned to notice Buffy standing in the doorway watching her every move.

There was a look in the older girl’s eyes that Faith couldn’t quite place. She had never seen Buffy look at her in such a way before. If it were anybody else she would have to say it was a look of pure lust, but it was Buffy and she had never - and probably would never - look at her in such an open and obvious way. Or at least, that’s what Faith thought. The few and far between signals she had received from the other girl had never been so glaringly obvious.

“Hey, B.” She felt the need to break the silence as she stood on the middle of the library, feeling like she was being glued to the spot by Buffy’s sparkling eyes as she regained her breath.

Giles got out of his seat at the desk behind her, but Faith couldn’t move. She was willing herself to pull her eyes away from Buffy, realising she must have looked more than a little silly just stood there with her arms hanging limply at her sides.

“Buffy, I’m glad you came in. I was wanting to take a look at your hand.” The English man walked towards Buffy, causing her to break eye contact with Faith.

“Huh?” Buffy raised her eyes, a puzzled look crossing her face.

“Your hand, Buffy. The bite.” He stood waiting for the blonde girl to show him her injury.

Faith - now released from Buffy’s penetrating gaze - moved over to the counter nearby and jumped up, hoping she could stop her mind from running in confused circles. Hoping she hadn’t looked exactly how she felt.

She had no clue why she had frozen on the spot the way she had. She thought maybe it was just the fact that she was feeling pumped from her workout, or that it was the adrenaline coursing through her veins coupled with the inexplicable and unexpected look the other girl had given her. Whatever it was, it had stopped her dead.

All she had been able to think about - in what must only have been a matter of 30 seconds or so - was how sexy Buffy had looked. Sexy and horny. That was it, she realised. . .Buffy had definitely looked like she was horny, in a big way. She had been leering at Faith. Not much doubt about that.

Faith wasn’t sure whether to smile at the fact or get the hell out of there. Her friendship with Buffy was the chief reason for thinking of running, because she didn’t want to fuck it up.

As Buffy made her way to sit down at the table covered with books she clearly composed herself. Avoiding glancing over at Faith. “The bite. . .right. No need to look, it’s fine. Slayer healing.” Buffy waved Giles off as he went to check her hand. Her composure was obviously not fully intact.

“Are you sure, Buffy?” he asked. He seemed to be a little concerned. Maybe because he wasn’t used to Buffy being quite so uncooperative.

“Yeah, B. I mean, it was a pretty nasty bite. Even if it kinda all but disappeared last night.” Faith jumped down from the counter and walked towards the other girl.

“Ok, fine!” Buffy thrust her hand out in the direction of Giles and Faith, waving it about in the air as if it were the most annoying request she had ever received. She then stood abruptly, pushing the chair back so it scraped loudly across the floor. “I’m hungry now. . .come on.” Buffy grabbed Faith by the arm, not giving her any time to protest at being manhandled. “We’ll see you later, Giles,” Buffy called back as she tugged on Faith, hurrying them away from her watcher.

“B, slow down. . .fuck.” Faith grabbed her jacket from the counter just in time, before being pulled out of the library into the empty corridor. She just managed to look back to see the baffled look on Giles’ face.

* * *

They left the school in a hurry, Buffy not letting go of Faith as they reached the steps outside. Faith was beginning to grow a little tired off being pulled along. Not only because she felt ridiculous, but also because Buffy was not being entirely gentle in her actions.

“Hey, wait.” Faith tugged her arm away from her counterpart, but Buffy just span around to face her, getting closer than was probably necessary.

She was mere inches away from Faith, right inside her personal space. Her blonde hair falling almost wildly around her face, as her eyes took on one of the most menacing look Faith had ever seen Buffy use. Faith had two urges going on; one to pull Buffy closer, and one to step back and away from the girl in front of her. Buffy was oozing pure unadulterated sensuality, and Faith was captivated.

Buffy licked her lips, looking everywhere but Faith’s eyes. In fact, she was looking down, fairly obviously at Faith’s cleavage.

Standing in front of the town high school with the early noon sun heating the concrete and brick, and the warmth whispering in waves around them, Faith found that she didn’t know how to react. She was caught up in the look of intense longing Buffy was giving her. Buffy appeared about ready to pounce on her, to devour her right then and there, and Faith didn’t dare move as her lungs practically begged for more air.

Buffy slowly raised her dreamy eyes up from Faith’s chest area to her face, taking her time to hungrily gaze at her neck. Faith would have been worried for her life if Buffy had been a creature of the night, because she lingered that long, glaring at the pulse in her throat.

Eventually their eyes met and the usually cool brunette felt herself drowning in the hunger she was presented with. All her body wanted to do was respond, to grab onto Buffy and crush her pouty lips to hers, but her mind was being sensible. Annoyingly so. It was telling her that Buffy had never shown her this amount of interest before, so she had better not make a move no matter how sure she was of the way the blonde girl seemed to be sizing her up right now.

Ok, so the signals had been there before, if somewhat more subtle. The tension had definitely been growing and curiosity tipping in her favour, Faith could tell that much, But Faith’s mind was still fighting it, making her believe that she didn’t know quite what she wanted.

As they stood stock still, however, Buffy seemed to know exactly what she wanted. It was written all over her. In the way her body leaned towards Faith. In the charged look in her green eyes. The restrained flexing of supernaturally strong muscle, and the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

It was most obvious in the extreme nature of the wave of tingles scratching up and down Faith’s spine. The sensation was much more intense than even their first meeting, and it was all but causing Faith to want to drop to her knees because it felt so good.

They both stood, gazing at each other, neither of them moving to break the rapidly growing compulsion to just give in to whatever it was that had been growing between them. Faith wanted to give in, desperately, and it seemed like the older girl was thinking the same thing now. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, maybe with Buffy. She didn’t want to take the risk.

Thankfully, before Faith could do it herself, Buffy broke eye contact; noise from the school corridors filtering out into the open air to hit them with a slap of reality. More students were beginning to make their way out and the din sliced through the chemistry that was so blatantly pulling the chosen two together and holding them there.

Buffy shook her head, as if waking herself from some kind of dream. “I’m starving. Faith, are you hungry? Cos I really am, so lets go.” Without another word, Buffy tugged on Faith once more, practically dragging her down the remainder of the school steps.

After a minute of walking, Faith eventually freed herself from Buffy’s grasp, and they made their way to get something to eat in unusual silence. The two slayers would normally enjoy bantering with each other, or just make small talk, but Buffy didn’t seem to be in the mood. And Faith, well, she was just too busy wondering what the hell was up with her friend.

Deciding against asking Buffy what had got into her, Faith bided her time. She wanted to be sure there really was something funny going on before maybe talking to Giles about it. She would just leave Buffy to it and see what transpired. Although to be truthful, Faith was also wondering just how much more obvious the other slayer was going to get in her appreciation for her looks.

The two girls entered their chosen place to eat and made their way over to a small booth in the corner of the room. The place wasn’t too busy so they sat down to wait for the waitress to spot them and take their order.

Faith slid into one side of the booth facing the door as she hated not being able to keep her eye on things. Taking Faith a little by surprise, Buffy slid in right next to her, ignoring the perfectly adequate seat opposite. And she didn’t exactly keep her distance either, practically sitting on Faith’s knee.

“Err, B. . .don’t ya think maybe it would be better if you sat there?” Faith pointed at the empty seat opposite, raising her eyebrows in question.

“There? Oh, I. . .yeah.” Buffy got up and moved around to the other side of the table. “Better?” She smiled nervously at the brunette who was barely able to contain the laugh threatening to burst out of her.

She had never seen Buffy act in such a way. It was beyond cute, and she was having a hard time controlling herself. . .in more ways than one. Faith already thought Buffy was adorable, but this whole shy flirting thing coupled with the obvious leering was sending her gaga. If Buffy was still attempting to be subtle about her apparent attraction to Faith it so wasn’t working. Whether that was due to some kind of supernatural interference or not, Faith had no clue.

They ordered some food with minimal fuss, Buffy apparently knowing exactly what she craved and lots of it. She ordered practically more than her own body weight in greasy food.

It had taken Faith some time to actually believe Buffy would eat the vast amount she had ordered, but watching her friend practically devour everything put in front of her she had to marvel at the suspect appetite of the other girl. It was usually Faith that ate like a pig, not Buffy.

“Full yet, girlfriend?” Faith sat back grinning at the still munching blonde.

“Huh? Yeah. . .I think.” Buffy also sat back, resting her hands on her stomach, finally sated.

Buffy had been fidgeting the entire time they were there, shuffling about in her seat and darting her eyes about the restaurant. That was when they weren’t boring into Faith of course.

She had done her level best not to notice the way Buffy was eyeing her up, but it was hard, especially every time Buffy had ‘accidentally’ brushed her leg against her. It was no accident as far as Faith could tell; not when every time she did it Buffy would look up to see if Faith had noticed.

“So, what do ya wanna do now?” Faith asked, shoving her plate away and placing her elbows on the table, leaning towards the other girl.

As soon as she had asked the question Buffy’s eyes had grown wide, her pupils almost threatening to push out any hint of green. She looked directly at Faith’s cleavage and licked her lips in the most alluring way the brunette could imagine possible. She was pretty sure her own eyes would now also be a hell of a lot darker than usual.

Buffy looked back into Faith’s chocolate brown eyes as she answered, “I wanna fuck.”

There was an unmistakable wave of desire surging from Buffy towards Faith, and it hit her full on, almost knocking her back into her seat. She fell right into Buffy’s gaze as she fought to regain her senses, racking her brain in an attempt to figure out if the usually shy and innocent Buffy had just said what she was sure she had heard.

“You wanna. . .what now?” Faith did her best to breath normally, swallowing hard; it really wasn’t working, however.

“Can I get you two girls anything else?” The waitress that had taken their order earlier loomed over the table interrupting.

Both girls looked up in surprise, their slayer senses having eluded them temporarily. Faith couldn’t make her mouth work to answer as she was dumbstruck by the blatant show of sexuality coming from Buffy. It had knocked her for six because she was left in no doubt - just from the way the blonde girl was looking at her - that it was her that Buffy was thinking about when she had said what she had.

“No, thank you. . .we’re fine,” Buffy answered, managing to make the waitress disappear.

Faith’s mind was still reeling.

They sat for a minute or two, trying but mostly failing to avoid eye contact. Faith had no idea why she wasn’t jumping on the chance to offer Buffy exactly what she wanted. Maybe a week ago she wouldn’t have even hesitated and would have dragged Buffy to her motel room without a second thought, but now. . .things were different. Buffy was different, and she didn’t want to just screw her. That wouldn’t be enough, and she had just realised it.

Not only that, she had come to the conclusion that there was something definitely off with Buffy right now. It was just too implausible that the blonde girl had gone from timidly glancing at Faith and trying her best to hide any evidence of attraction, to full on checking her out and virtually asking her to fuck her. Things weren’t right.

“B. . .I think we should go see Giles.” Faith lifted herself from the booth seat, doing her best not to notice that she was now wet with the way Buffy had been flirting with her.

“Giles? Why? Did you need to see him for something? I mean. . .you’re not. . .planning on leaving are you?” There was a look of panic on Buffy’s face.

“No, I’m not going anywhere.” And for once, Faith meant it. She couldn’t imagine herself being away from the cute blonde for longer than, well. . .at all.

It was a scary thought, but right now she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Buffy was her main priority and she had to find out what was causing the drastic change in character.