Disclaimer: See 1st chapter.

A/N: An update, yay! Thank you for the reviews on the previous chapter everyone. I really appreciated them!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Revelations

Buffy groaned to herself and slowly stepped up beside Faith, sliding a hand down along her arm to wrap her fingers around her wrist and squeeze. She could feel the tension in the other girl; she was probably forcing herself to remain still and not punch him in the face. Obviously this was going to be a fun filled evening for all parties involved.

Wetting her lips, she decided to handle things business-like. "Girls, I know that many of you are probably feeling weird right about now. Maybe an odd tingle in your stomach like butterflies… Well that is because Spike here is a vampire."

A rush of murmurs arose and a few girls took a step back, eying the blonde man warily. Spike smirked and folded his arms over his chest.

"Um, should we kill him?" Cassie inquired slowly.

Faith grinned and nodded. "I say have at it. Think of him as target practice for the real thing."

Spike rolled his eyes at her. "You're still here? Was sure Buffy would be bored of you by now. What with your surly attitude and lack of penis."

The brunette chuckled a little. "Spike I thought we established already that I'm hung more than you'll ever be."

Buffy really wished that she could turn invisible at will because right now would be the perfect moment to disappear. She'd have to talk to Willow about that. "Okay! Um no Spike is—he has a soul so he's on our side—you don't need to kill him. However he's not supposed to be here so that begs the question, why are you here? How did you even know we were here? And aren't you supposed to be a ghost?"

He glanced around and stepped closer. "Lots happened since you blew outta L.A. love. Got me a brand new body for one. Big man has been keeping tabs on you to make sure you're okay. We heard about what happened in Rome and we were gonna help but Angel decided you had it under control. For the record I thought you'd welcome our help."

"He—he's spying on me?" She frowned deeply. "That is so rude."

He shrugged. "Not really spying. But I mean you're out in the world alone for the first time ever. Can't blame an old flame for wanting to make sure everything is smooth sailing."

"I'm not alone." She said softly, looking to Faith. "All of my friends are with me and even when they're not, Faith always is. But thanks for being concerned I guess."

Spike sighed. "Anyway Angel's team of hoodoo priests or whatever had a vision of you here in trouble. So when he wasn't looking I stole his jet. He's probably going to be super pissed about it when he finds out. Heh…"

"Great, just what we need, more bullshit." Faith shook her head. "Any idea what kinda trouble?"

"Nope. They just said trouble."

"Perfect."

"Oh. My. God." Andrew wandered through the large archway and into the room, his eyes stretched wide. "Spike!" He practically squealed and threw himself at the vampire. "It's a miracle! A miracle!"

Oy."Well thanks for the information Spike but we can handle ourselves."

He peeled Andrew off of him. "I think I'll hang around for a few days anyway just to make sure."

I was afraid he'd say that."Andrew can show you to a room then."

Andrew of course was thrilled and immediately started tugging Spike towards the stairs. "Oh Spike I have so much to tell you. I'm in official training to become a Watcher now…"

Buffy rubbed a hand across her forehead and realized that everyone was staring at her. The new Slayers were no doubt waiting for answers and in truth they were owed some. They'd been told repeatedly that vampires were evil and blood thirsty and yet now they were going to have one for a roomie. Signals…they were mixed.

"Alright." Running a hand through her hair, she cleared her throat. "Vampires don't have souls but apparently magic can take care of that if you know what you are doing. It's technical—ask Willow later if you're curious. Anyway there are two vampires that have their souls back so they're not bad anymore. Spike is one of them. He helped us destroy the First and saved many lives."

Satsu tilted her head to the side. "So we're not in danger with him here?"

The blonde shook her head. "No. He'll behave, I promise."

Faith snorted. "But if you wanna beat the hell out of him anyway, go for it. He'll get on your nerves soon enough."

Satsu blinked at her slowly. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you don't like him."

The brunette's brows drew together. "He's a dick."

"Cause he has a thing for Buffy?" Lena spoke up. "It's like, so obvious."

"Be that as it may," Buffy began. "Spike is on our side. However I would suggest asking him about vampires and other demons. Don't forget you're still warriors—this isn't a vacation. You're here to learn how to fight monsters."

The girls fell silent and Buffy decided she wasn't really in a partying mood anymore. In fact she kinda wanted to crawl into a hole and just stay there until Spike left. It wasn't that she wasn't happy he could use his opposable thumbs because she was, but their time was so over and every time he popped up he just caused issues between her and Faith. Nothing that couldn't be soothed with a back rub or whatever but still, with this Arthur whoever planning a visit she didn't have time for distractions. She needed a united front with the people around her.

Grabbing Faith's hand, she dragged her quite forcefully out of the room and up to theirs, swinging her inside and shutting the door. She locked it and then leaned against it. "Whatever you're thinking, stop it. I don't want Spike. I want you. Just you."

Faith shoved her hands onto the back of her pockets. "B, I'm good on that shit, really. I just like fuckin' with him about it. I know who you let between your legs at night and it ain't him."

Blushing, Buffy couldn't stop her tiny smile from appearing. "Good because I don't want you thinking for a second that him being here and not falling through walls means anything. You're the one for me."

"Don't get mushy." The brunette flopped down onto the bed. "But ditto. We should call Angel and tell him what's up. Maybe he'll come and drag asshole back to Los Angeles with him."

Buffy joined her with a deep sigh. "Right because that will make the girls want to focus on training. Two of Buffy's ex vampire lovers in one room. If you think about it I'm a total cliché."

Faith nuzzled her neck, kissing up to her ear. "Eh whatever. We can't help who we fall in love with. Besides Spike did save our asses back in the Dale and if he wasn't such a raging dick we'd probably get along really well. We did before shit went down."

"I don't care if you don't like him. Just, well could you not throttle him while he's here?"

"C'mon B! That's the fun part."

"Please? Please?"

"Fine! But that thing you said we're never doing, we're doing it."

"I didn't agree to that!"

"Hey you want me to not use Spike as a punching bag then I gotta get something outta this deal."

"Your stakes are bigger than mine."

"I'm gonna have to practice a lot of restraint though. Tons. Sides you know you wanna try it anyway."

I hate that she knows me so well. "Okay but only after Willow does the dampening spell for a night or something. I don't want anyone to hear what I might be screaming when we do that."

Faith laughed and pulled her closer. "Dude, I love you."

Big green eyes turned to her but she continued with her gentle gaze. They'd mentioned that they were most likely in fact in love but she honestly couldn't remember if they'd ever said the actual words before. Hearing them now made her heart swell. She realized what a huge deal it was for Faith to let her guard down in this way, to let someone else into her life. It made her never wanna disappoint her. It made her never wanna see that look on her face again that she'd been the cause of so many times in the past.

"I love you too." She whispered. "God Faith, you have no idea how perfect you are for me. And if you'd told me back when we first met we'd end up here, I would have called you crazy and took back the three I gave you. But now it's like I couldn't picture being here without you."

Faith shifted and leaned back to the thick head board, pulling her girlfriend up against her side. "I know the feeling. We fit cause we're two sides of the same coin. Shame we didn't see it sooner. We could have saved ourselves a lot of drama."

Buffy played with pieces of chocolate brown hair. "I think we appreciate it more now though because of our past." Pause. "I could have killed you that night on the roof and—and missed all of this. I'll never take our reconciliation for granted."

The brunette kissed the top of her head. "Me either, B. Me either."

Down in the kitchen the next morning, Faith yawned loudly and stared at the coffee as it brewed. The castle was quiet for a change which meant most of the new Slayers had went back to sleep. Willow and 'em too unless they were just chilling for a change. She'd be in bed too if she hadn't woken up horny as all hell for whatever reason with the need to make Buffy scream. She had a feelin' it was Spike related but she didn't dwell. Instead she'd pushed her girlfriend face down onto the old mattress and finger fucked her until her moans threatened to shatter the windows. Then she'd flipped her onto her back and ridden her until the friction triggered an orgasm of her own.

Afterwards she'd walked Liam and now she wanted coffee otherwise she was going to crash somewhere for another hour. That sounded good but so did hitting the punching bag for a while. Faith and excess energy never mixed well.

Light footsteps sounded and she cut her eyes to the door as Cassie trudged into the room. "Morning."

"Good morning." Cassie rubbed sleep out of her eyes and fetched a mug. "Coffee ready yet?"

"Almost." She stretched her arms over her head.

The other girl nodded and sunk down into a chair. "So I don't mean to be getting out of line or whatever but, you and Buffy have a lot of sex. Is—is that a Slayer thing?"

Faith snickered. "Depends. Sometimes after a good fight I get revved up but it's not the same for everyone. I just happen to like making Buffy squeal."

Cassie made a face but it was playful. "Is sex different as a Slayer? To be honest I'm kinda scared that I might crush a guy accidentally with my thighs or something."

"Nah I wouldn't worry about it. I mean you could hurt him a little but most guys are into it." Faith chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I wouldn't suggest choking them though."

"Okay." The black girl chuckled. "You guys are gonna kill Lena, though."

"What do you mean?"

"She gets all squirrely whenever you guys do it. I think it's because she totally has the hots for you. Shit!"

Faith's brows arched; she had the feeling that bit of news was supposed to remain a secret. "Huh. I didn't know that."

Cassie groaned in remorse. "Don't tell her I told you. She—it's just a little crush or whatever."

A shrug. "No worries. They happen. Had quite a few crushes on me in prison. Hopefully though I won't have to break her nose to remind her than no means no."

"No!" Cassie giggled. "I don't like girls like that but I get it. You and Buffy and even Kennedy are like larger than life. And you especially have a certain kinda swagger—confidence—that really pulls you in. None of us want to disappoint you or Buffy."

Gotta say this group of chicks gel better than Rona and them. Those girls had attitudes up the ass."Stay alive and you're making us proud. Look, we don't want cha to be heroes, just do the right thing. After this if you don't want to fight vampires then you don't have to."

"Why do you do it? I mean you could have a normal life and let Buffy or Ken do it." She tapped her nails on her cup.

The coffee pot gurgled and Faith poured herself and Cassie two steaming cupfuls. "Man, I don't think I'm built for a normal life. Even before I became a Slayer I was fucked up and surrounded by violence. If anyone could have a normal life it could be B. But in a way we like what we do. I like killing bad shit so I do."

Cassie let her words tumble around in her brain before speaking. "I guess I'll decide after I've killed something. Spike has offered to help us train."

Eh. "That should be interesting. At the very least you'll get to see how hard a vampire hits."

She bit her bottom lip. "Can I ask you a personal question? I know it's none of my business but a few of us are curious how Buffy managed to end up in a relationship with two separate vampires. I mean if we're supposed to hate them and wanna kill them, how does she date them?"

Faith knew it wasn't her place to answer but she did anyway. "Angel and ass head are different. The soul is everythin', trust me. It makes them experience emotions like we do. Guilt, remorse, forgiveness—all of them. Without a soul they're just an empty shell of who they used to be. A demon running around with the memories of the person they replaced. I've seen Angel and Spike soulless and they're completely different people." She sipped her coffee. "Angel without a soul was a sadistic killer who liked to fuck with people because it was fun. Angel with a soul saved my life."

Cassie smiled. "I get it."

"Cool." She leaned against the wall. "Anyway, you guys getting along okay?"

"Yeah." Cassie glanced towards the door. "Except, well it's just Satsu. She's so competitive and obsessed with being as good as Buffy is. She's not a bad person but sometimes she gets on my nerves."

She could understand that. She could still remember Saint Buffy getting on her last nerve as well. "Heh well some people are just overachievers. There's a reason Buffy's the best is all I'm saying."

"You're good too."

"True."

"And together you're pretty unstoppable."

"I like the sound of that."

Grumbling sounded next as Kennedy staggered into the room, dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a while and maybe she hadn't. Faith licked her bottom lip slowly, swallowing down the things she wanted to say. It wasn't her place to get involved in her relationship with Willow. Though yeah, she kinda felt they were beating a dead horse. Too scared to call it for some reason. And they weren't exactly fighting for what they wanted. More like coasting and hoping it would fit itself. That was no way to go about being with someone.

Not that she had much practice with it. The only successful relationship she'd ever had she was currently in it at the moment. It was also the most fucked up relationship she'd ever had as well but sometimes hatred turned to love when you least expected it. That's where the passion came from.

Kennedy got some coffee and proceeded to pour a large amount of sugar into it. "Seriously Faith, you and Buffy need a room in the next town over."

"We'll look into that." Faith mused. "Sorry if we woke you up."

The other Slayer grunted. "Somehow I don't believe that. I think you jumped her to make Spike pissed off. Think it worked?"

Faith considered her question. "Dunno. Guess I'll find out soon enough." Pause. "We should do a group patrol tonight. Or maybe some kinda exercise where Spike jumps out and gets punched in the face over and over for his trouble."

"Think Buffy will go for that?"

"I'm sure I could sweeten the deal so she will."

"Yeah. Hey never tell me about that, okay?"

"Your loss."