TITLE: 'The Nature of the Beast' Part 1/10
AUTHOR: Cherry <cherry@thekeep.org>
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: B/F
SUMMARY: Faith returns; Amy causes problems.
ARCHIVE: http://www.thekeep.org/~cherry/
SPOILERS: S6 'Wrecked'
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.


	The sun set and she appeared.  Her moves were efficient, nearly
brutal in intensity, plunging the stake into the heart, then ripping it
out and moving on to the next without pause.

	The news had been shocking, and untimely.  A law firm that once
worked for the mayor had done a review of his file, and discovered
posthumous instructions to act as the defense for a favored employee.
Despite protests from the accused, the charges were overturned by the
zealous young lawyer assigned the case.

	All of which meant exactly one thing.  Faith had been released.

*****

	Dawn still refused to speak to Willow, threatening to go out if
Buffy left her alone that night.  It hadn't taken much convincing to get
Xander to turn it into a movie night.  He'd even talked Tara into showing
up, playing on her natural sympathies for Dawn.  Yes, he felt a little
guilty for that, especially given that Willow was alone upstairs,
completely aware of the happy movie crowd downstairs.

	Perhaps it was his fiancée rubbing off on him, but there was a
little bit of him that hoped Willow felt excluded.  How Buffy could
forgive her so easily was beyond him.

*****

	It was in the third cemetery that she felt the presence. Something
not vampiric, not demonic.  No longer familiar, exactly, but it once was.  
She paused, back turned, and waited.  The silence stretched out painfully
long.

	"You might as well come out."  Her voice was soft, not angry like
she had convinced herself it should be.

	Behind and to her left, there was the soft rustle of someone
pushing through the bushes.  She turned her head in that direction, not
quite far enough to look yet.  "It's been a long time.  How are you?"

	The response was slow, as if it had to be carefully considered.
When it came, it lacked the once typical sarcastic edge.  Rather, it
sounded faintly amused.  "Five by five, B."

*****

	She was growing more desperate by the hour.  The magic called to
her, her blood singing in response to the ebb and flow.  She couldn't wait
another night, it had to be tonight.  Whatever the cost, she needed a fix,
one that only he could provide.  She'd find what he wanted, and bring it
to him.  Friendship didn't matter compared to the need.

	So what if without her she'd still be a rat?  He wanted Willow,
and she wanted his spells.  It seemed a fair trade when he offered it.

*****

	She spoke with a hesitant tone, as if fearful of offending.  
Given the history of the pair, it wasn't without reason.  "I heard you
were dead."

	Buffy finished turning around to look at her.  Faith.  Her angry
resolve once more failed to appear, even staring at the woman she'd sworn
she hated.  "I got better."  She tried to fight it, but the faintest of
grins slid onto her face.  Words slipped out through the grin, ones she
hadn't even been aware of thinking.  "I missed you."

	Faith's face registered surprise as she took a few steps closer.
It tighted a moment later, her jaw clenched.  "I haven't forgotten what
you said, but I can't not.  I'm sorry, Buffy."  Her eyes screwed shut as
she tensed, expecting hard fists.  What she didn't expect was a soft touch
on her hand, pulling it up to be gently clasped.  After a moment, she
pried one eye open to look.

	Buffy's face was serious, but not harsh.  "I'm sorry too, Faith.
And what's more, I forgive you."

	The response was barely audible, and resembled a question more
than anything else.  "I forgive you...?"

*****

	He knew the risk of getting caught.  It was much too early to go
to her.  But patience was never his strong suit, so he would watch for
her. Not the stalking of before, following her on patrol obsessively.  He
knew her patrol patterns, and would hide just to watch her walk by.  He
promised himself that until she turned in the direction of his crypt,
that's all he would do.  Tonight she hadn't even glanced up in his
direction, intent on something.  He waited to be sure, then came out and
lit a bent but still smokable cigarette.

	 A compromise, he'd go visit Dawn.  She was probably feeling low
right now, and good old Spike would be just the right one to cheer her up.
Buffy might get upset if she found out, though.

	He smoked the rest of the pack while talking himself into going,
leaving a new assortment of butts with the ones from last night, and the
night before.  The minutes he spent kicking them under a nearby bush made
him miss seeing the blonde individual of his thoughts passing back through
the grounds hours before he would expected.  By the time he was on his
way, she was long out of sight.  As was her companion.

*****

	Buffy led Faith back along her usual route, cutting through the
cemetery that Spike lived in without even noticing.  When making her
impulsive offer to let Faith stay at her house, she had surprised herself
nearly as much as Faith.  She had hidden it well, though, and grabbed
Faith's hand, pulling her along behind as she walked.

	"B, it's okay, you don't need to.  I'll stay at the motel.."

	Buffy cut her off before she could finish.  "Nope, you won't.  I
shouldn't have let you stay there last time, but I was self-centered and
oblivious."  She glanced at Faith with a small grin.  "This is where you
protest and deny."

	"Oh, you were never oblivious," Faith responded, stressing the
last word lightly.  She grimaced slightly, already wanting to take back
her teasing statement.  It wasn't quite time to try sliding into the
comfortable friendship again.

	Buffy giggled.  "Thanks."  She squeezed her hand slightly and
continued, "I'll work on the self-centered."

	Faith fixed her stare straight ahead.  This new Buffy was nothing
like the one from high school.  Not much like the one from when she woke
up, either.  Maybe it was having a boyfriend that screwed her up.  That
was the first priority then, find out if she's single again.  Too bad most
guys aren't stakeable, she'd never make the mistake of dating a vamp
again.

	Coming up to the house, Buffy frowned as she heard what sounded
like shouting coming from inside.  "That better be a movie..."  She
trailed off and ran up to the door, throwing it open and dashing inside,
Faith close on her heels.

*****

	Getting in the back door was easy, just a quick spell and tumblers
tumbled, the knob twisted, and she was in.  Getting upstairs was much
harder, but with the movie playing, there was just enough background noise
to cover her.  Good thing Xander liked action movies with high volume
sound-tracks.  The key was to keep moving, not to leave any time for
someone to discover her, and to get out fast.  So when she got to Willow's
room, she simply knocked once and entered.

	Willow looked up with red eyes, and immediately ducked away to rub
them.  "Amy, hey!  I didn't expect to see you tonight."  Her books were
scattered around her on the bed, papers and notebooks stacked wildly with
loose pages everywhere.  It was a very un-Willowy disorganized mess.

	Amy sat down on the bed, and glanced at Willow's schoolwork.
Admittedly, she was a few years behind, but it didn't look like she was
making much progress on it.  "Hey.  You look like you could use a break.
And a friend.  We could go get a cup of coffee or something."

	Willow dragged herself from the bed, books and papers dropping to
the floor unnoticed.  "Yeah, okay.  I could use some fresh air."

	Amy followed her out of the room, taking deep breaths.  That had
been the easy part.  Getting her to Rack's was the hard part, but she'd at
least try to get Willow to go on her own first.  Coming down the stairs,
she noticed the credits start to roll on the movie.

	Willow came up behind the sofa.  "Hey, guys, I'm going out for
coffee..."

	Xander spoke as he turned around, "Sure, I'll let Buf... What the
hell is she doing here?!"

	Willow looked behind her in confusion.  "Amy?  She's just being a
friend."  She continued in a louder and somewhat angrier voice. "Something
I don't seem to have very many of right now!"

	Dawn turned around and stood up, glaring as she blatantly shifted
her arm wrapped in a purple cast, crossing it over her other arm.
"Probably because you don't deserve them!"

	"I thought you were quitting magic!"
	"I am!"
	"Doesn't look like it to me!"
	"What am I supposed to do, lock myself in my room and never come
out again?!"

	Amy nervously watched as Xander and Dawn verbally attacked Willow.
Things weren't going well right now.  She started running through spells
in her mind, looking for a good one to get out of there and try again
later.  At that point, the door burst open behind her, and things went
from bad to worse.

*****

	Buffy stuttered to a stop as the argument cut off with her
entrance.  Xander and Willow were standing toe to toe, and had been
yelling at the top of their lungs.  Dawn was right there too, Anya and
Tara having backed off.  There was a dead silence as she looked around the
room, just about to ask what was going on when there was a yelp of pain
from behind her.  She spun around to see Faith twisting Amy's arm up
behind her, the other had some kind of dried flower in it.

	"Hey B, I think this one was trying to cast a magic spell."

	Xander was the first to react, unconsciously echoing his earlier
query, "What the hell is she doing here?!"

	Before anyone could respond, Amy grabbed at the dried herbs with
her free hand and chanted a few words in Latin.  Faith pulled tighter on
her arm, causing her to mangle the pronunciation of the last few.  A flash
of light covered the entire room as the spell went off.  Amy barely had
time to gasp out, "Oh c-!" before the spell cut her off.

*****

	Coming up to the house, Spike halted with a jolt as he noticed the
half open front door.  He still had an invitation, at least as far as he
knew, but other demons didn't need invitations.  Lights were on, and the
house seemed fairly quiet.  He glanced up at Buffy's room.  No lights
there, so she was probably out on patrol.  That was what he wanted,
really.  He was just there to see Dawn, and cheer her up.  No ulterior
motives at all.

	Still, just to be safe, he checked his duster for weapons before
pushing the door open the rest of the way, and making his way in as
silently as vampirically possible.  He only made it two steps into the
house before a low animal growl startled him, pulling his gaze to the
left.

	The hellmouth did tend towards the unusual, but this was a bit
much.  Stalking towards him were a pair of great cats, one that he
recognized as a lioness, the second as a black panther.  Barely
registering on his senses were other animals behind them, the only one
worthy of his notice was a brown bear larger than both cats together.  It,
however, was sitting placidly on the floor, so was quickly disregarded as
a threat.

	He stared down at both of them as they halted only a body-length
away, almost certainly within a distance to pounce.  The eyes on the
lioness caught him, drawing him in.  They were familiar in an unusual way,
some element about them seemed almost like...  The feeling came together
with a sudden rush.
  
	"Buffy?"

-- End Part One
$Revision: 1.15 $
$Date: 2002/03/03 22:32:33 $