Faith waited by the large house, hiding in the shadows of the early evening sun. She was edgy and super aware. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end at every sound, or the distant chatter of happy people going about their business and their ‘happy’ lives.

A door opened and she heard faint muttering above the noise of a passing car. The door closed and soft, quick footsteps grew nearer, shuffling towards her. Faith wiped her palms down her denim jacket and tensed every muscle in her body, filling her lungs with the oncoming scent of the person she was waiting for. She could tell by her acute sense of smell, this was who she wanted to see.

“Red!” Faith called. “Fancy meeting you here.” She practically jumped from behind the tree she had been crouching behind.

The giddy redhead nearly leaped out of her skin, dropping one of the study books she was carrying to the floor with a thud. Faith bent down in front of Willow, and picked the book up, handing it to her with a smirk on her face.

“Didn’t scare ya, did I?” She appeared calm even though her inner slayer was on alert.

“N-no. What are you doing here? I mean, not that it’s strange that you’d be near Buffy’s house, ‘cause it isn’t. And. . .you’re probably here to pick Buffy up for patrol, or. . .or. . .” Willow trailed off as Faith cocked her head, raising her eyebrows.

Faith had been pacing up and down her motel room, trying to think about what she wanted to say to Willow. How she was going to go about asking what she wanted to know. She had also been wondering what she would say to Buffy if the flashbacks had been anything to do with her. She hated not knowing what was going on. It irritated her in the biggest way.

Add to that the fact that she was staring the possibility of fucking up her friendship with Buffy in the face, not to mention anything else she could have had with her.

“I’ll walk ya home, Red. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to ya,” Faith said confidently as she set off walking in the direction she knew Willow was headed.

“No!” Willow practically yelped. “No need, really. I’m ok I have protection. I mean, as in spell, not the bad kind of protection. Which isn’t bad because. . .well, obviously it’s good, but. . .” Willow was getting very jittery with Faith’s overpowering presence.

“Hey, Will, try to breathe now and then. You might get to like it.” Faith continued walking with a smug grin on her face. “Am I walking myself to your house, or are ya gonna tag along?” she asked.

Willow soon caught up; probably realising she didn’t really have a choice. She looked nervously at Faith, then over her shoulder towards Buffy’s house, before continuing on to her home.

“Why ya so strung out, Will? Oz not poppin your cork enough?” Faith said with a leer as she strolled next to Willow, all confident and predatory.

She was determined to find out if Willow knew anything about Buffy’s dreams or the flashbacks, or if she had said anything to Buffy about them sleeping together. Willow didn’t live that far away so she realised she would have to work fast for the information.

Faith hadn’t talked to Willow much about what had happened, apart from to tell her that what had happened was nothing serious, or anything to stress about. She didn’t really want to be the one to tell Buffy’s best friend that she had more interest in Faith than just the buddy kind. It wasn’t her place, and she doubted that Willow would believe her anyway.

All she had done was try to explain why it was best that Buffy didn’t know, to keep her from being mortified. Faith would have loved to have told Willow that they had declared their love for one another, and that they were crazy about each other, but she couldn’t because Buffy didn’t remember.

“So, you and B getting some study time in?” Faith asked, running a hand through her lush dark hair.

“Yep, that’s it. That’s what we were doing alright.” Willow giggled strangely at the end of her sentence, suggesting to Faith that that wasn’t all they had been doing.

“Cool,” Faith nodded. “I guess you talked about those dreams and shit she’s been having too though right?” she waded straight in with the question.

“Dreams?” The jittery redhead almost dropped her books again. “Err, I. . .”

“Look Red, you might as well tell me what the fuck’s going on. I mean, I’m gonna find out anyway.” Faith locked her menacing dark eyes on Willow as they walked.

“We. . .um, talked a little about it.” Willow quickened her pace, trying to get to her house before Faith could get anymore out of her.

“Is it anything to do with me? The dreams and stuff?” Faith enquired further, walking at a steady pace and forcing Willow not to go too fast without looking like she was running away from her.

“No,” Willow practically squealed. “I mean, it’s just dreams, about. . .vampires. That’s it. Nasty dreams about vampires.”

Faith stopped and grabbed hold of Willow’s arm firmly, causing her to stop and face her.

* * *

“You’re a shitty liar, Red, and I’m getting pissed off here. If it has something to do with me I have a right to know,” Faith made clear, her eyes menacing and dark as she shook Willow a little as she spoke.

Faith knew she was being a hypocrite, because if she had a right to know what Buffy was telling Willow, then Buffy had the right to know what had happened between them. She didn’t want to see reason right now, though. Not when so much was at stake.

“You. . .you should talk to Buffy. She’s having flashbacks about you,” she said in a rush of words, “and I’m finding it really hard to lie to her about it all.” Willow was starting to panic a little now.

“Are you telling me you’ve told her something?” Faith subconsciously gripped harder on Willow’s arm.

“No, I haven’t. Well, not about. . .that,” a faint blush crept over Willow’s cheeks. “But I don’t know if I can keep it from her anymore. She dreamt about you. . .in that way. Like a sexual dream. And she’s freaking out. I think you should tell her, Faith.”

“What? Before you do? I told you, Will, there’s no way I’m gonna have you screw up my friendship with, B.” Faith could feel herself getting angry.

The dark mist Faith knew all too well was beginning to descend over her at the prospect of losing Buffy. She couldn’t lose her now, even if all she had was her friendship. She couldn’t lose the one and only person she had ever been in love with.

“How can you call her a friend when you did something like that? I mean, you took advantage of her, and then didn’t tell her,” Willow said, being unusually stupid and antagonising Faith.

“You don’t get it do you.” Faith pulled Willow closer, wanting to tell her she was in love with Buffy, and that Buffy felt the same somewhere deep inside. But she couldn’t, because she didn’t want to expose her vulnerable heart.

Faith couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t think above the scream of violence in her head. She had to stop Willow from telling Buffy things she should have told her herself. She needed to stop Willow from poisoning Buffy’s mind against her.

Faith reached around to the back of her waistband on instinct, pulled Willow into the shadows of some nearby trees, and slid her new ornate knife out of the leather sheath she had bought especially for it. She brought the sharp blade up between them and began to drown in the pleasure of fear crashing over her in waves, emanating from the girl held tightly in her grasp.

The overwhelming feeling of power and her own dread of losing Buffy took hold of Faith, warping her judgement and bringing out the recently buried delinquent inside of her. She bore her penetrating dark eyes into Willow, feeding from her anxiety. Crossing the line, the boundaries, and falling into the land of bad choices.

“Pretty knife isn’t it, Red? It was a present from Buffy, and if you don’t wanna find out how sharp it is, I suggest you keep your fucking mouth shut about what happened between me and B.” She lifted the sparkling blade so it shone bright in the low sunshine.

The glare from the blade hit Willow right in the eyes and she began to tremble, her pupils wide and glistening with tears that threatened to fall. Willow at least had the sense not to struggle, as it would only have made matters worse and Faith angrier. She wasn’t about to go chasing after Willow without doing some damage to her.

“Y-you can’t threaten me, Faith.” Willow swallowed hard and tried to look defiant, but Faith just tightened her grip, causing her to wince.

“No?” Faith grinned wickedly at Willow. “Funny that, ‘cause that’s kinda what I just fucking did.” She flashed the knife in front of Willow’s face, keeping it dangerously close.

Willow looked truly terrified now, with the blade of the intricately carved knife mere millimetres from her soft skin. She glanced down at it, then back up to the grinning slayer.

“You tell Buffy anything, and you’ll regret it, I fucking promise,” Faith snarled. “Now nod your head and say ok, Faithy.” Faith narrowed her dark eyes at Willow, daring for her to defy.

“Ok,” Willow nodded, almost impaling herself on the knife point at the same time.

“Ok what?” Faith pushed her face closer to Willow’s, and placed the flat side of the cold steel across her cheek.

“Ok, F-Faithy,” Willow stammered.

Faith smiled viciously and eased her grip on Willow’s arm, giving one last warning before she allowed the terrified witch to go.

“Remember, keep your mouth shut and everything’ll be five by five between you and me,” Faith winked, indicating them both with the point of her weapon, then tapping the end of Willow’s nose with it.