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Chapter 1: Chapter One

Author's Notes: Just a short Halloween fic.

"So what're you doing tomorrow?"

Buffy looked to Faith as they walked through the last cemetery for the night. "Hopefully, nothing."

"Really? Nothing?" Faith asked as she absently toyed with the stake in her hands. "Why the hell not? It's our one night off all year guaranteed. You should party it up."

"Yeah," Buffy started, "'bout that. Last year I was sentenced to take some little kids trick or treating and all hell broke loose."

"Little sugar-filled bastards," Faith commented with a shake of her head. "Did they like, run off or kick ya in the shin or something?"

Buffy shook her head yet couldn't help the quiet chuckle from escaping from her mouth at the other girl's comment. "There was a curse and everyone turned into the costume they were wearing."

They began to slow their steps as they talked, nearing the gates of the cemetery. The last few nights they'd really started to make more small talk as they patrolled, something both of them enjoyed. Buffy was beginning to realize all Faith wanted was to be included, whether or not she'd ever admit it, and Faith liked that Buffy was finally starting to open up a little.

Faith shrugged. "Doesn't sound all that bad. Girls in slutty nurse outfits actually become slutty nurses, guys trying to act all James Bond become James Bond and stop acting like horny assholes for awhile. "

"Uh, I think you're forgetting everything else," Buffy responded. "Little kids dressed as demons become demons."

"No real change there," Faith snickered.

"Ha, Ha, smarty pants. How about people dressed as vampires and werewolves and all other sorts of baddies actually becoming them? Can't exactly slay ‘em ‘cause they're not really them, you know? They're still people."

"I get it." Faith nodded then stopped and put a hand on Buffy's arm to make her stop, too. "What were you dressed as?"

Buffy's eyes darted away from Faith's. "That's not important."

"Oh, now I want to know!" Faith grinned widely as she started after the other girl who began to retreat from her. "Come on, it had to be something good. It made you not able to slay or something, didn't it? That's why you don't wanna tell me."

"What I dressed as isn't important but yeah, I really couldn't stop it."

Faith laughed quietly but didn't say anything else about it, knowing now wasn't the time to tease her about the topic. "That shouldn't stop you from doing anything this year. Can't happen two years in a row, right?"

"Guess not." Buffy continued walking but tried to make sure she didn't shut herself off from Faith. She knew she'd done that in the past and that was part of the reason they didn't get along straight away.

"So . . . why don't we do something tomorrow night?" Faith looked away from Buffy right after she said it, preparing herself for the rejection she expected.

Buffy thought for a minute before saying anything. As they passed the gates of the cemetery and began to walk along the quiet street, she knew she should use this opportunity to further bond with her fellow slayer. They were getting along now but there were still times they became frustrated with each other. There were still awkward silences and still nights where one of them stalked off early, angry with something the other slayer had said or done. The more time they spend getting to know each other the more they'd be comfortable with each other. At least, that's what Buffy hoped.

She looked back at Faith and knew by the look on her face that she already figured she'd say no. "What would you want to do?"

Faith turned her head to look at her, disbelief on her face. "You really wanna do something?"

"Why not? Guess I'm not doing anything," Buffy said.

"I dunno." Faith shrugged, suddenly not knowing what to say or do. "Never thought you'd say yes."

Buffy laughed quietly. She wasn't used to a quiet and nervous Faith during patrol. Out here she was the picture of confidence. "Why don't I just come over to your room?"

The other slayer didn't say anything right away. The last thing she wanted to do was spend Halloween at her crappy motel room and definitely didn't want Buffy to spend much time there. She hated how rundown it was and hated herself for only being able to afford to stay there. "Uh, let's not. How ‘bout I go to yours instead?"

"Sounds okay," Buffy agreed. "My mom might be home but that's okay. We could just hang in my room if she gets too parental. You can stay over if you want."

Faith's eyes went wide for a split second before nodding slightly. "All right." She paused. "It's a date."

They parted ways after that but once Buffy was alone she couldn't help but gulp. Faith said date. All the way home she couldn't help but think what that meant.

******

The night was going better than either girl expected.

Faith showed up when she said she would, not being an hour or so late like Buffy had figured, but didn't bring anything to stay over. Buffy couldn't help but think that maybe the other girl didn't have anything to bring. She would be stupid to think that Faith lived where she did because she wanted to or had piles of clothes somewhere she could bring to a sleepover so she said nothing about it.

Buffy's mother ended up going out for the night so the two of them had the house to themselves. They ordered a pizza and crashed on the couch watching a cheap, cheesy horror movie and enjoying each other's company.

"That movie was stupid," Faith commented as the credits rolled.

"What do you expect?" Buffy asked as she turned her head to face her. "We know what the real monsters look like. Of course we're gonna think all that makeup and those effects are gonna look cheap and completely unbelievable."

"Still, you'd think they'd put a little effort into it."

"I think that was their effort."

Faith shook her head. "Looked stupid. If they only knew, right?"

Buffy nodded. "Better that they don't."

Faith didn't say anything, only shifted herself closer to Buffy. They were already sitting close together on the couch, so much so that they touched every time one of them moved. Neither seemed to mind though. Both were surprisingly comfortable being close.

Faith leaned forward and grabbed her soda from the coffee table, taking a quick drink. "So what's next? Another movie?"

"Sure, I'm betting there's some other crappy movie on." Buffy smiled as Faith relaxed next to her again. "I'm happy you came over."

"Yeah?" Faith's tone seemed to betray her as her looked at the other slayer. She sounded as more shocked than anything else. "Thought you were only trying to convince yourself we needed to bond."

"There's that," Buffy said, "but there's also that I like spending time with you. I like that we're getting along."

Faith did something neither quite expected and put her arm around the other girl. Buffy even surprised herself in her response: she leaned into Faith, realizing the arm around her was giving her that good fuzzy feeling that she had only ever felt with Angel.

This was something stronger though and Faith felt it, too, as she tightened her arm ever so slightly around Buffy's shoulders. They sat like that for a few minutes, neither quite knowing the right thing to say. Both were still afraid their shaky friendship wouldn't last if the wrong thing was said.

It was Faith that broke the silence. "I really like you, B."

Buffy looked over at her and realized Faith was refusing to look at her. She could instantly tell the other girl had slipped up and now she looked like she wanted to run away. "Faith?"

She turned back to Buffy. "You can just forget I said that."

"No, I can't." Buffy reached out and placed a nervous hand on the side of her face, making her look at her. "Do you mean it?"

Faith's first thought was that this was some kind of trick but she didn't want to think Buffy was the type of person who would do that. That wasn't something she noticed in the person she had to admit she was falling for. "Uh, yeah."

Buffy's first action again surprised both of them. She smiled at the thought of Faith liking her. It made her warm and tingly in all the right places. She leaned in and tentatively kissed the other girl.

They nervously kissed, doing nothing to make it anything other than soft and chaste. Faith wanted to make it more than that but was too nervous. She wanted to kick herself more not having more confidence but knew Buffy was feeling the same.

After a minute they broke apart and smiled at each other. Buffy liked how happy Faith looked and couldn't help but smile back at her. "I like you, too, Faith."

Neither of them said anything else, only leaned back on the couch and rested against each other as they found another movie on TV.

The End.