Forgotten Conscience - Chapter 112: Chapter 112

Buffy's POV
It's not going away. I have this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and it has nothing to do with the fact that we're walking through a hospital full of potential enemies. I have my slayer senses on high alert and the only thing I can sense for sure is that Faith is angry with me.
I would never think Faith would hurt me, but some how I made her think I would and it tears me up inside. I thought last night settled things. I told her how I felt, and she told me the same. Then came the fight, and we were so in sync it was eerie, and then we went home and we showed each other how we felt.
With the... and then the... with the way she... and I... god it was intense. When we all get through this and I patch things up with Faith, the two of us may have to go clothes shopping and we might wanna pick up a new bed while we're at it.
The headboard took quite a beating last night. But that wasn't the most intense part. The most intense part was afterwards when we just... lay there together, in each others arms all night. We didn't talk, we didn't make out, and we didn't fall asleep, well not for a good long while, we didn't even look at each other we just lay there... together.
Last night was incredible, but today everything is different. Today she's angry with me and real big with the not talking about it. This is not gonna happen. I'm not going into what could be the fight of my life with the woman I love mad at me.
"Faith..."
She stops dead in her tracks as a groggy hospital patient in a paper gown comes our way down the hall. She grabs her by the throat and pins the patient to the wall.
"Where is he?"
I move to stand besides Faith.
"I... I don't know what you're..."
She pulls a single bottle of holy water out of her pocket and splashes the patient with it. The so-called patient vamps out and growls at Faith as her skin starts to burn. The gang and I are suddenly very aware that literally anyone in the building could be Omega's henchmen, not just the staff. Faith applies a little more pressure to the vamp's throat.
"WHERE is he?"
"D-Down the s-second door on the right... J-John Markette."
"Thank you so much."
She pulls a stake out from her jacket and dusts the girl right there. Without saying a word Faith heads off in the direction the vamp mentioned. I just shrug to Xander, Willow, Tara, Anya and Giles.
"I guess we know where to find Riley's murderer eh?"
Willow shrugs back.
"Yeah and we know his name."
Spike decides to chip in.
"What kind of sissy name is Markette anyway?"
Xander strikes back.
"I dunno William, what kinda stupid name is Spike?"
"Hey now..."
Giles steps in to break their near fight up.
"Children enough..."
He points to Faith who's already 10 to 15 feet ahead.
"We have more pressing matters at hand."
Xander and Spike retreat to neutral corners and we start to follow Faith down the hall to catch up. Anya makes her usual obvious comment.
"Kinda gung-ho about this isn't she?"
I noticed.
"Yeah... and I think I'm the reason."
We turn the corner, still lagging slightly behind Faith. Tara tries to help.
"You should... you should talk with her."
Willow backs her up as Faith starts frantically checking office doors for John Markette's name.
"Yeah tell ya what, we'll do away with this John guy and then we'll give you two a few minutes alone to sort things out."
Yeah that'll help.
"Guys, you know, it's not that I don't appreciate the offer but, if you haven't noticed... talking with Faith is a lot like pulling teeth. It could take more than a few minutes."
"So then we'll wait as long as it takes. Buffy... her head is obviously not in the right place."
"Xander is correct. Clearly Faith needs to resolve whatever issues are clouding her judgment and seeing as how a large part of her issues revolve around you..."
"Right, okay... I'll talk with her."
Faith stops at a particular door and turns to us.
"This is it, John Markette, this is his office."
We walk up to the door.
She's right. It has his name on it.
"Oh good job Faith, talk a little louder so he'll hear us coming."
Faith goes to attack him but my words stop her.
"Shut up Spike."
She composes herself slightly.
"Okay here's the plan. I'll kick the door in, B can go in and stake the son of a bitch. Then we can move on to the important stuff."
Hold it.
"Faith w..."
She kicks the door in and I guess I gotta go in, so I do.
The room's empty.
Faith comes in after me and looks around frantically.
"He's NOT HERE!"
"I did actually notice that Faith."
She goes over to the desk near the window and picks up what looks like a note. She reads it and slams the note on the table, cracking it slightly. I walk over and pick up the note.
'See ya real soon slayers.'
He knew.
"He knew we were coming."
"You think?"
She kicks the wall and puts a hole in it.
This is getting out of hand.
I look to the door, my friends standing watch outside the door.
I guess a few minutes wouldn't hurt.
"Okay so, if they know we're coming then they probably think this'll make us stop and slow down. So the only way to keep the advantage is to go ahead now, maybe we'll catch them off guard and... okay we should..."
She starts to the door and I put my hand against her upper chest to stop her.
"This isn't gonna happen."
She looks at me like she's trying to figure out what the hell I'm thinking.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
I look toward the door, Giles and Spike in the doorway the others are all watching the halls.
"Would you guys give us a minute?"
"Of course."
Giles grabs the doorknob and starts to close the door.
"Oh come on, I wanna see what happens."
Giles grabs the other knob and pushes him out of the doorway as the door closes.
"Do you have any popcorn?"
I turn my attention back to my one true love.
"What's going on B?"
I take my hand off her chest and look at her.
"I was actually gonna ask you the same question."
She starts to avoid looking at me, shifting her weight from side to side.
"Nothing's going on B."
Okay here we go. Where the hell are my pliers? I need to pull some teeth.
"Then what's with the kamikaze attitude?"
"I want this whole thing over with, don't you?"
"Of course I do but..."
"Good, then we should get to it."
She goes to leave but again I stop her.
"Faith I'm not going into a big fight with you hating me."
There's a moment of thick silence between us before she responds.
"I don't hate you B, I love you. You know that."
"Well if you don't hate me then you're obviously angry with me. And we have to deal with it."
"I'm not angry with you either."
I look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, so, I am angry with you... sorta, but it's nothing. It's not important."
"But it is important Faith. You mean the world to me, and if we go into battle this way, I'll never be able to concentrate on the fight. And I don't think you could either."
She takes a deep breath.
"Probably not."
I take Faith's hands in mine and slide them around my waist.
"Then talk to me. Tell me what I did to hurt you."
She starts to hold me to her as I put my hand in her hair, feeling the soft silkiness of every strand between my fingers.
"You know what you did B."
She's right, I do know.
"I'm really sorry Faith. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. The only reason Spike is here is because I want us to go into this with everything we've got, even if it is only Spike."
My fingers caress her cheek.
"I wanna know that all of us will make it through this."
"We will..."
I kiss her softly, tasting the truth of her words on her lips.
"So are we good?"
She smiles at me.
"We're good."
I turn so we're both facing the door, my arm around her shoulders, hers around my waist. We go over to the door and she opens it. Giles and Spike are the first to notice.
"Can we go yet? I can feel Saint Vigeous start to charge my batteries and I'm gonna need a good spot of violence before long."
"You'll get it Spike, you'll get it."
We start heading towards the exit.
"And how are things?"
Things?
"Things are five by five Giles. Aren't they Faith?"
"They are indeed B, they are indeed."