Title: She's The Reward
Author: Anne
Website: http://members.tripod.com/angels_flight_uk/index.htm
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Joss, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Mutant Enemy, Inc., Greenwolf Corp, Kazui Enterprises, and Sandollar Television own the characters. i.e. everyone except me, so don't bother suing!
Distribution: I don't care who archives it, as long as they let me know. Thanks.
Pairings: Faith/Fred
Feedback: Duh! angels_flight_@hotmail.com
Fred was fascinated by the movement of those scarlet lips. Cordy on the other hand, just rolled her eyes and continued to flick through her magazine. She had heard it all before, the first time she had sat in the Bronze and watched Xander drool all over Faith. Angel had convinced her, well almost at least, that Faith was now well on the way to being redeemed, but apparently that did not extend to revelling in slightly exaggerated tales of her wild youth. But really, if Cordy had to hear that alligator story one more time, she was going to scream and commit outrageous acts herself.
But for Fred, this was something entirely new. Sure, the crew at Angel Investigations all had their fair share of stories about the grizzly events of their respective pasts, but none of them seemed to exalt in them. None of them threw their heads back and laughed at the thought of all the times they had come into danger. And only Angel, in Fred's opinion at least, gave off that supernatural, all-powerful presence. There was something strong in it. With Angel it made Fred feel nice and safe and secure, with Faith it tugged on the memory strings of a time before Pylea, when Fred had watched girls from her dorm room at college go out on the dance floor and act wild, drink too much and dance with each other. She would watch from the sidelines because she had never found the co-ordination for dancing, sipping on a drink and watching the people move like they were one liquid mass that she couldn't come up with a formula for, despite the fact that she filled her days with them. But she liked watching them then, when people didn't scare her quite so much. She rested her chin on her hands and realised that she quite liked watching Faith now.
She liked the feeling in her stomach, like butterflies, and the fact that butterflies were a good thing because they never tried to kill you. She didn't even notice when Cordelia let out an exaggerated breath of annoyance and left the room.
"Um , Fred?"
It was a shock, to be watching those lips move and the way the tongue flicked out to wet them every few minutes, to suddenly see them forming her name. She jumped up and nearly fell over her chair in the process. The butterflies trebled in size, relative of course to the previous size in Fred's imagination, because she knew they weren't really flying in there and tapping at her ribcage to be let loose, when Faith grabbed her upper arm to help her regain balance. "You kinda zoned out on me there for a while."
"I was thinking about the butterflies." Fred knew it didn't make sense and cringed inside, the butterflies dispersing into some kind of rolling ocean instead. She swore she could feel herself physically shrinking in size as Faith raised one eyebrow. "If I was boring you, you should have just got up and left like Queen C did. I think she still doesn't like me that much," she added in a conspiratorial whisper. Fred giggled and a broad grin spread across Faith's face. "Say, if you're that bored, we could go out, do a little drinking, a little dancing, what do you say?"
"Oh no, I couldn't..." Fred could feel herself about to stutter, her stomach now choosing to turn in and begin to eat itself.
"I won't hurt you. And I'll make sure nothing else will either. Slayer promise," Faith jokingly placed her hand on heart. "This place is hardly the best nightspot in town. Come on, live a little."
"Promise?" Fred asked in a weak voice, feeling as if she had no right to demand anything off the person in front of her.
"Huh?"
"Promise that everything will be ok, coz I don't have much luck in public places. Things seem to find me like I'm a magnet or something."
"If something turns up, which ain't going to happen, I'll look after you."
"I have to, get um, change or something," Fred fingered her hair with deep concentration.
"Don't sweat it sweetheart, you look good enough to eat already," without warning, Faith grabbed Fred's hand, pulling her towards the door, and nearly causing her to trip over her own feet in the process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred fumbled in her purse for the cover charge, but by the time she found some money, Faith had already managed to charm the doorman into letting them in for free. She felt that feeling of awe creep back into her body, and the nagging wish that she could be like Faith. If she could just be more interesting, and if she wasn't Fred, then people would like her more.
She would like herself more.
And now she was in a club with loud music and even louder people, and she was certain that she would have got lost already if Faith hadn't maintained that firm grip around her hand as she marched with purpose to the bar. She began to rack her brains over what to have to drink, but then Faith went ahead and ordered for both of them without asking. She was relieved and equally certain that she would like whatever it was that Faith got for her, because Faith seemed to know so much about these things. The drinking and the killing. Not that the two always went together, but sometimes they did, and at other times it was sociable like this was now, and - she took a sip of her drink to try to slow down the rollercoaster. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was sweet and strong. Faith knocked hers back in one gulp and Fred thought she could imagine it sliding down her throat.
"I'm going to dance," Faith yelled in Fred's ear and headed out for the dance floor. Fred just nodded to Faith's back, feeling conspicuous and out of place. She hugged her arms around her body, fighting the urge to hide under a table, and trying not to jump whenever anyone accidentally knocked her as they made their way to the bar.
The music was fast and loud and made no sense to Fred. She carried on sipping on her drink, a reflex action because her mouth no longer seemed to be able to taste anything. She watched through the first song as Faith proceeded to tear up the dance floor with erratic movements. Why should someone like that come to a place like this just to spend time with someone like herself, Fred reasoned, but was unable to stop a solitary tear roll down her face as the feeling of being alone began to eat at the warm spot in her stomach where the alcohol was settling. She couldn't go home either, because that wouldn't be any safer, and for some reason, her feet wouldn't move. She wished that they had stayed in the hotel where the walls would make her feel safe and she could have just watched Faith's lips move for hours. Things had been so much better then. It wasn't Faith's fault. It was her own for not letting Faith know what a bad person she was to be with, how she couldn't have fun like other girls, and how she liked to sit in cupboards sometimes when she was sure that no one would find out.
When Faith's eyes suddenly met her own, Fred wasn't sure what she saw there. It almost looked like guilt, but that couldn't be right, could it. To her surprise, Faith bounded over to her.
"Fred?" she asked gently, "Don't you want to dance? I thought you'd follow me."
"I - I - I don't dance," Fred knew she was blushing and for the first time found the relative darkness comforting. But then again, did Faith have super slayer vision or something. The comfort rapidly drained away again.
"I'll show you."
"No," Fred gasped in horror.
"Yes." The voice was firm and the hand that grabbed her was more even more insistent. For the second time in an hour, Fred nearly tripped over herself, this time on the sudden descent to the mass on the floor.
It was hard to breathe. In fact, Fred was so afraid that this time she was sure she was going to die. Faith wasn't even content with staying on the edge of the crowd, she wanted to be in the centre of it. Just when Fred was certain she was going to faint, Faith stopped and spun her round. She pulled them close, Fred's back pressing against the outline of Faith's breasts and hips, the strength in those arms holding her firm and also, Fred suspected, upright.
"Feel the rhythm," Faith said into her ear, and Fred squirmed slightly at the feel of hot breath tickling the side of her face. "Close your eyes."
Fred had expected Faith to try and move her body at all sort of weird angles that seemed to be required for dancing to this sort of music, but instead, she kept both their bodies entirely still. All Fred could feel was the steady movement of Faith's body as she breathed, and her own started to fall into the same pattern. Then, somewhere behind that, there was a beat. Not the steady drum that had hurt her ears when she had been standing there alone, but something flowing underneath. She realised it was what Faith had been talking about. For the first time in her life, Fred felt the rhythm.
As if she had somehow known this was the moment, the hands on her hips began to make them sway a little, then there was a thrust as Faith's hips pushed into her own, and for a brief second Fred felt stupid and clumsy again. But then her arms started to move as if they had a mind of their own, as if they had independently found the rhythm as well. "You're getting it!" she heard Faith's deep chuckle in her ear.
Fred never did anything on impulse. Impulse just got you killed, or tortured, or locked away in a demon dungeon. She knew this, and yet she turned around, pulling out of Faith's grip, and let her body move on it's own, and Faith began to dance properly as well, letting herself go, feeling the music, moving in closer to Fred. They were two separate beings, but sometimes they touched.
And when Faith threw her head back and laughed, then pulled her close, Fred just watched the slow descent of those crimson lips.