102 - A Message Made From Bones

18

A knock comes barely a minute later. Faith pokes her head in before I can invite her—not that I could if I wanted anyway, my cheeks full of the mouthwash I instantly spotted on the counter. Such invasions have become commonplace living in such close quarters; combined with the lack of boundaries during my upbringing, I've grown accustomed to using the toilet while someone else is bathing, and vice versa.

She enters, carrying a stack of clothes taken straight from what is left of the wardrobe I brought overseas.

I dry off, indifferent to her seeing me naked. She leans against the bathroom door, arms crossed and ready to assist in case I need it, and hands me the cleanest black hoodie I have.

"Did you and Jay—" she begins, her thumb raised over her shoulder.

"No," I promptly cut off, gingerly sliding into a pair of black jeans that are unusually tight and chafe-y against my tenderized body. "He just... scrubbed my back."

Faith raises a suspicious brow. "Just your back? He didn't scrub anything else?"

I crack a lazy grin, expecting nothing less from her. "Well, if he did, I'd tell you, wouldn't I?" Though I don't know if I would, actually.

Faith scoffs, her eyes glittering like smoky quartz as she rolls them. "You can't be serious. You almost die, and then you turn down a post-apocalyptic unngh" —she punctuates it with a thrust of her hips, her face twisting passionately— "with that hottie?"

I cringe at the gesture, shaking my head—and those images away. "It's not like I didn't think about it... I did just almost die—" Then again: I did just almost die. It didn't feel right to even... "—And Kai looks like she got hit by a bus and it reversed over her twice. And we have Sineya's bones to figure out what to do with." I could have taken Jay right then, but he's playing my game, too, and I will not be the first to give.

I've been starved for weeks, and gone longer before this; I can hold out as long as I want...

Can he?

The brunette shrugs dismissively. "I would've already taken him for a ride by now—if it weren't for the way he looks at you." She flashes me that devastating, devilish smile of hers, then flicks her tongue across her teeth hungrily.

I can only gape at her, searching for something witty to retort with, but am at a loss for words.

Faith bites back another joke, satisfied she's made me fidget enough, and goes on, "Buffy's coming to take Sineya's bones and debrief us; she's only a little over an hour away. Remember that dream I had of her? She was in the Deeper Well restoring magick."

"Good," I nod slowly, though something in my chest tightens. This must be the news Faith wanted to tell me earlier. It doesn't particularly surprise me about how magick has returned; it would have been only a matter of time before Buffy tried to fix the chaos she had unleashed...

But she's coming all this way for Sineya's bones when Faith and I could've transported them wherever she wanted, and a phone call could've sufficed for the debriefing.

"Did she say anything about what Quinn had mentioned? Sineya's bones restoring the Slayer Line? The writings of a boy-Slayer?" I ask.

Faith shrugs with her mouth. "She's still looking into both those things. Maybe she'll arrive with an answer."

"Does Jay's mom know she's coming?" I ask, though the look on Faith's face is a bit worrying.

She sucks in air through her teeth, her brown eyes sparkling with delight. "Oh yeah. I can't wait for that meet-up," she muses.