The F in Pike (Book 3.5) (girlxgirl)

Exposition... with drinks

The liquid goes down quick and I drop the glass down on the bar, letting out a deep breath as I do.

"So... Pike..."

Faith's sudden interest in Pike has me wishing for another shot.

She's been asking a lot of questions.

I manage to catch the bartender's attention and point to my shot glass. He gets the message and gives me a one minute gesture.

More questions then I feel comfortable with.

"How long have you been fighting vampires?"

Pike seems somewhat focused on Faith as we sit at the bar together and she doesn't seem to mind.

But I guess it's better than her being all mope-y and emotional.

"Going on fifteen years now, give or take. There were a few years where I had to take some time off because of injuries and... other issues."

Mope-y and emotional leads to angry destruct-o girl, and that's never good.

He pauses for a second and turns his head half towards me then stops to look down at his drink, taking a sip.

"But beyond that, I've been fighting strong. Killed more vampires, demons and other dark forces then I can remember. Even managed to save the world once or twice."

She smiles at him playfully in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable but I'm not sure why.

"Really?"

"Probably not as much as a couple slayers on the Hellmouth, but I manage."

He knows I lived on the Hellmouth?

"You've been checking up on me?"

He turns his attention to me slightly.

"In a way... after a few years, I was living in New Jersey for a while and I started hearing rumours about a slayer on the west coast. I don't know how much of it was true, but I assume that the fact that there are more slayers than you can shake a stick at these days, that the one about you dying is at least partly true."

"Yeah, the Buffster here has a habit of rising from the grave, the way martyrs tend to do."

Isn't that nice of her?

"Gee, thanks Faith."

Pike smiles at me.

"I can see that. You always were big with the heroics. It was one of your best qualities."

The look on his face makes me feel tingly in a way that I don't think I've felt in a long time.

Uh...

"That's me... heroic martyr girl."

He picks up his beer bottle and tilts it towards me in a salute before turning back to Faith.

"But Buffy isn't the only slayer I heard about over the years."

She seems to perk up at the thought.

Faith's a little too interested in what he has to say.

"Is that so?"

"Most definitely, there were a healthy bunch of rumours going around about a dark and sultry slayer gone rogue."

Faith gets slightly uncomfortable at the mention of her past.

Okay, the happy ship is veering off course, time to pull away from the gloomy depressing mood.