Getting What You Asked For

Disclaimers: I own nothing and no one. Yadda yadda yadda. No money made. Yadda yadda yadda. You know.. the usual.

Spoilers: A little adjustment to "Empty Places" & after "Chosen"

Summary: Since I still have unresolved issues with "Empty Places", I thought I exorcise them here. Enjoy. FR13 cause Faith is in it.

Chapter One

They threw me out. Buffy thought as she wandered down Revello Drive. I can't believe they actually threw me out.

Only moments ago, her sister, her watcher and her friends, sided with the Potentials and decided that, even though she knew there was something hidden in the vineyard, her need to get it was too dangerous. The Potentials, she could understand. They were scared and they were children. But the Scoobies knew better. They knew that sometimes things got dangerous but, after seven years, how could this have possibly been surprising to them?

"I can't believe they did this." Buffy muttered angrily.

"Well, believe it, little girl." A snide, country voice taunted. "We've been waiting for you. You're little friends have sent you into our righteous arms."

Buffy turned to face the preacher, her anger suddenly morphing into a rage so intense, she was almost shaking with it. "This isn't a good time, Preacher. Run back to the little mama."

"You watch your mouth, dirty girl." Caleb snarled. "Your friends have abandoned you. Maybe if you beg nicely, I'll kill you quickly."

Buffy snarled and threw a punch so fast that, even though he was staring right at her, he never saw it coming. Before he could react, she nailed him a few more times before the Bringers descended on them and Buffy had to divert her attention to avoid getting cut to pieces. Caleb picked himself up, spitting out blood, and was about to launch himself at her when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Let them wear her down." The image of another Buffy Summers appeared next to him. "Then you can kill her."

"Do you really have to take that form now?" Caleb asked in exasperation. "It's a little distracting."

The apparition smirked at him, but obligingly morphed into another form. Side by side, they watched as Buffy took down the Bringers, one by one. Snapping the neck of one after using his body as a shield, she grabbed his sword and, with an experienced twirl that would made Xena proud, she beckoned them on. They were the perfect targets for her current rage.

The fight seemed to last forever for Buffy. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she was slightly panting by the time the last Bringer died and Caleb finally decided to get involved. As she ducked under his wild swing, Buffy spared a moment to be grateful that there weren't any Turok-Han in the entourage, just before he landed a shot that sent her flying into a tree several feet away.

Her emotions still fueling her strength, she jumped back to her feet and spit out a mouthful of blood. "C'mon, Caleb. You can do better than that."

The mad Preacher snarled furiously and ran at her, his eyes fanatic and insane. Buffy ducked a swing at her head and kicked out, smashing the heel of her shoe into his kneecap with all of her considerable leg strength. The moment the leg collapsed, she pressed her advantage, smashing his temple with the sword hilt. His head slammed into the same tree she had hit only a few moments before. In a desperate move, he backhanded her, sending her rolling away, but she recovered quickly as he made it to his feet. With a final cry of anger, she ran at him just as he pushed away from the tree, running him through with the sword so hard that it penetrated to thick trunk of the tree and pinned him in place.

"You bitch!" The First screamed at her as Caleb coughed, blood flying out of his mouth to splatter on her already dirty clothes.

"You know something, Preacher," Buffy said conversationally. "I'm glad we had this talk. I actually feel much better. Now, since you're a little preoccupied, I'm gonna go see what you've got hiding in the vineyard that's calling to me."

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

"What the hell were you assholes thinking?" Faith snapped, slamming the door shut behind her.

"What?" Xander and Kennedy asked at the same time.

"We had to." Willow whispered.

"I would think you would be relieved to be given such a chance, Faith." Giles said after a moment.

"What chance?" Faith growled. "All I wanted was for her to slow down and take breather. Despite my current company, I'm not stupid, and I for damn sure ain't suicidal. What the hell are you thinking, choosing me over her. I've been an active Slayer for less than year because I was a bad guy and in prison, and you think I'm ready to take on the biggest enemy in fucking history? She's the best we got and you just ditched her like garbage. I wanted her to slow the fuck down, not leave."

"But..." Dawn stammered.

"Oh, shut up." Faith snarled at her. "She died for you, fought off social services for you, and you just sent her out of the house that she's killing herself to keep over your head, so I don't wanna hear a damn thing from you."

Dawn gasped and her eyes filled tears, but Faith turned her back on her, feeling no sympathy.

"That was uncalled for, Faith." Giles said sternly, pulling his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're her Watcher, Giles." Faith snapped back. "You're supposed to back her up no matter what. Do you dumbasses even realize what you've have just done?"

"Yeah, we kicked out an overbearing, egotistical, holier-than-thou..." Before she could get any further, Faith backhanded the nasty comments right out of Kennedy's mouth, making Anya shriek as blood splattered on the pretty shirt that she'd gotten out of Buffy's closet since her own had been ruined in the fight. Willow cried out and dropped down beside her lover.

"You just kicked B out with no fucking weapons!" Everyone stared at her in horror. "There are Bringers and those dino-vamps out there, not to mention Caleb, and she's defenseless."

"Oh, Goddess, she's right!" Willow jumped to her feet, momentarily forgetting about her girlfriend. "We've got to go find her!"

"There ain't no 'we' in this." Faith yelled at them. "I'll go find her, and make sure she gets someplace safe for the night. The rest of you, stay here and get everyone patched up. Anyone follows me, and I'll knock your ass out and leave you where you fall."

"What do you mean, someplace safe?" Dawn asked weakly, following her to the weapons chest in the corner. "You've got to bring her back here."

"I ain't gotta do shit." Faith said, grabbing a couple of swords and an axe.

"You were a part of this, too, Faith." Dawn reminded her, getting angry at Faith's unreasonable attitude.

"Know what, you're right, I was." Faith slammed the chest closed, making people jump. "Right up until you told her to leave. Right up until everyone started looking at me for what to do next. I'm no leader, Dawn. Ain't got the head for it. I don't know shit about fighting the BIG fight. I was either in a coma or in jail when it happened. I can barely take care of myself, much less you bunch."

Then, she was gone before anyone could saw another word.

"Okay, what just happened?" asked a confused Rona.

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

Faith used her connection to Buffy to follow her trail. After she'd gotten over the shock of getting their asses so unquestionably kicked, and the shock of actually seeing the Scoobs turn on Buffy, she realized that Buffy's emotions were running so high, she could actually feel them through their Slayer connection. Her sense of anger and betrayal had been so overwhelming, that it had made Faith realize what they'd just done.

When their eyes had met that final time before Buffy had disappeared into the darkness, Faith had nearly been floored by the glazed look of shock and weariness in her dulled green eyes, and with a jolt she realized that, for the last few weeks, the other woman had done nothing but train, clean up, and patrol. Hell, the only reason that she wasn't still working was because there was no one going to school. She slept when she could, but it wasn't often since she was so busy protecting everyone and trying to live up to everyone's expectations. The elder Slayer was running on nothing but fumes and sheer grit.

"Fuck." Faith muttered to herself. "Of course she don't know their names. When did she have time to fucking learn?"

She finally admitted to herself that she was worried. Worried that Buffy would do something stupid, like go back to the vineyard anyway. She was so sure that there was something there that they needed, something that was calling to her Slayer side, but Faith didn't feel it, and it was the main reason why she'd been against going back. But Faith had to admit that she wasn't nearly as strong a Slayer as Buffy. Fighting-wise, sure, they were about even, since her street smarts made her a match for Buffy's experience, but her instincts weren't nearly as developed. Thinking about it now, she realized that Buffy had a valid point. Caleb and his cronies had been guarding the vineyard kinda hard when the Hellmouth was in the school.

She froze as she remembered something. The vineyard belonged to The Boss, and he'd had the place guarded like Fort Knox too.

"Oh, shit." She cursed, breaking out into a run. "Something probably is there."

She had just caught the scent of fresh blood when she heard a motorcycle approach. "Oy, killer! Wait up!"

She skidded to a halt and waited for Spike. "What's goin' on? Dropped the whelp off when I caught the scent of blood in the air, and a lot of it. Bringers, the Nutter and the Slayer. Where is she?"

Faith paled. "Can you track the scent?" She asked, ignoring the questions. "I think B's in trouble."

Spike's eyes narrowed, but he kept his questions to himself. Something wasn't right, and he was worried about Buffy. "Get on."