Title: Cheering In Secret

Rating: PG13

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine and I make no money off them.

Summary: Post-Chosen. Buffy discovers Faith's favorite sport during the Olympics.

A/N: just a little one shot. :)

It was a good day. All the young slayers had attended their classes without any complaint which was a rarity. There hadn't even been any fights which Buffy found impressive. Getting a dozen or so girls into a training room and not having a fight that wasn't part of a sparring exercise was practically a miracle.

And Faith wasn't even around to share the joy.

Over the last few days she had been disappearing at times and Buffy never had any idea where she went. When she showed up late to whatever class she was supposed to be teaching she would make up a lame excuse and go about doing whatever she was supposed to.

No one really noticed and only a couple of the girls ever made a comment. Faith usually used them as volunteers which made it so that no one would make a comment in the future.

Buffy seemed to be the only one who cared. Maybe it was because today she had to take over one of her classes because she didn't show up. Maybe it was because the last three days she had to go on their morning run on her own. Maybe it was that she slept alone last night.

Mostly it was that Faith never told her what she was doing.

Sure, Buffy was nosy and she admitted it. It irritated her to no end that there was something Faith wouldn't share with her. She had been her girlfriend for a few years now. They should be sharing everything.

That's what she thought anyway.

Today she needed to find out. There was something in her that didn't want to wait another day to track Faith down and make her tell her where she was going when she was supposed to be training slayers. So far she blew off her questions and that just wasn't acceptable anymore.

She saw Faith at breakfast but only for a few minutes. That was after she gave her some lame excuse about why Buffy ended up sleeping alone last night and why she also ran alone prior to breakfast. It wasn't acceptable as far as she was concerned. She had heard "I forgot" and "I lost track of time" too many times.

So she went to a measure she probably didn't need to but the not knowing was killing her; she had Willow do a locator spell for her elusive girlfriend. Buffy knew she was inside the castle but it would take too long to track her down and she'd tried in the past without any luck.

Buffy ended up standing outside a guest bedroom in the far end of the castle, wondering why the hell Faith would go somewhere no one ever did. There were faint sounds coming from the room but it didn't sound like she was in there with anyone else. Cheating was never something Buffy even considered. Faith had never even looked at anyone else since they'd been together.

When Buffy did open the door all she saw was Faith sitting in front of the TV anxiously. She was concentrating so much on whatever was on that she didn't even notice that Buffy had stepped into the room. It wasn't until Buffy cleared her throat that she did, jumping right out of her seat.

"B! What the hell?"

Buffy chuckled quietly at the reaction but still was a little annoyed that she needed to go to such lengths in order to track her down. "I could ask you the same question. I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Kinda in this area for the castle for that reason."

"'Cause you don't want to be found?"

Faith nodded but Buffy noticed that her eyes kept darting toward the TV every couple of seconds. That only annoyed her even more.

"What are you watching anyway and is it worth majorly pissing off your girlfriend?"

"B, not a big deal," Faith claimed. "Just wanted a little me time."

Just by the look on her face Buffy knew Faith wasn't being completely honest with her. The look on her face told Buffy that she really didn't want her to know either. It wasn't enough for her to turn away though and walked toward the TV to see Faith was watching . . . beach volleyball.

Her mouth dropped open as she remembered a couple of the slayers were talking about the Olympics at dinner a couple days ago. Not being a big sports fan, she had never given it a second thought.

"I want to call you a perv but I have a feeling there's more to this," Buffy said, watching as her girlfriend sat back in the chair.

"Are you gonna tease me about this?"

Buffy didn't like that Faith looked defeated that her secret was out so she sat in her lap and put her arms around her neck. "Do you just like watching because you're ogling hot women in bikinis or . . ."

Faith sighed. "I like watching the Olympics."

"Okay."

"I'm never gonna hear the end of this, right? Instead of catching me with a chick, you catch me watching hot USA chicks go for gold."

Buffy laughed. "Well, if I caught you with a chick, you'd leave this room with a limp and that's if you're lucky. Now I want to know why you're a closeted fan."

"Figured you wouldn't be into it, I guess," Faith said. "Besides, if everyone else found out that I pretty much drop everything to watch gymnastics I don't think I'd ever hear the end of it."

"Gymnastics?" Buffy laughed quietly again as Faith nodded. She could see Faith even blush a little and she kissed the side of her head. "I kind of expected something more aggressive."

"Well, now you know."

Buffy kissed her lightly and settled in on Faith's lap, looking toward the screen and not having the slightest clue at what was going on. "I promise not to ask a lot of questions if you kind of explain."

"Don't promise 'cause I know you will anyway," Faith laughed as she wrapped her arms around her. "Just wait until some of the other sports are on. Some of those women are way hotter."

Deciding to let that comment go, Buffy only rested her head against Faith's shoulder as they watched together.

The End