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“There is a time and a goddamn place for reaching under my skirt and when we are on the train carrying a metric fuck ton of groceries because your sister’s plane is imminent, that is not that time.”
Faith looked up from where she was standing over the stove staring grimly at what Dawn had promised would turn into something that smelled like food and look like something other than glop if she just stirred it every few minutes as Cordy dragged her out the door but was currently somewhere closer to blue cheese gone sour and grinned at the two women that had just burst through the door.
Dawn’s eyes twinkled, “I think it was the perfect time.” Her voice was light and airy, her long hair trailing after her as she kicked off her shoes and brought several bags of groceries into the kitchen, bumping Faith with her hip as she passed.
Cordelia wrinkled her nose as she dumped her bags on the floor next to the front door, “I should have made you carry all the bags all the way home from the station.”
Dawn looked down at the blue cheese ala mold glop Faith was stirring and sighed, “I told you we should just order take out.”
Faith handed her the spoon, “It’s your recipe.”
“It’s Betty Crocker’s recipe!” Cordy called from where she had collapsed onto the couch. Her legs were spread slightly apart, the short skirt that signaled spring rising up a bit higher on her thighs. Faith eyed her and grinned, staying in the kitchen and nudging Dawn with her elbow.
“So what did our young seductress do in the train?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Cordy groaned, sliding further down on the couch, causing the skirt to rise a bit higher. “It was embarrassing.”
“She thought the train was empty,” Dawn shrugged, turning the stove off and dumping the contents of the pot into the trash can next to the refrigerator. “It wasn’t.”
Faith’s eyes sparkled, “Please continue.”
“She told me that she needed to check Buffy’s flight times on her phone and handed me the bags she was carrying and then—”
Dawn looked up from her phone and winked at Faith, “She forgot to mention that we were in the last train leaning up against the back wall or whatever.”
“In that nooky thing where we--?” Faith winked back and tucked a stray hair behind Dawn’s ear.
“ANYWAY. So there I am – hands full of groceries, back against the wall, and your girlfriend,” she gestured in Faith’s general direction accusingly, “started lifting up the edge of my skirt.”
“When B is in town, she’s your girlfriend,” Faith pointed out defensively, causing Cordy to open one eye slightly and glare before closing it again.
“For the record,” Dawn interjected, phone pressed against the ear, “You didn’t exactly tell me to stop.” She paused and smiled, angling the phone more towards her lips, “Yeah, Ernesto it’s me. The regular order won’t be enough for today can you… yes my sister and … yup that’s the one… uh huh… you’re the best Ernesto.” She dropped her phone on the counter, “Ernesto just saved the day.”
“Why don’t you just go and marry Ernesto then?” Cordelia still sounded somewhere between Faith’s panties are in the hallway AGAIN and my favorite idol contestant just got voted off by stupid fucking people.
Faith resisted the urge to tackle her against the couch and tickle her until she screamed, “Ernesto is eighty-two and anyway Maria pretty much fucking adopted us already so Dawn running off with her dad probably isn’t the best way to keep us fed.”
Cordelia pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
Dawn snorted, “So the end of the story is that Cordy is panting and bright red and hasn’t noticed that the train has filled up with Russian tourists.”
Cordelia stood up and faced them, flinging her arms wide, “WHO TOLD YOU TO FINGER ME ON A PUBLIC TRAIN ANYWAY?!”
“Jesus Faith, can’t you ever keep your hands to yourself?”
Cordy whirled around to find a very amused Buffy standing in the doorway with a dufflebag slung over her shoulder. Behind her, she could practically feel Faith and Dawn collapsing into giggles. She pointed at Buffy accusingly, “Your sister—”
And then Faith was at her side, arm slung over her shoulder, cutting her off with a toss of her hair, “Is seriously the worst roommate. Were you two raised in a barn?” She paused and smiled, "I've always wanted to say that, people say that right?"
Buffy rolled her eyes at Cordelia and handed Faith her dufflebag.
The next few hours were a frenzy of hugs and gentle teasing that Cordelia only relaxed into after the kitchen was mostly clean and Faith had pulled Buffy into a game of Settlers of Catan on the living room floor.
Dawn sidled up to her in the kitchen and grinned toothily, “This can only end in blood.”
The last time Buffy had come to visit, Faith had convinced them all to play Monopoly and it had ended with the two of them being scolded for laughing while Cordy and Dawn had wrangled with a sewing kit in order to stitch the two Slayers up. They had also needed to purchase a new coffee table and Dennis the ghost went on a month-long strike, causing general mayhem until Faith apologized.
Cordy sighed and leaned her head up against Dawn’s shoulder, “I’m still mad at you.”
Dawn kissed her softly on the forehead, “Go to bed. I’ll clean up the kitchen and join you in a minute. The Slayers can tend to their own wounds this time.”
“We can hear you,” Faith said without looking up, moving something around on the board that caused Buffy to yelp and punch her in the arm.
When Cordelia woke up the next morning, Dawn’s face was pressed into her neck, arms wrapped around her waist, and Faith’s leg was slung over theirs, her hair tickling Cordelia’s nose. A gentle beam of early sunlight drifted through the window into the room. They could sleep through an apocalypse, but she was always woken by the slightest bit of light. She opened her eyes and kicked herself free from the tangle of limbs that had cocooned her in the night, pulling on a pair of running tights and shoes, and grabbing the water that Dennis had left near the front door before silently disappearing into the crisp spring air.
Dawn kicked Faith when she heard the front door closed, “You have dish duty for the next month.”
She was rewarded with a pillow to the face, “One of these days she’s going to figure it out, you know. Our bet.”
Dawn giggled, kicking until Faith began lazily kicking back, attempting to pin Dawn’s long legs to the bed. “She shouldn’t wear that damned dress on the first day of spring every year. It’s practically daring us to take advantage.”
Faith grunted her agreement and then rolled over, throwing her entire body onto Dawn’s, “Shut up and be a good pillow. I want to sleep.”
Dennis threw open the curtains on the window and turned on the radio. In the living room, Buffy started swearing loudly.
“Dennis? Turn on the coffee pot?” Dawn shoved Faith aside and stood up. “I call dibs on the shower.”
Faith pulled the blankets over her head and mumbled something about asshole ghosts and bratty girlfriends.