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Faith’s bored.
She’s not allowed to do any “strenuous activity,” as Giles and Wesley put it, for a whole month because she twisted her ankle a tiny little bit. It’s really not that bad–just stick a cast on it, keep it elevated when she’s not patrolling, and everything’s fine–but the Watchers insisted, so she’s stuck on the couch, waiting for Buffy to get home.
Faith’s watching Friends sprawled out in the living room (goddamn Buffy got her hooked, and she has to at least finish season 5), and she turns her head as Luna pads across the carpet and purrs as she jumps into Faith’s lap. She winces as the cat accidentally treads on Faith’s injured leg, but she pets Luna as she curls up on Faith’s stomach.
And here is the Slayer, the chosen savior who keeps the world from being destroyed: curled up on her couch with her cat and a bowl of cheese puffs watching sitcoms. God, she’s pathetic.
Faith pauses the show, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and displacing Luna who hisses as she jumps down and meanders into the kitchen. Faith stands slowly, wincing again as she hobbles around, keeping as much weight off of her ankle as she can.
…and she’s not exactly sure what to do now. She really didn’t think this far ahead.
Faith follows Luna through the apartment, hoping she’ll get some inspiration from the cat, and they end up in the bedroom, Luna finding a new place to curl up on: Faith’s pillow. And there’s the inspiration.
Faith has to gently move Luna again, who doesn’t take very kindly to the disturbance, and she gathers all of the blankets and pillows from the bed. She feels a bit juvenile as she drops them in the middle of the living room, but she’s stuck at home with a broken ankle and her girlfriend’s off killing things, so what else is she supposed to do?
She hobbles around some more, gathering Buffy’s plushie toys, and Luna contributes to the pile by dragging some mittens out of the winter clothes bin. Faith laughs, but she adds them to the heap of bedding next to Mr. Gordo.
She’s collected all of the pillows and blankets, but she realizes pretty quickly that she’ll need to drag over a chair or a table to keep everything from collapsing. In her defense, she’s never built a pillow fort before, and also she has absolutely no idea how she’s going to bring a table into the living room when she can barely walk.
Faith sinks onto the couch, looking into Luna’s eyes. “You gonna help me?”
Luna stares back, sitting motionlessly for several seconds before she turns on her heel and pads into the kitchen.
Faith rolls her eyes. “Useless cat.” She stands up again and stares at Mr. Gordo accusatorily, as if he’s the reason she can barely move, until she drags herself up, bringing the couch along with her.
It’s a bit of a struggle, but she gets everything set up, deciding to use the couch instead of a table to hang the blanket over so that the fort is facing the TV. She sets another blanket on the floor, but Buffy has so many pillows hiding in their closet that they cover the floor when Faith tries to arrange them. She adds all the plushies in too, delicately placing Luna’s mittens with the stuffed animals. She’d found some fairy lights when she was searching for pillows, so she obviously has to string them up, and she settles inside the fort, bringing her bowl of cheese puffs and setting her leg on a stack of pillows.
She starts the episode again, and Luna, hearing the TV playing and naturally wanting to know whether Ross gets Ugly Naked Guy’s apartment or not, wanders into the fort and settles down among the plushies.
They’re nearly at the end of the episode when Faith hears the front door open and close. She turns off the TV as Buffy’s footsteps get nearer until they stop abruptly at the entrance to the living room.
“Faith?” Buffy asks, sounding amused, and her footsteps resume as she walks around the fort to look in.
“Hey,” Faith says, reclined next to Luna, and she pops a cheese puff into her mouth. “Cheese puff?” she offers, holding the bowl up.
Buffy laughs, sitting down next to Faith and pecking her on the lips. Luna, the little brat, walks over Faith’s chest to greet Buffy, nudging her hand with her nose until Buffy pets her. “You made a pillow fort?” Buffy asks, her eyes shining with something that Faith can’t quite place.
Faith shrugs somewhat self-consciously. “What else was I supposed to do?”
Buffy looks around, her eyes catching on the fairy lights. “This is really good. Dawn and I used to make pillow forts all the time when we were kids,” she says, turning back to Faith. “Was this your first time?”
“Yeah,” Faith says, and she can feel her cheeks heating up.
Buffy smiles widely. “I love it.” She kisses Faith again, lingering this time, long enough that Luna hisses in warning as Buffy stops petting her. They break apart, laughing, and Buffy adds, “I love you.”
Faith smiles back at her. “I love you too.”
Buffy turns her gaze to the TV, but something else clearly catches her eye as her brow furrows. “Are those mittens?”
Faith sighs, looking at the winter wear lying next to Mr. Gordo. “Luna wanted to help.”
Buffy laughs, and Faith joins in, and they turn the TV back on, the three of them curled up together as Chandler exclaims that he loves Monica. Faith’s ankle is throbbing as she starts to drift off to sleep, but she’s with her family, and she wouldn’t change it for the world.
Well, she might fix her ankle, but it’s the point of the matter, isn’t it?