Tirer La Couture (Pull The Curtain Back)

CHAPTER SEVEN - STAY WITH ME TIL DAWN

See Chapter one for disclaimer.

Is this a game you\'re playing?
I don\'t understand what\'s going on
I can\'t see through your frown
First you\'re up then you\'re down
You\'re keeping me from someone I want to know
And I need you tonight
Yes I need you tonight
And I\'ll show you a sunset if you stay with me till dawn

Stay With Me Til Dawn "“ Judie Tzuke

Faith and Sirius left the diner, and Faith pointed across the street to a little doorway where two bouncers were standing outside, "Only a place that has bouncers like that is a happening club, you up for it?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sirius hadn't been to a muggle club since he was a teenager during and just after his graduation from Hogwarts. He secretly considered himself a little old for it, but Faith obviously didn't think so. She walked across the street like she expected him to follow. He couldn't help but follow the sway of her hips with his eyes.

She looked over her shoulder at him, "C'mon big guy, lets have some fun on our last night of freedom, because I can guarantee you that we won't have any once we get to London."

She beckoned him with both index fingers, a sexy smile on her lips. He laughed, shook his head and walked across the street to join her as she entered the club.

As they walked through, Sirius gave a little sigh of relief; the room was split in two, half of it was a stage and a dance floor, and the other half was a bar with tables, chairs and a pool table.

"Man, this reminds me of a club we used t to to in Sunnydale," said Faith, already moving in time with the music.

"You and Buffy?" asked Sirius, wondering how the other original slayer measured up to this one, and thinking that she couldn't possibly compete with Faith who was leaning over the bar trying to get the attention of the bar staff. Her arse was raised up in the air, swinging from side to side in time to the music and Sirius resisted the urge to slap it only by shoving his hands into his pockets.

He dragged his eyes away from her bottom and looked around the club until Faith joined him thrusting him a bottle of beer into his hands, "So Sirius, you wanna play pool or dance?" she asked with a smile.

"Pool sounds good, I don't like dancing verch."ch."

Faith looked at him incredulously, "You don't like dancing? Jeez, I love it; it's one of the only things I missed"¦" she trailed off, before she had the chance to blurt out "˜when I was in jail'.

"You missed when?" asked Sirius, noticing her change in demeanour.

"Never mind," she said regaining her composure and making her way over to the pool table, "it's good for you, you know, eases tension better than anything else," she paused and looked over her shoulder, "well, almost anything else," she said with a wink and Sirius felt his throat go dry.

They played a couple of games, but Sirius couldn't concentrate, as every time she bent forward to play a shot, he was treated to the sight of her leather-clad arse, and the image in his mind of bending her over it and taking her there and then. "˜You know she'll kick your arse,' he thought to himself as he filed away the memory for another time.

Faith gave him some money to go and get more drinks and when he returned she was on the dance floor. He found a dark corner and watched her. She was amazing, she had her eyes closed and was dancing seductively, lost in the beat of the music.

"˜You're Sirius Black,' said a little voice in his head, "˜confirmed bachelor, man about town, wizard, and oh yes, convicted murderer. She's a slayer, she won't want you when she finds out where you've spent the last twelve years.'

He pushed the thoughts away, along with the daydreams he'd been having. Where she stayed with him. Daydreams, which reminded him of what long lives wizards traditionally led, and what short ones slayers did.

"˜Why are you still thinking about this? Just have a few drinks and a laugh and tomorrow you'll be back home, and she'll be doing her own thing,' he shook the thoughts away and just watched her dance.

She sensed him watching and opened her eyes, to seek him out. She danced over to where he was standing,

"What are you doing over here, in the dark, ay yoy yourself?" she asked, her body just inches from his. He leaned forward and as she felt his breath in her ear she shivered.

"Waiting for a girl," he said, his resolve slipping as his lips skimmed her neck. He pulled back, surveying her with his dark eyes. She turned her back on him and continued to dance, moving backwards until she was pressed up against him.

She turned her head to him. "Lots of girls here," saidsaid. She felt his arm clamp around her waist and his mouth on her ear.

"I've already found one," he said as he began to kiss her neck. She felt the familiar warmth spreading through her abdomen and ground her ass back into him.

Sirius groaned into her ear as she rubbed up against his erection that had developed at the pool table. His hands stole under the flimsy material of her top and her breath caught in her throat as she felt his thumbs skim across the bottom of her breasts. She reached behind her and grabbed his thighs, her nails digging into the denim. He continued kissing her neck as her hands moved upwards to brush against the bulge in his jeans.

"Faith," he hissed as his fingers found her nipples and gave them a pinch.

She spun around and pushed him against the wall, kissing him hard. He opened his mouth to her and she slid her tongue in, probing and tasting him. He responded and slid one hand back up her stomach to her breasts, tweaking her nipples, while the other gripped the back of her head. Faith unzipped his jeans and reached inside.
Sirius jumped and kissed her fiercely and as her felt her hand encircle his cock he broke the kiss and gasped.

He rested his head on the wall and pulled Faith closer by the waistband of her trousers, he deftly undid the buttons and slid his hand inside, feeling the warm dampness of her knickers. As he slid them to one side and brushed his finger over her clit a voice in her head interrupted his sweet torture.

"˜Stop! What happens tomorrow? When he's had what he wanted and gone back to his own life, then what?' She jumpway way from him. Faith looked at Sirius, who was watching her with confusion written all over his face. She couldn't do it. She liked him tuch,uch, wanted him too much. Her heart couldn't handle it if he broke what was left it.

"I can't," she said in voice that sounded much to high pitched to be hers.

"Why?" asked Sirius, half scared, half relieved? A part of him knew that once he had sex with her, he wouldn't be able to let her go, and truth be known, he didn't want tt het her go now. He wanted her for good.

"I just can't, I'm"¦sorry," she said, as she turned and walked out of the club. Sirius ran his hands over his face, catching her faint scent and groaned as he followed her out.

~*~

Faith was dreaming about the Mayor. They were sitting in his office and he was telling her about his travels before he built Sunnydale.

"I never liked England," he said resting back on his chair, "It's a very dirty country, London especially, lots of germs there. I don't think you would like it there Faith and I don't think they would like you, best to stay here with me, nothing will happen to you while you're here with me."

She frowned, "But I have to go, Sirius needs my help and I want to help him."

"You like him, I can tell, and that's just fine and dandy Faith, keep him with you here. He looks like a good boy to me, just don't go to England with him."

"Why not?" she asked.

Suddenly a giant snake came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around him, squeezing the life from him. Faith jumped over the desk to try and release him but the snake was too strong.

As he took his last breath, Mayor Wilkins' eyes turned red and a cold high-pitched voice came from his lips, "Soon slayer, you will die," was all that was said.

Faith awoke with a start. She dreamt about the mayor a lot. The dreams comforted her in jail, as she felt like he was looking out for her. In her dreams he seemed to have resigned himself to the fact that she was trying to make amends, and always seemed to steer her in the right direction. But since the First had taken his form in Sunnydale, she was always very wary of her dreams.

She sat up and looked over at Sirius who was slumped in the chair asleep but looked very uncomfortable, and sighed. She had messed up the night before and she knew it. She wanted him, but she wanted more. She almost laughed out loud at that ght,ght, "˜Faith wants more' but she did. More than a one night stand, more than sex. She wanted to tell him that she hadn't pushed him away because she didn't want him; she had pushed him away because she did. "˜It's for the best,' she thought to herself, "˜don't get involved, can't get hurt,' the mantra of her life. She swung her legs out of bed, and walked into the bathroom. She came back out a second later and just watched him sleep for a minute.

"Dammit," she said quietly, walked back into the bathroom and closed the door.

Sirius awoke to the sound of the shower running and groaned as he lifted his head and rubbed his neck to try and soothe the ache that had taken up residence during the night. He looked at the bed and then to the closed bathroom door. What had happened the night before was just what he did not want and the reason he had been reluctant to pursue her. He had no idea what had happened to change her mind so suddenly but he knew that their journey to London was going to be uncomfortable and awkward. Half of him wanted to go and apologise for whatever it was that had changed her mind, but the other half of him was too proud to even ask her what was wrong.

Faith came out of the bathroom wearing blue jean shorts, a white vest and sneakers. She threw her toiletry bag into her holdall and looked up without actually looking at him.

"You ready?" was all she said.

He did a quick cleansing charm and after two attempts, which he put down to sheer exhaustion, managed to transfigure his clothes into blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

And then without another word between them, and with one quick stop by Faith, who pulled up at a gas station and walked around back, disappearing for about ten minutes before returning with a brown envelope, they were on their way.

By the time they reached the airport, they were both in foul moods, the blistering, hot early morning sun making them uncomfortable and irritable.

The only time they spoke to one another was when Faith handed Sirius a U.S passport. He looked at her questioningly.

"It's a passport," she said, with a sigh, "you have to have one to travel from country to country if you're not magical," she said, and then surprised herself when she realised how hurtful that sounded. She looked up at him and Sirius noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"You look worse than I feel," he said in retaliation, unable to be mature, even though he knew she hadn't meant it that way.

She stiffened at that. "Whatever, the point is that these are"¦" she lowered her voice, "special passports. Open it," she said pointing at the small book. Sirius opened the passport and saw his face staring back at him.

"Magic?"

"I guess so, Willow put me on to the guy who makes them," said Faith with a shrug, turning away from him and looking up at the departure times. He took a deep breath to keep from throttling her with his bare hands and prayed for a swift journey.

Once they were in the air she turned to him and said, "Try and gete sle sleep, it'll be about eight hours until we land." She reclined her seat, turned away from him and closed her eyes.

He did not think he would be able to sleep as he had never travelled this way and there was so much going on, drinks, food, films, but eventually the novelty of all the gadgets and little bags of peanuts wore off and the exhaustion from earlier returned and he felmselmself drifting off to sleep.

He didn't know how long he had been out, when he felt a hand grip his forearm. His eyes flew open to find the burgundy nailed hand of Faith wrapped around his arm, he looked over at her. She was asleep but obviously having a nightmare as her head was trashing from side to side. Sirius gritted his teeth in pain as he felt the bones in arm grinding together with the force of her grip.

Suddenly her eyes flew open as she shouted, "No!" causing the other passengers to jump and the stewardess to come over and ask her if she was all right, "Fine, just a dre dream," she mumbled. As the seatbelt sign came on and they began their descent, Sirius leaned over to her.

"Just a bad dream?" he whispered as he remembered reading that slayers were prone to having prophetic dreams "You seem to have had a few of them lately."

She looked at him sharply, "Drop it Sirius, it's none of your damn business," she said in a low voice, yet Sirius couldn't help but wonder what the dream was about as she did not let go of his arm until they had landed, and as she did so he saw four bloody nail marks in his arm.

They found out that they needed to get a train next, and within half an hour they were standing inside a station in the middle of London.

Sirius was tired and irritable as they made their way towards the exit and when Faith stopped suddenly as they walked outside and caused Sirius to walk into her, he snapped, "What? What's wrong now?"

Being considerably taller than she was, he ld ovd over the top of her head, but could not see anything unusual.

"I can't go out there," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He walked around her and looked outside and then turned to face her, "Do you mind if I ask why not?" he said exasperatedly, as he tried not to snap at her once he saw that she was as tired as he.

However, she picked up the edge of impatience in his voice, "Well I'm dressed for summer, which it was when we left, but somehow we seem to have landed in the middle of frigging winter," she snapped gesturing out from the terminal's canopy as a loud clap of thunder roared through the air.

The wind was howling and it was raining so hard that it was bouncing back up from the pavement.

Sirius looked at Faith's tiny short and vest combo and then out at the road, where people were running to and fro trying to keep umbrellas from turning inside out, or holding bags and newspapers over their heads. The relief ofng bng back in England mixed with jet lag had gotten to him, and he began to laugh.

Faith shot him an angry look, "This is funny to you?" she asked

"Yes," he said throwing his arms open, "Welcome to England, home of the world famous British Summertime!" He caught sight of her angry look and laughed even harder until he had to lean back against the wall for support.

Despite her anger, the corners of Faith's mouth turned up into a smile, and as she thought about the triviality of her problem, she began to laugh too. She punched him good-naturedly on the and and after discreetly rubbing it to soothe the pain; Sirius threw his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. She momentarily stiffened at the gesture, but it felt right somehow so she didn't move away.

"Do you want to go and get changed?" asked Sirius pointing to the toilets.

"Nah," she said with a smile "I'm a slayer, I'm tough, let's go."

And the two of them ran out into the pouring rain, not realising that they still had their arms around one another.