DISCLAIMERS: in Part 1
Keeping Faith, Part 4
©2005 -Vertigo-
As soon as Reece settled Smudge at home, the doorbell rang. Peeking out the window she saw it was the FedEx guy and, and frowned. She had no desire to be bothered by the FedEx guy.
"It could be her script ya know." Cori said, poking Reece.
"Right." Reece sighed and opened the door.
The delivery guy looked back and forth between both women, then behind them with disappointment. "I'm looking for Faith Ashford?"
Reece took the guy's pen out of his hand. "She's not here. I'll sign for it."
"Oh." The delivery man looked dejected.
Reece glared at him impatiently as he clutched the box close to himself. "Are you gonna give me that or do I have to take it from you?"
"Well, I was kinda hoping... I mean, Faith Ashford lives here?"
Reece growled and snatched the package away. "No, but I do, and you wouldn't want to piss me off, buddy."
Cori snuck around Reece and sneered as best she could. "Yeah, me neither." She made biting gestures at him.
Reece slammed the door and shook her head. "Great that's all I need! Fuck!"
"It's not like you won't see him coming, he is wearing orange and blue."
The club owner glared at the dancer. "Make yourself useful and call Faith. Tell her the script is here, I have to do something."
Cori raised an eyebrow at Reece. "What do you have to do?"
The tall woman scooped up the small dog and cleared her throat. "He's sick." she replied in a quiet voice.
"Reece, you're not going to spoil him any more than he already is, are you?"
"Lick me."
The dancer stuck her tongue out at Reece as she ascended the stairs, then, stared at the box. With her excitement building every second, she shook it, and tried to tear a small hole in the box. Finally, after nosing as much as she could with no luck, she picked up the phone and dialed Faith.
"Hi baby!"
"Well, hello honeylamb."
"Oh, Cor... what's up? Where's Reece?"
"She's too busy doing some irreversable damage to the dog. Your script is here! I wanna open it!"
"It's THERE? For real? How big is it?"
"Yep! I'm holding it in my hot little hands right now! It's pretty heavy. Please let me open it!"
"Cor! Behave. I'm sure you'll be there when I do open it."
"But I wanna be special. Pleeeeeeease?"
Faith laughed. "Oh, alright you big baby, go on and open it. I'm on my way home anyway."
Cori hung up the phone and tore into the box like a kid tearing open candy. It was two big binders full of script. She held it in her hands, pretended to weigh it, smiled and giggled excitedly. Looking around, she saw no sign of Reece and began to peek inside. She shuffled through the first binder, than the second. She blinked a few times after thinking she saw the words naked and bed. She thumbed through that particular section of the script again and came upon what she was looking for. Jessie was naked, in bed with Meredith and from the looks of it, it wasn't the first time. Cori's stomach began to drop until she realized she had no idea what character Faith was playing and it very well may not be her at all. Nervously, she read further, liking very much what she saw, but uncomfortable with putting Faith as any of these characters. Reece began moving loudly and Cori slammed the script shut, almost throwing it on the table.
"What the hell?" The club owner asked, pointing at the open box.
"Faith said I could!" The dancer's voice was high pitched and nervous.
Reece raised an eyebrow and approached the two binders. Cori ran and grabbed them. "Do you think it's respectful to peek at it if she hasn't read it yet?"
"Did you?"
"Me? No! I wouldn't do that!" Cori replied defensively.
"Well, alright, I'll wait, but just in case." Reece took the script and put it on top of the entertainment center so Cori couldn't reach it.
"I'm hurt that you don't trust me."
"You'll live." Reece handed Smudge to Cori and went to the fridge.
"What the...? Reece, he smells like your cologne!"
"I gave him a bath, he likes the bubbles."
"Oh lord. Does Faith know you bathe him in the jacuzzi?"
"She doesn't have to." Reece glared, getting some chicken left-overs.
Cori watched with interest as Reece pulled the food processor out and started picking chicken off the bones. "You're pureeing chicken?"
"Yes."
"What? Do you have a tooth ache?"
"It's for the little man."
"Oh, brother!" Cori rolled her eyes and kissed Smudge on the nose. "You are so lucky, do you know that "Goliath?"
Reece spun around and pointed at Cori. "Oh, and no Goliath in front of Faith."
"Yeah, I saw how fast you whipped that collar off. You are so pussy whipped."
Reece guffawed. "I am not!"
Cori snickered. "Yeah, right, sure."
"I'm sure you know I could kill you with one poke to the neck."
"C'mon Goliath, lets leave the terminator to her pureeing."
**********************
Faith and Violet burst through the door in a flurry of bags and perfume, nearly knocking Reece to the ground.
"Hey!" The tall woman shouted, clasping the tiny dog to her chest.
"Where is it?" Faith asked, hurrying through the house.
Cori grabbed her excited friend by the back of the pants and stopped the nonsense. "Settle down, Reece put it away so I wouldn't peek."
Faith snickered. "And I'm sure that worked, not."
Reece reached up and took the script down, grinning at how wide Faith's eyes became at the size of it.
"Oooo, gimme!"
Reece dropped the heavy script down on the coffee table, and all four women hovered over it, looking at it intently, like it might do a trick. Cori was the first to act and reached for a binder. "I'll read it to you if you want."
Faith snatched it away with both hands and promptly sat on the other binder. "Oh no you don't, I bet you already know what happens in scene 85 by heart." Faith joked.
"Actually, scene 93..." Cori mumbled. Violet chuckled, thinking it was a joke and they all huddled around Faith as she opened the book.
"Alright! Time to leave my wife alone." Reece ordered, pointing at the door.
"What? No fashion show?" Violet asked, gesturing to a big pink bag. "And I wore panties with ass cheeks just for that reason."
Reece cringed. "I'm sure I don't want to see what's in that bag anyhow. Come on, Faith's gonna be buried in that script for the rest of the night."
"Thank you, baby." Faith said, already deeply involved in the first pages.
Cori sighed. "Well, alright. Let's go Vi, I, for one, am dying to see what's in the bag. Love ya Faith."
"Love you back Cor, now shoo!"
Reece smirked at Faith's willingness to throw the girls out. "Later. Lots." she said as she held the door open.
Cori blew kisses. "Love you too, Reece."
"Bite it." Locking the door behind her, Reece walked slowly towards Faith. The actress was buried in the script, a look of anticipation on her face. Reece watched her for a minute, then held Smudge at arms length. "He has an ear infection."
"Mmm."
"It was deep... like to his brain."
"Mmm."
"They gave him a needle, knocked him out. He has medicine."
Faith glanced up for a second and blew Reece a kiss.
Reece's eyes narrowed. And so it begins. She squatted down by the coffee table and cleared her throat.
Faith looked up and realized what she was doing. Closing the script, she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry baby, I was just excited." She leaned over and kissed her wife softly. "What happened today, tell me all about it."
Confused to find herself actually pouting, Reece stood up and turned away from Faith, eventually disappearing as she spoke. "He needs medicine in his ear twice a day, and I have to clean it out every three days. The needle was big, really big." she said with little emotion.
Faith felt bad, the last thing she wanted to do was ignore Reece. She got up and followed the sound of her voice into the kitchen.
"Anyway, I'll take care of him, I know you're going to be busy with the script and all..." The club owner hesitated whe she felt Faith's hands slide around her waist.
"I'm sorry." Faith kissed the middle of her lover's back, then lay her cheek on it. "Mmm, baby. Forgive me?"
Reece pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, of course I do. I'm being an asshole. I know how much this means to you."
Faith slipped around to the front of her woman and kissed Smudge, then Reece's tattooed arm. "Don't be ridiculous. I ignored you, that's just wrong. I have plenty of time to read that. Tell me about the needle."
Reece cocked her head and smiled. "It wasn't really that big, but compared to him," she bent down and put the small dog on the floor, "it was javelin. And don't listen to anything Cori says about it, my knee cramped."
Faith looked quizzically up at her wife. "Your knee cramped? At the Vet?"
Reece made a pained expression. "Yeah, just like that, it hurt me and I had to hold onto the table for a second. But it went right away."
Faith looked from the dog, to Reece, to Reece's knee. She grinned knowingly. "Well, it looks like he survived the needle, and it looks like you survived your knee." Faith hugged Reece tighter, knowing inside there was no knee cramps, just a really soft spot for Smudge. "Does it hurt now? Do you want me to rub it?"
Reece cleared her throat, already uncomfortable about fibbing to Faith. "Uh, it's fine now, but you can rub anything, anytime." The club owner reached down and squeezed Faith's butt.
Faith smiled deviously. "How about, we go upstairs... and..." she wiggled her eyebrows, then nodded her head towards the pink bag she brought home from shopping. "A little fashion show maybe?"
Reece grinned and chuckled. "How many outfits you got in that bag?"
"Three."
Reece picked Faith up, hoisting her over her shoulder. "I say you don't make it to two."
Faith giggled and smacked Reece on the ass. "Oh, but the second one requires you to use teeth..."
Reece took off running.