She Who Was My Love

by Christopher Andrews
Rating: R

+51=52=53=54=55=56=57=58=59=60=61+

CHAPTER 51: Big secret, bigger problem

Buffy's POV

I moan as I pull my lips from hers to look her in the eyes. She smiles as her hand slides down my side and rests on my hip. I shift on the living room couch and push her hair back behind her ears.

I can't believe she did that.

I lick my lips and smile as I lean in to make out with her some more. Our lips meet and it's like my whole body is set on fire. Our making out deepens almost instantly.

I can't believe she did what she did. It means a lot to me that she did it but doesn't make it easier to accept.

I kinda chuckle at the thought and she pulls away.

"What?"

"I'm sorry it's just... I'm still, I wanted to thank you."

She kinda looks at me funny.

"For what? Making out with you?"

"No, for what you did, with The Council before."

She smiles and I can't help but wonder why I would ever keep anything from her.

"You already thanked me B, kinda how we got to the making out isn't it?"

"Yeah, but I'm still greatful. What you did for Dawn was, just amazing. I don't know that I could've done something like that. I act all tough around them but the truth is The Council kinda scares me. I guess you don't have that problem."

Her hand comes up and cradles my cheek.

"Doesn't mean you wouldn't have done the same B. To protect Dawn and keep our family together I believe you'd do anything."

Our family? She said our family.

I get this huge grin on my face.

"What?"

"You said 'our family'."

She's about to say something to that but I lean forward, putting all my weight on her to pin her down on the couch. I press my body full against hers and kiss her deep. When I finally come up for air she just smiles at me.

"I thought we were gonna try and slow things down a bit, wasn't that the plan? Especially with the whole impending doom thing."

"We are slowing down sweetie, we're just taking our time in doing it."

I kiss her deep, but not quite as deeply as I did a second ago.

"See? Things are slowing down already."

"If you say so B, doom and all."

My smile all but vanishes at the worry on her face.

"We'll figure it out Faith, we always do. Giles has all the books The Council left with him at the magic box to find whatever it is they missed, because you know they missed something. We'll figure it out and then we'll stop it. We're the chosen two, it's our job to stop things like this."

"Yeah but this time is different."

"Why?"

"Well because of..."

Her head turns suddenly to look across the room.

"Dawn..."

Dawn?

I look in the direction Faith is and Dawn is standing about 10 feet away with an upset look on her face. Seconds later I pull myself off of Faith and we both move to a sitting position, fixing up a bit as we do.

"Dawn, how... how long have you been standing there?"

"Does it matter?"

I look at Faith and we both look at Dawn.

"What's wrong kid?"

"Nothing, I'm sorry I interrupted the make out session."

She goes to leave and I stand up, doing up the button on my pants as I do.

"Dawn, come on... you can talk to us."

"Right..."

Faith comes up to me.

"Seriously kid, if there's anything you want to talk about we're here for you."

"Uh-hun..."

She hasn't turned around.

"Dawn, would you mind turning around?"

She lets out a deep sigh before turning around.

"What is it?"

"You tell us."

"Whatever the problem is, we want to help."

She tilts her head to one side slightly and crosses her arms over her chest.

"And what if my problem is you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, what if my problem is you two? Are you still gonna help?"

I look to Faith and she fake coughs, tilting her head to the couch.

"Dawn if our making out on the couch bothers you, we could do it somewhere else... or stop, we could stop if it bothers you that much."

She rolls her eyes at us.

"What?"

"You really think that's my problem?"

"We don't know what the problem is kid, that's why we're asking. But if you don't tell us what we did wrong then we'll probably do it again."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Then why did you say we were the problem?"

"Did something happen at school? Would you like me to beat someone up for ya kid? Cause I can if you want."

"Faith!"

"What? School sucks, you of all people should know that."

"God why can't you just listen to me when I say nothing's wrong?"

We both look at Dawn for a second before answering.

"Because the way you're acting says different."

"The way I'm acting? God, are you trying to be Mom or something?"

"No I... I just want to help."

"Well I don't want your help, just leave me the hell alone."

She turns away and heads upstairs to her room. The door slams shut.

"She still thinks we're keeping something from her."

"We are keeping something from her B."

I take a deep breath and turn to Faith, taking her hands in mine.

"What are we gonna do?"

There's a long silence between us.

"Maybe we should tell her."

Tell her?

"You think we should tell her?"

"You don't?"

"Well, of course we should you know, tell her but... I mean, how do we even start a conversation like this? We can't just say 'Hey Dawn, you know how you didn't want us acting like your parents? Well we actually are your parents.' She'd freak out, even if she didn't believe us. I was kinda hoping we could wait till she was a little older, more mature even."

"Glory won't wait till she's older if she finds out who Dawn is. And we have to tell her something B. It really kills me to see her angry at us like this. I'm starting to think maybe the only way to start to make things better is to tell her."

I look Faith in the eyes.

"Are we really ready to deal with something like this? Is she?"

"We won't know until we try B. Besides you heard what Dawn said, she'll figure it out whether we want her to or not. I think it'll hurt less if we tell her ourselves."

"What about us?"

"What about us B?"

"Things aren't exactly perfect between us. What if our own issues come out while we're trying to help Dawn?"

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because this wouldn't be about us B, this would be about Dawn. We made a promise to each other that we would help Dawn through this if and when it did happen and we have to keep that promise no matter what."

I pull her to me and put my arms around her.

"I will keep that promise Faith, I'm just worried about hurting Dawn, or us."

Her hands come up to my face and we look deep into each other's eyes. She presses her lips to mine ever so gently.

"I am too B, I am too. We should talk to your mom when she gets home. I'm sure she'd want to be with us in this."

"Okay..."

I just hope Dawn can forgive us for this.

*****

Dawn's POV

They know something. They all know something and they won't tell me what it is. Normally when they know something I don't it's okay because it's slayer-related and sometimes I don't want to know the stuff they do tell me, but this is different. This is totally and completely different because it's about me and they won't tell me what's wrong with me.

I grab one of my STUPID stuffed animals and throw it against the wall as hard as I can.

They keep telling me that it's nothing. They keep telling me I'm reading way too much into things that have nothing to do with me. If it has nothing to do with me then why does it keep happening when I'm around? Why is it that it always seems to be about me somehow? First my name kept coming up when the two of them were fighting so much. Then after Buffy gets rescued, Faith started looking at me weird. It was really creepy the way I kept catching her staring at me. Why the hell does she keep doing that? What is it about me that's so wrong?

I stop pacing around my room and punch my bed as hard as I can.

Then comes the conversations about me that don't happen. The way things are always ending on something about me that I don't understand. What the hell does Faith not being blood related have to do with me? Or the fact that I'm separate from the world? 'We'll save the world and me?' What the hell does that mean? They know I know there's something they don't want me to know and they still won't tell me.

I have a right to know what it is, don't I? I mean if it's about me then I would think it would be important for me to know. But I guess they don't think so. God I really want to smash something. What do I have to do to make them tell me? Maybe I should jump off the roof or something. Maybe that will make them tell me. I really don't care if it kills me, I just want to know what's wrong with me. Faith said that this apocalypse was different somehow because of me. I heard them talking about Giles and his pile of important books at the magic box, they probably talk about this apocalypse. I should go there when no one's around and find out why they're so important.

CHAPTER 52: Secret

Spike's POV

I wonder if she's home.

I try and look in the windows from my position 20 feet away but the curtains are all up.

I've been trying to keep away from this house for a while now, after the ressurection spell I figured there'd be bad mojo wherever the slayers went, and I'm pretty sure I was right. I don't know any of the specifics exactly, just some rumours I heard from the demons I play poker with when I get bored of killing them.

Something about a big bad evil rising up to open a door with a key or something. And something about a giant snake. I really shouldn't get so bloody drunk when I'm playing for kittens. I never win and there's always the migrane in the morning. Ah well, at least no one can say I haven't had any fun.

I get a little closer to the house as I hear a noise.

Of course now I'm wondering if she's all right.

There's another noise and I can tell it's coming from behind the house. My curiosity gets the better of me and I make my way quietly around to the back of the house. I only get about half way though before the niblit runs into me, knocking her down.

"Dawn, what the bloody hell are you doing out here so late?"

She gets up and starts walking away from the house.

"Stay away from me Spike."

Well that can't be good.

I start to walk after her.

"You all right there niblit?"

"Leave me alone."

I stop to get her attention.

"Right then, I'll just head on up to the house and tell big sis you've scampered off."

That makes her stop and turn around.

"Don't Spike..."

She comes right up to me and grabs me by the coat.

"Don't you dare."

"Well then, you should probably tell me what you're up to and maybe I won't."

She stares me right in the eyes.

What is going on with this bird?

"They're lying to me."

Lying to her?

She lets go of my coat and starts walking again.

"Lying to you about what?"

I go after her when she doesn't stop.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

She shouldn't be out here at night like this, some baddy could snatch her up right quick.

I look back at the Summers house as we get out of range.

I know she'd hate me even more if I didn't try and protect the kid.

I go back to watching Dawn motor it to wherever she's off to.

Plus there's obvously something going on with the pint-size Summers girl, could get her into heaps of trouble if she isn't careful. I'm guessing that being careful ain't on her mind right now. She needs someone to look out for her and I guess I'm the elected party, what with her apparent aversion to the people in the house she just snuck out of.

"So where exactly are we heading niblit?"

"We're not heading anywhere, I'm going somewhere and you're stalking me. And don't call me niblit."

"I'm not stalking you, I'm following you to make sure you don't get eaten. There's a difference."

"I don't need anyone's help."

"I'll have them put that on your tombstone if you like."

She doesn't say anything as she slows down a bit.

"If you want to break into the magic box with me then come with me."

"Magic box eh? Whatcha going there for?"

"Giles owns it now."

When did that happen?

"Stealing from daddy isn't very nice kid."

"I don't really care, besides I'm not gonna steal anything."

Not gonna steal anything?

"Then why the bloody hell are you breaking in?"

"I told you, they're lying to me."

"And what are they lying to you about?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know they're lying to you?"

"I just do."

We make our way into the downtown area, a couple blocks from where we're apparently headed.

"And you think whatever's at the magic shop is gonna tell you what they aren't?"

"That's the plan."

"And what makes you think there's anything worth a damn in there that will tell you what you need to know?"

"I don't know that it will, but I don't know that it won't and that's why I'm going."

"That doesn't sound like much of a plan little bit."

"It's the only plan I have, they haven't really given me any other choice."

She seems a little fuzzy on the details.

The magic box comes into view.

"How exactly do you plan on getting in there? I'm pretty sure they don't teach breaking and entering in school little one."

She doesn't respond as we walk up to the front door. She crouches down and pulls a nail file out of her pocket, using it to try and pick the lock.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"No, but I'll break the window if I have to."

I look around to see if anyone's watching. I can't see anyone, and there aren't any cop cars around as near as I can tell.

"Aren't you worried about the coppers?"

"I don't care about the police."

Whatever it is, it must be pretty important if she won't care about the police catching her.

She pulls the nail file out of the lock.

"Damn it!"

"No luck?"

"Actually I only say damn it when I'm happy."

"I could give it a try if ya like."

She stands up and shoves the nail file at me, pointy end first. I grab her hand and take it from her.

Bloody hell, if I didn't know better I'd say she just tried to stab me.

She steps out of the way of the door and glares at me.

"Well?"

What the heck did the slayers do to the kid?

I crouch down to pick the lock.

She's gone completely off her rocker about this secret she thinks they're not telling her.

"Did you get it yet?"

"Hold on, it takes more than 30 seconds to pick a lock niblit."

Ow!

She kicks me pretty hard just above the ankle.

"I told you not to call me that. Hurry up!"

"I'm hurrying..."

It takes me another 30 seconds or so but I finally hear the click that unlocks it. I turn the handle and open the door. She shoves me to the ground.

"Out of my way!"

Bloody hell...

I pick myself up and go inside. Dawn is already heading for the nearest bookcase.

"Don't I even get a thank you?"

She starts pulling books off the shelves, looking at the covers and then dropping them on the floor.

I guess I don't.

"All right then..."

I make my way into the shop, looking at the shelves.

"So what are we looking for?"

She doesn't stop looking as she speaks.

"A book..."

A book?

"What makes you think whatever you want to know is in this book?"

"Because..."

"Because why?"

She's been through like two and a half shelves already. This girl is insanely serious about finding the book. I'd hate to see what happens if she doesn't find what she's looking for.

I walk over to a big round table with a bunch of books on them.

"Because Buffy tells Giles everything, she told me so one time. Which means Giles wrote it down somewhere and that means there's a book or a diary or something somewhere that can tell me what I want to know."

"Well Giles does love his books, bloody wanker."

I pick up a book and notice there's no title or anything.

How the hell does he know which book is which if it's not labelled?

I open the book to the inside cover, and there in Giles' hand writing is Dawn's name.

What the hell does Giles have a book with Dawn's name on it for?

I flip through to the first page of what looks like a journal entry.

'September 28th 1998,

On this day I met Buffy's little sister, Dawn Summers. She's quite the peculiar child. She exhibits many strange characteristics which I was only slightly prepared for based on Buffy's...'

This could be what the kid is after. If Giles keeps a journal about Dawn then any secrets would probably be in here.

"Hey niblit, look at this."

She turns to me and I hold up the book.

"What is it?"

"It's a journal about you."

She comes over and grabs the book out of my hand, immediately looking through it.

"Why does Giles keep a journal about me?"

"I don't know kid, could have something to do with the secret you think they're keeping from you. Or it could be that Giles is just a closet pedophile who has a thing for you."

She glares at me.

"What? It's possible."

She goes back to flipping through the journal.

"It would have to be something pretty recent, they didn't start acting nuts until a couple weeks ago."

"The slayers have always been nuts kidlet."

She flips through the blank pages and finds the last entry.

"Look through the other books."

Was that an order?

"Hey kid, I'm here to protect you, not be your whipping boy."

"Fine go away, either way just shut up and let me read."

Bugger, this girl's really got a screw lose.

I start walking around the table, looking at some of the book covers.

"Give a girl what she wants and still she..."

"What?"

"I was just saying, give a girl..."

"This, this can't be... true."

I look at her from across the table.

"What are you on about?"

"How could they not tell me?"

She looks up at me with angry tears.

I'm guessing she found out something she didn't want to know.

She throws the book across the table, grabs the edge and tips the table over in my direction. I back away as all the book fall off.

"They should've told me!"

I look at her once I get my footing.

"I see that."

She turns and starts heading to the door. I make my way around the mess and go after her.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Get away from me Spike!"

I catch up to her at the end of the cash counter and grab her to stop her.

"What's going on little bit? What did you find out?"

All of the sudden she picks up something off the counter and a sharp pain slices into my gut. I look down and she's got a knife buried in me. My eyes meet hers as she pulls it out and her expression doesn't change from that hurt angry look.

I grab the wound and fall to one knee as she turns and leaves, knife in hand.

What the bloody hell is wrong with that girl?

*****

Faith's POV

"You're right, it's the only way we can fix this situation. It could even be the only way to let her work through her anger at the two of you."

Buffy squeezes my hand as we listen to her mother speak.

"I just wish we knew how she'd react. My first instinct is to say she'll be angry, but how angry and what she will do about it, that's what worries me."

"We'll just have to show her we love her no matter where she came from. She's with us now and that's all that makes any difference."

I look at B, lean over and kiss her once on the lips.

"I love you B."

"I love you too."

CHAPTER 53: Blood lies

Author's Note: You should probably be warned that this isn't the happiest of chapters. I'm also starting something up again, audio stimulation. The theme for this little chapter is Lisa Loeb's She's falling apart.

Dawn's POV

They should've told me.

I wipe the tears from my eyes before starting to climb up the side of the house to my bedroom window.

They should've told me but they didn't. How could they not tell me? They should've told me I wasn't real. That I was just some key the monks made into a pathetic little girl. Why didn't they tell me I wasn't real? Didn't they want me to know? Don't I deserve to know?

I look up at my window as I get about half way up and I have to wipe the tears from my eyes again.

Of course not, I'm just a stupid key I don't really matter. I'm not worth...

My hand slips and I nearly drop the knife in it, and obvioulsy almost fall too. I start to climb the rest of the way up.

It's almost a shame I didn't fall, at least that would've taught them a lesson. They would've found me lying on the ground, every bone in my body broken, probably dead. That would teach them to keep something like this from me.

I reach the top and climb in my window to my fake room.

That would make them sorry they ever lied to me.

As soon as I'm inside I head straight for the door and then the stairs, knife in hand.

They're gonna wish they never did this to me.

I stop just inside the living room and I see them sitting there like everything's fine. Every part of me feels like screaming.

"How could you not tell me?"

The three of them look at me and I just really want to hurt them.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?"

"Dawn?"

"You didn't think I was important enough? Is that it? I guess since I'm not real then I don't really matter do I?"

They get up to face me.

"Dawn, what are you talking about?"

I point the knife at Buffy.

"DON'T! Don't play stupid! You've been playing stupid all along, trying to make me think there was nothing going on. But there was something going on, and I knew there was something but you wouldn't tell me. You can't keep it from me anymore, none of you can, because I know now. I know the truth and you can't do anything about it. I know that I'm just a stupid key and my feelings don't really matter."

"That's not true."

"It is. It is true because if I was real then you would've told me the truth, you never would've lied to me."

Faith steps forward and I shove the knife at her, making her back off.

"Dawn, just put down the knife and we can talk about this."

I look down at the knife in my hand.

"Why? It's not like anything I do matters."

I step forward and swing the knife, cutting the air.

"How do you even know I'm really holding it? Maybe you just think I am because it's what the monks want you to think. Did you think of that? I could do anything with this knife and it wouldn't really matter because nothing I do really matters."

Faith tries to come at me again and I swing at her.

"Dawn, calm down."

I swipe at her again.

"SHUT UP! Just because you think you're my mother doesn't mean you can tell me what to do. I don't have a mother, I don't have ANYONE! I hate you!"

Buffy and Joyce stand next to her.

"I hate all of you!"

I attack Faith with the knife but she moves so fast the knife is out of my hands before I know it. She grabs me and puts her arms around me, my arms bent, trapped between us. She holds me tight and I just want to hurt her even more.

"Dawn, please..."

"No..."

I try and push her away.

"No, don't touch me."

I push her away harder.

"Let me go, don't touch me."

I push harder and she lets me go. I hit her with the palms of my fists.

"I hate you! I hate all of you!"

I hit her again and again as hard as I can, my eyes welling up.

"You should've told me!"

My knees go weak and I fall to the floor.

"You should've told me... why didn't you tell me?"

They don't say anything so I look up at them through my blurry eyes.

"Don't I mean anything to you?"

Joyce kneels down next to me.

"Of course you mean something to us sweetie, we love you."

I scoff at that, looking away.

"You can't love something that isn't real."

The two of them kneel down with her.

"You're real enough to us Dawn. You're really enough for us to love you. You're really enough for us not to care where you came from or how you got here."

"Dawn, maybe this isn't what you want to hear right now, but you are our daughter. We love you."

"Yeah, I'm a daughter who was lied to for my whole life..."

Buffy reaches out to touch me and I push her hand away.

"All three months of it..."

They don't say anything.

That's okay, they don't have to talk to something that isn't real.

"You should've told me."

"We know Dawnie, we're so sorry..."

I can't stand looking at these people anymore.

I stand up and back away.

"You should've told me."

"You're right, and we were going to tell you. That's what we were talking about when you came in just now. We were figuring out the best way to tell you."

"Maybe you should've talked about it earlier then eh? Maybe you should've been more honest with me instead of making me go nuts knowing there was something wrong with me but not knowing what it was."

"There's nothing wrong with you kid."

"I DON'T EXIST! What's RIGHT about THAT?"

Faith and Buffy try to approach me but I just back away even more.

"You do exist Dawn, you exist to us."

"No, I don't. You just want me to exist so I can be your DAUGHTER! Well guess what? I don't want to be your daughter, I don't want to be anyone's daughter. I just want to go back to not existing."

They try to come up to me.

"NO! Just LEAVE ME... ALONE!"

I turn and walk away, heading back to my room. I almost run into Spike on my way to the stairs. I make it up the stairs and they don't follow. I slam the door to my FAKE room and grab my hair, pulling on it to rip it out. I look around.

It's all fake, all of it. None of it really happened, none of it really matters because I don't really exist.

I grab the fake sheets and pull them off the fake bed and on to the fake floor of my fake room.

They should have told me the truth.

I take all the stuffed animals and pillows and throw them all over the place, I don't care where I just want to throw something.

But they didn't want to loose their PRECIOUS DAUGHTER. They knew that the second I found out the truth that they'd loose me, that I'd hate them for keeping this from me and they were right that's exactly what happened. I HATE them. I hate them with every part of what I am.

I sit down on my bed and hug my knees.

How could they do this to me? How could they think it was okay to keep something like this from me? I don't care how, they did it and that's all that matters.

I kick my nightstand over just because I wanna destroy something. It hits the floor and some of my fake stuff falls out... IT falls out. I stare at the little black box I've been hiding.

I wanted them to have that. I wanted them to use it to be happy.

I get off my bed and walk over to it on my knees. I pick it up and open it, staring at what's inside.

I made Mom buy it for them so they could be happy. But I don't want them to make it through this, I don't want them to be happy anymore. I want them to hurt, I want them to suffer and feel every bit as bad as I feel right now. I want...

I snap the box closed and throw it as hard as I can.

I just want to die.

The glass on my poster frame cracks as the box hits it. I stare at the cracks in the glass, at the cracks in my life.

It looks exactly like my life, broken, cracked, shattered. Except it's not my life.

I stand up and walk over to the poster, staring at the broken glass.

I'm not even real. I don't really matter. I'm just a key the monks made so Glory couldn't find me.

I take the frame off the wall and drop it on the floor glass first, breaking it completely.

Glory wants her precious key.

I kick the frame out of the way to get to the broken glass, picking up a piece.

THEY want their PRECIOUS daughter.

I walk over to my bed, rolling up my sleeves as I sit on it.

Well they aren't going to get either.

I turn the piece of glass so one of the edges is at the right angle, putting it against my wrist. I bite my lip as I start cutting.

Fuck every last one of them.

CHAPTER 54: From bad to worse

Buffy's POV

"I just want to go back to not existing."

Oh my god what have we done? I have no idea what to do next so I take a step forward, so does Faith.

"NO! Just LEAVE ME... ALONE!"

She turns and leaves, heading up the stairs.

"Dawn! Dawn please!"

I go after her but stop at the bottom of the stairs.

What the hell am I doing? She said to leave her alone and I'm just gonna go after her. I'd only make things worse.

I close my eyes as I feel like I'm going to cry. I feel Faith's gentle hand against mine and I look behind me. We just stare into each other's eyes for a second before I turn to her and wrap my arms around her mid-section, holding her close.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know B. We really screwed up royally."

Mom comes up to us.

"I think maybe we just need to give her some time to deal with this."

"Yeah that'll work..."

I pull away from Faith and see Spike standing in the door holding his badly bandaged mid-section.

"What are you doing here Spike?"

He pulls his hand away from his side to reveal a bloody patch in his makeshift bandage.

"I just stopped by for a quick stabbing from your little psychotic there and then I'm off."

Dawn stabbed Spike?

Faith and I pull apart as we both wonder what Spike did.

"What did you do?"

"Me? I didn't do anything."

"Why do I find that so hard to believe?"

I find it hard to believe myself.

"It's the truth."

"Dawn wouldn't just stab someone for no reason, not even you Spike."

"Maybe not under normal circumstances, but since she did I'm guessing she's not using all her marbles."

"What do you know?"

"Nothing, I was just along for the ride..."

He looks at Faith and smiles.

"I have a history of that with you people."

What's that supposed to mean?

Faith walks up to him and shoves him against the edge of the door frame, making him groan with pain.

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Ow, god... I know you like it rough pet but I'm not exactly in perfect form at the moment."

"What are you talking about Spike?"

Faith hits Spike with a right cross.

"Shut up Spike..."

What the hell is going on?

Spike smiles at Faith and it's really starting to get creepy.

"What? You didn't tell her?"

He gets punched in his gut wound by Faith.

"I told you to shut up. You're not going to get away with whatever you did to Dawn by changing the subject. What did you do to her?"

I'm actually interested in both subjects.

"I told you, I didn't..."

She hits him again, grabs him and throws him out the front door. I go up to Faith.

"What are you doing?"

"He did something to Dawn B."

"So you're going to beat him till he can't speak? That's gonna make things better?"

"Might not make everything better but it'll probably make me feel better."

She walks out onto the porch and stands over him. She picks him up and punches him hard, then throws him out on to the front porch.

What is going on with Faith and Spike? Did something happen that I don't know about?

I walk out onto the porch and down to the front lawn with Faith.

"Bugger! Didn't you see the gaping hole in my stomach?"

"Yes actually, I did."

Faith steps on the bloody part of his bandage and presses hard, making him groan in pain and grab the foot. He tries his best to pull her foot off but she just applies more pressure.

"What did you do to Dawn?"

"God, I told you, nothing... I was just there..."

She pushes down on his stomach more, making him shut up. I turn to her.

"Faith stop it."

"Why? It won't kill him."

"No but it might make him pass out, and besides you won't even let him finish a sentence. We can't know that he's lying to us until he actually finishes doing it."

She looks down at him and I could swear the look on Faith's face makes me think she's afraid of what he's gonna say, just for a second though. She takes her foot off him. I look down at him.

"Talk!"

He takes a second to breathe.

"You really know how to sweet talk a guy don't you? No wonder you're gay."

I give him a slightly slayer powered kick to the gut and I'm pretty sure he has internal as well as external bleeding because he coughs up blood.

"What happened with Dawn?"

"Like I said... I was just along for the... ride."

"The ride?"

"The ride where?"

"The kid, was looking to... take a mid, midnight stroll..."

He coughs a few more times.

"I figured she'd... be safer with me looking over her shoulder..."

"Why you? Why couldn't you just go and get one of us?"

"She wasn't, going to stop long... enough to let me, and in this town, the monsters will grab you three, feet from your door... I had to make sure that, didn't happen..."

"Why?"

He looks directly at Faith for just long enough for me to notice.

"Because as mad as you are, I'm betting you ain't gonna stake me for trying to protect the kid. Whereas... if I had let her go on her, her merry way by her... lonesome, you probably would've s-staked, me the second I told, you..."

He's right, we can't stake him for protecting Dawn.

"Well you bet wrong tonight Spikey. I'll hold him down while you get the stake okay B?"

"Faith?"

"Don't worry B, I got him."

"Faith I'm not gonna kill him."

"Okay I'll kill him just go get the stake."

Is there some reason she'd rather not get the stake herself?

"We can't kill him Faith, he hasn't done anything wrong. He tried to protect Dawn."

"The same Dawn who's upstairs crying her eyes out and wishing she didn't exist?"

"We both know why she's crying and it's not his fault, it's ours."

"He should've done a better job protecting her. She never should've found out the truth that way."

"The truth about what?"

We both look down at the beaten and broken vamp below us. Faith kicks him in the head.

"Shut up!"

He shuts up.

"See, Faith? He doesn't even know what the problem is, he couldn't protect her from what she found out."

"How do we know? He's a vampire, lying is almost as natural to him as drinking blood. He could've found out the truth and been leading her into a trap."

"You're grasping at straws Faith, we can't kill him for helping Dawn."

"You mean helping to ruin Dawn's life?"

"Faith..."

She just looks at me for a second.

"Fine, I'll get the stake myself."

She heads back towards the house but I grab her arm to stop her.

"Faith don't..."

"Why not? He's just vampire, and a flacid one at that."

Spike coughs up a lung.

"That's not, what you said... before..."

Before?

I turn and look down at him.

"Before what Spike?"

"It's nothing B."

"The time before... when she shagged me..."

Shagged? What?

"She said she was surprised I, I kept up with her, thrust for thrust..."

"You SON OF A BITCH!"

She goes up to him and kicks him square in the temple, knocking him out.

"Faith?"

"We need to check on Dawn."

She starts back to the house.

Did Faith sleep with Spike?

I go after her, grabbing her to make her face me.

"What was he talking about?"

"It's nothing..."

"It sure sounded like something to me."

There's a long pause between us and for a second I really don't want to ask this question.

"Did you sleep with Spike?"

Another long pause and I feel like my heart is going to shatter if she answers.

"No... but I fucked him."

"What?"

She moves to go inside again but my hand is still on her arm so I stop her.

"You had sex with Spike?"

Faith looks right at me, deep into my eyes.

"Yes, I did."

She had sex with Spike?

"Why?"

"Buffy we've got bigger problems right now then who I've fucked."

"Not if it's a vampire named Spike we don't. How could you?"

"How could I what, fuck Spike?"

I don't say anything.

"You know, you may not be the most experienced person I've ever been with but I'd be willing to bet you know exactly how to have sex with a vampire."

I can feel the tears in my eyes.

"So he was better than me? That's why you did it? He can give you something I can't?"

"No, that's not it. He doesn't have anything I want."

"Then why? Why would you sleep..."

I point behind me at a still unconscious Spike.

"With that?"

"Because he was there B. Because he was there and you weren't."

I wasn't there?

"When? When was I not there?"

"When you were dead, that's when. You were dead and I, I needed to feel something other than heart broken and he was just... there."

"So you had to do it, like Mount Everest."

"You know what? Fuck you B!"

"Don't you mean fuck HIM?"

She looks at me, tears in her eyes, anger behind them.

"Is that what this is about? You think I cheated on you?"

"Didn't you?"

"You were dead, B. Dead, buried and decomposing. Usually when two people get involved and one of them dies the other moves on, and tried. I tried to live with the fact that you were gone. I tried to move on and live the life that we had started to build together. But everywhere I looked all I could think about was everything that we could've had, the life we could've lived."

God I had no idea.

"And I hated you for that. I've never had the perfect life B. I've never had the friends and the mom or any of that. But the morning after we made love for the first time, the morning I told you I loved you and knew that I really meant it, I felt like I had it. It felt like I had the perfect life. And then you had to give your life for mine and I fell apart. I hated you for it. I hated you for loving me, I hated myself for loving you, but most of all I hated you for giving me the greatest gift in the world... a reason to live. You gave me a reason to see tomorrow and then took tomorrow from me. If you hadn't already been dead, I probably would've killed you for that. So, yeah I fucked Spike to try and make the pain of loving you stop. If you wanna yell and scream and feel betrayed, you go ahead. I'm going to go help our daughter."

She turns and goes back into the house.

What have I done?

I follow after her, putting myself between her and the stairs.

"Faith, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that. I was just... with everything that's going on I, I wasn't thinking."

"And now you are?"

"Yes, and... and it was just shock. I never should've said what I did, and I know you'd never cheat on me unless I was dead. I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry."

I put my arms around her and hold her against me.

"I was just looking for a way to let you go B."

"I know, just like I wanted to in heaven."

We just hold each other for a minute until she pulls back enough to look at me.

"I guess we're just too much in love to be separated by simple death."

I smile at her and wipe a tear from her cheek.

"Well I meant it when I said I'd love you till the day I die and after."

She just smiles at that and I bite my bottom lip gently as I feel myself start to cry again.

"I'm sorry.."

She reaches up and cradles my face, placing a kiss on my lips, calming me.

"It's all right B. If I had found out that you had sex with Spike, I might've reacted the same way."

"You think?"

"Probably..."

We both take another moment to just look at each other.

It's all going to be all right. We just have to help Dawn through this and it'll all be okay.

I take a step back from Faith.

"We have to check on Dawn."

"We really should."

My eyes catch the empty living room where Mom was. I look around.

"Mom?"

"What's wrong?"

Mom calls from upstairs.

"GIRLS! Come quick!"

We look at each other as a sudden panic hits us. We bolt up the stairs, skipping more than a few steps.

Oh god, what if Glory got to Dawn?

Once we're on the second floor we head straight to Dawn's open door.

"Mom, what is..."

And then I see Dawn lying motionless on her bed, her sheets red with blood where her cloth covered wrists are.

Oh my god!

"Dawn!"

I rush to her side to help as Faith does the same. We take over for Mom, each of us applying presure to a wrist.

"Yes hello, I need an ambulance here now."

Dawnie...

CHAPTER 55: Uncertainty

Faith's POV

She's gotta be okay, oh god she's gotta be okay.

I look to my right at Joyce and Buffy sitting next to me in the hospital hallway.

She has to be all right. I love her so much. I love her just as much as I love Buffy, maybe more, I can't loose her. She's, she's family... real family. The kind of family I've never really known before. Then again I've never really thought about the idea of having a daughter, not until Buffy told me the truth about her sister. Dawn doesn't see us as her parents though, she wouldn't have reacted the way she did if she felt that way about us.

I let my head drop into my hands.

She may never look at us that way. We just have to give her the time to come to terms with this, maybe even accept it, like Joyce said... and hope. We can't force her to be okay with this. We can't force her to love us the way we want her to love us. I'd be happy if she just learned to accept that even though she's this key thing it still feels like she's been with us since day one, and that's all that matters.

I let out a deep sigh.

I just wish they'd let us see her.

"You okay there honey?"

I comb my fingers through my hair before looking over at B and her loving concern.

"Yeah, I think so I just, wish they'd let us see her. I ned to see her to know she's okay."

"I know Faith, I know. It's killing me that the doctors won't tell us anything."

I feel Joyce's comforting hand against my back.

"Child services probably told the doctors not to say anything until they spoke with Dawn themselves. They want to make sure that the reason she did this is because we haven't abused her in any way."

God, child services... that was not fun.

"They're not going to take Dawn away are they?"

"I don't know Buffy. If they decide that what Dawn did is somehow our fault, then maybe, but it was Dawn's decision to do what she did and they have to take that into consideration."

I take a deep breath.

"It is our fault. We should've been more honest with her about... who she really is, where she really came from."

"There's no way we could've known she would've gone as far as she did to find the truth, or what she did after she found out. All we can do now is try and deal with the consequences."

Consequences like Dawn hating us for the rest of her life.

My hands run themselves through my hair, gripping the back of my neck.

"Some parents we turned out to be eh? She's been with us for all of three months and already we've driven her to attempted suicide."

"Faith..."

"I don't know, maybe child services should take her from us. At least they couldn't screw her up any worse than we have. Not to mention they could keep her off Glory's radar."

"They wouldn't even know where to begin to help her."

"And we do? Just waiting and seeing might not work. She could hate us for the rest of her life, she could do something worse."

"But at least we know what the problem is, if Dawn told a psychologist the truth they'd think she was crazy and lock her up. We know she's not crazy so we can really deal with it."

"I know B, I'm just, really worried about her is all."

Buffy gets off her chair and comes over, kneeling in front of me.

"We're not gonna loose her baby. We'll do whatever it takes to help her through this, and keep her safe."

She takes my hands in hers and kisses the knuckles before placing them against her heart.

"Remember?"

I squeeze her hands.

"I remember..."

I stare into Buffy's eyes and she stares right back. Our friends come down the hall towards us. Buffy gives my hands a quick squeeze before standing up to meet them and I do the same.

"Buffy, Faith, we came as soon as we got your message."

Xander comes straight up to Buffy and gives her a hug.

"Yes we were all really upset to hear the news of what Dawn tried to do and even though we have no idea why she did such an insane thing we were still deeply saddened by this terrible news. Xander almost cried he was so upset."

There's a brief moment of silence while we wait to see if Anya has anything else to say.

"Has there been any news?"

"Not yet Giles, all they've told us is that they stabilized her condition enough so that she won't die. That's all they'll say. They won't even tell us when she'll wake up, she could be awake right now and we wouldn't know it."

Buffy's hand finds mine and we should each other tight.

"I'm sure they simply have her on a few sedatives to keep her calm. Victims of suicide often become very upset after they realize they've failed, it's best they keep her sedated until she becomes calm on her own."

How does he know that?

"Some slayers have been known, especially after being first called, to be so traumatized by their experiences that they attempt to, end it. Watchers are trained to recognize the signs."

"Well, Dawn's not a slayer. What would make her want to kill herself?"

I look at B and she looks back, taking a deep breath and letting it out.

"She found out something... something that really upset her."

"Something? What something?"

"It's something we should've told you a while back but we didn't."

"Buffy, whatever it is I'm sure you had your reasons, I'll deal. Just tell me."

She takes a paranoid look around.

"Dawn's... she's the key."

There's a moment before the realization kicks in.

"The key?"

Buffy just nods her head and Xander looks at me for confirmation. I smile at him, giving him what he wants.

"You mean, the one we've been looking for? The one Glory wants for some reason?"

B squeezes my hand and I squeeze right back.

"Since when?"

"Since always, apparently."

He takes a few seconds to think.

"And that's why she...?"

"Yes..."

"God, Dawnie... but she's all right? I mean you said the doctors told you she was gonna be okay right?"

"They said she's not gonna die. That's all they'll say."

"She could be lying there thinking about the next time she'll have a chance to hurt herself and there's nothing we can do about it."

I take B in my arms, holding her close.

"We're gonna help her B. We'll save her as many times as we have to."

I hold her tight.

We have to do this, she's our daughter.

*****

Glory's POV

"See? Now, if you had just delivered my pizza on time like you were supposed to, I wouldn't have to torture you."

I kick him in the back while he lies almost dead on the floor. I take a bite of my slice.

"Well, let's be honest. I probably would've tortured you either way."

One of my grubby minions walks in.

"What?"

"Your Holiness, we have news."

"What kind of news?"

"We're... we don't know just yet."

"So you have news, but you don't know what the news is yet?"

I look down at the pizza guy on the floor and kick him in the stomach.

"Is that any way to treat a god?"

"I'm sorry your godliness, but I thought you should know that the young child of the slayer's family was seen sneaking out of her house. Shortly there after she was seen running out of the magic shop rather upset."

"Why?"

"That is the part we don't know your scrumptiousness."

"Well get on it then. I want to know exactly what got the slayer's sister in such a huff. Report back when you think you've found out."

"Yes your greatness."

CHAPTER 56: Unwanted

Dawn's POV

It's all lies. None of it was real. Every last minute of my life has been a lie. It's not even my life, it's another lie the monks created to make me think I was real. To make me think I was worth something. But it was all lie, and they all went along with it. They all believed the lies that I'm actually anything more than a stupid key the monks are trying to hide from Glory. Hank, Joyce, Buffy and Faith all believed the lie.

I look down at the gauze wrapped around my wrists, slightly red from the bleeding it was doing earlier.

They believed the lie that I tried to kill myself. You can't kill something that isn't real.

I reach out and touch the red part of the bandage and it stings.

It may look real, it may feel real, but it's not. None of it is real, none of it matters. I don't matter.

I hear the door open and I turn away in the hospital bed, turning my back to whoever came in.

"Go away..."

Whoever's in here walks around the bed and starts checking the stupid machines around me. She looks down at me and smiles, I smile back.

What the hell am I doing?

I turn my back to her.

"I said go away..."

She doesn't go away.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I have to check your vitals."

She tries to take my hand to look at my wrist but I pull my arm away, holding it close so she can't try again.

"I'm fine, go away..."

"It's my job."

"Then don't do your job and get fired, just go away."

There's a couple of seconds where nothing happens.

"All right... I'll be back later."

"Or not..."

She leaves, but not for long because she comes back a few seconds later.

"What part of go away didn't you understand?"

"Well you didn't tell me to go away you told her."

I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling.

"Fuck off!"

"Wow, such strong language for a woman your age."

I look straight at him.

"You don't like strong language? Well go the fuck away and leave me the FUCK ALONE!"

I turn completely away so my back is facing him. I hear him pull up a chair and sit down.

"Well actually I like a girl who isn't afraid to be unlady-like. It's a thing."

Why can't people just leave me alone? I just want to be left alone.

"How are you feeling?"

"How do you think I'm feeling?"

"If I had to guess? I'd say not so great."

"Good guess..."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Other than leaving me alone? No..."

He takes a deep breath.

"Your mom is worried about you. So are your sister and her girlfriend."

I pull the bed sheet up over me more.

"I don't have a mom, or a sister, and I couldn't care less about her girlfriend."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Because why?"

"Just because okay? Now leave me alone."

If I told him the truth he'd never believe me. He'd never believe I'm just some stupid magical key the monks made up.

"Hmm, quite the arguement. Well whether you care about them or not, they still care about you. I know that's the way my parents were. I did a lot of crazy weird things when I was a kid, drugs, drinking, staying out all night, sometimes I didn't come home for a couple of days at a time. But no matter what I did, to myself or anyone else they always loved me, always cared about me. It's the way most families are. Parents in particular seem to care to the point of insanity."

Parents? What parents? I don't even know which parents of mine are real. And even if I did, all four of them lied to me.

"Yeah, some caring parents I've got... they didn't even care enough to be honest with me."

"About what?"

About the fact that I'm not real.

"It's nothing..."

"Well if it's nothing then why did it land you where you are?"

"Because..."

"Because it just did?"

"Yes..."

"Hmm..."

"They lied to me."

"And that made you want to do what you did?"

"Yes..."

"Must have been a pretty big lie for you to slit your wrists with a piece of broken glass."

"It is..."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Yes... sorta.

"No, I just want to be left alone."

"Okay, I can see you're kinda gung-ho about this whole moping stuff. But I'd like you to think about one thing. Maybe the reason your parents didn't tell you is because they were worried about how you'd react to the news, whatever it is, and I'm guessing since you reacted the way you did they had good reason to worry. They love you Dawn. No matter what they love you with all their hearts, and they only want what's best for you. And whether you're willing to admit it or not, you love them just as much."

I hear him leave.

It's not that simple... is it? The monks made me love them by giving me fake memories of all the nice things they did for me which never really happened. Do they really love me like he says they do?

I look down at the bandages on my wrists again.

Can they really love me after what I did? I mean, they said they loved me no matter where I came from, but can they really mean it? Can they really love me even though I never existed before 3 months ago? Is 3 months long enough to love someone? Does it mean anything? I just don't know...

*****

Buffy's POV

I hope she's all right.

I wrap myself around Faith's arm a little more tightly. She looks down into my eyes and plants a kiss on my forehead before smiling at me.

"She's gonna be fine B."

I put my head on her shoulder.

"I hope so."

"She's a Summers, she'll get through it."

I look up at her again.

"She's not just a Summers Faith."

She plants a kiss right on my lips.

"I know, which gives her so much more of a fighting spirit."

"Better believe it..."

Ben comes down the hall from where Dawn's hospital room is. I sit up and Faith and I turn our attention to him, as does my mom and my friends. He comes up to us and we stand to meet him.

"Is she all right?"

"She's fine."

I grip Faith's hand and she grips right back.

"She's really okay?"

"Physically she'll be just fine."

"What about emotionally?"

"She's still angry. But I think when I talked to her I tried to get her to think about how much you guys love her and how much she loves you so hopefully it won't be long before she'll want to talk to you."

I hope he's right.

"Thank you, Ben, for looking in on her, we appreciate it."

He just smiles.

"Anything I can do to help. But for now I have things I'm being paid to do, that I have to get back to."

"Right, yeah, you should do that. Thank you though."

"No problem."

Ben walks off and I turn to Faith, pulling her to me.

"Well at least that's something right Buff?"

"I guess so..."

"She loves us B, we just gotta remember that. We gotta hold on to that."

I look up at Faith and kiss her lovingly.

"I know baby, I know."

At least she's all right, that's something. She may not want to deal with us right not but she's gonna have to eventually. Sooner or later the hospital is going to let her go and when they do she'll have to come home with us.

I don't want it to go that way, I want her to come home because she wants to, not because she has nowhere else to go. She doesn't have to call me mom if she doesn't want to. She doesn't even have to say I love you if she doesn't feel it. I'd just be happy if I didn't hear the words I hate you from her ever again.

Maybe that's asking too much, maybe I'm thinking too much about what I want, but I won't know what Dawn wants until she feels like telling us. It's gonna take a lot of time, and a lot of love but I hope maybe one day we can just be a family, the four of us, like we should be.

CHAPTER 57: What happens now

Dawn's POV

This is probably a bad idea. In the history of the world this is probably the worst idea anyone has ever thought up, and since I've been around forever I can say that and it's probably true. But I can't spend the rest of my life here in this room, no matter how fun it might sound. I gotta at least try and talk to them.

The monks may have put me where I am, they may have made up all these stupid memories in my head, and everyone else's head, but now that I'm here it's all up to me. It's my decision whether those memories mean anything. It's my decision whether my family means anything to me, whether I love them or not. And the truth is, I think I really do love them.

Despite the lying and the keeping secrets and how it all hurt me so much I wanted to kill myself, I still love them. It's because I love them that I did what I did pretty much. They're my family, they're supposed to love me and take care of me when I need it. I'm supposed to be able to trust them to be honest with me when I ask them about stuff, especially when it's about me.

But when I realized that they were talking about me behind my back, I didn't feel like that at all. I didn't feel loved or trusted or any of the things you're supposed to feel in a family. I felt alone, and afraid with no one to trust. And when I found out what they were keeping from me I felt betrayed and terrified of being more alone, and of the evil hell god who wants to find me and do something to me so she can destroy the world or something.

So I slit my wrists, hoping I could make it all stop. All the pain and the fear, I just wanted it all to stop. And it did, sorta.

I look down at my left wrist, wrapping my right hand around it just under the bandage.

It doesn't feel so bad compared to the pain of slicing your wrists open with broken glass. I'm still scared, and angry with them for lying to me and keeping the truth about me for so long from me. But more than anything I'd like to know... what happens now?

The door opens and I just stare down at my wrist.

"Dawn?"

"Come in Mom..."

She comes in with two other people and it's not like I have to guess who they are.

"Or is it Grandma?"

Then again...

"Maybe it's just Joyce."

"It's whatever you feel comfortable with as long as it doesn't involve swear words honey. How are you feeling?"

They pull up some chairs and sit down.

"Like I cut my wrists open with broken glass and nearly died, how about you?"

There's this awkward silence in the room and it makes me smile. Faith finally breaks the silence.

"Worried about you, mostly..."

I sit back in my hospital bed.

"I'm okay... I guess."

Buffy finally finds a reason to speak.

"Are you sure? You're feeling all right?"

"Well I'm alive, apparently."

"Yeah you are kid. Which is a good thing, isn't it?"

I don't say anything.

"Well I think it's a good thing, and your mom and Buffy think so too."

"Yes, we're very glad."

"We're SO glad you're all right. We were so scared you might not make it."

Yeah well they would be.

"Well I did, so stop worrying."

Again the room falls silent for a moment before Buffy speaks.

"Well, since you're feeling all right and you survived... what happened, we were wondering if there was anything you wanted to talk about."

"Not really..."

"There's nothing you want to talk about, or maybe ask us? Nothing you want to say?"

I just keep staring down at my wrists.

"Maybe..."

"Well whatever it is, we're not gonna push you into talking about anything. Take your time..."

I look right at Faith, interrupting.

"Do you love me?"

"What? Of course I do, I love you very much I..."

"Not just, I mean, all three of you... do you guys really love me? Even though I'm just a key?"

"Yes, we do Dawn."

"We love you a lot Dawnie, you're more than just a key to us. You're family."

"Yeah kid, you're our flesh and blood."

I hold up my wrist and shake it.

"I think that message got through."

The room goes quiet for a second.

"Dawnie, honey please don't make jokes like that. We know you're angry at us and you feel like you want to hurt us back, but we're sorry and we promise to be completely honest with you from now on. No more secrets. We were just worried that if you found out the truth, you might..."

"Hurt myself?"

"Yes..."

"Well I did, so I guess you know me pretty well."

"Dawn..."

Buffy reaches out and touches my hand. All the sudden this weird feeling washes over me. I look down at her hand on mine and then look her in the eyes.

"You had every right to be mad at us, and you still do. We'll do whatever it takes to get you to trust us again, to make you feel safe, the way a family should be."

"And what kind of family are we exactly? I don't know of anyone who has three mothers. I'm not really sure I like the idea myself."

"We'll just have to figure it out together. We can just go with whatever feels normal."

"Nothing about this feels normal, nothing about me feels normal. I don't know how to feel about any of this."

Faith puts her hand on Buffy's and that weird feeling gets even worse.

I really don't feel right.

I pull my hand away and they seem hurt by it.

"You don't have to figure everything out right away kid. We can just take things day by day and sooner or later, it will make sense."

"I may not get a chance to take it day by day..."

"What do you mean Dawnie? Why would you say something like that?"

I take a long deep breath.

"Because of Glory..."

"Dawn, we're not going to let that thing touch you. We'll keep you safe from her and anything that she throws our way. Besides, she doesn't even know you're what she's looking for, and she won't figure it out."

"I did..."

"What?"

"I figured it out, and I'm just some stupid little kid made out of a key."

Faith tries to reach out to me again but I pull away, making her stop.

"You're not stupid Dawn."

"Maybe not, but I'm betting that Glory is smarter than me, and she's stronger than you two. I just don't think that when she comes..."

"IF she comes Dawn, IF she comes..."

"I just don't think that when she comes, there will be anything anyone can do to stop her."

"Dawn, I've gone up against her and in one punch I put her straight through a brick wall. We might not know if we can stop her, but at least we know that I've probably got what it takes to go toe to toe with her. That's something isn't it?"

I look down at my feet.

"I guess..."

Grandma provides her two cents.

"Everything will work out Dawn, don't worry."

"An evil hell god wants to hurt me, or kidnap me... maybe even kill me, I can't not worry about it. It probably would've been better if you'd let me die, at least then I know I wouldn't have destroyed the world."

"Don't say that Dawn, we'll protect you."

I lie down on my bed, turning away from them as I do.

"Whatever..."

They don't say anything because they know I'm right. They know that they don't have a chance against her and I'd be better off dead.

"Dawn we don't even know that what Glory wants with you is to destroy the world. It could be something less horrible, something that won't hurt you."

"How many hell gods do you know of who are cute and cuddly and don't want to hurt anyone?"

Silence...

"That's what I thought... just leave me alone..."

"Dawn..."

"Go away, I wanna be alone."

After a few moments of not speaking I hear them getting up and leaving. Buffy decides to make a statement.

"Dawn, I know you don't want to believe us right now, but we are going to protect you from Glory no matter what, and when all this with her is over you'll get that chance to figure out exactly what everything means. We're gonna go now, but we'll be back soon all right?"

Why does everyone have to make a statement before leaving me alone?

The three of them leave after I don't say anything.

At least I know they really do love me, they aren't just faking it because of the fake memories. And I know they're going to at least TRY to protect me, even though they can't. That's gotta mean something.

*****

Glory's POV

I walk into this hell hole they call a magic shop.

"You'd think I'd feel at home in a hell hole, but apparently not."

"Yes, your godliness. The pitiful state of this entire dimension pales in comparison to your incredible glowing beauty."

"Stop sucking up and show me what you've got. This better be good."

One of the pieces of crap I've got working for me walks up to me, kneels down and presents a book to me, open to a particular page.

"We believe we may have found that which you most desire."

Three more of them kneel before me and they all speak in unison.

"THE KEY!"

Really?

I snatch the book from the grubby hands that has been holding it. I look over the book and the writing is so small it would make my head hurt to try and read it.

"One of you give me the gist of it will you?"

"Yes, your holiness. This particular book makes reference to the key several times, but on this particular page it says that the key was made into a sister for the slayer."

A sister for the slayer?

"So that rug rat you saw running out of this place..."

"Was the slayer's sister, and therefore, THE KEY!"

I smile big and it makes all the minions around me cower even more.

My key, I've found my perfect key at long last. I've got to go get it.

"Are the preparations for the ritual complete?"

"They are your greatness. All that is required is to make the key itself ready which will begin as soon as the key is recovered."

"Do we know where the key is?"

"She is at the hospital for some strange reason."

Perfect...

"Then I guess it's about time I collect my pretty little..."

I start walking toward the door so I can go fetch my key but that feeling in me stops me.

"No... Now is not the time for this Ben. I have to get my key."

The feeling gets stronger.

"Go away, leave me alone."

His body rips itself through mine.

*****

Ben's POV

What the hell? Where am I? What am I doing here?

I look around and we're in some sort of magic shop, and then I look down at my clothes and I'm wearing a silk dress.

"Or maybe I should say what the hell is Glory doing here?"

"It's not your concern, please just hand me the book and we shall leave..."

I look at the book in my hands. I pull it away from them as they try to grab it, kicking one of Glory's minions to keep him back.

Something important has happened, and it has something to do with this book. Did she find it? Did she find the key?

I start looking over the page that was open in Glory's hands.

The monks had to be sure the slayers would protect the key with their lives. So they sent the key to the slayers in the form of a child, in the form of Dawn.

Oh my god... Dawn?

CHAPTER 58: The key to the end

Faith's POV

She's talking to us, that's something. If we can just keep talking, and reassuring Dawn that everything will work out I think we'll be okay. We can take her home and start trying to live our lives again. Maybe even work at being a regular family. Of course there's nothing regular about this family. A mother, her two slayer daughters and their kid. Their kid who used to be a mystical key to some sort of lock. Definitely not your normal family.

I squeeze B's hand just to know she's with me in this. She looks at me and there's no doubt in my mind, not that there ever is.

We love Dawn, we have to keep her safe from Glory and everything else that comes our way. Keeping Dawn from Glory may be the only way to keep the world safe, and obviously Dawn too. We have to find a way to stop Glory before she finds out. But first we have to worry about Dawn and how she's doing, before we worry about...

"Ben..."

Ben?

B stands up to meet him as he comes this way.

He doesn't look so good.

Buffy calls out to him.

"Ben!"

"What's up B?"

"I just want to thank him again for what he did for Dawn."

"Oh, yeah we should do that."

I still don't know what's up with him, but he did do something good for Dawn, and for us. We should thank him for that.

Buffy calls out to him again.

"Ben!"

He turns down a hall about 10 feet away, completely ignoring us. B looks at me and I just shrug.

"I'll go see if he's okay."

She goes toward him. Everything that bothers me about Ben tells me to go with her, so I do.

"Maybe he's just busy, doesn't have time to talk."

"Maybe, but he didn't look that great, and he did help us with Dawn. He's a friend."

"Okay..."

She stops as we hit the corner Ben turned down.

"You don't think so?"

"No I do I mean, he's been great. He's helped take care of me, you, Joyce and even Dawn. He was the only one who was involved with all of us. Don't you find that a little odd for an intern?"

"True..."

"And he's just sorta creepy himself. Something about him bothers me."

"They could just be short staffed after you cleaned them out of their Omega members. But you're right, something is going on with him. Whatever it is we'll ask him about it after we thank him."

She starts to go after him again and I do the same. We get a few inches from him and Buffy tries to get his attention again.

"Hey Ben!"

He doesn't respond until she grabs his shoulder and he turns around, pushing her hand off him.

"What do you... Buffy, Faith, what are you still doing here?"

B and I both look at each other.

"We're waiting for the psychiatrist to come back and speak to Dawn again so we can take her home."

"Dawn's still here?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"You have to get her out of here."

"We will, as soon as she sees the psychiatrist we'll take her home."

"No, you can't take her home she'll find you there."

She?

"Who?"

"You have to get Dawn as far away as you can. Get her out of town, out of state, hell get her out of the country if you can."

He's not making any sense.

I step up to him.

"And why are we doing that?"

He catches me off guard as he grabs me and shoves me up against the wall.

"If you don't, she'll find her and then we're all doomed."

I'm about to assert my slayer authority but Buffy beats me to it, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him off me. She throws him clear across the hall against the opposite wall and is on him in a split second, pinning him there. I walk up behind her as she starts interrogating him.

"If there's some reason why Dawn needs to get out of here then tell us but attacking us is not going to acheive that."

"What's going on Ben?"

He looks down at his shaking hands and gets a panicked look on his face.

"She's coming..."

Who's coming? Wait, he can't mean...

"Glory?"

Buffy turns her head to look at me at the mention of Glory, taking her forearm off Ben's throat. Ben confirms the sudden fear in me and B.

"Yes..."

He's connected to Glory?

Buffy finishes my thought out loud.

"How? How do you know she's coming?"

"I've been trying to keep her contained all day until I could figure out what to do. But it's too late, she's here..."

Here?

"Where is she Ben?"

He looks up at us.

"I'm sorry..."

I'm about to ask what he means when he changes into... oh my god, Glory.

I take a step back in shock.

"Hey kids, looking for a threesome?"

Before either of us can react Glory puts her fists together and double punches B in the stomach, knocking her into me and sending us both crashing through a wall and into a pile on the floor of a patient's room.

Everything is sort of faded as I feel the back of my head and my hand has blood on it.

"Buffy?"

I look at her lying on top of me.

She's unconcious and not moving and there's a huge cut on her forehead.

Dawn...

I try to move B off of me but the stinging pain on the back of my head makes everything darker.

Gotta, save, Dawn...

I manage to move B off me, but I try to sit up and everything goes black...

*****

Glory's POV

Ugh, those slayers actually tried to touch me.

I wipe my clothes off any place they might've touched me.

Maybe I should kill them for daring to touch a god.

I look around me.

I'm in a hospital. Wait, if they're here in this hospital... then my key must be somewhere nearby.

I look through the hole I made at the human in the bed.

Too old to be my key. The minions said she was the sister of the slayer, which I think was younger when they were reporting information to me.

I look down each way down the hall.

Humans usually have other humans around them, there aren't any around here except doctors who are all coming from the same direction.

I head in the opposite direction looking for more digusting humans. I reach another hall and look both ways down it.

There are some humans over there, and they look like the ones my minions described kinda.

I start towards them.

"Which room is my key in?"

They all get up to look at me. One of the young children talks to the others.

"This must be Glory. We can't let her get to Dawn."

They all take a few steps forward like they're going to try and fend me off.

Stupid humans...

"What happened to Buffy and Faith?"

I walk right up to the young guy and push him, making him fly into the young girl who was hiding behind him. The older guy comes up to me and actually tries to punch me. I grab his fist and crush it in my hand.

"This is how you throw a punch old man."

I punch him in the stomach, making him fly through the door of one of the rooms. Now all that's standing between me and my key is some old woman who's standing between me and one of the doors.

"You won't get near my daughter..."

I roll my eyes at her.

Fine...

I walk over to the wall and grab a chunk out of it. I throw it at her and it lands on top of her, pinning her down.

She was protecting this room, my key must be in there.

I walk into the room and there's a cute little brunette girl sitting on a bed. She looks up at me and curls up into a ball.

"Who are you?"

Playing dumb eh?

"Oh honey, you know exactly who I am so don't play dumb. You're my key."

She hugs her knees a little harder.

"You... you stay away from me..."

"Not likely kid, you're my key, and I need you to get home. So one way or another you're coming with me."

I walk up to her and she tries to get out of the bed she's lying in, but I grab her by the hair. She bats my hand off her hair and just for fun I let her go, acting like it worked.

"You get the hell away from me, my... my sis... I have people who can take you, you better leave now."

"They're sleeping sweetie, they aren't coming for you."

She backs up a bit away from the bed.

"Leave me alone... please?"

I grab one side of the bed separating us and throw it out of my way.

"You're coming with me one way or the other, now come on."

I grab her wrist and pull her to me, scooping her up over my shoulder.

"Let me go..."

"Shut up kid."

I turn around and walk out the door and head for the nearest exit.

My key, I've got my key and I'm finally going home. Woo hoo, I'm finally going home and getting out of this crap hole of a dimension.

CHAPTER 59: Battered and Bruised

Buffy's POV

What are we going to do?

I run my fingers through my hair, making sure not to get any blood from the healing cut on my forehead in my hair.

Everything is falling apart.

I let my head drop into my hands and take a deep breath.

She's got her. Glory's got Dawn and she knows she's the key. And to make matters worse, not one of us is in the perfect fighting condition. Glory really did a number on all of us. I walked away with a minor head injury but only because Faith cusioned the impact for me. She got the worst of it, even though she tells me she's fine. The huge cut on the back of her head says different though. The doctors said most people who suffer the kind of head injury she did would have massive head trauma, but they say she only got a lot of bruising all over and that big gash on the back of her head. I guess there's something to be said for slayer strength and healing.

The others aren't so lucky. Xander's bones were bruised at the neck and ribs where she shoved him. The doctors said if he's not extremely careful for the next day or so his ribs could crack or break. He'll have Anya looking out for him though until he heals up. But he's here, ready to help in any way he can. He and Anya were the luckiest of us though, Giles and my mom got the worst of it.

I look up at Giles sitting across the extremely lob sided table in the magic shop, trying to flip through the pages of the books the Council left for us about Glory and the key... about Dawn.

Trying because it's hard with a hand fractured in 3 places. But he refused to stay in the hospital and since his injuries aren't life threatening they couldn't keep him after they bandaged him up. My mom on the other hand is still in the hospital.

I reach out and take Faith's hands in mine. We face each other as we wait for Giles to find something to give us some sort of hope that we can save Dawn and the world.

"I can't believe I just left my mother at the hospital like that."

She tucks my hair back behind my left ear.

"The doctors said she was gonna be all right B. The piece of the wall Glory threw at her may have broken her rib and punctured one of her arteries but they got to her quickly and saved her life. She'll be okay."

"But when she wakes up, I might not be there with her."

She kisses me softly.

"If we don't save the world it won't matter if you're there with her or not. Your mom will understand that. We have to focus on saving the world and getting Dawn back if we can."

God Dawnie...

"I hope she's all right. There's no telling what Glory might be doing to her right now."

"I doubt Glory would risk hurting Dawn until the ritual."

The ritual?

"You've found out something about what Glory's gonna do to Dawn?"

We all turn to Giles, the only one of us who can read the languages these books were written in.

"Small pieces, yes. Though given the thoroughness of the Council's explanation of their research method, I should know more soon. Based on what I know at the moment, the ritual Glory wishes to perform, whatever it may be, is time sensitive to a specific alignment of the planets which only occurs once every 800 years. If Glory were to do something to disrupt the element in Dawn which is the key she would risk its success and have to wait another 8 centuries to try again. At which point both Dawn and Glory would be long dead."

Xander speaks up.

"But Glory's an immortal, couldn't we just ask her to wait a couple hundred years?"

"Unfortunately not, Glory's existance, much like the key's, is directly connected to their counter part. Which in Glory's case, appears to be Ben."

But that means...

"If Ben dies, so does Glory?"

"It seems that way, yes. If nothing else I think that Ben's death would trap Glory's essence in his body until she is drained completely of all her energy and disintegrate when Ben's body decomposes."

"So, what you're saying is... we have to kill Ben?"

I don't know that I can kill an innocent.

Xander voices my thoughts.

"But we can't kill Ben, he's an innocent in this isn't he? He just happened to be the guy with Glory living inside him. We can't kill an innocent human."

"Speak for yourself."

Our attention turns to my own and only.

"Faith?"

"Someone has to stop Glory from doing this ritual that could destroy the world, I nominate me. We know I can take on Glory, and even if I can't kill her because Ben doesn't come back, I can at least keep her occupied so she can't do whatever it is she's gonna do to Dawn."

But she's not a hundred percent.

"But Faith, what about your head?"

"My head's fine B, and even if it weren't I'm still the best choice. I'm the only one with enough strength to keep Glory busy."

"Then I'm gonna be there with you. I'm not going to let you face off against an evil hell god alone. I'll be there to give her twice the distraction."

She kisses my knuckles.

"Thanks B."

"All right then, the rest of us will deal with any of Glory's minions who might get in our path to rescuing Dawn..."

He looks around at the bodies of Glory's demon minions on the floor. Probably Glory's doing but it could also be Ben's.

"Now all we must disern is where, when and what the ritual entails."

I squeeze Faith's hands in mine and she squeezes back.

We have to save Dawn, I don't know what I would do if we lost her.

CHAPTER 60: Family

Buffy's POV

I hold her tighter to me, desperate to find some kind of comfort with her in my arms.

"Are you sure you can do it? I can't say I like the thought of you killing someone. Even an evil someone."

She shifts against me in my arms.

"I mean, I know it's different than before. I'm not worried about you... falling back into old habits or anything like that, I just hate the idea of you having more blood on your hands."

Faith looks down at her hands and I look with her, sliding my hands down her arms to hold her wrists as we do.

"There'll always be blood on my hands B, even after the real stuff washes away. What's important is why it's there."

I take her hands in mine and pull them to her chest, holding her close.

"I hope it doesn't come to that Faith. Things were about to get better, we were all on the mend. I was just starting to think that our family might actually come together, that we might be happy and now this happens."

I kiss the top of her head as we sit here together in the back room of the magic shop, dreading what's to come.

"My mom is in the hospital, she almost died. You've got this huge gash on your head, and Dawn..."

I feel like I want to cry as I say her name. Faith sits up and turns to face me.

"Hey..."

She takes my head in her hands and kisses me sweetly.

"Your mom's gonna be fine remember? And so am I. My head's almost completely healed thanks to slayer healing, you don't have to worry about me or your mom."

There's a long pause between us.

"We'll just have to wait and see about Dawn."

I reach out and put my arms around Faith, who wraps her own around me.

Dawn...

"Why blood? Why did it have to be a blood ritual Faith?"

Her hand strokes the back of my neck and I hold her tighter.

"I don't know B."

"If Glory starts the ritual, she'll be in so much pain. I can't stand the thought of Dawn that way."

"I couldn't stand the thought of you in that much pain when Glory captured you, but Dawn..."

I pull myself back to look her in the eyes.

"We have to save her from that baby, we can't let our daughter go through that. Maybe it won't be as bad as Glory did to me, but it will still be bad. Dawn's just a little kid."

Her hands rest against my cheek and I turn my head, kissing her palm.

"We will B, one way or another we will. That's why we're going in just before the ritual begins, so we can keep Glory from hurting Dawn and starting the ritual. Giles said the ritual doesn't start till just after the sun goes down tomorrow, and he should have the location the ritual has to be done in a few hours. We'll save her Buffy, whatever we have to do, we'll save her."

I pull my hands from her back and hold her hands in mine. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Do you think it was right to tell Giles, Xander and Anya they couldn't come? They love Dawn very much and they want to help."

"They won't be a hundred percent and they know that. Giles has his broken hand which Glory would zoom in on to throw us off, not to mention her minions, and he's still gonna have that limp tomorrow. As much as Xander loves Dawn like the little sister he never had, he has a hard enough time walking let alone fighting. You and me are the only ones who have a shot at going up against Glory. And, that's probably how it should be."

How it should be?

"What do you mean?"

"It's our job to protect her B, we're her parents."

*****

Dawn's POV

Help me...

She pinches my cheek and I try to hold back from screaming at how hard she's pinching.

"Oh you're so cute..."

She lets go and I grab my cheek, burying my head between my knees, which I've been hugging ever since I got carried here kicking and screaming for my parents... my real parents.

"So young and cute..."

Glory pats me on the head really hard and I bite my lip and hug my knees even harder, trying to hold back the tears.

Someone save me...

She sits down across from me and looks at me.

"Aww, hey what's wrong kid?"

I can't save myself, I'd never get far enough before she caught me. Then she'd probably hurt me worse than pinching me and patting my head.

"I asked you a question sweetie."

She hits me in the forehead with her palm. I finally look at her, trying my best to look mean and not cry.

I don't want to cry anymore, but I'm trapped in a room with a hell god who wants to hurt me. I can't help but cry. Crying isn't going to save me, if they're even going to save me.

"What's wrong honey?"

"I want my mommy..."

"Aww! You want your mommy? Well too bad, you don't get to see them, not right away anyway. They'll probably try and show up to stop the ritual, but nothing is going to get in the way of me getting the hell out of this hell god forsaken dimension. Besides, don't you mean mommies? As in plural? You know, those sneaky little idiot monks must've had a serious mother complex to give you THREE mothers."

She gets up and starts walking around, talking to me like we're friends. I just bury my face into me, my forehead resting on my knees.

"I mean were they TRYING to screw you up? It's hard enough to deal with one mother when you're a kid, at least that's what I hear anyway. Me? I never had a mother, well, not my own mother anyway. Ben's mother trying to be all mother figure on me for a while when I first managed to syphon some energy out of Ben so I could start looking for a way out of this crap hole dimension. She really bugged me, asking if I was okay and stuff. See when I first figured out how to take over Ben's body I didn't really have enough power to do anything, I just sort've laid there for a while before I had to go back inside Ben."

She knocks something down off a table cause I hear a crash, don't look at what it is though.

"His mother saw it happen one time and for some stupid reason she decided to take care of me instead of finding out what was going on. I guess she figured this wasn't something a hospital could fix... anyway, so she starts taking care of me right? Talking to me when I started to last longer and get enough energy to kinda move. That kinda went on for a couple of years. I think she thought of me as her daughter or something, telling me I was pretty and crap like that. I really hated getting treated like a human. So naturally when I got up enough strength I had to kill her to make her shut up."

They have to save me. I need them to save me.

"But YOU!"

She grabs me by the hair and pulls my head back so I'm looking up at her.

"YOU'VE got THREE of them. They must drive you even more insane than me."

I just try and block out the pain of her hand pulling on my hair as I start to cry again.

"Asking you how you're feeling, caring about you even after you tell them not to. Worrying about you when something's wrong, and worrying about you even more when nothing's wrong because something MIGHT happen. It's really pretty pathetic don't you think?"

She lets go of my hair and I grab the back of my head. A few seconds later she slaps me in the back of the head, making my tears worse.

"Isn't it pathetic?"

"No..."

"What's that?"

"I said no, it's not..."

She comes around and crouches in front of me.

"It's not? Why?"

"They're parents, they're supposed to worry. They love you."

"So you're saying all the stuff they do. The worrying and all that... that's love?"

"Yes.."

"Ugh, how horrible. And you like that?"

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"Because... I love them."

"Which one?"

"Doesn't matter..."

It really doesn't matter which one, I love them all.

"You love all three of them?"

"Yes..."

"Why?"

I wipe the tears out of my eyes.

"They're my parents..."

CHAPTER 61: For the Love of...

Author's Note: Well here it is people. It's been a long time coming but it's the final chapter of She Who Was My Love. I hope you like it. It's also got a theme that some of you might know, Christian Kane's L.A. Song.

Faith's POV

It all comes down to this, this one moment, this one fight. I feel like everything is riding on what happens in the next few minutes, and it is, because Dawn is in the balance. Dawn's life depends on everything we're about to do. Giles said the ritual involves spilling Dawn's blood into a specific place, at a specific time, and if it does then the whole universe is thrown into chaos. We have to keep that from happening. Not only would it destroy the world, but it would cost us everyone and everything we care about.

I look over at B, she glances at me for a split second as we go full steam to our destination. She's carrying a one handed axe on her back and a short sword on her belt. I've got a long sword on my back and the knife Wilkins gave me on my belt.

Dawn connects us. We've connected on many levels, physically, emotionally, mentally. But Dawn connects us in a way we've never known before... through her. I'm connected to Buffy through Dawn, and Buffy's connected to me through Dawn. Dawn's connected to us the same way. It's the kind of thing that goes beyond love, and we may loose it all if we can't win this... if Glory opens the portal.

B stops and I stop with her. Before I can ask what she stopped for, I follow her line of sight to a giant tower standing over 100 feet high in the middle of a construction site.

"I guess we came to the right place eh B?"

"Yeah, Giles did say the ritual would probably happen somewhere up high, I guess that's where it happens."

I look around the general area.

"Dawn and Glory must be close by, she'd want to keep our daughter close for when..."

"LET ME GO!"

Buffy and I immediately look each other in the eyes and have the same thought.

Dawn...

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

We both look to the edge of the wall in front of us and jump, grabbing it and pulling ourselves up to survey the scene. A number of Glory's demon minions are dragging Dawn, fighting for everything she's got, toward the tower's stairway.

"DAWN!"

B jumps down into the construction site and makes a bee line for Dawn. I jump down and follow her, looking for Glory. Buffy grabs one of the minions and pulls her off Dawn, tossing him 10 feet.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"

Before I can get there, B goes flying and I stop in my tracks at the sight of Glory now standing between me and Dawn. Dawn looks right at me with a look of fearful hope. I try and tell her with my eyes that everything's gonna be all right. I take up a fighting stance as I see Buffy get up out of the corner of my eye.

"You okay B?"

"Yeah... what the hell was that? Foreplay?"

I chuckle at B's comment.

"Well she did say she wanted a threesome, maybe we should've accepted."

B comes up and stands beside me in her own fighting stance. Glory scoffs at us before barking orders at her minions.

"Take the kid up to the ritual point and start the ritual when it's time. I'll be there after killing the slayers."

"Yes Glory!"

They start to pull her along again and Dawn tries to fight back even harder than before, doing anything she can against the five stronger minions.

"BUFFY! FAITH! HELP ME!"

I wanna go to her and help her, but Glory's standing between us and our daughter. The hell god puffs up her hair and hikes up her breasts.

"You want some of this? Come and get it."

We attack, once we're sure Dawn can't get caught in the crossfire of the fight. B pulls out her axe while I grab my long sword. She swings at Glory's head while I go for her body, both of which Glory blocks by grabbing the blades with her bare hands. Buffy and I both knock her off her feet by kicking her in the back of the knees with full slayer strength. Again Buffy goes for the head while I take a shot at stabbing her through the stomach. Glory stops us both, inches from her skin, this time bending back the axe blade and snapping the sword blade in two.

She uses the broken edge to slice at our ankles. I do a black flip out of reach and when I'm upright again I see Buffy's backed off too. Seconds later Glory's back on her feet and throwing the end of the sword away. Buffy and I both get rid of our damaged weapons and face off against Glory.

"Is that it? Is that all you've got? I guess going home is gonna be easier than I thought."

She won't get Dawn.

Buffy takes her on first.

"We've got more than that hell bitch."

A split second later I charge her myself.

"You're not going home, you're going down."

We start throwing consecutive punches at her, most of them either being deflected or dodged.

"Sorry, I prefer someone going down on me, not the other way around."

I go for a spin kick, hitting her in the back of the head and making her stumble a bit. B follows up with a shot to Glory's stomach, making her fall forward from the waist up. I grab her by the back of the neck and dress, spinning her before throwing her across the site and into a pile of bricks. Buffy and I watch the pile of bricks, knowing that it's not over yet.

"HELP ME!"

We look up at the tower above where Dawn's voice screams for us. Buffy looks at me, and I look right back as the bricks move.

"We have to get up to Dawn."

"Or you could stick around and get killed."

Our attention turns to Glory. I look at the stairs a few feet away and then at Glory.

"Get to Dawn B, I'll hold off the bitch from hell."

I take a few steps forward and get ready to fight.

"Faith..."

"I can take her B, just get to Dawn."

Buffy starts to go, but Glory moves with lighting speed before I can react, picking up the end of my broken long sword, throwing it at B's ankle. Buffy screams, dropping to her knees and then grabbing her ankle. I put myself between Buffy and Glory.

"Are you all right Buffy?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I've just got a sword in my ankle. I'll get to Dawn."

She gets up and starts limping towards the tower while I keep Glory from charging her by being in her way. I charge Glory myself, my own lightning speed kicking in. I lead with a hard right cross to her face which makes her stumble.

"Ow! That actually kinda stung."

Good...

I follow with a left hook which doesn't change her footing. I go for a right to the stomach but she deflects it and fires back with a few rights and lefts and I block them, coming back with a flurry of my own to her face and body, only half of which actually connect.

I think she's off balance.

I take a step back and try for a kick to the gut at full slayer strength. She catches it though throwing it into the air and forcing me to do a mid air back flip to stay on my feet. Before I get my balance she tries for a punch to my ribs but I manage to block it by grabbing her wrist, holding it back. I pull her forward fast, lifting my knee into her stomach and making her stumble back as she grabs the place where I kneed her.

"Ow! Where the hell did you get this kind of power? I've only gone up against one slayer with this kind of power before you."

I follow up quickly with a series of punches, landing as many as I can.

"You'd be surprised how hard I can fight when the ones I love are in danger."

I hit her with a hard spinning backhand, taking her off her feet and to her knees. I use a roundhouse kick to her head, making her fall on her back.

"I knew there was a reason I hated love... no..."

No?

She tries to get up, shaking, but I put a foot on her collarbone and hold her down.

What's going on?

"I, hate you..."

All of the sudden Glory changes into Ben, who's bleeding all over and trying to keep breathing.

"Ben..."

"I'm sorry... I never..."

I take out my knife and kneel down, my knee full into his stomach.

"I know... so am I..."

I thrust the knife deep into his heart and move back, leaving the knife in him. I stand up and watch as the blood spills out of his chest, slowly killing him. I turn away as he stops moving to the aftermath of Glory. I look up towards the tower, where B's trying to make her way up to Dawn. She's only gotten up a few levels. I rush to her side.

"Buffy..."

She looks up toward the top of the tower.

"Dawn's still up there..."

I look up myself before staring into B's eyes.

"Glory's minions don't know she's dead."

"And she told them to start the ritual even if she's not there."

"I'll get to her B, I can get there faster than you can."

I start my way up but she grabs my arm, pulling me to her and kissing me.

"I love you Faith."

I put a hand to her cheek as I back up the tower.

"I love you too Buffy."

I turn and make my way up the stairs, running as fast as I can.

I have to get to Dawn.

I grab the railings and such to try and launch myself forward whenever I can, getting closer and closer to the top of the tower.

I have to get to Dawn before they start the ritual. If I don't they're going to cut into her, make her bleed until she destroys the world. I have to stop that from happening. If I don't...

The whole tower shakes like an earthquake just hit, throwing me off balance and making me stop.

Oh god...

I don't wait for the shaking to stop as I sprint up the last few stories to the top of the tower. A glow comes from below as I look out at Dawn screaming as they slice into her with the knife.

"Dawn!"

She sees me and Glory's former minions face me.

"Faith!"

The minions come at me and I grab the first two by the necks and throw them off the tower, punching the second two and knocking them off too. I grab the last one by the neck and raise him above my head, crushing his windpipe.

"Your god is dead, you didn't have to do this."

I crush his windpipe even more before making him join his friends. I look to Dawn again finally and before I know it I'm standing in front of her. I break the chains holding her there and her arms are around me.

"Faith..."

My own arms wrap around her and I hug her tight.

"I'm sorry..."

I look at Dawn, her tears of pain staining her cheeks.

"There's nothing to be sorry for Dawn."

"This is all my fault."

I pull my hands up to her cheeks, her own arms still around me.

"It's not Dawn, nothing about this is your fault."

I pull her to me again as I feel tears in my own eyes.

"This isn't your fault."

"I'm sorry..."

I start to rock her back and forth in my arms as she cries.

"I'm so sorry..."

"Ssh, it's all right Dawn. This isn't your fault."

We stand there at the edge of the tower crying, the world ending below us.

"I love you Mom..."

She pulls away to look at me.

"Dawn..."

"You and Buffy both, and Mom too, I love you..."

I kiss her forehead gently.

"I love you too Dawn, we all do... you're our daughter."

She smiles up at me through her tears.

"I love you Mom..."

"I love you too Dawn..."

And then I push her off the tower...

...continued in Mothers...