Choices

by Izzy
Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: Don't own them. No money being made. :(
Spoilers: Possibly soon to come, as this fic is set around season 6.
Author's Notes: Just hope you like it! :) AU/Buffy crossover. AU Buffy and Faith are married and have a daughter named Beth. Buffy set after season 6. Spike gets his chip taken out and goes after Buffy. Faith meanwhile gets out of prison and is staying with Angel. (NB: Tara isn't dead, she's in a coma, and Willow is taking antidepressants to help her cope. So nothing after the shooting concerning 'evil' Willow happened here.)
Feedback: If you want, I don't mind.

+1=2=3=4=5=6=7=8=9=10+

PART ONE

AU.

Sitting at the bay window in her bedroom Buffy gazed out at the torrents of rain falling against the glass. As she wiped at the tear that slipped down her cheek she turned away from the outside world and sat down in the same chair she'd been sitting in since the previous day. The day had been particularly tiring. They still had no idea where Faith and Beth had been taken.

She hated just sitting around feeling helpless, but she didn't have much of a choice. It was either this or running around town getting hysterical and generally helping no one. Especially the two who really needed her to be strong right now.

When they had been sucked into the portal she had almost lost it like the time Glory had taken her sister. Instead she had simply cried for over two hours in her best friend's lap, and after she'd woken up from a restless sleep she had demanded that they start researching a way to get them back.

Resting her head back she began thinking about her time spent with Faith; desperately trying to retain some hope and happiness.

7 years previously:

Buffy and Faith went to school together. At Hemery, in LA. They hung out in different circles but knew each other fairly well. They even sat next to each other in some classes.

Buffy was on the cheerleading squad and Faith was on the gymnastics team, so they saw each other quite regularly in the gym. Buffy was considered to be one of the most popular girls in school, while Faith had a rep for being a trouble maker, and was often seen with the bikers that came through the neighbourhood from time to time.

They were hanging out in the gym after school one day, doing stretches and practicing moves. They were chatting about the next school dance that was coming up. While Buffy was excited about arranging decorations and picking out a dress, while Faith was trying to tell her how pointless the whole thing was, and that there were more important things to worry about than a dance.

"Like what? Greasing your Ninja for the third time this week." Buffy said with a disgusted look. "How can you stand to get so dirty?"

"If you think greasing my bike gets you dirty you should try mud wrestling."

Buffy looked horrified but intrigued at the same time. "You've mud wrestled?"

"Hell yeah! It's fun, you should try it B. Loosen you up a bit."

"I am loose!" Faith gave her an incredulous look and laughed. "I am."

"B, if you were any more uptight you could get a diamond from a lump of coal if it were shoved up your ass."

"Eww, gross Faith."

"See what I mean?"

Buffy slapped Faith's arm and went about practicing the routine they were going to use for the next basketball match. Faith just grinned at her before leaping up onto a balance beam and flowing easily into a cartwheel followed by a back-flip. She was the best gymnast on the team but no matter how much the coach begged her she refused to join in with the competitions.

After a few more routine movements Faith was bored and decided to watch Buffy practice instead. While she could admit to herself that she had a bit of a crush on the blonde she wasn't about to get her hopes up about Buffy returning those feelings. She liked just being friends with her, and didn't want to ruin what they had.

When they weren't around their own friends they could be themselves. They both had reputations to uphold, but those reputations were built on acting and lies, and knowing the right people. They were comfortable with being themselves when they were alone like this. Faith would often flirt, and Buffy would giggle and play it off, but they never felt uncomfortable with it, it was just the way they were.

Faith traced Buffy's outline with an imaginary pencil in her mind. She loved to watch her move when she was practicing. The way her muscles moved under her skin, the rise and fall of her chest and the golden locks of hair that stuck to her face with perspiration.

Buffy could feel Faith's eyes on her, watching her every movement and tracing the contours of her body. When she and Faith had first started hanging out she had thought it was odd. Not odd because Faith was so obviously checking her out, ('cause it was no secret around campus that the brunette had no sexual preferences). However, it was odd that she liked the way the gymnast looked at her. She wasn't even worried or shocked now when she felt those feelings of arousal building in the pit of her stomach.

At first she had freaked. When she had passed Faith in the hall one day the brunette had given her a look that needed no interpretation and as a result she had felt a rush of energy shoot down towards her core. Quickly excusing herself from her friends she had gone to the bathroom to cool down, and for the rest of the day she had avoided the dark girl.

Not that that had helped her much. She had still spent the day thinking about her. Faith had caught up to her in the gym after their last class had finished and had been none the wiser of Buffy's behaviour throughout the day. So Buffy hadn't said anything about it and soon forgot that she'd ever been worried.

As Buffy was finishing up her routine, neither of them had noticed when a greying middle-aged man entered the gym and began watching the blonde from the sidelines. When Buffy pulled up out of her last move she looked straight at Faith and gave her a bright smile, which was returned eagerly. Both girls jumped when the man coughed, and Faith's eyes narrowed at him for the interruption. Buffy was the first to speak.

"Were you looking for someone?"

"I was looking for you actually." He said in a distinctly British accent.

Faith didn't like this guy already. He looked as if he knew something they didn't, and it made her feel slightly worried. She hated that feeling and unconsciously began growling in the back of her throat.

Buffy smiled inwardly at Faith's behaviour. She was being protective and it was cute. Focusing her attention back on the stranger she asked, "Why, am I in trouble or something? 'Cause if I am, I didn't do it."

"No you're not in trouble, I am. I'm years late, you should have been taught, prepared. I wasn't certain until just now that it was you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that I've been searching everywhere for you Buffy."

"Why?"

"I am here to show you your birthright."

"My birthright. What's that, like a trust fund or something?" She said her interest piqued.

"I think it will be easier for you to understand this birthright... if I show it to you. So you'll come with me now... to the graveyard." He said evenly.

Faith broke in at this point. "Wait a minute. Her trust fund is at the grave yard. You expect us to believe that? What a load of crap." She folded her arms across her chest in annoyance.

Buffy joined in. "You're like one of those skanky old men who attacks little girls and stuff, right? Well forget you!" She went to turn away, but stopped when he spoke again.

"My name is Merrick, and you have been chosen Buffy."

"Chosen to go to the graveyard. Well why don't you just take the first runner up, ok?"

"You must come to the grave yard with me now, while there is still time."

"Time to do what?" Faith asked.

"Time to stop the killing; to stop the vampires."

"Alright let me get this straight, ok? You want me to go to the graveyard with you, because I'm the chosen one, and there are vampires?"

"Yes."

Faith scoffed, she couldn't believe this guy, and she figured he must have escaped from the nuthouse or something.

"Does Elvis talk to you; does he tell you to do things? Do you see spots?"

Faith could barely hold in her laughter at Buffy's comments.

"Spots, yes of course. That's your proof. You bare the mark, of the coven." He went to show her where about the mark should be, but was stopped as the brunette grabbed his arm.

"Hey! Watch the hands buddy!" She scolded.

Buffy smiled at Faith before going back to the conversation. "You mean that big old hairy mole?" He nodded. "Eww, I had that thing removed. Besides, you knowing about my big old mole doesn't prove anything. Except, that it's way past medication time for you buddy. So why don't you just stay away from me, ok?"

Faith smirked at the look on the guy's face as they began to walk away. He sighed and rubbed his finger and thumb over the bridge of his nose.

"Do you ever have dreams that you're someone else?"

"Everyone does."

"Someone in the past; someone real. A maid-yard peasant girl perhaps, or an Indian princess, or a slave."

She looked curiously at him. "I was a slave."

"In Virginia."

"I dunno. There was like this big farm or something. There's one where there are these knights, and I am a..." She looked at him expectantly.

"A servant girl, a bar maid."

"Oh my God. I never told anybody about this." Faith looked slightly disappointed, which Buffy noticed. "I was going to though." She said quickly, which made the brunette smile.

"There's this one where there's this man, I think he's a man, he's in my dreams some times. I'm fighting him, always fighting him. But he's so strong."

"His name is Lothos."

"How did you know all this?"

"Because it is your birthright and I am part of it. You are the chosen one Buffy. You alone must stand against the darkness and the forces of evil. You are the slayer." He paused to gage their reactions. Both had an eyebrow raised adjacent to their hairlines but were patiently waiting for him to continue. "I come from a long line of watchers, who work to aid the slayer in her quest. So I am here to train you to fight evil. You'll come with me to the grave yard and I will show you?" He looked Buffy in the eye as he said this, and she couldn't help feeling that he was telling the truth, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

"Sure, whatever." She paused for a moment to consider her decision. Then looking towards Faith and, getting her consent she continued. "But Faith is coming with me. Just to be safe."

Merrick began to protest but Faith broke in. "If I don't go, then she ain't goin'. You got that?" He didn't look like he liked the idea but her voice booked no resistance so he simply nodded in reply. "Good. Come on B, we still gotta finish that project Ms. Wayland gave us."

Buffy hooked her arm through Faith's and walked away with her, while Merrick headed off in the opposite direction.

Buffy hardly recognized the girl she was back then. Everything at that time had been so trivial and... normal. A word she hadn't used to describe her life in such a long time. Snapping out of her thoughts, Buffy got up and decided to go downstairs and check out how the research was progressing.

The house was bigger than her mum's. They had gotten a place near the collage campus so they wouldn't have to go far to attend classes.

Faith's estranged Grandparents had left her their life savings in their will, which, (providing she didn't go nuts with it) would last her for a substantial amount of time.

They had made sure that the house had enough room for a training area as well as the basics, and it also had a conservatory on the back which faced west, so they could watch the sunset before patrol. There were four bedrooms; one for the slayers, one for Willow, who had moved in with them, and two spare rooms. They hadn't foreseen the addition of a baby to the household, but were mighty glad for the extra space when the unexpected happened.

Right now Willow, Anya, Xander and Amy were sitting at the dining table hidden behind a variety of books and computers, with a stack of books taking up residence at the centre of the table. They all looked up as the slayer entered the room.

"Any luck?" She asked hopefully.

The Wicca/Hacker smiled sadly and shook her head. "But we've still got a lot of stuff to go through. We could use an extra pair of eyes if you feel like joining us."

Buffy took a seat at the table in between the red head and Xander, and picking up a book she replied. "Might as well. I need something to get my mind away from thinking too much. Besides, the rain was getting kinda boring, it just keeps coming straight down, no change what so ever." She ran a hand through her hair and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. 'Getting her family back.'

*****

Sunnydale. 'Real' world.

As the humming in the air subsided, the brunette stood up, lifting the small child in her arms as she did so. The child was clutching at her neck and shaking slightly with fear. Faith tightened her embrace around the small girl and attempted to calm her down by making conversation.

"That was some storm, huh kiddo?" She looked around her trying to get a grip on her surroundings.

"Is it over?" The girl asked in a small voice.

"Yeah it's gone now. Nothing to worry about, I got ya."

"Where are we? Where are all the people?"

"Well. We're still in good ol' Sunnydale; we're still near where the Bronze used to be. It's getting dark, so everyone's probably at home eating their dinner. And little children your age should be tucked up in bed by now." She tickled the girl, making her giggle and paused to look around again. "So, I think we'd better head home, don't you sugar?" Beth nodded her head vigorously and rested her it back on Faith's shoulder.

The dark slayer set off cautiously, scanning the area for any sign of danger. Something didn't seem right to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. However, she could still feel the presence of the blonde slayer not too far away, so she was at least grateful for that.

*****

Sitting on the steps of the 'Magic Box' an hour later Faith was at a loss. She had gone to the house she, Buffy and Willow had called home for the past two years, but had found and elderly couple with three grandchildren living there instead.

Next she had decided to try the 'Magic Box', 'cause that's where they had planned to meet after they had defeated the demon. Only she had found it locked and the lights were turned off. Her key didn't even fit any of the locks. She was convinced that something was seriously wrong now, but was trying to keep calm for the kid's sake.

Getting up she decided to try one last place before giving in and getting a room for the night. Readjusting the sleeping infant in her arms she began walking in the direction of her mother in-law's house.

A little while later she was standing at the front door negotiating whether to ring the bell now or to wait until the morning when Mrs. S wouldn't be pissed off at her for waking her in the middle of the night. Or whoever else might be living there. Deciding that this was an extreme situation and considering the fact that her wife could be in there too she braved it and rang the bell.

It didn't take long before she heard footsteps on the stairs and the latch being pulled across the door to prevent whoever the late caller was from just barging in. As the door opened a crack Faith could clearly make out that the person behind it was Dawn, her sister in-law.

"Hey DW." She greeted relieved.

"Faith?" Dawn was surprised to see the other slayer at the door, having heard that she was still in prison, not to mention the fact that Faith appeared to be carrying a small child.

"Yeah. You gonna let me in, or do I gotta stand out here all night?"

Dawn closed the door so she could slide the chain back, and after hesitating for a moment longer opened the door again and stepped aside to let the brunette in.

Faith slipped inside and headed straight for the couch in the living room. After laying Beth down on the cushions and covering her with her coat, she turned back to Dawn.

"So, where's B?"

"She's on patrol. She should be back soon." After a short pause she added. "You're not back to hurt her again, are you?"

Faith was stunned by the younger girl's question and simply stared at her for a minute before answering.

"What would make you think I'd hurt B. I've never hurt her, and I never will. I promised you that years ago. Remember?" Thinking of her last words as a rhetorical question she didn't expect Dawn to answer in the way she did.

"How can you say that? You've done nothing but hurt her in the past. I shouldn't even have let you in, she's so gonna kill me." Dawn's last words were accompanied by a nervous glance at the door to check that said person hadn't appeared yet. "In fact I think you should go. I don't think she'd take too kindly to you being here."

Faith was stunned. Her, hurt Buffy. It wasn't possible. She'd never do it. She'd never even contemplated the fact that she could hurt Buffy.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the infant stirred and sat up. Upon realizing where she was the girl leapt up out of her seat and ran towards the young brunette, embracing her legs in a giant hug. After almost knocking her down with the hug, the girl then began jumping up and down with excitement. Before long she stopped suddenly and began tugging on Dawn's trousers.

"Aunty Dawn, I need to go to the bafroom, real bad."

Dawn simply stared at Faith dumbfounded. 'Aunty Dawn', she kept repeating the phrase over and over in her head. If she was the kid's aunt then that must mean that...No, it wasn't possible. She'd have noticed if Buffy had had a child.

"H... how?"

Faith could see that the blonde slayer's sister was shocked by this news so she offered her some advice.

"You'd better take her to the toilet or she's gonna ruin your carpet." Dawn just kept staring at her. "Unless you want me to take her?"

The young brunette snapped out of her thoughts and noticed that the kid was practically yanking on her clothes now. "No it's ok, I'll do it. You just stay here."

Faith gave her an exaggerated smile. "I won't move a muscle."

Dawn quickly picked up the youngster and carried her upstairs, while Faith slumped on the couch and buried her head in her hands, trying to figure out what had happened to them.

'How could this happen? Where the hell was she and how was she supposed to get back home?' It occurred to her that she must be in some sort of alternative universe. The fact that the Faith that lived here had hurt Buffy in some way disturbed her slightly, but she tried to remain positive by remembering all the good times her and B had had together. Like their first kiss.

1994. Buffy's bedroom, in LA.

Faith winced for the third time as Buffy tried to clean the wound on her upper arm. She had insisted on going on patrol with the slayer 'to watch her back'. Buffy had tried to refuse but was beaten down by the dejected look on the brunette's face. 'And I thought I could pout' thought the blonde.

Faith noticed the concerned look on her friend's face and knew immediately what it meant.

"B, I'll be ok. It was just a scratch. No biggie."

"No biggie! Faith there's a gash on your arm as deep as the 'Grand Canyon'. Don't try acting tough with me, 'cause it won't work." She paused as she carried on cleaning the wound. "I shouldn't have let you come; it's too dangerous out there."

"Precisely why I came in the first place. I'm not letting you go out there on your own."

"I'm the slayer, it's my job. You shouldn't have to risk your life for me."

"Oh, but you're allowed to risk your life for me, and the rest of the world." Faith said as more of a statement than a question.

Buffy finished wrapping Faith's arm and looked her in the eye. "I just don't like seeing you get hurt."

"What, and I like seeing you get hurt?"

"Supernatural healing, remember?"

"I know you've got these slayer powers, but they don't make you invincible Buffy. Look, I can help by distracting the vamps so you can pummel them. If I have to risk a few cuts here and there to keep you alive and kicking ass, then that's what I'm gonna do. And there's nothing that you can say to me that'll make me change my mind."

Buffy nodded and looked the other girl in the eye. "Why are you doing this for me? You barely know me. We've been friends for what... all of two months?"

Faith raised her good arm and tucked a strand of hair behind the slayer's ear. "'Cause I care about ya B. Out of all of my friends you're the one I've known the shortest time, and yet you know me better than any of them. I don't have to act around you, and you never make me feel uncomfortable. And I bet I know you better than any of your 'sheep'." She stopped caressing the blonde's face and added. "Plus, you know you're a total hottie."

The blonde laughed and turning away started cleaning up the first aid equipment. "Ok so I can't make you stay at home when I go on patrol, but you'd better start training with me so you'll be able to handle yourself when we're out." Changing the subject she continued. "Are you going to the dance next month?"

Faith smiled at the change of subject, and while watching the blonde with interest she answered. "Nah. I'd only get bored. Besides, there's no one I'd want to ask."

Buffy seemed disappointed at that, and looking directly at Faith she gave her a curious look. "No one at all?"

The brunette smirked. 'You asked for this B.' "Well, there is this one girl, but I don't think she'd accept."

The slayer sat back down next to her friend. "What makes you think that?" She said in all seriousness.

Faith frowned. She hadn't been expecting that answer. She momentarily wondered if Buffy was playing her, but the look in the other girl's eyes assured her that she wasn't.

"Aren't you going with Geoff?"

Buffy smiled then scoffed. "I am so over him. We should have broken up ages ago; the whole thing was just for the image. Well that and he wanted to get into my pants."

"Why didn't you tell me? We could have celebrated."

She laughed. "I was just waiting for the right time to bring it up... Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you go to the dance with me?"

"What about that guy, the one with the fish name you thought was cute?"

"Pike?" Faith nodded. "He's ok. But I don't want him. Faith, please go to the dance with me. Don't make me go all butch on you."

"Well, since you put it so nicely, how could I resist?" She gave the blonde a bright smile, and noticed for the first time that they seemed to be gravitating towards each other.

"Good." Buffy smiled too.

The smile faltered as she moved closer to the brunette, hesitating for a moment to gage Faith reaction. She could clearly see the passion and anticipation in her eyes and closing the gap Buffy pressed her lips lightly against Faith's. After a short moment, both savouring the feel of lips pressed against lips, Faith opened her mouth and ran her tongue across Buffy's lip. The blonde responded by wrapping her mouth around Faith's bottom lip, and after sucking on it for a few seconds, let it slide back out. After repeating the process on the brunette's top lip she allowed Faith's tongue entrance to her mouth.

Faith's hands were now on the blonde's hips, and Buffy moved hers up to tangle in dark brown locks of hair. Moaning slightly as their tongues duelled Buffy pulled Faith's head closer, tightening the embrace. After a couple of minutes, both finding the need to breath they pulled back slightly, but kept their arms around one another.

Faith opened her eyes and looked straight into Buffy's. "Wow!"

"Yeah. I'd say that about sums it up." They began to move back in before Faith spoke again.

"Does this mean you're my girlfriend?" Buffy answered by kissing her again with more passion. After breaking off again Faith continued. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes! Now shut up and kiss me."

"I thought I'd be the butch one." Buffy growled. "You're insatiable you know that?" Before Buffy could answer Faith caught her lips in another bruising kiss, making all thoughts of a come back fly out of the blonde's head.

Bringing herself back to the present Faith sensed someone at the door then heard a key in the lock.

*****

Stepping into her hallway Buffy sensed the presence of someone nearby. Tensing her body for a fight she turned to her left and looked straight into the eyes of her sister slayer, who was standing in front of the couch in her living room.

The dark slayer's eyes seemed to look right through to her soul and they drew her closer like a magnet. She stopped when she was just two feet from the brunette. "Faith." She whispered and lifted her hand to touch the other girl, just to make sure she wasn't imagining her.

Her mind was racing. She kept telling herself that the girl in front of her had tried to kill her and her friends more than once in the past, but she couldn't bring herself to hate Faith at this moment. Truth was that she had missed slaying with her. Patrolling with her friends was ok but she missed the synchronicity that she had with the other slayer.

As Buffy reached out to touch her, Faith noticed for the first time the smell of fresh blood. Looking down at the blonde's arm she noticed a large gash on her forearm, and looking across she could see that whatever had done it had caught her abdomen at the same time.

Concern sweeping across her face she reached out to touch the wound on her arm. "Are you ok B? What happened?"

Looking down at her wound she cursed as she realized that her cut had reopened and was bleeding again. 'Spike is so gonna pay for this. I liked this top.'

"It's nothing, just some vamp got lucky."

Faith was about to reply when Dawn came back down carrying Beth in her arms, who was practically asleep again. Faith noticed that the front of Dawn's t-shirt was wet and gave her a questioning look.

"She decided she wanted to play with the taps while I was trying to wash her hands." Dawn looked annoyed but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes as well. She handed Beth to Faith and turned towards her sister as she realizing her presence, not noticing Buffy's injury as she had covered it up. "Hey Buffy. Erm, I let Faith in if that's ok, 'cause, well, the kid looked kinda cold. I wouldn't normally, you know that... I'm gonna go back to bed, what with tomorrow being a school day an' all... Bye." Dawn backed away from her sister for fear that she'd get told off for letting Faith in. She gave Buffy a sheepish smile and headed off up the stairs.

"I should've warned her about that. She likes playing with the taps." Faith cradled the girl as she drifted off not realizing Buffy was standing in the room. Seeing the curious look on the other slayer's face Faith began to explain what she had concluded since being there. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here right?"

Buffy nodded and added. "I was also wondering how come you're not in jail anymore. What did you do? Break out?"

Faith shook off the shock of Buffy's question, and continued. "Actually I don't know why I'm here. I'm not from this world; at least I don't think so." Buffy raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when Faith held her hand up for her to stop. "Wait. Let me just finish what I've got to say." The blonde closed her mouth and nodded. "I'll just tell you the basics of how I think I came to be here... Red and Amy found a spell to defeat a demon that'd managed to take Beth while we'd been gone. You and I had tried to fight it, but it was pretty fit so we enlisted their help. The spell involved sending the demon to a hell dimension by opening a portal. We tracked it and kept it busy while they performed the spell. You told me to get Beth while the spell was being performed. The kid and I musta got caught by some stray magic or something, 'cause the next thing I know is this huge storm comes and when it went we were here. Or rather, near the Bronze."

"So you came here to look for me. Or the other Buffy." She looked sceptical as she said this.

"No, well yes... I went to our place first, but some old couple is living there, and no one was at the magic shop, so then I came here, hoping that at the very least your mum would be here." She said with all innocence, and noticing the sad look on Buffy's face she frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. You'll understand if this is hard to believe. I'm gonna call Angel just to make sure."

"What's he gotta do with it?" Faith's voice held a jealous edge, which the blonde picked up on.

"He should know whether you're still in the pen or not. Ok?"

"Sure, give dead-boy a ring." She turned towards Beth and began stroking her head as Buffy walked towards the phone. It was still very early morning so Buffy was sure Angel wouldn't be too mad at her for calling.

Hitting speed dial she waited for someone to pick up at the other end. After a few rings someone picked up.

*Angel investigations, we help the hopeless.* It was Cordelia.

"Cordelia. It's Buffy, is Angel here?"

*Do you realize what time it is? Never mind I'll just get him.*

Buffy pulled the phone away from her ear as Cordelia shouted to Angel in the background. She heard Cordelia telling Angel who was on the phone, and then Angel picked up the phone.

*Buffy?* Angel said, sounding worried.

"Erm, hi Angel. I'm sorry to bug you this late, but I need to ask you something."

*Er sure, what is it?*

"Do you know if Faith's still in jail?"

Angel paused for a while, and Buffy almost thought he'd hung up when he spoke again.

*Why do you want to know?*

"Does it matter?" She said a little testily, and then reconsidered her question. "Faith's here with me. She claims to have been brought here from another dimension or something, so I was checking up with you to see if her story checked out."

*Oh. Well, no she's not in jail Buffy. She got out a few weeks ago.* Buffy frowned and turned towards where Faith was still stroking the infants head, a small smile on her lips. She couldn't believe the brunette had lied to her again, and that she'd almost believed her. *Buffy? Buffy!?* Angel's voice broke into her thoughts.

"What?"

*As I was saying. She got out a few weeks ago and she's staying here. She's been helping us out with some cases. So if you've got her there as well, then she's probably telling the truth. If you want I can do some research here. Do you know what spell brought her here?*

Realizing that she'd been a bit hasty she answered him calmly. "No. But she can tell you what she told me. I'll just go get her, hold on."

She walked back into the living room from the hall. "Faith, can you talk to Angel, and tell him what you told me. He's gonna see if he can get any info for you."

Faith looked surprised but shook it off and walked into the hall. She told Angel what had happened, and he said he'd see what they could find.

Hanging up the phone sat back on the couch with Buffy and Beth.

"So. What did he say?"

"Not much. Just that he'd look into it. It's weird talking to someone on the phone when you know your 'other worldly double' is somewhere there in the background. I can't wait to get home."

Buffy looked curiously at her. "What's your world like?"

"Pretty much the same as this, only certain circumstances are different."

"Like what? Tell me how we met."

"Er, ok. Well, I moved to LA with my folks when I was fourteen. Our English teacher Ms. Wayland asked you to show me around, so I guess that's how we met. I was there when Merrick told you about the calling. Then I moved back to Boston 'cause my dad got a new job. Our car was hit on the way from the airport to our new place it killed my parents instantly." She heard a gasp from Buffy, and turned to look at her. "It's ok; I've come to terms with it... Anyway, I didn't know of any other family members that could take me in, so they put me into foster care. They wouldn't let me call you so I couldn't let you know what had happened. By the time I did manage to call, you had already moved to Sunny D. It wasn't until I became a slayer that I got to see you again. My watcher didn't want me to meet up with you, but when she was killed I couldn't think of anything else to do. You were kinda pissed off at first 'cause you thought I'd just forgotten about you, but we soon made up."

"Wow, that's quite different to what happened here. I never even knew you 'till we were slayers, and even then we didn't get all that close. We were both pretty closed off to one another. I guess we both had issues and chose to hide them. What about..." She said, gesturing towards the girl.

"That's Beth. She's my daughter. She's gonna be four next month, so I hope we can get home before then. B's gonna be pissed if she misses it."

"Do you know who the father is?" Faith nodded, and after waiting for an answer and not getting it Buffy asked who it was.

"You sure you wanna know?"

"Yeah, why? It's not Xander or someone like that is it?"

Faith laughed. "No. Like I'd sleep with him." Buffy didn't comment. "You."

"Me what?"

"You. You're the father."

*****

Meanwhile, in AU.

"What do you mean you can't find them!?" Buffy yelled, piercing everyone's eardrums that were closest to her. Each of them backed off a few inches.

They had found a location spell, and because of Faith's status as a slayer they were optimistic that they would be able to get her location thus finding Beth as well. Willow was exhausted from the spell, which had been ongoing for the best part of two hours. The spell was simple enough, but even she had her limits. She had double checked every alternative dimension within the limits that the two could have been sent and she had come up with nothing.

"Buffy, calm down. Willow's doing the best she can. This just means that they're not in a demon dimension like we originally thought. The only thing I can think of now is that she must have been pulled into and alternative reality by the spell's energy."

Buffy looked at the dark haired witch dumbfounded. "Huh?"

Willow intervened for Amy at this point, having got some of her strength back. "You know that time my evil vamp twin was pulled here?" Buffy nodded her head. "It's kinda like that, only it would be a different universe than that one. There's a better chance that they're safe in another universe than a demon dimension. Most things will be the same, such as the people and places, to a certain extent anyway; it's mainly circumstances that change. The Buffy and Faith that are there will be slayers too, so it's likely that someone will recognize our Faith. Faith and Beth will have landed at exactly the same place they were taken from, so our chances of finding them are better, it's just that the spell to bring them back is more complicated and will require more time and energy."

Buffy relaxed a little after hearing this. It would take longer to get her wife and child back, but in the meantime they were probably quite safe. Their doubles would be able to help Faith if she needed it, so she allowed herself to relax a little.

"I'm sorry Will. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, it's just that I'm scared for them, and for me. What if we can never get them back? I could lose them forever and I don't think I could carry on without them. It's only been two days and I miss them like crazy. It's Beth's birthday in a couple of weeks. I could miss my only daughter's fourth birthday. I don't want to let that happen."

She sat down on the floor and, sinking her head down into her hands, she started crying again. It didn't last that long this time though. She had been trying to get a grip on her emotions because she knew that she wasn't helping, and was only taking up time they needed for researching.

Standing back up again and wiping the tears from her face she sat back down at the table and opened another book. "So, tell me what I'm looking for."

*****

The blonde slayer was dreaming again. She was reliving the first time she had lost Faith, and then their reunion a couple of years later, in her mind.

You think I like this? It's not the first, or even the second time I've had to move because my dad got a new job. I really thought he was gonna stick at this one. Otherwise I'd have never let myself get involved with anyone."

Faith's parents had dropped a bomb on her that morning by telling her that they were going to move back to Boston, because her father had decided to change careers again. She was not only pissed off by this but she was sad because she was going to have to leave Buffy.

"Do you regret it? Getting involved with me?" Buffy was on the verge of tears.

Faith moved closer to the blonde and put her arms around her, kissing her lightly on the head as she did so. "Of course not B." She sighed. "You're the best thing that's happened to me, you know that? I've never felt this way about anyone before." She pulled back to look Buffy in the eye, and ran her finger tips down her cheek. She leaned in and kissed the slayer softly. When she pulled back Buffy could see the tears in the brunette's eyes. "I'm sorry B, there's nothing I can do. I'll call you as soon as we get there, ok? I'll try and visit in the summer. Or I'll ask if you can come up to stay with me. We'll work it all out, you'll see."

*****

More than two years later.

Giles was in his office in the school library reading a book while taking a much needed break. Things were beginning to get back to normal again after Buffy's running away to LA. After the zombie incident at the slayer's home they had sat down and had a little heart to heart with the group so everyone could get their feelings out in the open. The atmosphere had been much more relaxed after that.

The Watcher was brought away from his book by someone calling his name from the entrance to the library. Putting down the novel and his tea, he walked out of his office and was met by a young brunette wearing tight jeans, a white t-shirt, biker boots, and a leather jacket. He immediately deducted that she wasn't a student come looking for a book.

"May I help you?" He enquired.

"You Rupert Giles?" She asked with a thick Bostonian accent and an added flick of the head.

He nodded and she extended her hand to him. "I'm Faith. The new slayer."

He became suddenly more interested. "Oh. Well, um, it's very nice to meet you Faith. What brings you to Sunnydale?"

He noticed that she became sad for a moment but it quickly passed. "Came to meet the infamous Buffy, what else?"

Giles smiled. "Yes, quite. Did you come alone or did your watcher accompany you? Who is your watcher by the way?"

"Geez, I didn't expect such an inquiry. Her name was Sarah Mannors."

The Watcher became more curious at her use of the past tense. "Was?"

She looked him in the eye briefly before looking away and jumping up to sit on the table. "You know I had this whole story worked out so nobody would have to find out, but I guess it's inevitable that you're gonna find out eventually." She took a deep breath. "I came alone. Vamps got her a coupla weeks ago. She's dead."

Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them before putting them back on. And then put a hand on the brunette's back hoping to offer her some comfort. "I'm sorry for your loss Faith. I understand how hard it must be to admit what happened, but we Watchers know the consequences of our work and sometimes tragic things happen which we cannot stop. No matter how much we may want to."

He paused for a moment then sat down at the table and motioned for the slayer to do the same. "Usually it's the slayer that dies first. We are trained vigorously about the dangers of becoming too attached to the slayers we train, but I haven't met a watcher yet who wasn't deeply upset by the death of their slayer."

He took his glasses off to clean them again. "When I discovered the prophesy that Buffy was going to die I tried desperately to disprove it. And then when she was prepared to face her destiny I tried to stop her, wanting to go in her place... She knocked me out, and went anyway." He smiled, and looked Faith directly in the eye. "You're welcome to stay under my care for as long as you wish Faith. I must say it will be interesting to see how two slayers trained together could function as a unit."

"Thanks G-man... Speaking of Buffy, do you have any idea what time she'll get here?"

He looked at his watch, which told him that it was close to lunch time. "Um, she should be coming to see me before she goes for lunch, so she shouldn't be too long. You're welcome to wait... In fact we could make use of this time, and you could show me which weapons you've been trained in so far."

"Cool. Show me what you've got, and I'll tell you what I've used."

*****

There were several pieces of ancient weaponry laid out on the table in the middle of the library. The librarian was obviously not worried about any unknown student or faculty member walking in. Giles was assessing the dark slayer's sword techniques when the door opened, and laughter could be heard as Buffy and Willow walked in, followed closely by Xander, Cordelia and Oz. They were already half way in before they noticed Faith, and Buffy stopped dead in her tracks when she did, causing Xander to almost collide with her.

"Faith," the blonde said after a moment of silent staring.

"Hey B. D'ya miss me?"

Faith was nervous. After all, the girl she had fallen for more than two years previously and hadn't spoken to since leaving was standing directly in front of her, doing a great imitation of a fish needing water.

Getting a hold of herself Buffy closed her mouth. Suddenly overcome with anger at the girl who she had trusted with her heart, and who she thought had betrayed her. She strode purposefully up to the brunette, and harshly slapped her across the cheek.

Faith was taken aback. "Whoa B. What the hell was that for?"

"You leave with hardly any notice, you don't call me for more than two years, and then you just show up out of the blue!! And you have the nerve to ask me what's wrong! Why'd you come here Faith, did you just want to screw with my head again?"

Everyone was shocked at the outburst and all eyes turned on Faith, waiting for her answer. Only the witch among them knew what they were arguing about, and she was looking critically at the dark girl.

"No! I never wanted to screw with your head. B, can we go somewhere else so I can explain it to you."

Buffy was feeling defensive and didn't want to give in, so she was stubborn. "No I think I'll stay right here thank-you."

"Fine. Then I'll just tell everyone, including anybody that might walk in here, all the gory details of just why you're so upset." She didn't think that Buffy would have told them all about their relationship so she played the blackmail card.

The blonde slayer's jaw was set firmly and she was pouting slightly because she knew the other slayer had caught her out. "Giles, can we use your office for a while?"

The Watcher shook himself out of his state of bewilderment. "Of course, just don't touch anything. I've been cataloguing so all my papers are in a specific order."

His words fell on deaf ears, as both slayers' minds were elsewhere. As they entered the small room the blonde slayer began to wish that she had chosen elsewhere to go, that way she could put some distance between herself and the brunette. As it was the only two chairs that could fit in the room were placed directly next to one another. She sighed as she took a seat and motioned to Faith to do the same.

Faith sat facing Buffy, who was looking anywhere in the room but at the other girl. Buffy could feel those deep brown eyes staring intently at her; she felt like they were looking right into her soul. How was it that only Faith could do that to her? She sat fidgeting and getting increasingly uncomfortable as the silence dragged on.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Talk already." She was getting impatient.

Faith sighed. "B... Buffy, look at me." The blonde continued to stare at her hands. Faith scooted her chair closer. "Buffy, please."

She looked up at Faith and gazed into her eyes. She marvelled at how they could seem so sincere; even now when she had convinced herself that all they had ever done was lie to her.

Faith took hold of the ex-cheerleader's hands and cupped them in her own, relieved that she did not back away from her.

"Buffy, I never wanted to hurt you. You have to believe that... I've wanted to call you every day for the past two years."

"Then why didn't you?" She sounded hurt more than angry now, and Faith could see tears welling up in her eyes.

The brunette looked down for a moment to gather her thoughts. "B, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, 'cause this just isn't the place, so just bare with me, please." Buffy nodded. "When we got off the plane in Boston my dad hired a courtesy car to drive us home. We were driving down the freeway when a drunk driver crashed into us from the side. I was knocked out, and when I woke up I was in the hospital..." She paused, this was the hard part. "My folks... they're dead Buffy... Doctors said they died instantly in the crash."

She paused to run a shaky hand through her hair, and looked up at the other girl, who was crying silently. Also feeling rather guilty for her outburst earlier.

"I...I'm sorry, I..."

"B, don't apologies. You didn't know; it's not your fault." She lifted a hand to brush away the tears from the blonde's face and rested it on her cheek for a moment before cupping her hands again.

"The first thing I wanted to do was to call you, but they wouldn't let me. They kept saying that as soon as I'd got settled into care then I'd be able to call you. If I'd known it was gonna take so fuckin' long I'd have snuck out and used a pay phone... Anyway, by the time they found me a place to go you had already moved. The people living in your old place didn't know your new number, so I didn't know what to do. I'm really sorry B; I wish I'd thought more about it. It wouldn't have taken much to sneak out..."

Buffy withdrew a hand from Faith's strong hold and put a finger to her lips, effectively silencing her.

"Shhh, don't. You did what you could at the time. Under the circumstances, it's no wonder you didn't think more about it. I hate myself for thinking the worst, but I just couldn't take it any more... It was easier to think the worst and try and hate you than constantly worrying about what might have happened to prevent you from keeping your promise... I've missed you so much Faith. I tried to move on like they told me, but barely a day's gone by when I haven't thought about you."

"Me too B. I missed you like crazy. I dreamt about holding you again and kissing you. Hell I fantasized about seeing you around every corner, just wanting to see your smile again."

They were looking directly at one another again, seeing straight into each other's souls. Buffy touched the brunette's cheek and wiped a stray tear away with her thumb.

"There's more, isn't there?"

The dark slayer lowered her head, ashamed, and fixated her eyes on her hands. "Yeah. There's more. I...I can't talk about it right now, not here."

Buffy stroked her hair away from her face. "It's ok, you don't have to. Tell me when you're ready to. Ok?"

Faith smiled and looked back up at the other slayer. "Yeah, when I'm ready. Like in ten years from now." She smirked and laughed half-heartedly.

The ex-cheerleader smiled with relief and joy for the return of the dark slayer, but inwardly wept for the time they had spent apart. She pulled Faith into a tight embrace, and held her as they both cried into each other's shoulders.

*****

Giles moved away from the door, having confirmed the suspensions in his mind. Remembering Buffy's behaviour when she first arrived in Sunnydale, and since Faith had arrived, he surmised that the slayer's relationship went deeper than they wanted anyone to know. Now, watching them cry on one another's shoulders, he felt happy for them. Happy that they had finally come together again. Happy that they could perhaps find joy that was previously lacking; at least for Buffy he knew it had been.

Even when she was with Angel he knew that there was something missing. Watching the two girls now, he could conclude what that something was. He walked back over to where the others were waiting.

"I think you should all go on to lunch. I don't think Buffy is going to be joining you today. It seems like they have a lot to catch up on, so it wouldn't be worth waiting."

Xander was about to object but Willow cut in. "As long as Buffy's ok. If she comes out tell her we'll be in our usual spot on the grass."

"Sure, I'll do that." The watcher assured her, and she dragged her friend out with her; their respective partners following.

PART TWO

‘Real’ World.

In the Summers’ home two slayers sat silently staring at one another. The brunette was wondering if she’d said too much, and was wishing she could take it back. Whereas the blonde was simply stunned, debating whether she should believe the other girl or not.

“I… I…” Buffy stuttered, not knowing what to say or where to start.

“I’m sorry B. I shouldn’t have said anything. But really it’s not even you, it my Buffy who’s the father, not you… So just forget I said anything.”

Gathering her thoughts the other slayer got up from her seat and started pacing, trying to get the shock out of her system. She began to ask questions. “So, we’re…” She moved her finger back and forth between the two of them in a gesture meant to replace words. She had to remind herself that she was talking about her double, and not her self. She was also trying not to get angry. Anger was a reflex of fear, and at that moment she was scared shitless of the ramifications of this information. “You know?” Faith nodded. “How serious is it? Well it must be pretty serious if you’ve got a kid. How long have you been together?”

“Well there was the two years when I was stuck in Boston, and we had a rough patch when dead-boy came back from hell, then there was the coma. Technically we were still together then, but couldn’t talk to one another. So I’d say about, four and a half, coming up to five years; all together.”

Buffy sat down with a sigh, and ran a hand through her hair. “Wow. I wish I could manage to keep a relationship together for that long. Or even have a relationship where it doesn’t end in them becoming evil would be nice.”

Faith laughed. “Come on B, you must’ve had others since dead-boy, ones that weren’t vamps.” Buffy looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Faith. “You gotta be kidding me. Who?”

Buffy fidgeted for a moment, “Spike.”

Faith was shocked. “You dated Spike?”

“Well, not dated exactly. Just… had sex with.” Buffy kept her eyes on the floor, not wanting to see the disgust that she was sure would be in the brunette’s eyes.

Faith closed her eyes and willed herself not to get angry; reminding herself that this was not the same person she fell in love with. She figured that there must have been a reason for Buffy to have sex with a vampire, one that didn’t have a soul anyway.

“Why… why did you have sex with Spike?”

“It’s a really long story.” She really didn’t want to do this. She had tried to put it in the past, and not think about that particular mistake.

“B, I understand what it’s like to need to, just feel. But you could get any guy you want, so why choose Spike? I’m not trying to judge you, I just want to understand that much.”

Buffy believed she was sincere, and that she wouldn’t judge, she still had a hard time talking about it, but she wanted to give it a go.

“Ok. When my friends resurrected me…” she was interrupted.

“Whoa, time out. Resurrected? You died, again?”

“Yeah, when fighting Glory. The portal had opened and I had to jump to save Dawn. You mean I didn’t die in your world?”

“No, we got to Dawn before the ritual started. That Doc guy gave us the slip for a moment, to get to the tower while we fought Glory. Willow warned us that someone was getting close to Dawn, and Spike tried to fight him but got thrown off the tower for his efforts,” she tried not to sound too bitter when talking about Spike. He had after all helped them out a whole lot, “so I went up after him and returned the favour.”

Buffy took her time digesting this, and then shook herself out of it; trying not to think too much about the ‘what ifs’. “When they brought me back, it was like there was nothing left inside of me. It was like I couldn’t feel, nothing was getting through. Spike was… he made me feel something, when I was with him, for a little while I could feel. I hated myself for being with him. For ages I felt dirty; nothing I could do, no matter how many showers I took could wash away the shame I felt.” She was feeling that tightening inside her chest again when she thought about it.

Faith sensed her anguish and moved closer to comfort her. Putting an arm around her shoulder she rubbed her back soothing the blonde slayer; encouraging her to let go of her emotions. As soon as she started sobbing she couldn’t stop. Faith held her tightly as her body was wracked with sobs; knowing that she had probably been keeping this in for a long time.

As the tears subsided Buffy became uncomfortable and backed away from Faith. The brunette was disappointed but tried not to show it, giving the blonde her space.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that…”

“B you don’t have to apologies, sometimes you just gotta let go. It’s not healthy to keep it all in.”

“Yeah, well. Thanks, but I’m ok.”

“Sure, whatever.” She decided not to push her and changed the subject. “Do you mind if I use the ‘Magic Box’ resources, so I can find a way to get home.”

Buffy wiped her eyes once more, shaking off her brief retreat into the abyss. “Sure. I’ll take you there in the morning, and we can get started on the research.” She took another look at Faith before she got up. “I’m gonna get a couple of hours sleep before we head out. You’re welcome to stay. I can get you a blanket if you want.”

“Um, yeah sure. Thanks. Is it alright if I get a drink?”

“Help yourself. You know where everything is?” Faith nodded. “Ok then.” She turned and ascended the stairs.

After wrapping Beth up in the blanket the other slayer had brought her, Faith sat down in the chair opposite her and watched her sleep, rethinking everything that had happened since she had arrived in this universe; especially all that she had learned about this new Buffy.

She had noticed that there was a tenseness in her that she hadn’t seen in her Buffy. After what Dawn had told her about her double she half expected Buffy to attack her, much less end up crying on her shoulder. Learning about her and Buffy’s doubles from this world was making her head spin a little.

They were so different, but a lot alike at the same time.

*****

Laying in her bed the blonde slayer was finding it hard to fall asleep. Walking in to find the other slayer in her house had been less of a shock than she would’ve expected. She had felt her presence as she had got closer to home, coming back from patrol. Thinking that she must be imagining it, she tried to push it to the back of her mind; like she had done any other time she felt herself beginning to think about *her*.

She now knew that, in some other universe she and Faith were a couple, and that her Faith had been let out of prison and was now working for one of her ex’s. The multitude of thoughts that were rotating around her head was making it impossible for her to sleep.

Wondering if she could have had what Buffy had in the other world. Wondering whether things could have been different if she’d only admitted her feelings. Wondering what ‘her’ Faith was doing, thinking; whether she still wanted to apologise for what went down in the past. Contemplating whether she was ready to accept her apology.

True, she had missed having the dark slayer around, but the past was still looming like a dark cloud over her head; making her doubt her own judgment when it came to her sister slayer. Their relationship had been so turbulent over the years that she hardly knew how she was supposed to act around her when they inevitably met again.

Should she forgive and forget? Accept that mistakes had been made; both by she and Faith.

Deciding that she would at least try to talk to Faith about everything that had gone on, and would go from there depending on what the outcome was; she drifted off into a light sleep.

*****

Glancing at the clock for the fifth time Faith sighed. It was nearly seven o’clock. She hadn’t been able to get to sleep all night. Having too much to think about (and getting caught up in the small mannerisms Beth displayed while sleeping); she couldn’t bring herself to rest properly.

Getting up out of her seat she took a quick look around and soon found what she was looking for. Picking up her fellow slayer’s keys (firstly locating the ‘Magic Box’ key), she lifted Beth up into her arms, and making sure not to wake her; she ascended the stairs to Buffy’s bedroom.

Entering the room she approached the bed to ascertain whether the slayer was asleep or not. Seeing that Buffy was sleeping peacefully she decided not to wake her. Finding a pen and paper, she scribbled down a note; telling her that she’d borrowed her keys and had gone to the magic shop, having not being able to sleep, and that she’d see her when she got there.

A while later she had reached the ‘Magic Box’. Repositioning Beth in her arms she tried the door and was surprised to find it open. She glanced up when she heard the bell ring; announcing her arrival. And her eyes met with the shop’s owner’s upon entering.

Anya jumped up, ready to attend a customer, despite the fact that the shop was supposed to be closed.

“Do you need help in purchasing any items?”

“No thanks, An. Just came to use your books for research.”

Anya looked puzzled. “Do I know you?”

Faith extended her free hand to the ex-demon. “I’m Faith. I asked Buffy if I could use your books and she said it was ok. Probably should’ve asked you though, seeing as it’s your place.” She walked over to the table and placed the child down; covering her with her coat. “You see, I’m not supposed to be here. Some how I got sucked into this universe from my own, and I wanna find a way to get back.”

Anya seemed to accept that and began pulling books out on portals and alternate universes. “Well these should help you get started.” She placed a pile of large texts on the table and returned to her place behind the counter.

Beth woke up to the noise and looked up at the slayer with sleepy eyes. After sitting up she lowered herself into a chair next to Faith.

“Where are we?” She asked, not yet having gathered her surroundings.

“We’re at the ‘Magic Box’ sweetie.” Faith picked up a pen and some paper off the table and handed them to Beth. “Here you go. This is to keep you occupied.”

“What shall I draw?”

The brunette thought for a moment. “Draw something to give to ‘daddy’ when we get home.”

The girl giggled; having always found the way Faith teased Buffy about being a ‘father’, really funny. “Like what?”

“I dunno. Think about what your favourite thing in the world is, and draw that.”

She watched as the girl picked up the pen in her fist and thought about what to draw. The dark slayer slumped back in her chair and unenthusiastically picked up the first book.

“I could do with having Red here to help me go through all this.” She said to no one in particular.

Just then the training room door opened and in walked Xander.

“Well I think that’s fixed that. As long as the Bufster keeps her demon friends out of here in future it should all be fine.” He leaned up against the counter after putting his tool kit down. Facing Anya he added. “But I think we all know how unlikely that’ll be.” He then noticed that there was somebody else in the room. Turning to the ex-demon he whispered. “Who’s that?”

Still not having mastered tact she answered loud enough for anyone to hear. “She said Buffy sent her here to use the books.”

“Thank-you Anya. Did you happen to notice that I was whispering? It tends to indicate that you should whisper back.” He replied, still in a hushed tone.

“I heard you anyway Xand. Slayers have excellent hearing, you know that? Hey if you haven’t got anything else to do you could help me out here.” She turned towards him smiling. A smile which faded as soon as she noticed the look of horror on his face. “You ok? You look paler than normal.” She said; expressing genuine concern.

“Faith. How did you… What do you want? And what did you do to Buffy?” He said with a renewed sense of bravery, spurred on by anger and hatred for the dark slayer.

Realizing why he was scared of her she resisted an urge to make a come back about never having hurt Buffy; at least not intentionally. Turning back to her books she calmly answered him.

“Buffy’s fine Xander. I didn’t want to wake her up, so I borrowed her keys and left her a note. She should be here soon. As to what I want. Well, I just wanna find a way to get home, an’ I’m hopin’ the answer will be in one of these books.”

“Get home. Why are you looking through magic books? Can’t you just buy a plane ticket, or hop on the train?”

“Not when my home is in another universe I can’t.” She then went on to explain to him how she had come to be there, and that she was from an alternative universe. Needless to say he was sceptical.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

She sighed and turned to Beth, who had stopped her activities to watch the conversation.

“Beth, what happens to liars?”

She thought about it for a moment. “They don’t get desert?”

“Correct, and I like desert so I couldn’t be lying, could I?” The girl shook her head vigorously, sporting a huge grin.

“That’s it? That’s your confirmation? That you wouldn’t risk missing desert.”

“Yep. That’s it.”

Xander was speechless as he stared at the back of the slayer’s head, thinking that she had gone crazy. Or, crazier than he already thought she was. Before he could say more, the blonde slayer chose that moment to join them.

She singled out Faith straight away. “Found anything yet?”

The brunette looked at her and shook her head. “I might have done though if Xander would let me get on with it, and maybe help out a little.” Her voice was relieved and held an air of humour to it so that Buffy would know she was joking.

Xander gave her a confused and slightly angry look, which she responded to by silently telling him that they would talk about it later. He accepted and went about his normal business, while carefully eyeing the brunette for any unusual behaviour.

As soon as she heard Buffy speak, Beth slid off her seat, with her half finished drawing in her hand. Faith and Buffy exchanged a worried look as Beth grew more and more excited.

Buffy obliged the little girl by picking her up, and then putting her on her lap as she sat down at the table.

“Mommy told me to draw you a picture for when we get home. I drawed you a sunshine,” (which came out more like ‘shunsine’) “and a house with fields around it. I was gonna draw a donkey in a field but I didn’t have a chance yet, and they’re really hard to draw.”

The slayers exchanged another glance, and Faith made a decision to tell her daughter, in sugar coated terms, the truth about where they were.

“Beth. Do you remember when we talked to you about our jobs?”

“Yeah.” She said, wondering what the point was.

“Well. Where we live is just one of the realities that exist. Yesterday, when we were in that storm, it transported me and you to another reality.”

Beth didn’t really understand, so Faith and Buffy proceeded to explain how alternate realities worked, and how they were trying to find a way for them to get back home. By the time they had explained the situation a couple more times she had understood the gist of it.

“So. You’re not my mommy?” She asked Buffy.

Anya pitched in at this point. “This is like that show, ‘Jerry Springer’. I’m expecting a large woman, with an attitude to match, to come walking in here, bleeping, at any moment.”

“An, honey, they don’t actually bleep, it’s just done to cover up the swearing.” Then remembering what the girl said he said, “Wait a minute. I thought she was Faith’s kid, not Buffy’s.”

Buffy looked awkwardly at Faith before answering him. “Um. In her world,” she pointed to AU Faith, “she and my double are a couple, and they have a kid, which is Beth.”

“So you and Faith are…?”

“In another world, yeah.” Buffy said quickly.

“But not in this world?”

“No.”

He seemed relieved at that, but Faith didn’t like what he was saying.

“What’s so wrong with that? So what if they were like that, what’s it gotta do with you?” She was getting angry, and Buffy decided she didn’t want a show down in the middle of the magic shop.

“Ok, just calm down. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

Xander scoffed. “At least it would never happen here, right Buff?” All eyes turned on her.

She hesitated, her anger building. Not wanting to lie, but not wanting to cause any more trouble either.

“Well?” He was becoming impatient.

She was getting annoyed by his accusing stares, forgetting about not wanting a show down she lashed out with feelings she’d long kept inside. “Well what Xander? You want me to tell you that I liked her when she first came here. That I wish I hadn’t been so naïve about my feelings, and just told her before she went over the edge.” She was on her feet now, walking towards him, and Faith was staring at her in awe. “Do you want me to tell you how much it hurt when you slept with her? Huh?... ANSWER ME!” Xander had backed off, and was looking very afraid at this point.

“B? B!” Buffy turned to her with unshed tears in her eyes. “Come on, this isn’t doing any of us any good. Why don’t you just grab a book for now, and we can talk about this later?”

She wiped at her eyes furiously. “Sure, whatever.”

*****

AU, Sunnydale. Two days later.

Buffy was dreaming, again. It seemed like the only thing she’d been doing while she was getting any sleep was dreaming about all the things in the past; the good and the bad.

They were lying on her bed, wrapped up in one another. They had only been back an hour and they were already cuddling together like nothing had happened. However, there was a tension between them that had never been there before.

Buffy’s mom had greeted Faith with more gusto than ever before; perhaps thinking that she would be able to keep her little girl out of trouble, being as the trouble had started after she’d left, or so it had seemed to Buffy’s mother.

They desperately needed to talk. So many things had changed since they’d been apart that neither one knew where to start. Their feelings for one another had not faded over time, but they were finding it hard to talk about their individual experiences with other people; not wanting to hurt the other’s feelings.

Not being able to handle it any more, Faith broke the silence. “Red mentioned that you’d been away for a while; that you ran away to LA.” She paused, slowly stroking the blonde hair. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Turning over, and nestling her head in the crook of Faith’s neck she replied. “No.”

The brunette laughed. “Come on B. Quit being a baby.”

Buffy countered. “You go first.”

Faith wasn’t buying it. “Nu huh. I asked first, so you have to go.” She said, relieved that she had time to stall.

The blonde paused, trying to organize her thoughts. “They think I left because of Angel… Part of it was because of him, but that wasn’t the most of it.”

Faith waited patiently for her to continue. Buffy sat up and leant back against Faith chest. “I felt lost. I cared for him, and in the end I had to kill him.” She paused again, knowing she was going to have to tell the whole story for it to make any sense to the brunette. “I didn’t know at first, but it turned out that he was a vampire. I was still waiting for your call when I first met him. I knew he liked me. When I decided that you probably weren’t going to call I used him to get back at you, in my mind… But I grew to like him, and respected him. He was supposed to be my rebound guy, but it turns out that I never really got over you. I couldn’t be with him without thinking of you, and it drove me crazy. I wanted to be over you, I wanted to hate you, but inside I couldn’t let it happen. I missed you too much to just move on so quickly.”

Faith noticed that Buffy was clinging to her tighter than normal; but decided to ignore it, and the feeling of guilt inside of her.

“The others thought that he was the one I was so lost about. They didn’t have a clue. I told Willow about us, but even she thought I was in love with him. I wanted to feel you again, so I went to LA; to all the places we had been to together. I felt guilty about sending him to hell; I still do. But you were the one I wanted, and I didn’t want to tell him that, or anyone else.”

They lay there for hours talking about what had happened to them while they were apart. Buffy relaying the rest of her story, and Faith talked about her less than savoury past. Buffy was surprised by the number of guys the brunette had been with, but was more understanding as she continued telling her story.

“I was so fucked up. They kept coming and eventually I gave up trying to fight. It always ended in me getting hurt even more. I just wanted it to be over, so I lay still, hoping each time that it’d be quick.” They were both crying by this point.

Faith’s tears were silently running down her cheeks, but Buffy’s were coming in small sobs and were directed into the brunette’s ample chest. She didn’t want to hear any more, but she knew that Faith had to get it all out.

“When I was called things were different. I had the power, and I knew they couldn’t make me any more. I… I slept with other guys, always being on top, overpowering them, making myself feel like I was in control for once. It was never about the sex, it was all about power and control. I’d been denied that before, so I wanted to reassure myself that I had power, and that they couldn’t make me do anything anymore…” She was trembling at this point. She had been so sure that Buffy would reject her after hearing this, but knew that the blonde had a right to know how worthless she was. She pulled out of the warm embrace and stood up awkwardly, expecting the worst. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this B, but you have a right to know. Now you can see how pathetic I really am. I’m sure there are plenty of guys, and girls who’d love to get with you, so you can just forget about me.”

By this point the blonde was off the bed and standing not too far away from the brunette.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Swearing always seemed to get Faith’s attention. “You think I’d want to leave you because some bastards thought they could use you and get away with it? Did you not listen to a word I said earlier? In two years I haven’t stopped thinking about you. That’s not going to stop.” She was standing directly in front of her now, and placed her fingers underneath her chin to lift her head so their eyes met. “I love you. I didn’t know it before, but I do now. I love you Faith, and nothing you say to me is going to change that.”

Silencing any protests that were going to come out, Buffy pressed their lips together and wrapped her hand around Faith’s neck. Not having the presence of mind to argue, Faith responded with eagerness, grateful for having not been rejected. As their tongues guided one another, all thoughts of leaving were gone from the dark slayer’s mind. She still had doubts about what would happen between them, but for the moment she was content to just feel.

Coming out from the dream, Buffy realized that someone was calling her name. Even after learning that Faith and Beth were not in some hell dimension, but were in fact in another version of Sunnydale, her worry hadn’t decreased a whole lot. There were still plenty of things in S’dale that could be a threat to them, and she hated the fact that she couldn’t be there to help them.

Honing in on the voice that was calling her from her slumber, she recognized it as Willow’s. Immediately wondering whether they had found the spell they needed to get her girls back, she opened her eyes quickly, and located her best friend sitting on one side of her bed.

“Will? Did you find anything?” Her voice was hopeful, but she was trying not to be too hopeful.

“We haven’t found anything to get them back yet, although we think we’re getting closer.” Buffy’s face dropped visibly. “There is something else though…”

She paused wondering whether she should tell the slayer or not. If the spell worked then it might be able to put the blonde’s mind at rest. However, it could also increase her worry, therefore making things worse for her. The red head realized then that the slayer had a right to know either way.

Buffy sat up almost dreading the words that were going to come out of the witch, lest they bring more bad news. Nervously she asked. “What is it Will?”

“You know how you and Faith can sometimes share dreams?” Buffy nodded. “Well we found a spell that would enable you to do something similar, but through the walls separating the realities.”

Buffy began to get excited. “So I’d be able to talk to her?”

“In theory, yes.” Willow tried to stop her from getting her hopes up too high. “Buffy, for the spell to work you both have to be asleep at the same time. Now, we know that alternate realities are on the same time scale, so that makes it a bit easier. However, we have no way of knowing when she’ll be asleep. I’ll take a guess and say she’s probably sleeping about as much as you are.”

The slayer frowned at this; she definitely hadn’t been sleeping well the past couple of days, so she knew that Faith couldn’t have been either. Still she didn’t want to pass up this opportunity. Guessing that the most likely time that Faith would be asleep would be between three am, and four she relayed this info to Willow.

Agreeing with her best friend she explained the details of the spell. “There’s not much for you to do. Amy and I’ll mix the potion and you have to drink it before going to sleep. Then, when we feel the time is right we’ll cast the spell and you should be projected into Faith’s mind. There, you should be able to communicate as you normally do in your dreams.”

After explaining a few more details and relaying some cautions, all they had to do was wait until night.

After downing the potion, (which tasted surprisingly good) Buffy slipped into bed and tried hard to fall asleep. Thanks to a few nights of hardly sleeping at all, she soon drifted off. Then at about three thirty a.m. Willow and Amy cast the spell.

Through her sub conscious she could just about hear the chanting, but even after about ten minutes nothing happened. She was beginning to lost hope when suddenly the scenery around her began to change. At first everything went dark, and then slowly a light began to appear directly in front of her. As it got bigger she could see that she was in a cell, with bars on all sides, and outside the bars on each side was just sand, stretching for miles.

At the far ‘wall’ of the cell was a sink, to the left of it was a toilet and then to the right of her was a set of bunk beds. At first glance both bunks looked empty, but she soon noticed that the bottom bunk was occupied; it was just the sunken mattress that made it look empty. Moving towards the figure she sat down next to it and cautiously pulled back the covers. Relieved that it was in fact Faith, she pulled it down further.

Stroking back the strands of hair from her forehead she leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips, and pulled back to look into sleepy eyes.

“Hey sweetie, did you miss me?” She smiled warmly, meaning to comfort, but was surprised when Faith sat up suddenly and backed up against the wall. “Faith, what’s wrong?”

“B? What are you doing here?” She looked around and then realized that she was dreaming and not in prison. “Wait, what are you doing in my head?”

“Willow found a spell so I could talk to you and make sure you were alright. I was going mad worrying about what might be happening to you and Beth.”

“Who’s Beth?”

Buffy looked worried, wondering if Faith had suffered some kind of head injury when she suddenly realized what was going on. This wasn’t her Faith; it was the Faith that belonged in this world.

“Oh, great I got the wrong one. She must not be asleep yet. Damn!”

Getting the idea Faith then spoke. “You’re looking for the other me, aren’t you?” Buffy nodded. “Well she ain’t here that’s for sure. She’s down in Sunnyhell with the other B. I’d show you but they don’t like me much down there.”

The blonde was intrigued. “Why not?”

Faith shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “I fucked up big time. Story of my life really. In the end I went to jail. Don’t think B will ever forgive me; she probably wouldn’t even spit on me if I was on fire.”

“Don’t be so sure about that. Just keep trying; I’m sure she’ll come round.” She was trying to comfort this new Faith. “So what do you know about the other you?”

“Angel spoke to her. Said she was trying to find a way to get home, and for the time being she and some kid were going to bunk at B’s place.”

“So they’re ok then?”

“Far as I know they’re fine. Why’re you so worried? Slayers can take care of themselves.”

“Well excuse me for worrying about my wife and daughter. I didn’t know that was frowned upon in this reality.” She added with a little bit of sarcasm, inwardly relieved about the news of their safety.

Faith on the other hand was having a hard time taking in this information. Though, she thought, it made the way the other slayer had woken her up more understandable. “Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Wife and daughter? How the fuck did that happen?”

“Well, when she got pregnant, we had a baby, and a couple of years later we got married. Now they’ve been sucked into an alternate reality/universe and I want them back.”

Faith was trying not to imagine herself as Buffy’s wife, knowing that those thoughts would inevitably get her nowhere. “So while me and B in this world were fighting to the death, in some other world we were making with the smooches. That’s just fucked up.”

“Why were you fighting?” The blonde slayer was feeling a little scared by this, hoping she and her Faith didn’t have this to come.

The brunette shrugged. “Lots of reasons really. We kept secrets from one another, and I suppose we didn’t make enough of an effort to get to know each other, so when I killed Finch everything went to hell. B abandoned me, and I went of the rails and sided with a demon wanna be who wanted to kill the entire town.

“I threatened to kill her friends and she ended up stabbing me and putting me in a coma for eight months. When I woke up I was still pissed; stole her body took it for a ride, when she got it back I fled to LA. I tried to kill Angel, and then tried to get him to kill me, but he wouldn’t do it.

“After B showed up and said she wanted me to go to jail I went to the police station and turned myself in for the crimes I’d done. They couldn’t convict me of all of them so they let me out a month ago. I’m staying with Angel now.” What had turned out to be an explanation of her and B’s relationship turned into a full blown story of her life since the ‘accidental murder’.

“Oh.” She said simply, not really knowing what to say. “How are you doing now, do you feel better for having turned yourself in?”

“Actually, yeah.” She said sounding surprised by that. “It gave me time to think, and to figure out why I did the things I did. Had time to try and get her out of my head. I know now that she’s too good for me, so I’m just not going to entertain any ideas about it.”

“I guess my being here isn’t helping much.”

“Helping in one way but not in another. Don’t think you’re gonna get your girl tonight. Probably best if you just go on home. They’ll find something eventually, and when they do she’ll be back before you know it.”

Buffy looked around, not knowing where to go, or how to get out. She just assumed that she would get out when she woke up. She noticed that this Faith was looking at her intently (but not unkindly) with a look that said, ‘just spit it out already’.

“Um, I don’t know how to leave, so can I stay with you?”

Faith looked surprised at her shyness of asking. “I suppose. I ain’t got nothing better to do.”

Buffy smiled brightly and before the brunette could protest she jumped into bed with her and curled up with her arm around her. Sighing, the dark slayer decided to give her a break and relaxed next to the blonde.

“Faith?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you… tell them that I was here, and that I love them and I can’t wait to see them again?” She asked hopefully.

“Yeah, sure. No problem.”

“Thanks. Night.”

“Night.”

While the blonde slayer drifted off into a sleep within sleep, the brunette unconsciously ran her fingers through golden hair, deep in thought about what all this new information meant to her.

She felt scared, jealous, happy and sad all at once. So many conflicting emotions were running through her that she began to get agitated. Eventually she wondered off into a restless, mindless dream, leaving the rest of the world behind (and was grateful for not being in another nightmare).

*****

Waking up the next day, Buffy was disappointed to find the other half of the bed empty, but was feeling better for knowing that Faith and Beth were ok, and for having slept all through the night. After showering she made her way down stairs to fresh brewing coffee and the sounds of quiet talking coming from the kitchen. As she stood in the door way she saw Willow and the blonde girl who she couldn’t remember the name of sitting close together, huddled over a spell book.

Stealthily walking up behind them she peered over their shoulders. “What ya doin’?”

Both Wicca’s jumped at the sound of her voice, and she couldn’t help laughing a little. She then went to investigate the contents of the coffee pot to see if there was enough for a mug yet. Discovering that there was she went about making herself one.

“You look like you’re feeling better this morning. I take it the spell worked.” Her tone was a mix of annoyance, humour and interest.

“Kind of. It didn’t actually take me to my wife, but I got to see the other Faith, and she says that mine is staying with the other me, and Beth is there with her.”

Both Wiccans were confused. “Huh?” Willow said.

“They’re both fine, so I’m feeling a little better, less stressed. The Faith of that world is going to pass on a message I gave her to our Faith so she knows we’re ok.”

“Oh, good.” Then remembering her manners she introduced her friend. “Oh, this is Tara. She’s a really powerful witch, and she’s going to help find a spell to bring them back.”

“I’m not that powerful.” Tara said in almost a whisper.

“Yeah you are, don’t be so modest.”

Buffy held out her hand and shook Tara’s. “So we haven’t met then. That’s good ‘cause I was worried that I didn’t know your name, and I didn’t want to be rude. Well, the more help the better. Whatever brings them back. I’m gonna go in the other room and continue with the research. You two can stay here; you looked pretty comfy before I interrupted.” She said this with a sly smile, Tara blushed and Willow rolled her eyes at her.

Real World: LA.

Faith was pacing in the lobby. She knew that the dream she’d had was a slayer dream, and she wanted to keep her promise to tell her double what her wife had said. ‘Wife’. Shit that sounded weird. They were together, they had a kid; a little girl. She could just imagine what the kid would look like. Her dark hair, B’s cute little nose. Damn she had to stop thinking about this; she was beginning to look like Angel with all the brooding she’d been doing.

“Just do it already, stop being such a wuss. Just call her.” She mumbled to herself as she approached the phone.

Picking up the receiver she dialled Buffy’s number, not questioning how she knew it when she couldn’t remember ever being told it. As it started to ring she immediately panicked. What if Buffy or Dawn picked it up, what would she say? Red was living there too now, what if she picked up; she’d probably curse me down the phone line or something. Before she lost her nerve someone at the other end picked up.

It was quiet, but she could hear breathing. “Hello?” She asked.

*Hi.* A very small and shy voice answered her. At first she thought she’d got the wrong number, and then she heard a voice in the background, her voice to be exact.

*Beth, what have I told you about playing with the phone? Who did you call?* The voice got closer and asked curiously into the phone, *Hello, who’s this?*

She cleared her voice before answering. “It’s Faith. Just thought I’d call; felt like talking to myself. You didn’t hear it ring?”

*Um, no. I think it’s broke or something. Someone’s supposed to be here later to fix it.* She paused awkwardly. *So, did you wanna talk to B?*

“No!” She answered quickly. “I mean, I wanted to talk to you. Weird I know. You’re probably busy so I’ll just jump straight to the point.” She paused dramatically, and to rearrange her thoughts. “I had a dream last night; a slayer dream. You know?”

*Yeah, I’ve had them. What was it about? Impending apocalypse?*

“No, it wasn’t about anything. It was one of those shared dreams, B was there. Erm, your B, from the other world.”

*What, how? What did she say? Is she ok?* She blurted it all out, being worried and curious.

Before she could answer Faith (in LA) heard another voice in the background. It was Buffy. Her heart stopped at the sound of her voice, and she wanted to hang up and pretend none of the past had happened; to hide in her room from everything.

*Faith, what’s wrong?* Her voice was so full of concern. She could almost see the cute little frown on her face.

*It’s, erm, Faith. She had a dream about B, my B. You know a slayer dream, where you’re actually there, talking to one another.*

Buffy was quiet for a minute. *Yeah I know those ones. We’ve had a few… So what was it about?*

Faith heard so carried on before her double could ask anything more.

“She was lookin’ for you. Said you must not have been asleep, ‘cause that’s how she got in my head. She just asked me to pass on a message. She said, ‘she loves you both and can’t wait to see you again’.”

*Oh, well good. Is that all you talked about, you didn’t do anything else?* She asked suspiciously.

“Well, I was gonna just let her go, but she asked to sleep with me; how could I say no?” She could sense the angry silence on the other end, and decided not to push it too far. “Chill twinie. She didn’t know how to get out of my head so I let her fall asleep on the bed… I never knew how peaceful and innocent she looks when she’s sleeping.” The last part was said with a little shyness, which the other Faith could sense.

*Sorry, it’s just…*

“It’s cool. Don’t worry about it. I’d be the same if I had her… Fuck! I can’t do this. I gotta go.” She paused only a moment before hanging up.

“Fuck!” She said before retreating to her room.

Real world: Sunnydale

“What happened?” Buffy asked as Faith hung up.

“She had to go. Said last night B visited her in a slayer dream. She was trying to get to me, but ‘cause I wasn’t asleep, the other Faith was the next thing. She just wanted to pass a message on from B.” She deliberately didn’t say anything about the other Faith watching Buffy’s double sleep.

“Oh. She didn’t say anything about me?”

Faith smirked. “Why, were you hoping she would ask after you?”

“No! She, I, we’re not really speaking to each other. It’s probably best that she didn’t ask about me.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “What a load of shit. You’re both dying to know what the other is doing, but neither has the balls to admit it. My bet is that you’ve been dancing around one another for so long that you don’t know how to make that final step and just tell the each other how you feel.” She walked out of the room, deliberately leaving Buffy alone to think about what she’s said.

Buffy wanted to go after her and argue profusely about the falseness of what she’d just said, but decided not to. Instead she slowly sat down at the table in the kitchen, and rested her head in her hands, trying not to think about the one person she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since she’d gone from her life.

Now it seemed like, if she wanted, that she could make amends with the other slayer, and perhaps start again; like from before things had got so screwed up.

She guessed the first thing she’s have to do was to decide exactly what she wanted. Before Faith’s double had shown up, Buffy had still been angry at Faith for everything that had happened in the past. However, she couldn’t deny that having Faith around had made her feel happier than she had been in a long time. It took the brunette’s presence to make her realize how much she’d missed her.

PART THREE

Notes: Looking back at part 1 I realised that I made a couple of numerical mistakes, so here they are: 1. Beth is approaching her third, not her fourth birthday. 2. AU Buffy and Faith met, late 1994, not 1995. Um, anything else? No I think that’s it… Oh yeah, thanks to those who have sent me feedback, my ego appreciates it. Any more is very welcome. Other comments or criticisms also, I can’t improve my writing if I don’t know what’s wrong with it. That’s it, enjoy!

Faith was in the training room at the ‘Magic Box’. She had just finished her routine tai chi, and was preparing herself for a gruelling training session. The last few days she had felt like she was slacking off from her training. She had thought that they were on to something earlier in the week, but yesterday they had come to another dead end. She was feeling stressed and needed to workout.

Ideally she would train with Buffy. They could put one another through their paces, and after; well, they had their reasons for making the gym at home soundproof. Last year they had even put an extension on for a bathroom with a double sized walk in shower.

She tested out the punching bag with a few light punches, and then went all out with a rally of punches and kicks. She worked the bag for thirty minutes solid, and hadn’t even broken a sweat when she finally stopped. That half hour was designed to get her frustrations out before moving onto the more demanding parts of her routine.

She hadn’t had a chance to train with this Buffy yet. Most of the time the blonde had the excuse of working, but Faith could tell that Buffy was trying to avoid the situation. She concluded that the blonde just didn’t want to be bringing up any bad memories, so she just left it as it was and tried to make do with training on her own.

*****

The blonde slayer had been back from work for over an hour. She had heard Faith in the training room, but hadn’t dared to go in lest she was asked to join her. She knew that she could really do with the workout, with the extra bonus of testing her moves against another slayer, but she was nervous about it. She’d been slacking off because of having to work etc., so she didn’t think she would be any sort of match for the brunette. She also didn’t want to be thinking about all the times she had fought with Faith. Her Faith.

All sound from the back room had ceased more than ten minutes ago, and the blonde was getting curious about what Faith was doing back there. Deciding that it was safe to go and look, she headed for the back door, and opened it just enough for her to observe the dark slayer.

What she saw wasn’t what she had expected. Faith was in the centre of the room, standing perfectly still, on her hands. Her legs were stretched up high with her feet pointing towards the ceiling. She was in her workout clothes so Buffy could see the clearly cut muscles straining in her arms, legs and stomach.

She also noticed that Faith’s eyes were closed, and there was an air about her that seemed to indicate that the brunette was sleeping. Since that couldn’t be the case, the blonde surmised that she must have put herself in a kind of trance.

*****

Buffy was right, she had put herself into a trance. She needed time to think, so she thought about trying out a new meditation method she and her Buffy had discovered. It was hard concentrating on keeping her balance, and clearing her mind to just let the thoughts come to her at the same time. Right at that moment she was reliving the scene from that morning. Just before the other Faith had called.

~ She hadn’t seen the red headed witch since she’d been there. Buffy hadn’t said much about it but apparently Willow had been taking anti-depressants for almost a year to help her get on with her studies. B had just said that somebody close to Willow had been in a coma for almost a year, and she was having a hard time with it. Because of the amount of time she had spent at the magic shop researching, she had only caught the occasional glimpse of her leaving the house in the morning.

That morning however, she had been early getting up and bumped into Willow in the kitchen as she was getting ready to going to class. Needless to say, the red head hadn’t taken her presence well.

Fortunately, Buffy had heard the noises and had come running, perhaps expecting to find a demon. She had quickly calmed Willow down with a few choice words, and Faith had been given the chance to plead her case.

Rubbing the back of her head Faith gave Buffy a look. “You didn’t tell her?”

Buffy looked sheepish. “Uh, well. I meant to, but I guess I was still adjusting to it myself.” She looked at Willow apologetically.

“Tell me what Buffy? What’s going on, and what is she doing here?”

“Erm, Will, Faith,” she pointed towards the brunette, “is from another reality. They were fighting a demon and she and her daughter got caught by the after effects of the spell and were brought here.” She paused, trying to gage her friend’s reaction. “She’s been here about five days now, most of the time researching at the ‘Magic Box’.”

Willow looked sceptical. “Buffy, do you actually believe all of this? She’s Faith; she’s lying. I’d have thought of all people you would have known not to trust her.”

“I didn’t believe it at first either, but I checked with Angel, and Faith is still in LA. I believe her Will.”

Willow shook her head, not wanting to believe it. “No Buffy, she’s deceived you. It’s all part of some big plan. You know Faith. She probably broke out of jail, and now she’s working some big mo-jo so she can use the books at the magic shop and kill us all in our sleep or something.”

Faith stood up suddenly. “I’ve had enough of this. You don’t know anything about me Red. Yeah I get it, you’re still angry for all the tricks she pulled in the past, but from what I’ve heard she was borderline suicidal, and tried to get soul-boy to kill her. No one gets to that point without help from people trying to push you over the edge. If she went through anything like what I went through then I’m not really surprised by what she’s done. If I hadn’t had Buffy and you guys to help me out then I’d have probably gone the same way.

"You know, you can be a real bitch sometimes. I’m beginning to think it wasn’t all dog-boy’s fault you guys broke up. Though if you ask me you weren’t the perfect couple everyone thought you were." She sat back down at the table as she said the last part. She was trying to get her anger back under control again.

Willow’s jaw was set firmly, like she also was holding her anger in, but Buffy looked kind of hurt by Faith’s words, probably having taken them to heart more than the witch had. Faith’s last sentence had just begun to catch up in them.

“What about Oz, he left years ago?”

Faith laughed. “Not where I come from he didn’t. Well he has left, but that was only about a month ago. Best thing if you ask me. I like that blonde witch you’re hanging with much better than him. I told B a little girl action would loosen you up.” Faith stopped smiling when she noticed that Willow had become paler.

“Tara.” Willow said quietly.

“Yeah I guess. What about her? She evil or something, should I be watching out for some weird behaviour when I get back?”

“No, Tara’s good. Last year she was shot, and she hasn’t woken up since. Will goes to the hospital every day to see her. I go as often as I can.” Buffy filled in for the witch who was in no condition to do so herself.

“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I have a habit of putting my foot in my mouth. I’m actually beginning to like the way it tastes.” She gave them an awkward half smile before getting up and heading out the room. “I really should get going. Got plenty more books to be going through.”

She exited the kitchen, leaving Buffy to comfort her best friend. As she turned into the hall she noticed Beth holding the phone in her hand and talking to someone on the other end. ‘Not again’ she thought as she approached her daughter.

“Beth, what have I told you about playing with the phone? Who did you call?” Picking up she said, “Hello, who’s this?”… ~

Faith’s eyes moved around in her head as she began to think about better things. She didn’t want to have to deal with the things that were going on here. Not many people liked her in this world, and she was beginning to get lonely. Buffy was one of the only people who didn’t look at her like she was going to stab them in the back if they looked away, yet she was never around.

The only time they ever talked was when they were on patrol, and even then all they did was talk about what things were like where she came from, what she did for a living, and what the vampire activity was like in the other Sunnydale. She was starting to think that it was a way for Buffy to hide from her life, and imagine herself in this better world, where she was happier and things seemed easier. Faith knew she was going to have to talk to her about it, because it wasn’t healthy for her to be ignoring her problems. The only thing to do now was to get Buffy to sit down long enough for them to have a proper conversation.

As she thought more about Buffy, she began to think more about home. Her thoughts took her back to the prom.

Buffy had made her sweat it out for more than a week before she’d asked her to be her date for the prom. Then, while Willow and Buffy had paired up to search for their dresses, Faith had asked Cordelia to help her out with hers.

Cordelia had been mildly surprised at the brunette’s request, but had been happy to help her out. They spent all weekend prior to the dance searching for something for her to wear. She was being really picky. She wanted everything to be perfect because she wanted this night to be extra special. Buffy’s sister was away at camp, and her mum had had to rush off to one of her art conventions, so that left them with the house to themselves for the whole of the week surrounding the date for the prom.

So as soon as she saw the dress in the window of the ‘New Woman’ clothing store, she knew it was the one. Cordelia had been sceptical at first, but had wholeheartedly agreed when Faith had tried it on.

The dress was medium to light blue, which faded into royal blue when you looked at it from a different angle. The dress pushed the wearer up at the chest and the neckline was loose-fitting so it showed off Faith’s ample cleavage. At the back it was cut low and several horizontal strips of fabric decorated it, and held it together. The straps just barely held on to her shoulders, but she knew they were enough to keep it from falling down. The dress came down to caress her feet, but the huge slit up the right side made it feel just a little more daring, which suited Faith fine.

Cordelia had offered to lend her a pair of shoes to wear with any dress she found, so she was happy to find that she just had enough to buy the dress. She had also offered to stash the dress at her house ‘till the night of the prom, so that Buffy wouldn’t be able to sneak a peak.

On the day of the prom, she had left the library early with Cordy to pick up the dress, then she’d taken it home (which was actually Buffy’s house, because she’d been asked to move in there so as not to be living in the flea bag motel). Then she’d gone to help Buffy get rid of the devil dogs that were threatening to ruin the dance. When they were dispatched of she had fled back to the house telling Buffy that she would meet her inside later on.

Buffy had changed in the girls’ locker room, having brought all her supplies with her. As soon as she had greeted her friends and complimented them on their clothing, she’d set up a place by the punch bowl to wait for her date.

She was nervous. She and Faith had been dating for the best part of six months, and while they had their occasional arguments, she had never been happier than she was when she was with her girlfriend.

While it had only been just over half an hour when Faith walked into the hall, she felt like she’d been waiting forever. The gang had come over to get refreshments and were chatting away when she heard the doors open to the right of her. They all faded into the background as the most beautiful woman she’d ever met walked into the room.

Her hair had been straightened but was still slightly wavy. Most of it had been gathered into a clip at the back, and the remaining strands fell naturally about her face. A few of the strands had been curled into ringlets and brought a newfound innocence to her image.

Faith scanned the room before spotting her target over by the punch bowl. Heads turned as she walked further in, approaching Buffy with their gazes firmly locked. As she reached her destination, Faith stopped in front of her girlfriend, and was suddenly overcome with a bout of shyness.

“Is this ok?” She nervously asked.

Buffy was speechless, and as she openly admired Faith she received a subtle nudge in the back, from her best friend.

“Yes! Yes.” She croaked, and then clearing her throat she added in a hushed voice, “God yes.”

Faith blushed, which made Buffy fall in love with her all over again.

“Do you want to dance?” Faith asked.

Buffy smiled brightly and accepted. Faith took Buffy’s hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Quietly she whispered in the blonde’s ear. “By the way B. You look stunning.” This time it was Buffy’s turn to blush.

Keeping their hands linked they heated up the room. Their moves were toned down compared to how they danced in the Bronze after patrol, but they still impressed the other occupants of the dance floor.

They didn’t stop dancing until the music stopped in time for the awards to be given out. Hand still in hand they rejoined their friends by the snack table.

“Welcome back ladies. Does one of you want to help me with the refreshments?” Xander quirked an eyebrow and Faith followed him to the punch bowl.

Willow turned towards her best friend and was met with a dreamy look.

“Well?”

Buffy was confused. “Well what?”

“What do you think? Of Faith. Her outfit.” She clarified further.

“She looks amazing. I’ve never seen her wear a dress before.”

“Yeah, I must say I was surprised when I saw it. I was sceptical, but Cordelia assured me that she looked great in it.”

Buffy was so lost in looking at her girlfriend that she didn’t realize that her next sentence was spoken out loud. “I can’t wait to find out what she looks like without any of it on.”

Willow almost spat her drink out, and had to be helped by a couple of pats on the back from the blonde slayer. “I’m ok. Just wasn’t expecting that.” She looked sheepishly at Buffy. “I’m not tying to insinuate anything, but haven’t you and Faith already… You know.”

This time it was the blonde’s turn to almost choke. “No! I mean it’s not that we haven’t wanted to, but we wanted to wait a while first. We want it to be special, you know?”

Willow nodded. “I just didn’t peg Faith as the patient kind. She does seem awfully promiscuous.”

“Oh there’ve been times when we’ve come close, but we’ve managed to hold it off. It’s even harder when we’re sleeping in rooms that are opposite one another. I think tonight’s the night though.” Buffy said shyly.

Willow stared at her wide eyed. “Really, prom night?”

“Not just because of the prom. Though, the formal wear definitely adds to the specialness of it all. Mom’s on a business trip, and Dawn’s at camp. I don’t think I can hold back any longer, it just feels right.”

Willow gave her an even bigger smile and then hugged her tightly. Just then her name was called out by the awards presenter.

After receiving her award she went back to the safety of her girlfriend's arms.

“Nice umbrella. Were they expecting it to rain?”

Buffy nudged her in the side. “Be nice, I think it’s lovely.”

“I’m just kidding B, it’s great. And what’s more, you totally deserve it. You’re the best you know that?”

She turned in the embrace and planted a light kiss on glossy lips. “One of the best… You’ll always be my best.” She kissed her again for longer this time, and when the kiss ended she led the brunette out onto the dance floor for a slow dance.

With Buffy’s arms around her neck she placed her hands on the blonde’s hips. They swayed gently to the music, oblivious to the people around them. Buffy rested her head on Faith’s shoulder and closed her eyes, simple enjoying the closeness of the other slayer.

When they arrived home that night, both slayers were thinking about the same thing. They were nervous but also eagerly anticipating the events that would shortly follow.

It had been like a silent agreement between them that tonight would be the night they made love for the first time. They were more than ready, and as they approached one another slowly they knew they were doing the right thing.

Buffy cupped Faith’s face in the palm of her hand and leaned in to kiss her gently. She wrapped her other arm around the brunette’s neck but didn’t add any more pressure on her lips. When Faith’s arms came to hold her lightly round the waist; she pulled back to run her tongue slowly over pouty lips.

Faith’s tongue came out to meet Buffy’s and then slowly entered the blonde’s mouth. As the kiss became more passionate their hands began to wonder. The arm that was holding the dark slayer’s neck moved so that fingers could tangle themselves in dark hair, and the other hand started a downward journey across Faith’s neck and over a firm breast.

Faith moaned into her girlfriend’s mouth as she felt delicate fingers brush across her left breast. She felt herself being pushed back gently ‘till she was pressed up against the door of Buffy’s room. She moaned again when Buffy’s hand moved around her back and untied her dress. She reciprocated the action on the blonde’s dress, not once breaking the kiss.

The blonde only broke the kiss when she began raining delicate kisses on Faith’s collar, and her hands pushed the straps off the brunette’s shoulders. She pulled back to watch in amazement as the silky material of the dress allowed it to slide smoothly down her body and land softly at the other girl's feet.

“God Faith, you’re gorgeous.” She racked her eyes over her girlfriend’s exposed body, noticing the characteristic black panties that Faith liked so much.

Faith felt herself become more aroused as the blonde openly admired her near nakedness. Pushing herself away from the door she embraced the blonde once more and kissed and licked her neck as she ran her hands down Buffy’s body effectively ridding her of her dress. Buffy pulled Faith’s head back from her neck and crushed their lips together in a desperate kiss intending to display her increasing need for more intimacy.

Understanding her girlfriend’s need she picked her up, enabling the blonde to wrap her legs around her waist, and walked with her towards the bed. Once there she gently lowered Buffy down onto it and moved herself so their bodies were pressed together one on top of the other.

Buffy’s hair was still pulled up in a loose bun, which Faith got rid of by running her fingers through the silky locks, and pulled Buffy’s head up so that their mouths could once again devour one another. The blonde’s hands moved delicately over her partner's back, and occasionally she dug her nails lightly into soft flesh when Faith would run her fingers over her nipple or squeeze her breast.

Buffy ran her hands down her partner’s back towards her buttocks, where she began pushing away the only material that was left covering the brunette’s body. Taking the hint Faith assisted her and was soon able to throw the offending panties on the floor. Faith then began removing the blonde’s own panties. Once they were both naked the brunette lowered her body once more, now being able to feel the soft tickle of hair on her right thigh.

The dark slayer then began lavishing the golden haired slayer with kisses along her neck and shoulders. She formed a downward pattern and soon became fascinated with Buffy’s breasts as she alternated attention on each one. The blonde moaned and arched her back into the touches of Faith’s hands and mouth, while she ran her hands through the brunette’s hair.

After a while Buffy pulled Faith up for another kiss, this one being longer and more passionate than any they’d had before. Hands once again wondered freely, and when the kiss was broken both slayers were flushed and breathing heavily. The younger slayer looked deeply into the blonde’s eyes, which clearly displayed her need and her love. She kissed her again more softly moaning into her mouth.

“God B, you taste so good. I just can’t get enough of you.”

Faith locked eyes with the other slayer and grinned down at her mischievously. Buffy’s eyes went wide when she realised what the brunette was intending to do. Her only answer was a lengthy groan of anticipation.

This time as Faith rained kisses down her girlfriend’s body she didn’t spend too long on any part of her, heading instead, straight for her target. Buffy’s hips bucked at the first touch of Faith’s tongue upon her. With her hands at her side she clutched the sheets as the brunette began exploring her sex.

Holding the blonde’s hips down with firm hands to keep her from moving too much Faith entered the blonde. Hearing a moan of encouragement from her partner, she began a steady rhythm of thrusts, occasionally pulling out to run her tongue around her clit and sucking on it.

“Faith, oh God! Don’t stop.”

The dark slayer continued until she sensed the blonde nearing her peak. Replacing her tongue with her fingers, she moved back up and attacked Buffy’s mouth with her own. Buffy’s left hand came up to grasp the back of Faith’s head and deepened the kiss further. Pulling back, the brunette watched as her partner’s moaning and breathing increased rapidly. Pushing her thumb against Buffy’s clit and trusting harder she took the blonde over the edge, loving the sound of Buffy calling out her name as her orgasm washed over her, and crying out herself as nails were dug into her shoulder.

As she withdrew she rolled away to the side and pulled her girlfriend into a loving embrace, soothing her in the aftermath.

They made love deep into the night, and when they eventually fell asleep it was within each other’s loving arms.

As she pulled herself out of her trance she realised that she was being watched by the other slayer. Slowly she lowered herself to the floor and lay flat on her back, allowing the blood to return to the other parts of her body. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the blonde came into the room and took a seat on one of the benches.

“That was pretty impressive, how long can you do that for?”

Faith sat up slowly and joined Buffy on the bench. “That’s the first time I’ve done it, and I forgot to keep count, so I dunno.”

Faith paused, staring at the floor and trying to make herself apologise for what she’d said to Buffy that morning.

“Look B, I’m sorry about this morning. I was way out of line saying that. I shouldn’t have just assumed that because me and B are…”

“You were right.” Buffy interrupted.

“Huh?”

Buffy leant her head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. “When she first arrived here things were just beginning to get back to normal for me. I’d not long got back from LA, where I ran away after sending Angel to hell. My relationship with the gang and everyone I cared about was a bit rocky, so when she swept into town and everyone immediately liked her I was jealous. I tried so hard not to like her during those first couple of days, but I couldn’t help being drawn to her.

“I hate that shit happens when things are just starting to get good. We were just starting to get along really well, then we killed someone and it all went to hell. I was scared so I put up a wall, and I’m guessing she did the same thing. Kind of counter productive really. If we could’ve opened up to one another then maybe we would’ve had a chance.” She sighed.

“After she woke up from the coma I thought we’d have a chance at starting again. I guess spending eight months stuck inside your own head could make it hard to see things objectively.”

“Eight months! That’s a long time, wow.”

“You weren’t in for that long?”

“Wasn’t in a coma at all. B spent two months in a coma after the ascension. Those were the longest two months of my life. Then I had the added bonus of telling her that I was pregnant when she woke up. Wasn’t really sure how she was gonna take it, what with us both being of the female persuasion, but apparently she had been dreaming about it constantly and wasn’t a bit surprised.”

“I still don’t understand how you managed to get pregnant.”

“Neither do we really. When we were talking about it afterwards we both mentioned that that night had seemed to effect us in more ways than one. We felt closer than we ever had before, more in tune with one another. It may be that it was just meant to be, like with Angel and Darla.”

Buffy looked confused. “Huh? What have they got to do with this? Besides, Darla’s dust.”

“Didn’t you know she was brought back?” Buffy shook her head. “Some evil law firm brought her back, human. That crazed vamp Drusilla turned her again, and they killed a bunch of those lawyers from the same firm.”

“They should know better than not to play with fire.”

Faith laughed. “People will never learn B. They like to think they have the power and control. It doesn’t occur to them that they’ll never really have the power and will never have full control either… Anyway, so after she was turned again Angel got all broody, fired Gunn, Wes and Cordy, and tried to kill the double D’s. He couldn’t, almost lost his mind, then went and slept with Darla. He didn’t turn evil again, and that night caused him to have some kind of spiritual awakening. He went back to the LA crew with his tail between his legs and began to work with them again, with Wes as the boss.”

Buffy, while being interested in the story was anxious for Faith to get to the point. “What does this have to do with you and me having a baby? I mean you and…” Buffy blushed at her slip up.

Faith smiled. “Me and B.” Buffy nodded. “Ok, so nine months later Darla turns up on his door step days away from giving birth to his child. They don’t know how it happened, it was just meant to be.”

“How come I didn’t know any of this?” Buffy asked, thinking out loud.

“You guys don’t keep in contact much huh?”

“No. The only time we ever talk is when it’s demon related. Or like when I was brought back. I feel awkward, ‘cause I’m never quite sure if there’s still something there or not. I want things to be comfortable, I want to be friends, but I don’t know how.”

“Do you love him?” Faith asked raising an eyebrow.

“I, uh. I don’t know. Maybe.” She said, with her brow furrowed.

“My B still loves him.” Buffy looked at her, puzzled. “She told me that, in her heart she’ll always love him, but she knows that she’s not IN LOVE with him. She says she doesn’t think she ever was in love with him; he just sort of grew on her. It took me a while to really understand that, but I do now, and I’ve accepted it. She’s in love with me, and I know that, I believe it. I still get jealous occasionally, but it passes. I get to fall asleep and wake up next to her. I trust in what she tells me.” She paused to look directly at Buffy. “It’s ok if you still love him, he’ll always be a part of your life. You just have to decide if you’re still in love with him.”

Buffy thought for a moment, but it didn’t take her too long to come to her answer. “No. I’m not in love with him anymore. I haven’t been for a long time. Not since before I sent him to hell… I’ve only been in love with one other person since then.” She whispered the last part, almost afraid to admit it to herself after such a long time.

Faith stood up and cracked the joints in her shoulders. Turning to Buffy she asked, “Do you want to spar?”

Buffy looked momentarily alarmed, but her expression quickly softened, ‘what the hell’ she thought. “Sure, just let me get warmed up.”

*****

They were circling each other, each waiting for the other to attack. Buffy had been surprised at how easily she had gotten back into the swing of sparing with another slayer. She wasn’t as out of shape as she’d originally thought.

While she knew Faith could have easily out matched her, she felt more confident than she had before. Breathing heavily she went in for the attack.

Faith anticipated the attack, but instead of moving away or blocking she took the hit, and then countered with an attack of her own. They moved around the training room trading blows ‘till they were both exhausted. Buffy backed off and motioned for the brunette to do the same. They stood opposite one another panting, yet neither one had really broken a sweat.

“I think I’ve had enough for now. We could do it again tomorrow though, in the morning before carrying on with the research.” Buffy suggested.

“I’m game B. It’s been weird training on my own for the past week. It feels good to fight a slayer again.”

“Yeah, I didn’t realise that I’d missed it so much. It’s different with you though, you don’t talk so much. It was cute most of the time, but sometimes she just wouldn’t shut up.”

Faith laughed. “Actually, I do talk a lot when I’m sparing at home with B. It gets her worked up and then she pulls this cute little annoyed face. I think it’s kinda sexual too. Most of the time she’ll get so annoyed with it that she’ll give up and kiss me, just to shut me up.” Buffy blushed, which Faith noticed. “Too much information?”

The blonde nodded. “Just a bit.” Attempting to change the subject (and failing miserably) she added, “So what do you normally do after sparing?” As she finished tying the laces on her shoes, she looked up in time to catch Faith’s blush. Catching on to what the brunette was thinking about, Buffy blushed again, and then cleared her throat. “I mean after that.”

“Depends what time of day it is. Most often we’ll pick Beth up from day-care and take her to the park.”

“Well we can pick her up from home and take her to the park.”

Faith smiled. “Better get moving then, gotta shower and get out there way before sundown, and I know how long you take in the shower.” She smirked as Buffy smacked her on the shoulder, and held the door open for her, following her out.

*****

The slayers chatted easily while they watched over the infant at the park. At that moment Faith was pushing Beth on the swing, while Buffy sat on the bench and watched.

She was captivated by the picture of the brunette slayer and her daughter. This was a side of Faith that she had never seen before. Had never taken the opportunity to look for it. Now she was looking, and she could see it all.

Her entire time spent with Faith ran through her mind. Remembering all the good and bad times, she wondered where she had gone wrong. She knew that she couldn’t blame herself for everything, Faith had made her own choices, but she knew she wasn’t blameless either.

She kept thinking that if she’d hung out with her more, talked to her more. Maybe if she’d opened up herself then Faith might have done the same…

“Stop thinking about what mistakes you made; do something good now.” Faith had joined her back on the bench as Beth had gone to play in the sand box.

“Huh?” Buffy hadn’t been paying attention and Faith had snuck up on her.

“You’re thinking about her, right? I mean you’re looking at me, but you have this far away look in your eyes.”

“Yeah I guess I was. What did you say before that?”

“Just that I’m willing to bet that you’re wondering what you did wrong, and now you’re wishing that you had done something different.”

“Well yeah. I was just so selfish. I never stopped to think about what she was going through. I never wondered what she was doing when we weren’t patrolling or training. How could I have been so blind?” Buffy sank her head into her hands and sighed deeply.

Keeping one eye on her daughter, she attempted to council the other slayer through this problem.

“Look B, just snap out of it. So you both made mistakes. Big deal! Everyone does it; you just have to learn how to live with those mistakes. You’re not gonna forget what happened. Best thing to do is to try to forgive and move on, or start again even. But most of all, be honest and don’t keep problems inside, it only makes things worse.”

Buffy, who by this point was staring gob smacked at the dark slayer, closed her mouth and then asked, “Who taught you all that?”

Faith smirked. “Life experience and two years of marriage taught me that.”

After laughing at the brunette Buffy sighed and looked off across the park.

“Angel says she’s changed, and I believe him. She wanted to apologise to me before but I wouldn’t let her. So I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a chance. It’s the part where we have to talk about what happened before; rehashing it all and taking responsibility for our mistakes, that’s gonna be difficult. I know we have to get past all that if we’re going to move on, ‘cause it’s gonna jump up and bite us in the ass if we don’t.”

“Good for you. As for the relationship stuff: if it’s meant to happen it will. Just go with the flow and don’t try to push it too much. And if it doesn’t happen don’t worry about it, doesn’t mean you can’t be friends.” At that moment Beth came running over and jumped into Faith’s lap. “Well, you ready to go home kiddo?”

“Yeah. Can we get ice-cream on the way back?” The kid asked with innocent eyes.

“Sure, we can stop by B&J’s.” Her daughter rewarded her with a bright smile before skipping off ahead of them.

Buffy smirked, and talked as they walked along after the bouncing, short brunette. “I bet you cave every time she gives you that look.” She smiled at Faith knowingly.

The brunette wore a guilty smile. “Not every time, well most of the time… B’s worse than me!” She said the last part hoping to defend herself just a little.

They picked up a large tub of ice-cream and a movie as well on the way home. The two slayers, Dawn and Beth all had fun watching ‘Toy Story II’, and eating too much ice-cream. The witch had turned down their request to join them, and had sat in her room listening to their laughter, ‘till she had fallen asleep.

The slayers made a short patrol, and then stayed up talking after everybody had gone to bed, eventually joining them in slumber land early into the next morning.

PART 4

Two days later, (a week after the slayer and her daughter had arrived), Faith was deeply engrossed in a book called, ‘Hopping Dimensions’, when a loud crash and a scream came from the back of the ‘Magic Box’. After telling Beth to stay put, she went to investigate. What she found was an angry ex-demon facing off against a bleached blonde vampire.

Buffy had told her that Spike was now evil again, but that he could not get into the magic shop, (or the school or the hospital either for that matter) ‘cause they’d put extra spells around each place to prevent him from entering. So she figured that he must have tried to get in by doing something to Anya.

She also figured that Spike was the one who had given Buffy the wounds she had seen when she had first arrived. Therefore she was feeling up to dishing out some pain to the vampire.

“No, you can’t! You’ll kill me, and then I won’t be able to do all the things I like doing, or want to do in the future. I want to have children some day you know.”

Spike leered at her, not yet noticing the slayer standing just ten feet behind the shop owner.

“Come on pet, you remember what it was like. I promise I won’t kill any of them, just let me have some fun.”

“It’s because I remember what it was like that I won’t invite you in. I know that demons aren’t to be trusted.”

Spike growled as she began to back away. “I could get you any time you know! You’re gonna slip up eventually, and when you do I’ll be waiting!” He stopped screaming at her when she bumped into the brunette slayer. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

“Anya, could you look after Beth for me please?” She asked, but only loud enough for the ex-demon to hear. When Anya was out of sight she turned back to Spike.

He languidly checked out her form. “Mmm, you look like a tasty one. Ever thought about eternal life? All you have to do is invite me in.”

Faith smirked. “I can understand about someone like you thinking I’d taste good. What is it your kind says again?” She paused, pretending to think. “Oh yeah, ‘once you’ve had a slayer, you never wanna go back’.” She laughed slightly at the worried look on his face.

Just then a light went on in his head. “I remember you. You’re the psycho slayer. Criminally insane if I recall rightly.” He observed her form more closely this time. “I don’t mind turning a slayer. Other vamps wouldn’t do it ‘cause they think it’s perverted, but that don’t bother me. How about it love? You can be as bad as you want, and you won’t have that pesky conscience getting in the way.”

She gave him an exaggerated leer, and slinked towards him. She reached a hand over the threshold and ran a finger down his chest. Grabbing his shirt in her hand she pulled him towards her slightly and licked his outer ear, after hearing him growl with desire she whispered to him:

“This is for Buffy.”

Quicker than lightning she uppercutted him in the jaw and sent him bouncing off the wall behind him. She heard the sickening thud as his head connected with the concrete.

He stood up, dazed and tried to attack her. She side stepped his attack and kneed him in the gut, his head collided with the other wall, again with similar force.

She allowed him to stand up, and smirked at him. “Did you really think I was gonna fall for that? You’re pathetic.”

Seething with hatred, he spat out blood and looked at her with his ‘game face’ on. “You’re gonna pay for that. And I’ll get Slutty too. Bitch thinks she’s too good for me. I’ll show her.” He attempted another attack, launching himself off the wall and bared his fangs.

She effortlessly flipped over his head, Xena style, and kicked him in the back, sending his head into the wall for the third time. “Buffy is too good for you.” She stalked over too him and lifted his head to look him in the eye. “But you see, me and B, we’re equals. We were made for each other. We’ll live on, ‘cause together we’re unstoppable. Whereas you, you’ll be swept away with the wind come nightfall.” She then rammed home the stake she’d concealed in her other hand.

She only had seconds to enjoy the look of pure horror and shock on his face before he faded away to nothing.

She closed the back door and rejoined her daughter at the table. Anya looked at her curiously.

“What happened?”

“Did my job. Staked him.”

“Oh… Ok.” Her puzzled look quickly became her usual look of nonchalance before she went about her business.

Reopening the book she carried on reading about ‘inter dimensional travelling’ and ‘side effects of spells’, while Beth made herself busy with a new toy her ‘daddy’s’ double had given her the day before.

Glancing down at her daughter Faith couldn’t help but smile at the look of concentration on her face as she played ‘make-believe’ with her toys. Faith had tried to hide her look of surprise when Buffy had given them to Beth. She had noticed that the blonde slayer had seemed to be ignoring the child. It was almost as if when looking at the short brunette she was reminded of what she had lost, or could have had; and maybe could still have. Faith assumed that this must be something that Buffy was having trouble coming to terms with.

The red head had pretty much blanked them both since she’d found out about them. She spent most of her time in her room, in classes, or at the hospital. Faith had asked Buffy why Willow hadn’t just used magic to make Tara better, and the answer had been that the witch had misused her powers and they had been taken off her by higher beings until they thought she was ready to use them again.

Faith made a mental note to talk to Red when she got back home. She didn’t want the same thing to happen in her reality.

Buffy was working a double shift at the DMP today, so Faith was going to be researching alone for the entire day. Research had never been her strong point, but she found that she was slowly getting better at it, as time went by.

It was nearing evening by the time she gave in for the day. She had brought some food with her for Beth, but it had been a while since that had gone, and she too was starting to feel her stomach growling low. Picking up her things and Beth, and tidying away the books, she set off to Buffy’s house. She ordered pizza for herself, and made Beth’s dinner before flicking through the channels on TV.

It was an hour later, when her belly was full and her daughter was drifting off to sleep, when the shrill ringing of the telephone alerted her attention. As she was alone in the house she walked over and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hello, this is Nurse Ratchet calling from Sunnydale General Hospital. May I speak to a, Miss Rosenberg or Miss Summers, please? It’s quite urgent.”

“They’re both out at the moment. Is this about Tara?” Faith asked, hoping to God that everything was ok.

The nurse was hesitant in answering. “Are you a member of the family?”

Faith smiled to herself. “It’s a very unconventional family, but I am a part of it.”

The other woman seemed quite desperate, so accepted her answer. “Miss McLay woke late this afternoon; I assume you know of her condition.” Faith assured her that she did. “We’ve been trying to get her cooperation in examining her, but she won’t until she sees a member of her family. We haven’t been able to contact anybody until now. Would it be convenient for you to come to the hospital now?”

Faith thought about trying to find Red first as she’d want to know the good news, but had no idea where she was, so she decided to just go herself and see what she could do.

*****

Faith arrived at the hospital in less than a half hour. The nurse she’d spoken to on the phone was waiting for her at the front desk, and seemed glad to see her there.

“Come right this was Miss…”

“It’s Jackson-Summers, but Faith will do fine.”

The nurse nodded and led her to Tara’s room. They paused outside and the nurse prompted for the brunette to enter first. Faith hesitated, and then turned to her.

“Could we talk in private for a little while? There are things I have to discuss with her about home. Things that have changed since she’d been away.”

Nurse Ratchet nodded then added, “Just don’t upset her too much; she’s still in a delicate condition.” Faith nodded and the nurse left her to enter the room alone.

Closing the door softly behind her, she approached the bed and waited to be acknowledged by the blonde witch.

After standing there quietly for a few minutes, with Beth still sleeping on her shoulder, she cleared her throat softly to get the girl’s attention.

When Tara looked at her it was with tired, bloodshot eyes. It took her a moment to place the memory of the brunette woman standing beside her bed, but when she did she immediately became guarded. It was only the presence of the little girl in the slayer's arms that calmed her nerves enough for her to speak.

“W.. what are you doing here? Where’s Willow?” She stammered slightly.

Faith gave the witch a small smile and slowly walked over to the chair by the bed and sat down.

“I dunno where Red is, she’s not exactly my number one fan. B’s at work and Dawn’s staying at a friend’s, so there was only me at the house when the hospital called. I left a note so they’d see it when they got back. I’d expect to see at least one of them some time tonight.” Faith talked calmly and reassured the blonde.

Tara relaxed noticeably. “Do you know what happened? They don’t seem to want to tell me around here.” She asked hopefully.

“The nurse told me not to tell you anything that might upset you, but the way I see it you’ve got to find out eventually, and the sooner you do the sooner you can begin to pick up the pieces of your life.”

Tara nodded. “Yeah, doctors think they know everything. I’ve been trying to get some info out of them all day, and they won’t tell me anything.” She sounded exasperated.

“Well this might be kinda heavy and I don’t know all the details so bear with me ok?” The witch nodded. “Do you remember being shot?” Faith asked.

Tara’s eyes widened. “I remember blood on Willow's shirt and feeling pain in my chest. Is that what happened?”

“Yeah. You know that Buffy had put Jonathan and Andrew in prison and was still looking for Warren. Well he showed up at Buffy’s house with a gun and shot her. He shot twice, and the second bullet ricocheted and came through your bedroom window and hit you.” She paused to let this information sink in.

Tara swallowed. “Is Buffy ok?” She asked worried, but knowing that the slayer was still alive because Faith had said that she was at work at the moment.

“B’s fine. Slayers don’t die that easily. We’re stubborn that way.” She smiled again. Cautiously she asked, “Do you want to know the rest?”

Tara nodded confidently.

“You’ve been in a coma… When they brought you in you were near death. If the bullet had hit another inch to the right you’d have died instantly, or so I’m told.”

Tara was afraid to ask how long for, but did anyway.

“Just over ten months.” Faith steeled herself for an outburst or some other extreme reaction from the blonde. When there was no reaction she asked Tara if she was ok.

“Yeah, it’s just a lot to handle, you know? I guess you would know, after being in a coma for eight months.”

Faith looked down at her hands, considering how she should broach the subject of her presence in this reality. Deciding to dive right in she off-handily told her that she had never been in a coma.

Tara was puzzled. She could have sworn that that was what had happened during Willow’s time between high school and college.

“I can explain.” Tara gestured for her to continue, being more than a little curious. “I’m not from this reality. The Faith that belongs here was in a coma for eight months, but I’ve never been in one. I don’t know much about magic, but I came to the conclusion that some stray magic from a spell Red and Amy cast in my world, (to get rid of a demon,) caused me and Beth here to be transported to this reality.” She looked to the blonde to see if she was following.

“I’m still listening. Go on.” Tara reassured her that she understood what she was saying.

“To cut a long story short, in my reality, B and I are married and this is our daughter,” she gestures towards Beth. “Red and Oz broke up about a month ago and she’s been seeing this shy blonde Wicca, and still thinks no one’s the wiser of their relationship.” She smiled ruefully at Tara, who smiled back brightly. “The four of us, B and I, Beth and Red, live in a house near the college campus, and the three of us attend classes there. B’s mum’s still alive so Dawn lives with her. Xander’s with Anya, and Amy was never a rat and hangs out with Red most of the time. I’ve only met you once or twice, but you were usually too preoccupied with Red to notice.”

Tara blushed. “It’s nice to know that we have this attraction in another reality.” Her smile faded when she thought about her reality at the moment. “What’s been going on around here? How’s Willow?”

Faith’s smile faded too. “Not so good. She’s been in a depression ever since the shooting. She takes anti-depressants and sleeping pills to help her cope, and so she can continue her college work. She’s hanging in there though. I’m sure she’ll be right as rain once she knows that you’re ok.”

Tara rubbed sleep out of her eyes and sighed deeply. “I wish she were here. I need to see her, so I know she’s ok.”

“If I’d have known where she was I would have gone to get her. I don’t want her to have to feel the way she is any longer than she has to. I know what it’s like from her end. B, my B was in a coma for two months after the ascension. That was a hard time. I operated like a robot most of the time, not wanting to breakdown, ‘cause I knew that lives depended on me.” Faith was about to continue more about here past with Buffy when the nurse came in, followed by a doctor.

“We really would like to get all of your examinations out of the way now Miss McLay. I trust that your conversation with your friend was not too much for you?”

“It was fine, not at all stressful, thanks.” She turned to Faith. “Could you wait ‘till the tests are done, then we can talk more afterwards?” Her eyes pleaded with Faith, and she could not refuse the blonde in her desperation.

"I’ll be in waiting area when you’re done." She smiled reassuringly and squeezed Tara’s hand before leaving her with the doctor and nurse.

She went back to the waiting area, and after putting Beth in the day-care room, where they had cots for the kids, she sat down and waited. After about five minutes she decided to call Buffy’s house to relay the latest news, should anybody listen to the message when they came in, or if they’d missed her message.

After telling Buffy’s machine that she had spoken to Tara and she seemed ok, but they were running some routine tests on her now, she got herself a cup of coffee and continued to wait.

It was almost two hours later when two agitated woman burst through the hospital doors and strode purposefully up to the front desk.

“We’re here to see Tara McLay.” Willow said with a harsh voice. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, thinking that perhaps this was just Faith playing a cruel joke on them.

“Miss McLay is having some routine tests run at the moment and should be allowed guests shortly.” The receptionist answered her in a monotone voice.

Willow looked like she was going to throttle the middle aged woman before Buffy pulled her away, having spotted the other slayer waiting patiently in the sitting area. She had to almost force the ex-witch into her seat before she could herself sit down. She turned to Faith for answers.

“She seemed ok when I went in to see her. I think she was startled to see me at first, but Beth helps with the ‘none aggressive’ image.”

Buffy looked around then frowned. “Where is Beth?” She asked with a hint of concern.

“She’s sleeping in the day-care room… I told Blondie what had happened. Or as much as I could from what you’d told me, B. I think she’s coping quite well with it. She asked me to stick around ‘till after the tests were done, so here I am. They’ve been in there for a while now, so they should be done soon.”

Sure enough, as if on cue, the doctor and nurse in question emerged into the waiting area and soon spied the visitors they were looking for. As the nurse wondered off through another door, the doctor approached them.

Willow jumped out of her seat. “Is she ok? Can we see her now?” She immediately asked.

The doctor smiled. “She’s doing better than we expected actually. Her vital signs have returned to normal, and her brain activity doesn’t seem to have suffered too much. There is some memory damage, but nothing she shouldn’t get back with time. She just needs to rest up and regain her strength before we will consider releasing her. And yes you can go and see her now. I believe Miss Jackson-Summers knows the way?” He gestured towards Faith and she confirmed that she did.

The brunette blushed when she realised that the blonde and the red head were exchanging looks over the name addressed to her by the doctor. “My maiden name’s Jackson. We couldn’t decide who should have their name first so we flipped for it. I won.” She shrugged her shoulders and then led them to Tara’s room.

She was happy to see Tara’s face light up when Buffy and Willow followed her into the room. Willow rushed to her girlfriend’s side and they wrapped one another up in a hug. Willow was sobbing and repeating, ‘I love you’, over and over again to the blonde witch. Tara simply stroked the red head's hair waiting for the sobs to ebb away. When they finally did, Buffy approached the opposite side of the bed and gave Tara a hug of her own.

“Welcome back to the world of the living. We thought you were looking to leave us for a while back there.” Buffy said softly, with a relieved smile on her face.

Willow composed herself enough to allow a smile to appear. She sat back in the chair, but kept hold of Tara’s hand. After seeing that the witches only had eyes for each other, the slayers exited the room, promising to come back later.

*****

The next day, while Buffy was at work and Willow at her classes, Faith sat talking to Tara. Willow had wanted to stay there with her girl, but Tara had insisted that she not miss any classes. Since Faith didn’t know much about what had gone on in this Sunnydale, she talked about her home experiences.

“… So we talked and we decided to start again, in SunnyD. It took some persuading, but B eventually got me to move into her place, where they had a spare room…”

The slayers had not long returned from the Bronze where Faith had got a good laugh at Scott Hope’s pathetic attempts at asking Buffy out. Now they were sitting on Faith’s bed, inside the motel room. Buffy had talked to her mother about Faith’s situation, and Joyce had agreed that she could move in with them if she wanted to.

“B, I promise you, you’ll be fed up with me within a week. Besides I like my space, and I don’t think DW will be too happy to have another person in the house.”

Buffy was trying to get Faith to move into the spare room at her house, instead of staying at Sunnydale’s fleabag of a motel. So far she was having little luck.

“Come on Faith, please. I’m so not going to get fed up of you. I don’t even want to let you out of my sight now I have you back. You’ll have your own room, and everyone will knock before coming in. And Dawn won’t mind I promise.” The blonde slayer was close to begging at this point.

“You haven’t even asked her. And how do you know you won’t get fed up of me? You’ve never had to live with me before.”

“Number 1: Dawn adores you. I think she likes you better than me. Number 2: Have you forgotten when we spent almost three months continually sleeping at each others houses before you moved away. We hardly spent a minute apart, and I’ve never been happier than I was back then. We were inseparable.”

“Things change B. I’ve changed, and so have you. We don’t even know if it will be like that anymore.” The brunette stood up and walked away from the blonde slayer.

Buffy was surprised by this move, but quickly understood why Faith had done it. She was scared. It was printed so clearly on her face that Buffy wondered how she could have been so blind to have missed it before. She stood up and approached her girlfriend. She pulled the brunette into a hug from behind and rested her head on the taller girl’s shoulder.

“I know you’re scared.” Buffy said softly into her ear. Faith stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

“I’m not scared.” She said with a determined tone.

The blonde smiled. “Yes you are. I can see it, and I feel the same way.”

Faith turned around in the embrace. “You do?” Her voice was soft. She raised an eyebrow hoping they were talking about the same thing. “About what?”

“About us. Two years is a long time. We’re still the same people, but we have changed, we’ve grown. I wasn’t lying I do love you. I’m just not sure if it’s the old you I’m in love with or this new you. That’s why we decided to start over, so we can see if we can still love each other.

“We’ll take it steady, one step at a time. It doesn’t mean that if you move in with me and we don’t work out that I’m gonna kick you out. And you’ll be free to leave whenever you want. I just want you to have somewhere else to go.

“I really would like you to move in with us.” She moved closer and kissed the brunette softly before moving to whisper in her ear. “Just think: if we do work out, then I’ll be right across the hall whenever you need me.” She bit Faith’s ear suggestively, which resulted in a low moan. She pulled back and gave Faith an evil grin, before pulling away and getting a soda out of the fridge.

Faith swallowed hard. “I’ll think about it.”

Buffy smiled, and then moved back to stand in front of her. “Ok… Do you want to go out tonight? See a movie maybe before patrol?”

“Yeah cool… Hold on, is this your way of asking me out on a date?” She smiled ruefully.

Buffy blushed from having been caught out. “Well, we are meant to be dating. Isn’t this what we’re supposed to do, date?” She moved closer to Faith, who put her arms around her.

“Do we get to make-out in the back row?” She too moved closer so their lips were touching, and she could feel the movements as Buffy spoke.

“Depends.” She kissed the brunette.

“On what?” She asked, while kissing the blonde.

“On whether you come home with me or not.” She wasn’t letting go of the topic that easily. She knew Faith would cave eventually.

Faith pulled back slightly and searched her brain rapidly for an answer. “I can leave whenever I like if it isn’t working out?”

Buffy nodded. “Absolutely, no pressure. Just give it a go, you might like it.”

Faith frowned. “What’s the catch?”

“Catch?”

“Come on B, your mum’s not gonna want me hanging round the house all day doing nothing. And I gotta give her something for letting me live there.”

Buffy looked guilty. She hesitated before answering. “She wants you to finish high school.” Faith pulled away again and sighed, running a hand through her hair she sat down on the bed. “Giles says the council has your previous grades on record and could get you in. Don’t you want your high school diploma?”

“I’m just not so good with school.”

Buffy sat down next her. “Yeah you are. You used to do really well when we were at Hemery.”

“Yeah that was then. Anyway it’s not so much the work as just the whole school system. Getting up early, getting there on time, concentrating in class. That stuff.”

“I’ll be there to help you, and so will the gang. Willow always helps me with my work, she’ll help you too.” Faith scoffed. “What?”

“I don’t think Red’s too fond of me.”

Buffy looked puzzled. “Huh?”

“I think she’s jealous of me, of us.”

The blonde frowned. “I don’t think she thinks of me in that way.”

“I didn’t mean like that. It’s just that, she’s your best friend, and I bet you’ve hung out like every day in the past. But how often have you done that since I’ve been here.”

Buffy looked guilty. “Not a lot. Maybe twice when we haven’t been in school.”

“Right, and she knows I’m the reason for that. I think you should talk to her. Make time for her, and for the whole gang. I’ll stay here ‘till I decide about the whole school thing.”

“You can still move in with us. Going to school wasn’t a condition of you living there; it was more of a request, for your benefit. It’s only one more year, and we’ll all be there.”

Faith sighed, she really had a hard time refusing her girl anything, and how much could one more year hurt? “Ok.”

“Ok? Ok to what, which bit?”

She smiled and kissed the blonde. “To all of it.”

Buffy squealed and hugged Faith tightly, kissing her repeatedly. “You won’t regret it I swear. This year’s gonna be so cool.”

“Alright already.” She looked around the room. “Well I suppose now’s as good a time as any to begin moving my stuff. It’s not as though I’ve got a lot. We better move quickly if you still wanna catch that movie.”

“… It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, living in the Summers house. I went back to school, and I didn’t have to give Mrs. S anything, ‘cause the council made sure she got some money for my expenses. I just had to make sure I did my share of chores and tidy up after myself. Stuff like that. It was worth it to be able to see B everyday.”

Tara smiled, enjoying the way Faith talked about her life with the other slayer. “I can’t believe how different your lives have been. Willow told me what she knew about what went on between Buffy and Faith, but I don’t think she ever knew the whole story.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“To be able to hate someone as much as those two hated each other, you have to have loved them first. I think the reason Faith’s betrayal hurt Buffy so much was because she wasn’t just betraying their friendship, she was betraying their love also. Probably by the time Buffy realised what she was feeling for Faith it was too late. Faith’s jealousy drove her over the edge and love turned into hate.”

Faith nodded, understanding where Tara’s thoughts were going. “So in order to have B notice her, she was prepared to have her hate her instead?”

“The only time she was getting any attention from Buffy was when she was being bad. So logic would tell her that by being worse, she would get even more attention.”

Faith shivered as she thought about this. “Man that is fucked up. I can’t believe that could have been me.”

“And she could have been you. It must be hurting her to now know what she could have had.”

“Yeah, I know I’d be hurting. When I think about it, if I hadn’t know B from before Sunnydale, I don’t think I’d have opened up to her the way I did. Your B told me they didn’t meet ‘till Sunnydale, why was that?”

“I have no idea, maybe Buffy knows.”

“I’ll have to ask her. Do you still wanna hear more?”

“Hell yeah!” Tara exclaimed, uncharacteristically.

Faith smirked. “Ok, so I moved in with B. We were dating and I was happier than I’d been in a long time. It wasn’t the same as when we had first gone out; it was so much better. I didn’t believe that it could happen, but it did.” She remembered back to that time.

“Then I started to notice her acting weird, suspicious. I tried to talk to her but she didn’t want to tell me, so I left her to it, figured she’d tell me when she was ready. She eventually did, and I can’t say I was thrilled about it, but I trusted her, so I tried not to let it bother me that her ex was back, from hell.”

“Angel?”

“Yep. Big A was back and she’d been hiding him and helping him to get his strength back…”

The slayers were patrolling in Shady cemetery. Buffy had not long finished bragging about how fast she’d managed to sell all of the candy to raise money for the band, and right now the she was nervously just telling her girlfriend why she’d been acting strange lately.

“You could have told me B. I’m not exactly thrilled about this, but if you say he’s good then I trust in that.”

“I’m sorry, I know I should have, but I was scared that you might think he was evil and try to stake him. Guess I was thinking you’d be like Kendra was when she first met him. Do you wanna meet him?”

“Nah I think I’ll give that a miss. I’m not gonna stake him, but he’s my girl’s ex. I’m not lookin’ to compare notes... I think we might wanna keep the chit chat ‘till later, we’re supposed to be alert right now.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’ll talk later.” She quickly pulled Faith into a hug and kissed her briefly.

“Ok, now I’m ready for the bad guys,” she said with a mischievous smile.

*****

After having her ass kicked by Lagos, Faith was on her way back to the library to meet up with Buffy when she spied Xander. She joined him in walking back to school, and they talk on the way.

“Hey X, you on your way back?” She jogged to his side and they continued walking.

“Yeah, I got the goods, and I’m in the process of delivering them.” He held up the bag of doughnuts so Faith could see.

Her eyes lit up. “Oooh food, gimmie.” She reached for the bag, only to have them pulled away from her.

“Easy there slayer. If I give the bag to you, there’ll be none left by the time we get back.” He smirked at her, and barely missed a friendly punch to the arm.

“Spoil sport. Anyway I don’t eat that much.” He just gave her a look. “Ok, ok. Slayers use a lot of energy you know.”

“Mmm I bet. Especially when they’re together. Doing ‘slayer stuff’.” He looked at her knowingly.

“Oh man, I could eat a horse after doing ‘slayer stuff’. B can really wear me out. No mere mortal could withstand slayer make-out sessions.” He looked ready to drool on his shoe. “You better not let B catch you doing that.”

“Doing what?” He asked innocently.

“You know what. She knows that you think about us, what guy wouldn’t, but she doesn’t like to acknowledge it. If she knows that you know she knows then she won’t like it.”

Xander scratched his head. “Huh?”

The brunette laughed. “Just don’t do the thing where you pull that face and start drooling.”

He looked sheepish before looking away. He was about to speak again when he spotted something. Stopping dead he watched as the souled vampire entered the mansion, which they were passing by. Faith had forgotten that this was where Angel was holed up. She inwardly cursed before following Xander across the court yard.

“Hey X wait up, where you going?”

“That’s Angel. It’s gotta be bad news if he’s back.”

She tried to stall him in case Buffy was there. She didn’t want the Scooby’s knowing that Buffy knew Angel was back. “Hey Xand it’s probably nothing, we should head back, I don’t want Mrs. Post thinkin’ I went A.W.O.L.”

“This’ll just take a minute. Don’t you wanna see what evil thing he’s up to? You might have to stake him, ‘cause Buffy’s gonna have a hard time doing it, when she finds out he’s back.” He turned back towards the mansion and knelt down by a window to see inside.

Faith figured she might as well take a look too, as Xander obviously wasn’t going anywhere. What she saw didn’t please her too much. There was her girl and the souled vampire kissing in the middle of the room, which they were overlooking. Faith’s mouth opened in shock, and her whole body went numb.

Xander stood up. “I’ve seen enough. I’m gone.”

It had only been a second or two, and while the scene in front of her was breaking her heart, she couldn’t bring herself to look away. No more than a second later she was glad that she hadn’t. She watched as Buffy pushed the vampire away, and took in the angry look on her girl’s face. She stayed to listen to what the blonde had to say.

“Angel, stop! Don’t do this. Just because I’ve been helping you to get better doesn’t mean I want us to be that way again. I’m with Faith now, you know that.”

When Angel moved forward to touch Buffy, Faith lost her cool and decided it was time they did meet. She strode purposefully into the mansion, surprising both the other slayer and Angel.

“Faith! What are you…?”

Buffy stopped talking as the brunette slayer picked the vampire up by the front of his shirt and threw him across the room and into the wall. Buffy tried to pull her back, but Faith shrugged her off. Even though she wanted to, after looking into the blonde’s eyes, she knew she couldn’t stake Angel. She nodded towards Buffy that it was ok, and then took a couple of steps in Angel’s direction.

“If I ever find out that you’ve tried to kiss her again, or if you even touch her in a way I don’t like, then I won’t hesitate in sending you back to hell! You got that?!” He nodded, clearly taken aback by her actions. “Good.”

She ran a hand through her hair and made her way back to the door. Turning back to Buffy she asked, “You comin’ B?”

The blonde slayer looked between Faith and Angel. She wanted to stay to make sure he was ok, even if she was still mad at him for kissing her, but she knew that her girlfriend needed her more at that moment. Picking up her coat she walked towards the door.

“Yeah, I’m comin’.” She smiled reassuringly at Faith, and took one last look at Angel before they exited the mansion.

Faith walked faster than normal in an attempt to get as far away from the mansion as possible. Buffy had to almost jog to keep up with her.

“Faith! Faith, can we stop for a minute?”

The brunette stopped abruptly and ran her hand through her hair again. The blonde knew that she did this when she was agitated, and considering what had just happened she wasn’t surprised.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I didn’t see it coming, but I pushed him away I swear.”

“I know B, I saw. I’m not mad at you, I just feel like I need to hit something.” She looked round, as if expecting a vamp to pop up on cue. “Why can you never find a vamp when you need one?” She asked no one in particular.

“I was just there to check up on him, I don’t know why he did that, he knows I’m with you.”

“I know why.” Faith said turning towards Buffy. “I’d have done the same thing if I was him. I know what it’s like to lose you. All I wanted to do when I saw you again was to hold you and kiss you. He can’t do that and it must be driving him crazy. But I had to make him see that you’re my girl and I wasn’t just gonna let him get away with doin’ that.” She suddenly became a little insecure. “You do still wanna be my girl, right?”

The blonde slayer smiled gently and wrapped her arms around Faith’s waist. “Of course I do. I already told you: he doesn’t compare to you, he never has. I’d much rather have you any day.” She kissed her girlfriend slowly, when she pulled back she asked, “So we’re ok then?”

Faith kissed her back. “Yeah. Just stay back from him ok. I don’t want him to try anything else, if has any delusions that you’ll be ok with it.”

“Ok… We’d better get back then.” Faith suddenly looked nervous. “What is it?”

“Um, the reason I was at the mansion was because Xander saw Angel and wanted to see what he was up to. He saw the two of you kissing and didn’t stick around to see you pushing him away. I’m willing to bet he’s told the others by now.”

Buffy looked worried. “Oh crap. They’re gonna be so pissed. You’re gonna come with me and back me up, right?” She asked hopefully.

“Of course I will babe. Don’t think I’m gonna leave you to face the firing squad all by yourself do ya?”

“Thanks.” She hugged the brunette again, and breathed her girl’s scent in deeply. “Mmm, what would I do without you?”

“Um, sleep more?” Faith suggested jokingly.

The blonde laughed. “Yeah I suppose, but I kinda like the way you keep me occupied at night.”

“Really?” Faith teased, and moved to look at Buffy.

“Really.” Buffy said before moving in to capture full lips in a passionate kiss.

“… They went pretty hard on her, but she managed to persuade them that he was good again and that there was no way she’d be sleeping with him.” Faith took the chance to glance at her watch. “I thought Red was going to be here today. It’s almost half six. Didn’t realise we’d been talking for so long.”

“She was going to talk to the dean today about when I’d be able to go back.”

“Doctors tell you when you’re gonna get out?”

“I have to stay in for at least three more nights, and then they said they’ll see how I’m doing. So I’m hoping this week, at least. What time have you got to go?”

“Dawn wanted to go out tonight at eight, so I have to be back by then for Beth. I’ve still got a while if you want me to stick around.”

“Do you have to be somewhere?”

Faith looked shy for a moment. “I know this probably sounds stupid, but I wanted to go see B at the DMP. I was gonna ask about a job too. B says they’re understaffed at the moment, that’s why she’s been working double shifts all week. Also I don’t know how long I’m gonna be here for, and I want to give her something for letting me stay at the house.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid. I’m sure she’d like the company while she’s there… I’ve been meaning to ask; where have you been sleeping at Buffy’s?”

“In B’s room. The first couple of days I slept on the couch. It was ok for me but Beth needed something better, so B pulled out an old mattress and put it on the floor in her room. Beth sleeps in the bed with B most of the time; it’s more comfy in there.”

“Bet you know that for a fact huh?” Tara wiggled her eyebrows at the brunette, who almost blushed in return.

“If it’s the same as the bed I slept in with B when we were in high school, then yes it’s very comfy.”

“How’s it coming with the research?”

Faith sighed. “It’s hard. It’d probably be easier if I knew what I was looking for.”

“Haven’t you asked Willow to help you out? She’s probably have better luck.”

“I didn’t wanna bother her before. She really doesn’t like me much. And now she’s here all the time, so… not such a good idea.”

“Well, I can help when I get back, and then maybe Willow will too.”

“Thanks Blondie.” She looked at her watch again. “I’d better be going. Are you gonna be ok? Do you need anything before I head off?”

“No I’m good. Will should be here soon, but thanks anyway. It was really nice talking to you.”

“Well I’ll see ya tomorrow then. Bye.”

“Bye.”

PART FIVE

AU, Sunnydale. A day later.

The Scoobys had been under much stress the past week following Faith and Beth’s disappearance. This was the most depressed they’d ever seen Buffy, and, even the high she’d had after talking to Faith’s double and then knowing that Faith and Beth were ok, hadn’t lasted long.

She was almost constantly on their backs about research and discussing various ways to get the two brunettes back. They were having a hard time keeping up with their blonde friend gone crazy, but every time they’d thought they had a lead they met a dead end, and it was quickly wearing them down.

Thankfully, the previous day the blonde slayer had noticed their fatigue, and had sent them home in the late afternoon to get some much needed rest and personal time.

Buffy was well aware of how weary all of her friends were becoming as a result of all the research they’d been doing. However, her main priorities were stuck in another reality, and as long as the Scoobys were willing to help, she was going to take advantage of that. She managed to push away the guilt she felt every time she saw the exhaustion on their faces by planning to do something really nice for them, when Faith and Beth were safely home. What that something was she didn’t know yet, but she’d make sure it was extra special.

Buffy was not only worried about their safety, but she was also slightly worried and jealous about Faith staying with the other Buffy. She trusted Faith, and knew that no matter how sorely she was tempted, she would never cheat on her, but Buffy was another matter.

From what she had learnt from the other Faith, the relationship between those two slayers had been rocky at best. Therefore, if the other Buffy liked Faith as much as she did, but was too scared to admit it before, she might welcome the chance to start over with a new Faith, her Faith.

She knew it was a stretch of the imagination, but she couldn’t help thinking about it all the same.

She was thinking about it now as she stared at the page opened in front of her. Buffy and the Scoobys were back in the ‘Magic Box’ following another lead. The witches of the group seemed to be more excited about this one than any of the previous ones.

Her eyes were beginning to hurt from all of the research they’d been doing, and her lack of sleep was catching up on her. Getting up from her place at the table, she made her way to the bathroom at the back of the shop.

Originally the small room had simply been a toilet and a sink, but now there was a roomy built in shower with sliding doors. The bathroom was adjacent to the training room, and the slayers had thought it was a good idea to install the shower so they had somewhere close to retreat to after their training sessions.

Buffy cupped her hands under the cold tap and splashed water in her face. Looking in the mirror she noticed, not for the first time, the increasing darkness of the shadows under her eyes. She groaned in frustration and sorrow and tore her eyes away from her weary features.

Seeing the reflection of the rest of the room didn’t help much either. Everything reminded her of Faith; she even thought she could smell her lingering scent in the air. She shook her head and then turned to look at the shower. She hesitated a moment before starting to unbutton her blouse. She decided that she needed to relax a little and clear her head before returning to the books.

She locked the door before checking to see if there were any clean towels. Finding one she placed it to one side and then removed the rest of her clothing.

Stepping into the shower she turned the shower on and switched the pulse up on high. Leaning forward she rested her head on the wall, with her hands on either side of it. The blonde slayer closed her eyes and let her mind drift as the heat and hardness of the water began to remove some of the tension from her shoulders and back.

Stepping out of the shower a few minutes later, she dried herself and then began putting her clothes back on. Just as she was buttoning up her blouse she heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?” She called out.

“It’s me Buffy.” She recognised the voice as Willow’s.

“I’ll be out in a minute Will.”

She finished dressing before opening the door to reveal her friend.

“Hi.”

“You showered?”

“Yeah. I needed to get rid of some tension.”

“Oh. Well we think we’re on to something.”

Buffy was immediately interested. “I’ll be right out.”

She closed the door and held her breath. She tried not to get her hopes up, but failed miserably. Taking in a deep breath of air she turned around and stepped in to the main room of the ‘Magic Box’. She approached the table and took a look around.

“What is it Will? What did you find?”

Willow hesitated before answering. “Amy found a spell that we think might work. I still need to translate it, but it looks promising.” Willow looked steadily at her best friend. “We were thinking that maybe you should go home and rest for a while. I think you deserve a break.”

“I don’t need a break. I’m fine.”

Willow scoffed. “Right? You’re five by five.”

Buffy gave her a dirty look. “Don’t start with that Will. I’m alright, really.”

Willow just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well I believe that just about as much as we all believe Faith’s ‘five by fives’, but suit yourself.” Going back to the subject she said, “All you can really do now is to do more research. If this doesn’t work, and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t, we’ll need to find something else.”

“Fine. You get started on the translation then, and the rest of us will continue researching. How long do you think it will take?”

“A day, maybe two. It would be easier if Giles were here.” Willow complained.

“I called him and told him what’s happened. He’s pretty busy but he said he’d see if he could find anything.”

“Ok, let’s try this out then.” They then both sat back down at the table and continued working.

*****

It was a week before homecoming and Buffy, Faith and Willow were hanging out in Faith’s room. Willow was working on her laptop, while the slayers lounged on the bed. The brunette was leaning against the headboard and unconsciously played with Buffy’s hair while flicking through various radio stations. The blonde was lying on her side with her head in Faith’s lap, and was talking to Willow as she typed away at the keyboard.

“… and then she gave me the lecture on the value of money, and how it would do me good to learn to save it instead of spending it on ‘frivolous’ things. All I wanted was a little bonus so I could buy a new dress for homecoming.” Buffy huffed, thinking it was so unfair that her mother wouldn’t lend her any money for clothes.

Willow looked up as she finished typing. “Are you and Faith going together?”

The blonde hesitated. “Well yeah, but we haven’t decided whether we’re going as dateless friends, or as girlfriends. We’d have to tell the rest of the gang about us first, and then I’m not so sure about letting the rest of the senior class know. It’s tough.”

“You’re gonna have to tell the rest of the gang sometime you know. Might as well be sooner rather than later. What do you think Faith?”

The brunette turned towards them having heard her name, but didn’t really know what they were talking about. “Huh?”

“Telling the Scoobs.”

Faith frowned. “Telling them what?”

Willow laughed and Buffy rolled her eyes. “About us silly.”

“Oh, uh… Well I don’t think they’ll take it too badly, from what I’ve seen of them so far. I mean Red, you’re cool with it, I doubt the guys will have a problem; especially X. I don’t really know about Giles, and do you really care what Cordelia thinks? As for anyone else, I don’t care what they think or say about me, but if they start bad mouthing B then I’ll kick their asses.” She said seriously.

Buffy smiled up at her girlfriend, and then back at her best friend. “Isn’t she sweet?” Faith grinned in response and Willow just raised an eyebrow. Faith then kissed Buffy on the nose, which caused her to smile when the blonde scrunched up her nose in response to the kiss.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

The blonde sighed. She looked to Faith and received a shrug of the shoulders. “We’ll tell the guys, tomorrow maybe, but I don’t know about anyone else.”

“It’s not like it’s anyone else’s business, but they’ll probably find out by themselves eventually. Are you just worried about what people will say around school?” Faith asked her girlfriend.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“B, they pretty much think you’re all freaks anyway, so what difference is this gonna make.”

“Gee thanks for that!” Buffy said sarcastically.

“Yeah, but think about it. Do you really pay any attention to what other people in school are doing, unless it’s demon related? They might think you’re a freak, but I doubt they care enough to be talking about you all the time. It’s mainly the jocks and the bitches that’d give you a hard time, just to up their reps, and they’re probably too scared of you to do that. I don’t really see anything to worry about.”

“What if my mum finds out through some rumour? You know how they can get exaggerated. In a months time she’ll probably be yelling at us for making out in class or having sex in the girl’s locker room or something stupid like that.”

“I guess you’d have to tell her before it got to that.”

Buffy paled slightly at the notion of telling her mum that she was dating a girl, and that that girl was living with them.

“You don’t think she’d take it well?” Willow asked her friend.

“I really don’t know. I’ve never had any experience with this before, so I have no idea how she’s gonna react. Then there’s the fact that Faith is living with us, and I know she knows that we sometimes sleep in the same bed together. I just don’t want her to freak like she did when I told her I was a slayer.”

Faith frowned, “Why, what happened?”

“She kicked me out.”

“Oh.” Now it was Faith’s turn to pale slightly. She enjoyed living with the Summers women. They were becoming more and more like a family to her.

“Well, she said that she was sorry, and that she’d overreacted, but what if she overreacts again? I don’t want to get kicked out for a second time, and she might only kick one of us out…”

“…Me.”

Buffy looked up at the brunette, and could see the sadness in her eyes. “Yeah, and I don’t want to get you kicked out either.”

Willow noticed the tension that had gathered and tried to break it with a little hope. “She might be cool with it, you never know. She only kicked you out before ‘cause she was confused and you had no time to stay and explain it to her. This time you will though. Maybe she’ll be ok if you just sit down and talk to her.”

Buffy looked sceptical, but a little more hopeful. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I still wanna wait a while though. At the end of the year, just before we go to college, and then it won’t matter as much if she wants to throw either of us out. If Faith goes then I’m going, and we can both be living in the dorms while mum cools off. What do you think hun?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“If she finds out before then, well we’ll just have to deal with that if it comes.”

The red head nodded in agreement. “So, tomorrow then.”

Buffy snuggled a little closer to Faith, looking for comfort. “Yep, tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry B, it’ll be fine. Besides, I doubt it’s something X-man hasn’t already thought about before.”

“Thanks, I really wanted to know that. Eww.”

“You’re welcome. Scary visuals are my specialty.” Buffy playfully punched Faith, and then turned to look at Willow as she got up.

“I’m gonna head out now. I still want to do some more to our latest science project before I hand it in.” She said as she began gathering up her belongings.

“Ok Will, do you want us to escort you home? We have to go on patrol soon anyway.”

“Yeah, thanks Buffy.”

*****

The blonde slayer couldn’t stop fidgeting as she and her girlfriend sat in the library early the next morning, waiting for the others to arrive. Giles had already been there and had managed to mask his surprise well at seeing them both in so early. Buffy had told him that she and Faith were looking to talk to everyone about something important, and after assuring him that it wasn’t anything regarding impending apocalypses, he’d agreed to wait for the others to arrive.

Faith put her arms around Buffy from behind, and held the blonde’s hands in hers to keep them still; they were beginning to make her nervous as well. Buffy leant back into the embrace, grateful for the calming effect the brunette’s touch had on her. She was just beginning to relax when the library doors opened and Willow came in.

The blonde slayer immediately sat up straight when she heard the noise and held her breath as the red head walked in, and then smiled a little as Willow made a ‘thumbs up’ gesture. The other three were just a few metres behind, and soon the members of the Scooby Gang were all assembled in the library.

Buffy decided she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so called out for their watcher to join them. He entered with a puzzled look on his face having forgotten about their important news, which was until he noticed the rest of the group waiting around. He then too sat down at the table.

Xander sat down next to his girlfriend at the table. “What’s going on? We havin’ a meeting or something?”

Cordelia gave an exaggerated sigh and looked at the slayers. “Is it the end of the world, again?”

Faith rolled her eyes and smiled at the cheerleader’s dramatics.

“It’s nothing that bad.” Buffy said, and then added, “At least we hope not.”

“So what is it?” Xander asked.

Buffy hesitated for a moment, and then said, “You know, Faith’s starting back at school tomorrow…”

Faith interrupted, willing her girlfriend to get to the point. “B…” Still seeing the nervousness in the blonde’s eyes she decided to break the news to them herself. “B and I are dating.” She received silence and a few blank stares. So she held Buffy’s hand and added, “Each other.”

Cordelia was the first to speak, which caused the blonde to let go of the breath she’d been holding. “Is that it? I thought it was going to be something important.”

The slayers glared at the cheerleader. “This is important to us C.”

“We just wanted to know if you guys approved or not, before we started acting all couply around everyone.” Buffy said then added, “Does everyone approve? Giles?”

The librarian cleared his throat, and took of his glasses before beginning to clean them. “Well I must say I was slightly suspicious about the two of you. I personally have no reservations about unconventional relationships. However, I will warn you both about keeping your relationship and your duty as slayers separate. We don’t want either of you getting hurt because one of you was distracted by the other.”

“Thanks Giles.”

“Yeah, thanks G. And don’t worry; we’ll keep the groping sessions to the bedroom.”

While Faith grinned mischievously, both Buffy and Giles blushed, and Faith earned herself an elbow in the ribs.

Buffy then turned to the rest of the group. “Anyone else?” She asked, now mainly addressing the two boys.

“No, it’s cool by me.” Oz said.

“Xander?” She then asked, looking at the only person left who had not commented.

Xander was staring off into space with a goofy look plastered on his face.

Faith smirked. “C?” Cordelia looked up at the dark slayer and then at her boyfriend when Faith gestured towards him.

“Oh.” She said when she realised what the problem was. She smacked him upside the head before returning to her recently manicured nails.

“Oww, hey what was that for?”

“For daydreaming about slayers and not me.” She answered quietly.

“Who said you weren’t there?” Xander whispered to himself. Faith laughed and Xander blushed when he realised that she’d heard him.

Buffy didn’t find it so funny. “Xander! Faith!”

“What? Come on B, it’s funny. Teenage boys, they’re just slaves to their hormones.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “And you’re not.”

Faith looked momentarily insulted. “I’m not a slave, I can control it.”

The blonde slayer grinned. “Really? Then why did you come into the bathroom the other day when I was in the shower?”

Faith looked sheepish. “To brush my teeth?”

“And you couldn’t have waited ‘till I’d finished?”

Faith smiled wickedly, and giving up the game she said, “What, and miss the show!?”

The blonde smacked her girlfriend’s arm. “You’re so bad.” Faith smiled. “Just for that you’re sleeping in your own bed tonight.” Her smile faded.

Buffy got up with the rest of them when the bell rang for classes, and Faith followed her.

“Come on B, I was just jokin’ around.” The blonde continued walking. “I hardly saw anything, really.” She stopped, defeated. “Can I at least get a kiss goodbye?”

Buffy stopped and turned around before slowly approaching the brunette. She put her arms around her neck and kissed her softly, and then pulled back to whisper in her ear.

“I love you.” She stepped back and looked at her girlfriend. “See you later.”

Faith’s smile grew as Buffy blew her a kiss from the door, and she mouthed ‘I love you too’ back at the blonde before returning to the table.

Buffy was on a high. All of her friends had accepted that she and Faith were together, and after that brief, soft kiss she was beginning to daydream about the other slayer. Perfect for getting her through her next class.

She was contemplating whether to actually make Faith sleep on her own that night or not. The problem was that if Faith was sleeping alone then so was she. Not really fancying the idea of that she decided to just let Faith sweat it out ‘till bed time, and then perhaps join the brunette in her bed.

*****

Boston, ’97.

Faith was kicking a can down the street as she walked ‘home’ from school. She was a native Bostonian, but the streets she’d grown up on looked vastly different than she remembered them from her childhood. Many happy memories of friends and family had been replaced by instances of bloody fights and drunken nights, when she had tried to drown away the bitter thoughts and then topped it all of by sleeping with some random guy that had chatted her up.

She felt unbelievably hollow. Nights spent on the town were often excuses for not returning home until absolutely possible. This was the same reason why she had joined the gymnastics team, so she could stay longer at school instead of sitting in her room listening to the yelling from down the hall, and then, when the noises stopped she would hear the footsteps approaching her door, just like when she was staying at the children’s home.

She had used to enjoy Gymnastics just for the fun of it, but now it had become just another escape route. To escape from the world and her thoughts. To remind her of better times, better times with Buffy.

She had tried to run away a couple of times, to head back to LA so she could find her girlfriend, but each time the cops had picked her up before she could even get out of Boston. Now she was just biding her time until she was old enough to leave without anybody being able to stop her. As soon as she was eighteen she was going to catch the first train to California, with whatever money she’d managed to get her hands on.

Looking up into the sky she noticed that it was getting dark. She picked up her pace wanting to get back before then sun went completely down. It wasn’t so bad when she was with a large group of people ‘cause she knew that vamps would probably avoid them, but a lone girl walking home would seem like an easy target.

What she didn’t know was that she was already being followed by someone. In fact, that someone had been following her ever since she’d left her last class and gone to the school gym.

The brunette stopped suddenly when she heard a branch snapping behind her. She tensed her body and got ready for a fight. Luckily she thought, she always remembered to carry a stake with her in her bag. Keeping all of her senses alert she carried on walking. She had just reached the end of her street when she thought she heard something again. Turning around slowly she held up her stake which she’d already taken out of her bag and stood poised for battle.

“Alright. Whoever’s there better get their ass out here now. I’m not in the mood for games.” She picked up movement to her left and turned to see a middle aged woman emerge from behind a tree. She lowered her stake, but kept her stance. Training for six months with the slayer had taught her not to let her guard down, even if the opponent looked weak and innocent. “Who are you, and what do you want?” She demanded.

The woman took a hesitant step forward, but stopped when the brunette took a step back and raised her stake a little more.

“Stay right there. Don’t come any closer lady. Just tell me what I wanna know.”

“Ok Faith, I’ll tell you why I’ve been following you, but it might be easier for you to believe me if you would agree to come to the graveyard with me when it gets dark.”

Faith laughed. “Lady, you’re crazy. You think I’m just gonna take off with you to a graveyard at night without any kind of explanation. You sound like a Watcher.”

The woman looked at the brunette surprised. “Excuse me?”

“Never mind.” Faith said, thinking that she wouldn’t believe her anyway. “Listen lady, you’d better get in before the sun goes down or you’ll be in a whole lotta trouble. And quit following me around.” She went to walk away but stopped when the woman blonde started talking again.

“Do you believe in vampires Faith?”

Faith hesitated. “Off the record, yeah. I’ve seen quite a few.”

“Really?” The woman said sounding happy about that. “Well actually I am a Watcher, and into each generation a chosen one is born. You’re that chosen one Faith, you are the slayer.”

Faith stood stunned, and slightly scared. She knew that there could only be one slayer at a time, and if she was now the slayer then that must mean that… “No way lady you’ve got your girls crossed. There’s already a slayer, and I ain’t her.” She walked away desperately trying not to cry. If Buffy was dead then there was no point in her living either. The only way she got through the day was thinking about one day finding Buffy again, and making everything right again. Now it looked like that would never happen. How could Buffy die, she didn’t deserve to die.

The watcher ran to catch up with her and stopped in front of the brunette. “Look, I know we haven’t exactly gotten off on the right foot here but you can’t run away from this. It is your destiny Faith.”

Faith nodded and looked up at her watcher seriously. “How did she die?” Asking the one question she didn’t really want to know the answer to.

“Who?”

Faith rolled her eyes in annoyance. “My predecessor, the slayer before me.”

“Oh, um I’m not sure if you should know…” Seeing the look on Faith’s face she reconsidered her answer. “Her throat was slit by a vampire. It was quite sad really, she had only been active for about a year. I heard from Miss Summer’s watcher that she was very upset by Kendra’s death.”

“Hold on, who’s Kendra?” She asked, puzzled.

The woman looked just as puzzled. “She’s your predecessor.”

“How could Buffy be upset about Kendra dying if she’s dead herself?”

“Oh I see why you’re confused. Miss Summers did die a year ago, but was revived by one of her friends. This has never happened before, so when the next slayer was activated we were surprised to learn that Miss Summers was in fact still alive.”

“Buffy’s alive?” She asked just to make sure she’d heard right.

“Yes.”

She sighed in relief. “That’s all I needed to know. Ok, so how does this slayer gig work? I mean apart from training and patrolling. My foster parents aren’t gonna be too happy with me walkin’ in, in the middle of the night. It’s either, be home on time, or don’t come back ‘till morning with them.”

“The council is aware of your guardianship situation, and they are working with the system to make me your legal guardian until you are eighteen. I am in the process of purchasing an apartment in town and we’ll live there.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?”

She was more than happy to be moving away from her foster home, but she still didn’t like the feeling that she was being told what to do, instead of asked.

"I suppose we could make other arrangements if you know of anything equally suitable, but this is the preferred route of the council and myself."

“Nah, it’s cool. I just don’t like to think I’m being forced into anything.”

“I see, perfectly understandable. Now, how about we test out your skills? I will make some small assessments so I’ll know which training methods to start you on.”

“Will this take long? I just wanna know if I have to find another place to sleep tonight.”

“We shouldn’t have to be out for more than an hour, two at the most. However, if the unforeseen happens then you are welcome to stay with me.”

“Cool, let’s go then.”

Suitably satisfied that she wasn’t going to have to sleep rough, and that she was now an officially one of the strongest women in the world, and, most importantly; the love of her life and keeper of her every thought was still alive, she set off after her Watcher.

*****

LA; Angel Investigations HQ. ‘Real World’

The brunette slayer had been brooding for days in her room. The physicist had tried to get her to hang out with her and Gunn a few times, but she had rebuked their efforts, only leaving at night to patrol. Today though, she had made a decision to talk about her thoughts and feelings. ‘What the heck’ she thought, ‘gotta start somewhere.’

The trouble was; that the only person she felt comfortable doing this with was Angel, and she felt awkward talking to him about the blonde slayer.

So, for almost an hour she had been pacing in the lobby of the hotel, psyching herself up for this hard task ahead. She was deep on thought when Cordelia walked down the stairs, and didn’t realise she was there until she was tapped on the shoulder. Whipping round with lightning speed she was prepared for an attack.

Cordelia merely giggled a little and smirked. “Bit jumpy aren’t we? I thought slayers were supposed to be all focused on their surroundings and stuff.”

Faith glared at the ex cheerleader as she relaxed. “What is it C, I’m busy?”

“Busy wearing a hole in the floor? I didn’t know that was on the schedule for today. Guess I missed the memo.” She said with humour in her eyes.

She really enjoyed winding the other brunette up and when placed with the opportunity to do so she rarely backed away. So maybe she had changed a lot since high school, but there was a bit of the old bitchy cheerleader left in Cordelia Chase.

Faith rolled her eyes and sighed before sitting down. She really wasn’t in the mood for another round of mud slinging with Queen C. Not that she couldn’t handle herself. It was just that she had other things on her mind at that moment.

While it could be said that the two young women had never been great friends and even now couldn’t boast of anything resembling more than a colleague relationship, they actually liked and respected one another quite a lot. So they tolerated each others quirks, no matter how annoying they might be.

The slayer rubbed her thumb and forefinger over the bridge of her nose.

“I’m not in the mood for this, C. Could you just get to the point already.”

Cordelia pouted a little. “Spoil my fun… I had a vision, of you, in Sunnydale.” Faith looked up, interested. “You and Buffy were fighting some demon. Willow and a blonde woman I’ve never seen were working some magic on it. I don’t know what they were trying to do, but the demon was holding a little girl, so it looked like you were all reluctant to attack… Any of this making sense to you?”

Faith was thinking it over. The girl was probably the other Faith’s daughter, Beth, and the Faith from the vision was probably her double. Therefore there was no reason why she would have to go to Sunnydale herself.

“Maybe. Doesn’t mean this has anything to do with me though.”

Cordelia looked at her curiously. “What do you mean? You were in the vision, so you have to go there.”

“Angel obviously didn’t fill you in then.” Cordy gave her a blank look. “There’s another Faith who’s from an alternative reality and somehow got transported to this reality. She and her kid are staying with B. That’s about all I know.”

“Why didn’t anybody tell me about this?” She said sounding annoyed for being kept out of the loop.

“Dunno. I assumed dead boy would’ve told you. It’s no biggie, they’re workin’ on it.”

“That’s probably what Buffy wanted to talk to Angel about the other week… Anyway, how do you know that it’s not you in Sunnydale? You’ll just have to go there and find out.”

“No way C! B’ll kick my ass straight back here as soon as she sees me, so why bother? She’s got a new and improved version of me. Why would she want the run down one that she has a history with? A bad history. Besides, if they need me there then they’ll call, but until then I’m not going anywhere.” Faith looked slightly jealous when talking about her double and the blonde slayer.

“You think she’s still that mad at you?” Faith nodded. “Then wouldn’t she have kicked this other Faith’s ass too.”

“She’s not me C. She’s from another reality. She never went bad like I did.”

Cordelia nodded, thinking it over. “And of course Buffy would have believed her. Even though she’s still so mad at you that she’d kick your ass, no questions asked.” She raised a questioning eyebrow at the slayer. “Doesn’t sound too likely to me. Some how I don’t think your double would be staying with Buffy if she’d had her ass kicked by her as soon as they’d met. So Buffy probably didn’t kick her ass, therefore she can’t be as mad at you as you think she is. So mad that she’d attack you on sight anyway.”

Faith stood up and stepped away from the couch. “I know what you’re trying to do.”

“And what would that be exactly?”

“You think you can patch things up with me and B by getting us to talk to each other. Ain’t gonna happen C. She hates me ok? The last think she told me was, ‘that if I ever try to apologise to her then she’d beat me to death’.”

“That was more than two years ago. A lot went down then. She was angry; she didn’t have time to think about it. Look, you’ve changed, what makes you think she hasn’t?” At the slayer’s sceptical look she added, “Isn’t it worth a try? I thought you wanted to make amends, apologise and ask for forgiveness.”

“Not with B.”

“Why not? Doesn’t she deserve an apology?”

“Yeah she does, but sorry just ain’t gonna cut it. I don’t deserve forgiveness from her. I hurt her too much for that. She doesn’t need me back in her life messin’ things up again. I’m a fuck up C, and I’m always gonna be one. As soon as I get back on my feet I’m gonna leave, get away from you all ‘cause it won’t be long before I screw up your lives too.”

Cordelia felt angry and stood up to face the slayer. “Fuck you Faith! After all we’ve tried to do to help you and you’re just going to run again. Running’s what got you in trouble in the first place. You couldn’t cope with what happened with Finch so you closed up, pushed us away. Then you ran to the Mayor. Why him Faith, how could he have possibly helped you?”

“Pushed who away C? There was no one there to push away! I was alone!”

“If you’d have come to us it wouldn’t have been that way. You were alone because you made it that way.”

“Yeah sure. ‘Cause you were all so inviting with, ‘Faith you killed someone’, ‘you have to deal with it’, always accusing me! I wasn’t the only one there. But no. Precious little Buffy could do no wrong could she? I saw the way you all looked at me, like I was trash. I didn’t deserve to be in your club, and you all were just waiting for me to slip up.”

“That’s bullshit Faith and you know it!... You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think you saw yourself that way, so you were convinced that everybody else did as well… You were a lonely little girl, who’d probably never known love, and your jealousy over Buffy and Angel’s relationship drove you wild. So when you staked the Deputy Mayor you went over the edge. You got scared, and that’s probably why you drove us all away, Buffy the most, just so we wouldn’t see how vulnerable you really were inside… Am I getting close?”

“You don’t know shit C.”

“Really? Enlighten me then.” Cordelia could see that the slayer was about to snap. She just hoped that Faith had as much control as Angel had convinced her that she had.

Faith could feel the anger rising inside her at an alarming speed. Thinking about her past did that to her. She hadn’t felt this mad in such a long time that it was scaring her. Anger used to give her a buzz, fuelling her strength when she was beating on some demon, or occasionally, a person. Now though she didn’t want to hurt anyone so she knew she had to control herself or find some safe release, and fast.

Cordelia jumped back and yelped when the brunette slayer screamed in frustration and anger, and ran her fist through the coffee table, shattering it across the lobby.

As Faith stood there getting her breathing back under control, Cordelia ran a hand through her hair and glanced over the remains of the table.

“Feeling better?” She asked the slayer, watching her carefully.

Faith sighed and sat back down. “Not really.”

Cordelia sat down next to Faith. “Look, Faith. I get that you’ve got a lot to deal with, but no one’s expecting you to deal all by yourself. You can talk to us if you want. We may not have any sound advice, but sometimes it feels good just to let it out.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’m just not used to, talking to people.”

“It takes time, but you gotta get used to it. You can’t keep it all in ‘cause that’s what’s gonna get you in more trouble. If you want people to believe you’ve changed, you have to stop pushing them away.”

Faith sighed deeply, and then groaned. “I never cared about any one but myself before. This redemption stuff is harder than I thought.”

“Well, if it helps any; I think you can do it. You’ve been doing pretty good so far.”

The slayer shrugged. “I’ve only been out for a month or two.”

“Don’t just look at it from when you got out. You realised what you did was wrong, you turned yourself in, and stayed in jail for more than two years, when we all know that you could’ve broken out if you’d really wanted to. So give yourself some credit.”

“I didn’t really think about that… I was actually going to talk to Angel tonight. I was just trying to think how to do it.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“I don’t even know where to start; most of my thoughts don’t even make any sense to me.”

“Perhaps he can make some sense out of them.”

“Yeah, perhaps.” Faith looked momentarily anguished, which the seer noticed.

“What is it?” Faith shook her head ‘no’, not wanting to talk about Buffy to Cordelia. “You’re afraid that he’ll get mad at you if you talk about ‘she with a martyr complex’? ... Buffy.” Cordelia added when Faith gave her a puzzled look.

“What? No!” She said, indignantly.

“Faith, do you really think that I wouldn’t have noticed your obsession with her?” Faith stared at her a little shocked. “I said it before, you were jealous of Angel, I’ll bet that’s why you poisoned him.”

“I thought you thought I was jealous over B having soul boy, not the other way around. And yeah, that’s pretty much why I did it... Even when I thought I was happier getting all this attention off the Mayor, seeing him kissing her and holding her still made my blood boil.”

Cordelia was about to answer when she suddenly stopped. “I have to go, they’re calling me. Go talk to Angel, and don’t be afraid to talk about Buffy; he’s more understanding than you’d think.”

With that the seer was gone in a bright white light. Faith blinked a few times to get the spots out of her vision, and stood up. Taking a deep breath she approached the stairs and began ascending them towards Angel’s room.

*****

Sunnydale, DMP, ‘Real World’. (9th day.)

Buffy was standing at the grill flipping burgers, when Barry told her that he’d take over because she was wanted in the office. Mildly puzzled and curious, the blonde slayer made her way to the Boss’ office.

Stepping inside she announced her presence and approached the desk. At the far end of the room was a changing room. She could hear movement coming from that direction so knew that there was someone in there.

“Ah, Buffy. I wonder if you could do me a favour.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“We have a new employee joining us today, and I would like you to show her around.”

“Yeah ok, but why me? Barry’s been here longer.”

“I just thought you would like to try it out, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No I’ll do it, I was just curious as to why. So is she changing?” Buffy gestured towards the changing room.

“Yes. Ah, here she comes.” The boss stood up so as to get ready to introduce the two women.

Buffy watched in shock as the young brunette entered the room. She hadn’t known anything about Faith wanting to get a job, and was a little bit annoyed and excited at the same time. It also amazed her how the other slayer could make her legs feel like rubber with just one look. She was sure no one else had ever been able to do that.

As the other girl got closer the blonde smacked her on the arm. Her boss was shocked, but didn’t say anything as Faith answered for her.

“Ow, what was that for B?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was supposed to be a surprise. I just wanted to help you out a bit.” Faith added hoping Buffy wouldn’t be offended.

“Oh, well ok then. Come on I’ll show you the ropes.”

As the two slayers exited the office they left their boss staring after them in quiet bewilderment.

A while later; Buffy was actually happier than she was earlier that Faith was working with her. She brightened up the atmosphere and made the time go faster. She also noticed that she had been flirting with her a bit. An unconscious habit she supposed.

Buffy couldn’t help herself when comparing this Faith with the Faith that she had known. She argued with herself that she had probably known very little about her Faith, but what she did know was so very different from the person she now saw every day.

She found herself, not for the first time that week, thinking about when it had all gone wrong. The night they’d killed Allen Finch. And she found herself wondering if it had been the same where the other Faith had been involved.

Later that day, after work, the blonde slayer plucked up the courage to approach the brunette about Allen Finch. Faith was lounging on the sofa flicking through the channels on TV when Buffy came into the room and placed the two sodas on the table. Faith moved her feet to give her companion some room, and Buffy made herself comfortable while deciding how to start.

She tucked her legs underneath her body, sitting back on her calves before attracting Faith’s attention. The brunette turned towards her with questioning eyes.

“I just wanted to talk to you about something.” Buffy said hesitantly.

Faith put the TV on standby, and gave the blonde her full attention. “Ask away.”

“It’s about Allen Finch.” She noticed as Faith’s expression saddened a little.

“What about him?”

“Well, earlier I was thinking about what went wrong between Faith and I, and his death was kind of a pivotal point in our relationship. I just keep thinking that if I’d talked to her more then we could’ve worked things out before they got out of control.”

“Look, B. You can’t keep worrying about the past, you can’t change anything, you have to move on.”

“I know, I know, but if I had got to know her better then it might have helped. I didn’t know her that well and I think that might be why I couldn’t help her with what she was going through. She told me she didn’t care and I just believed her. I want to understand what she was going through at the time, and I’m not ready to talk to her about it yet… So you’re the next best thing.”

Faith nodded in understanding. “So, you want to know what happened in my reality, and what I felt at the time?”

“Yeah. If that’s ok with you.”

“Sure, if it’ll help. Um, where do you want me to start?”

“Um,” Buffy thought for a moment, trying to relate the differences. “You were going to school at that point weren’t you?” Faith nodded. “Did you have a chem’ test that day?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you skip it?”

Faith laughed. “No. Did you?”

“Um…” The blonde looked down, slightly embarrassed.

Faith laughed. “Boy B, you’re really bad.”

“It was her fault really. She just showed up at the window all rebel like, drawing hearts on the glass, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Like a moth to the flame.”

“Yeah, and we both got burnt.” She said with a regretful look.

“So… start around there then?”

“It’s as good a place as any.”

“Ok so, first we had to report to Giles about the new watcher, Wesley. He was such a pansy back then. He still has that broom handle shoved up his ass, but at least he doesn’t scream like a girl anymore.”

Buffy laughed. “You actually stuck around to listen to him?”

“Didn’t want to. I was just gonna say screw it, but what can I say, I’m slayer whipped. Besides, it’s not like either of us actually intended to do what we were told to, unless we were gonna do it anyway.” Faith took a sip of her soda and repositioned herself on the couch before continuing her story. “Well he sent us out to find an amulet that Balthazar needed to restore his strength, but they got to it before we did.” She said looking a little guilty.

“Didn’t you get to the tome before them?” Faith shook her head ‘no’. “How come?”

“Um, we kinda, got distracted… With each other.” Buffy smirked at the brunette’s embarrassment, and then motioned for her to continue. “So later on, when we were on patrol, we came across the same guys and went down into the sewers to fight them. B didn’t want to go at first ‘cause we were kinda outnumbered, but I persuaded her to go down there. Really regretted it when some vamp tried to drown her. Scared me to death, and I spent the next week having nightmares about it and continuously apologising to her.

“We got the amulet and gave it to Wes. Then I think we had the Chem. test…” She stopped to think about it. “Yeah, so later we checked in with the tweeds and went on patrol. Cleaned out a nest near the north end of the ‘Dale, and then went dancing. Erm, Angel showed up later asking about the amulet, ‘cause he’d heard that Balthazar wasn’t dead.

“So we went and found Jacuzzi boy, but we didn’t have any weapons with us and I couldn’t convince B to break into the sports shop across the street, so we decided to go back home and go back the next night with some more ammo than none.

“That was when ‘it’ happened. When we went back the next night, with more stakes and stuff, we were talkin’ about gettin’ ribs afterwards when members of the Eliminati started dropping down all around us. First there were a couple, but then they were dropping down one at a time as we fought our way through the alley ways. Depending on which direction they came from, one of us would grab the vamp and throw him so the other could stake him.”

Buffy hadn’t failed to notice how Faith was beginning to fidget more as the story progressed. She was obviously having a hard time re-telling it.

The brunette took a deep breath. “So that was how it happened. B grabbed him and threw him against a dumpster and I went in for the kill. Only there was no dust, just blood. I remember afterwards how I’d wondered, for a split second, how such a small impact could have hurt a vamp as much as it had hurt him. I was just so high on adrenalin that I couldn’t stop myself in time.”

The two slayers sat in silence for a few moments, each remembering similar events. Buffy was the one to break the silence as she cleared her throat and asked Faith another question.

“So what did you do next? What I remember is running away and splitting up, and then I ran into Angel and he told me that Giles had been taken by the Eliminati.”

“Yeah, we ran. We didn’t split up though. We stopped somewhere to catch our breath and dead-boy found us there. Told us the same thing. We went and kicked Balthazar’s ass then went home. We avoided B’s mom and made our way straight to her room.

“My mind was on overload and I couldn’t think about anything else other than the look on his face. I wanted so badly for everything to just go back to how it was before I killed him. So I started trying to think up ways to make it as though nothing had happened. I thought about hiding the body and just pretending like everything was normal, but I didn’t know where I would hide it. Then I thought about dumping it in the river.

“I was scared. Fuck! I was down right terrified about what was going to happen. All I could think about was how I had failed; failed you, failed Giles, failed my calling. I didn’t want to loose you, and I thought that if I was found out then I would go to jail and I’d never get to see you again.” Faith took another deep breath, attempting to calm herself down.

“When I told her what I wanted to do she went mad at me. She started giving me a lecture on morals and ‘right and wrong’, so I stared to get angry and we got into a really big fight. It didn’t take long before I wanted to storm out, but she wouldn’t let me.” Faith laughed a little at the memory of her lover being so assertive with her. “She practically shoved me onto the bed and kept holding me down until I stopped struggling, then she knelt in front of me and talked to me about how scared she was, and how she knew I was scared too, but what I wanted to do wasn’t going to make anything better.

“It didn’t sink in straight away and I tried to protest, but she kept looking at me with those eyes… and in the end I caved. She called Giles and he came over right away. We told him what happened and he actually did a pretty good job of reassuring us that neither of us would be sent to jail, provided we acted quickly and got rid of the evidence.

“It was a bit unnerving how quickly it was all covered up, and all we got from the council was a slap on the wrist and extra training. I’m ashamed to say that it went to my head a bit at how easily it had all been dealt with. For a while it made me feel like I could do anything, like I had a licence to kill.

“I know that being a slayer doesn’t make me a killer, that they’re two different things, but I kept thinking about all the sickos that I’d come across in my life, and to feel like I could essentially get away with murdering one of them, it made me feel pretty good, almost God like.

“I told her a bit about what I was thinking. I was kinda curious to know if she was thinking about anything like that. She said that she had done a little bit. She knows about the things I went through after my parents died, and she told me that she had thought about doing harm to those people that’d hurt me. But she knew that it was wrong to think like that ‘cause it could make you feel… Well, pretty much like I was feeling. She eventually talked me down off of my pedestal. It wasn’t easy but she did it.”

The brunette drank the last of her soda and set the can down on the table. The slayers talked for a little longer about the ‘Incident’ with Allan Finch, and then turned to talk about lighter subjects. When she went to bed that night, Buffy found that she had a lot to think about. Questions kept coming to her mind. Questions regarding Faith, and her state of mind at the time of the ‘Incident’.

The new Faith had mentioned something about being hurt after her parents had died. The story had already been emotional enough so she hadn’t wanted to aggravate the other slayer more by asking her about it. Her Faith had lost her parents at least a year before this Faith, because if she hadn’t then they would have ended up in LA. So her Faith had at least a year’s more hurt and pain on her shoulders, and she hadn’t had any motivation to keep herself going like the other one had. Because of course, the other brunette slayer had had the other Buffy to think about.

After tossing and turning on the subject for nearly two hours, Buffy fell into a restless slumber.

PART SIX

Author’s Notes: I was on holiday with my best friend when I wrote this part, and one night when I was getting a drink, I left my note book on the balcony with my friend looking after it. When I got back this is what she’d written. -:(Just then out of the blue a big marshmallow man came crashing through the sealing and squashed faiths grandparents.):- She told me I had to keep it in, and she gets really stubborn about these things, so here it is. It’s just stupid really, and her writing skills need a lot of work. Where you see *Author’s note* that’s where she wrote it.
Also: ‘Like a Pill’ is from Pink’s album Missundaztood. This album rocks!

Los Angeles - Hyperion, AU. Four days later.

Buffy couldn’t believe that they were finally ready to perform the spell. After almost two weeks without Faith and Beth she had slowly begun to go crazy. The worst thing was, not knowing what was happening in the other reality. She had to keep up hope that they were ok, but it was a hard time doing so, especially the longer they stayed away.

Amy had found the spell and Willow had succeeded in translating it. They had needed some rare items for the incantation, and the closest ones available were situated in a small magic shop in LA. Instead of having the item brought to them, (which could have taken between two days and a week), they had taken the relatively short journey to the city of angels, and were now congregated in the lobby surrounded by candles and scented smoke.

As the witches chanted, Buffy stood in the centre of the circle and attempted to clear her mind from all her thoughts. As the smell of the incense filled her senses she felt her head getting lighter and the room starting to spin.

The voices faded into the background and she felt her body being lifted into the air by invisible hands. She didn’t remember any of this being in the briefing, but her head was so light that she couldn’t make her mind focus on any of the thoughts currently in her brain. As the room began to spin faster she noticed dull colours appearing, and they got brighter and brighter the faster she spun.

Soon there was no noise except that of a low humming, and the colours got so bright and spun so wildly in front of her that they began to merge together. Just as she was beginning to think that she was going to throw up from all of the spinning, the colours merged completely and her senses were filled with a white light.

Then everything stopped.

No light. No spinning. No noise. Just a cool breeze that ran over her exposed skin.

She thanked God that she had worn sensible clothing that day because, even though it was just a breeze, it was a particularly bitter one.

Buffy glanced around her looking for any signs of movement. Finding none she frowned and took a couple of steps forward, thinking that something must have gone wrong with the spell, (and she was getting cold just standing around).

The brightness seemed to move around with her. Whenever she thought she’d seen a spot not so bright and began to move towards it, it would instantly become bright itself. Just as the blonde slayer thought she was going to explode with frustration something started to happen.

The wind picked up into a cold gust and began blowing around her feet. It steadily moved its way up her body until her hair became a whirlwind around her head, effectively obstructing her vision. The light and wind around her appeared to be glowing and swirling with patterns, and it made her so dizzy that she lost her balance and collapsed to her knees.

The glowing swirls formed into shapes which looked strangely familiar, but the dizziness in her head caused the blonde to lose consciousness, her last conscious thoughts were, wondering if the spell had been a success or not.

*****

Los Angeles - ‘Real’ world. (14th day)

Faith and Angel were on patrol. It was almost 2am and they had agreed to meet up at the north end of Marble Ave before going on back to the hotel for the night. They had split up early on in the night after having covered the busiest areas; Angel went west along the busy streets near the clubs, and Faith took the more secluded areas.

It wasn’t that Angel didn’t trust Faith to be around people when she was ‘on the hunt’, but he knew that she didn’t trust herself and would be more comfortable with minimal human contact. He also knew that this behaviour would be detrimental to her in the future if she continued to act like this. If she kept refusing to try and believe in herself. Knowing that the longer she left it, then the harder it would get for her.

On the plus side though, she hadn’t been brooding as much since they’d had their little talk, and even if Cordelia hadn’t already mentioned it to him, he wouldn’t have been surprised by the dark slayer’s confession of her attraction to Buffy.

He had sensed the bond between the two slayers from the very beginning, but his base manly pride had been threatened by Faith’s presence and so he had tried to keep Buffy to himself as much as possible. He had known that Buffy still loved him, so he had played on that, using the puppy dog ‘I’m so tortured and alone’ look that she always fell for.

Now though he felt guilty for having done that. He had let his pride and cave-mad mentality get in the way of the happiness he had know that Buffy could have had with Faith. By the time he had come to his senses and realised that there was no way that he and the blonde slayer could be happy together, it was already too late, the damage to the slayers’ relationship had already been done.

There was only so much that he could do for them though. Without Buffy’s help, he knew that Faith would never fully recover from her mistakes. Angel was sure that with a lot of persistence, then Buffy would be able to show Faith that she wasn’t the useless screw-up that she thought she was. Buffy had the best chance of getting through to Faith, perhaps by using their bond as slayers, and their attraction to one another.

Angel hoped that they would be able to get over their rocky past and move on to a better life, preferably with each other.

As the crowds surrounding him began to dwindle he knew that he wasn’t far from their meeting place, and as he rounded the next corner he spotted the brunette slayer, leaning up against a shop wall, looking up at the stars. She didn’t look down when he approached her, but instead she just began talking to him.

“I used to look at all the stars with my dad. He set up a telescope in the back yard and taught me all the constellations… I’ve forgotten most of them now. Stopped looking at the stars after they died.” Her tone was sad, and her voice wavered slightly at the end. As she continued she found it harder and harder to get the words out.

“I used to be able to remember so much. I didn’t even have to try, everything was just so clear. Now…Now I can’t even remember what my mom’s laugh sounded like.”

The brunette’s last sentence was followed by a choked sob, and before she knew it she was crying into the vampire’s shoulder.

Occasional passers by paused to look at them, but they went ignored by the two dark figures. As the sobs ebbed away Faith retreated from Angel’s warm embrace and wiped away the remaining tears with the back of her hand.

“Feel any better?” He asked.

Sniffing, she answered. “Yeah, thanks.” Faith quickly pulled herself together and ran a hand through her hair. “Think we’d better go now, before we both turn soft from all this caring and sharing.” She added this quickly, with some of her usual bravado before turning and walking away. “Come on soul-boy. I gotta get my beauty sleep before tomorrow night.”

Angel strode up to walk next to her before her last words sank in.

“What’s happening tomorrow night?” He asked curiously.

Faith looked at him out of the corner of her vision. “Ya wanted me to this demon karaoke bar didn’t ya? Get my fortune told or summit like that.”

“You’re going to do it?” He asked with amazement.

“Sure. What do I got to lose?”

They smiled at one another while they continued walking towards the hotel. As they got closer Faith began to get a familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t until they were standing outside the entrance when she finally realised what it was. It had been getting stronger the closer they got to the Hyperion.

Faith felt a wave of nausea hit her as a result of the anxiety she felt when she realised that the blonde slayer was inside the hotel. She stopped suddenly, causing her companion to look at her curiously.

“Faith? What is it?”

Not looking at him she answered. “Nothin’, just thought I’d chill out here for a while before goin’ to bed.” She took a few steps back while she spoke, which completely betrayed her nervousness and reluctance to go into the hotel.

Angel was puzzled by her behaviour. “Are you afraid to go into the hotel?” He asked, wondering where this sudden fear had come from.

She shook herself hard and frowned ‘He must think I’m a real wuss.’ She thought to herself and let her anger from his question take over some of her fear. Striding up beside him, with a confidence that she didn’t really feel, she motioned towards the door and then followed him into the lobby.

Neither of them needed the lights on to see the small dark figure lying in the middle of the room, but they switched it on anyway to quash their sense of doubt over what they were seeing.

Forgetting about her fear, Faith rushed over to the side of the unconscious blonde with Angel just a fraction of a second behind her. He knelt down next to the blonde and checked for her pulse, relieved to find that it was beating strong. He gave the equally worried brunette a reassuring smile before checking for any signs of an injury.

Faith stood awkwardly, biting her nails, waiting for Angel’s diagnosis. He was taking his time so he could make sure he’d missed nothing, but the brunette slayer was getting impatient.

“Well? What’s wrong with her?” She asked.

Angel sighed with slight annoyance. “I don’t know.” He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. “She doesn’t seem to have any injuries. Apart from being unconscious, she seems fine.” He looked thoughtful for a minute.

“What are we going to do with her?” Faith asked.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” He answered quickly.

“Well we can’t just leave her on the floor!” She almost shouted at him.

“I know that!” He shouted back. He stood for a second shuffling his feet. “Ok, well we’ll have to pick her up and put her in your room.”

Faith stared at him with wide eyes. “My room! Why my room?” She asked loudly and with a hint of nervousness.

“Faith, none of the other rooms are in a habitable condition, and I don’t think she’d be too comfortable in my room.”

“What about the couch?” She asked hopefully.

“Faith!” He said, annoyed.

“Ok, ok.” She hesitated for a moment, and ran both hands through her hair. “I’ll get her feet.”

She stood still for a couple more seconds before crouching down to pick up the blonde’s feet. Angel followed suit and held her shoulders, and together they lifted her up. Once they had reached Faith’s room, they gently lowered the slayer down onto the bed. As soon as they had done this Faith gave Angel a questioning look.

“What?” He asked.

“Aren’t you gonna like, phone her house to find out what happened or something?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. I’ll do it now. You stay here and keep an eye on her.” He turned to walk out, but stopped at the sound of Faith’s voice.

“Why do I have to keep an eye on her? She’s asleep, what could happen?” She asked indignantly.

“Someone needs to be here in case she wakes up.”

“Why?”

He gave her an exhausted look. “Could you just do it and not argue with me. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”

She grumbled something under her breath that even the vampire couldn’t make out, but nodded anyway. She walked away from the bed to sit in a chair on the other side of the room. Angel closed the door behind him and made his way downstairs to the office.

Almost as soon as Faith had sat down she got up again. Faith paced at the foot of the bed, never taking her eyes off of the other slayer, and hoping against hope that Buffy didn’t wake up while she was the only one there. It wasn’t too long before the souled vampire returned, and with a disappointed look on his face.

“What did they say?” Faith asked immediately.

“Nobody answered. I guess they’re all out. Though I can’t see where they’d all be at this hour.” He said with a slightly worried look.

“Oh! Erm, my double said something about the phone not working properly. The ringer’s broke or something. They were supposed to be getting it fixed.”

“Well there’s not much we can do ‘till she wakes up then.”

“Great.” The brunette added sarcastically. “Guess I’ll be the one sleeping on the couch tonight then.” She mumbled.

Angel gave her a confused look. “Why can’t you sleep on the other side of the bed?”

Faith looked at him in horror.

“Or not.” He added cautiously. “Well we have plenty of spare blankets. You could put some on the floor in here.” He said hopefully.

The brunette then realised that he wanted her to stay to look at the other slayer.

She rolled her eyes at his puppy dog look. “Sure. Not like it’s the first time I’ve had to sleep on the floor. Guess I’ve had worse.”

After they’d set up her bed Angel retreated to his own room and left the dark slayer listening to the soft breathing of the unconscious slayer. It was almost sunrise when she finally drifted off to sleep, only to be woken a short while later by the feeling of being watched. Opening her eyes, she found herself being looked down on by the blonde. She stood up and backed away quickly, completely forgetting that she was wearing nothing but her underwear from the previous day.

Buffy smirked as Faith realised her situation and grabbed a quilt from the floor to cover herself up with.

“Faith, you haven’t got anything I haven’t already seen before.” Her smile turned into a frown as her eyes travelled over the brunette’s exposed stomach. “Except that.” She pointed towards the spot and walked closer. Faith backed up as she did so, a puzzled expression on her face. “Where did you get that scar?” She asked quickly.

“Shit B. You musta really hit your head hard if you don’t remember that.” Seeing the increasing confusion on the blonde’s face she continued. “You tried to gut with my own knife… You don’t remember?”

“No! I never did that!” She said, horrified at the thought.

Faith frowned before realisation caught up on her. “Fuck, you’re the other one ain’t ya?”

“What? I don’t…Hey!” She shouted when the realisation hit her too. “This is so wrong. This isn’t how it was supposed to work.”

“How what was supposed to work?”

“We found a spell to bring Faith and Beth back. So… Did it bring you back instead?”

“No, I haven’t gone anywhere. You’re the one who’s not where she’s supposed to be.” Faith said with a slight smirk.

“Oh great!” Her frown then suddenly turned into a smile. “But that means that they’re here as well, in this reality?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I think they’re still here. Soul-boy tried to call B’s house when we found you in the lobby, but their phone’s not workin’ right.” She said, relaxing a bit with the knowledge that this was the other Buffy.

“You have to take me to them. Are they still in Sunnydale?” Buffy asked hopefully.

Faith frowned again, and began moving towards her closet to get some clothes out. “Oh no. No way am I goin’ there.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause I left my death wish in my other pants.” She said sarcastically, while pulling on her clothes.

“It can’t be all that bad.” Faith simply scoffed. Buffy pouted in a way that her Faith could never say no to, hoping that it would work with this Faith too. “Please?”

Faith noticed the look and turned away from it, not wanting to fall into the trap. “Don’t give me that look. The answer’s still no.” As she was saying this Angel walked in. “Don’t you knock?” She scolded.

“Sorry. I just heard you talking and came in to see how you both were.”

“Came to see if we’d killed each other more like.” Faith said as she noticed his sheepish expression.

Buffy ignored this interaction, having other things on her mind. “Faith? Come on.” She pleaded.

“Get Angel to take you.”

“It’s day time.” She argued.

“You want to go right now?”

“Well, as soon as possible.”

“Am I missing something?” Angel asked, puzzled.

Faith sighed. “This isn’t our Buffy. She’s from the same place as the other me. And she wants me to take her to Sunny D.”

“Oh. And you don’t want to go?”

“No. And nothing either of you can say will make me change my mind.”

*****

Sunnydale - 1999. Summer, post Graduation.

The room was bathed in early morning light, making the sterile interior of the room even more stark than usual. The two figures occupying the room stood out against the brightness. The blonde girl looked unusually placid in her ill state and was undisturbed by the tubes that were attached to various places on her body. The brunette wore a tired look as she sat stoically by the bed side, cradling a pale hand in her two lightly bronzed ones.

The bags under the brunette’s eyes were clearly visible, and it would have been hard not to notice the blood shot whites, caused by long days and nights of tears and a lack of sleep. At that moment though, as she gazed at the blonde, laying perfectly still in her state of forced sleep, she seemed to have run out of tears. Or perhaps whatever relief they had caused her previously had become obsolete as the seriousness of the situation increased.

The doctor had explained to her and Joyce early on that the longer Buffy stayed in the coma then the less likely it was that she’d wake up at all. Faith had kept a brave face on in front of Buffy’s mother, not wanting her to know the extent of her feelings for the blonde just yet. The slayers had agreed to reveal their relationship to Mrs. Summers just before they were set to go to college in the fall, but now it looked like she might have to do it by herself. She had contemplated putting it off until Buffy was awake, but since the results had come back from the tests the doctors had taken the day before, she had to be able to explain the situation she now found herself in.

The symptoms had started to show themselves the previous week. Her period was late by about three weeks, but she had had no reason to think that she could be pregnant so she had thought nothing of it. Her suspicions had been confirmed earlier that day though when the results had come back positive. The doctors had dated the time of conception back about a month and a half, which would have made it around graduation.

Faith had no idea how she was supposed to explain to her lover, when she woke, that she was pregnant. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she knew that she hadn’t had sex with anyone besides Buffy in the past year, so she could only assume that somehow Buffy was the other parent, perhaps by some mystical force as a result of their connection as slayers.

Faith didn’t know if anybody would believe her, if Buffy would believe her. With a past like hers, Buffy and the others might think she’d gone back to her old ways. They might think that because she and Buffy weren’t having sex then, maybe she’d gone elsewhere to look for it.

There was a big part of her that knew in her heart that she would be able to assure Buffy of her loyalty, and then perhaps they could look forward to being parents together. Of course she would have to drop out of college this year, perhaps reapplying next year, and they’d have to get some part time work to be able to afford everything the baby would need, but the brunette was optimistic that they would be able to sort out the finances without too much trouble. They might even be able to scrounge up some money from the council to help with the new addition to their family.

Somebody entering the hospital room aroused the slayer’s attention, and she stood up straight to see who it was. Faith relaxed as Buffy’s mother entered the room and approached the bed containing her daughter.

Joyce looked hopefully at the brunette. “Any change?” She asked.

“No, nothing. The nurse came in earlier to check her vitals, and told me that everything was the same.” Faith replied regretfully. “But at least her vital signs haven’t dropped. That’s something to be grateful for, isn’t it?”

Joyce smiled at the brunette reassuringly, and then to Faith’s surprise the older woman hugged her. “Yes, that is something to be grateful for.” She pulled back and took in the young woman’s worn appearance. “You haven’t been here all night have you?” Faith looked at the floor sheepishly, telling the older blonde the answer to what she’d already suspected. She sighed. “Faith, I wish you wouldn’t keep sneaking out of the house to come here. You have to get some rest, and when was the last time you had a proper meal?” She chided.

“I had some cereal last night.” She lied. “Can I stay a bit longer?”

Joyce considered this. "You can stay another hour." She finally said and watched as Faith's face brightened for a second. "But then I want you to go home and get some rest and something to eat. She's not going to wake up because you're running yourself into the ground." She said with a tone of voice that brooked no resistance.

Faith nodded in agreement, though she couldn't really see herself getting any rest, she had too many things on her mind. She was going to have to have a conversation with Buffy's mother very soon and would have to tell her that she was going to be putting on a lot of weight in the upcoming months, and the reason behind it.

“What is it?” Joyce asked, seeing this expression.

The brunette hesitated before answering. “What time are you going to be home later?”

“Probably about lunch time, why?”

“I just needed to talk to you about something important, and I was wondering if you had any time free later.”

“Of course, I’m always free when you need to talk to me. We could talk about it now if you want.” She said with concern.

Faith was a little more relieved by the woman’s friendly tone, and glanced briefly at her girlfriend before answering. “No, I’d rather talk about this at home. It’s nothing that needs immediate attention, but we do need to talk about it.” She reassured her.

“Ok, if you’re sure… I’m going to get a cup of coffee, do you want anything?”

Faith asked for just a glass of water, and waited until she had left the room before returning to the side of the bed. She picked up the blonde’s hand and caressed it while kissing her on the forehead before she spoke out loud, addressing the sleeping girl.

“Well I guess that’s it. No backing out now. God I hope she’s ok with this…”

Faith talked a little more to Buffy before Joyce rejoined them, and it felt like only moments later when Buffy’s mother was pushing the brunette out the door, telling her to go home.

After taking a shower and changing into one of Buffy’s baggy t-shirts, the slayer made her way to the kitchen and investigating the contents of the fridge. She was actually very hungry, probably more so as a result of the freeloader that had taken up residence in her womb. She had just been too preoccupied with watching Buffy every chance that she could get that she’d put the pains of hunger to the back of her mind, only really eating when Joyce told her to.

Picking out a little bit of everything she liked (and some things that she didn’t normally like); she piled it high on a plate and stuck it on a tray, along with ½ a carton of OJ. Sitting on the couch, she placed the tray on her lap and flicked the TV on with the remote. After finishing off the plate of food in record time she glanced at the clock to see that it was only just gone 9:30am. She estimated that she had about three hours until Joyce was due to return, so she knew she had time for a cat-nap and then have a bit of time to prepare for their ‘talk’ too. Once she’d washed up her dishes she made her way to Buffy’s bedroom.

The bed seemed incredibly big without the other slayer there to fill it, but she soon found herself drifting off to sleep, clutching Mr. Gordo to her chest.

She woke to the sound of a car door slamming and turned over to find out that it was already 1:00pm. In a panic, she jumped out of bed and ran to the window to see who was outside. To her relief it wasn’t the lady of the house, but an elderly looking couple who were standing next to their Vet, which was parked on the street outside the Summers’ home.

Faith watched with curiosity as the man and woman looked back and forth between the house and a piece of paper the woman held in her frail hand. The man began to walk towards the driveway, but was stopped by a hand on his arm belonging to his wife. The brunette watched the elderly man hug his wife and then they exchanged a few words before continuing up the drive towards the front door.

Anticipating the imminent ringing of the doorbell, Faith grabbed a tank-top and a pair of shorts from a nearby chair and quickly put them on before turning out the room to go greet the visitors.

The bell rung again before she could reach the bottom of the stairs, so she called out to whoever it was to wait a moment. Reaching the door she turned the lock and casually swung the door back to reveal the aforementioned elderly couple.

Assuming that they wanted to see Joyce, Faith began talking before they could, ignoring the unusual expressions their faces had adopted. “Mrs. Summers ain’t in at the moment, she’ll be back soon thought if you wanna come back in a bit.”

“Faith?” The woman asked with awe.

“Huh? How’d you know my name?” Faith asked cautiously, and wondering what these people wanted with her.

The brunette was relieved to see Joyce pull up into the drive-way in her Jeep and turn the engine off while also looking curiously at the visitors.

“Oh my goodness, it’s her. It’s really her Jack.” The elderly woman said, addressing her husband excitedly.

Faith took a small step back feeling strangely afraid of the odd pair, and as she did so Joyce stepped out of her vehicle and approached them. The blonde woman stepped in between Faith and the two strangers, having seen the brunette’s look of trepidation.

“Can I help you?” She asked them.

While the woman continued to stare at the slayer in awe, her husband explained the situation to the residents of the Summers’ home.

He cleared his throat before starting. “We’re sorry to bother you, but we’ve been searching for quite some time now for our granddaughter.” He said, and glanced towards the confused brunette. “We have a picture of her when she was just a little’un.” He took the chance to hand the photo over to Faith who stared at it open mouthed.

The photo was of Faith, at about seven years old, sitting on a young man’s shoulders, with her hands over his eyes, laughing. A young woman was standing next to him smiling at Faith, and the elderly couple could be seen sitting on a picnic bench in the background.

Faith ran the tips of her fingers over the image, recalling the only time her parents had taken her to visit her grandparents. Apparently they had been big into business and travelling, and so had her parents, therefore they could never find the time to visit. She remembered speaking to them on the phone sometimes, and her mother would read to her all the letters that her grandparents would send to them from various places in the world.

“Do you remember that time you visited us?” Her grandmother asked her, but she was too caught up in the memory to register the question.

Joyce touched her arm to gently get her attention. “Faith?”

“Huh?” Faith answered looking at the older woman with a glazed expression.

“Do you remember this?” She asked pointing to the photograph.

“Oh, yeah. It was at the summer cabin, in France… Dad’s business friend came with us so they could work while on vacation. He’s the one that took the picture… Dad always had his camera with him.”

Deciding that this conversation would be better done inside, Joyce ushered the other three into the living room and inclined for them to sit down. Faith chose her usual chair, closest to the TV, Joyce sat in the arm chair opposite to her, and Faith’s grandparents took their seats next to one another on the couch.

They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before Mrs. Summers asked if anybody wanted a drink. The couple asked for tea, while Faith opted for OJ.

The brunette turned the photograph over in her hand a few times, studying it before she spoke.

“Why now?”

“I’m sorry, why what?” Her grandmother asked.

Faith looked up at them with a stern but curious expression. “Why now?” She asked again, and then added, “Why didn’t you come to get me before, after it first happened.”

“Oh honey, we’re so sorry. We were out of the country on business, unreachable, when the accident happened. We had no idea that Lilly and Chris were dead until more than a month later. By that time they had found you a new home to go to and they wouldn’t tell us where, so we couldn’t contact you. They finally let us know when you turned eighteen.”

Faith looked as though she was thinking this over, and then turning the photograph over in her hand again and looking at it for a few moments, she asked, “Can I keep this?”

Her grandparents smiled, taking her request as a good sign. “Of course you can honey, we’ve got plenty more.”

“Thanks.” She said and put the picture in her pocket.

At that point the drinks were brought in on a tray and placed on the table. Jack and his wife thanked the hostess and each took sips from their cups. Faith left hers on the table, while Joyce had already drank hers in the kitchen.

“So how did you find me? ‘Cause I left Boston almost a year ago.”

Jack started to speak this time. “Well we went to the address that they gave us, and they told us there that you’d taken off to California with a friend a few months earlier.”

His wife took over from him then. “We didn’t know where about in California to start looking, so we began asking a few of the students at your school if you had mentioned anything to them. Some thought that you had wanted to go to Los Angeles, but there were others that were telling all sorts of places.”

Jack took back over after she stopped to take a sip of her tea. “Eve was getting quite upset, thinking that perhaps we would never find you. It was soon after that, that the vice principal at the school approached us, having heard that we were looking for you. She told us that your graded had been transferred earlier that year to ‘Sunnydale High’, in California. So we came here to look for you.”

Eve finished the short story off for him while he took a breather. “But the school isn’t there anymore and neither are any of the student records. It’s just crazy about it blowing up, and at your graduation as well.” Joyce and Faith exchanged conspiratorial glances at this comment. “Anyhow, we only had that one good photograph of you with us, so we began asking people if they knew you and where you lived. Eventually somebody did and wrote the address down for us, and here we are now.” She added with a small, relieved laugh.

Faith hesitated before asking her next question. “So, um… What now?”

Jack and Eve exchanged glances. “Well, we hadn’t really made any definite plans,” she said. “We were just waiting to see what you were doing when we finally found you. We would like to get to know you better, but that’s really up to you, we don’t want to pressure you.”

Faith smiled softly. “Yeah, I’d like that… Um, how about if you came over for dinner some time?” She asked, glancing at the blonde woman for approval.

Joyce nodded. “Tomorrow night perhaps, around seven?” She asked them, to which they eagerly accepted.

They chatted for a while longer, about Lilly and Chris, and about Faith as a child. Some time later Dawn came home and Joyce got up to make some more refreshments while her daughter took off upstairs to her room to change her clothes for the evening. As she went to run out the front door, calling ‘bye’ behind her, her mother shouted after her to come back.

“Oh mom, I’m gonna be late.” She grumbled out loud as she walked into the room. “What?” She asked in her teenage ‘it’s so unfair’ voice.

“Where are you going and at what time will you be home?”

“I’m meeting Helen and Katie at Janice’s and we’re going to the Bronze. I don’t know what time I’ll be home.” She was about to walk out again when her mother stopped her.

“You’ll be home no later than ten young lady.”

“But mom, it’s summer vacation; no one goes in before eleven at least.”

“Ten thirty and that’s my final offer.”

“Fine, but you have no idea what this will do to my social life.” She moaned.

“Are you going out tonight?” Joyce asked the older brunette.

“Yeah, I’ll make a quick round.”

“Do you know what time you’ll be back?”

“Depends how busy it is, but I’ll try to be back before one.”

Dawn made a noise in protest. “That is so not fair. How come Faith and Buffy get to stay out so late?”

“You know why Dawn. Now don’t argue with me.”

“Have you got any supplies with you?” Faith asked the teen.

“Yeah, Buffy gave me some before. She made a secret pocket inside my jacket so I can carry them.” Dawn said, and the three of them took a second or two to reflect on the blonde slayer.

Faith nodded her approval, and the mother nodded hers as well. “I’ll see you later then.” Joyce said.

“Ok, bye mom.” She kissed her mother on the cheek. “See ya later Faith.” With that she ran out the door, not really wondering who the strangers had been, sitting on the sofa.

*Author’s note.*

“That was your daughter?” Eve asked.

“Yes, my youngest. Buffy’s my eldest. She’s the same age as Faith; they went to Hemery together in LA a couple of years ago.”

Faith was quiet while they discussed the blonde slayer, only filling in any details which Joyce didn’t know or confirming others that she did. The brunette’s grandparents gave their sympathies over Buffy’s status in the hospital and left shortly afterwards, confirming their plans for dinner the following evening.

Faith had mixed feelings about the meal they had planned. She was quietly excited about getting to know two people that cared so much about her and who she had thought she would never see again. However, at the same time she was unhappy that her partner couldn’t be there to share her joy at this event.

The dark slayer was also wondering whether Joyce had remembered their talk amongst all of the excitement. She was feeling a little emotionally after that unexpected reunion and secretly hoped that she wouldn’t have to come out about her and Buffy’s relationship until at least the next day.

It was nearing five o’clock, and Faith knew that Buffy’s mother would soon be asking her what she wanted for dinner. It was probably a good job too, because if left to her own devices Faith knew that she wouldn’t bother to make herself anything, and in her condition she had to be eating properly.

Sure enough, almost fifteen minutes later the older woman came up to the slayer’s bedroom and asked her if she wanted anything to eat. Faith opted for a ham and cheese sandwich with salad on the side. She was called down to the kitchen and sat opposite the blonde woman at the dining table, and began steadily munching away on her sandwich.

After five minutes of concentrating solely on her meal, Faith noticed that Joyce kept glancing up at her, and the expression on the other woman’s face was one of concern and curiosity.

Realising that the brunette slayer was reluctant to start the conversation and was not going to be forthcoming with information; the mother of two attracted Faith’s attention and told her that she had time to talk when she was ready.

Faith sighed heavily and pushed her plate to one side, suddenly not feeling hungry any longer.

“Do you want a drink first?” Joyce asked, trying to make the slayer feel a little more comfortable.

“No thanks.” She replied.

“What is it about?” She asked with concern. “Are you in trouble? Is it about vampires?”

Faith softened her expression. “No, nothing like that…” She hesitated. “It’s about Buffy, and me.”

Joyce became more worried at the mention of her daughter. “What is it? Is something going to hurt you and Buffy?” Joyce’s anxiety was growing and Faith knew she had to do or say something to calm the woman down.

“It’s got nothing to do with us getting hurt or being in danger. We’re both fine… Or we will be once B wakes up.” Faith added after a short pause.

Joyce sat back a little and gave the brunette a pleading look. “Faith please, just tell me what this is about.”

The dark slayer took a deep breath. “Buffy and I have been dating… Each other.” She eventually said, and then braced herself for the possibility of a negative response.

Faith looked down at the hands in her lap and willed them to stop fidgeting. As the silence dragged on she became increasingly agitated and eventually took a quick glance over the table to try and gage what the other woman was thinking.

Joyce simply stared at her blankly before she realised that the brunette was waiting for some kind of a reaction. Blinking twice, she asked how long they had been dating.

“Um, well this time we’ve been together about eleven months.”

“This time?” Joyce speculated. “When did you date before?” She asked incredulously.

“We first got together in LA… And as you know we lost contact after I moved away and my folks died.” Faith added the last bit hoping to create some sympathy on her part, and perhaps dull any reprimand she was likely to receive.

Joyce nodded. “Yes, Buffy was quite upset about it, and held on hoping that you would call her. She begged us to postpone the moving date until she had spoken to you.” She sighed. “I thought she was being a little overdramatic, but I passed it off as a ‘teenage thing’. I guess it makes more sense now.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, and the brunette found herself beginning to fidget again. It was clear to her that Buffy’s mother had to take her time in processing this new information.

Joyce did indeed have to take her time when deciding how to react to the revelation presented to her. She didn’t want to make a similar mistake like she had done the previous year, when she had found out about her daughter being a slayer.

Her initial thoughts when Faith had come out about their relationship was wondering ‘what had gone wrong’, and ‘what would people think?’ However, she had trashed those thoughts when she realised that she didn’t really care what other people thought, and since Faith had been back Buffy had never been happier, so wasn’t that what was really important?

She was disturbed and a little angry that Faith had been living with them for almost a year and they hadn’t told her about their relationship. Who knew what had gone on under her roof without her knowledge? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know. What you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you, right? But then, she’d always wonder about it, wondering if her daughter had been that disrespectful of her.

She was a little embarrassed to openly ask Faith about it, but the expression on her face told Faith what she was thinking, and the way the brunette blushed and hung her head said it all.

“Oh, well… I don’t know what to say… I wish you had told me earlier. I don’t think I have to tell you, that I’m not happy about you both going behind my back with this.” Joyce said, looking sternly at the slayer.

Faith looked down sheepishly.

“How long?” Joyce said shortly, not really needing to elaborate.

Faith responded quickly. “Only once; a little while before Graduation. We wanted to tell you sooner, it’s just… well; we weren’t sure how you’d react… It just kept getting put off.”

The older woman sighed; she knew how teenagers feared the reactions of their parents, especially with something like this. She remembered trying to hide her first boyfriend from her parents when she was a teen. It was harder for her to do though because her mother had spies everywhere. Mrs. Bailey next door, and her mother’s old friend from school, Mrs. Jenkins, who had practically followed her everywhere through her high school days.

“Well I suppose it’s something that you’ve told me eventually. I suppose it’s just a coincidence that you should both be moving into the dorm rooms soon.” Joyce added with a cocky smile, and was inwardly pleased to see Faith blush. It gave her a small buzz to embarrass her children on the odd occasion, and in this situation it made the atmosphere a little lighter. They both sat for a while, silently reflecting on their conversation. “All I’ve ever really wanted for Buffy is for her to be happy. You make her happy Faith. You’ve been like a God send to me this year. So in light of this…” She took a deep breath. “With time… I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”

The slayer gave a small smile. “Thanks. You don’t know how much this means to me, how much it’ll mean to Buffy.”

Joyce smiled as well, feeling good inside for having kept her cool and for thinking the situation over. She assumed that the conversation was over and done with and left her place at the table to clear the plates away.

Faith sighed heavily, and the knot that had been in her stomach earlier had returned with a vengeance. Now came the really hard part of the conversation. Having got the first part of the conversation out of the way she felt brave enough to carry on.

Faith cleared her throat. “Um, Mrs. S?”

“Yes?” She replied with her back still turned towards the slayer.

“There’s something else I need to tell you.” She said slowly and deliberately.

Joyce silently finished washing the dishes and then returned to the table, preparing herself for the next piece of news.

“Ok, tell me.”

Faith paused for a couple of seconds contemplating how to start. The expression on the other woman’s face made her think faster, and she jumped straight in, “Do you trust me?”

This confused Joyce at first; she really wasn’t expecting the brunette to say that. She didn’t have to think about it very hard before she gave her answer. “Yes, of course.”

Faith swallowed audibly, a lump beginning to form in her throat as she started to get emotional. “I don’t understand how this could happen,” she began. “I love B; I would never cheat on her, no matter what.”

The other woman could see that the slayer was getting upset and moved around the table to place a comforting hand on her back. “I know you wouldn’t Faith. I don’t understand why you’re getting upset, what’s this about?”

Faith leaned closer to her girlfriend’s mother, revelling in the comfort of her presence. “It’s impossible; I don’t know how it happened.” She said with tears making their first tracks down her cheeks.

The blonde woman’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s impossible Faith? What’s happened?”

Faith leaned her head in her hands and took a few deep breaths, allowing the feel of the warm hand on her back to calm her emotions. “I’m pregnant.”

*****

Los Angeles - ‘Real’ World.

Faith sat in the driving seat of Angel’s black convertible looking rather sullen. Angel stood inside the doorway covered in shadow, ready to wave them off, and Buffy was fixing her hair in the side mirror, before she hopped into the front passenger seat.

“Ok, let’s go.” Buffy said excitedly.

Faith shook her head, and berated herself for the thousandth time that morning for having caved so quickly under the blonde slayer’s stare. “I can’t believe I’m doin’ this.”

The vampire nodded farewell to them as Faith started up the engine and began to pull off onto the road. Faith lifted her hand and gave him a short wave while Buffy barely paid him any notice.

“This is the only time I’ve ever regretted getting a driver's licence.” Faith muttered to herself as the hotel started to disappear in the rear-view mirror.

Buffy leaned her head back on the neck-rest and closed her eyes, loving the feel of the wind in her hair. She gave a contented sigh, enjoying the knowledge that she would soon be reunited with her love and her child. She felt slightly guilty about dragging this Faith along with her, when it was so obvious that she didn’t want to go. But hey, maybe it was for the best. Maybe it would give this world’s Buffy and Faith a chance to talk things over, to patch things up and move past… well, the past.

By the time Buffy came out of her thoughts and looked back at the road they were already leaving Los Angeles. Faith hadn’t said a word yet, and Buffy knew that she was thinking about the welcome she was going to get in Sunnydale, or the lack of one. Attempting to lighten the atmosphere, Buffy reached over to switch the radio on. The blonde began singing along to Pink’s ‘Like a Pill’, while Faith watched her with amusement out the corner of her eye.

“… instead of making me better, you keep making me ill.” Buffy bobbed her head to the music and tried to persuade the brunette to join in. “Come on Faith, you gotta know this one. You like Pink right?”

Faith smiled. “What’s not to like?”

“Yeah,” Buffy agreed. “We watched the video to this more than a dozen times when it first came out.”

“Yeah, well, prisons don’t got cable B.” The brunette said regretfully.

“Sorry, I forgot…” She paused wondering whether to approach the subject or not. Deciding that it was open territory seen as Faith had mentioned it she asked, “How long were you in for?”

Faith ran a hand through her hair. “Just over two and a half years… A real short stretch; considerin’ what I done.”

Buffy frowned. “How did you get let out early then?”

“Well they couldn’t convict me of half the stuff I confessed to ‘cause of ‘insufficient evidence’. The Mayor made sure of that. An’ they cut me some slack on account of my age. Eventually they let me out for good behaviour. Gotta see a shrink for a year or two, and I’ll be on parole for at least the next year.” Faith said as a matter of fact.

“Oh… A slayer’s not much good to the world in prison though.”

Faith scoffed. “Yeah, an’ I did so much good before I was incarcerated.”

“You’ve been helping Angel though, right. You’re doing good now, you realise what you did was wrong.” Buffy reasoned.

Faith wasn’t buying it; she didn’t want to make herself feel any better about being out. There were others inside that had done next to nothing compared to her, but they weren’t gonna be out for a while yet. “So you’re sayin’ I should be made an exception ‘cause I’m a slayer? I killed three people Buffy. I beat another guy into ICU, I tortured Wesley; he can’t even stay in the same room as me if we’re alone. He always makes some lame ass excuse to leave. Not to mention all the other shit I pulled in Sunnyhell… Fuck. They should throw away the key for people like me.”

“Don’t say that Faith. Everybody deserves a second chance, as long as they know they’ve done wrong.”

“I’ve had more than my fair share of second chances. I’m surprised B put up with me for as long as she did. I’d have tried to kill me sooner than she did.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Buffy said after a long sigh.

The dark slayer laughed cruelly. “What, can’t stand thinkin’ that your princess perhaps isn’t all she’s cracked up to be?”

“No. It’s just that you’re being stubborn, and I hate it when you get that way… or when she gets that way.”

“I’m not being stubborn.” She argued.

“Yes you are. You keep putting yourself down, and you refuse to see that there’s any good in you. Learn from all you did wrong and move the fuck on.” The blonde slayer ordered.

“You’re right; I don’t wanna talk about this anymore either.” Faith leaned over and turned the radio up, ending all conversation for a while.

Buffy shook her head in dismay and turned to look at the scenery. ‘Great start to the journey’ she thought sarcastically as the tension in the car increased. She rested her head on her hand and closed her eyes, letting the cool air run over her weary features. After a short while, Buffy found herself beginning to fall asleep as a result of all the stress that she’d been going through in recent weeks, and from the excitement of the morning. Welcoming the retreat from reality she didn’t fight to keep her eyes open, and soon the brunette was aroused from her own thoughts by a light snoring from the passenger seat.

Faith looked over at the sleeping woman, and felt a twinge of something vaguely familiar in her chest as she took in the scene presented to her. Quickly turning her eyes back towards the road, she attempted to banish the thoughts that she’d learnt often got her into trouble.

It was a little over an hour later when the brunette pulled the car over and turned off the engine. Having become accustomed to the noise of the car in motion, the sudden silence was intrusive to the blonde’s sleep, and she was startled back into reality.

“Where are we?” She asked, noticing that they hadn’t reached Sunnydale yet.

“We’re at a truck stop. Be about another hour ‘till we get to Sunny’D, and I gotta visit the little girl’s room. They got a café here if ya wanted to get a drink or somethin’.” Faith filled her in.

Buffy could see that the other girl was desperate for a reason to stall so the blonde went along with it. “Now that you mention it, I could do with a drink.” She unfastened her seat-belt and stretched her arms and legs before getting out of the car.

Faith wriggled her hand into her pocket and pulled out a $10 note. She held it out to the other slayer asking, “Can you get me a coffee while I go to the John; I’ll meet you in there when I’m done?”

The blonde took the offered money and agreed to get the dark woman her drink, telling her at the same time that she would try to sit in the front of the café when she was ready to join her.

Faith activated the immobiliser on the car and strolled over to the bathroom, scuffing her boots over the gravel as she went, seemingly like she had all the time in the world. In reality she was simply trying to make time for her self, to put off the inevitable reunion that was going to happen once they reached their destination.

She opened the door and was hit by a blast of foul air. She had been to a lot of these places and had been ready for the intrusion of an unpleasant smell to her sinuses. Trying her hardest to just ignore it she made her way over to the grubby mirrors and stared at the person looking back at her.

“Ok Faith. You knew it would come to this eventually. You’re both slayers, it was bound to happen some time. So just get a grip and quit bein’ a wuss. Like what C said; she probably ain’t gonna beat you to death if she didn’t hurt the other one.” She said to herself, looking directly into her own eyes. She kept muttering reassurances to herself as she entered one of the cubicles to relieve her bladder of its heavy load. “At least you got the car if ya need to get out of town quick.” ‘Thank God, ‘cause I hate hitchhiking.’ She thought.

When she joined Buffy at a table in the front of the café, she sat down and cupped her coffee in between her hands. They sat in silence for a good ten minutes before Faith looked up from her mug and gazed out of the window.

“Do you ever just watch other people, when they’re going about their own business? How different would it be if they knew about the things that go bump in the night?” She turned back towards the blonde slayer questioningly.

Buffy shrugged. “It would make our job easier if people didn’t go out at night. Most likely though we’d have mass hysteria on our hands. Scientists, wanting to know how they tick, new religious movements; both for and against demon kind. They’re better off not knowing if you ask me.”

The brunette considered this and nodded. “Makes it hard to date though. The amount of times you have to cancel without a good explanation… That’s how I’d imagine it if I was trying to date anyhow.”

The blonde smiled. “I wouldn’t know. Since I’ve been a slayer I’ve only dated two people. One vampire and one slayer. Not much to explain there.” She drained the last of her coke and set it aside on the table. “You ready to go?”

Faith looked down at her drink; she’d barely touched it and it was going cold. Downing the luke-warm beverage in one go, she stood up and pulled her jacket on. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”

They got back in the car and the brunette started up the engine. Taking a deep breath she pulled out of the car park and started on the last leg of their journey.

PART SEVEN

AU – Los Angeles.

She must have sat there and stared at that one spot on the floor for almost an hour solid. Thinking that with each passing minute the Slayers would appear and all would be well again. All that happened however was that she got a cramp in her leg and a searing headache.

“How could this have happened?” She asked for the thousandth time, and again she got the same silence as her answer.

The red head was currently sitting on the sofa in the hotel lobby holding a glass of water in one hand and some aspirin in the other. “We used the right spell, didn’t we?” She looked to the blonde witch for confirmation.

“Yes we did. Well we used the one that we’ve been looking at for the past few days.” She looked like she didn’t want to be the one to bring it up, but knew she had to, “Perhaps the spell we used wasn’t the right one.”

Willow looked confused. “I just asked you that.” She said not unkindly.

“No, I meant that maybe the spell we used wasn’t supposed to work the way we thought it was supposed to work.” She fumbled as she said the next part, “It’s just a s..suggestion but, um, m..maybe you didn’t translate it right.”

Willow looked mildly hurt, but admitted to herself that she couldn’t leave out the possibility of her having made the mistake. “We’re just going to have to go over the spell again, see if we did anything wrong… I’ll call Giles and tell him what’s happened.”

Xander looked worried at that. The Watcher was not going to be happy that they lost not one, but two Slayers. “Do you think that’s a good idea? We lost his Slayers, he’s gonna go postal on us.”

“I don’t like it either Xander, but we don’t have much of a choice. We need all the help we can get, and Giles is so much better at this than we are.”

“When did you want us to start?” He asked.

Willow stood up and placed her glass on the table beside her. “As soon as possible. We need to get them back, and fast.” She saw the tired expressions on their faces and heard their sighs. “You do realise that we’re Slayerless now? If this gets out then we’re as good as dead. Every demon you can think of will be gunning for our blood as long as we’re trying to get them back.”

The seriousness of the situation slowly sank into all of them, and within all the doom and gloom, they each found a new sense of resolution inside themselves.

*****

The red head slammed the book down on the table in frustration. “This is useless! There’s nothing here…” She shuffled round a few of the papers and books in front of her. “I can’t find anything wrong with what we did. I’ve been over it three times. Has anyone else found anything?”

The Scoobys were back in Sunnydale, researching in the Magic Box. They had been going at it for the best part of four hours. All four people in the room were exhausted and frustrated, and emotions were running high.

Xander looked more despondent than any of them, having little to no understanding of witchcraft, despite the years of experience in researching demonic activity. “I’m not sure I even know what I’m looking for here,” he sighed.

“Even having been a demon for over a thousand years, I’m having a hard time understanding some of this.” Anya picked up a stack of papers and sifted through them. “I’ve got papers here that supposedly follow on from one another, but this one seems to be contradicting the rest of them.”

Everyone became interested, especially Willow and Tara. “Can I have a look?” Tara passed the papers from Anya to the other witch, who looked over them at length. “You’re right, this doesn’t make sense.”

“Can I have a look?” Tara then asked.

“Yeah, sure.” She passed the papers back over to Tara.

Tara sifted through the papers and she stopped on the last but one. Her face was a picture of confusion as she looked back and forth between two of the contradicting pieces.

“You see anything?” Anya asked impatiently.

“Um… I don’t think these ones are genuine.”

“Huh?” three voices asked simultaneously.

Tara attempted to elaborate, “I think that only this one,” she held up the item, “is part of the original incantation. There are marks on the others that don’t mesh with this one. The others look like they’ve been hand worn, and quite recently. It’s difficult to tell without comparing them closely with this one, that’s gotta be why we never picked it up before.”

“What do you mean by ‘worn’?” Xander asked curiously.

“Like when you purposely spill tea of coffee on a history paper to make it look more authentic, maybe if it’s going to go into a display in class. Or you could singe the edges to make it look like it had been rescued from a fire many years ago. Someone’s taken there time over these ones though, it really would be difficult to tell without a genuine one to compare them to.”

Xander put up his hand and the others gave him permission to speak. “Does this mean what I think it means?”

Willow continued for him, “Somebody, or something, slipped us the wrong incantation so they could get Buffy and Faith out of the way. This is worse than I thought. This means that the original spell we used on the Nerak demon was designed to take Faith out of the running, or perhaps it was supposed to get Buffy then as well. Maybe that’s why these new papers showed up.”

“We’d better ask Amy where she got all this from. Or who she got it from… Where is she anyway?” Tara asked.

“She said she went home to grab a couple of books that she thought might be helpful.” Willow looked at her watch. “She’s been gone a long time though.”

*****

He sat on high, enthroned, looking down on the few loyal followers that were gathered at his feet. The plan was beginning to come together at last. The witch had succeeded in ridding him of his two biggest worries; the Slayers.

He had been more than a little annoyed when she had got rid of the brunette and her daughter with the first try. It was supposed to have been the only try, and she was supposed to have sent the blonde Slayer away with the brunette not the child. He was a busy demon, and didn’t have time for stupid mistakes.

Now she was here to collect her reward.

“Show her in.” His voice bellowed around the dark cave.

The entrance to the cave was heavily guarded. Unlike the demons surrounding their leader, these were bigger and more muscular, and as a sort of compromise for their large build they possessed small brains.

She was escorted in by two of the guards, one on each side of her. Her head was held high with an air of righteousness, but the fear and uncertainty were clear in her eyes. When they reached him the guards forced her to kneel.

“Speak!” He said simply.

She hesitated, her eyes shifting from one demon to another. “I came to collect my reward. The one we agreed on.” She said, not looking directly at him.

He knew she was afraid. Even if he couldn’t smell fear he would still know from the way her eyes shifted about and the slight waver in her voice. He loved the smell of fear in a human. There were so many of them, and they were so easy to scare. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the future, once he became ruler of this planet. Soon the whole world would fear him.

The woman mistook his smile for a positive sign and felt her confidence rise and stood up.

“I seem to have forgotten. Tell me again, what was the reward we finally agreed on?” He slyly asked her.

“You said you would make me the most powerful witch in the world, once I’d gotten rid of the Slayers.” She lied. “Well, I did it, so it’s your turn to come through for me.”

He made a *tsk, tsk* noise. “Amy, Amy, Amy; that was not what we finally agreed on. After the mistake you made on the first attempt we renegotiated your contract, remember.” He stood up from his throne and slowly walked down the slope towards her. “You lied to me, when you should have known that I would have remembered our agreement. I don’t like humans who lie to me Amy, and I don’t like humans who are greedy either.”

She sifted under his stare and took a step back. “I’m sorry, I forgot about the renegotiation, really.”

He reached out and stalled her back-peddling by placing one of his large claw-like hands on her shoulder. “You’re lying to me again. I’m a demon, I can smell fear you know. Humans always sweat more when they lie; sweating is a side effect of fear.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. We’ll just go with what you offered me the second time.” He glared at her. “Or we could just forget it altogether; call this a favour from me to you, in return for your not killing me.” She mentioned, hoping that he would spare her.

His gaze softened a little and he relieved his grip on her shoulder. “Yes, you’re right. You did do me a favour after all, so I won’t kill you.”

She let out a small relieved sigh. “Thank-you. You won’t regret it I’m sure, I still have a lot of power and I can help you with other things. I could spy on the others for you.” She suggested.

“No, that won’t be necessary. You may leave now; I’ll contact you if I need any more, favours.” He turned and walked back towards his throne, and then sitting down he said, “My guards will escort you out.” He clapped his hands and the two demons beside the witch turned her around and marched her towards the exit.

The leader gestured for one of his followers to come to him. “Kill her.” The smaller demon nodded and taking his leave, he turned to follow the others out. “Oh! And bring me back a souvenir.” He added. “Humans; they’re so naïve. So I said I wouldn’t kill her. Doesn’t mean I can’t have someone else kill her.”

He let out a long and loud laugh, and after a moment his followers joined in, desperate not to incur their leader’s wrath.

*****

‘Real World’.

Buffy sensed the brunette’s increased tension as they pass the ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ sign. They had spent the last part of the journey comparing experiences with each other’s doubles. They stayed off the relationship side of things as requested by Faith, and instead talked about slaying, concentrating mostly on the Mayor. It was still an awkward subject for Faith, but not nearly as awkward as talking about love, or the lack of it in her life.

Faith also talked about what it was like being in prison. She talked about how she’d had to control her anger and violent outbursts; that the meals were worse than she’d ever had in any hospital; about how she’d dealt with the various threats and come-ons. Her time there hadn’t been easy, but she’d learnt to deal with it, and it had given her a lot of time to think about what she’d done wrong.

As they were approaching a gas station still at the edges of the town, Faith decided that it would probably be a good idea to phone ahead to let the others know that they were coming.

“I thought you said the phone wasn’t working.” Buffy argued, feeling anxious to get there and not wanting to give Faith another excuse to stall.

“Well then we can try again. We could even try the magic shop in case they’re there.” She saw the impatient look on the blonde’s face and sighed. “I just don’t want to turn up there uninvited. This way, if B don’t wanna see me then she can stay outa the way. I’ll probably stay in the car anyway, but this is how I wanna do it, ok?”

“Whatever.” She said in dismissal, then as a second thought she added, “She might not be comfortable around Faith and I anyway. I guess you’re right it’s probably better this way.”

“Right. B ain’t gonna wanna see me and her doubles’ mackin’ in her house. She might throw up or start a fight or sumthin’.” Faith said bitterly.

Buffy felt a wave of sympathy pass through her. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that she might feel sad.”

Faith looked at her dumbfounded. “About what?”

“Maybe feeling like she’s missed out on something.” She suggested.

The dark Slayer snorted. “Yeah right, like I ever had anything to offer her. Besides misery.”

The blonde Slayer rolled her eyes and got out of the car as the brunette killed the engine. They walked towards the payphones in silent contemplation. Faith picked up the handset and inserted her quarter, then dialled the numbers in her mind. As it rang she tapped her foot impatiently, then just as she was about to hang up and try the magic shop somebody picked up at the other end.

“Hello?” Faith asked into the receiver. “Yo, anyone there?” No one answered but she could distinctly hear breathing. She recognised it from the last time she called and turned to the other Slayer. “I think it’s your kid. She answered it last time.”

On hearing this Buffy snatched the phone out of Faith’s grasp. “Beth?”

*Yeah.* She answered quietly.

The blonde Slayer could barely hold in the ecstasy she felt at the sound of her daughter’s voice. She released a shaky breath to calm herself down. “Beth is mommy there?”

*Yes.* She replied again, more confidently this time. *Mommy’s reading at the table.*

Buffy sighed with relief. “Good. Beth I need you to go and get her for me.”

*Ok.*

The Slayer heard as the handset was put down and listened to her daughter walking away from the phone. Less than a minute later, but what felt like a life time to Buffy, the handset was picked up again.

*Hello?*

“Faith!-”

*B? What… How… Where are you?* She finally said, deciding on a particular question.

“I’m here, in Sunnydale. We tried a spell at home, to bring you and Beth back. I don’t know how, but it brought me here instead.” The line was quiet for a moment. “Faith?”

*I’m here baby. Where in Sunnydale, are you coming here?* She asked with hope obvious in her tone.

“Yeah, we’re at a gas station, we’re on our way there.”

*We? Who’s there with you?* She asked curiously.

“Faith.” She said while looking at the person in question. “I gotta go, my quarter’s running out.”

*Ok, you’ll be here soon?*

“As soon as possible, sooner that that. Twenty minutes at the most.” She assured her.

*Alright… Love you.*

The blonde closed her eyes, revelling in the words she was hearing. “I love you too.”

*See ya soon B, bye.*

“Bye.” She waited a moment, reluctant to hang up on her wife. She heard a small chuckle at the other end.

*B, the sooner you hang up, the sooner you can get here.*

“I know that.” She said with a little humour in her voice.

*Then hang up and hurry up and get here.*

“Alright, I’m going. Bye.”

*Bye.*

Buffy reluctantly put the phone down, and turned to face her companion.

“Well?”

Buffy beamed. “Let’s go.” She grabbed Faith’s wrist and proceeded to drag her back to the car.

The brunette found it hard to understand the blonde’s enthusiasm to see her double. What was so great about her really? What was the big deal, they couldn’t be all that different underneath it all. So what was it that this Buffy saw in the other Faith? Thinking about it for a moment or two, the dark Slayer could only come back to one thing that she had always been good for.

“Oh, I get it now.”

Buffy stopped and looked back at the brunette. “Huh? What do you get?”

“You’ve got a little itch ain’t ya? You wanna get laid.”

“What?!” Buffy asked in disbelief.

“Why the big rush otherwise? What else is she good for?” As soon as the words had left her mouth she was holding the pained side of her face where the other Slayer had slapped her.

“Don’t you ever speak about my wife that way again! That is not why I love her. I loved her long before we actually made love… so there.” Even though her anger trailed off towards the end, the message was still received loud and clear by the brunette.

“Ok. I take it back; I don’t get it.” Faith continued the walk back to the car.

The blonde sighed and followed her back to the car. As they pulled out of the gas station, she was thinking about how to explain to the brunette why she loved her wife. Her outburst moments ago, had been short lived. She understood why Faith had said what she’d said, but had automatically wanted to defend the woman she loved.

Faith had low self esteem. Buffy had seen the same look of self hatred in her dark twin after their reunion in Sunnydale years ago, and she’d had a hard time convincing her Faith that she was worthy of love and respect from others, especially from the blonde Slayer her self. However, she had had a head start back then because they had already established a strong level of trust in one another. Here she had no connection to the dark Slayer. How was she supposed to approach this subject without eliciting any sort of outburst from her companion?

“Faith…” She began, but then stopped, unsure of how to go on.

“What?” There was no malice in her tone, but instead Buffy could detect a deep sadness and hurt.

“No matter what you may think, no matter what people may have told you, you are worth something.” The blonde said this, hoping to gage the brunette’s pliability to any further conversation.

“Huh, what’s that supposed to mean?” Faith frowned in confusion.

Buffy tried again, attempting to approach the conversation from a different angle. “Since your parents died, has anybody ever told you that they loved you? Have you ever actually had a lasting relationship with anyone?”

“What business is it of yours?” Faith replied harshly.

“I know I barely know you, I don’t know exactly what you’ve been through, but I know what she had to go through. I know it was tough for her. She distanced herself from everyone, and quickly found out that sometimes you just can’t trust people. She was strong and she got herself through things that I can’t even begin to imagine, and when she came back to me she was cut off from herself. The only emotions she allowed herself to express were ones of anger or quite often, lust.

“When we were alone though, she was different. She put on a big act of invincibility in front of everyone else, but when we were alone she said she felt like she could let go. Because we already trusted one another. She trusted me before all of the crap she had to go through, so that’s why it was easier for her to open up, to heal from those emotional wounds…” Buffy stopped short when Faith interrupted her.

“Is there a point to all this?” She asked impatiently.

“If you’ll let me finish.” The brunette stayed silent so she carried on. “You never moved to LA with your parents. I don’t know why, only you know that. But from that point on a whole different set of events occurred. None of those events before Sunnydale were under your control. They weren’t your fault. I’m just gonna take a guess and say that your parents probably died before you were in your teens, am I right?”

“I was eight.”

Buffy nodded. “I’m gonna guess also that you would have been sent to some sort of orphanage, and then later you were adopted, or fostered.” She looked to the brunette again for conformation.

“Two years in the orphanage. Fuck, I was treated better in prison than I was in that place.”

“Were you adopted after those two years?”

“First I went to a foster home. Was real nice there after the orphanage. Had proper meals and the people were nice to me. I don’t know what happened, but I was only there a month or two before they took me back.”

Buffy nodded again. “Faith, were you ever adopted?” She barely saw the slight nod of the brunette’s head, but she knew it was there. “What was it like there?” She said, attempting to broach the painful subject.

Faith stared at her for a couple of seconds before turning back to the road. “What do you think? You seem to think you know everything about it.” Her tone of voice was edging on dangerous, and the blonde took a moment to consider how to answer the question.

“I know only what she’s told me. She was adopted by a couple who already had two sons. They told the agency that they had always wanted a daughter, but that they were reluctant to try for another one of their own as they didn’t want to risk having another son. They seemed nice at first, she started to settle in, but once the authorities stopped making their regular visits everything changed. First it was just the yelling, then they started beating her, then *he* decided it would be a useful opportunity for him to teach his sons about sex… This ringing any bells for you?” Buffy was beginning to get angry just thinking about what they’d done to the woman she loved.

Faith didn’t respond, but Buffy could tell that it was all hitting home with her. The blonde continued. “Two years that went on. I imagine that sounds like a walk in the park to you, but I swear, if I ever meet the bastards who dared to touch her I’ll rip their fuckin’ throats out!”

The blonde’s voice wasn’t any louder than normal, but the pain was clear through the words she spoke, and Faith had no doubt from her tone that she would make good on her threat if she ever had the chance to do it.

Buffy wiped furiously at the tears that had made their tracks down her cheeks. “How long were you there for Faith?”

“Five years… I went there when I was ten. Managed to get away when I was fifteen. Lived on the streets after that, and my Watcher found me a couple of years later…” Buffy stayed quiet, listening and encouraging the brunette to continue with her eyes. “After living with her for almost a year I thought things were gonna be ok, everything was looking up, ‘till that fucker Kakistos killed her, then I was back to square one, runnin’ scared from the monsters that haunted me… Sunnydale was supposed to be my salvation. I just kept thinkin’ as long as I could get to Buffy, she’d help me…

“She did, she helped me kill him, but somehow we never really got rid of this tension between us… I wanted her from the moment I saw her. Apart from being a total hottie, there was just something about her that drew me in. She was never interested though. I don’t think she liked me at all to begin with. I was new and exciting so her friends were all over me, asking me questions about where I’d come from and listening to my tall tails about slaying vamps in the nude. Guess I must have rubbed her the wrong way ‘cause we soon got into a fight when we were alone.”

“She was probably just too afraid to admit what she felt to herself or any one else.”

“Yeah well, don’t matter now does it? She hates me, she made that perfectly clear the last time I saw her.”

“Perhaps she’s changed, what did she say exactly?”

“She said that she’d beat me to death if I ever tried to apologise to her. Is that convincing enough for you?” Faith asked with a hint of anguish, and the blonde cringed at her words.

“It might have been a heat of the moment kind of thing. Perhaps she’s had time to think about it and she wants to talk about it now.” Buffy suggested.

Faith rolled her eyes. “You sound just like C. Why can’t you just accept that there’s nothing going to happen? She hates me. She has every right to after the things I did to her. Those aren’t just things you can forget. So drop the subject already.” She said determinedly.

“Fine, but you’ll never know if you don’t try. It’s at least worth a try isn’t it?”

Faith shook her head in exasperation. “If she doesn’t kill me then I’ll try to apologise. Happy now?”

“It’s a start.” Buffy smiled at the brunette in approval.

They were silent for the remainder of the ride, but this time it was a comfortable silence, unlike the awkwardness they had felt after some of their previous conversations. It would be another ten minutes before they found themselves pulling up outside the Summers’ residence, which gave each of them a little while to think things over in their heads.

*****

Summers House. ‘Real World’.

Faith hung up the phone when she heard the line go dead. She stood there simply staring at the phone for a few moments before a wide grin spread across her face. After nearly two weeks of being separated from her Buffy and not knowing when or even if she was ever going to see her again, well she couldn’t have helped getting a little depressed about it. However, in about twenty minutes she would be reunited with her wife and she felt like she was going to explode from happiness.

The only problem she faced right now though was how to tell this other Buffy about the arrival of her double, and that Faith’s double was coming with her. The brunette could tell that the other Slayer she’d been staying with had gotten pretty comfortable with their arrangement. She just hoped that with the other Faith coming too then this world’s Buffy perhaps wouldn’t miss her company so much.

Buffy looked at her curiously from the couch when she entered the living room. “Who was it?”

Faith stalled for a moment in the door way observing the scene before her. It was such a simple scene; Buffy was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked up by the side of her, a photo album open and lying next to her on the couch and she was cradling the brunette’s daughter on her lap.

Willow was visiting Tara at the hospital and Dawn had taken off to one of her friend’s houses after dumping her bag in the hall when she’d come home from school, so that had left the three of them alone in the house.

They had been stuck for something to do so Buffy had suggested looking through a couple of her photo albums. It had seemed like a bit of a desperate attempt at the time, but they had soon got into it, and Faith had been able to tell her own versions of the events in some of the pictures.

The brunette approached the couch and sat down moving the leather encased book aside. She wasn’t sure what the blonde’s reaction was going to be when she broke the news to her, but she thought that the conversation would be less uncomfortable without a two year old leaping about with glee.

“Beth, could you go upstairs and see if you can find the little book of photos that I keep in my wallet? I want to show them to Buffy.” She asked her daughter in all innocence.

“Ok.” The short brunette’s face lit up at being asked to perform a task for her mother and took off running from the room.

“It’ll take her a while to find them; I hid them in your room somewhere.” She looked back at the other Slayer and noticed the confused look on her face. “Dawn kept trying to get them, but there are a couple in there that are for my eyes only.”

“So what’s up?” Buffy enquired, curious as to why Faith had decided to send Beth upstairs, out of the way.

“It’s about Buffy.” The blonde raised an eyebrow. “She’s in Sunnydale, and she’s on her way here, now.”

The blonde considered this for a moment. “Well that’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah I’m ecstatic. I’ve never known twenty minutes to sound so long before now… But erm, she’s not coming alone. Faith’s bringing her.” The brunette noticed as Buffy stiffened slightly in her seat.

“She’s coming here, now?”

“Yeah.”

The blonde Slayer stood up slowly and ran her fingers through her hair. “Well that’s ok, right? I mean she’s changed; at least Angel seems to think so… What if she hasn’t, she could be plotting something.”

Faith laughed, eliciting a death stare from the blonde. “Come on B, you’re being paranoid. Besides, if she does try something it’s three against one.”

Buffy sat back down. “No, you were right the first time, I’m being paranoid. She’s proven herself to Angel. He understands her; she opened up to him… I just wish that things had turned out different, maybe we could have been like you, you know?” The regret and sadness was evident in her expression as she gazed at the dark Slayer.

Faith sighed. “It’s never too late Buffy. If she really has changed then you should talk to her, sort out your problems, get to know her, but just don’t push too much. The more time you spend with her the more you’ll get to trust each other. In time she’ll open up to you, but you have to be prepared to share your secrets with her too.”

The blonde smiled slightly. “Really, I didn’t see that in the Slayer hand-book.”

The brunette chuckled a little. “Yeah, well it was written by a bunch of Watchers, what do they know.”

They were quiet for a moment each in their own thoughts, and Buffy smiled to herself as she noticed that Faith was looking at her watch almost every other second.

“You really love her, don’t you.” She said as more of a statement than a question.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Kinda. You do know that time moves slower the more you watch it?”

“Yeah. You know what it’s like when you’re waiting to go out somewhere, and you’ve been looking forward to it for, what feels like forever.” The blonde nodded. “Well this is ten times worse.”

Buffy nodded to herself, deciding on a course of action for when their doubles’ arrived. She stood up again, picking up the photo album as she did so. “I’m gonna wait upstairs if you don’t mind. There are just some things that I’m not ready to see.”

“Yeah that’s ok, I understand. Can you send Beth down; I wanna tell her the good news?” The brunette asked as she made herself more comfortable on the couch.

“Sure thing. I guess I’ll see you later then.” She began to walk away, and as she reached the doorway Faith called out to her. “Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

Buffy smiled a little sadly. “Thanks.” She then made her way to her room where she planned to stay for a long while, or at least until she was sure that the brunette and her wife were done with their reunion. She was sure that they were going be all over one another when the blonde finally got there.

*****

Sunnydale - 1999. Summer, post Graduation.

“You’re what? How can you be…?” Joyce was finding it difficult to get her words out as a result of the news she’d just received. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Faith was almost in tears. The stress of the previous weeks since Graduation was finally pressing its weight down on her.

“How do you know? Did you take a test?” Joyce asked, now wondering if she was in a dream. She half hoped that she was.

Faith nodded. “I took two of those ‘at home’ ones. They both came up positive. I couldn’t believe it so I made an appointment at the hospital. I got the results back this morning. I still couldn’t believe it, even then. I asked them to do it over, but they assured me that their tests were 100% fool proof.” Her voice was sounding more strained and desperate the longer she went on. “I kept insisting that they must be wrong. I haven’t had sex with a guy for over a year, there’s no way this could be happening.”

The older woman moved round the table and put her arm over Faith’s shoulders, attempting to offer the distressed girl some comfort. “Faith, I know you might not feel like talking about this right now, but have you considered your options?”

The brunette sat up straighter and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater. She nodded her head again. “I’ve thought about it a bit. It’s hard. I only know that I don’t want any child of mine to end up in an orphanage, and I don’t wanna give it up for adoption. Not after what I had to go through.”

“So if you choose to have the baby, then you’re going to want to keep it?”

“Yeah. I really need B here to help me with this, but we don’t know how long it’ll be ‘till she wakes up. She’s a Slayer, so know she’s gonna get better, I just don’t know when.”

Joyce considered the options herself. Would they be able to take care of a baby if Faith chose to have it? She was sure that Faith and her daughter would have the will and strength to look after it, but what about their futures, and how would two college students be able to afford it?

“I think in the end Faith, it all comes down to you. Now I’ll try to help out as much as I can, but we all have limits to what we can do for you. And you’ll have to consider what Buffy’s reaction to all of this is going to be. Understand that I’m not trying to put you off having this baby. Having a child of your own is a wonderful experience, but you have to consider the child itself. It is a person, and I know you’re going to want to give it everything that it possibly needs. You just have to ask yourself whether you’ll be able to do that.”

“I know. I want the best for it, but there’s more to it than that.”

The older woman frowned. “What else are you thinking of?”

Faith looked the other woman in the eye. “It’s physically impossible for women to get each other pregnant without the help of a man or a lot of scientific equipment. Yet here I am. There’s gotta be an explanation for it. I thought about it a little bit before, but I couldn’t bring myself to realistically believe any of it. I’m gonna need to talk to Giles about it.”

“About what?” Joyce asked curiously.

“If this pregnancy isn’t natural, then it could be supernatural. At least that’s something I have to consider, but what else could it be.”

“What do you mean by supernatural? Like magic?”

“I guess, maybe. Could be a number of things. Like what if it’s not human at all?” Faith’s forehead furrowed in frustration and stress. “What if I came into contact with some demon, and just by fighting it, somehow if I touched it I became pregnant.”

Joyce covered her mouth with shock. “Could that really happen?”

Faith shook her head. “I have no idea. That’s pretty much the worst scenario I’ve thought about. Another could be something to do with us both being Slayers. There’s only ever been one Slayer activated at a time before Buffy died and was resuscitated. So I doubt anyone ever considered the possibility that two Slayers would ever be dating one another. Perhaps the laws of procreation are bent because of our supernatural nature… Anything else I’ve thought about is pretty sketchy.”

“I see what you mean, that does make it more complicated.”

“That’s why I’ve gotta talk to Giles.” Faith sat back in her chair, looking some what more relaxed after having gotten everything out in the open.

The older woman looked like she was still trying to let all of this new information sink in. Faith imagined that there was going to be some awkwardness between them for a while. The brunette looked out of the kitchen window and saw that it was nearing sundown. Joyce followed the girl’s gaze and after a minute or two realised that Faith was thinking about going on patrol.

“You’re not thinking about going on patrol are you?” She asked incredulously.

“I have to. It’s my job.”

“Faith, you can’t put yourself in danger like that, not in your condition.” The other woman insisted.

“I don’t have a choice. Without B around I’m the only one capable of killing the vamps, and whatever other demons are around. I can’t afford to let them think that both Slayers are out of commission, the whole town’ll be in chaos before the end of the month.”

Joyce frowned with concern. “Can’t you at least take a couple of days off while we figure this out? We can go to see Mr. Giles tomorrow and we can ask him what he thinks.” Faith didn’t look like she favoured the idea of taking time off from slaying, so Joyce tried harder to persuade the younger girl. “Why don’t you just stay in tonight then. If Mr. Giles says that you can still patrol then I’ll drop it. Ok?”

Faith thought about this for a while. It being summer, things had been fairly slow (adding to the dark Slayer’s frustration), so she didn’t think that taking one night off would be so bad. She actually did need the rest considering that she hadn’t had a whole nights sleep since Buffy had been in the hospital. Reluctantly she nodded, assuring her girlfriend’s mother that she would at least stay in for the rest of the night.

*****

One month later.

The dark Slayer couldn’t think of anything else she hated more than hospitals, and yet for the two months that had passed since the other Slayer had been a resident at Sunnydale General; she had been there every day. Today however, she wasn’t there out of choice.

Now two months pregnant the brunette had promised her girlfriend’s mother and her Watcher that she would be extra careful while on patrol. It was still summer so she figured it couldn’t be that hard to stay out of trouble, and until tonight she had succeeded.

She had been heading home when a gang had jumped her, and a human gang at that. Faith couldn’t imagine anybody stupid enough to start their own gang in a town like Sunnydale, where the rulers of the dark alley ways and street corners were the undead. They had been loitering around outside of a seedy club called the ‘Fish Tank’. It was a notorious meeting place for the relative badasses of the town, but the Slayers rarely got any trouble out of them. As naïve as the residents of Sunnydale were on a whole, generally individuals avoided going out at night by themselves, or even at all.

Faith had chosen to ignore their leers and cat-calls, and had continued walking, just eager to get home and to get into bed. Stupidly, they had gone after her. As easy as it would have been for the dark Slayer to have taken down a bunch of over amorous, ‘barely out of their teens’, biker guys, it wasn’t so easy for her to take on them as well as the group of vampires that had decided to show up.

So they had ended with human gang verses vampire gang, and with Faith playing piggy in the middle. From the way the boys had stood their ground the Slayer had figured out that they didn’t know that they were going up against creatures that would no doubt kick their asses. That told Faith that they were basically staking a claim on her.

So she had had to defend herself against a group of horny lads, while trying to protect them and her from the vampires, and at the same time attempting to stake the aforementioned creatures of the night.

The result had been, several piles of dust, four badly beaten boys in various stages of passing out, and Faith with a dislocated shoulder. She had borrowed one of the lads’ mobile phones to call for an ambulance, and she had waited with them until it had arrived; she didn’t want her hard work to have gone to waist by having another fang gang show up and make meals out of her ‘admirers’.

The down side had been that when she had tried to leave after seeing them into the care of the paramedics, she had tripped over her shoe lace, of all things, and had cried out in pain when she landed on her injured arm.

She hadn’t wanted to go to the hospital. They would only pump her full of drugs, which would slow down her own superior healing process’, and as it was she was tired and not in the mood to put up with doctors prodding and poking her.

Unfortunately, one of the paramedics had recognised her from when she had worked for a short time with Joyce at the gallery, knowing that she was still a teen and he’d kindly threatened to tell Joyce all about her uncooperative behaviour if she refused to go to the hospital with them.

The older woman had been under enough stress lately, and Faith didn’t want to give the blonde any more reasons to go hard on her. She knew that they were going to contact her anyway, because Faith was listed as her dependant and they had to be sure that Joyce was notified of any accidents.

They had popped her arm back into place, pumped her full of drugs, and had put her arm in a sling. Not that she really needed it, but they had insisted that she not take it off for at least two days. Now she had been left alone while the nurse who had attended her had gone off to call Mrs. Summers. Faith knew that the nurse wouldn’t be long, but she was beginning to get fidgety just sitting there, so she decided to take a walk to Buffy’s room to say hi.

As the brunette walked along the corridor she kept an eye out for any doctors or nurses. It was past visiting hours and patients weren’t allowed to just go about as they pleased. She had to duck into a janitor’s closet when a gurney being pushed by a doctor went by, but she managed to reach the elevator at the end of the hall without much hassle.

She stepped inside and pressed the button for the second floor where the blonde Slayer was being kept. It was enough out of the way that she wouldn’t be disturbed by other patients, but close enough to the action for her to avoid being forgotten.

Not that Faith would ever let anyone forget about her girlfriend. She visited the blonde Slayer every day and she examined her carefully before settling down into the easy chair by the bed, so she would know if Buffy was being neglected.

When her ascent came to a halt, the brunette flattened herself against the elevator wall and peered around the side of the door to check if the coast was clear or not. It was, so she stepped out and let the doors close behind her. It was usually quiet on this ward at night. There would be a nurse or two around to keep an eye on the patients while they slept, but mostly it stayed quiet.

Ducking past the nurses’ station, Faith made her way to the end of the hall. She stopped to make a quick last check before entering Buffy’s room. The brunette frowned as she took in her surroundings. The bed was lumpy, suggesting that the bed was occupied, but with her excellent vision she could make out the wires and tubes that should have been attached to her girlfriend hanging down beside the bed.

Opening her senses to the other Slayer she closed her eyes and concentrated. Faith surmised that Buffy was no longer an occupant of the room so opened her senses to include the rest of the second floor.

Relief washed through her when she located the blonde Slayer less than a hundred metres away. Ducking back out of the room she followed her instincts and walked in the direction away from the nurses’ station.

Rounding the next corner she crept along, keeping herself on alert. Taking a few more steps she stopped abruptly. She could hear a male voice from the other end of the corridor; somebody was asking another person what they were doing walking around by themselves at night. There was no answer to the question, but Faith was sure she knew who the man was talking to. Trying to keep calm, she jogged as quietly as possible towards the people.

Faith could hardly believe her eyes as she looked around the corner and saw the blonde Slayer looking confused and worn down, but still amazingly beautiful. Forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to be walking around the hospital after visiting hours, the brunette stepped out behind her girlfriend.

The dark Slayer leant casually against the wall and drawled out her greeting. “Hey, shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Buffy swung round, rather slowly for a Slayer, but still fast enough to make the man jump. “Faith.” Her expression changed from exasperated to ecstatic in less than two seconds.

They approached one another and embraced. Buffy threw her arms around the brunette’s shoulders and Faith had to repress a wince that came from her recently relocated shoulder. She wound her good arm around the blonde’s waist and leant forward to breath in the scent she loved more than any other; pure Buffy. Ok, so there was a lingering stale hospital smell present as well, but mostly she just smelled like Buffy.

There were no words to describe what either Slayer was feeling at that moment, but the most overwhelming emotion that each of them was feeling was relief.

Faith squeezed her girlfriend a little harder, knowing that it wouldn’t hurt her. She let the single tear that she’d been trying to keep in slip down her cheek, and turning her head more to the left, buried her face further into blonde hair.

Buffy was the first to break the silence. “Faith. I was so worried, are you ok?” She pulled back a little to inspect the dark Slayer.

“I think I should be the one asking you that.” Faith said with a slight smirk.

Their small conversation was interrupted by a cough. During their reunion the Slayers had forgotten about the man standing there, who Faith could now make out was a janitor.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you ladies, but you’re not supposed to be walking around the corridors at night you know. You could get into trouble.” He smiled slightly to let them know that he only meant to help them, and the Slayers smiled back in response.

“Thanks.” Faith said. “I’ll make sure she gets back to her room. Don’t worry.” She turned towards the blonde Slayer and smiled warmly at her. “Come on, the whole place will be in uproar if they find you gone. Coma patients aren’t supposed to just get up and walk off.”

They crept silently along the corridors back the way they had come and breathed a sigh of relief when they entered the blonde’s room without attracting any attention. Faith helped Buffy to get back in bed, and pulled the covers up high so as to keep any draughts out. Buffy laughed a little watching the brunette do this.

The dark Slayer raised an eyebrow. “What’re you laughin’ at?”

“You.” Buffy teased.

“Oh yeah, what about me?” Faith asked grinning, but almost fell over when the blonde gave her reply.

“You’re acting just like a mom already. Who would have thought that this badass could be so maternal?”

Faith simply stared at the other Slayer in stunned silence, and it took a while before she could register that her companion was telling her to sit down. Buffy gave the brunette’s hand a reassuring squeeze and laid her head back on her pillow still gazing lovingly at her partner.

“How…? How did you know? I only told your mom and Giles.”

That caught the blonde’s attention. “You told mom and Giles…? So, they know about us?” Faith nodded. “How did they take it, what did mom say?”

“Hey I asked first.” The brunette said adamantly.

“I dreamt about it; about you and the baby. So what did she say?” Buffy answered simply.

Before Faith could answer they heard voices approaching, and a moment later two nurses came into the room.

“Here you are… Oh my, you’re awake!” Suddenly the annoyed nurse was in a flurry with excitement. “I have to consult the doctor. And you miss, you’d better come with me, you’re missing on the A&E ward.” She addressed one Slayer and then the other, speaking so fast that it took them a moment to take it all in. When Faith made no move to follow her she began to look annoyed again. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“I want to stay here, with Buffy. She just woke up, wouldn’t it be best to have someone here to keep her company.” The dark Slayer suggested.

“It’s not a question of want, Miss. Jackson. You’re needed downstairs to fill in your forms, and Mrs. Summers is on her way, it might be nice if you waited down there to tell her the good news when she arrives.” The nurse raised her eyebrow questioningly.

Faith looked to the figure in the bed for suggestions, and Buffy simply nodded to her and told her to go and wait for her mother to arrive.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine; they probably want to run a load of tests on me now. Come back up when mom gets here.”

“Ok.” They shared a small kiss, not caring what the other women in the room thought about that and Faith followed them out.

Sitting in the waiting room, filling out forms, the brunette Slayer was barely concentrating on what was going on around her, her thoughts were completely occupied with the occupant of a certain room on the second floor.

The forms were just a formality, duh, and she’d filled in so many before that she barely needed to concentrate on what she was doing. As soon as she finished she took them across to the reception, the man behind the desk thanked her and she gave him a polite smile before returning to her seat.

The next ten minutes it took before Mrs. Summers arrived seemed to go on for ages. Faith crosses, uncrossed and re-crossed her legs several times before she had to physically hold them down to keep herself from fidgeting; she was attracting more than a few unwanted stares.

By the time Joyce arrived, the dark Slayer was about to explode, but the look on the older woman’s face stopped her from being overly animated. She thanked God that Buffy had woken up when she did; it gave her something to calm the other woman with. Perhaps she’d go easier on Faith if her mind was occupied by good news.

Faith stood up and approached Joyce with a sheepish expression. “Hi.” She offered with a small wave.

“Faith, what happened? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing really; they’ve made it look worse than it is. I don’t need this, but they insisted that I keep it on.” She said gesturing towards the sling.

Joyce tugged the young woman over to a chair and sat them both down while she spoke. “Faith, this is the second time this month that you’ve been hurt. What if next time it’s more serious, you could die? I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“Look Mrs. S, I’m sorry but that’s just the way it is for us. We fight evil and save lives, but it does come with a price. It’s dangerous, and it’s what we were born to do.”

Joyce sighed. “I know. Buffy has tried to explain it to me many times.”

“We’re luckier than any other Slayers in history though, we have each other.” Faith said in assurance and the older woman gave her a stern look. “Ok so B’s been out of action for a while, but that’ll change soon.”

“I wish I could be as optimistic as you are.” Joyce said regretfully.

Faith grinned. “I don’t need to be optimistic anymore.” She paused for effect. “Buffy’s awake.”

Buffy’s mother stared at the dark Slayer, her eyes asking for confirmation. Faith simply smiled kindly and nodded. Joyce surprised the Slayer by wrapping her up in a very constrictive hug. If she had been anything less than a Slayer it would have hurt.

The woman let go of the brunette. “Can we see her?”

“I think they were going to do some tests, but I was gonna go back up as soon as you got here. You wanna go up now?”

The blonde woman replied that she did, and they took off in the direction of the elevator. When they reached the second floor they headed towards the nurses station and announced that they were there to see Buffy.

As they entered the hospital room the doctor was just finishing up. Joyce took up position at the head of the bed and mother and daughter shared a hug, and a few tears came from the elder of the two. Faith stood back and watched before moving to stand on the other side of the bed.

The dark Slayer sat in the chair that was behind her and wrapped her hand around her girlfriend’s. Buffy turned to her and gave her a glowing smile. It was then that Joyce really saw the affection that was between the two and, predictably, she wondered why she had never seen it before.

“How are you feeling honey?” The mother asked her daughter.

“Fine…” She paused to consider how to describe what she was feeling like.

This made Faith smile. “Wow, that good huh?”

“Shut up you.” The blonde Slayer retaliated, and Faith stuck her tongue out at her. “As I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted, I feel fine considering everything, and no headaches; doc says that’s good.” She paused, and then for the first time since waking up she took in her surroundings. When she came to look at the brunette Slayer she did a double take. “What did you do to your arm?” She asked, her expression laced with concern.

The dark Slayer was stunned by the question, and stammered a little before answering. “It was dislocated. I could’ve popped it back in myself easy, but the paramedics insisted that I go with them, and then they fed me drugs, which are really pointless ‘cause they only get in the way, and they made me wear a sling.” Her explanation was rushed and didn’t make much sense to those who hadn’t been there.

Buffy frowned. “That doesn’t tell me how it happened.”

Faith’s answer was short. “Vamps, patrol.”

The blonde wasn’t pleased. “You’ve been patrolling!?”

At this the other Slayer got a bit annoyed. “I’m a Slayer too B, or did you forget? I can fight on my own. I was doing it long before I was even a Slayer, or did you forget that too?”

Buffy checked her anger and caressed the brunette’s hand reassuringly. “No I didn’t forget.” She said flatly, but with no hint of animosity. “I know you can handle yourself, Faith. I just don’t want you…” She looked directly into the brunette’s eyes. “Or anyone else,” she added pointedly, “To get hurt.”

Faith looked down, a bit ashamed at her outburst. “I have been extra careful. Giles only lets me patrol for two hours, tops. And I have to check in with him every fifteen minutes! It’s such a pain in the ass.”

Buffy smiled, letting her anger go. “Count yourself lucky. If it were me you’d be checking in every five minutes. If I let you go out at all!”

The other adult in the room didn’t really understand their conversation so decided not to intervene, and continued listening to them bicker. She marvelled at how much they sounded like a married couple.

Faith snorted. “Like you could stop me.”

“I would try.” Buffy’s voice became more serious then. “Faith, this is a delicate situation.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve already had all this from your mom and Giles.” She said sounding annoyed, but her expression told them that she was grateful that somebody cared enough to look out for her.

Joyce was beginning to catch on to what they were talking about. She looked to the brunette. “I take it you told her then?” Faith shook her head and gave her girlfriend a secret smile. “Then how did you know?” She asked the blonde girl.

“The people in my head told me.” Faith laughed at this. She clarified for her mother. “I had a lot of dreams, some of… no, most of them were about the baby.” Joyce still looked confused. “We get prophetic dreams sometimes. I guess being in a coma makes you have more.

“They’re usually really vague. I kept dreaming about being surrounded by babies that all looked like me, about Faith eating a lot, though I can’t see how that’s any different,” Buffy laughed as the girl in question stuck out her tongue, again, “And then patrolling alone; things like that. Eventually I put two and two together.”

Her mother looked impressed. “I didn’t know you could do things like that.”

“It doesn’t happen much. It’s usually when some big evil is going to pop up. It’s like an early warning system.” Faith provided.

They were quiet for a while until the blonde Slayer spoke addressing her mother. “So… Are you, ok with this?” She asked timidly.

Joyce looked at the two Slayers together and nodded slowly. “It would have been nice to have known when you first got together, but it’s something that you let me know eventually. Or at least Faith did.” She added in admonishment of her daughter.

Buffy looked down sheepishly. “I, I was going to, but… It just…”

“It just never felt like the right time?” The both Slayers’ heads moved in agreement. “Believe it or not, I do remember what it was like to be young, and to have to face the wrath of my parents. As long as you recognise there are boundaries, I don’t mind. It’s nice to see that you’re both happy.”

“Thanks mom.” Buffy said with tears in her eyes.

“Yeah, thanks Mrs. S.”

The trio had then lapsed into trivial conversation about the happenings around Sunnydale during the past two months, and what their plans were for the new term of college, ending their visit by talking a bit about the baby.

Faith and Joyce had talked to Giles at length about what could have caused the pregnancy. The scans that the Slayer had had confirmed that the child was indeed human, so that had given them one less thing to worry about. Basically they had talked about it and had come up with nothing at all tangible.

Giles had told them that it was quite possible that Buffy had gotten Faith pregnant simply as a result as their bond as Slayers, so the brunette had chosen to concentrate on that. She was quickly becoming attached to the life inside of her, and if the other Slayer agreed then she had decided to keep it.

There had been much to consider before she had come to this decision. Thankfully though she no longer had to worry about how to finance such a change in their lives. It had slipped out during a meal with Joyce and her grandparents that she was pregnant, and that she was still considering abortion.

To both the Slayer and the blonde woman’s surprise, Jack and Eve had announced that they were in the process of settling Faith’s assets from her parents’ death. The contracts had been in their care, and because they hadn’t been able to find her until then, they had no way of telling her about her parents’ conjoined will.

Faith had the option of keeping the house she had grown up in, which had lay dormant for years without occupants, and there was also a cash settlement, which totalled up to nearly half a million dollars.

PART EIGHT

For the third time that day, Faith pulled over and killed the engine of the black convertible. Slowly she turned her head to the right to look over her companion at Buffy’s house. It looked exactly the same. Not that she expected it to be any different really, but there was a creepiness factor involved when she went back to places she’d been to when she was still a fucked up teen, and it always brought up ugly memories.

“Are you coming in?” Asked a voice from beside her, which startled her out of her trance.

Looking over at the blonde she replied, “No, I’ll sit here thanks. If she wants me to come in then you can come tell me.”

“Ok.” Buffy took one last look at the dark Slayer. “Thanks, for the ride and all.”

“No problem, and have fun,” she added wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

The blonde rolled her eyes and shut the car door behind her as she got out.

“Did you want a life anywhere else, while I’m still around.” Faith asked.

“I thought you were sticking around, in case anything came up.”

The brunette considered this. “Yeah well… I’ll be around ‘till tomorrow, probably get a room at a hotel for tonight, but I think I’ll head back in the mornin’.”

“You’re not even gonna try are you?”

“Look, I told you; I’ll stay for a few so you can come get me if I’m actually welcome in there, but otherwise I’m not gonna stay out here all night waiting for something that probably ain’t gonna happen anyway.” She said, sounding irritated.

“You don’t know that.” Buffy told her.

Faith hesitated, reluctant to admit that she had retained any resemblance of hope. “You’re right, I don’t know for sure, but you weren’t here when the shit hit the fan, so don’t make out that everything’s ok, ‘cause it ain’t.”

“Ok.” The blonde said deflated.

Faith watched as the blonde offered her one last wave goodbye and started up the path to the front door. The door was opened by a mirror image of herself, and she quickly looked away as the blonde picked up a little girl of about three and the two adults hugged and kissed one another.

The front door closed with hardly a single backwards glance from the people behind it. Contrary to what she’d told the blonde about staying to find out if she was going to be invited in, she immediately felt the urge to start the engine of the car and to drive back to LA, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind her.

Resisting this urge she gripped the steering wheel with both hands and willed herself not to look at the keys in the ignition. Despite her best efforts she soon found herself fidgeting uncontrollably in her seat.

*****

Even having Beth with her to keep her occupied didn’t work for long. After explaining to her daughter that ‘their’ Buffy was on her way she couldn’t help glancing up at the clock again, convinced that fifteen minutes must have passed by now. She groaned when she realised that it had only been eight minutes. ‘Damn,’ she thought, ‘another seven minutes to wait, at least.’

By the time she was seriously wondering whether the clock on the wall was going backwards, she heard a car pull up outside the house. She stood up swiftly and went to the window with Beth a step or two in front of her. She watched as the two Slayers in the car glanced over at the house then turned to exchange a few words before the blonde got out and started walking towards the front door.

As the infant ran to the closed door, Faith took one last look at the remaining passenger of the vehicle. The brunette outside was watching the blonde walk up the drive, an extremely sad and self loathing expression on her face. She didn’t have time to think about this further as she was too excited about greeting her wife at the door.

*****

Even though she was observing the outside action at an awkward angle from her bedroom, Buffy still caught the same expression on Faith’s face. With her highly evolved vision she could see the tension in every muscle that was visible on the brunette’s body.

She kicked herself for being such a coward, but no matter how much she tried she just couldn’t will her legs to move from where she was standing next to the window. She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off the dark Slayer either.

She had tried being angry, she had tried being sad… She had tried being sympathetic in a neutral sort of way, but no matter what sort of emotion she attempted to feel with regards to her sister Slayer the blonde kept coming back to the same overwhelming feelings of want, need and desire. Not having had ‘her’ Faith there in person had allowed her to pretend that these feelings were nothing more than a fantasy, no doubt brought on by the other brunette Slayer’s presence to help her to feel less lonely.

However, as she stood gazing out on the young woman in the car, she was forced to admit that the emotions she was now feeling were by no means new to her; however, they were stronger than they had been before.

These particular desires of her heart had been there from the beginning, but her own embarrassment and concern for her social standing had caused her to quash them, and to hence forth reject the brunette from her life, hoping that with time the emotions would fade.

There had been a point where she’d thought that they were gone, but they had simply mutated into hatred when the younger Slayer had betrayed her. It made more sense to her now, the reasons why she had taken the betrayal so personally. It wasn’t just a ‘Slayer thing’ after all; it had cut her deep, so deep that buried feelings of adoration and desire had turned sour and had left a lasting impression upon her heart.

Although, without her knowledge, the wound had begun to heal over the weeks, months and years that they had been apart. Time had changed Buffy, and apparently it had done the same for Faith.

‘What would she say now, if I told her what I wanted. If I told her that I want her.’ She wondered absently.

Taking her gaze away from the scene outside, she looked over at the door to her bedroom. She could hear voices raised in delight, and in her minds eye she could see the three of them cuddling on the couch, enjoying the odd kisses and caresses of affection.

A loud noise from outside redirected her attention back towards the window. It was the sound of a car door slamming shut. Buffy held her breath as she watched the dark Slayer round the car and begin walking towards the house. Before she’d even gotten half way through she stopped and hesitated, torn between decisions. The blonde watched with sadness as Faith turned, headed back to the car and got into the driving seat again.

Buffy saw the dark Slayer’s mouth form the word ‘fuck’ and then cringed as a section of the dash board crumpled under the wrath of a Slayer’s fist.

For the next five minutes or so she observed what was obviously a battle of emotions going through the other girl. The brunette made several longing looks towards the house, each time she did this she would turn back to face the road with a sad expression, and then rub her eyes or run her fingers through her hair.

It was during this time that the blonde Slayer came to the conclusion that she was going to talk to Faith. Tired with feeling angry at herself for being such a coward she finally willed her legs to move from their spot, and with a fleeting glance out at the brunette, she made her way across the room towards her door, and her future.

*****

After sitting for a few minutes fidgeting she began to get on her own nerves. She tried to avoid thinking about what was going on inside at that moment. Was Buffy down stairs watching the reunion, or was she perhaps upstairs, staying out of the way?

Was what her travelling companion said true? Could there be a chance at a new beginning? Faith found it hard to believe that there could be a chance, but she couldn’t help hoping that it was true. Whatever happened thought, she knew that they would never be like the lost Slayers. Too much had happened between her and Buffy for her to entertain any idea that they could be together as a couple. Those secret wishes would just have to remain a secret. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if the blonde found out that Faith was attracted to her now would it.

‘Best to keep it to myself.’ She thought resolvedly. ‘If there’s any chance that we could be friends then I’m not going to be the one to screw it up, this time.’

She glanced back at the house again and saw through the curtains two figures in an intimate embrace. In spite of her best intentions she felt a wave of arousal, followed by a stab of jealousy to the heart.

‘If you weren’t such a wuss you’d be in there right now.’ She thought in disgust. ‘What if she wants you to go in, but she just can’t bring herself to ask?’

The brunette considered this for a moment and then made a sudden decision to go up to the house. Stepping out of the vehicle, she slammed the door behind her and began walking towards the driveway. She had not taken more than five steps along it when she stopped to reconsider her choice.

Fear swept over her when she considered all the more dangerous and painful scenarios involved in this venture. Berating herself, she turned on her heel and fled back to the relevant safety of the car. She slammed the door behind her and swore loudly.

“Fuck!”

She flexed her hands, bunching them into fists each time. Before she could stop herself she had punched the dashboard and left a nice fist shaped dent in it. She swore again under her breath and ran her fingers lightly over the small hole, wondering how she was going to explain the damage to the owner of the black convertible.

She decided to forget that for now though, she would deal with Angel when she returned to LA in a day or two. Chastising herself for acting so stupid she struggled with choosing what she was going to do.

Leaving seemed the easiest and most appealing choice right now, but she could stay right where she was, which was almost as easy. The hardest choice however, was to actually ask to go into the Summers' home and to take the demon by the horns as it were.

Faith debated her options mentally, coming up with various consequences for each course of action.

Going back to LA would most likely put things back to the way they were before the other blonde Slayer had shown up. It was unlikely that ‘her’ Buffy would seek her out if she left, but then she would be left wondering what could have happened if she’d only faced up to the other Slayer.

Staying put could prove to be just as uneventful and potentially painful. She could sit there all night long, looking and feeling like an idiot until someone decided to come and tell her that she wasn’t wanted and that it would be best if she just left. Even if nobody came out to tell her to go away, she couldn’t realistically sit there all night, it would just be pointless. There was the possibility that she would be invited in though, and that would out her in a similar position to where she would be if she were to knock on the door and ask to be let in.

In the third scenario, at best she imagined awkward silences and forced conversations about demons, which was equivalent to talking about the weather for most people. Then there was the possibility that Buffy was still angry with her, and she envisioned the blonde Slayer beating the crap out of her while she crouched on the floor with her hands over her head, desperately trying to protect herself.

She thought hard about this for a good five minutes before making her choice. Regretfully, she took one last look at the house before turning the keys in the ignition and starting up the car. She had to back up a few metres before pulling away from the curb, so as not to hit the car that was parked in front of her.

Shifting into first gear, she accelerated gently and started off slowly down the street, unaware of anything or anyone around her as she was deep in thought.

*****

They sat entwined on the couch, whispering words of adoration and comfort to one another, and listening contently to the babbling of their two year old daughter. In her bliss, Buffy had momentarily forgotten to ask whether the young brunette still in the car was welcome to come in or not.

As she reclined against her lover she let her eyes close; and revelled in the warmth and the smells surrounding her. One of the things she’d missed the most was the scent of her family; sleeping had been made especially difficult during their absence as she would often wake up panicking because she could no longer smell or feel them in the house.

Faith hadn’t had the same problem however. Her problem had been, having the other Buffy around and forgetting when she woke up that she wasn’t at home, and trying to stop herself from making a move on the other Slayer.

They started when they heard the car door slam shut, and all three of them jumped up. Beth stood on the cushions to get a better look outside, while her parents simply stood side by side staring out at the figure approaching.

The two Slayers gave each other sympathetic looks when they saw that the brunette woman outside was walking back to the car. By being in the company of their doubles, they had found themselves appreciating more, the relationship that they had.

“Should we invite her in?” The blonde Slayer asked.

Faith hesitated, and looked towards the stairs, thinking about what the Slayer upstairs would want. “I don’t know. B’s hiding in her room. I don’t know if it’s because of us or her.” She gestured towards the window as she said the last part.

Buffy pouted and worried her bottom lip, thinking about what she should do.

Not being able to help herself, Faith pulled her wife in for a kiss. Their lips connected softly, and they leisurely explored each others mouths with their tongues. Buffy wrapped her arms around the brunette’s waist, and when the kiss ended she leant her head on a deceptively soft shoulder. Faith kissed the blonde on the top of her head and closed her eyes as she breathed in the scent of her partner.

Their daughter continued gazing out of the window, and the lovers were eventually disturbed by the sound of a car engine.

Buffy looked quickly outside. “She’s leaving. What do we do?”

Faith sighed. “What can we do? If she doesn’t want to stay we can’t stop her, and we can’t force Buffy to invite her in.”

“I told her I’d go out and tell her if she could come in or not. I guess she got fed up of waiting.” She said before going back to biting her lip.

“B, it’s not your fault. They’re both just stubborn; well you know yourself what we can be like, and they seem to be worse than us.” She offered as a comforting gesture.

“I know, but I feel like I want to do something to help them.”

“We’ve done what we can. The rest is up to them.”

They heard the engine revving up again and Buffy went to the door to look out. At first she couldn’t believe her eyes, but it looked to her like there were two people in the front of the convertible. One was Faith and the other looked remarkably like herself.

The blonde turned to her wife with a confused look. “Is she still upstairs? ‘Cause I swear I just saw the two of them pull away in the car.”

The brunette shrugged before making her way up to Buffy’s bedroom. She knocked softly on the door, and when she didn’t get an answer she entered the room, only to find it unoccupied and with the window wide open. Running down the stairs with excitement, she called out to the blonde.

“She’s gone! The window’s wide open; she musta climbed down the tree.”

“So much for needing our help.”

*****

On hearing the car engine rev up Buffy spun around so fast that any normal person attempting to do this would have caused themselves’ serious neck injuries. Racing to the window she saw the brunette backing up. In a moment of trepidation her mind went blank and she had to fight to make a quick decision.

Before she knew what she was doing the window was open and she was climbing out of it, using the tree as her support. She knew the quickest and safest route to the ground from years of climbing in and out of her bedroom when she’d come home late, or had had to go out on patrol.

Her feet hit the ground just as the vehicle began to move away. She put as much speed into her legs as she could and ran off after the brunette. Once she was on a level with the car it was easy enough for her to open the door and to hop into the front passenger seat.

The vehicle came to a sudden halt, and the Slayers stared at one another for a few tense moments before the dark Slayer spoke.

“B…? What the…?” Faith said, startled and confused. This certainly wasn’t a scene she’d envisioned.

“Just drive. Please? I’ll show you the way.” Buffy’s tone was friendly, which left the brunette even more confused than before.

In spite of her confusion and the pounding in her chest Faith applied pressure to the accelerator, and following the blonde’s directions, led them to a small clearing overlooking the ocean. She reluctantly turned off the engine and they sat in silence for a while until the younger Slayer spoke, not being able to withstand the tension any longer.

Deciding that an apology was as good as any place to start she turned to her companion. “B. Buffy, I… You know… I’m sorry.” She managed to get out.

Facing back to the water she closed her eyes, she waited for the blow that she was sure was to come, whether it was going to be verbal or physical she wasn’t sure. To her surprise it never came. What did follow also came as a complete surprise to her, and she whipped her head round to once more lock eyes with the blonde.

“I know… I forgive you.” Buffy said, barely above a whisper.

*****

AU, Sunnydale.

Time was running out. Faith had been gone for two weeks, Buffy, for a little over a day, and now Amy was missing too. For the moment the only thing they could do was to research. Giles had told them that he would get the earliest flight he could to Sunnydale, as soon as he tied up a few loose ends at home. Still, they were wishing that he could get there sooner.

The moral of the group was at an all time low. At all other times, they had had either Buffy or Faith around to keep their spirits up. Only the one time, when Buffy had run away after sending Angel to hell, had they ever had to face the forces of darkness without a Slayer to lead them, and even then things hadn’t been so bad. It had been summer, and the only thing they had had to fight was vampires. At least they knew how to kill them. Right now though, they were facing going into battle blind and with no weapons.

They were at the Slayers’ and Willow’s home, currently taking a well needed break. Dawn had fallen asleep on the couch, Willow and Tara had retreated upstairs to the red head’s room, and Xander and Anya were having a discussion in the kitchen.

The table in the dining room was completely covered in books and stacks of very old papers, as was the coffee table in the living room. There were a few empty pizza boxes stacked on a counter top in the kitchen, and there were several cans of soda in various stages of emptiness littered about the main rooms of the house.

In their frenzied state of researching, nobody had had the state of mind to tidy up after themselves.

It was almost dusk and the Scoobs were back to the books when a strong knock sounded on the front door. Taking with her a relatively large hunting knife (from Faith’s collection), Willow proceeded to the hallway and opened the door a crack.

Upon seeing their favourite Watcher at the door, the red head felt a wave of relief pass through her, and quickly opened the door to let him in.

Giles held a few musty books under his arm, and when he passed through the doorway Willow saw that he had brought somebody along with him. His companion was female, approximately 5ft 6”, had long curly brown hair, and looked to be no more than 27 years old.

The Wicca gave the Watcher an inquiring look, and he immediately introduced the young woman standing at the threshold of the Slayers’ and witch’s house.

“Ah, Willow. This is a very good friend of mine, Annie Lawrence. She’s quite knowledgeable about the demon population, and vehemently insisted on accompanying me here.” Her smiled a boyish smile and motioned for the young woman to enter. Both women extended their hands and shook one another’s politely.

Annie gave him a playful tap on the arm. And her tone was light when she spoke to him, “Well Rupert, I wasn’t about to let you leave me at home while you went off on another one of your adventures, was I.”

“I would hardly call it an adventure Laurie.”

“Whatever. It’ll be nice to be of some help to you and your friends though.”

They shared a secret smile before Giles addressed the red head again. “Where are all the others?”

Willow showed them through to the living room where the rest of the gang had settled themselves. They each greeted their older friend with hugs and manly handshakes, and he introduced them to his friend. Once they were finished with the pleasantries they took their seats and began to show the newcomers what they had found out so far, which turned out not to be much.

“And this is all you’ve discovered so far?” Giles asked once they were finished telling him the extent of their findings.

“That’s it. Basically we know that someone or something wanted to get rid of the Slayers. They attempted it first when we fought the Nerak demon, but only managed to send Faith away, but then they managed to plant fake spells on us in order to get rid of Buffy as well.” Willow said with a tired voice.

“Where are the papers with the incantation you used on Buffy?” He asked the group.

Tara sought them out from beneath a pile of books at her feet and gave them to Giles. “As far as we can tell, it’s the last one before the bottom that’s the only genuine one.”

He sifted through them and stopped when he came to the one the blonde witch had mentioned. He momentarily compared it with one of the others and made a few hums and hars while the Scoobs and Annie watch with curiosity and interest.

“So what do you think?” Annie asked him when she began to notice the impatient expressions on the Scooby’s faces.

“These are definitely forgeries. None of them are original.”

“None of them?” Xander asked.

“Well, most of these are incorrect or incomplete; they in fact make the incantation work opposite to the way that it’s supposed to. This one though.” He held up the mismatched piece. “It’s a copy of a piece of the original, but in with the fake ones it too contributes to the reversing factor of the spell.”

“So it was designed to send Buffy away, to the same place that Faith went? We were thinking that somebody wanted them out of the way, but perhaps not permanently.” Willow suggested.

“It’s very possible. If they thought that Buffy and Faith would get in the way of some ritual maybe. I’m afraid we don’t have much to go on here besides speculation.” He paused for a moment to think. “Have you heard from Amy yet?”

“We haven’t seen her for a couple of days. She was very secretive when she went home to get her books. I think she knows something that we don’t.” Anya said.

“An, it’s not really customary for people to accuse one of their friends of being a traitor.” Xander reprimanded his wife.

“I was just saying that she might know something.” Suddenly an idea came to her. “That could be why she’s missing, they found out that she knew and, oh God, what if she’s dead.” Anya looked stricken at her husband.

“We don’t know anything yet Anya, we’ll jump to conclusions when we have more to go on, but for now, let’s just try to think positive.” Giles said in an attempt to calm the ex-demon down. When they were all quiet again he spoke. “What have you been looking for in the books?”

“We’ve been trying to find out if there are any prophesies that have a deadline for specific rituals or events which take place in the time since Buffy and Faith have been gone, but no luck so far. We weren’t sure where else to start.” Tara said regretfully.

“No, that’s a good place to start. For now we’ll concentrate on getting Buffy and Faith back, and Beth of course. We should also try to find out if anybody around town knows of any newcomers who could have had the resources to do all of this. I’ll start at Willy’s Place. Willow, Tara would you come with me, I could use some backup?”

The witches assured him that he could count on their company during his search for information, and when they left later on Giles left Annie with the others to help them with their research. He also called Joyce to tell her that he was there and looking after Dawn. The mother of two daughters was relieved to know that he was working with them again to get her eldest daughter and daughter-in-law back; it put her mind at rest a little.

*****

He was getting restless, and this was making his subjects very nervous. He hadn’t felt like eating, and for the past hour or so the only thing he had been doing was pacing the cave, occasionally pausing and muttering to himself. Some thought that he was loosing it, but those who knew what rested on the success of the upcoming big event, knew that he had every right to feel anxious.

There was a collective sigh of relief when one of the guards announced that The Messenger was back.

The Messenger appeared very different compared to either of the guards or the servants of the leader. First of all, the Messenger was the only obviously female demon that was currently occupying the vast cave, and secondly, the leader approached her with caution and bowed to her before kissing her ‘hand’.

“Lebath, it’s wonderful to see you again. I trust that you bring me good news.” He straightened up again and looked at her hopefully.

She ignored the request behind his eyes, and began to stroll round the cave, taking in the number of demons present, and smiled a small smile whenever one of them took a step back from her and bowed their heads.

“This is the best you could do? I’m ashamed of you Lisbaen, living beneath the humans like a common vampire. How do you stand it?” Her tone was mocking and her mouth formed a smirk as she gazed back upon him.

“I assure you it’s been comfortable enough. When the time comes, it will be they who will live beneath us. If any of them manage to survive that is.”

“Hmmm, we’ll see.” She said in a condescending way. “Well, I can tell you now. There is good news and bad news.” She paused again, loving the look of impatience etched upon Lisbaen’s face.

“Well what is it?” He almost yelled, and some of his fellow demons stood back with caution.

“The good news,” she began, ignoring his outburst, “is that the Slayers’ friends are taking longer to figure out our plan than we expected, and the Traveller has not yet been sensed entering this realm. Also, the objects you required were easy enough to find, and as soon as they are cleared they will be on their way to you.”

He appeared relieved and closed his eyes with a sighing breath before continuing on. “And the bad news?”

“The final ingredient is going to be more difficult to procure than we first expected. The witch’s mistake may cost us dearly, but there is still a chance. If the Nerak demon can manage to get hold of the child, then there should be no problem once she’s here.”

“Is that all?”

“There is one more interesting piece of information from the other realm. It seems that the Slayers native to that place have begun to mend their relationship. Should they come together then the outlook does not look good for us. In all seven of the main realms, only one pair of dark and light Slayers, the ones native to this place, have gotten past their differences and have formed a bond that goes past friendship. One child is enough, if there are any more then our chances of success will be seriously depleted.” She spoke with a serious and grave expression on her face, and no demon present could help but to feel the severity of the situation.

“How close are they?”

“Too close. If I were you, I would deal with this immediately.” She gave him a glare that told him that she wanted him to something now rather than later.

“I’ll send two of my men there tonight.” He assured her.

“See that you do. Remember, you are not the only candidate who wishes to join our ranks, but you are the one closest to his destination.” She glided back towards Lisbaen and to his obvious surprise, kissed him on the cheek. “I hope to see you amongst us very soon Lisbaen.” With that she exited the cave and left the demon and his followers to their business.

*****

‘Real World’. Summers home.

After the unexpected departure of the other two Slayers, the blonde and two brunettes became more relaxed and had settled down on the couch to converse on their individual experiences within the two weeks prior to their reunion. Beth had fallen asleep within a half hour, and her parents weren’t too far behind her.

As they lay, secure within each others embrace, the two warriors for light began to dream together.

Faith could tell that her girlfriend was nervous. They had brought her back home a week before, and two days ago Faith had told Buffy that her grandparents were coming to visit, on this very day. The brunette couldn’t really understand why she was nervous. She had no doubt that they would like the blonde; really, what couldn’t they like?

She had told Buffy all that she could remember about her father’s parents, and about the trouble they went through to find her again, but still the blonde didn’t seem comfortable about their impending visit.

Faith was currently sitting at the desk in her room, attempting to start an assignment for her history class, but she couldn’t help letting her gaze wonder towards the beautiful woman who was lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling.

Buffy had lost some weight due to the coma, but this did nothing to take away from her appeal to the dark Slayer. Despite her girlfriend's pleas, Faith was still going out on patrol at night, and the effect it had on her was still the same.

Joyce and Giles had forbidden the blonde to go out slaying until she had been given a full bill of health by the doctors, and as a way of amusing herself she often slept naked at night, with the covers not fully covering her, knowing that her partner would climb through her window to get back in after patrol.

The brunette’s behaviour in the morning when they met at breakfast was always the same; frustrated and twitchy, like at any moment she could snap.

They had agreed not to pursue any sexual intimacy with one another while they were living at home. For Faith this had lasted no more than two days, but Buffy was extremely uncomfortable with betraying her mother's trust, and after explaining this to her girlfriend she too understood why they could not have sex in the house.

But until the next college semester, when they would both be moving into the dorms, they would have to keep their hands off each other.

Buffy was fidgeting again; Faith could see it out the corner of her eye. There was no chance that she would be getting any work done with all of these distractions.

“B, would you just stop it. They’re not going to be here ‘till tonight, can’t you forget about it ‘till then?” Faith said irritated.

Buffy looked at her indignantly. “It’s alright for you, you already know them. What if they don’t like me?”

“B, they’ll like you. They’ll love you even.” The brunette assured her for the twentieth time.

“But they don’t know about…You know, about…Us.”

A bulb lit up in Faith’s head when Buffy said this. Why had she not seen this before? “That’s what you’re worried about?”

“Well aren’t you?”

“Haven’t really thought about it.”

“There you go. They probably won’t think any different of you, but I’m the one who’s sleeping with their granddaughter. I think that’s enough reason for them not to like me.”

Faith laughed. “Slept with, past tense,” she added this in just as a reminder. Why not? After all it had become sort of like a personal movie inside her head which somehow had gotten stuck on repeat. “But B, you’ve got nothing to worry about really. And don’t you think I had those same thoughts when we were talking about telling your mom about us? I did, but she was ok with it. Trust me, my gran and granddad are really open minded.” She got up from her chair and sat next to the blonde on the bed. “I love you. That’ll be a good enough reason for them to like you.”

Buffy smiled that smile that turned Faith’s insides to mush every time, and they shared a slow kiss before the blonde pulled her partner down onto the bed with her. The dark Slayer tried to protest, gesturing towards her papers on the desk, but resistance proved futile and she stopped struggling when the older girl rolled her onto her back and snuggled up to her side, stroking her stomach with the tips of her fingers.

They lay in silence for a while, both thinking about similar things. Naturally, it was Buffy who voiced her thoughts first.

“They know about the baby. Are you going to tell them about us tonight?” She asked.

“Erm, yeah. May as well be tonight.”

There was more silence for a moment, until the blonde spoke again. “How are we going to explain it to them? I mean the dates don’t add up. How are we going to tell them without making it sound like…?” She paused trying to think about how to phrase her thoughts.

“Without making it sound like I’ve been sleeping around behind your back?” Faith suggested.

“Well, yeah.”

“Suppose we’ll have to tell them the truth.” Faith sighed. This was going to be harder than she’d thought.

“Guess we’ll see just how open minded they are.”

*****

Buffy was still recovering from the coma and Faith had had more work to do as the nights got progressively longer, also, having talked and played around for a couple of hours, both Slayers eventually found themselves drifting off into a light sleep.

Neither Slayer heard the knock on the front door later that Saturday afternoon. Joyce opened the door and led the older couple into the living room, where there was a plate of biscuits already on the table. She then moved to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up for the Slayers and Dawn to come down. Her youngest daughter appeared almost immediately and soon ran past her mother to the kitchen to get a drink.

When the blonde and brunette failed to show, Joyce ascended the stairs and made her way to Faith’s bedroom, knowing that that was where they’d spent the majority of the day. Hearing no sounds from inside, she opened the door softly and looked in cautiously.

She smiled when she saw the two of them cuddled up on the bed together and quickly ducked out to retrieve her camera from her own room. When she’d taken the picture she hid the camera and knocked lightly on the door. Instantly, two heads shot up and gazed at her with sleepy, yet alert eyes.

“Just thought you might like to know that they’re here. We’re in the living room, and dinner’s in an hour.” She exited the room at their nods, and just caught their cat-like stretches before she closed the door behind her.

Moments later she entered the living room with three fresh mugs of coffee, and gave one to each of Faith’s grandparents.

“They’ll be down soon. Guess they were both tired out, ‘cause they were napping when I went up.” Joyce said as she joined the couple on the large couch.

“Oh, you should have let them sleep dear, we wouldn’t have minded waiting.” Eve said.

“No it’s ok. It’s better if they get up now, that way they’ll sleep more easily at night.” She reassured them.

The four of them sat talking for a while, waiting for the two Slayers. When they finally arrived in the living room, both carrying drinks, Faith introduced Buffy to Eve and Jack and they again relaxed into easy conversation.

After a while, the blonde Slayer began to feel more comfortable around the newcomers, and soon began asking all sorts of questions about what Faith was like as a child, much to the brunette’s annoyance.

“So is there anything else I should know? Like her most embarrassing childhood moments, ticklish spots, that sort of thing.” Buffy was thoroughly enjoying torturing her girlfriend, and had currently forgotten her nervousness over their coming out to Eve and Jack, and having to explain the ins and outs of vampire slaying to them as well.

Faith meanwhile was trying not to be embarrassed, but failing miserably. It didn’t bother her too much though, to her it showed that the blonde Slayer loved her enough to tease her, and she would enjoy getting revenge on her at a later date. Meanwhile however…

“I would’ve thought you knew most of Faith spots by now Buffy.” Dawn teased her sister with a twinkle in her eye.

The blonde Slayer glared at her sister and blushed slightly, but the dark Slayer was quick to respond. “Nah. B hasn’t managed to win the title of tickly champion yet. I know at least seven of her ticklish spots, but I think she only knows one of mine.”

“So far! You keep cheating.”

“How?” Faith retorted with innocent eyes, but Buffy could clearly see the hidden smirk that lay underneath.

Buffy hesitated, reddening around the collar a little. “You… Distract me.” She said weakly.

“Well that’s ‘cause you’re easy to distract.” She retorted.

The others could merely look on as a tickling match suddenly broke out in front of them.

The brunette had her partner pinned very quickly and with nimble fingers proceeded to make her laugh so hard that tears were falling down her cheeks. Buffy tried weakly to retaliate, but couldn’t in her current state. ‘How embarrassing,’ she thought. ‘If vampires knew that all it took to render the blonde Slayer helpless was to find her ticklish areas.’

“M, mom… Make. Her. Stop!” She tried vainly to cry for help.

Joyce sighed at their immaturity, but couldn’t help smiling all the same at the sound of their laughter. “I’m sorry Buffy, but I think you brought this on yourself. However, you may want to try and explain to Faith how neglectful you could be in the next few days if she weren’t to stop tickling you…”

Buffy and Dawn were in awe and inwardly cheered their mother for the coolness of her observation, and when the words registered in the brunette’s head she immediately stopped what she was doing and gave the girl underneath her a nervous look. Buffy raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘Well, you heard what she said,’ and Faith retreated to her earlier position on the couch.

“Thanks mom.” Buffy said with a sly smile, and when the brunette wasn’t looking at her, she pinched the ticklish spot under her ribs and ran out of the room followed by a cry of, ‘Hey! No fair,’ and then footsteps chasing after her.

The remaining occupants of the living room looked towards the ceiling as they heard squeals and the sounds of thunderous footsteps from above.

“And they call me immature.” Dawn sighed as she reached for another biscuit, as her mother excused herself to check on the dinner.

Upstairs, the brunette Slayer had caught her prey and had her pinned to the blonde’s bedroom door.

“I win again, B.” Faith said with a wide grin.

Buffy’s breathing was a little laboured as she answered, and the brunette knew it had nothing to do with being chased, but everything to do with being caught.

“Depends on your definition of winning, F. What makes you think I didn’t want you to catch me?” Buffy said as her eyes moved from Faith’s lips to her eyes and back again.

Faith grinned lopsidedly and leant further into the blonde. “Guess I should give you your reward then huh?”

The blonde Slayer nodded her head slowly and gulped audibly, still watching every movement of those luscious lips as her girlfriend spoke.

Buffy held her breath as Faith brought her head closer and then made a small whimpering sound as she backed off at the last minute.

“But, if I did that, then I’d be rewarded too, and I didn’t really win by your definition.”

Buffy groaned with frustration. “I didn’t actually explain my definition though. The way I figure it we’re both winners really, as long as we’re together.” She said hoping that this would be enough.

Faith leaned in again until Buffy could feel the delicious brush of that soft skin against her own mouth, but once again the brunette pulled away and pretended to think, and this time the blonde made a low growling, which made the dark Slayer chuckle.

“There can only ever be one winner at a time.” She observed.

“Well fine then let’s just say we drew.” She answered frustrated.

“If you don’t win then you don’t really deserve a prize, now do you? It seems to me, that we’ll just have to figure out another way of rewarding the winner, in future.” Faith became serious and let go of the blonde and began to make her way back towards the stairs.

Buffy could hardly believe it, but she wasn’t about to let the brunette just walk away after that. She growled louder this time and pounced on her fellow Slayer, this time pinning her to the wall, and proceeded attack the mouth of her dreams with her lips and tongue.

Faith moaned as the blonde Slayer began a thorough investigation of the inside of her mouth. She let Buffy be the aggressor for a few moments before thrusting her tongue back against the other one and engaging it in a furious battle, but with no desire to really win this one. In fact I doubt if either Slayer would have cared if this battle went on to be the longest one in history.

Alas, they were soon interrupted by the announcement that dinner was being served, and were pulled back to the reality that they were not alone and were regrettably expected to join their guests at the table.

Feeling the need to move back before finding that her resolve had slipped too far, Buffy retreated from the dark Slayer’s embrace and called back to her mother that they would be down shortly. The Slayers grinned at one another as they attempted to regulate their breathing.

“I’m gonna; go to the, bathroom to… Cool down a bit.”

Faith grinned even more and before Buffy could react she placed a soft wet kiss on her lips and then turned to go downstairs. “Sure B, see you down there.” Practically skipping the brunette retreated from the blonde Slayer’s view.

*****

Dinner was met with easy conversation, light bickering between siblings, and subtle flirting between the two Slayers. After the meal the Slayers volunteered to clear the table, while the others once again congregated in the living room.

At the sink the two college students conversed in hushed tones.

“B, we can’t put this off any longer. It’s better to just get it over with.” Faith said, attempting to persuade the blonde to help her confront her grandparents about their relationship.

“I don’t feel like we’ve prepared enough for this.” Buffy replied, beginning to feel her nervousness coming back.

“What’s there to prepare for? We either do this or we don’t.” She whispered harshly as she placed the last plate on the draining board.

Buffy dried and put away the plate quickly, avoiding Faith for a moment. “Then maybe we shouldn’t do this at all.” She said, her voice cracking slightly at the end, and walked away from the sink to lean up against the work counter.

Faith dried her hands hastily and followed the blonde and placing a hand on a slender hip she tried to comfort her girlfriend. “B, I know this is hard, but believe me, it’s only gonna get harder if we leave it any longer… They’re my family, and I want them to know just how much in love with you I am.”

“Oh Faith.” Buffy said with bleary eyes, and wrapped her arms tightly round Faith’s neck.

“It’ll be alright B, I promise. And then later, when we go to bed, we can be relieved that we got it over and done with. Right?”

Buffy laughed a little and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the intoxicating scent of her friend and lover. “Yeah, you’re right. God if it were up to me nothing would ever get done. By the way, did you know that you’re dating the queen of procrastination?”

Faith chuckled, kissed the blonde on the forehead, and then led her into the living room before any further protests could be made.

There was a light nudging session between the Slayers as they were both urging the other one to start the ball rolling and get everyone’s attention. Once all eyes were on them, Faith began by explaining to the older couple the ins and outs of being a vampire Slayer. Needless to say, they weren’t very convinced by her speech, but as the dark Slayer went on to demonstrate the speed and strength she had been talking about, they started to pay more attention to what she was saying.

It came as a shock to them, but they accepted the possibility of there being demons and vampires. They did however explain to Faith that they would need to see it to completely believe it.

“There’s actually another reason we’re telling you all this.” Faith started slowly.

“Which is…?” Jack asked, leaving the question hanging in the air.

“Well um… Buffy and I. We’re dating.” She waited but there was no immediate response so she carries on. “We were dating before I moved back to Boston, and we’ve been together for a year, since I got here.”

The retired couple wore matching expressions of confusion as she finished speaking. “Ok, I think we can understand that, but what does it have to do with vampires?”

It was at this moment that Buffy decided to take over, having let her girlfriend explain most of their story. “You already know that Faith is pregnant.” They nodded slowly. “Well we’re almost one hundred percent sure that, because of our connection as Slayers and our relationship combined, that I’m well… I’m the baby’s father, so to speak.”

*****

‘Real World’, LA.

Pacing. That was all anyone seemed to be doing at Angel Investigations these days. A few days ago Faith had been doing it, yesterday it had been Gunn, who was stressing over an anniversary date with Fred, and today Angel found himself pacing, waiting for Faith to call to let him know if everything was alright.

Over the time that he’d been visiting her in jail, and since she’d been staying with him, he’d developed a sort of brotherly love for the dark Slayer. He’d began helping her by thinking that it’d help him to find redemption, but after a while he found that he didn’t really care if it helped him, just as long as it made her life a little easier.

Soon the vampire’s musings were interrupted by the appearance of a glowing figure as he made his twenty fourth lap across the room.

Angel clutched his hand to his chest and Cordelia couldn’t help laughing at him as he did so. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Why? It’s not like you could actually have a heart attack or anything. And it’s worth it just for the look on your face afterwards.” She smirked as she walked round him to sit on the couch.

“So… What’s up?” he said, sitting down next to her.

“I was bored, and I saw you wearing a hole in the floor so I figured you could probably do with some company. So she hasn’t called yet?” He shook his head. “Doesn’t really surprise me. When you two get around Buffy; she’s all you can see.”

Angel thought about this. “How long has Faith felt this way?”

The seer burst out laughing at this. “You’re kidding me, right…? For like, forever. Well, ever since the alley behind the Bronze; when they first met.” She looked at him and noticed the slightly pained expression on his face. “You really didn’t notice?”

“I guess, not until it was too late. I really messed it up between them, didn’t I?” Angel asked the pain more evident in his expression.

“I’m not going to lie to you; your being there didn’t help much, but Angel, you needed to come back. The world needs you, and Faith doesn’t blame you… Anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Well she did poison you Angel. I know she has some strange ways of showing that she cares, but I don’t think that was one of them.”

“I just hope that Buffy will give her a chance. She’s worked hard to get where she is right now, I don’t want her to get discouraged, and if what you say is true then I think it’ll take a lot for Faith not to take her rejection too hard. Buffy can be very stubborn when she wants to be.” Angel had gotten up out of his seat by this point and was starting to pace the room again.

Cordelia had become apparently interested in the upkeep of her fingernails as she addressed her brooding friend. “You’d think that a two hundred and fifty year old vampire could remember that one of his friends just happens to be a higher being, who in fact, can pop in and out of all sorts of places, effectively checking on loved ones who are miles away.”

He stopped and stared at her. “Cordy.”

She looked up at him with a blank expression. “Uh huh, what?”

He unconsciously adopted his puppy dog expression. “Would you check on her for me? Pleeease.”

“Don’t worry Angel, she’ll be fine. Have some Faith.” She said flippantly.

“You’ve already seen her, haven’t you?” Angel inquired.

“I might have taken a sneaky peak.” She said grinning.

At that moment Gunn and Fred arrived, bringing take-away with them and in the middle of a heated argument; well as heated as their arguments ever got anyway.

“Charles, will you just listen to me please?” The young Texan woman asked as she followed after her boyfriend.

“I’ve already heard it all, and the answer’s still no.” He shook his head and put the food down on the counter.

“Guys, what’s up?” Angel asked curiously.

“He doesn’t want to go to my family reunion in Texas next summer.”

“Why?” Cordelia wondered.

“I don’t know, he won’t tell me.” She whined.

“Look,” Gunn started, “How many people are gonna be at this reunion?”

“About a hundred.”

“Right, and how many of those people are gonna be brothers?” His expression was serious, but his eyes held a slight hint of worry.

“You mean black people?” He nodded. “Well, none that I know of. I don’t know for sure.”

“I just don’t wanna spend two days being stared at like a side show freak.” He said in resignation and began to open one of the boxes of Chinese food.

“It won’t be like that. What would make you think that?” She asked as she approached him and put a hand on his arm.

“I don’t know, I just have a friend once who said that he went to Texas and the people there treated him like he some sort of freak or somethin’.”

“Charles, even if what he said was true, which I can’t imagine was, it wouldn’t be like that with my family. I just know they’ll love you. I told my mom and pop all about you in my letters, and they can’t wait to meet you.” She said trying to reassure him.

“Really?”

“Really!”

He thought for a moment. “Ok, I’ll go, for you.”

She squealed and then kissed him. “Oh I just know it’s going to be so much fun. Last time my uncle Larry, he…”

They were suddenly interrupted when the seer cried out. “Guys, pen and paper quick, I’m getting something.”

Fred grabbed a note pad and pen off the desk, and they all watched patiently as Cordelia focused on her vision, waiting for her to tell them what it was.

“It’s Buffy and Faith again and they’re fighting two demons… No it’s ok, they’ve beaten them. Ok, why did I need to know that? They fight demons every… Wait, now they’re…” Cordelia blushed suddenly and opened her eyes in shock. “Really didn’t need to know ‘that’.” She said, directing her voice at the ceiling.

“Cordelia, was that it?”

“No there’s more. There are four of them now…”

“Four Slayers?” Gunn asked as he’d not heard about the arrival of the existing Slayer’s doubles.

“Yeah, they're fighting a different demon now. It’s the one from my previous vision, and he still has the kid.” She paused for a moment to see if there was going to be more, but when nothing came she shrugged her shoulders. “Guess that was it.”

“Ok, Cordelia, can you draw a picture of this demon so we can identify it?”

“Sure thing.” She said before getting to work.

“Fred, Gunn, I’ll need you to try and find this demon in the books when Cordy has shown you what it looks like. I’m gonna call Buffy to warn her.” Within seconds they had dispersed and were working on solving the problem.

PART NINE

‘Real’ World, Sunnydale.

Hours had passed and the sun had sunk low in the sky; dusk was coming and both Slayers could feel the anticipation of the night’s actions in their veins. They were still sitting in the black convertible and were both emotionally exhausted after having dug up a lot of painful memories from their past.

“Faith, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. Maybe if I hadn’t been so self-centred…” She stopped, leaving the sentiment hanging in the air.

Faith covered Buffy’s hand with her own in a comforting gesture. “B, stop blaming yourself. We both made mistakes, and we’re both sorry… I guess if you want, we could… I don’t know; try to start over.” Buffy looked down at her hand, which was covered by Faith’s. Faith quickly pulled her hand away and looked sheepishly at the blonde Slayer. “Sorry.”

Buffy quickly grabbed the dark Slayer’s hand and linked their fingers. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

Faith felt a blush creeping up the back of her neck and internally berated herself, forcing back the ecstasy she felt from the soft caress of the other Slayer’s fingers she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled back at Buffy.

“Cool, thanks… So, it’s getting dark and I’ve still gotta check into the hotel.” She wriggled her fingers away from the blonde’s put her hands on the steering wheel and started the engine.

“You could always stay at my place. If you wanted.” Buffy suggested, not really wanting to let Faith go now that they were getting along so well.

Faith chuckled a little. “Don’t you think it’d be a bit crowded? Four Slayers, two witches, DW and the kid.”

Buffy sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Don’t worry B; I’ll still be here tomorrow.”

“How long will you be staying?” The blonde asked curiously.

“I don’t know yet. I have a meeting with my parole officer in a couple of days, but I haven’t made any definite plans until then. I’m gonna try and get a room at the hotel on Bailey Street.” She added as a way of telling the blonde where they were going.

When they arrived at the hotel, the brunette parked the car and went to check in. Buffy waited in the lobby, and followed Faith up to her room when she was done signing the register. The room was clean and nicely decorated in cream with a tribal border and a light blue ceiling. There was a kettle with coffee and tea making equipment next to it on a table near the window.

The blonde Slayer sat down on the bed while her companion went to check out the bath room. The bed itself was very comfortable to sit on, unlike the quality of the beds in the motel room that Faith had stayed in before, and it didn’t have that musty smell either. All in all Buffy thought that this was the kind of place that the brunette should’ve been staying in the last time she was here.

Faith came back in feeling suitably satisfied with the room, but soon noticed the sad expression on the blonde’s face.

“What’s wrong, you don’t like it? I mean it’s nothing compared to the apartment, but it’s definitely a step up from the motel.” She said with a frown.

Buffy gave her a reassuring smile. “No, I like it; I was just thinking that’s all.”

Faith sat down next to her on the bed. “About what?”

“I was just thinking about how nice it would have been if you could’ve stayed here last time. It’s so much nicer here. God, how could I have let you stay at that place?” She was beginning to get upset and Faith could tell.

“B, stop it!” The dark Slayer yelled, startling her companion. She ran her fingers through midnight hair and said, “We can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” She asked, forcing back the tears that were threatening to come. She watched as the brunette stood up and started to pace the room.

“We can’t keep going over every little mistake we made, or thought we made. We’ve both said we’re sorry, I forgave you a long time ago, and even though I don’t feel like I deserve it, you’ve forgiven me. If we’re going to try and start over then we can’t keep bringing up the past.” Her legs carried her to the foot of the bed and she sat down again.

Buffy sucked in a deep breath of air. “You’re right. We’ve talked about everything that happened before; we’ve got it all out. It’s time to move on… We’ve just got to stop blaming ourselves, right?”

“Right… This is gonna be hard. I’ve spent three years blaming myself for everything that happened.” Faith said with a dejected expression.

“I guess we’ve got to realise that the blame goes both ways.” Buffy rolled her shoulders and stood up. “Are you tired?”

Faith shook her head. “No, not really.” She was wondering what the blonde was getting at.

“Do you want to patrol.” She asked, dancing on the balls of her feet.

Faith’s eyes sparkled at this. Long had she dreamed of a time that she would once again hunt vampires with the blonde Slayer at her side. “Do you even have to ask?”

“Apparently not.” She smiled at the obvious joy the other Slayer was feeling. “Are you packing?” Faith nodded. “Let’s go then.”

*****

Faith had become hyper aware of the presence of the other Slayer beside her. Every sigh, every breath, every minute sound that Buffy made teased the hell out of her. They had cleaned out a small nest in the second cemetery that they’d hit, and her body was reacting to the after affects of the adrenaline in its usual way.

Patrolling with Angel was very different. She still felt the affect of the fight afterwards, but he didn’t add to that feeling. With Buffy though, her senses were on overload. She cursed herself for being so weak, and for not being able to hold her lust back.

She knew that, by now, she was in need of a change of underwear, and if it had gotten that bad then she was sure the blonde would be able to sense it. ‘God, why did I have to wear such tight pants? I really need to buy some for patrol that don’t rub so fuckin’ much.’ She thought to herself.

As Faith was thinking about the defects of her wardrobe, Buffy was thinking about the perks of the same items.

She had always marvelled at the boldness of Faith’s ensembles, and secretly enjoyed watching her fight in them. How did she manage to produce those beautifully graceful fighting techniques with such restricted movement? Buffy had surmised that the brunette must be abnormally limber, of which thoughts often led her to x-rated areas of her imagination.

A twig cracking roused them from their thoughts; Faith leapt to the side and pulled the blonde down with her as a huge demon lunged at them from the side. Quickly jumping to her feet, she assessed the situation before attempting to make her attack.

It was during this moment that Buffy realised how much Faith had changed, both in her attitude and her way of fighting. When they had patrolled together before, the dark Slayer was more of an ‘act now, think later’ type of fighter. Now though, she was sizing up the demon and planning her attack before going into the fray.

The blonde Slayer found herself smiling despite herself, and for a moment forgot that she was in a grave-yard being faced by two very large, very bulky demons. She was soon reminded when one of them let out a loud screeching sound.

“So, which one do you want Faith?” Buffy raised her voice, glancing sideways at the brunette.

“They pretty much look the same, but if you have a preference then I don’t mind.” Faith replied.

Both demons screeched this time, and moved forward to tackle the two Slayers.

“Looks like we're not gonna get a choice.” The blonde said before ducking a blow from her demon and responding with one of her own.

They battled hard, and after a short while began to feel the effect the fight was having on their muscles. Their opponents were strong and rather agile, but occasionally they had managed to get a shot in by outwitting the ugly fiends.

“How you doin’, B?” Faith called from behind the monstrous body.

“I’m thinking… *umph*… I’d like to get Chinese after this… *grrr*… what about you?” Buffy said in between blows.

“Sounds good… But I was talkin’ more about the demon… *urrrg*… slayage. Shouldn’t we be wrappin’ this up about now?” Faith replied a little breathless.

“Great. Any suggestions on how we’re supposed to do that?” The blonde asked before ducking a particularly vicious blow, which luckily for her hit the tree behind her.

“They’re big and fast, but not too smart. I’ve managed to feint my attacks a few times with success. I say we work on that.”

“Faith, do you think you could roll between its legs?” The blonde asked after thinking for a moment.

“If I was quick, then yeah. Why?”

“Ok, try and manoeuvre yourself so we’re back to back.” Buffy said, laying out the plan, and Faith did as she was told with success, she almost felt like she was dancing with the demon. “On my word roll through its legs… Ok… Now!”

Both Slayers executed the move with perfection and synchronicity and stood up ready to fight as they observed the result of Buffy’s plan. Faith didn’t really know what the blonde was hoping would happen, but was amused when the demons collided with enough force to knock each other out.

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief and moved to join the brunette on the other side of the now unconscious demons.

“Good thinkin’, B. Was that how it was supposed to work?”

“Actually no, it worked better than I’d hoped. I was just thinking that it would confuse them enough so we could really work our magic… So how do you wanna finish it? ‘Cause they’re gonna wake up before long.” Buffy asked while observing the sleeping gruesome twosome.

“I dunno, it seems kinda wrong doin’ it like this; when they can’t put up a fight.”

“Well, they’re demons, they were trying to kill us, and I think they put up a very good fight; as will be testified by my numerous bruises come morning.”

“Shall we make it quick then; a simple snap of the neck?” The dark Slayer suggested and punctuated her words by clicking her thumb and forefinger together.

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Each approached a demon, and within a couple of seconds the job was done. They stood back as the dead bodies melted away through the ground.

After observing the place where the corpses had disappeared, Faith turned to the other Slayer. “So, you said something about Chinese food. Do they have any places open at this time of night?”

The blonde replied as they began to make their way out of the graveyard. “That’s a good question. Guess we’ll just have to see what we can find.”

*****

The walk back to the hotel was made mostly in silence. At first Faith had felt uncomfortable with the silence, but her thoughts soon took over, occupying the majority her mind. Mostly, she was wondering whether the whole day had just been one big dream. If so then it was the most vivid dream she’d ever had, and she never really wanted to wake up from it.

Glancing over at the other Slayer though, she was pretty certain that it wasn’t a dream, and in her opinion, that was even better than just some dream. She couldn’t really understand why she knew it wasn’t a dream though, she was just sure.

That morning a million and one scenarios had been whizzing around her head and she’d been on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but now she felt mostly calm. She was still wondering what would happen when they got back to the hotel (she knew what she wished would happen, but didn’t have much of a hope that it would), and then what would they do tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after that?

What Faith really wanted was to be able to tell Buffy exactly why she had done the things she’d done, but she’d only been able to tell her that she’d been jealous of the attention that the blonde Slayer had got, and the family that she had. She desperately wanted to tell Buffy that she had more than friendly feelings towards her.

*****

The blonde Slayer was having similar thoughts to the brunette. She was also wondering whether they were actually in a dream world, and thinking that her alarm was going to wake her up for work at any moment.

Dismissing this thought for some unknown reason, she too began to think about what their future held for them. When Buffy thought about their future together she couldn’t help comparing what it might be to what the relationship between their doubles was like.

That was what she wanted; to be happy together, like them.

Even if that was possible, it was still a long way off for them. They were still on rocky ground. They had made giant steps towards that picture of happiness, and Buffy wasn’t going to give up hope that it could happen.

Buffy’s thoughts hadn’t yet found their way out of the gutter since they had cleaned out that nest a couple of hours ago, and chancing a look at her sister in arms confirmed her suspicions that she did indeed find the dark Slayer attractive.

Her stomach did a little flip every time Faith ran a hand through her hair, or unconsciously chewed on her bottom lip. Buffy found herself wishing that she could do those things for the brunette instead.

‘This night isn’t going to last long enough,’ Buffy thought, ‘I could watch her all night long. Though, I’d rather touch...’

*****

The two Slayers sat cross-legged on Faith’s bed in her hotel room, munching on pizza and telling each other stories. Buffy was just about to finish telling the brunette about some of the things that had happened when Faith was with the Mayor, like when she developed telepathy through exposure to a certain type of demon blood, and then found out that her mother had had sex with Giles.

“So your mom did the diddy with Giles when you could hear everybody’s thoughts?” Faith asked with amusement, in between mouthfuls of pizza crust.

“No, that happened when all the adults turned into teenagers for a night, after eating candy that we were selling to raise money for the school band. But it wasn’t ‘till I could hear her thoughts that I actually knew about it.”

“Oh, right. Have you had enough?” She asked as Buffy stood up and brushed the crumbs off her lap.

“Yeah, I’m stuffed. The pizza wasn’t really a bad substitute for the Chinese, and they did have Chinese style chicken toppings. Still I would have liked to have had Chinese, shame they’re not open this late.” Buffy babbled as she stretched a little.

“You don’t mind if I have the last piece then?” Faith said, trying hard to swallow the lump that was in her throat as she watched Buffy stretch.

“Go ahead, I’m gonna go and clean myself up.” Buffy made her way to the bathroom while the dark Slayer started on the last piece of pizza.

Faith watched the blonde Slayer as she walked out of the room, slowly chewing on her last bite. The whole day had been completely unexpected, but she couldn’t imagine how it could have gone any better. She almost wished that the day wouldn’t end, but she knew that the blonde would have to go home soon.

When she’d eaten very last piece she threw away the empty boxes, brushed the crumbs off the bed and then stretched. She felt tired, but had no real desire to sleep yet as her mind was still buzzing from the days activities. Picking up her soda, the brunette drained the last dregs and threw that in the bin with the empty boxes.

Faith then fell back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling with a smile on her face. She closed her eyes before long, and lay contentedly listening to the other Slayer poking around in the bathroom.

*****

Buffy took her time as she washed her face and hands and swilled her mouth out with water from the faucet. When she’d finished doing that, she stopped and stared at herself in the mirror for a while. The blonde closed her eyes and breathed deeply, and heard Faith get up and move around.

In her minds eye she could see the dark Slayer throwing rubbish away and heard the mattress depress beneath the brunette’s weight as she lay back on it, and then there was nothing but the blonde’s own breathing. All her thoughts and senses were concentrated on the young woman in the next room, and on the low down tickle that the food hadn’t been able to take care of.

Tonight had been the first night that she’d really admitted to herself how much the other Slayer affected her, both physically and emotionally. All she wanted to do now was to take Faith into her arms and to kiss away every ill deed or word that they’d ever inflicted upon one another, to be able to kiss her and hold her whenever she felt the urge to, and to have Faith kiss and hold her in the same way.

Deciding that if she stayed where she was any longer, she was likely to be missed, she checked herself over again and exited the bathroom. A warm smile spread across her face at the sight of the brunette laid out on the bed with a smile on her luscious lips.

Having heard the blonde come out of the bathroom, Faith shook herself out of her daze and slowly sat up to lock eyes with Buffy.

“Hey, feelin’ better?”

Buffy nodded. “Much, thanks.” She stood awkwardly, reluctant to call it a night.

Faith knew that it had to happen eventually, so she sighed and stood up. “Guess you gotta go now huh?”

“Yeah, I guess.” She walked towards the door with the brunette right behind her, making her body tingle pleasantly. She closed her eyes for a moment and revelled in the feeling, not wanting to let it go. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” Buffy asked hopefully as she turned round to face the dark Slayer, her hand resting on the doorknob.

Faith simply nodded her head in the affirmative, and Buffy began to open the door. Faith could feel her heart pounding in her chest; she didn’t want the blonde to leave. Something told her that if she let her go right now, then they will have missed out on something really important. Despite her deep fear of opening up her heart to the other Slayer, she reached out and closed the door again before it was even half the way open.

Buffy gave her a look that was both questioning and hopeful. “Faith?”

“B, I…” She closed her eyes for a second to gather her strength. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Oh… Well, you know what; I don’t really want to go.” Buffy said with a smile.

“You might feel differently when I’ve finished tellin’ you somethin’.” Faith said as she took a step back to give the blonde some room.

Buffy stepped away from the door with a confused expression on her face. “What is it?”

Faith scanned her brain for the proper etiquette by which she could deliver her feelings to the blonde, but quickly found that her brain had decided to stop working. She began to get flushed as she panicked, and looked down at her shoes to avoid the piercing gaze of the other Slayer.

Buffy couldn’t help but be amused by this completely adorable display of bashfulness. The brunette looked so much like a high school kid asking someone they had a crush on to the prom. As this thought passed through her head the blonde realised that it wasn’t without merit. She’d seen that look directed at her before, and it was at this point that she was more than positive that Faith was attracted to her.

Her heart leapt, and she wanted nothing more than to wrap the dark Slayer up in her arms and never let go. Faith seemed to have lost all ability to speak. Her mouth was making very minute movements, but no sound could be heard passing her lips.

Buffy could tell that the brunette wasn’t going to be able to make any of her thoughts coherent, even to herself, so she decided that now was the time for actions rather than words. Cautiously she moved forward so she was standing a hair’s breadth away from the dark Slayer. Placing her hand beneath her chin, she lifted Faith’s face so that their eyes met.

“Hi.” She spoke softly, and watched as Faith’s pupils instantly dilated.

Faith felt her mind clear as she stopped trying to think so hard about what she wanted to say, and before she knew what she was doing, her mouth had opened and words were coming out.

“I like you, a lot.” Anything else she might have wanted to say was stopped by the blonde’s finger on her lips.

“I know.”

Tentatively, the blonde Slayer leant in and brought their lips together. Her hand slipped down the brunette’s neck to rest on her shoulder. Faith responded slowly, but her hands eventually came to rest on Buffy’s hips. Buffy ran her other hand up the brunette’s arm and it soon got tangled up in dark tresses.

Their lips danced expertly with one another and before long they were both seeking more contact. Faith, now feeling bolder, pulled the older Slayer closer and sought entrance to her mouth with her tongue.

Buffy gasped as Faith’s tongue made contact with her own and began to explore her mouth. Both Slayers were becoming desperate for oxygen, but neither wanted to stop what they were doing. Finally their lungs began to protest and they had to break away.

Keeping her eyes closed, Buffy leaned her forehead against Faith’s, and breathing hard, she tightened her hold on the brunette.

Faith continued to lay small kisses at the corner of Buffy’s mouth as they caught their breath. Just as the blonde started to kiss her back, she jumped away and made a small yell. Faith looked slightly worried until Buffy pulled a cell phone out of her back pocket.

The blonde gave the other Slayer an apologetic look before answering her buzzing phone.

“Hello?”

*Buffy. Are you ok?* Buffy recognised the voice as Willow’s.

“Yeah Will, I’m fine. Did you want something?” She was hoping that what ever it was wouldn’t take long; all she wanted to do was to get back to making the dark Slayer breathless.

*You’re with Faith.*

“Yeah.” She said, wondering when the point was.

*Well, you’re keeping on your guard right? This is Faith we’re talking about. What time should we expect you back?*

Despite having lived in the same house as the brunette’s double, and even after hearing Angel’s reports from Buffy, the red head was obviously still thinking about the past and judging Faith on it.

The blonde Slayer glanced over at the brunette wondering what she was going to tell her best friend. She wanted to stay, but didn’t really know if that was what Faith wanted as well. Sure, Faith had said that she didn’t want her to leave, but that was before they had got to the kissing, so she didn’t know how far the brunette wanted to take it.

The dark Slayer was shuffling on her feet a little and chewing on her bottom lip, wishing that just for once she could catch a break. She hadn’t wanted to stop, but now she was sure that Buffy would realise what they’d done and make up an excuse to leave. She felt stupid for having said anything in the first place, and began to think that this would be the end of their already fragile relationship.

Buffy could almost feel the younger girl’s turmoil from across the room. “Hold on a minute Will.” She said before covering the mouth-piece with her hand.

Approaching Faith, she reached out and took her hand, gaining her attention. “Hey, you ok?”

She paused before answering. “I’m… Five by five, you know. Just a bit dizzy.” She gave an exaggerated smile before stuffing her hands in her pockets and looking awkward again.

“U-huh.” She said, not really believing that the brunette was ok. “Well, Will wants to know what time I’m gonna be home.” She said wondering if the brunette was going to ask her to stay again, now that they had taken that step further.

“Oh, that’s ok. You probably should go home anyway. They’ll most likely be asking you all sorts of questions.” She laughed humourlessly. “You can tell them that they don’t have to worry about me coming to kill them in their sleep or somethin’.” Faith said, trying to mask her disappointment.

It was just her luck. As soon as something started to go her way, something else happened and inevitably stopped it. Just moments ago she’d been in heaven, and now she was plummeting back to earth at a vast rate.

Buffy could tell that the dark Slayer thought that it was over. Faith had a habit of being negative about anything that made her happy. She didn’t think that anything would go her way, and that she was likely to screw everything up no matter how much she didn’t want to. Hoping that she was on the right track, and not making a huge mistake, she took a step back from the brunette and put the phone back to her ear.

She could hear the red head talking to someone in the background, wondering what was taking so long. She called Willow’s name down the phone and soon got an answer.

*Buffy? What took you so long, is everything ok, do you need me to come down there? Where are you exactly?*

“Will, listen to me carefully, ‘cause I’m only going to say this once, ok?” The witch answered her with a slow ‘yes’. “Good. Willow, I’m fine, there’s nothing to worry about. We’ve talked a lot, and we’ve resolved our past differences. We’ve forgiven each other for the mistakes we made, and we’ve agreed to start over.” At that point the witch tried to protest, but the blonde Slayer interrupted her. “I realise that it’s not going to be that easy for you, but I couldn’t go on like that any longer, I need this…”

Faith was kind of impressed by the way the blonde stood up to her best friend. In the past she would have been afraid to upset her friends in case she lost them, but she’d obviously realised that they would stick by her even if they did have disagreements. The brunette was still waiting for Buffy to hang up the phone and tell her that she was going to leave, but it made her feel just a little better to hear the other Slayer standing up for her.

“… Now, there are still some things that we wanted to do, I think… So if it’s ok with her, then I’m going to stay here with Faith tonight.” She glanced over at Faith as she said this to gage her reaction.

The dark Slayer was surprised; she had been listening to the whole conversation very carefully, but she thought she was hearing things when Buffy’s last words registered in her mind. ‘They still had things to do’, ‘stay here with Faith tonight’; she continued to pass these phrases through her mind. Then looking up at Buffy, she realised that she was expected to give an answer as the blonde was looking at her expectantly, and a little nervous. ‘Does this mean what I think it means?’ Faith thought.

Faith forced herself to smile as her answer, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to smile or didn’t feel happy, but her brain was still in shock and she was having a hard time controlling her gutter mind.

The blonde smiled back at her and continued talking to Willow about her plans, telling her that she’d see her the next day. When she was finally allowed to hang up, she turned her phone off and put it in her jacket, which she’d taken off and hung on the back of a chair.

She slowly turned to face the brunette who was still standing close by. “Faith, is this ok with you, I if stay? You don’t think this is rushing it, do you?”

The dark Slayer, who was still a little tongue tied, replied. “No! No, I want you… To, stay. I want you to stay.” She blushed uncharacteristically as her words came out rather desperate.

She took a moment to wonder where all of her charm and coolness had gone to, and then remembered exactly who she was with and realised that it was just the affect the other Slayer had on her.

Buffy laughed to herself and approached the brunette, putting her hands on Faith’s shoulders. She smiled warmly and placed a small kiss on her lips. “I want you too.” She said honestly before leaning in to capture Faith’s mouth in an intense lip lock.

They were kissing again, and God it was even more incredible than before. After the initial shock the blonde’s actions had caused Faith, she soon found her rhythm again. Though it wasn’t that difficult to find it with Buffy; they just seemed to fit together perfectly. It was as if they were anticipating each other’s moves, although there was still an element of surprise there that made it all the more enjoyable.

The kissing was beginning to not be enough for them, and hands soon began to wonder. Buffy’s hands worked their way down to the hem of Faith’s top and pushed it up so that the brunette’s stomach was exposed. She then drew the dark Slayer’s tongue further into her mouth, stroking it with her own. She slid a hand under Faith’s t-shirt and found the clasp to her bra, which she quickly unhooked, and smiled to herself as she felt it pop open.

Drawing her mouth away to breath, she continued kissing along the other Slayer’s jaw line as her hands joined Faith’s and held them gently while caressing her palms with her thumbs. She gradually moved her hands up Faith’s arms and under the sleeves of her t-shirt. Her fingers hooked round the straps of her bra and she pulled them smoothly down her arms and over her hands, with some help from the brunette.

The dark Slayer raised an eyebrow in amusement, wondering what Buffy’s game was before the blonde slid a hand under her top, pulled out her bra and held it up with a triumphant grin. The garment was quickly tossed to one side and Buffy pulled a grinning Faith into another heated embrace. Together they gradually moved towards the bed; tongues and hands lost to one another.

Faith felt herself almost drowning in the intensity of emotions that the blonde Slayer had managed to invoke in her. Her mind was still trying to deal with the reality of the situation. No matter how much she had dreamt about being with Buffy, none of it could compare to the reality. She found herself wanting to get lost in the other Slayer; torn between just throwing the blonde onto the bed and mapping out every inch of her body with her tongue until she screamed with pleasure bordering on pain, or taking her time, letting Buffy lead and giving her plenty of chance to change her mind if she wanted to.

She really didn’t want to destroy any of the progress that they’d made in this short amount of time, and she figured that if things continued to go on this way then she’d get her chance to have her way with the older woman some other time. She desperately hoped that they could carry on together this way, and she tried not to think about the possibility that Buffy was just using her and come morning she’d be alone again. It definitely wouldn’t be the first time.

Faith felt a short jolt of panic hit her as Buffy pulled away suddenly and stood almost shyly and unmoving in front of her. She was almost going to ask what was wrong, but stopped when the blonde began to move.

Buffy’s hands began a slow ascent on her body, from her hips to the top of her breasts, where she began to unbutton her shirt. Faith stood paralysed with increasing desire as she witnessed the golden Slayer undressing in front of her. When she began working on the third button the dark Slayer noticed that the blonde’s hands had started to tremble.

On instinct, Faith reached out and placed a hand on top of Buffy’s, and gave her an encouraging smile when their eyes met.

“I think my hands forgot how to work the buttons.” She said with a husky, yet quavered voice.

The brunette locked eyes with her soon to be lover once again as she painstakingly removed the shirt, ensuring that her hands made contact with the skin underneath at every possible opportunity. By the time the material had slid to the floor the blonde Slayer’s breathing had become very irregular. Her chest moved up and down rapidly, which distracted Faith for a moment as she regarded Buffy’s scantily clad breasts.

The older woman reached for the hem of Faith’s top again and quickly removed it from her body. She pulled the brunette’s head down with one hand to kiss her again, while her other hand made intricate patterns on the taller woman’s stomach and slowly up to her exposed chest. Faith moaned into Buffy’s mouth as delicate fingers found her left nipple and began to tease it. The blonde softly ran her thumb along the underside of the dark Slayer’s breast, learning its shape with each new touch.

Buffy felt the room getting hotter and hotter as their passion increased. Her mind was working on an extremely low level, and every now and again a single word would pass through her thoughts, like; Faith, tongue, warm, soft, breast, mine; that was the one that stood out the furthest in her mind, mine all mine. She felt like she was working on instinct alone. If she had stopped to think about what she was doing, then she would have wondered if she was possessed; her body seemed to be doing things before she’d even considered them.

She gently pushed the dark Slayer back towards the bed, and began unbuttoning the brunette’s pants as she did so. Their lips parted as Faith sank back onto the bed and leant on her hands, her eyes on the blonde as she slowly pulled her pants off. Buffy smiled mischievously when she slid her hands up lightly tanned legs to pull down the brunette’s thong as well.

Once she was satisfied by that she slowly removed the rest of her own clothes and moved to lie down on top of the dark Slayer. Faith wrapped one arm around the older woman’s back and caressed her cheek with the other. Buffy closed her eyes for a moment and leant into the touch before bowing down for a chaste kiss.

The two Slayers explored one another’s bodies with their hands, lips and tongues, alternatively squirming with pleasure beneath the weight of the other. After a long while of teasing each other with soft touches, they lay there, covered in a thin layer of perspiration, breathing heavily, with the blonde Slayer, once again, stretched out on top of the brunette.

Buffy’s body had been screaming out to have the dark Slayer inside of her, and equally to be inside the dark Slayer since before they’d started. She had never felt passion like this before and wanted to make it last for as long as possible, but she knew that neither her nor Faith’s bodies were going to be able to take much more.

Still she wanted to tease and let her hand glide agonisingly slow down the brunette’s body before sliding inside her. Faith’s hips surged up at this first penetration and she gripped tighter to Buffy’s shoulders as she cried out. Faith screwed her eyes shut riding the waves of pleasure that were coursing through her, and Buffy rested her forehead on the pillow beside the brunette while occasionally brushing her lips across her collar bone and tasting traces of the dark Slayer’s perspiration there.

Neither woman noticed the glowing light that was increasingly becoming brighter upon each thrust of the blonde’s fingers into the brunette. It started off inside the blonde Slayer’s stomach and as soon as she had entered her lover it began to get brighter and started a journey upwards towards her arm. As Faith’s breathing became quicker and her cries of pleasure louder the light moved faster down Buffy’s arm, passed her elbow, passed her wrist and disappeared inside the dark Slayer.

As she moved in and out of her lover, the blonde Slayer couldn’t help rubbing herself against Faith’s exposed hip, moaning into the pillow along with the brunette with each new thrust.

The brunette surged up into the blonde one last time, taking Buffy with her as her orgasm finally hit. Reaching down with a shaking hand she found the other woman’s clit and pushed against it, drawing out Buffy’s orgasm as the blonde did the same for her.

The light (that to any onlooker would have made them see spots for hours when the two lovers reached their peak), died down as its creators recovered from their passion. It was now just a tiny dim light, which would be invisible to anyone who wasn’t looking for it, and would remain in its new home for the next nine months until it was ready to enter into world.

Buffy collapsed into Faith’s arms and after a few moments rolled them over so they were facing each other from the side. After sharing a light loving kiss the blonde Slayer snuggled down into the brunette’s embrace and they both lay like that for a long while before falling contentedly to sleep.

*****

AU, Sunnydale.

The air crackled and sparked, and the fabric of reality shifted to allow the surprisingly small, but attractive figure to cross over into this world.

Glancing around, she took in the scenery and breathed deeply before a small smile appeared on her lips. It had been too long since she’d stepped foot in one of the physical realms. She’d almost forgotten what it was like; the smell of damp grass, the sound of the morning’s first bird singing, the first rays of sunlight peaking over the tops of the hills in the distance. In all of her long years, one thing she’d developed was an appreciation for the little things.

Other things she had missed greatly were thunderstorms. Though nature’s powers had a tendency to cause devastation wherever they went, she still couldn’t help but be awed by their beauty. Of course she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the victims of such things as earthquakes and tornadoes, but it wasn’t her place to do anything about it.

The Powers That Be had their reasons and she had to respect their authority. Besides, she herself had been responsible for the concepts of thunder and lightening hadn’t she. Eons ago, when she had been just an infant really in terms of her life’s expectancy, she had witnessed a warlock performing a spell and had let it slip to an admirer of hers how she’d loved the sounds and sights the magic created, and he had invented thunder and lightening for her.

However, she had fallen for a young goddess named Aphrodite and the heartbroken Zeus had stopped talking to her after that.

Looking around again, she began thinking to herself then that if this assignment went well then she might treat herself to a trip to the rainforest. Right now though, she had to keep her mind on the task at hand. Gathering her bearings she strolled off in the direction of the Magic Box. She was going to talk to the friends of the Slayers’ from this realm before venturing out to converse with the Slayers themselves. Besides, she knew that neither Buffy nor Faith of that realm would be available yet; she was going to have to be patient with them. The Slayers deserved this time together, after all it could be the last happy moments that they would have in this world.

*****

AU, Sunnydale sewers.

The young demon winced and shrank back as her master lost his temper; growling, he picked up his throne and threw it off to the side of the cave. She hated to be the one to give him the bad news, but she had been the one to draw the short finger and therefore didn’t have much of a choice.

“They were two of our strongest warriors,” he snarled as he began to pace back and forth. “They had killed a dozen Slayers at least, and single handed, massacred thousands of our enemies… This won’t change anything though. They got lucky this time that’s all, but when we have the child then the tables will turn in our favour. They’ll be wishing they were dead before long.” He grinned evilly as images of tortured Slayers passed through his mind.

“This conception has come too late to save them. We will use the result of the other Slayers’ love against them, make them beg us not to hurt her, and then we’ll destroy all that they hold dear. Mark my words, they will be in no condition to challenge us by the time the ritual is complete.”

He nodded as if trying to assure himself of all these things. He waved a hand at his followers and yelled at them to tidy up and to restore his throne before he returned in a few hours. He needed a really good kill, and he was determined to catch the last hour or two of darkness before resigning himself to the confinements of the cave.

Maybe he would be able to find himself a drunk; they tasted pretty good most of the time, perhaps it was because they were as good as having been marinated by the time he got to them. The leader licked his fangs at the prospect and quickened his pace.

*****

AU, Sunnydale Magic Box.

Their hopes had risen when the ex-Watcher had arrived and confirmed their suspicions regarding the incantation, but they were running low again after another twenty-four hours of researching to no avail, and it had been just two days since Buffy’s absence. Their lives it seemed for the past two months had consisted of nothing but research.

Two months ago they had discovered a prophecy involving Beth and had spent more than a month with their heads in the books and with two very worried and tense Slayers breathing down their necks. When Faith and Beth had disappeared before their eyes when banishing the Nerak demon, Buffy had become, if possible, more worried than the two Slayers had been put together. Now with the blonde Slayer gone as well, their spirits were at an all time low.

They had yet to hear from a certain dark haired witch and they had all but given up the possibility of hearing from her any time soon. Some new evidence had shown up, courtesy of one of Spike’s contacts, that suggested that Amy had indeed been selling them out to a demon in return for a great deal of power.

Xander yawned and stretched before getting up and moving into the kitchen for a drink. His throat was sore from breathing in so much dust from ancient books, and he had a crick in his neck from not moving it for the last two hours. There was no milk left and as he poured the rest of the OJ into a glass he realised that somebody really needed to take a trip to the store.

As he walked back into the dining room and approached the table the door bell rang, and being the only one standing everyone looked towards him, gesturing for him to get it. On opening the door he came face to face with a young looking woman, who was perhaps even smaller than Buffy at about 5”2, with hair a shocking pink and a bright smile on her lips.

“Can I help you?” He asked curiously, still staring at her hair.

“Actually I was hoping that I could help you. My name’s Wren, I work for the Powers That Be and it has come to my attention that you seem to be missing a couple of Slayers.”

Her tone of voice reminded Xander of a sales person, but what surprised him most was the normality with which she delivered her line, when to anyone else the sentence would have sounded quite out of the ordinary.

“Err, could you wait here for a moment?” He asked cautiously.

“Sure.” She waited patiently until Xander returned with Giles and introduced the two.

“Um Wren, how is it that you came to know about the Slayers’ absence, and exactly who are you? You must excuse my caution but this is Sunnydale, and you can never be too careful here.” The ex-Watcher said as he adjusted his glasses.

“I understand. Well, being a former Watcher I think you would probably know me better by my other name. Most know me as ‘The Traveller’. I have moved through the seven main realms as an aid to mankind.”

“Oh yes, of course.” After asking her a few more questions just to be sure of her sincerity, he stood back to give her room to enter and showed her into the dining room where the others were and introduced her to them. “We’ve been searching through a great deal of material regarding alternate realities, but unfortunately we haven’t discovered anything that’s really useful.” He began picking up some papers with random notes scribbled on them. “Brief references to the seven realms, umm… an ‘Order of Destruction’ led by a council of demons…” He trailed off as she took the papers from him and began leafing through them.

As she strolled around the living room, taking everybody’s gazes with her as she went, she began to explain some of their findings.

“The Order of Destruction is indeed led by a council of demons. There are ten leaders in total and each one has had to perform almost impossible tasks to become a leader of the Order. A short while ago one of the leaders suffered a tragic death; his death is still under investigation, and they are looking for a new member.

“Each applicant is given several tasks to complete. The one who completes the tasks first becomes the newest leader. The Powers That Be do not usually interfere with these proceedings. The Order of Destruction serves an important roll in the balance of the world. They oversee the activities of certain mortal evils and give punishment where they see fit. We all came to an understanding a long time ago that they should be left to do their work. However, we have it on good authority that one of the leaders no longer agrees with this way of thinking and is plotting to overthrow the council to bring destruction to all mankind.

“We have been observing one of the leaders from a distance for some time now. Lebath, it seems, has become quite bitter with the ways of the council and together with one of the applicants (should he become a leader), is planning a mutiny.”

Giles was taking notes as she talked while the rest waited patiently for her to finish; all they really wanted to know was how to stop it from happening and how to get the Slayers back.

When it seemed that she’d finished speaking Giles began to ask her a few questions.

“Um Wren, what exactly has this got to do with the Slayers?”

“There is a prophecy,” certain members of the group barely held back a groan at the mention of another prophecy, “which gives reference to one of the tasks involving a child born of two Slayers… Some thought it impossible because of the fact that there is only supposed to be one Slayer at a time, but others thought that if such a miracle did occur then that child would grow up to become the saviour of mankind. Like a super Slayer. Needless to say, many demons are not happy about this, and even the Order of Destruction doesn’t like the idea. They would get rid of her if they could.”

Willow frowned at this and interrupted Wren. “If the Order of Destruction is on such good terms with the Powers, then why would they want to kill Beth?”

All in the room seemed curious to know the answer to this.

“They believe that she would be their downfall, that her powers would grow to exceed theirs and her reach would go so far as to render them useless, thus taking away any need for the Order. Some of them have grown so used to their ways that they would rather risk the wrath of the Powers and the Slayers rather than to give up their titles and rank.

“However, the majority of the leaders are still undecided on a course of action regarding the child. It is Lebath who you should watch out for. She is the one most concerned with terminating the child’s existence.”

“If she w..wants to take over the Order of D..Destruction, then she w..won’t like the idea of Beth coming along and ruining everything a f..few years down the line, will she?” Tara asked from the corner of the room, behind the red head.

“That’s right. It was her idea to involve the child in one of the tasks. It is forbidden for the leaders to aid an applicant in any way, but Lebath has been helping a demon named Lisbaen to collect certain items which will help him to perform the rituals, specifically the one involving the Slayer’s child. To her this is like killing two birds with one stone. If Lisbaen is successful then she will be rid of the infamous ‘super Slayer’ and she’ll also have an ally to help her to take over the Order.”

They sat in silence for a moment or two digesting all of this information before Xander stuck his hand up in the air.

“Yes Xander?” Giles asked.

“You said there were seven ‘realms’?” Wren and Giles both nodded. “Well then, would that mean that there are copies of us living similar lives in these other realms?” Again they nodded. “So isn’t there more than one Beth then, and aren’t these demons worried about what impact they all will have on them?”

Wren sighed; it was a very good question, but a difficult one to answer. “The lives of the others like you, while similar, are not at all the same. In each realm the two Slayers have met, but in only two have they formed any sort of intimate relationship. Your Slayers are currently in a realm where the Slayers living there have only just begun to form that bond. They went through a very rough time of hate and betrayal, and their child will not be born in time to cause any lasting damage to Lebath’s plans. Lisbaen had sent two of his followers to kill the Slayers so that there wouldn’t be another child, but thankfully they did not succeed in their task.

“With a little magical push, the Slayers of that realm have now consummated their relationship and have created a child of their own, but because of the timing that child, when she gets older, will be little more than an annoyance to Lebath. Lebath’s powers will have grown too strong to fight by that time. So you see, it is up to us now to prevent Lebath from gaining that power.”

“So what exactly is your purpose here?” Willow asked in curiosity.

“To protect the Slayers’ child.”

“But she’s not here.” Xander said.

“I know that, but first I wanted to inform all of you of the situation. She’s in no danger at present, but I can’t stay here much longer, so if you have any more comments or questions then it would be best to voice them now.” Wren stood patiently as they digested all that she’d said.

“How can we help?” Xander finally said through the thick silence that had suddenly enveloped the group.

Several eyebrows were raised at the question, which was so simple and yet was something that all of them wanted to know, and after a moment all heads turned to Wren seeking an answer.

The Traveller sighed and slowly looked about the room in sympathy for these semi warriors. Each of them had proven themselves to the powers during their time spent in aid of the Slayers. They had made sacrifices and paid the price for their mistakes and yet they were still so willing to be of assistance. Many in the years before them had given up the battle against evil when their spirits had become low and when they thought that all hope was lost, but this bunch of misfits had stuck together and had got through alive.

For this she ardently admired them, but she knew that there was nothing magical or likewise that they could do in this situation. All they could do, when the time came, was to give the Slayers the encouragement that they needed and to stand back and watch the final showdown. She knew that they wouldn’t like this answer and so hesitated when beginning to speak again.

“For now there is nothing for you to do. You cannot fix this with a spell or with extra training. The Slayers know all they need to know to triumph in this battle; they just have to find the strength within themselves to give it their all. All you need do is give them encouragement and let them know that you care for them. When all hope seems lost you’ll know that the time for war is close at hand.” Feeling that this was a good note to depart on, Wren suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and left them all feeling as though she’d deliberately left something out of her story.

A worst thought though was: ‘what if she’d been right’, ‘what if we can’t help our friends?’ They often felt useless when it came to fighting demons and when one of the Slayers seemed to be in trouble, but most of the time they were able to help out in other ways; when they researched together, or when they scouted round Sunnydale searching for information on the latest evil threat.

All eyes turned towards Giles and his companion (who they still weren’t quite sure about yet), and pleaded with him with their expressions to tell them that Wren had been lying, that there was something that they could do to help.

He shrugged helplessly and sat sank into the chair next to Annie; he too was at a loss for words, but smiled slightly and relaxed a little as he felt her comforting hand run soothingly over his back. After a short while of silent contemplation Giles found the words he was looking for.

“She may well have been speaking the truth, but we’ve helped Buffy and Faith many times in the past and there’s no harm in us looking for alternative solutions. At the very least, we must find out about these demons, Lebath and Lisbaen. What are their powers? What are their weaknesses? Anything that could help our Slayers to defeat them.”

His words had the desired effect and their spirits had risen once more, although only slightly. They now had something more specific to look for and they each possessed a new determination to prove The Traveller wrong.

They began to congregate around the table once more and as they did so discarded some of the books that they didn’t think they would need. When they had all sat back down they began to talk about their task.

“So those tasks she was talking about,” Willow began, “are they connected to the prophecy we found with Beth in?”

Giles straightened in his chair before answering her. “Yes, I do think that the prophecy must have a connection to the tasks. Where is the prophecy again?” He asked as he looked round the table.

Tara pulled it out from under a pile of papers and handed it to him.

“Thank you Tara. Now, wasn’t there a verse that suggested that Beth would be a key ingredient in some sort of ritual; which also involves… ah yes, here it is, involves the ‘heart of the earth’, the ‘elixir of life’ and the ‘mouth of hell’.” He took his glasses off and began cleaning them. “Well at least we know what one of those is; so we know where the ritual will be taking place.”

“What about the others?” Xander probed.

“Heart of the earth, taken literally could be the centre of the earth, which is magma I believe.”

“How are they going to get magma?” Anya inquired in confusion.

“It could be referring to something simple like, volcanic rock, for instance.” Willow suggested.

“It’s something to consider. Though we mustn’t limit ourselves to one way of thinking, ‘heart of the earth’ could mean something else entirely; we should note it down in case it comes up in one of the books.”

The red head spoke up again. “The ‘elixir of life’. Could that be blood?”

“Wasn’t that what Spike was saying about it ‘always had to be blood’?” Xander said.

“Yes it could be blood, or even water; there have been some references to water being the source of life. It wouldn’t be as simple as that though I don’t think.” Giles added.

“You mean like holy water?” Tara asked timidly.

“Yes, that would be more likely, or the blood of a virgin, something along those lines.”

“Giles, what about Beth? Should we maybe looking for references to her? Like what powers she will have, or references to any other prophecies?”

“That’s a good idea Willow. We won’t make it a priority for now though; it will be a while yet before her powers are fully developed and we have other things that are far more important for her safety at hand.”

They all worked hard far into the night, occasionally stopping for food or coffee, or to take a short nap in one of the arm chairs. Their findings were more promising than they had been before and by morning they knew a fair amount about the demons Lebath and Lisbaen.

Lebath’s powers it seemed lay in telepathy and mind control, while Lisbaen’s were more on the physical side, brute strength and an ability to paralyse his victims with a form of mucus from a hole embedded in the palm of each ‘hand’.

The ‘heart of the earth’ was indeed, as Willow had suggested, volcanic rock, but from a specific part of Asia, where a great battle between good and evil had taken place many centuries ago.

The ‘elixir of life’ turned out to be something entirely different, that even Giles had never considered. It was an ancient drink of the gods, which turned out to be something similar to honey. Nectar, they thought it was called. It was hard to find now though, so they figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out who was shipping it. You could find pretty much anything on the Internet these days.

Any reference they discovered concerning the Slayers’ child they put to one side so they could look it over at a later date. Giles was right, Beth’s powers weren’t their priority, and they had to concentrate on the problems at hand. When everything in the world was right again they would sit down with the Slayers and talk it over properly.

As morning drew in the ex-Watcher told everyone to go home and rest. They would continue what they were ready to and not a moment sooner.

PART TEN

‘Real World’, Faith’s hotel room.

Light shone through the half open blinds and disturbed the brunette from her dreams. They were such amazing dreams too; she hated being disturbed when she was in that wonderful place with her blonde goddess by her side, but tonight would be another night and there was always a chance that the image of the other Slayer would pay her a visit again.

Faith stretched and was surprised to find that her body felt sore, although in a good way. Turning over she discovered why and found that she had to physically hold herself back from jumping a mile at the shock of finding the blonde Slayer there.

Once she’d calmed down she then remembered what had happened the previous day, and soon a coy smile appeared on her lips. She remembered waking up to find the other Buffy staring down on her, then refusing to come to Sunnydale for fear that this Buffy would take offence and kick her ass. How wrong she had been. Would she ever have got to experience making love to Buffy if she’s stayed at Angel’s yesterday? She wanted to think that she would, but thought that the chance might have been passed up by her cowardice.

Her mind was reeling with the reality of the situation she now found herself in. She’d had sex with Buffy, and said girl was still there, lying peacefully next to her. With a sudden feeling of euphoria Faith realised that Buffy would be the first person that she’d allowed, and felt comfortable sleeping next to after sex.

With trembling fingers the brunette reached out and touched Buffy’s lips, sliding the tips across them once and then back again. She quickly became fascinated with the way the blonde moved in her sleep. Resting her head in her hand (which was propped up by her elbow on the pillow), she settled down to watch the blonde sleep.

Buffy was lying on her back, with her right hand by her face, and the left resting on her stomach. The covers were pulled up across her chest, but Faith could feel the blonde’s naked skin where their legs touched, out of sight.

For the first time in her life (well, from what she could remember), Faith felt hope for the future. Her heart hammered in her chest with nervousness as she thought it through, but remembering the previous night’s activities and how Buffy had looked and acted, she felt certain that the blonde wanted the same things that she did.

Part of her brain, the pessimistic part, wanted to tell her not to hope and tried to remind her of all the times that she’d been hurt, but a bigger part of her knew that she and the blonde Slayer were meant to be together, and that it could work out if they tried hard.

As her arm began to get tired, the brunette lay down fully; she shuffled closer to the blonde and placed a hand on top of Buffy’s left one. She kissed the other Slayer softly on the forehead before closing her eyes and starting to daydream about all the things she wanted to do in the future with this woman lying next to her.

It wasn’t long before Buffy felt the sun’s intrusion into her subconscious and began to rise from her slumber. Faith had dozed off into semi-sleep and awoke as she felt the blonde beginning to stretch. For a sudden fear that the blonde would regret what they’d done together, Faith snuggled closer to Buffy and tightened her hold on the slim waist in front of her.

Buffy felt this not too subtle, fearful response, and frowned as she opened her eyes. When she looked down on the brunette she saw her eyes that were screwed shut and noticed the slightly foetal position that she’d adopted. Slowly she ran her fingers through midnight hair and rolled over onto her side to return the embrace.

She softly stroked the brunette’s side with her left hand and traced her facial features with the other. When she felt the other Slayer relax and saw her open her eyes she couldn’t stop the huge smile from appearing on her lips.

“Morning beautiful.” She whispered softly before leaning in for their first morning kiss.

The kiss was short and sweet, and it was enough to reassure Faith of the blonde’s feelings for her. When they parted the brunette sighed deeply in contentment and snaked her arms further around the blonde. Buffy laughed softly at how soft the former rogue Slayer was being, and when Faith arched an eyebrow at her she laughed a little harder.

“What?” The dark Slayer asked with half a smile beginning to appear on her own features.

“Nothing.” Buffy said and then laughed again at the puzzled look on her lover’s face.

“Well you’re obviously finding something amusing, what is it?”

“I just never realised how soft and cute you could be; like a big cuddly teddy bear.” Tears started to form in the blonde’s eyes as she laughed even harder at the now horrified look on the dark Slayer’s face.

“You that’s funny do ya?”

“Y…Yes.” Buffy said in between fits of giggles.

Before the blonde could think to react Faith had pushed her onto her back and, straddling her thighs, began to tickle her mercilessly. Buffy’s snorts and shrieks of laughter prompted several bursts of chuckling from the brunette, and the younger Slayer had to duck a few times as the blonde’s flailing hands tried to stop her attacks.

“Fai… ith… Stop… Stop. It.” Buffy said, trying to sound serious in between fits of laughter.

“Not until you take it back.”

The older Slayer quickly tried to consider her options. She didn’t want to take back what she’d said about the brunette being cute and cuddly, but at the same time she was gasping for breath and was begging to need the toilet desperately.

“Wait. Stop. Let me… Talk.” The blonde begged, hoping that her plan would work.

Reluctantly Faith stopped tickling the other Slayer, but held Buffy’s hands down so she wouldn’t be able to escape. She nodded for the blonde to continue.

Buffy paused for a moment to get her breath back before beginning to speak. “First off, no I won’t take it back…” She smirked at the expression on her lover’s face before carrying on. “But I will promise never to tell anybody else how cute you are. Especially right now.”

Faith’s expression softened considerably and she cocked her head to one side slightly as she talked. “Damn. How am I supposed to enjoy punishing you when you go and say something like that?” She lowered her voice a little. “And I was really enjoying watching you squirm.”

Before she could catch herself Buffy heard the words escaping from her mouth. “Baby, there’s more than one way to make me squirm.”

Faith flushed and found herself at a loss for words; she had never heard Buffy so outspoken about sex before. Loosing herself in pools of green, she leant forwards and brushed their lips together. As the kiss deepened eyelids fluttered shut, and the blonde Slayer moaned in pleasure as she felt the brunette’s tongue push past her lips and begin an intense dance with her own.

When they finally broke away from one another both Slayers were gasping for breath. Buffy reached up and tucked a lock of the brunette’s hair behind her ear, and then proceeded to trace her features with her fingertips.

They stayed that way for a few moments, simply staring at each other and learning one another’s features. Soon Buffy, regrettably, had to announce her need to visit the bathroom and Faith, very reluctantly, had to let her up.

Returning from the bathroom, Buffy went to where her jacket was lying and after finding her phone, turned it on. As she walked around the room she barely noticed her nakedness or the lustful glances she was attracting from the brunette, who was lying propped up by her elbows in the bed.

Faith’s gaze travelled the length of the blonde’s body as she padded barefoot around the room doing various things. She soon realized that the older Slayer was picking up her clothes and folding them neatly in one of the chairs. She could hardly stop herself from fidgeting each time Buffy bent down to pick something up off the floor.

When she was done tidying her clothes up, Buffy walked back over to the bed and snuggled back up to the brunette under the covers, it was only then that she noticed how shallow Faith’s breathing had got. Looking up at the dark Slayer she saw how dilated her pupils had become and immediately sensed how aroused she was. She couldn’t prevent her body from reacting to this and almost automatically her hand began wondering over the brunette’s skin.

Seconds later Buffy found herself trapped under the brunette’s weight, and within minutes the elder Slayer was squirming like mad under her lover’s touch. Overwhelmed by a sudden urge to make love to the blonde, Faith had become frantic and hard in her kisses and caresses.

Faith’s touches were rough and fleeting but held with them a sense of tenderness, and each kiss they shared became increasingly passionate. Buffy arched up into the brunette she felt the scrape of teeth over her right breast and her breathing hitched as she felt the dark Slayer’s fingers slide inside of her.

Faith slid back up the blonde’s body and became suddenly captivated by the site of her lover panting in pleasure; pleasure that she was giving to her. She watched in amazement as Buffy’s eyes rolled back in their sockets, felt finger nails digging even harder into her shoulders, and sensed the waves of her orgasm wash over her. Awed by the moment, the dark Slayer barely noticed the single tear that slid down her cheek; she’d never seen anything so beautiful before that moment.

The blonde Slayer lay sated, and only one word came to her mind at that moment, which she whispered into the morning air.

“Faith.”

*****

‘Real World’, Buffy’s house.

“Mommy, where daddy’s double gone?” Beth asked as she sat on (real world) Buffy’s bed with her parents.

In the absence of this reality’s blonde Slayer, the visiting Slayers had spent the previous night (their first night together for more than two weeks) in her bed. As much as they had wanted to make love on the previous evening they had had Beth with them in the room, and they thought that it might be a little strange in someone else’s bed. So they had contented themselves to simply snuggling, well, as close as they possibly could with Beth in between them.

Faith had made breakfast for the three of them, having left the witches to whatever it was they were doing in their room that morning, and then after having eaten had had to explain to her wife the reason for her double’s, mother’s absence.

It had been an upsetting conversation as the blonde couldn’t help but think that the same was going to happen to her own mother. Guilt started to creep through her mind as she thought of all the times that she had put of visiting Joyce; she vowed from the time that they got back home she would start appreciating her mother more and making sure that Beth spent plenty of time with her grandmother.

Since then they had simply lounged around on the bed playing with their daughter and chatting about what each of them had done in the past couple of weeks.

The two Slayers exchanged a glance. “Um I don’t know. Red said something about her staying with my double; probably at a hotel or somethin’.”

“Why did you want to know Beth?” Buffy asked the miniature brunette.

“Just wondering, when they gonna make me a double? You two have one.”

Both Slayers flushed a little and exchanged another glance, deciding on how to explain the situation to their daughter; Buffy shrugged and Faith turned to look at Beth for a moment before answering.

“Well we’re not really sure sweetie; the other Buffy and Faith aren’t together like we are.”

“Even if they are together now, your double wouldn’t be born for another nine months, and we’re hoping to get home a lot sooner than that.” The blonde smiled sympathetically at the two year old.

All three turned their eyes towards the door when they heard the door bell ring, and the adults exchanged another look, wondering who was going to get the door. When it rang again they surmised that the witches were apparently too occupied to answer it so Buffy picked up the child and they both ventured down together.

Buffy’s reaction to their visitor was a little more sobered than Faith or Beth’s was. The dark Slayer burst out laughing and, after she got over the shock, her daughter too started laughing. Buffy rolled her eyes at their immaturity and asked after the strange woman with the pink hair’s name.

“My name’s Wren, you are Buffy, that’s Faith, and this” She said addressing the Slayer’s child, “Must be Beth.”

Faith stopped laughing almost immediately and her face became hard. “How did you know that, and what do you want with us.” Her voice was as hard as her face and she had turned her body to cover her daughter a little more.

Wren smiled kindly, she expected no less from either Slayer other than to be suspicious, and she predicted that they would work well together.

“I’m sorry, you have reason to be suspicious of anyone who turns up like this and knows your names without introduction, but I’m here to help you, both of you, and particularly your daughter. I have just come from your home in the other realm; I’ve explained to your friends there what the situation is, and now I’ve come here to talk to the two of you and your doubles.”

The Slayers were sceptical, but after exchanging a look opened the door a little wider for Wren to step in. They led her to the living room and Faith handed Beth to Buffy who had chosen to sit further away from their guest. As soon as they had sat down they heard movement from upstairs and moments later they were joined by two witches. Wren recognised them immediately and again there was only the need for introductions on one side.

Wren addressed Willow first. “Could you contact the other Slayers and ask them to get here soon please?”

Willow nodded, refraining from commenting about Faith as her girlfriend had asked her not to, and left the room to call Buffy’s mobile.

“How did you know they weren’t here?” Buffy asked the pink haired woman.

“We like to keep an eye on our warriors. It’s not like we’re watching them 24/7, but occasionally we check on their locations and on what type of demon action they are fighting against. We can’t actually see what they are doing; it’s like having a map of the world and each warrior is represented by a small white light, and the demons close by are represented by a darker light.”

“And you can’t just tell us where these demons are so we can kill them before they start making a mess?” Faith asked with irritation.

Wren sighed. “If it was up to me then that’s exactly what I would want to do, but it’s because I think this way that I haven’t been asked to join the leaders of the organisation.”

“Wait, what organisation?” Buffy asked.

“The Powers That Be. They are an organisation of higher powers who have a hand in keeping the balance between good and evil.”

“Keeping the balance, yeah. We’re all just toys for you guys to play with, our fate’s lie in your hands, and all we keep hearing is that we have to keep the balance. We fight demons and we’ll do what it takes to keep ourselves and other people safe, but you guys always seem to be working against us, stopping us from doing too good a job. Why is that? You afraid you’ll be out of a job if the evil is gone?” Faith asked slowly becoming angrier as the conversation progressed.

“Evil will remain, man will always possess a potential for evil.” Wren told them.

Faith laughed humourlessly and as they continued talking Willow came back into the room.

“I know first hand what evil man is capable of, but without demons to worry about we could concentrate on dealing with man.”

Wren sighed again. “Like I said, if it was up to me this would have all been put into action a long time ago, and thousands of people might not have had to suffer at the hands of man’s evil the way you did.”

At the mention of the abuse her wife had had to suffer, Buffy got angry. “Why do they let it happen then if they have the power to prevent it?”

“I don’t know what their reasoning is, you’re only allowed to know if you’re one of them.” Wren paused waiting to hear if there was anything else they wanted to ask her before the other Slayers arrived.

“Whatever, just tell us why you’re here.” Faith said finally in frustration.

“It would be best to wait for the others to arrive.” Wren said, and knowing that as soon as they got started she would be better appreciated for her presence.

“Well if you don’t mind then, I’m going to get myself a drink, does anyone else want anything?” She asked looking at her wife and daughter first.

“I’ll just have some OJ, and could you bring some crackers and milk for Beth?” Faith nodded. “Thanks hun.”

Tara stood up and while facing her girlfriend addressed the room. “We’re going to go back upstairs until they arrive.”

The red head dared not disobey the blonde witch and followed her out the room without a word.

“Wren?” Faith asked reluctantly.

“No thank-you, I don’t really need to.”

As Faith made herself busy in the kitchen the witches were having a debate upstairs.

“I’m just asking you to lay off a little. I know she did some very bad things, but she’s paying for them and she’s trying to make amends.” Tara said, trying to persuade her girlfriend to give Faith a chance to prove herself.

“You weren’t there Tara, you don’t know what she was like. She pretended to be on our side, when all the time she was helping the enemy.” The red head did not want to back down; the last thing she wanted to do was to give Faith a chance to try and kill them all again.

“You’re just being stubborn. Buffy’s trying, and she suffered more hurt from Faith than you did, so why can’t you?”

“She betrayed us.”

“And when you cheated on your boyfriend with Xander you weren’t doing the same thing?”

Willow stopped and stared at Tara for a moment. “That was different. I can’t believe you’re comparing me to… her.”

“How was it different? You betrayed him, betrayed his trust. If he had been acting like you are now he would have never given you another chance. If I had acted that way when I found out about that incident, I wouldn’t have given you a chance either.” Willow flopped down on the bed and Tara sat down softly next to her. “She wants to change Willow. She has changed. Simply by coming here and taking the risk of being knocked around, physically and verbally, by all of you. If she was still the girl you thought you knew then she wouldn’t have done that.”

“I’m scared of her Tara.” Willow admitted quietly. “I’m scared for me, you and all our friends. Especially for Buffy, she couldn’t take all that again. What if she decides that she doesn’t want to repent anymore, what if she gets bored and decides that it’d be more fun to kill us all, one by one, and blame it on some mysterious circumstances?”

“You have to give it time honey. Her actions so far, since she turned herself in, have proven to most people, like the LA gang, that she’s sincere in her wish to stay on the path to redemption. From what I’ve heard so far that path hasn’t been an easy one for her to walk on. She’s had plenty of opportunities to give up, but she’s kept on trying. The least you could do is to give her a chance to prove herself. I’m not asking you to like her.”

Willow sighed, she had a soft spot when it came to Tara, and the girl could be very persuasive when she wanted to be, plus she knew the blonde had a point.

“Ok, I’ll try. I won’t yell at her or anything, and I’ll hear her out if she tries to apologise to me.”

“Thank-you, that’s all I ask, that you try.”

Willow rested her head against her girlfriend’s shoulder, and Tara ran her fingers through strands of red hair.

“I’m still worried about Buffy though. She’s so fragile when it comes to Faith. She tries to hide it, but she always takes it personally where Faith is involved.”

“What do you mean honey?”

“Come on Tar, just think about those two down stairs. Buffy didn’t stay with Faith last night so they could talk more, and I got the feeling that might have interrupted something when I called her this morning. I’m not just worried about Faith hurting her physically, she has a lot of power over Buffy, and I’m afraid that if she realises that then she’ll take advantage of it.”

Tara smiled a little at Willow’s paranoia. “To use your own words Will, ‘just look at those two down stairs’. If anything it's Buffy who’s got Faith wrapped around her little finger, not the other way around. I get the impression that neither of them would use the other’s feelings against them. They live for each other, and Faith is just as dedicated to Buffy as Buffy is to Faith.”

“But that’s not our Faith.”

“Given the chance she could be.”

“So what you’re saying is that we should give her a chance.”

“My you are stubborn sometimes Willow. That’s what I’ve been trying to say since I got out of the hospital.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to hear it.”

“Hence the stubborn part.”

“It’s a good job I have you here to make me listen then.” She said with a grin and looked up into her girlfriend’s eyes before leaning in to kiss her.

*****

AU Sunnydale, a cave somewhere.

The Nerak demon had been summoned a few days ago by Lisbaen, and today he had finally arrived. The two demons were at that moment conversing over their plans to capture the Slayer’s daughter. Lisbaen’s followers were all congregated in the main area of the cave, awaiting news from their leader of their jobs for the next few days.

In an adjoining area of the cave the two demons were holding their meeting.

“There are four Slayers guarding the child now. It will be a lot more difficult to capture her than the last time.” The Nerak demon said in a series of grunts and gestures.

“What is your point Gruble?”

“As the risk has risen so has my price. I now request double the original figure.”

Lisbaen regarded the demon carefully. Lebath had suggested using the Nerak demon to capture the Slayer’s child as they were known for their above average intelligence, but their flaw was that they were notoriously too trusting. Lisbaen had no intention of paying Gruble anything for his services; on the contrary, he was planning to have him killed as soon as the job was done. With Beth out of the way it was just a few steps before he and Lebath were in a position to take over the council; the fewer beings that knew about it the better chance they had at being successful.

Still, these demons were fairly clever, and Gruble would most likely smell a rat if he gave into his requests too easily.

“I agree that you deserve a little something extra for your continued services to us, but I hardly think you deserve double the price.” Lisbaen said before sitting down in a gesture that implied that the conversation was over.

“Double risk, double pay.” Gruble demanded as he crossed all four of his arms across his chest.

Lisbaen pretended to think about it for a moment then sighed in feigned exasperation. “Alright Gruble, you can have your double pay, but I want you to put your best into this one, my acceptance onto the council is riding with this last test.”

The Nerak demon seemed pleased and once they were finished going through the plan Lisbaen sent him on his way.

*****

Order of Destruction HQ; In between worlds.

Lebath sat three seats down from the head of the table. Aramath, the head of the council, had called all ten of the leaders to an emergency meeting. Aramath had been contacted by the Powers That Be, and they had told him that if the Slayers’ child was killed because of the tasks then they would have little choice but to go against the truce and declare open war on the Order of Destruction.

His rein had been a good one since the council had formed a truce with the Powers, and he anticipated another century at least in command before he became too old; the last thing he wanted was a war, so he had called the meeting to tell the rest of the council that they would be changing the final task.

When Aramath stood and called for silence all the other demons immediately stopped what they were doing and gave him their full attention; Lebath’s face was calm and attentive with no sign of anything but utter admiration for the leader, but inside she was raging, she knew what he was going to say, she had already predicted this move from the Powers.

“The reason I have called you all here is to tell you that we have to change the final task of the initiation process.” A low murmur circulated around the room at this announcement. “The Powers That Be have demanded that the Slayers’ child must not be harmed in any way; they have threatened to announce open war with the Order if we do proceed with the current task.”

A stronger murmur of voiced was heard this time and as their leader took his seat once more several arguments broke out.

After a few moments Lebath stood up and addressed the room herself.

“I don’t see why we should be afraid of them. We have been following their orders for centuries, and where has it taken us? Nowhere. We can’t do anything without informing them and getting their approval first and I for one am sick of it!” She paused for a moment to let them calm down and take more notice of her. “Why should we have to listen to them? They are not better than us, if anything, they should be answering to us! We have the strength and the power to do what we want.

“Why do we limit ourselves to ‘punishing’ only the humans who are evil? We are their superiors, we were here before them. They have taken over our lands and cast us out, and I say we take it back. The human race needs to be destroyed, starting with that abomination; the Slayer’s child!” Her voice became louder as she continued to talk; she was becoming angrier with each word she said.

Lebath hadn’t intended to voice these opinions to the council until the Slayer’s child was dead and Lisbaen had been welcomed into the Order, but her temper had gotten the better of her and she couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of her mouth. She immediately regretted her words when she noticed how eerily quiet the room had become because of them.

The leader was the first to respond to her outburst. “Lebath, you are out of order in presenting these opinions before the council in such a manner.”

In an attempt to save herself she stood again and addressed the leader. “Sir, you know my opinion of the human race is a low one, and I realise that my outburst was both unexpected and unappreciated.” She began. “However, the times are changing and so must we. The Slayers’ child poses as a future threat to us all. If we do not act now then she will be our downfall. War with the Powers in this case will be inevitable, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed in defeating them, and then we will have to answer to no one but ourselves; we could be the rulers of the seven realms once again.”

“Your ambition and courage is admirable Lebath, but I for one will not risk the lives of my fellow demons by provoking war with the Powers. We don’t yet know what threat the Slayers’ child will pose, we don’t even know if she will be a threat to us; as long as our alliance with the Powers That Be remains untainted, she will have to honour our presence.

“The work that we do here is working in favour of the Powers; that is why we have been able to stay on such good terms with them; surely she will not be able to ignore the fact that we are an asset to her world, and to those surrounding it.” There was a general voicing of agreement throughout the room and Aramath sat down as he finished his speech.

Lebath was about to speak again, but the leader interrupted her before she had a chance.

“Your arguments are duly noted, and I am sorry, but we cannot afford to give up our positions here when we have no assurance of being victorious against the Powers. Their numbers greatly exceed ours, and the loss to our side is simply unthinkable. This conversation is over; all I want to hear now are ideas for the final task.” He made a point of ignoring Lebath’s ill-contented stares and concentrated on the various ideas that had begun to circulate around the room.

*****

‘Real World’, Faith’s hotel room.

After the Slayers’ early morning romp under the covers, they had showered together and were just beginning to dress. Having already laid her clothes out on the chair earlier on, Buffy quickly slipped into her pants and top and went back into the bathroom to make herself look presentable.

Faith was still walking around in a daze trying to find something to wear. She hadn’t planned on staying very long; in fact she hadn’t really given her packing much thought as her mind had been concentrating on what it was going to be like seeing Buffy again, so she had only packed a couple of changes of underwear and a spare top.

Currently she was trying to find her bra, but it seemed that her brain was working against her, and just the thought of how she had managed to lose the item of clothing in the first place was enough to make her legs weak and her head spin; adding to her inability to function properly.

By the time the blonde Slayer emerged from the bathroom the brunette had managed to pull her pants on but was still having trouble in locating the missing bra. At the sight of the dark Slayer walking around half naked, Buffy felt her own legs go weak and, not for the first time that morning, wondered why they were bothering with such things as clothing anyway.

However, she knew deep down that they couldn’t just stay in bed all day; everyone would soon be wondering where they were, and Willow would no doubt track her down by magic and materialize in the middle of the room, thinking that perhaps Faith had done her some sort of great injustice and had left her to die in a ditch, or something like that. Well anyway, she knew that she had to go home at some point later that morning.

As it was, the Slayer’s had woken so early that, even after the few times that they’d groped, kissed and caressed one another under the covers, they still had plenty of time to go out for breakfast.

“Lost something?” Buffy asked while watching the brunette pick up one thing after another searching for the missing article.

“No, you lost it. B, where the hell did you put my bra?” Faith said with a slightly annoyed, slightly amused expression.

The blonde thought for a moment and when she couldn’t remember she went back to the place she was standing when she’d taken Faith’s bra off. She lifted her hand up in the air as if she were throwing something behind her and followed the path the airborne item would have taken. As she looked up slightly she caught a glimpse of something dangling from the ceiling and after a second look found that the brunette’s bra hanging from the light fitting.

The dark Slayer followed the blonde’s gaze, and when she looked Buffy in the eye neither of them could stop themselves from bursting out in hysterics.

Once she’d gotten her breath back, Faith moved a chair beneath the light and retrieved the item. After that incident she found the rest of her time getting ready was fairly quick and easy, much to Buffy’s disappointment.

When they were both dressed and ready to go Faith picked up her keys and they strode out into the corridor, heading for the stairs.

“So, where are we going again?” The brunette asked.

Buffy’s pace slowed a little as she thought about this. “Um, I hadn’t actually thought about that. I was just going to follow my stomach. It all depends on how hungry you are.”

“Well I’m pretty hungry. I’ve used up a ton of energy in the last twenty-four hours; most of that was in the last two hours, thanks to you.” She gave Buffy a sexy grin and licked her lips for extra effect; she was quickly rewarded when Buffy blushed a bright red.

“Ok, so somewhere with lots of food then.” She thought for a moment, trying not to let her mind wander over their morning activities.

Faith laughed at how the blonde avoided the subject. “Where do you suggest we go?”

“I think there’s a café a couple of blocks away, they should be open by now.”

“Cool, lead the way then.”

They walked out the front doors of the hotel and Buffy lead the brunette across the street in the direction of the café. The walk wasn’t long and they were pleased to find that the café was open. They took their seats at the far end, away from the windows and any other customers who might attempt to disturb them.

Once the food was ordered they both got comfortable and fell into conversation. At first their subjects were light and they giggled and laughed over Buffy’s Dorothy Hamel obsession and Faith’s crush on the pizza guy, but soon their conversation ran into more recent events including the dark Slayer’s time in jail.

“As hard as it was, especially in the beginning, I’m glad I went there.” Faith was tearing up the tablecloth as she talked. “I wouldn’t have made it if I’d have stayed out here; it’s just too easy to give up, in there I had little choice. I either followed the rules or I got punished for not following them.” She was still looking down at the table and refused to meet the blonde’s eyes as she continued to talk.

“The first few months were the worst. Everyone picking on the new girls, older girls trying to build up their reps by picking fights. I knew I could handle myself physically; the hard part was trying not to get into fights. You know better than anybody how quick my temper was. I’m just glad I had enough restraint to keep from killing any of them, or from fighting back against the guards. The cravings were worse then too.”

Buffy had been keeping quiet up until now, trying not to disturb the brunette once she had found her flow, but she frowned in confusion at Faith’s last words. “Cravings? For what?”

The dark Slayer looked up at this point. “For the kill. For the chase. To be out there doing what we were chosen to do. It was always really lonely at night, and I could feel the darkness calling out to me, wanting me to break out and go back.”

The blonde nodded silently to herself, she knew what it was like to feel the darkness calling out to her. She couldn’t imagine what she would feel like if she weren’t able to answer that call. A sudden thought occurred to her when she thought back to what Faith had said about being lonely and she couldn’t help but wonder if the brunette had been with anybody while in jail.

Buffy hesitated in voicing this thought, but the brunette could tell that something was on her mind.

“What is it?” Faith asked.

Buffy shook her head. “Nothing… It’s just stupid really.”

“What’s stupid?” She asked, her curiosity now heightened.

“I was just wondering… You know, when you said that you were lonely…” She stopped, not knowing how to finish her thought.

The dark Slayer knew what Buffy was thinking anyway. “Did anyone ever tell you how cute you are when you’re jealous?”

Buffy blushed. “No.”

“Well you’re very cute when you’re jealous… I wasn’t lacking in offers that’s for sure.” Buffy raised an eyebrow. “I guess for me sex has mostly been about power or a quick release, and until last night I’d never spent the entire night with someone after sex. The idea of sleeping with someone who I could be stuck with for a few years didn’t really appeal to me then. And I figured it would just get in the way of me trying not to be the same person who shot Angel with a poisoned arrow and stole your body.”

The blonde was satisfied with this answer and sat back in her seat again. Not that it would have made her feel any different about being with the brunette, but she had been curious, and knowing that Faith hadn’t been with anyone in jail came as kind of a relief.

However, it brought back the painful memory of having slept with Spike, and she suddenly dreaded the time that she would have to tell Faith about it.

They stopped talking when their food arrived and waited until the waiter had gone before tucking into their breakfast. They ate quickly and mostly in silence, when they had finished the waiter took their plates away and they ordered a coffee each, and as they sat sipping their coffee they continued talking.

Buffy was the first to start the conversation again. “So, when did you start to feel like it was getting easier?”

“I guess it was about four months till I started feeling like complete crap and began thinking that I might have a future after all.”

“What about the Slayer thing?”

“What Slayer thing?”

“The cravings.”

“Oh, yeah that got easier too. I mean, the cravings were still there, but I just kept telling myself that if I continued to get better at controlling my anger and dealing with my demons then I’d soon get out and I’d be back to fighting real demons… I had a few set backs, but they weren’t that bad. The one time I really fell down was last summer… When you died.” Faith said the last part so quietly that Buffy almost didn’t hear it, but she just about did hear it and her head shot up to look at Faith when the words registered in her brain.

“You knew? How, did Angel tell you?”

Faith shook her head. “No, he only visited me once when I was inside. I felt the whole thing, felt like I was falling and then I felt like I was being electrocuted…”

‘Real World’, Californian Women’s Correctional Facility.

Faith was sitting in her cell, enjoying the relative quiet that she had managed to find during her break. She was about half way through what would turn out to be the prison sentence that she would serve, and for the first time in her life she felt like there was real hope for the future.

She had managed to make a few ‘friends’ during her time inside and she wasn’t feeling the loneliness like she had used to. Her mind felt clear and she had made big steps towards controlling her inner demons. She knew that they were still there, fighting to come out, but she was determined never again to give them the satisfaction of controlling her actions.

It was almost two o’clock in the afternoon and it was almost time for Faith to get back to the library. On the weekends the brunette often helped out in the library. It was one of the most sought after jobs in that jail and the eligible convicts who worked there did so by a rotor. Faith had managed to work up to two days a week (all weekend) and occasionally once in the week too if one of the other inmates was ill.

Faith was rather proud of herself for having gotten this far. Acceptance to work in the library was a kind of reward for those inmates whose behaviour was the best. Library workers had longer breaks and were often less picked on by the guards, and compared to working in the laundry room it was heaven.

Thinking that it was about time she headed back, Faith rolled of her bed and strolled off in the direction of the library. It was a Sunday so she was determined that she would make the most of the easy work before heading back to the cloth mines the next day.

It was just her and another inmate named Charlie who were working in there that day; Sunday was particularly quiet so only the two of them were needed. There were always new books coming in, which weren’t new at all, but simply other people’s used books; it made no difference to Faith however, and she soon got to work helping Charlie to unload them.

Charlie was one of the girls that she’d let herself get a little close to. She had mousy brown hair, which had bits of blue a third of the way down (she hadn’t managed to get any dye while in prison) and had a body to die for. She was twenty-four, in for manslaughter; she had shot the guy who had tried to rape her after a New Year’s Eve party.

The Slayer knew that the older girl had a little crush on her, but when Faith had revoked her first attempt at getting to know the dark Slayer better she had kept her distance. She was one of the few who respected Faith’s personal space, both physically and emotionally and in response to this the brunette had let her walls slip a little whenever they were alone together.

Charlie was currently talking about a new girl who had caught her eye, and was making some obscene gestures in between handling the books.

“Do you think you’ll be able to hold onto this one?” Faith asked with a bit of humour in her voice.

Charlie waved her hand in the air, dismissing the question. “I’m tellin’ ya. She ain’t nothin’ like any of the othas. This one’s a keeper fer sure.”

“We’ll just have to see if you can keep her then.” The brunette said with a smile.

Charlie had a bit of a rep for losing girlfriends as fast as she found them, she never seemed to mind it though and each new prospect was sought after with equal enthusiasm.

The next two hours went by more quickly than Faith would have wished, and they both headed towards the ‘quiet’ room, where the convicts were allowed to go later in the say, before they had to return to their cells.

It was dark outside and the dark Slayer was feeling the night calling to her more acutely than ever before. Something important was happening out there and she was spending her time sitting watching various women playing cards or some other board game. Once again she found herself trying to push back the feelings of failure that were threatening to consume her.

As Charlie walked off to find the honey that she’d seen, Faith took a seat out of everybody’s way and let her mind drift to trying to imagine what the other Slayer was doing at that moment. This had become a habit of the brunette’s, to think about what Buffy was doing while she was locked behind bars; out of sight and most likely out of mind too.

As she thought about what Buffy was doing at that moment she felt a wave of energy wash over her, and even though she was sitting down, she suddenly felt very dizzy.

Charlie had just finished talking to the girl that she’d had her eye on (whose name turned out to be Cynthia), and was on her way over to tell the dark Slayer what had happened when Faith felt the bolt of electricity surge through her body and knock her off her chair.

Within a minute everyone in the quiet room had gathered around the brunette and were all watching her writhe around in pain from the energy that was pulsing through her. None of this however was noticed by Faith herself; her mind was focused on the image of her fellow Slayer as she jumped off of a tower of scaffolding and fell through a force field of some kind, which attacked her with bolts of lightning.

When the blonde finally hit the ground and ceased to move, Faith came out of her vision and found herself in the infirmary, strapped to a bed with a drip running into her veins. Apparently the experience had knocked her out for two days and the doctors were wondering whether she would pull through or not; they had no idea what had caused the attack.

The doctors had wanted to keep her in for a while longer to take some tests, but Faith knew that it wasn’t going to happen again, so when they were happy that she had recovered she returned to her cell and to her normal routine.

The reality of Buffy’s death hit her hard and for at least the next month she hardly talked to anyone, even Charlie, and the other inmates had begun to avoid her in case she had reverted to her former ways and was going to start picking fights with them.

The hardest thing for Faith was thinking that she would never have the chance to apologise to the blonde or to make it up to her, but when she had finally come to terms with the blonde Slayer’s death she resolved to increase her good behaviour and to try hard to get out of prison so that she could once again do what she was chosen to do; fight evil.

*****

A few months later.

The dark Slayer had managed to work her way up to head librarian since she’s started behaving like a model citizen, and she now worked in the library full time. Charlie worked there four days a week now and the two had become inseparable, when Charlie wasn’t busy with Cynthia that is.

Faith still thought about Buffy all the time, and she often wondered if she would find the redemption she was trying for and eventually join the other Slayer in heaven. She desperately hoped that she would, and even though she sometimes felt like it was a lost cause, she never gave up trying.

On this particular day she had been feeling pretty good. She and Charlie had managed to clean up the mess another pair of inmates had made in there earlier on and they’d stacked all of the new books that had been waiting in the storage room for a week. Faith was always fairly happy when she had all her work done; it made her feel like she’d done a good job.

She and Charlie were lying in their beds (Charlie had recently been moved and as a reward for their good behaviour she’d been housed with Faith), and they were talking about what they were planning to do when their sentences were up.

Charlie was blabbing on about the fact that she and Cynthia had planned to get an apartment together. Their release dates were so close together that they hadn’t had to worry about missing one another. (They were the most sickening couple inside the prison and most couldn’t wait to see them go.)

“So what are you gonna do Fay, you got a place to go to?”

“Yeah, I got a friend… well I guess he’s a friend; he says that he’s got a job and a bed waiting for me when I get out, if I need it.”

“Great, you gonna take it?”

“I don’t really know what else to do. He’s the only one that really likes me at the moment. Everyone else I know would rather kill me than look at me.” Faith said with a sigh.

“I guess you gotta work on that then.”

“On getting’ new friends, or making up with the old ones, though they were never really my friends.”

“Fuck ‘em them.”

Faith laughed out loud at that. “If only it were that easy… I know I’m gonna have to face them eventually, I just wanna get settled first.”

Their conversation continued this way for a while, until after lights out and then they both closed their eyes and were soon asleep.

The brunette’s dreams felt very strange to her. She often dreamt of Buffy, about her being back and forgiving her for the things she’d done, or about the blonde beating the crap out of her for the things she’d done, either one or the other, but this dream was different.

She felt that odd twinge that she’d felt when the blonde Slayer had fallen to her death, and all of a sudden she was surrounded by white light and was falling fast. As the white faded the earth underneath her appeared and she recognised that it was night time. The ground approached at a fast rate, and before she fell through the earth she could have sworn that she’s seen Willow and Xander and two other women surrounding what looked like a gravestone.

Faith felt like she was awake with a start and fear ran down her spine as she looked around her and saw that she was in a coffin, and when she tried to push the lid off it didn’t budge. She panicked and began to claw at the wood surrounding her and after a lot of effort she managed to punch a hole through it and could feel the earth surrounding the coffin.

It didn’t take long to dig her way out, but when she was finally standing she blacked out and woke up for real this time, and she was in her cell again.

After getting her bearings back she automatically knew what had happened, and only one word came to her mind.

“Buffy.”

Buffy stared at the brunette in awe and alarm. “You mean you felt it when I fell?”

Faith nodded stoically. “I felt like I was falling. It scared the shit outa me.”

Buffy laughed a little. “Now there’s a new concept.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “What, me being scared?”

The blonde shook her head slightly, still smiling. “No; you admitting that you were scared.”

“Well, I don’t mind admitting it to you. At least, not now.” Faith admitted.

“I’m glad.” She reached across the table and held the brunette’s hands in her own. “Faith, I know there are a lot of things that we still have to talk about, but I want you to know that I’m here for you. There are some things that I think I need to tell you too.”

“B, some things are hard to talk about, but I will try.” The dark Slayer said hesitantly.

“So will I.” Buffy said reassuringly. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment each lost in their own thoughts. Soon Buffy shook herself out of her thoughts. “I think maybe we should head back now, don’t you?”

Faith nodded. “Sure thing B. I know you’ve gotta get back soon.”

“Well I was thinking that we’ve gotta get back soon. If you want to come with me that is.”

Faith looked sceptical. “I dunno, I don’t think the others would really want me there. Perhaps you should talk to them first.”

“Don’t you think it’d be best to just get it over with?” The blonde suggested.

“I’d rather shoot myself in the foot.” Faith mumbled as she looked down sheepishly.

The older Slayer couldn’t help but smile at the brunette’s remark, and using Faith’s earlier comment she replied, “Did anyone ever tell you how cute you are when you pout?”

Faith raised a brow and glanced curiously at the blonde. “No.”

Buffy leaned across the table slightly (unknowingly giving Faith a full view of her cleavage), and looked her in the eye. “You’re really cute when you pout.”

Faith gulped and flushed as she tried not to glance down the blonde’s top. Buffy sat back suddenly and then stood up.

“Come on cutie, let’s go.”

The brunette cringed at the new nickname, which Buffy seemed to like calling her now, and she too stood up, following the blonde out.

When they got about a block away from the café Buffy took a chance and tentatively linked her arm through the dark Slayer’s. Faith glanced at the blonde in surprise before a wide smile appeared on her lips; she then entwined her fingers with the other Slayer’s and squeezed her hand comfortingly.

Buffy felt giddy from the simple gesture and was still walking on air as they strolled through the door to the brunette’s room. She was so far gone in a dream that she was completely startled to find herself trapped up against the door and with lips pressed against her own.

As the brunette’s hands began to wonder further and her lips moved down to the blonde’s neck Buffy tried to protest.

“Um, Faith, we really should get going.”

“Don’t wanna.” She mumbled into the crook of Buffy’s neck. “I like it here.”

The dark Slayer began to move her hand up under the blonde’s top and as she ran her fingertips over the blonde’s nipple Buffy lost her self control. Their positions were quickly reversed and the blonde widened Faith’s stance by pushing her right leg in between the dark Slayer's.

Faith’s arms crushed their bodies together even more and they both moaned with pleasure as their tongues met and began to dance.

Faith pushed Buffy back until she had her pinned to the bed. She trailed a path down to the top of the blonde’s breasts with her tongue as she worked on the buttons of Buffy’s shirt. The unexpected buzzing of Buffy’s phone startled the brunette causing her to jump off the blonde.

The blonde Slayer growled in frustration before sitting up and reaching for her jacket.

“I wish I’d never bought this stupid thing.” She said as she flipped open the phone and shrugged apologetically at the brunette, who was standing almost shyly at the end of the bed.

“Hello?”

*Buffy? Are you ok, you sound out of breath?*

It came as no surprise to Buffy to hear her best friend’s voice on the other end of the phone. “I’m fine Will. We erm, went out for breakfast and we ran all the way back.” The excuse sounded pathetic, but the amused expression on Faith’s face made the blonde feel better about lying to the witch.

*Ok… Well, we need you to get back here pretty quick, both of you, is that ok?*

The blonde Slayer could almost see Willow’s patented ‘resolve face’ from over the phone and so she knew that she had no choice but to agree. She told the red head that they were on their way before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Faith raised a questioning eyebrow as the blonde stood up and buttoned up her shirt again.

“We have to go.” Buffy said.

“We?” Faith asked, wondering if that was what the witch had said or if it was just the other Slayer who wanted her there.

“Yes, she said that the both of us had to be there quickly, so that means we have to go now.” She shrugged her jacket on and stepped up to the dark Slayer. “But, I promise you that we’ll finish this ASAP.” She kissed Faith softly before pulling her out the door and locking it behind them.

*****

As the witches made their way downstairs they heard a key in the lock, and by the time they had reached the bottom, Buffy had walked in, followed closely by a worried looking Faith.

“Hi Tara, Willow.” Buffy said cautiously before closing the door behind them.

Tara simply raised her hand and waved at them.

“Buffy… Faith.” Willow said pleasantly enough.

“So what’s the big emergency?” Buffy asked in an attempt to perhaps dissuade any outbursts.

“Why, were you busy?” Willow asked, enjoying seeing these two powerful women almost cowering in front of her.

“It can wait ‘till later.” Buffy said.

“You sure? It sounded like I’d interrupted something earlier on the phone.” She was thoroughly enjoying herself and had had no intention of stopping soon, but that was before she heard Tara’s voice in her head; ‘Willow don’t you think that’s enough, they’re already blushing as it is.’ She nodded a little and before Buffy could answer she changed the subject. “The others are waiting in the living room; we should go in there now.”

She let the two blonde’s walk in first knowing that Faith would follow behind Buffy. She had asked Tara to take care of Buffy for her while she had a little chat with the dark Slayer. As the brunette walked past her she pulled her back and stood in the doorway blocking her path to the blonde Slayer.

Before Faith could protest Willow spoke to her. “Don’t hurt her again Faith… I’m well aware of the connection the two of you have, and God knows you both deserve to be happy together. I’m giving you a chance, but I want you to swear to me that you’ll never hurt her again.”

“Listen, Red…” Faith began, but was interrupted.

“No, I don’t want any speeches; I just want you to promise that you won’t hurt her.”

Faith didn’t hesitate. “I promise.”

“Say, ‘I promise I’ll never hurt her again.’”

“Red, I swear that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that I she never gets hurt again on my account.”

“That’s better.” She looked the brunette over again before going to turn away.

“Red?” The dark Slayer asked, and was relieved when the witch turned back to face her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I giving you another chance?” Faith nodded. “Because I have a very persuasive girlfriend.” She hesitated before approaching the brunette again. “You know, it’s probably not only Buffy that you’ll have to be looking out for in the near future.” She gave Faith a light poke in the stomach, and gave her a cocky grin. “Something to think about huh?” She said in a knowing tone before finally joining the others in the living room.

Faith stood for a few moments trying to process the witch’s last words, and when she finally understood them she thought she was going to faint.

“Oh shit.”

...continued in part 11...