The Special Two

by Drakiri

Copyright © 2005

drakiri_nsw@yahoo.com.au

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are copyright Joss Whedon and 20th century Fox, for they are the masters of the universe, or the Buffyverse at least.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse:  /mysticmuse.net
Nowhere else.
Feedback: More then welcome.
Spoilers: BtVS seasons 3-7, AtS seasons 1-5
Author's Note: Sequel to Have a Little Faith
Pairing: Faith/Dawn

Summary: Faith tries to forget about the events in Rome but eventually comes to a decision.

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3


Part 1

The sun set slowly over the city, flooding everything with a rosy red glow. Faith glanced over her shoulder to watch it through the window in her hotel room the beauty of it lost on her, sunset meant only one thing; it was time to go to work.

She quickly gathered her equipment before leaving; she hung a cross around her neck, slid one stake up a jacket sleeve, tucked a second stake into a pocket and finally placed a small knife in her boot. One thing she had realized since starting her travels was the difficulty of carrying weapons from country to country, there was no way she was able to carry anything big like a sword or an axe or crossbow around with her which meant she was left with the bare minimum of stakes and a knife, even those had created some problems but nothing that a smile, a flash of cleavage or, as a last resort, cash couldn't solve.

She had thought about buying weapons in each country and then leaving them behind but that bothered the part of her that hated to throw things away, especially something expensive like a weapon and her budget wasn't exactly unlimited, she could also have got weapons from the various centers of the new Council but she didn't want to because…well just because, maybe she was being stubborn but she preferred to think of it as being independent.

She strode out of her room and headed for the lifts, B's credit card had come in handy, it allowed her to travel in reasonable comfort and stay at decent places in whatever country she was in instead of the roach infested motels she was used to.

The lift dropped her off in the lobby and Faith hit the streets of Sydney. Australia was one of the countries she had always wanted to visit but she hadn't exactly planned to come here, since leaving Rome she had generally headed south and east going through Eastern Europe and most of Asia from Turkey to Indonesia trying to avoid major trouble spots along the way, Iraq and Iran had both been big no-no's. However as an attractive, single, white female traveling by herself she had trouble had inevitably found her anyway, trouble that her slayer skills had had to get her out of even if it meant she was now a wanted fugitive in a few more countries, nothing new there.

As day slowly faded into night Faith worked her way onto the backstreets of the city, on the lookout for anything unusual and also for other slayers, she preferred to avoid them when possible and if she spotted an area was being patrolled by another slayer she quickly headed in the opposite direction.

Her stay in Australia had so far proven uneventful, it didn't seem to be much of a hotbed of vampire or demon activity although she had run into a couple of examples of native demons, at least she assumed they were native she hadn't seen anything like them before anywhere else in the world.

As she wandered down some nondescript backstreet, Faith heard a scream coming from somewhere to her left, she pulled the stake out of her sleeve and began to run in the direction she thought the scream had come from, it looked like work had started for the evening.


Faith walked slowly down the deserted street, kicking an empty can out in front of her. Tonight had been a total bust, there hadn't been a single thing to slay all night, the only action she had found was a mugging and while that had given her someone to hit it wasn't quite the same thing.

She gave the can a vicious kick sending it spinning off into the shadows and sighed, somehow the lone slayer routine wasn't as fun as it used to be, it was getting stale and boring, being completely honest she was lonely, she wanted some company, preferably of the Dawn Summers variety.

Faith tried to veer away from that thought as she had ever since leaving Rome a few months ago, but somehow Dawn always came creeping back into her thoughts no matter what she did, large amounts of alcohol, slaying continuously, dancing the night and day away in various clubs nothing seemed to be able to get Dawn off her mind not even sex, with either or both of the sexes, in fact recently sex hadn't even been able to get her off full stop, she had had to fake it the past few times which was unprecedented for her.

A movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention; she looked up to see a sign for a pub, or bar, swinging gently in the breeze. It was a place she knew reasonably well, it served some decent alcohol at cheap prices and no one bothered her while she was in there, a good combination.

Faith glanced at her watch, it was getting late and she hadn't found anything interesting, she could probably afford to take the rest of the night off and a drink was calling her.

She went in, grabbed herself a beer and sat down in one of the dark, anonymous corner of the pub. One thing she had learned since she first arrived was to take it easy with the local beers, they were stronger then the American beers she was used to and that had led to a couple of embarrassing incidents, so she sipped slowly, savoring the cool liquid as it slid down the back of her throat.

A song came floating over the in-house speakers, loud enough to be heard over the noise of the fairly empty bar. Faith frowned, it was a slow, soft number, just a girl singing over a piano, some local pop star she had never heard of. It was the kind of commercial music she couldn't stand, one of the reasons she liked coming to this bar was because it played a radio station called Triple J that played her type of music, good, hard rock not this crap. Despite that Faith found herself listening, drawn into the song by the woman's soft voice and the slow melodic tune, she lit a cigarette and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and gently drawing the smoke into her lungs as she listened to the track.

I've hardly been outside my room in days
'Cause I don't feel that I deserve the sunshine's rays
The darkness helped until the whiskey wore away,
And its then I realize the conscience never fades

Faith snorted bitterly. "You said it sister," she muttered to herself, neither alcohol nor her nocturnal activities, slaying included, had managed to ease her conscience over what happened in Rome, nor allowed her to forget…

When you're young you have this image of your life:
That you'll be scrupulous and one day even make a wife
And you make boundaries you'd never dream to cross,

Now that was something she had definitely done, crossing boundaries was a habit for her. But falling so hard for another girl was something she never dreamed would happen to her, then again she couldn't really see herself ever becoming a wife either…

And if you happen to you wake completely lost.
But I will fight for you, be sure that
I will fight until we're the special two once again.

The special two, that had a nice ring to it. She could almost imagine her and Dawn as the special two. Faith gave a sad little smile and knocked back most of her drink in one swallow, of course she hadn't stayed and fought for her, as soon as things had got rough she had run just like she had in the old days…

And we will only need each other we'll bleed together,
Our hands would not be taught to hold another's
When we were the special two.
And we could only see each other we'd bleed together
These arms will not be taught to need another,
'Cause we were the special two.

Were the special two, were being the operative word and all because of one stupid mistake she had made, one stupid mistake, that was the story of her life one mistake after another and her life went to hell…

I remember someone old once said to me:
'Lies will lock you up with truth the only key.'
But I was comfortable and warm inside my shell,
And couldn't see this place would soon become my hell.

Now she was stuck inside this hell she had created for herself, full of her own self-loathing and fear and she couldn't get out, she wanted to move on but she couldn't, she missed Dawn so much and she hadn't found anything that could fill the void that Dawn had left inside of her, she would give anything to have her back but she couldn't see any way that was going to happen…

So is it better to tell and hurt or lie to save their face?
Well I guess the answer is don't do it in the first place.
I know I'm not deserving of your trust from you right now,
But if by chance you change your mind you know I will not
Let you down 'cause we were the special two, and will be again.

Trust: that was the big problem Dawn was never going to trust her again, not after what had happened with Rosa. Faith shook her head angrily and set her glass down with a thump, reviewing her past mistakes was getting depressing and she had only gone back a few months, she wasn't nearly drunk enough for this and that damn song wasn't helping any. She finished her drink, stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray and left, thrusting her hands deep into her pockets. Too late she noticed the guy walking straight towards her, giving her no time to dodge him.

"Hey watch it mate," he said picking himself up off the floor, Faith mumbled an apology without looking at him and hurried off.

The guy stared after her, surprised that a woman had knocked him off his feet so easily, and an American at that. "Bloody sepos come over here and think they own the place, almost as bad as the bloody poms," he remarked angrily trying to regain some of his wounded pride, before heading to the bar for a much-needed drink.

And we will only need each other we'll bleed together,
Our hands would not be taught to hold another's
When we were the special two.
And we could only see each other we'd bleed together
These arms will not be taught to need another,
'Cause we were the special two.

The song's chorus floated after her out into the night air, Faith desperately tried to ignore it and all the memories it was stirring up, walking down the street with Dawn holding her hand and laughing at some joke as the wind blew gently through her hair; sitting on the couch as she pretended to watch the TV but actually watching Dawn cradled in her lap; Dawn coming out of the shower wrapped loosely in a towel, looking surprised and then pleased as Faith whipped off the towel and picked her up and carried her onto the bed; Dawn's beautiful face with that heartbreaking expression on it as she shouted at her to get out, leave and never come back.

Faith ran blindly into a nearby alleyway choking back the tears, she stopped and leaned back against a wall, angrily wiping her eyes. What the hell was wrong with her, she could count the number of times she had cried in her life on one hand, and none of them were over a relationship break-up.

Dawn had been different though, it wasn't the usual casual fling that most of her relationships had been she had actually loved Dawn. There she could finally admit it, to herself at least, she had been, was still, in love with Dawn Summers and that was the single most frightening thing she had ever experienced in her life. She knew why she had acted like an idiot in Rome, she had realized what was happening, how she felt, on some level and that idea had been so terrifying she had gone out and done something completely stupid that had utterly ruined the relationship with Dawn as well as the rest of her life.

Faith walked slowly down the alley trying to get her scattered thoughts under some sort of control so the blow that smashed her hard across the back of her head caught her completely by surprise, sending her flying into a chain-link fence.

Faith groaned and raised herself up in time to be kicked hard in the ribs and fly back against the fence again, she managed to catch the boot as it made a return trip, viciously twisting the ankle, causing the owner to yelp in pain, she lashed out with a leg tripping him and buying herself enough time to get up and find out who was attacking her.

A vampire, young, well dressed and good-looking, well he would have been without the crinkly forehead and dental enhancement, picked himself up off the ground and grinned at her. "A girl with some spirit I like that, it makes it more fun to break you."

"Oh great line like I haven't heard that one before, why can't you vampires ever come up with something original," Faith said sarcastically. "Let's see how cocky you are when I…" she fumbled around in her sleeve, swearing silently when she found nothing; the stake must have fallen out at some time.

The vampire studied her hesitantly. "You're one of those slayers aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah and soon you're going to be a small pile of dust," Faith reached in to her pocket to pull the stake out, only to find it was stuck in some way, that was one of the problems with wearing tight pants you always had difficulty in getting things out of the pockets.

"I hear once you drink a slayer you never go back," the vampire said ignoring her comment, his hesitation melting away as he watched Faith's struggles. "Having a little trouble there slayer, want me to give you hand?"

"I'd rather you gave me a stake," Faith said abandoning her struggles to duck under his swinging fist.

Faith landed a neat one-two that rocked the vampire back on his heels, following it up with a spinning kick that knocked him off his feet and launched him into a heap of rubbish.

Bloodlust filled her veins as she went to press home her advantage but the vampire caught her by surprise as he stood up and spun around hitting her across the jaw, causing her to crash into the nearby brick wall.

'What the hell is his fist made of metal?' Faith thought attempting to clear her head of the insistent ringing that was filling her ears.

Faith managed to catch a glimpse of a bar of metal in the vampire's hand as it connected once again with her face throwing her off her feet, as she lay stunned on the ground she heard the ring of metal on concrete as the vampire dropped the bar and picked her up, slamming her once, twice, three times face first into the brick wall, he then casually tossed her up against a large pile of wood, she bounced off and landed on the ground blood streaming down her face, the pain from several broken bones shooting through her body and swamping her consciousness.

She somehow stayed conscious, trying to get up but only succeeding in rolling herself over onto her back. A shadow fell across her vision as the vampire climbed on top of her, straddling her waist and pinning her wrists above her head.

"Not so mouthy now are you slayer, I think I prefer you this way," he whispered in her ear before rearing back and sinking his teeth into her neck, burying them into her flesh and sucking greedily at the blood welling up into his mouth.

'So this is it, this is how it's going to end,' Faith thought. 'Killed by some two-bit vamp in an alley halfway around the world.' She felt her strength start to fail and struggled weakly underneath him, the vampire pushed her down harder, growling and shaking its head savagely, forcing its teeth in deeper and sucking eagerly at her rich, red lifeblood. Faith started to lose consciousness, her vision slowly fading away…

I step outside my mind's eye for a minute,
And I look over me like a doctor looking for disease,
Or something that could ease the pain.
But nothing cures the hurt you, you bring on by yourself.
Just remembering, just remembering how we were…

Memories flooded through Faith's dying brain, bad ones starring her mother and the death of her first Watcher; joining up with the mayor and all the things she did for him, the faces of the people she murdered flashed before her eyes; the monotony and boredom of her time spent in jail; then the good memories of Dawn and their time together in Rome filled her mind like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, happy memories, the few that she had, replayed through her mind making a warm glow suffuse her body.

"Dawn," she whispered a tear trickling down one cheek as everything faded to black. One of her legs gave a last spasmodic kick, hitting the pile of wood and causing it to rock precariously back and forth, the vampire ignoring engrossed in getting the last few drops of blood out of Faith's neck. The woodpile rocked one final time before collapsing suddenly, covering them both completely.


Faith groaned as a shaft of sunlight hit her directly in the eyes, forcing reality upon her protesting body. Her head felt like an axe had buried itself into her forehead and was trying to work its way further into her skull, she must have had one hell of a night last night. She whimpered softly and attempted to cover her eyes with a hand but found she couldn't move either of her arms, they were pinned down above her head under something heavy, a brief survey found the rest of her body similarly pinned to the ground.

She frowned and cracked open one eye just enough to see the sunlight slanting down through a gap between two large things that were blocking the sky, probably the same things that were keeping her trapped against the ground.

Faith didn't know what was going on and tried to remember what had happened the previous night; she had gone out slaying, found nothing of interest, gone into a bar and went tripping down memory lane, that had made her all depressed so she had left the bar in a hurry and ran up an alley…

Her eyes flew open as she remembered being attacked, the vamp somehow getting the best of her then holding her down against the ground as it drank from her…then everything went black and she couldn't remember what came after that, she must have come very close to dying before something had stopped the vampire, which begged the question what had stopped the vampire from killing her…unless it hadn't stopped and instead of killing her had turned her into a vampire.

'Oh God, please say that hasn't happened to me,' she thought desperately, closing her eyes against the sunlight as it brightened suddenly. It took a while for this to filter slowly through her throbbing head but finally she realized that although the sunlight was annoying it wasn't painful and certainly wasn't setting her on fire, which ruled out her being a vampire.

Faith breathed a soft sigh of relief, at least that was one thing she didn't have to worry about but that didn't explain where the vampire was and why she was still alive. She craned her neck, the only part of her body she was actually able to move, to check herself over for any obvious injuries and came face to face with a large splinter of wood only a couple of inches away from impaling her chest. She stared at it wide-eyed for a few seconds, working things out slowly and realizing that the splinter must have staked the vampire directly through the heart. 'Now that was lucky,' she thought. 'Mind you the way my life's being going I think I deserve a bit of good luck.'
That solved the mystery of the disappearing vampire but unfortunately she was still stuck under what she now recognized as a large pile of wood, probably the same pile the vampire had thrown her against during the fight. After a few second of wriggling her hands around she found a couple of gaps between the timbers and began to push the tips of her fingers through, only managing to get them a scant few millimeters through before running out of breath. She felt so weak, the numbness that had enveloped her body after she had regained consciousness was wearing away and blood was being forced into areas it hadn't occupied for hours, causing pins and needles to race painfully through her muscles. Parts of her body were beginning to wake up and signal their problems as well, her ribs felt like they were on fire as did most of her head, especially her nose and neck and the rest of her body felt like one giant bruise.

She rested for a few minutes before trying to move her hands again, gaining a few extra millimeters before running out of energy. She lay back, breathing heavily and feeling completely drained, the pain from her various body parts was becoming more insistent and was starting to drag her back down into unconsciousness. For a moment she thought about giving in and letting the pain win, let it drag her down into the blessed release of nothingness, no thoughts, no worries, no pain but then thoughts of Dawn flashed through her mind and she felt a new surge of determination and energy flood through her body, washing away her hopelessness.

Faith gritted her teeth and resumed her attempts to break free, she soon settled into a rhythm of moving and resting, moving and resting before finally her hands worked themselves through the gaps, she wrapped them around a couple of pieces of wood and began pulling with her hands at the same time as pushing with the rest of her body. Eventually after a torturous eternity she worked her whole body free and lay on the ground completely spent.

When some energy had returned Faith climbed painfully to her feet, leaning against a wall to catch her breath, she stumbled off down the alley stopping every now and again to rest against a wall. As she walked past a window she caught sight of her reflection and stopped, grimacing. Her face was not a pretty sight, her nose was off at an angle that was definitely not natural, a large black/purple bruise covered one cheek and most of her lower face and shirt was caked in dried blood. She looked sadly down at her now ruined shirt. 'No way I'm going to get that stain out,' she thought brushing ineffectually at the blood, raising small puffs of dust every time she brushed her hand. She stared, puzzled, at the motes of dust dancing in the sunlight before realizing with grim satisfaction that she was looking at what was left of the vampire who attacked her. 'Serves the bastard right,' she thought, contentedly brushing off the last few pieces of ash.

She looked at her reflection again and frowned, or at least attempted to frown, stopping when it became too painful. There was no way she could walk the streets looking like this or walk through the hotel, someone would call the cops or an ambulance or possibly both and that meant trouble she didn't need. She had to find a back way into her hotel room so she could get at the medical supplies she always carried with her, luckily sneaking into places without catching anyone's attention was a skill she had acquired very early on in life and she had only got better with time.

Now all she needed to do was to make it back to her hotel without collapsing or passing out along the way. She set off in that direction, feeling better the further she went along, the world had stopped spinning and some small measure of her strength had returned by the time she reached an unattended back door into the hotel.

Faith stood in front of the door and cautiously checked for anyone coming before breaking the lock and slipping inside. She shut the door softly behind her and looked around, the room in front of her was thankfully empty and seemed to be some sort of storeroom, boxes were stacked haphazardly everywhere and everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. Faith looked around for a way out and spied a set of stairs that went up and kept going up seeming almost endless, although that may have been due to her condition more then anything.

She began climbing and quickly realized she was reaching the end of her strength as she stopped to take a rest at the end of each set of stairs. She guessed the storeroom had been on the ground floor, which meant she only had to climb three floors up, Faith counted her blessings that she had asked for a room on a low floor instead of taking the higher room she had been offered.

She staggered onto the landing for what she assumed was the third floor and carefully inched open the door. Seeing the coast clear she closed the door and started walking down the corridor, when she saw a numbered door she stopped to check the number, pleased to see it wasn't far off her own.

Faith finally reached her room, opening the door with her passkey and falling inside, barely managing to make it all the way to the bed before collapsing. She stretched out on the bed, relieved to have made it in one piece, and let her breathing slow. She managed to stop herself before she drifted off to sleep; she needed to do one thing first.

She grabbed the medicine kit from her bag and walked into the bathroom, it was lucky Dawn had taught her some first-aid before…all the bad stuff had happened. Faith checked her reflection in the mirror with a critical eye, it looked even worse then it had in the window, the injuries looking more vivid, bloody and just plain gross. She was at a loss as to where she should start, everything looked like it needed some attention but finally she decided to start with the nose, it looked the worst of all and was at least broken. Faith carefully grasped it between her fingers and braced herself before clicking it back into what looked like the proper angle, a hiss escaping through her teeth at the pain, she grabbed a bandage and set it in place checking her handiwork in the mirror. Satisfied she went to work on her other injuries, cleaning the blood off her face, wrapping her ribs firmly, they were at least fractured if not broken, she cleaned and bandaged the deep bite mark on her neck and carefully poked and prodded all her other numerous bruises checking to see if anything else was broken or badly damaged.

After finding no other serious injuries and treating everything she could find Faith packed up the now much depleted medicine kit and dumped it back into her bag. She slowly, carefully got undressed and crawled into bed, wriggling around till she found the least painful position. She lay there thinking over the events of last night, one thing it had made clear was that she wasn't over Dawn and wasn't getting over her anytime soon. The last thing on her mind before she had blacked out was Dawn, the first thing on her mind when she had come to was Dawn and here she was doing what: thinking about Dawn. She now realized just how much she missed her and loved her and how she would do anything to get her Dawn back. So she decided that was what she was going to do, she would find Dawn, wherever she was, and win her back, no matter what she had to do, no matter how long it took she wasn't going to stop until Dawn was back where she belonged, in her arms.

But first she needed to heal, after all she wanted to seduce Dawn, not scare her and getting through customs looking the way she did would be damn difficult. With her slayer healing it would probably take a week or so for her to look decent enough to allow her to leave the hotel room, then she would start tracking Dawn down and winning her back. For the first time in months Faith smiled a genuine smile of happiness as she drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep. She was going to go get her girl back.

And we will only need each other we'll bleed together,
Our hands would not be taught to hold another's
When we were the special two.
And we could only see each other we'd bleed together
These arms will not be taught to need another,
'Cause we were the special two.

'The Special Two' by Missy Higgins.


Part 2

The kitchen looked like it had been hit by a tornado, half-empty bowls, cups and glasses lay everywhere. Every surface was covered with spilt milk, coffee or other unidentifiable substances and cutlery was littered across everything else, including the floor. Willow stared at the scene of devastation, shaking her head in disbelief. "What the hell happened here, it was nice and clean half an hour ago."

"That was before it got attacked by a horde of hungry young slayers," Kennedy said as she slipped her arms around Willow's waist. "Isn't that one of the newbies chores, to clean up after meals?"

"Yes but they seem to be mysteriously absent," Willow leant gratefully back into the embrace. "And I think they deliberately get up late so they don't have enough time after breakfast to clean up before they have to run off to school."

"Tricky little girls aren't they?"

"Hmmm…I wonder where they get that from?" Willow asked casually.

"I don't know what you're insinuating," said Kennedy trying to sound innocent and failing miserably. "Anyway I don't see why you can't just use magic to clear it up?"

"That's how I got in trouble with the magics last time remember?" Willow sighed. "I guess I'm going to have to do it the old-fashioned way instead."

"Or you could leave it till later and we could go do something a lot more fun," Kennedy whispered in her ear.

"Like what?" Willow asked as she turned around to face her.

"Well we're all alone…in a big, empty house…no baby slayers around to interrupt us…" Kennedy trailed off suggestively.

"Are you thinking snuggle time?" Willow said hopefully, a small smile playing across her lips.

"I'm thinking snuggle time with extra snuggle."

"My favorite kind," Willow grinned, leaning forward to kiss Kennedy softly. They drifted slowly towards the stairs caught up in their own little world before the doorbell rudely intruded.

Willow broke off the kiss and glanced towards the door. "Forget about it Willow, its probably just some salesman," Kennedy tugged her insistently stairward.

"Maybe, or it could be something important."

"If it's important I'm sure they'll come back if it is."

"I'll check, just in case," Willow closed her eyes and let her power flow through her, directing it towards the door.

"So this isn't abusing your power but cleaning up the mess is?" Kennedy asked dryly.

Willow opened her eyes. "Well it could be a demon out there," she said defensively.

"I don't know many demons that ring the doorbell."

"It could be the evil…doorbell…ringing demon," Willow finished lamely. "OK it's a bad excuse I know but-" Willow stopped, a confused look on her face as she pulled away from Kennedy and began walking towards the door.

"Willow what is it, what's wrong?" Kennedy ran after her suddenly worried.

"Faith," Willow told her distractedly

"Faith?" Now it was Kennedy's turn to be confused. "There's a priest at the door?"

Willow opened the door to the familiar figure of the dark-haired slayer. "Oh you mean that Faith," said Kennedy glaring at her fellow slayer.

"Hey Will, Ken," Faith attempted to ignore Kennedy's angry stare.

"Faith what a pleasant surprise, what are you doing here?" Willow asked brightly, trying to get in-between the two slayers and ease the tension somewhat.

"I need some help with something."

Kennedy snorted. "And why should we help you?"

Willow looked apprehensively back and forth at Faith and Kennedy, she knew what was going to happen next if she didn't do something, she could recognize the signs from the experience of numerous Buffy/Faith showdowns. "Faith why don't you come in and Kennedy why don't you go off and make us some tea."

Kennedy halted the staring contest with Faith and glanced at the anxiously smiling Willow who was frantically gesturing her towards the kitchen. "Fine," she said shortly and stormed off.

"What's her problem?" Faith asked, watching the angrily retreating Kennedy.

"Her and Dawn are kind of close and after what happened between you and Dawn, let's just say you're not exactly her favorite person in the world right now," Willow explained quickly, closing the door behind Faith and guiding her along the hallway and into the nearest sitting room.

"Right, I guess I'm not," Faith looked around at the room, impressed at what she saw. "Wow you and Ken have done well for yourselves," she said eying the large plasma-screen TV on the wall and the expensive looking furniture that filled the room. She politely ignored the junk-food wrappers and open magazines that lay strewn across said furniture and ruined the look of the room.

"Well you know Council money, and we do have over a hundred girls here to take care of," Willow nervously roamed around the room, straightening things and generally trying to make the room look less like a pigsty.

Faith looked around the messy room. "So I see," she said diplomatically.

Willow sat down on a lounge and patted the seat next to her. "Sit down and tell me what you've been up to."

Faith cautiously sat down next to Willow, not wanting to damage anything expensive. "Not a lot, traveling around, slaying things," she shrugged nonchalantly.

Willow waited to see if Faith was going to add anything else but the slayer just sat there. "Well that was um…detailed, nothing interesting happened?"

"Not really."

"Oh," They sat in an awkward silence before Willow saw Kennedy approaching with a heavily laden tray. "Look tea, the tea is here," Willow said gratefully.

"Here," Kennedy thumped the tray down on the coffee-table hard enough to make a loud bang but not hard enough to break anything. "I'm going to do some training," she directed one last glare at Faith before stalking off.

"You going after her?" Faith asked softly.

Willow gave her an apologetic smile. "When she's like this its best to leave her alone, let her let off some steam by hitting things," she poured the tea, handing a cup to Faith. "So what's this thing you want help with, some kind of big, bad evil?"

Faith stared blankly down into her full cup, unmoving. "Not exactly," she screwed up some courage and looked up at Willow. "It's Dawn."

Willow instantly looked worried. "Dawn, is something after Dawn, the First again?"

"No, no nothing like that," Faith reassured her quickly. "I want to know where she is."

"Why?"

Faith shifted uneasily in her seat. "Because I want her back," she said quietly, going back to staring at her cup.

"Oh," Willow looked at Faith closely; she had never seen her look so uneasy before, Faith usually seemed so relaxed and comfortable in almost any situation. "So what are you doing in Brazil, you know Dawn's not here right?"

"I know that, she's not in Rome anymore either I checked," Faith took a deep breath. "I thought you might tell me where she is."

"Me, why me?" Willow asked surprised.

"Because Buffy won't and I severely doubt either Xander or Giles will without B's permission," Faiths said bitterly. "So that leaves you."

"You don't know anyone else?"

Faith shrugged. "Everyone else in the Council I asked either didn't know or wasn't telling me, even Robin."

"They probably wouldn't know," Willow explained. "Ever since the attacks in Rome Dawn's location has been kept kind of secret."

"And they didn't need to know," Faith filled in the blanks.

Willow nodded her agreement. "Right, Faith…" she hesitated before going on. "Why do you want her back?"

Faith didn't answer right away; she stared into space lost in her own thoughts. "Because I miss her," Faith's soft voice startled Willow, sounding abrupt after the silence. "I've been having these dreams that I'm lying in bed and Dawn is in my arms and everything seems right, the world's a warm, safe, happy place and then I wake up alone in a cold, empty bed and it feels like my heart's been ripped out and instead I have this huge Dawn shaped-void inside me that nothing is going to fill except for her," Faith shifted in her seat, embarrassed after her little speech, "Do you know what I mean?"

Willow remembered what the world had been like after Tara had died and before Kennedy had come into her life. "Yeah I know what you mean," she answered softly. "Do you love her Faith?"

Faith shook her head slowly. "I don't know, I don't exactly know what love is, I'm not really an expert on the whole love thing but I think I do, it feels like love to me."

"And you want me to tell you where she is so you can go and what, win her back?"

Faith nodded. "That's the general idea yeah."

"You know she might refuse to talk to you or even see you?"

"I know, I couldn't really blame her if she did."

Willow sat quietly, biting her lip as she thought it over. "I don't know Faith, I'm going to have to think about this before I give you an answer."

Faith nodded. "Fair enough, give me a call when you have an answer," she dropped a card on the coffee-table in front of Willow. "The phone number of the hotel I'm staying at is on the bottom."

"You're staying at a hotel?"

"Well yeah, where else am I gonna stay?"

"Here," Willow gestured with a hand at the house around her. "This place is huge Faith we've got more then enough room for one more."

"Thanks Will but I couldn't-"

"Yes you could," Willow interrupted firmly. "And I don't want to hear another word about it," she stifled any more objections from Faith with an imperious wave of her hand.

A small smile crossed Faith's lips; she knew she shouldn't argue with Willow's resolve face. "Guess I'll go and pick up my stuff from the hotel then."

"I give you leave. Go," Willow pointed at the front door and Faith left, shaking her head in amusement.

Willow sat on the lounge thinking about what Faith had said, turning it over and over in her mind and trying to figure out what she was going to do. Eventually she stood up, still undecided, and picked up the tray, carrying it into the kitchen and putting it down next to the sink. 'Maybe some mindless house-work will help me think,' she dumped some dishes into the sink and began to run the water, looking out the window she spotted Kennedy training out on the lawn.

Willow stood at the window for a few minutes, watching Kennedy and enjoying her girlfriend's smooth, flowing movements, as they showed off the strength and beauty of her body. 'I should go out and talk to her,' she decided. 'She's probably calmed down a bit by now.' She turned off the water and walked out onto the lawn, standing off to the side as she waited for Kennedy to notice her.

Kennedy saw Willow out of the corner of her eye but snapped out a couple more kicks at a non-existent opponent before she stopped and turned towards her, breathing heavily after her exertions. "So what did she want?" she asked curtly.

"Basically…she wants Dawn," Willow answered, hoping her voice would help Kennedy calm down, because obviously the training hadn't.

"She wants Dawn, why so she can go break her heart again?" Kennedy said angrily.

Willow winced; it didn't look like her voice was working either. "She says she loves her."

Kennedy laughed bitterly. "Oh that's alright then, we can believe everything Faith says can't we."

"There's no need to be like that sweetie," Willow looked at her curiously. "And why is this such a big thing for you anyway?"

"You remember what Buffy said don't you, Dawn was a mess after Faith left, she cried for a week and she barely came out of her room for a whole month," Kennedy gave a frustrated sigh. "I just don't want that to happen to her again."

"It's nice that you care about Dawnie that much Kennedy," Willow reached out to take one of her hands. "But don't you think Dawn deserves to choose whether she lets Faith back into her life?"

Kennedy opened her mouth to continue arguing before she caught Willow's eye. "Well if you want to use common sense, I guess," she said grudgingly giving in.

"I know, its such a trial being right all the time," Willow said teasingly.

Kennedy shot her a dark look. "So did you tell her where Dawn is?"

"Not yet, I told her I needed to think about it."

"Did you tell her about Shawn?"

"I didn't tell her anything."

"But you will, won't you?" Kennedy asked softly

"Yes I think I will." Willow said firmly.

"You know if everything goes wrong again I get to say I told you so."

"As is your right," Willow smiled and took Kennedy's other hand. "So anyway Faith has gone back to her hotel to get her stuff so we could pick up were we left off before we were rudely interrupted, you know all alone …in a big, empty house…"

Kennedy looked down at herself. "I'm not exactly at my prettiest right now."

"True, you look like you need a nice, long, hot bath with perhaps someone to wash your back for you?" Willow suggested hopefully.

"Did you have anybody in mind?" Kennedy moved closer.

"I can think of somebody willing to volunteer," Willow leaned in and kissed her softly.

"Good because I might have a very dirty back that could take a long time to clean."

Willow giggled. "I guess I better get started right away then."

"Vixen," Kennedy kissed her again and pulled an unresisting Willow towards the door.


Faith stood in one of the hallways somewhere in Will and Ken's mansion, watching the sunlight dance across the walls. They looked like they were made out of some kind of stone, marble maybe, wall construction wasn't exactly a specialty of hers and she couldn't tell one lump of stone from another but they looked expensive. She brushed her hand across the wall feeling the cool firmness of the stone even in the heat and oppressive humidity of the middle of the day, you couldn't get away with a house made out of stone in many places without some kind of added heating, especially back in her hometown of Boston, but here in Brazil the climate seemed to suit it, the house was comfortably warm not too hot or too cold, someone had made a good and probably expensive choice with this place which made her wonder just how much money the old Watchers Council had had hidden away before it had got blown up.

She was incredibly bored and so had decided to give herself a guided tour around the house, there was no-one else here except for Willow and Kennedy and they seemed rather busy if the noises from upstairs were anything to go by.

Willow hadn't been kidding about the size of the house, the place was huge, it seemed to go on forever with room after room full of the clutter of teenage girls lives, magazines, clothes, partially eaten food, walls covered in posters of pop-stars and movie-stars both male and female, the mess reminded her of Dawn's room back in Rome, it had usually been in a similar state whenever she had visited, as if it had recently been hit by a tornado or something. As always any thought of Dawn made her feel the pain of her loss that little bit more, but it seemed distant now, lessened as if her determination to win Dawn back was shielding her somewhat from the pain. 'Man I've got it bad for that girl,' she thought. 'Maybe this is love.'

Faith breathed a sigh of relief as she turned a corner and saw a set of stairs she recognized; she had been afraid she was lost and was starting to hope someone had sent a search party to retrieve her. Faith looked up to see Willow walking down the stairs wearing only a dressing gown and looking rather disheveled and flushed but ultimately very happy.

"Hey Will," Faith allowed a small, knowing smile to cross her face.

"Oh Faith, hi," Willow pulled the gown tight around herself. "How long have you been back?"

"Not long, the taxi just dropped me off," Faith lied. "Why?" she added innocently.

"No reason," Willow answered quickly. "You're probably wondering why in the middle of the day I'm only wearing this?"

"Not really, I can guess," Faith's small smile became a big grin

"Well I've been in the shower," Willow continued, not really paying attention to Faith's answer. "Which is why I'm walking around the house in only my dressing gown."

"Right, of course," Faith didn't point out that Willow's hair wasn't even damp. "And I suppose Kennedy was in the shower too?"

"What?" Willow turned around to see Kennedy coming down the stairs in her dressing gown's twin. "Yes she was in the shower too, although not the same shower as me, a different shower in a completely separate room-"

"Baby," Kennedy gently kissed Willow's cheek, stopping her mid-babble. "I think Faith knows exactly what we've been up to, she's playing with you."

Willow finally saw Faith's amused expression. "Oh."

"Actually I'm pretty sure I didn't even need to be in the house to know, I could have heard you two from California," Faith added helpfully.

Willow had the decency to look embarrassed, turning pink and staring at her feet as if they were suddenly the most interesting things in the world, Kennedy just looked smug. Faith assumed most of the noise had been coming from Willow's throat not Kennedy's.

"So what else do you two do for fun around here, I mean besides the really loud sex?"

Willow managed to recover enough of her power of speech to answer. "Usually we're kept busy taking care of the baby slayers, we were going to clean up the mess they made of the dining room, you could help if you want."

Faith couldn't think of anything worse, but she was bored and it wasn't like she had a lot of other choices. "Sure why not."

"Great, we'll go get changed and be right down," Willow turned and ran up the stairs, Kennedy shot an inscrutable look at Faith before following after her girlfriend.

Faith stared after her; unsure about the look Kennedy had given her. At least it hadn't been full of hostility like before, maybe some alone time with Willow had mellowed her out a little.

Kennedy leaned against the doorframe, following Willow's every movement around the room.

"I would've thought you had seen enough of me naked today," Willow said as she slid a pair of jeans on.

"I can never get enough naked Willow," Kennedy answered, walking slowly into the room. "When are you going to give Faith what she wants?" she asked abruptly.

"You mean a threesome?" Willow turned to see a shocked expression on Kennedy's face. "I'm kidding, you mean the stuff about Dawn?"

"Yeah," Kennedy nodded. "And you don't really want a threesome with Faith do you?" she added uncertainly.

Willow rolled her eyes. "I was joking Kennedy, you're more then enough slayer for me."

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"I was thinking of telling her tomorrow, about Dawn, let her stew a little before I put her out of her misery."

"Good," Kennedy said distractedly, not really listening.

Willow watched Kennedy as she paced around the room uneasily, it didn't take a genius to realize something was bothering her. "So are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to guess?"

"What?" Kennedy looked surprised at the question. "Nothing, there's nothing wrong," she crossed her arms across her chest, refusing to meet Willow's eye.

Willow moved forward and gently laid her hand on Kennedy's arm. "Come on sweetie this is me remember, you can tell me anything."

Kennedy sighed heavily and met Willow's gaze. "It's just…Faith I guess."

"What about Faith?"

"I told you its nothing," Kennedy insisted, looking away again.

Willow softly stroked her fingers across Kennedy's skin. "It's obviously something, you've got something face," she paused studying Kennedy carefully. "Its not only the Dawn thing that troubles you about her is it?"

Kennedy didn't answer right away, staring into space before finally speaking. "No its not," she said slowly. "She reminds me of a girl I once dated, all free and wild and beautiful…and dangerous."

"Did this girl have a name?" Willow asked trying to get the story out of a reluctant Kennedy, she knew when her girl needed to get something off her chest and this was definitely one of those moments.

"Stephanie…Steph."

"What happened?"

"She broke my heart," Kennedy whispered.

"And did you love this Steph girl?"

Kennedy smiled bitterly. "I was madly in love with her, unfortunately she was the kind of girl who thought commitment was sleeping in the same bed two nights in a row, I mean she said she loved me and the other girls were just…" Kennedy's voice trailed off. "But I think she said the same thing to some of the other girls as well."

"And Faith reminds you of her?"

Kennedy nodded. "Not so much when I first met her but after the whole Dawn thing, it brought back bad memories, stuff Steph did, stuff I don't want to happen again."

Willow raised a hand to tenderly brush back a lock of hair from Kennedy's face. "So are we talking about this stuff happening to you or Dawn?"

Kennedy thought about that. "I don't know, both I guess," she answered slowly.

"I know I'm not going to do that to you, and I don't think Faith is going to do that to Dawn, she really does love her even if she can't admit it to herself, she just made a stupid mistake and is trying to make up for it."

"I suppose…I guess I am acting a bit stupid."

Willow pulled Kennedy in for a hug. "No it's completely understandable, Steph hurt you badly and you're not over it yet, but I think you could let up on Faith a little she doesn't deserve it."

"OK I'll stop giving her a hard time, but you're wrong about the Steph thing, I met the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful woman in the world and she helped me get over her."

"Oh," Willow smiled uncertainly at her. "Well I'm glad she helped you, I mean she sounds-"

"She is you Willow," Kennedy interrupted her and then, thinking back on what she had just said, frowned. "I think I'm spending too much time around you, I'm starting to talk like you now."

"I don't think you're quite as bad as me yet Kennedy," Willow smiled at her softly. "And there is no way you could spend too much time around me."

Kennedy laughed softly. "I'll agree with that, so are we going downstairs to help Faith or stay up here all day."

"If we stay up here long enough she might do it all for us," Willow said hopefully.

Kennedy grinned. "I think if we did that Faith would be a little annoyed with us."

"I guess you're right, but if you're going to help you need to get changed first," Willow said pointing out that Kennedy was still in her dressing gown.

"Right," Kennedy began to untie the cord holding her dressing gown closed. "So are you going to stand around and watch or go help Faith?"

"Much as I'd like to stay I know what that would lead to and unfortunately I don't have slayer stamina so," Willow leaned forward to peck Kennedy on the cheek. "I think I'll leave now."

"Spoilsport," Kennedy said over her shoulder.

"I'm just trying to save the small bit of energy I've got left," Willow shot back. "I'll see you downstairs."


Faith yawned widely as she trudged downstairs, yesterday had left her completely worn out. Willow, Kennedy and her had just managed to finish cleaning up the mess the baby slayers had made when the horde had come home from school or training and proceeded to re-make the mess, she could see now why Willow had said that she spent most of her time cleaning up, it seemed to Faith to be a never ending battle.

As it had turned out she was a bit of a minor celebrity among the slayer ranks, the slayer who had gone to the dark side and then redeemed herself by helping to save the world, she had seen the same thing when she was working with the trainee slayers in Rome but still was a little surprised that she had the same reputation here in Brazil, so most of last night had been spent spinning tall tales for the younger slayers, something she had always been good at, entertaining them with stories from the good and bad old days.

She yawned again as she wandered into the kitchen and was greeted by an astonishing sight, the kitchen was spotlessly clean, almost literally sparkling, the surfaces clean, the dishes washed and packed away.

Faith shook her head in amazement as she walked over to the fridge to see if anything edible had been left behind, she quickly fixed herself a huge bowl of cereal and a glass of some kind of fruit juice and then, as an afterthought, a bar of chocolate. She just didn't feel right without some sort of junk food to start the day, something Dawn had always berated her for.

'A bag of potato chips is not breakfast Faith,' she had always looked so cute when she was trying to put her foot down.

Faith sighed and began wolfing down her breakfast, another habit she had never grown out of, as Willow walked in. Faith nodded her head to Willow's cheery good morning; she was too busy polishing off her cereal to waste time talking.

"Um Faith perhaps you should slow down otherwise you might choke," Willow said, alarmed by the rate at which the food was entering Faith's mouth.

Faith swallowed the last mouthful of cereal and followed it with the last of the juice. "It's OK Will, where I'm from if you didn't eat fast you didn't eat at all."

"Prison?"

Faith shook her head. "No home, in prison you actually get a reasonable amount of time to eat and no-one bothered me much in there so there was no problem," Faith gestured at the clean kitchen. "It looks like I missed all the fun, you must have got this cleaned up in record time."

"Actually I managed to get some the younger slayers to do their chore this morning before they pulled a disappearing trick like they usually do."

Faith grinned. "You put your foot down huh?"

"Darn tootin'" Willow nodded. "Anyway I've been thinking about what you wanted, the stuff about Dawn," she paused hesitantly.

Faith tensed suddenly completely focused on the redhead. "And?"

"And I've decided that I will tell you everything you want to know."

Faith sagged in relief; she hadn't been quite sure what she was going to do if Willow had refused to tell her anything. "Thanks Willow, that's real decent of you."

"Well I'm not only doing this for you but for Dawn, I think she needs to sort things through with you, get some closure I guess."

Faith didn't much care about the reasons behind it just as long as Willow told her. "Thanks anyway Will, I appreciate it."

"You do realize if you hurt Dawn again it won't just be Buffy who'll hunt you down," Kennedy said from the doorway.

"I'm not planning on doing something that stupid again," Faith said firmly.

"Good," Kennedy said, the hostility gone from both her voice and body, as she moved to stand beside Willow.

Faith looked from one to the other anxiously, waiting for the answers to her questions. "So, where is she?" she was almost shouting from impatience.

Willow and Kennedy exchanged a look. "She's in Boston," Willow answered her.

Faith sat back, stunned by this revelation. "Boston, what the hell is she doing in Boston?"

"She's going to college, at Harvard."

"Harvard, Harvard University?"

Kennedy smirked at Faith's slack-jawed expression. "Do you know of any other Harvard?"

"Wow, my baby got into Harvard," Faith felt a warm glow of pride fill her body. "I mean I always knew she was smart but still."

"I think a glowing reference from a certain high school principal, well former high school principal helped," Willow said.

A small smile appeared on Faith's lips. "Robin's a really great guy it doesn't surprise me that he would do something like that."

"Yeah, I know Buffy was really grateful to him for that and Dawn as well, obviously," Willow added. "Um Faith…there's something else you should know, about Dawn."

"What, there's nothing wrong, she's OK right?" Faith asked concerned by Willow's hesitancy.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong she's fine," Willow reassured the slayer. "It's just…she's involved with someone else, Shawn."

"She's with someone," Faith couldn't help but feel a small pang of jealousy. "I guess it's not that much of a surprise I mean she's an attractive girl, so of course she would have met someone. So she's with a girl named Sean huh, she sounds…butch."

Kennedy let out an amused snort. "Yeah she's very butch, so butch that she's a he."

"She's a…Oh," Faith stopped short. "The surprises just keep coming this morning don't they?" she muttered to herself.

"After you Faith, Dawnie kind of went back to dating boys," Willow said softly.

"Wow I had that much of an effect huh?"

"'Fraid so."

"So she's in Boston," Faith said changing the subject. "That's going to make things difficult."

"Why, what's wrong?" Willow asked.

"I'm still a wanted criminal in the U.S. remember?" Faith said distractedly, her thoughts racing as she tried to figure a way around this new problem. "You know multiple counts of murder, escaping from prison and probably a whole load of other things."

"Oh that's nothing Faith, I can clear that up easy." Willow said.

"Really, how?" asked an interested Faith.

"A little bit of computer work and a spell or two and you will no longer be a fugitive in your own country," Willow said proudly.

"How did you come up with that, it doesn't sound like a regular use of magic?"

Willow shrugged. "Well some of the new slayers weren't exactly little angels in their previous lives so I've had to clean up a few criminal records so they can travel around."

"Cool so you get working on the mojo Will and I'll go get packed," Faith said as she ran past the pair and hurried up the stairs.

"She certainly seems keen," Kennedy said staring after her fellow slayer's rapidly retreating back.

'Wouldn't you be if you were in her position?" Willow asked.

"I guess," Kennedy turned to her girlfriend. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"I think that's up to Dawn but you and I have seen her with Shawn and I think we both know she doesn't really love him, certainly not like the way she loved Faith."

"Like the way I love you?" Kennedy whispered into Willow's ear as she slid her arms around the redhead's waist.

Willow closed her eyes and leaned against her slayer. "Exactly."


It was strange walking the streets of Boston again, she hadn't been home in almost six years and it was stirring up a bunch of old memories, most of them bad. Arguments with her drunken mother, roaming the streets of South Boston alone from an early age, getting into fights first with humans then at a later stage with things not quite so human.

Willow's spells and computer hacking had obviously worked a treat as she had breezed through customs with no problems, it had still taken her two hours but at least she hadn't been arrested and there hadn't even been a flicker when she had gone through the security check.

She had taken a room in a decent hotel away from her old haunts, she didn't particularly want to run into old friends although she was sure most of them would either be in jail or dead from one thing or another, her hotel was also conveniently a short subway ride away from Cambridge and Harvard University and that meant only a short ride away from Dawn.

Faith dumped her bag on the hotel bed and left the room, locking the door behind her. She hurried to the lifts and was left tapping her foot impatiently when she had to wait, now that she knew where Dawn was, at least approximately, she literally couldn't wait to see her again and make up and then hopefully make out with her, or at least that was her plan anyway.

If she remembered correctly Harvard was a big place, she had gone to a few keggers there when she was younger, finding one woman among all those people could take a while, which meant she needed to start as soon as possible if she was going to find Dawn anytime soon. She could ring Dawn beforehand, let her know she was coming but Faith wanted to surprise her and anyway she didn't exactly have a phone number for Dawn, Willow hadn't given her one and she wasn't sure if it would be listed in a phone-book anyway especially if Buffy and the Council wanted to keep Dawn's location a secret.

Faith ran down and through the subway station, mumbling apologies as she brushed aside various other patrons of the subway, she arrived at the platform she needed a little out of breath only to discover the next train wasn't due for another 10 minutes.

She spent the time pacing up and down the platform frustrated at the delay and ignoring the amused or annoyed looks from the other passengers waiting on the platform.

"Don't worry dear, I'm sure he'll be waiting for you," a little old lady told her as Faith strode past.

"I'm sorry what?" Faith asked, startled out of her reverie.

"I recognize the signs of a young woman in love," the old lady confided in her. "You've got a young man waiting for you, at the college maybe. I wouldn't worry he'll be there, he'd be stupid not to wait for a pretty young thing like you."

Faith didn't bother straightening the old girl out; she'd probably end up confusing her anyway. "Thanks, I'm sure he will," she said for some reason feeling strangely reassured.

"I remember feeling the same way waiting for my Robert when I was your age," the old lady sighed deeply, seeming to shrink into herself as she did so. "Of course that was years ago now."

"So what happened, with you and this Robert guy?" Faith asked curiously, forgetting her impatience with the delay.

The old lady's eyes misted over as her memories flooded over her. "We eventually got married, fifty-two years ago it was this year."

Faith looked around the platform trying to see the old bird's husband. "So where is he?"

"I'm sorry dear what did you say?" the old lady asked, coming back slowly from her pleasant memories of the past.

"Your husband where is he?" Faith repeated.

The old lady gave a sad smile. "You won't see him around here I'm afraid, he passed away it will be…eight years next spring."

"Oh, I'm sorry, about your husband," Faith said feeling embarrassed at the inadequacy of her words.

"Oh don't be dear, my Robert was a strong man but even he couldn't survive a heart attack, we spent many good years together before it happened," she looked to see the train entering the station. "There you are my dear, here's the train to take you to your young man."

"Um thanks…" Faith paused. "I didn't get your name?"

"Estelle."

"Thanks Estelle," Faith turned and leapt aboard the train.

"You're welcome young lady," Estelle called out, remaining where she was on the platform as other passengers pushed past her.

"It's Faith, my name that is."

Estelle smiled gently. "What a lovely name, it's almost as pretty as you are dear."

"Do you need help, to get on the train?" Faith asked.

"Oh no dear this isn't my train, but thank you for asking."

"Oh, OK…well goodbye then," Faith said awkwardly

"Goodbye Faith and good luck with your young woman," Estelle said smiling wider.

Faith nodded to her as the doors closed and the train began moving away from the platform. 'Wait a minute young woman, I never told her about Dawn,' Faith looked back at the rapidly retreating platform, Estelle was nowhere to be seen.


She found her sitting at a table outside on a lawn area, reading a book, the late afternoon sunlight illuminating her face. At first Faith wasn't sure it was her, Dawn had changed her appearance mainly her hair, cutting it much shorter then Faith remembered, no longer did it hang down to the small of back now it barely reached her shoulders, Faith didn't like it she preferred Dawn with long hair.

Dawn appeared to have grown up she looked older, more mature, she also appeared to have grown out, at least in the chest area otherwise she was the same tall, slim girl that Faith had fallen in love with in Rome.

Faith shifted uncertainly from foot to foot, eventually screwing up the courage to approach her, she walked slowly towards Dawn stopping when she reached the edge of the table.

After a minute of standing there awkwardly without Dawn even noticing, Faith sat down next to her and politely cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry but that seat's taken," Dawn said absently, not even bothering to look up from her book.

"Nice of you to keep my seat warm D," answered Faith.

Dawn froze in surprise at the familiar voice before slowly putting her book down and turning to face the person next to her. Faith looked exactly the same as Dawn remembered, even dressed in her usual uniform of denim and leather, in this case black jeans and a black leather jacket over a red top.

"Hey there cutie," Faith said softly.

Dawn's face set into hard, angry lines. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood, decided to drop by for a visit."

Dawn continued to glare at her. "Now that you've dropped by you can go drop somewhere else, preferably off the nearest bridge."

"Wow that's a lot of anger you got going there D," Faith didn't move.

"Can you blame me?" Dawn retorted angrily. "And why can't you ever use someone's full name F, is it really that hard?"

"You used to find it cute."

"I used to find stuffed animals cute too, I got over it," Dawn looked away. "Hold on, how did you know I was here, that's supposed to be a secret," Dawn turned back to Faith, staring at her suspiciously.

Faith shrugged. "A little birdie told me."

"Who?" Dawn demanded.

"I'm not going to tell you and it doesn't matter anyway, I would have found you eventually."

"How?"

"My heart would have told me where you were," Faith stared boldly into Dawn's eyes.

"Your heart?" Dawn asked, her angry façade faltering.

"That's right," Faith reached over and took Dawn's hand. "I love you, we belong together Dawn, you belong to me and I belong to you."

Dawn deliberately pulled her hand away. "It's a bit late for that Faith, you should have told me this a year ago, before you cheated on me."

"So you don't want me anymore?"

"No," Dawn said firmly.

"So why do you keep looking at my breasts?"

"What?! I am so not staring at your breasts," Dawn exclaimed loudly, causing people nearby to look up.

Faith grinned. "Of course you are D, you always were a breast girl, then again with a woman like me it would be a shame not to be."

Dawn managed, with considerable effort, to get control of herself and lower her voice. "Faith I am not your girlfriend anymore, I am not attracted to you and I am definitely not checking out your breasts," she hissed.

Faith sighed. "I could sit around arguing with you but it looks like you're happily living in Egypt so maybe I'll just come back later when you're more likely to listen."

"What?" Dawn asked, suddenly confused. "I'm living in Egypt what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're swimming in a big river of denial."

Dawn thought about it, before finally realizing the joke. "That's really stupid," she said flatly.

Faith shrugged. "I thought it was clever."

"You would," Dawn muttered disparagingly.

"I'll talk to you later D when you've calmed down a bit," Faith stood up, her gaze lingering over the seated Dawn. "But there's one thing you should know."

"What's that?"

Faith leaned close, her lips bare millimeters from Dawn's own. Dawn could feel Faith's warm breath tickling over her skin. "I am for you Dawn Summers," Faith whispered before she turned and strode off across the grass, leaving a stunned and confused Dawn behind her.


Part 3

A soft sound disturbed the deep sleep the young woman had been enjoying. She stirred, woke up, took one look around and frowned. This was clearly not her room, the lack of walls was her first clue, that and the white fog or mist that obscured everything and swirled around the large four-poster bed she was lying on, made it clear she wasn't in Boston anymore.

'Hang on a four-poster bed, I've never even seen a four-poster bed before let alone slept in one what's going on here?' Dawn thought.

The sound that had woken her up was repeated and she recognised it this time, it was the sound of a bed-sheet shifting over bare skin and she knew it wasn't her making the noise which meant there was someone else in the bed with her.

Dawn rolled over slowly and found Faith lying next to her, casually resting her weight on her elbow.

"Hey there cutie," Faith said softly.

"Faith, what are you doing here?" Dawn asked more then a little confused with the whole situation.

Faith shrugged. "I've always been here, waiting for you."

And then it hit her. "This is a dream," Dawn said out loud.

Faith gave her that stunning smile she was so good at. "Well done D, that Harvard education is really paying off."

Dawn shot her a dirty look. She had to hand it to her subconscious this dream was very realistic, Faith was just as sassy as in real life and her body was just like she remembered…Dawn pulled her eyes up quickly from where they had been lingering. "So is this my dream or yours?" she asked.

Faith laughed and tossed her hair. "Honestly baby, I have no idea and I don't care," she moved closer and Dawn suddenly became aware they were both naked. She could feel the warmth of Faith's body and how close to her own it was.

Dawn felt Faith's arm slide around her waist. "Faith…" the soft protest whispered from her throat just as Faith's lips met her own. Dawn moaned softly, her body automatically pressing itself against Faith as the slayer gently rolled Dawn onto her back and then manoeuvred herself on top of her…

Dawn's eyes snapped open as she sat up quickly, shreds of the dream still clinging to her consciousness. She checked the room swiftly, there were no swirling mists, no four-poster beds and no naked Faith, instead there was the solidity of her dorm room, including walls, and the short, slim, blonde figure of her roommate Alexandra, who seemed to be giving her some kind of a knowing look.

That had been one hell of a dream, in full 3-D sensorama, she could still feel Faith's skin, taste her mouth, smell her scent it was like Faith had been there with her, in the same bed with her…and Dawn really didn't want to think about what that meant.

"So Dawn, did you sleep well?" Alex asked innocently.

"What?" Dawn slowly came back to reality. "Um sure, why?"

"It just sounded like you were having a nice dream," Alex smirked at her. "You know what with the moaning, or was it groaning, I can never really tell the difference."

At least that explained the knowing look. "Yeah it was an…interesting dream," Dawn could feel the blush heating her cheeks.

"I'll bet it was," Alex repeated the smirk. "Shawn live up to expectations did he?"

"What? Who?"

"Shawn, your boyfriend Shawn," Alex stared at her. "That was who the dream was about yeah?"

"Of course it was. Shawn. Yes," Dawn said hurriedly, avoiding looking her friend directly in the eyes. "What's the time?" she added hoping to get Alex off the topic of her dreams.

"About half past eight," Alex was now staring at her strangely.

Dawn swore. "Why didn't you wake me, I've got a lecture at nine," she struggled out of bed and rushed over to the drawers that contained her clothes.

"I think you could afford to blow off one lecture Dawn, it won't kill you."

"No but my sister might, she is paying for all this remember?" Dawn told her while trying to put one arm through a sleeve and pull up a pair of slacks at the same time.

"You've told me, a number of times," Alex looked on bemused by Dawn's unintentional callisthenics. "And I know what your sister's like, she's the one who trained me remember?"

"I know you've told me, a number of times." A now fully dressed if slightly rumpled Dawn shot back.

"So what's wrong?" Alex asked her carefully.

"What do you mean?" Dawn said distractedly, shoving pens and a notebook into her bag.

"Come on Dawn when you woke up this morning you looked like you'd seen a ghost, or dreamt a ghost," Alex sat down on the edge of Dawn's bed. "And last night you were distant and uncommunicative, you barely said five words to me and that's definitely not you, obviously something's bothering you, you can tell me I won't tell anyone."

Dawn briefly thought about lying, after all she knew Alex worked for her sister. She wasn't only her roommate and friend technically she was also her bodyguard and Dawn wasn't sure whether she wanted Buffy to know about Faith's reappearance yet. "You promise you won't tell anyone, especially Buffy?"

"Why would I tell her?"

Dawn gave her a look. "Come on Alex, I know you have to report back to her on a regular basis, it's part of your job."

Alex sighed. "Fine I won't tell her, but you didn't hear about those reports from me. I don't tell her everything anyway otherwise she'd probably have you locked up in a nunnery by now."

"You didn't need to tell me about the reports I have connections in the Council and I know how my sister thinks."

"It's only for-" Alex started to say.

"-my protection, I know," Dawn finished for her. "Like I said I know how my sister thinks."

"So what's this thing I'm promising not to tell her," Alex had had her curiosity piqued by Dawn's behaviour.

Dawn took a deep breath. "I ran into Faith yesterday."

Alex looked at her blankly. "Faith?" Then recognition slowly dawned. "Oh, you mean that Faith?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. Her. I don't know how she found me, but yesterday she just popped up, out of the middle of nowhere."

"What did she want?"

Dawn frowned. "Apparently, me," she looked up at her friend. "She said she loved me, she never said that to me before not even while we were dating."

"Do you think she meant it?"

Dawn sighed and threw herself down beside Alex, causing the bed to bounce up and down. "I don't know," she said moodily. "I don't think even Faith knows, she's not exactly open about her emotions even to herself."

"So how do you feel about it?"

"Feel about what?"

"How do you feel about Faith being here," Alex explained. "And her saying that she loves you."

"I don't know, I mean we broke up, well I broke up with her and for good reason," Dawn got up off the bed and began pacing around the small room, her voice getting louder with every word. "And I thought that was it, I was over her and she was out of my life and then she appears with no warning and says she loves me and wants me back, I mean how am I supposed to react to that?"

Alex sat quietly and watched Dawn pace back and forth, attempting to keep up with the other girl's tirade. "So you still have feelings for her then?"

Dawn stopped pacing and turned to face Alex. "What, why would you say that?"

"I think it's pretty evident from where I'm sitting," Alex said dryly. "You obviously still feel something for her, otherwise she couldn't affect you like this."

"You know you sound a lot like her," the inflection of Dawn's voice made it clear who her was. "She said I was in denial about the whole thing."

"And how do you feel about that?"

Dawn looked at her sullenly. "You do realise you're really starting to sound like a psychology major right?"

Alex smiled. "Thanks I'll take that as a compliment, and by the way you're starting to sound like someone who's avoiding the question."

Dawn sighed and sat heavily next to Alex again. "If you must know it made me angry, in fact the whole thing, seeing her again, talking to her, what she said it all made me feel angry."

"That's understandable, she hurt you badly," Alex put a friendly arm around Dawn's shoulders. "But besides the anger how do you feel about her?"

"I don't know, god I seem to be saying that a lot this morning," Dawn muttered. "Honestly, I don't think I've got past the anger yet."

"The dream you had, it was about Faith wasn't it?" Alex guessed.

Dawn opened her mouth to lie but ended up nodding. "I don't suppose you can tell me what that means?"

"Besides that you still like her, not really," Alex said apologetically. "So this dream, how vivid are we talking?"

"Extremely vivid, completely lifelike with 3-D surround sound. It felt like she was actually there you know?"

"Are you sure you're not a slayer, it sounds like a slayer dream."

"Of course I'm not a slayer, if I was a slayer I'd know by now trust me," Dawn sighed heavily. "No it was just an…interesting dream."

Alex looked at her friend, sympathy in her dark brown eyes. Dawn hadn't told her much about what had happened with her and Faith but it was beginning to become obvious to her just how much Faith had meant to Dawn. "You know I don't get the whole girl on girl thing and why you'd want to when you have a great boyfriend like Shawn I really don't know but Faith does mean something to you, even I can see that. You need to figure out what exactly she means to you and then deal with it."

"I know," Dawn said quietly. "I only wish I knew that right now so I could get it over and done with and move on from her."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," Alex glanced at her watch. "And as it seems you are blowing off that early lecture do you want to go down and get some breakfast?"

Dawn nodded. "Sounds good, I wonder if there'll be anything edible?"

"At a university cafeteria, you're more likely to see a vampire with a tan."


The street was dark and nearly empty, the few pedestrians were hurrying home to get off the street and get warm, they had their hands jammed into their pockets and their heads bowed as they tried not to draw attention to themselves. None of them noticed the shadows moving within the shadows at the edge of the dim light cast by the few working streetlights as they made their way towards the large, deserted building on the corner.

When one of the shadows reached the building, it gave a short sharp knock on the door. The door was opened cautiously, a small slit of light from inside illuminating the dark street outside for a split second as a soft word was exchanged then the door was opened wider and the figure slipped inside, none of the shadows noticed the other figure standing in the shadows that watched as one by one they were admitted to the building. As the last figure entered the door was locked behind it and all was quiet until an inarticulate shout of anger broke the silence.

"Who ate all the jelly donuts?" A young Latino girl demanded before suddenly realising she was the focus of attention of everybody else in the room.

"Thank you Jessica for that outburst," Dawn said irritably. "You do realise there is a reason for all the secrecy surrounding these meetings, it is why we call them secret meetings, or would you like me to hang a sign outside saying Slayer Council meeting inside, everyone invited."

"Sorry," Jessica said meekly. "I'll have a plain one instead."

Dawn sighed. "No its OK, its not like anyone out there is going to notice and even if they do they'll probably just ignore it," she turned to Alex. "Is everyone here?"

"Everyone except Jane," Alex said, scanning the room.

"Anyone know why Jane isn't here?" Dawn stood on one side of the small, dingily lit room, Alex beside her. The other slayers stood in a loose semi-circle in front of the door, facing their Watcher.

"She's sick," came an answer muffled by donut.

"Is it anything serious?"

There was a pause as the girl who had spoken swallowed her mouthful of donut. "Not really, she's got the flu so she's going to be laid up for the next couple of nights."

"Damn, that puts us down a fighter," Dawn frowned. "Oh well one squad is going to have to make do with three slayers instead of four tonight."

"What are we doing tonight?" one of the slayers asked.

"Tonight we're patrolling," Dawn's announcement brought a chorus of groans from the slayers.

"Oh come on guys, patrol's important," Dawn said brightly, trying to motivate her audience. She was greeted by stony glares.

"But it's repetitive and boring, we just wander around the same streets over and over again and nothing ever happens."

"Yeah and how come we always have to patrol the same dirty, run down places."

Dawn didn't miss the unspoken comment on their meeting place. "Because that's our area of Boston to patrol and anyway you always get more vampires in the poorer sections of a big city."

"She's right, there's always drunks and homeless people on the street in those areas and that's an all you can eat buffet for the vamps," said a voice from the doorway.

Everyone in the room spun around to face the intruder, Dawn's eyes narrowed when she recognised the leather-clad figure. "You know this could be classified as stalking," she said icily.

"Heard there was a meeting, so I decided to join in," Faith smiled at her. "Hey there cutie."

"Stop calling me that," Dawn said, the angry tone all too evident in her voice.

The other slayers in the room looked at each other in confusion, unspoken questions written on their faces. Was this woman a danger? Should they be attacking her? Dawn was clearly angered by her presence but didn't seem to be threatened by her so maybe not…and why had she called Dawn cutie?

Alex looked back and forth between the newcomer and Dawn, from the look on Dawn's face she soon realised who the young woman she was having a staring contest with must be.

'So that's Faith,' Alex chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. 'I can see why she had such an effect on Dawn, she's obviously attractive and she has a certain…air about her.' Alex had felt Faith's magnetic personality filling the room as soon as she walked in and it wasn't just her, everyone else seemed to be intimidated and/or mesmerised by her as well, everyone except Dawn.

"How did you find this place?" Dawn asked

"I followed your girls here," Faith waved a hand vaguely at the other slayers. "You really should teach them to be a bit more stealthy, tailing them was like tailing a herd of elephants."

"Hey," Jessica said indignantly. "We were being stealthy, no-one else has ever noticed us before."

"That you know of, anyway no-one probably noticed you because they weren't looking, I was."

"And why was that exactly?" Alex asked

"I wanted to check out the local slayers, see how they were getting on," Faith lied.

"So you're a slayer too?" Jessica asked

"That's right, I'm Faith," Faith stuck her hand out and Jessica, after some hesitation, shook it.

"If the door was locked," Dawn glanced at Alex, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. "How exactly did you get in?"

"The window wasn't, you should really get that fixed."

Dawn took a deep breath and attempted to keep the lid on her growing anger. "Well now that you've dropped by and introduced yourself Faith, you can go and amuse yourself somewhere else."

"Um Dawn?" A tall, gangly girl nervously raised her hand.

"What is it Bec?" Dawn snapped.

The unfortunate Bec shrank under Dawn's glare and looked like she wished the ground would suddenly open her up and swallow her, but since that didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon she might as well say what she had been going to say. "Um…well…I was thinking, considering we're one slayer short and Faith is a slayer maybe she could patrol with us, at least until Jane gets better."

There was a soft murmur of agreement as the other slayers in the room looked at Dawn hopefully. None of them wanted to patrol with one slayer short of a full complement, besides this woman had an air of mystery and danger about her and Dawn obviously had some kind of shared past with her, the telling of which could help fill the dull, monotonous hours of patrol.

Dawn glanced uncertainly at Alex who gave her a look back that clearly told her: It's your decision.

"Fine, Faith can patrol with us until Jane is better," Dawn noticed the small look of relief that flickered across Faith's face before it became impassive again. "Which squad was Jane supposed to be with tonight?" she asked Alex.

Alex pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "Um…" Dawn wasn't going to be happy with this. "Red squad."

Dawn stiffened. Red squad. The squad she always patrolled with. "Fine. Red squad it is. Alex assign the girls to their squads."

Alex read out the assignments and the other slayers gathered into their squads, each squad, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and White consisted of four slayers with the slayers being continually rotated between the squads. There were only two exceptions to this rule, Dawn and Alex always patrolled with Red squad.

It was standard operating procedure these days so Faith was used to it, new quasi-military rules for a quasi-army of slayers. These girls were lucky there was only twenty of them to a Watcher, in some other places it was closer to a hundred which meant some Watchers had to rotate between different groups of slayers and that had caused no end of problems, although in some more dangerous places squads consisted of anywhere up to a dozen slayers instead of the four which seemed to be the average here in Boston.

"OK everybody ready to move?" Dawn called out and was answered by various sounds of assent. "Everyone got their cell phones in case of emergency?" A couple of the slayers rolled their eyes at this, what kind of emergency couldn't be dealt with by four slayers, but everybody checked before answering yes.

"Good, then lets go." Everyone shuffled out the door, formed into their squads and merged once more with the shadows trying to move quietly to avoid Faith's unflattering comparison with a herd of elephants.


The members of Green squad had stopped attempting to move quietly hours ago when they realised the only people around to impress were themselves, now they tramped down the middle of the street the squad leader, Bec, kicking an empty Coke can out in front of her. Tonight's patrol had been incredibly dull, even by patrol's standards, the only glimpse of possible action came when some members of a local gang had started eyeing them up before realised who they were and backing down. Word had gotten around the local gang community about the slayers, helped along by a couple of destructive 'lessons', now the gangs avoided them like the plague which suited both parties down to the ground, the slayers had more important things to worry about then them.

"What time is it?" one of the girls stifled a yawn as she asked Bec.

Bec glanced at her watch. "It's about midnight."

"What time do we have to do this 'til?" The girl's distinctive southern drawl was becoming more pronounced as the night wore on.

Bec rolled her eyes, why did she have to get saddled with the newbie. "One o'clock Reese you know that, or at least you should."

"Hey give me a break, I'm new at this remember?" Reese shot Bec a dirty look.

"Yeah we noticed," Jessica shivered in her thick coat, attempting to pull it tighter around her. "What did I do to deserve getting posted to god-forsaken arctic Boston instead of staying in nice, warm, sunny Miami?"

"You know the drill, wherever we're needed that's where we're posted," Bec gave an alleyway they had passed for the umpteenth time a cursory once over.

"Well I don't know about you but I think this weather's rather bracing," the fourth member of the squad added cheerfully.

"Yeah well you're British Alice, you're used to it being cold."

Alice pursed her lips disapprovingly. "I'll have you know that's an horrendous stereotype, England isn't always cold, it gets quite warm in the summer."

"Yeah I hear some days it even gets above freezing." The other slayers snickered at Jessica's comment; Alice went into a huff and fell in behind them.

"I don't know what you're complaining about Jess, Boston isn't such a bad posting, it's pretty quiet and we've got Dawn as our Watcher and she's OK. It could have been a lot worse we could have got some stuffy British guy instead and ended up in a hot spot like Cleveland," Bec pointed out. "I hear they lose almost a slayer a week down there."

Jessica shivered from something other than the cold. "Speaking of Dawn," she hurriedly changed the topic. "What was up with her and that Faith woman?"

"You don't think that was, you know, the Faith the one they tell us about in training?" Reese asked eagerly.

"I don't know, could be, she'd be about the right age," Bec mused. "But I thought that Faith was dead or something?"

"I heard she went mad and they locked her up in some asylum somewhere," Jessica said

"No that was her," Alice said matter-of-factly, stopping abruptly to avoid running into the others as they turned around to stare at her. "What, I've seen a photo of her and you have to admit she's pretty hard to confuse with someone else."

"So where would she know Dawn from?" Reese asked.

"What they didn't tell you that in training?" Bec asked her, Reese shook her head. "Dawn was part of the original group, you know along with Buffy, Willow, Xander and the like."

"She looks a bit young for that."

"She's Buffy's little sister, why do you think Alex sticks to her like glue, she's like Dawn's bodyguard," Bec explained.

"Oh," Reese frowned. "How come nobody told me this?"

"Because it's supposed to be some big secret," Bec resumed walking and the others fell in step beside her. "So don't go telling anyone, especially if they're evil."

"How stupid do you think I am," Reese said resentfully.

Bec chose to be diplomatic and not answer that, it wasn't like there was an intelligence requirement to be a slayer and Bec had decided that Reese was the living proof of that. "Did anyone else pick up on that vibe between Faith and Dawn?"

"You mean that Dawn was pretty pissed off at her, yeah I think we got that one," Jessica said dryly.

"I meant that there seemed to be some heat between them or something, Faith did call her cutie."

"What you mean they were like…lovers or something," Jessica asked, now confused.

"No way," Reese interrupted. "Dawn has a boyfriend…doesn't she?"

"Right, so no girl with a boyfriend has ever been with another girl," Bec said wryly.

"You sound like you're talking from experience," Jessica was a little surprised at this revelation about Bec.

"I've got nothing against a bit of variety," Bec shrugged. "Adds a little spice to life."

"Well I don't think our Watcher's private life should be a topic for conversation," Alice said primly.

The other girls rolled their eyes, why were the British always such prudes? "We'll go down here if that's alright with you Alice?" Bec asked her mockingly, pointing down a darkened side street.

Alice clenched her jaw, refusing to rise to Bec's taunting. Why were Americans always so vulgar? "Whatever," she said noncommittally.

The others hadn't waited for her response and were already walking down the street. "Hurry up Alice, we wouldn't want to lose you," Bec's voice came floating back along the street.

Alice suppressed thoughts of bloody revenge and hurried after them. "Come on guys, wait for me," she called out; when she didn't get a reply she slowed down and approached more cautiously. "Guys?" she said nervously. "Come on guys this isn't funny."

Alice stopped when her foot bumped into something; she looked down slowly to check what her foot was up against. It was a body, lying sprawled across the sidewalk.

"Oh god," she whispered softly, kneeling down beside the body she had identified as Bec. "Bec?" she hesitantly reached out and shook Bec's shoulder.

"Bec are you OK?" Alice asked as she checked her for an injury. She scanned down Bec's body and realised that what she was looking at wasn't all of Bec, she was missing everything from her waist down. Alice's eyes widened in horror and she scrambled backwards before some instinct screamed at her to duck as a fist the size of her head whistled past her shoulder.

Alice made a judgement call based on the size of her and the probable size of the thing that was attached to that fist and decided to run as far and as fast as possible, anywhere away from that thing and what was left of Bec lying there, bleeding on the sidewalk.

Alice ran and kept on running, not knowing or caring where she was going, she blindly turned a corner and crashed into somebody running the other way. Alice bounced away, screaming simultaneously with the figure she had collided with.

"Alice?" the figure asked timidly, as they stepped into the light Alice realised who it was.

"Jessica," Alice was relieved that at least one other person had survived. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know, one minute we were walking down the street the next thing I know this…thing came out of the middle of nowhere and attacked us, it got Bec and Reese and I just ran, I didn't know what else to do."

"Don't worry, you did the right thing," Alice tried to comfort the other girl. "Do you know what happened to Reese?"

Jessica shook her head. "I thought that…got her, after it attacked I didn't check I ran, it just attacked so fast, so fast…" Jessica's voice trailed off and she began crying.

"You did the right thing," Alice repeated, hugging Jessica tightly. "Remember the first thing they teach us, don't die, you didn't die so you did the right thing, OK?"

Jessica nodded, sniffling, as she attempted to pull herself back together again. "I'll be OK now, thanks Alice."

Alice released her fellow slayer and stood back. "Good, now I found…Bec but I didn't see Reese, so she must be around here somewhere."

"Unless that thing's got her in the meantime."

"All the more reason for us to find her first," Alice said firmly.

"Right," Jessica gave her a determined, if somewhat shaky nod. "We're not leaving her behind to whatever the hell that thing was."

"It definitely wasn't a vampire, so I'm guessing some kind of demon," Alice walked along the street slowly, trying to look in every direction at once.

"A big, strong, fast, scary demon," Jessica moved in behind Alice, turning her head and checking behind her nervously.

"Unfortunately that doesn't narrow it down very much but somehow I doubt our stakes and crosses are going to be any use against it." They reached another small side street and Alice poked her head cautiously around the corner. She spotted someone slumped up against a wall and recognised her immediately. "Reese," Alice cried out and ran towards the seriously injured girl, she managed to catch her before she completely collapsed and, with Jessica's help, gently eased her to the ground.

"Damn, this looks bad," Jessica shook her head as she saw the extent of Reese's injuries. The entire front of Reese's stomach had been ripped open by four deep, long gashes, the blood welling continuously from her wounds and soaking her t-shirt a dark red.

Alice took off her jumper and gently pressed it against Reese's wounds, trying to stem the flow of blood.

"We can't deal with this ourselves, we need help," Alice applied more pressure which elicited a groan from the barely conscious slayer. "Reese stay with us, Reese?" Alice pleaded.

Reese's eyes fluttered open. "Help me, it hurts," she whimpered.

Jessica looked at Alice desperately. "What are we going to do?"

Alice thought fast. "Do you still have your mobile?" Jessica stared at her blankly. "Your cell phone?" Alice amended.

"Sure I…" Jessica searched quickly through her pockets but found nothing. "Actually no, I must have dropped it somewhere."

"Here, take care of Reese," Alice and Jessica swapped places and Alice began searching her own pockets soon lifting her phone up triumphantly. "Found it."

Alice sent a silent prayer of thanks that Dawn insisted on each of them carrying a mobile on patrol. She fumbled with the phone, eventually managing to get it open and press speed-dial, the phone ringing once before it was answered.

"Hello, Alice?" Dawn's querulous voice was like a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

"Dawn please you have to help us," Alice shouted urgently down the phone.

"Whoa calm down Alice, what's wrong?" Dawn asked, concerned that the normally reliable Brit sounded so upset.

"We were attacked by something, some demon I think, and Bec's dead and Reese is hurt bad and I don't know where we are and we need help-"

"Slow down Alice," Dawn interrupted, worried that Alice was threatening to descend into hysteria. "Did you say Rebecca is dead?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

Alice thought back to what had remained of Bec. "Yes," she said quietly.

Dawn swore. "How badly is Reese hurt?"

Alice looked at Jessica who shook her head; the bleeding hadn't stopped. "Very bad, if we don't get her to a hospital soon…" Alice trailed off the implication clear in her voice.

"Do you know where you are?"

"No, after I found Bec I just ran I didn't look where I was going, sorry," Alice said apologetically. "I didn't run very far if that's a help."

"And you don't know what attacked you?"

"No, like I said it was some kind of demon, we think, definitely not a vampire."

"OK Alice, stay where you are and we'll find you, better yet find someplace safe to hole up in and we'll come get you."

Alice was about to answer when she saw Jessica's eyes suddenly widen in fear. "Oh no," Jessica whispered. "It's found us."

Alice spun around and saw a large shape standing at the end of the road. Its head moved slowly from side to side before fixing on the three girls and even though she couldn't see its face Alice swore it was grinning at them.

"Alice?" The phone fell from Alice's nerveless fingers.

"Alice?"

"Alice?"

The phone abruptly cut out before Dawn could repeat the young slayer's name again, she quietly turned off her phone and clicked it shut. "It seems we have a problem," she said to the concerned members of her squad. "Green squad was attacked. Rebecca's dead and it sounds like Reese and the other members of her squad aren't far behind."

"Bec's dead?" Alex asked, the shock obvious on her face.

"Unfortunately yes, or at least that's what Alice said," Dawn faced the other slayers in her squad, Alex's shock reflected on everyone's faces, everyone except for Faith who was looking at her with concern. "Here's what we're going to do, Tatiana ring up the other squads tell them it's a code red and to go back to the safe house. Get some cars and load up with heavy weapons then come back here and start searching for Alice…" Dawn turned to Alex. "Do you have the map?"

Alex reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out a well-worn map of Boston, handing it to Dawn.

"OK, Green squad was patrolling this area," Dawn circled a section of the map. "So start searching there first, if you don't find anything spread out, got it?" Tatiana nodded.

Faith peered over Dawn's shoulder. "I know a short-cut there, I'll start searching straightaway while you round-up the troops."

"No," Dawn shook her head firmly. "You, me, Alex and Jacinta will start the search while Tatiana rounds up the troops."

"What?!" Now Faith looked shocked. "You can't come it's too dangerous."

"Faith's right, we don't know what's out there or how dangerous it is," Alex said, backing Faith up.

"I'm their Watcher, I'm going," Dawn said calmly. "I might be able to tell you what it is and how to kill it and I can take care of myself. Tatiana start calling. Alex, start dealing out the weapons. The rest of you follow me." Dawn stalked off without even waiting to see if anyone was following her.


The four young women edged cautiously down the street, watching each shadow carefully. Alex had taken point, a long-sword held loosely in one hand, Faith and Dawn were close behind her and Jacinta brought up the rear.

Faith had made sure she stuck as close to Dawn as she would let her, even being this close stirred up all sorts of feelings. Mostly she wanted to grab Dawn, pin her up against the nearest wall and kiss her till they both ran out of breath, although that was rather inappropriate considering the circumstances. Things weren't helped by the fact she hadn't been near Dawn for almost a year and the feeling she always got around her, the feeling that Dawn was hers somehow that she belonged to her, was stronger then Faith remembered it ever being.

'Maybe absence does make the heart grow fonder,' Faith remembered Dawn's reaction when she first saw her again in Boston. 'Well except in Dawn's case apparently.'

"I've never seen you like that before," Faith whispered softly in Dawn's ear. "Back there, all decisive and take charge, it was kinda sexy."

"Now is not the time Faith," Dawn hissed back, trying to ignore the warm feelings that Faith's comments, and the tickle of her breath against her ear, had aroused.

They slowed down as they reached an intersection and Alex crouched down, peering warily around the corner, then seeing it was all clear Alex gestured the others forward and started up the street.

Dawn was following close behind when she saw something glinting on the pavement, she broke ranks and hurried over to kneel down beside it.

"Dawn," Faith tried to shout as quietly, or whisper as loud, as possible then gave up and ran over to Dawn's side. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

Dawn held up the thing that had caught her attention, the smashed remains of a cell phone. "I guess we know why Alice's phone call ended so abruptly."

"Are you sure that Alice's?"

Dawn nodded. "It's the same kind that's given out to all the slayers."

"So they must be-" Faith stopped, hearing a muffled crash. "That sounds like it's nearby."

She and Dawn exchanged a look, Faith gestured with her head in the direction the noise had appeared to come from and Dawn nodded her head in agreement.

They moved silently up next to Alex and Jacinta who had already started towards the noise, the four of them staying close to each other and before long they reached an entrance to a small alleyway.

Another crash, louder this time, made it clear where the noise was coming from, Alex took a look before quickly ducking back out of sight. Seeing the question in Dawn's eyes Alex nodded her head to indicate they had found what they were looking for, Dawn gestured for Alex to move away and let each of the young women take a turn.

When Faith's turn came she looked down the alley and her breath involuntarily caught in surprise. The demon, because unless it was some seriously good special effects it had to be a demon, was nearly seven foot tall, covered in thick, red scaly skin and heavily packed with muscle. It's arms ended in gigantic fists tipped with four razor sharp claws which it was using to try to tear down a heavy steel door, the door was still standing but looked as if it would give out at any moment.

Dawn walked a short distance away from the alley's entrance and everyone else following her.

"I think it's safe to say that that's the thing that attacked Green squad," Dawn whispered as everyone huddled close.

"Do you know what it is?" Alex asked.

Dawn bit her bottom lip as she shook her head. "Sorry, it doesn't look familiar."

"Great, so how do we kill it?"

"I'm thinking lots and lots of violence."

"Wouldn't Alice and co. have tried that?" Faith asked.

"With only stakes?" Dawn shook her head. "They wouldn't have been that stupid."

"Why were they only carrying stakes?"

"Because only squad leaders carry heavier weapons," Dawn explained. "And Rebecca was their squad leader so I'm guessing they've only got stakes with them."

"Oh," Faith frowned. "Maybe you should review that policy."

"There are reasons behind it and I'm not going to argue with you now Faith," Dawn whispered fiercely, not seeing the bemused look Alex and Jacinta exchanged. "Anyway we have a number of advantages over Green squad, there are more of us, we're more heavily armed and we have the element of surprise."

"Um I think you might want to reconsider that last one," Jacinta said nervously as she looked over Dawn's shoulder.

The demon was standing at the entrance of the alley, ignoring the green ichor that had to be its blood, as it dribbled down its fists, obviously the door had been putting up some stiff resistance. It studied the four young women for a few seconds before striding towards them, grinning horribly.

'Mind you with a mouth that full of big, sharp fangs its probably harder for it not to grin,' Dawn thought with a shudder.

The three slayers moved in front of her, Alex readying her sword and Jacinta the double-headed axe she was carrying as Faith loaded a bolt into her crossbow.

"Down," Faith commanded, aiming the crossbow over the heads of the two kneeling slayers. She fired, missing the demons neck and instead hitting it in its shoulder.

It roared in pain and moved, blindingly fast, sweeping Jacinta off her feet before she could raise her weapon and dodging Alex's ineffectual sword thrust, smashing her into the wall.

The demon loomed over the fallen Jacinta, long, ropy strands of saliva dripping from its jaws as it watched Jacinta scramble to reach her fallen axe and wait for the inevitable blow to fall.

But it didn't.

The demon ignored the helpless Jacinta, its head suddenly snapping around towards where Faith and Dawn stood. Its nostrils flared wide open as it recognised the scent of the target it had been sent to kill, its jaws gaping eagerly open in anticipation of the kill.

Faith and Dawn backed away slowly as Faith attempted to load another bolt in the crossbow.

"Keep behind me D," Faith warned quietly before giving up on the crossbow, throwing the useless weapon aside and drawing her short-sword.

The demon approached slowly, not using the blinding pace it had shown earlier as if it were savouring the moment, this had no effect on Faith, other then aggravating her.

"Screw this," Faith said angrily. "If you want me ugly, come and get me."

She charged, ducking under a wildly swinging fist, feeling one of the claws slicing through her clothing and barely missing her flesh. Faith plunged her sword into the demons now exposed belly, it bellowed in pain and smacked a heavy fist into the back of Faith's head as she vainly tried to pull her sword out of its flesh.

"Faith!" Dawn cried out as she watched the dark slayer crumple to the ground but the demon ignored Faith and went for Dawn, moving incredibly fast it crunched her into the wall, smacking Dawn's head hard against the brick.

Faith groaned and levered herself off the ground, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it. She felt like an express train had hit her, stopped and then reversed over her a couple of times. She looked over her shoulder and saw a sight that chilled her to the bone, the demon looming over an injured Dawn, about to skewer her with its four wickedly sharp claws.

"Oh no you don't ugly," Faith surged onto her feet, snatching the axe from the now recovered Jacinta's hand and ran, her legs pumping furiously, fear forcing adrenaline into aching muscles. She screamed, all her rage and fear pouring out into her voice and muscles as she swung the axe, burying it between the demons legs and ripping it upwards along its spine, opening the demon up from one end to the other. The demon gave one last hideously human cry and fell to the side, wrenching the axe out of Faith's hands.

Faith barely noticed only seeing her injured love in front of her. She rushed over and carefully helped Dawn to her feet, feeling her lean heavily against her.

"I told you this was too dangerous," Faith berated Dawn gently as she tenderly brushed a lock of hair from her face and inspected Dawn's new collection of scrapes and bruises.

"I'll be fine," Dawn said muzzily, leaning gratefully against Faith. "Is anybody badly hurt?"

"No, I'll be OK," Jacinta muttered as she brushed some of the unidentifiable rubbish that littered the alley from her clothes. "And how come it's always the black girl who gets it first?"

"Because you were the one standing in its way," Dawn told her. "How about you Alex?"

Alex stood twirling her sword absentmindedly in one hand as she pressed the other hand against a gash in her forehead. "I'm all right, this'll heal in a couple of days. Thank god for slayer healing," Alex removed her hand from her forehead and inspected it, wincing at the sight of her own blood. "Sorry I let it get past me, it took me by surprise, moving so fast."

"Don't worry about it Alex, it took all of us by surprise," Dawn reassured her. "I didn't know something that big could move that fast."

"Well it is a demon, you know inhuman powers and all," Faith's arm had now wrapped itself around Dawn's waist, partly to support her and partly because Faith hadn't been able to do this for a year and it felt so good doing it again that Faith wasn't going to draw attention to it unless Dawn did.

"I guess so," Dawn managed to focus on Alex. "Alex, you and Jacinta go check what's behind that door the demon was trying to knock down, it's probably Alice and the others."

Dawn watched the two slayers run down the alley calling Alice's name before resting her throbbing head gently on Faith's shoulder, she felt Faith's fingers softly stroke through her hair, soothing her and easing the tension in her body.

"Are you OK?" Dawn lifted her head and stared directly into Faith's beautiful brown eyes.

Faith nodded. "Yeah I've got a lump on the back of my head the size of an egg and a few cuts and scrapes but I think I'll live."

"Good," Dawn snuggled down against Faith's shoulder again. Faith smiled softly and laid a gentle kiss on her brow.

They stayed like that, holding each other close, until Alex and Jacinta returned leading the alive, but shaken, survivors of Green squad.

"So what are we going to do now?" Alex tried to ignore the close proximity of her friend to Faith.

"How badly is Reese hurt?" Dawn was suddenly all business again.

"Really bad, she needs a hospital," Alex told her, confirming what Alice had told them.

"Damn, we need one of the girls with a car-" Dawn was interrupted by the sound of screeching tyres and a car pulled up in front of them, four more slayers piling out and rushing up to them. "Wow that's a really neat coincidence."

"Try asking for a million dollars," Faith saw Dawn's puzzled expression. "What, it's worth a try isn't it?"

Dawn just smiled at her and shook her head. "Whose car is this?" she asked the new arrivals.

A young black woman raised her hand. "OK, I want you to take her," Dawn pointed at Reese. "To the nearest hospital as fast as possible, got it?" The owner of the car nodded and moved to take the badly injured slayer from Alice and Jessica.

"Alice, Jessica, go with her and get yourself checked out as well," the two slayers nodded and walked towards the car. "Oh and try not to break the speed limit or get into any trouble, OK?" Dawn shouted after the retreating figures.

The only answer she got was a vague wave in her direction and then the car roared into life and sped off in a haze of smoke from the tyres. "How do I know they're going to ignore me?" Dawn muttered under her breath. "I just hope I don't have to bail them out of somewhere tomorrow morning."

A short time later two other cars pulled up near them, the occupants running up and firing questions at them. Dawn tried to answer them all as calmly and precisely as she could, Yes it was true Bec was dead. Yes the demon was dead. No she didn't think there were any more but she was sure if there were they would hear about it soon.

"Listen to me," Dawn shouted, the babble of conversation dying down as slayers turned to listen to her. "There's nothing more we can do here. Marilyn, Francesca, Yasmine and Mirza you're doing clean-up, find somewhere out of the way and dump the demon's body there, thankfully they tend to decompose quickly so somebody probably won't trip over it," Dawn took a deep breath. "Then find Bec's…body, from what Alice said it might be in pieces, wrap it up and we'll send her home for a decent burial."

The four nominated slayers nodded their understanding and set off on their grim task.

"The rest of you, go home and get some sleep, fun's over for tonight." The impromptu meeting broke up and the girls walked off, arguing amongst themselves.

Dawn sighed and leaned against Faith, only her strength was holding her upright otherwise she would have quite happily collapsed there and then and slept on the street.

"You look exhausted baby, why don't you let me walk you home?" Faith whispered in her ear.

Dawn nodded her acceptance and Faith led her away, only to find Alex blocking their path. "I think I should take her home, it would be easier all round. I don't know if they'd even let you in the dorm." Alex said firmly.

"Dawn?" Faith looked at her questioningly.

Dawn forced her tired brain to think. "That does make more sense, thank you for the offer Faith but I think I'll let Alex take me home."

Faith reluctantly let Dawn go, instantly missing the contact with Dawn's body. Dawn stumbled over to Alex who put an arm around Dawn's shoulders to steady her.

"I'll get one of the girls to give us a lift home," Alex guided Dawn towards one of the cars, helping her inside and then climbing in after her.

Dawn turned to look out the rear window and watch Faith as the car moved away. Faith lifted a hand and gently blew her a kiss before turning away and disappearing into the shadows.

To be continued…

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