“Well I must say, I am fascinated by this amulet. May I?” Wesley looked hopefully at Buffy. 

“Ah, yeah, sure. But if it starts to get warm or anything…” 

“Of course,” Wesley agreed, reaching eagerly for the proffered amulet. “Remarkable.” 

“So…  Dead, huh?” Buffy’s gaze flicked from the now-absorbed watcher to the dark-haired slayer. Faith lolled comfortably in the chair, her legs draped across the arm and her feet propped on the table, the picture of casual ease. “What happened? How…?” 

“You know, the usual.  Apocalypse,” Faith responded with feigned nonchalance. 

“Faith!” Wesley reprimanded, looking up from his study of the amulet; his eyes darted quickly from one slayer to the next. Handing the Iemlenu amulet back to its owner, he spoke gently, apologising for Faith’s apparent insensitivity. “I’m sorry, Buffy. It’s just that... well, we all lost people—friends—that day, and talking about it isn’t easy.”  

He looked over at the very tired-looking girl and the vampire who was, at this point, paler than even a creature of the night should be. “You’re both tired; why don’t you get some rest, and…” 

“No,” the dimension travellers responded in unison. 

“We have to find Dawn,” Buffy added. 

“I appreciate that; however, I don’t see that you falling down from exhaustion is going to be of any help to your sister. And if you do manage to locate her, neither you nor your companion are going to be of much assistance in your present condition. You both need sleep, and the vampire has lost a considerable amount of blood and needs time to heal.” 

“He could also use some blood,” Buffy said hopefully. “If we hadn’t lost that pack… Well, not much we can do about that now, but I don’t suppose there’s any blood left here… from Angel, I mean?” 

Wesley’s eyes flew briefly to the brunette at his side before fixing once more on the blonde slayer, sadness reflected obviously in their depths. “I’m afraid not.  The battle was over eight months ago, and so... Well, we had to clear a lot of things out.” 

“What happened?” Buffy asked quietly.  

“The First Evil. It seems it hadn’t quite finished with Angel, or with you. We came in only in the final days, so I don’t know all the details, but it seems the First had been systematically murdering potential slayers and their watchers. At the same time you, or the other you—it all gets a little confusing there, doesn’t it?” he pondered aloud.  

“Anyway, it seems both yourself and Angel were being tormented by dreams. I’m not entirely certain as to their nature; I only know that Angel said that his involved past victims, his—or Angelus’.  Additionally, the Council of Watchers was destroyed, taking with it most of the watchers and their library.” Regret played across his features, and Buffy wondered if he mourned more for the loss of the watchers or for the hundreds of years’ accumulation of books. 

“I received news that my father had been killed, and from there we discovered what was happening in Sunnydale. We—Angel Investigations—joined you in the final battle inside the Hellmouth. Angel had acquired an amulet from one of his sources; we were unable to determine its exact purpose, but were assured that it would be of great benefit in defeating the First once and for all. It had to be worn by someone with a soul, but of superhuman strength. Angel wore the amulet; you, Faith, and the young witches—Willow and Tara,” he offered hesitantly hoping he was remembering the girls’ names correctly, “led the potentials into the Hellmouth, while the rest of us held the fort above ground. The plan worked; the First, the Hellmouth and Sunnydale were all destroyed. However, Angel, yourself, most of the AI team, young Xander, and many of the Potentials were killed in the process; the rest of us barely made it out alive.” 

Wesley reached over and gently pried Faith’s fingers from the chair arm she had been holding in a death-grip, entwining them in his and running his thumb in soothing patterns across the back of her hand. She smiled briefly, acknowledging the comfort offered and her appreciation. 

When he was certain that his slayer had her emotions once more under control, he continued. “Dawn and the witches are in London with Giles, where they are attempting to piece the Council back together. Anyanka accompanied them as far as England but, apparently with her husband’s death she lost all interest in assisting in any way and is now running a small retail venue in York. As the Cleveland Hellmouth is all but inactive, Faith and I came back here to continue Angel Investigations’ work in Los Angeles. Fred went back home to Texas after Gunn’s death. Cordelia took a horrific blow to the head as we were evacuating and is still in a coma; no one can say if or when she will ever awaken.” 

“So there’s just the two of you here?” Buffy asked, her mind reeling with questions as she tried to digest the information Wesley had already supplied. 

“Permanently, yes. We do have an associate who assists us from time to time, although generally more in the research department than with the actual physical side of things. Lorne is an empath demon, and where he is more than capable of assisting us in our investigations, he is rather lacking in combat skills. Of course, we maintain close communication with Mr Giles and the new Council, and can count on their assistance should we ever require it. And as Faith is the active slayer, the arrangement is, of course, reciprocated.” 

“Okay, we done with the little Q & A session for now? B, you and Blondie look like you’re dead on your feet. Get some sleep; we’ll pick up some blood for fang-face there as soon as the butcher’s opens, and Wes can get on the horn to Giles and Co. see if they have any ideas on how to find your missing sis.  But like Wes says, you’re no use to anyone the way you are now; I think even he could take you both out without raising a sweat.” Faith smirked unrepentantly at her lover before turning back to the exhausted travellers. “No arguments. I’m sure we’ve got a couple of rooms—or is that room?” she asked with a grin and a delicately arched eyebrow. 

“Rooms, definitely rooms,” Buffy sputtered, barely managing to restrain herself from elbowing the highly amused vampire who was happily snorting at her discomfort.

tbc