Chapter Four: Wake Up
Faith’s eyes opened slowly. She’d been dreaming. The people in her dreams, one woman in particular, were so familiar to her, yet she couldn’t figure out where she knew them from.
A constant beeping claimed her attention. That was when she really took in her surroundings. The dim lighting, the machines all around her, and finally the hospital bed she was lying on.
What am I doing in a hospital? she wondered, cautiously raising her head from the pillow. And why can’t I remember anything?
She brought her wrist up to read the nametag that was wrapped around it. Faith Wilkins.
"Okay, that’s a start," she mumbled to herself, taking a moment to gather her strength before sitting up in the bed. She felt perfectly fine for someone being treated in a hospital, even though she had no idea what she was there for.
Careful not to hurt herself, she took out all the tubes and needles sticking into her arms. Holding her gown closed behind her, Faith made her way down the hall searching for a closet with scrubs that she could change into. She didn’t know why, but she had a feeling she was supposed to be somewhere. The hospital gave her an eerie discomfort. Not being able to remember anything, she shrugged away these thoughts and continued her journey through the hospital.
***
"Tell me again what we’re doing here," Anya asked impatiently.
"I’ve already told you, we’re making sure Buffy isn’t here before we go to Giles’," Xander explained for what seemed like the millionth time.
"I don’t see why we have to. Shouldn’t it be someone else’s turn to look for Buffy?" she complained. "You didn’t tell me it was going to take this long when we left your basement."
"I’m sorry if our friend’s disappearance is taking a little longer than I expected," he replied through gritting teeth, growing increasingly annoyed with his girlfriends insensitivity. "I didn’t expect Buffy to actually be missing."
Anya opened her mouth, most likely to complain some more, but Xander quickly stepped away from her before she could say something inappropriate to upset Willow who was approaching them. "Anything?"
Willow shook her head sadly. Although she was happy that her friend wasn’t hurt and in the hospital, it still left them with a missing slayer. "Nothing."
Xander put a comforting arm around his oldest friend’s shoulders. "We’ll find her, Will." They turned to walk out of the emergency room doors, Anya trailing behind them, when a doctor crashed into them in her hurry to get through the same doors.
"Excuse me," the woman apologized. She turned to rush away, but not before Willow got a glimpse of her face.
"Faith?!"
Faith looked up at the redhead. "You know me?"She couldn’t believe her good luck. She hadn’t even left the hospital and she’d already found people that could help her.
Xander and Willow looked at her strangely. Xander was imitating a fish out of water, opening and closing his mouth wordlessly. "Wha-huh-how?" he stuttered.
Faith broke out into a smile and rushed over to the trio. "So we’re, like, friends? Did we go to school together?" She looked at Xander flirtatiously. "Are you my boyfriend?"
Anya stepped foward, wrapping her arm around Xander’s possessively. "He’s my boyfriend." She gave Faith a warning look. "You can’t have him."
Faith backed away putting her hands up in surrender.
Willow frowned. That was the Faith she was used to, not this overly cheerful girl who thought they were friends. "You don’t remember us?" she asked suspiciously.
Faith shook her head sadly.
"Do you know who you are?" Willow asked, not completely convinced of Faith’s amnesia.
"Faith Wilkins," Faith replied reading off her wristband. She showed it to Willow. "Says so right here."
Willow sent a shocked look Xander’s way. Could this be the homicidal slayer they once knew and hated? What were they supposed to do? They couldn’t leave her alone, wandering the dangerous streets of Sunnydale. It took all her strength and compassion to utter the next sentence. "Let’s bring her to Giles."
***
Giles let out an irritated sigh, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a handkerchief. "And how does this affect me?"
Spike huffed. "Well, because until I get a new telly I’ll be spending a lot more time coming up with new evil schemes."
Giles rolled his eyes. "Like what?"
"Haven’t thought of any yet," Spike admitted. "But when I do you Scoobies won’t want to be in the way, that’s for sure."
Giles turned his back on the infuriating vampire and headed towards his kitchen. He began to pour himself a cup of tea when Willow and Xander came rushing into his apartment.
"Giles!" Willow called before rushing over to look into the kitchen.
Xander was right behind her. "You’re never going to believe-hey, are you hanging out with Spike?" he asked in disbelief.
Giles joined them in the main room, finally noticing two extra people in his apartment. "Faith’s awoken from her coma?" He sounded twice as confused as Xander.
"I was in a coma?" Faith asked frantically. "How long was I asleep? How old am I? Do I have a job? A family? Can someone please tell me what's gone on?"
Spike watched the people around him with amusement. Deciding he wouldn’t get any attention for a while, he strode over to Giles’s couch and sat down noisily.
"What’s he still doing here?" Xander complained to Giles. "Haven’t we seen enough of his fangyness for one extremely long lifetime."
Giles ignored Xander and concentrated on Faith. "When did this all happen?"
"Not too long ago," she replied. "I was lucky to find my friends so quickly."
Giles sent a questioningly look Willow’s way. Obviously no one had filled Faith in on her waywardness. Which could prove extremely helpful if they convinced Faith that she was a good slayer and trained her to work with them.
"Yes, quite lucky indeed," Giles agreed with her although his words had a double meaning.
"This isn’t the only reason we stopped by," Willow admitted looking worried. "It’s about Buffy."
Spike perked his ears up when he heard Willow speak. If something was wrong with the slayer he definitely wanted to know about it.
"What about Buffy?" Giles responded not liking Willow’s tone.
"Well, I haven’t exactly been able to find her a lot lately," Willow told him. "I haven’t seen her in two days."
The ex-watcher shook his head. "That can’t be true. Just yesterday you informed me she was off studying in the library."
Willow hung her head, embarrassed at having been caught in a lie. "That’s not exactly the truth," she confessed softly. "You see, Buffy, well she was with Riley. And I didn’t want you to know-well, you know. You do know, don’t you?"
"No, I can’t say I have the slightest idea as to what you’re talking about."
Xander stepped up to help Willow explain things. "Well, you see Buffy has this new boyfriend, Riley-"
Spike propped up on the arm of the couch to face them all. "The slayer is locked up in soldier boy’s room getting her rocks off, you git!"
Giles ripped the glasses from his face and began furiously wiping at them. "I hope she’s not neglecting her studies," was all he could think to say.
Anya made her way over to the armchair across from Spike. "I don’t know what they’re all so worried about," she told him loudly. "Riley’s probably giving her many orgasms and she won’t want us bothering her anyway."
"Anya!"
***
Willow bounced in her seat nervously waiting for Buffy to show up to class. When Professor Walsh began to lecture Willow’s fear that her friend was in trouble increased dramatically. Buffy couldn’t be that busy with the Initiative if both Riley and Professor Walsh had made it to class.
Willow counted the minutes until class was over. She normally enjoyed psychology, but today she found it hard to concentrate. Especially when she had an unnerving suspicion that her teacher was involved in her friend’s disappearance.
She waited outside of the lecture hall for Riley. When he strode out of the classroom, Willow rushed after him shouting his name to get his attention.
Riley turned around at the sound of his name, and quickly frowned when he saw it was Willow. "Willow, hey," he greeted. "Need help with today’s lecture?"
Willow stood in front of him, stopping them both in the middle of the hallway. "Where’s Buffy?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.
Riley looked around nervously. "She’s around."
"Around?" Willow cried. "Around? She most certainly has not been around, mister. I haven’t seen her in days!"
"I can assure you she is around campus," he said as he started walking again.
Willow glared at his back before catching up with him. "Well if she’s around then why don’t we both go meet up with her?" she suggested innocently.
Riley shook his head. "We had a rough night of patrolling last night," he lied. "She’s resting up in my room. Said she didn’t want to be disturbed."
She was running out of patience and just about ready to do a very uncomfortable spell on him. "You’re a horrible liar, Riley," she told him. "Just tell me where my friend is."
Riley stopped walking, grabbed Willow roughly by the arm and dragged her behind a nearby tree. The look of terror on her face made him feel disgusted with himself, but there was nothing he could do to make the situation different. "Listen, I promise you Buffy is fine," he started. "You know she can handle herself."
Willow remained quiet. She took in Riley’s body language and knew he was convincing himself more than her. She also knew he knew full well where Buffy was. For a second she wished Spike didn’t have that stupid chip so he could take care of Riley and the whole Initiative for hurting Buffy, but quickly admonished herself for the thought. She’d much rather be the cause of their undoing.
Riley looked around them once more before staring into her eyes. "Stop asking questions, Willow. You’re only going to get yourself hurt if you don’t."
Willow couldn’t find her voice as she watched the marine walk away from her.
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