The Special Two by Drakiri

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: http://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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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…

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.

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."

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

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.

"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.

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?"

"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.

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."

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."

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

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."

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?"

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."

"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."

"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.

"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…"

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

"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."

"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.

"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?"

"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."

"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."

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

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."

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.

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."

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?"

"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."

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."

"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."

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."

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

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.

"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.

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

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.

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

"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."

"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.

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.

"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.

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 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.

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."

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

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

"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.

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.

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

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

"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.

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

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

"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."

"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?"

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

"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."

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.

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 recognized 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.

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

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 maneuvered 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.

"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?"

"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.

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.

"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 calisthenics. "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.

"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?"

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."

"-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 behavior.

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."

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."

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."

"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?"

"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."

Dawn looked at her sullenly. "You do realize 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."

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?"

"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?"

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 realizing she was the focus of attention of everybody else in the room.

"Thank you Jessica for that outburst," Dawn said irritably. "You do realize 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."

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?"

"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.

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."

"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."

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 recognized 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."

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 realized 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 mesmerized by her as well, everyone except Dawn.

"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."

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

"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?"

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."

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 realized 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 realized 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 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."

"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.

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."

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

"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."

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.

"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 realized 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 judgment 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 realized 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."

"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 recognized 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.

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.

"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?"

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.

"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."

"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.

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."

"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."

"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."

"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.

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

"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."

"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.

The demon ignored the helpless Jacinta, its head suddenly snapping around towards where Faith and Dawn stood. Its nostrils flared wide open as it recognized 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 savoring the moment, this had no effect on Faith, other then aggravating her.

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.

"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 tires 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 tires. "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 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.

The heavy book thumped down on the desk, falling from Dawn's hands as she stretched and yawned. She winced when some of the bruises from last night protested at the sudden movement, or any movement at all, she had spent most of the day recovering and looking up the demon responsible for the bruises and then reporting back to slayer central about what had happened and the need for another slayer to replace the now departed Rebecca.

"Hey Dawn," Alex noticed the slow, careful way Dawn was moving. "How are you feeling?"

"Bits of me are OK, other bits less so," Dawn grumbled. "I'm starting to wish I had slayer healing."

"It is one of the perks of the job," Alex agreed, moving freely as if nothing had happened the previous night. "So found our beastie yet?" she asked, looking over Dawn's shoulder.

"Yep," Dawn passed her one of the books from the large pile on the desk. "That's him, or more precisely it. Gosnarr demon, very strong, very fast, very dangerous, they're kind of like assassins or hit men for the underworld, the actual underworld."

"That's it alright," Alex studied the picture in the book Dawn had given her. "So are we going to see any more of these guys around?"

"I doubt it and that's kind of worrying me," Dawn turned back to the notes she had been taking. "As far as I can tell the only way these demons can get here, here in this reality, is if they're summoned by someone or something powerful. That's usually a high-level demon trying to eliminate a rival or a powerful sorcerer needing a bodyguard of some kind, but summoning them is extremely dangerous, Gosnarr demons are very hard to control and are just as likely to turn on the summoner especially if they're human."

"So someone tried summoning one of these things and it got out of control, killed them and then went on the rampage," Alex hazarded a guess.

"Maybe," Dawn sighed. "It's just when we were fighting it in the alley it had both you and Jacinta at its mercy but instead of attacking you it turned on me," she explained.

"I know, it sounds paranoid, but I can't get over the way as soon as it saw me it ignored everyone else and came right at me."

"Gee thanks," Dawn said flatly. "Anyway if it wanted helpless victims you and Jacinta weren't exactly in a threatening position."

"We were re-evaluating our position and readying for another attack," Alex said defensively.

"Right you really threw the demon off its guard by lying there on the ground," Dawn saw Alex's hurt expression. "I'm sorry I snapped Alex, it's been a long day and I'm tired."

"That's OK," Alex accepted Dawn's apology and turned back to emptying out her bag. "So you seen Faith today?' Alex asked casually, deliberately not looking at Dawn.

"I don't know, you two seemed pretty snugly last night is all," Alex studied Dawn out of the corner of her eye, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Well I was tired and it was late and a lot had happened and I hit my head-' Dawn babbled, put a little off guard by her friend's question.

"Oh come on Dawn," Alex interrupted her mid-flow. "If I hadn't intervened you probably would have gone home with her."

"That's so not true," Dawn saw Alex's skeptical look. "Well maybe it is, but I don't see what business that is of yours."

Alex sat down on the edge of the desk. "Because I'm your friend and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Its just so confusing," Dawn said, clearly frustrated. "Whenever I'm around Faith I get all these feelings, I mean I'm still angry with her but…"

"Now that I've seen Faith I can sort of understand," Alex said thoughtfully. "She looks like the kind of woman who could seduce you by sitting very quietly in the next room."

"You think it's bad now, you should have seen her a few years ago," Dawn gave Alex a sly glance. "And it sounds like I'm not the only one who likes her."

"What? No I don't, I'm still liking the men here, its just Faith is rather…um…alluring."

"Alluring is one way of putting it and I was just teasing about the Faith thing," Dawn couldn't help smiling at Alex's discomfort. "I don't suppose you could help me figure out what I should do?' she added hopefully.

"I think you need to make a choice between your boyfriend or your girlfriend," Alex said gently.

Dawn thought about arguing the point but decided Alex was probably right. "Mmmm…I don't know. I still don't understand why she has this effect on me. I mean I don't feel this way about anybody else, guy or girl, but when Faith is around me it's like instant, almost as if I have no control over myself whatsoever."

"Maybe Faith is right about something, maybe you're meant to be together," Alex suggested.

Dawn snorted derisively. "Faith being right, I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Anyway the Gosnarr demon," Alex said, changing the subject. "You said you thought it was after you?"

"Who would hold a big enough grudge to send one of those things after you?' Alex asked.

"I don't know and that's what has me worried. Anyway I rang the Council this afternoon and let them know about it," Dawn told her.

"And they told me that it's my job to figure these things out, that's what they're paying me for."

"No they're right, I can't go running off for help every time a problem comes up. I'm a Watcher now and I can deal with this," Dawn said confidently. "Besides if it does get serious they'll send someone to help."

"You can keep researching the Gosnarr and anything or anyone who could have summoned it," Dawn glanced at her watch. "I need a break and I've got a date with Shawn, if anyone from the Council rings let me know."

"And I thought protecting Dawn was going to be a cushy job," Alex muttered to herself, she shook her head in resignation and began looking through Dawn's notes, as she picked up a book a photo fell out from between the pages.

Alex picked it up and stared at it curiously, the photo was of a beautiful young woman, a woman Alex instantly recognized as Faith, leaning against a railing and grinning mischievously at the photographer, presumably Dawn.

Alex grunted in surprise. "Looks like you're not as over her as you say you are Dawnie," she whispered before slipping the photo back into its hiding place and continuing with her reading.

The space had been a room once but years of misuse and neglect had left it resembling a bombed-out ruin. Old graffiti covered the walls, debris of various shapes and sizes covered most of the floor and helped to support the pieces of the walls that remained upright, parts of the mostly collapsed roof lay moldering on the floor and exposed the space to the weak sunlight that filtered in.

The room hadn't had any use in a long time but it wasn't empty, scuttling noises suggested that certain parts of the room had been colonized, possibly by rats. A young woman stood studying the graffiti disinterestedly and ignoring the small noises made by the room's inhabitants as she impatiently waited for her associate.

Another young woman appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and walked up beside her. The newcomer's feet didn't make a sound nor did they disturb the thick layer of dust that lay over everything.

"You know you really should use something to announce your presence, like a bell or something," the other woman said casually over her shoulder as she continued to read the graffiti on the wall.

The First stared at her coldly. "You noticed my presence despite the lack of sound effects."

The woman shrugged. "I'm a slayer, I'm supposed to know when something evil is lurking about," she turned to face the First. "Speaking of lurking evil it seems your little pet gosling or whatever it was got out."

"Gosnarr, it was a Gosnarr demon," the First corrected her icily. "And yes I know, Gosnarr's can be very hard to keep control of, especially after they have a target fixed in what goes for their mind."

"I still don't understand why you wasted it by sending it after Dawn, she's not exactly much of a threat and I can think of hundreds of better ways of using a demon like that then sending it after a teenaged Watcher, even if she is the sister of The Slayer."

The First took note of the bitterness in the voice of the slayer, it was amusing to the First to hear it, it meant its influence was growing over the girl and that soon she could be a very useful tool in its schemes. "By herself she isn't a threat but there is a prophecy she is part of and I wish to make sure it never transpires, one of the best ways to do that is to eliminate her."

"If it's been prophesized doesn't that mean it's going to come true no matter what you do?' the slayer asked.

"Not necessarily, some prophecies can be stopped others don't come out quite the way you expect, this one however is unfortunately rather…unambiguous and as such must be stopped."

The First eyed her warily. "I'm not sure I trust you enough to confide that to you."

"Fair enough," the slayer shrugged. "I still don't see what kind of threat Dawn could be to you, prophecy or not."

The First thought about it for a second. "No," it said slowly. "You're too important to me, for the moment, and it's too much of a risk."

"OK, no harm in asking," the slayer casually dismissed the talk of pre-meditated murder as if they had been talking about the weather. "By the way you're Gos-thingy wasn't a total loss it did some damage, killed one slayer and injured a couple of others."

The slayer frowned. "Yeah I thought it was a bit morbid you turning up as Bec, her body's barely cold."

"Good," the First nodded its approval. "Was there any other reason you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah there's a new slayer in town," the slayer walked slowly away. "Name of Faith."

"Any of the more experienced slayers arriving here is a problem," the First managed to compose itself, controlling the apprehension that the mention of the dark slayer's name had caused. "Has she had any contact with Dawn?"

"Good," the First felt a little reassured at hearing this news. "Keep an eye on them and inform me if anything changes."

The slayer stiffened. "I'm not one of your Bringers that you can order about at will."

"Then why are you helping me?' The First asked, knowing the answer all too well.

"Ah yes, you want me to destroy the entire slayer line except for you and leave you as the last, one, true slayer," the First said softly

"Of course I do, I always remember the things that are important to me and I always keep my end of the bargain."

The slayer didn't believe that for a second, she wasn't completely stupid and she trusted the First about as far as she could throw it, which considering it was incorporeal wasn't far, but for now it was useful to keep things as they were. "That's nice to know and I'll keep an eye on Dawn and Faith for you."

"Until our next meeting then," the First faded out of existence indicating the end of the meeting.

"Right, until then," the slayer muttered to an empty room before turning and sweeping out of the room, leaving it in silence once more.

A thin wintry sun shone feebly down on the small grassy area and on the few students lounging around as they tried to make the most of a rare decent winter's day in Boston.

Faith wandered between the lounging bodies, looking around her with a wistful half-smile on her face as memories of her earlier life in Boston came flooding back. Her first Watcher had been a Harvard professor or lecturer or something, Faith had never actually bothered finding out exactly what she'd done at the university, but she had worked here and Faith had visited her occasionally although her Watcher had usually discouraged it, apparently not many fifteen-year-olds visited Harvard and she was worried it might blow her cover as a Watcher and Faith's cover as a slayer

At times Faith still missed her, although their relationship had never been particularly close or friendly, certainly not like Buffy's and Giles' was, Diana was one of the few people who had treated her decently in Boston and she hadn't deserved what Kakistos had done to her. The vampire's torture and murder of Diana and her own inability to stop it still haunted Faith, Diana's screams sometimes echoed through her nightmares even today.

As she was looking around Faith caught a glimpse of Dawn out of the corner of her eye, she quickly turned to follow and then stopped abruptly, the smile fading from her lips at the sight that greeted her. Dawn sharing a more then friendly embrace with some tall, good-looking young man she assumed was Shawn.

Faith felt a flare of jealousy well up inside of her; I mean how dare he touch her Dawn like that and in public as well. She eventually managed to get a grip on herself; he was her boyfriend after all, although not for long if she had anything to do with it.

She stood watching them uncertainly as she tried to decide what to do. After a few moments of indecision Faith finally made up her mind and strode towards them, attempting to appear confident.

An anxious look crossed Dawn's face when she realized who it was. "Faith what are you doing here?"

A polite cough interrupted their conversation. "Um Dawn, who is this?' Shawn asked.

"Oh, this is…' Dawn hesitated, glancing at Faith. "Faith, she's an old friend, sort of."

Faith ignored the proffered hand. "An old friend, sort of," she could see a pleading look in Dawn's eyes and put two and two together. "You haven't told him about us have you?"

"Told me about what?' a confused Shawn turned to Dawn who was busy glaring at Faith as if she hoped her look could kill or at least seriously maim.

"What!? You mean…how come you never told me about this?' shock and anger in equal parts were evident in Shawn's voice.

"Well, I meant to…I mean-' Dawn struggled to find the right words to explain to Shawn what was going on.

"It never seemed the right time…' Dawn's voice trailed off as Shawn wheeled away and stormed off.

"Dawn-' Faith's apology was cut short by Dawn's angry glare before she ran off after Shawn.

Faith sighed resignedly as she watched the couple leave. It had been kind of fun messing with the guy but it probably hadn't been the smartest thing to do, especially if she hoped to win Dawn back anytime soon. Now she was seriously pissed at her and it was going to be that little bit harder to convince Dawn to come back into her life and into her arms, Faith turned and trudged away thinking hard on how she could make this up to her.

Eventually a breathless Dawn managed to catch up to Shawn, she suspected because he had let her catch up.

"Shawn, wait, please we need to talk," she gasped, struggling to get her breath back.

"Fine then, let's talk," Shawn said angrily. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Well it's not exactly something you bring up in casual conversation," Dawn said defensively. "Hi I'm Dawn and I was previously in a relationship with another women."

"We've been together for over four months I think you could've brought it up at some point."

"It just never seemed the right time," Dawn said weakly. "And its not that big a deal is it?"

Shawn sighed. "I don't know Dawn. It's just…recently I've been thinking that maybe we should stop seeing each other at least for a little while-"

"Wait a second you're breaking up with me over this," Dawn shouted incredulously, causing some nearby people to turn and stare at them curiously.

"I'll be as loud as I damn well want," Dawn said, lowering her voice nevertheless.

"Like you being all secretive and not telling me things like where you are some nights and then you come back looking like you've gone three rounds with Mike Tyson, I mean where did you get those?' Shawn asked pointing out some of Dawn's more recent bruises.

"Oh right for your sisters 'security firm'," Shawn said sarcastically. "It's funny how no one else seems to have heard about them. Does she have something to do with it?"

"Faith would never hurt me," Dawn stated emphatically. "Well at least not physically, why would you think that?"

"What am I supposed to think, you hardly ever tell me what you're doing or where you're going and then suddenly this woman springs up claiming to be your girlfriend."

Dawn was silent for a few seconds. "I'm sorry Shawn, I just…some of them I can't, that's my life and if you can't accept that…"

"Then I'm sorry too Dawn, because I can't accept that and if you can't let me in then what kind of a relationship do we have?' Shawn asked quietly.

"Yeah that's what I thought," Shawn said sadly. "Do you love her?' he asked softly.

"Then she's a very lucky woman," Shawn said before he turned around and walked away.

Four figures were floating in a place that wasn't so much a physical place as it was a hole between worlds somewhere left over after the act of creation, a space no one not even demons or some kind of minor deity could find a use for and so it had been either ignored or forgotten about.

And so it was a perfect place for a secret meeting you didn't want anyone or anything else observing.

There was no natural light here which made it seemed vast, a large expanse of nothingness stretching away in all directions. This was an illusion however as the space was rather small, barely large enough for the four figures in grey robes who, due to the tightness of the space, were standing much closer to each other then they would have preferred.

"We don't see why it was necessary for us to meet here," one muttered peevishly.

"It is imperative we are not overseen, the First's power grows daily," another answered. "And if it were to notice our machinations…' it trailed off suggestively.

Although none of the four figures required it their robes cast a small amount of illumination, enough to discern vague shapes but nothing else, compared to the void that surrounded them however even that small amount of light looked as bright as a small sun.

"Despite the First's interference the prophecy of the slayer and the key nears fulfillment my brothers," one of the figures announced, its bearing and the nearly visible aura of power radiating from it made it obvious it was the being in charge of the meeting. "Even without anymore intervention from us the prophecy will soon be restored and the final phase will begin."

"We could have found somewhere else surely, somewhere more comfortable where we could stretch out a little. It's like being jammed in the back of a cattle truck in here…' the other figure continued its complaints, oblivious to anything other than its own discomfort.

"Should we allow this prophecy to reach its conclusion, the growing number of slayers causes the balance to shift further every day. If we allow this prophecy to continue surely it will tip the balance permanently," a third figure argued.

"…And its so cold here, couldn't we have found somewhere warmer, if we had body parts they would be freezing off right about now…"

"The purpose of the prophecy is to preserve the future balance it will not effect the present balance in any way," the leader answered smoothly.

"…And why does it have to be so dark, we could have brought a light with us or at least found somewhere with-' the complaining figure stopped abruptly as it realized everyone else was staring at it. "What?"

"We should keep our minds on the problem at hand brother, instead of incessantly whining," the leader reprimanded the complaining figure coldly.

"We were just saying…' the figure whispered, subsiding under the continued disapproving glare of the leader.

"We must continue to monitor the situation, the First will undoubtedly try to destroy the prophecy once again, this must not be allowed to happen," the leader declared.

"What about the First's agent, the traitorous slayer, should anything be done about her?' one of the figures asked.

The leader was silent for a long moment. "No," it answered finally. "She has her own part to play in this, although we are uncertain exactly what form that will take. For now keep watch over the slayer and the key and be vigilant for any interference from the First."

The three other figures bowed their heads in acknowledgement and faded out of sight.

The leader floated in the space by itself for a while as it thought things through. Events seemed to be going according to plan, however anything could happen as had been proven in the past, this time things were going to go smoothly it was going to make sure of that.

This time the prophecy would reach it's proper conclusion no matter what the First did and the balance would be preserved.

Faith stood opposite the large building that she knew Dawn used for her council meetings, watching for any signs of life and if she was being honest stalling about going in and checking. She had thought of and discarded a million things she could say when she saw Dawn again but still hadn't come up with anything decent. After what had happened last time Faith wasn't sure if she should apologize or just act as if nothing had happened, she had thought about bringing a present, flowers, chocolate, maybe ice-cream but had decided against it when she couldn't think of anything that wasn't completely clichéd.

So here she stood, empty-handed and unsure about what to say or do or if she should say or do anything. She still didn't quite understand why she had acted like that around Shawn, it was probably jealousy mixed with a bit of shock at seeing someone other than herself touching her Dawn like that, it had stirred the possessive side of her into action and that almost inevitably got her into trouble of one sort or another.

Faith took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to muster up some extra courage. "Screw it," she muttered. "Let's just get this over and done with."

She strode up to the door, deciding to arrive openly instead of through the window she had previously used, and confidently knocked. When there was no response she knocked harder then tried the doorknob and was surprised when the door swung easily open into an empty room.

"I thought somebody's supposed to be on guard," Faith thought, a worried frown appearing on her face.

She slipped cautiously through the building, checking around her for signs of a struggle or anything unusual. She eventually reached the small room Dawn and co. had used as a meeting place last time, it was empty of the co. but not of Dawn who stood with her back facing the door, writing something down on a piece of paper.

Faith halted and let her eyes wander up and down Dawn's body, lingering when they reached that tight, little ass. She finally managed to tear herself away from the view and remember that she was here for a reason other then admiring Dawn's body, she cleared her throat loudly attempting to catch Dawn's attention.

"What are you doing here Faith?' Dawn asked without turning around or acknowledging her presence in any other way.

"I was in the area so I-' Faith stopped in mid-sentence. "Hang on, how did you know it was me?"

"Lucky guess," Dawn sighed and turned to face her. "Of course that would depend on your definition of lucky."

Faith knew what her definition of lucky was but she guessed it wouldn't be the same as Dawn's; especially considering the mood the teenager seemed to be in.

"So where is everyone?' Faith asked, attempting to divert her mind from the direction it was heading.

"I gave the girls the night off, what with the whole Bec situation I thought it might be best to give them a break, you know for morale, plus it looks like it might snow tonight and that's not exactly the best weather to patrol in."

"I've been out in worse," Faith commented. "But I guess you're right. So if there's no meeting tonight then what are you doing here?"

"Well, I…uh I wasn't able to contact some of the girls and so I was waiting here in case they um turned up," Dawn said, unable to meet Faith's eyes.

"Or possibly waiting for me?' Faith thought hopefully, desperately wanting the answer to that question to be yes. "So how's what's-his-name, Shawn?"

"Oh, too bad," Faith was surprised how happy she was at that news. "So where's your shadow?"

"Oh. Her. No, she's busy, assignment due of some kind, I think," Dawn said vaguely.

"So you're here by yourself, that's a bit dangerous," Faith said her concern clearly written on her face.

Dawn did the cute blushy thing Faith found so adorable. "Anyway I've pretty much finished here so I was heading back to my dorm."

"Cool, I'll walk you home," Faith fell in beside Dawn as she walked out of the room.

"Considering it's a few miles between here and my dorm I was actually thinking of getting a taxi,"

"At this time of night, around here?' Faith stared at her disbelievingly. "You're more likely to see a…a leprechaun then get a taxi."

"Oh," Dawn hesitated for a second. "Then I'll get the subway home.' That decision made she started moving again.

"That's a fair distance, it'd almost be quicker walking back to your dorm," something suddenly occurred to Faith. "How'd you get here anyway?"

"Alex dropped me off I haven't got my driver's license yet. Ooh I'll just ring her to pick me up," Dawn pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

"I don't think your shadow will be able to drive through that, do you?' Faith asked.

"Probably not, it's a good thing I cancelled patrol then," Dawn watched the flurries of snow as they beat against the windowpane. "So what am I going to do?"

"We have to go, this place isn't exactly centrally heated we'll freeze to death if we stay here."

"Like I said before the nearest one is a fair old hike D," Faith paused. "In fact my hotel room is closer," she added uncertainly.

"Your hotel room," Dawn stared at her suspiciously. "Did you set this up or something?"

"Right Dawn, I ordered a snowstorm tonight just to get you back to my hotel room," Faith said sarcastically. "I'm a slayer, not a witch remember?"

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just a bit coincidental is all," Dawn said, continuing to look at her dubiously.

"Look, do you want to come or not?' Faith asked a bit harsher then she intended.

Dawn considered the offer, trying to figure out if it was a good idea or not. A part of her was screaming at her that this was a bad idea and she should turn Faith down immediately and go home by herself no matter how long that took, another part desperately wanted to agree and to let things happen whatever that might mean, the last part simply wanted to go somewhere where it was warm and dry.

Faith watched Dawn closely, attempting to gauge her reaction and figure out what she was going to do. She hoped Dawn's answer would be yes and that she would say it soon as the temperature in the room was starting to drop.

Faith nodded. "I promise, there will be no business that could be considered funny."

Faith met her gaze evenly. "I know, I won't try anything," she leaned closer. "Not unless you want me to."

Dawn didn't answer her, looking away quickly and opening the door, letting in a blast of cold air. "So where's your hotel?"

"Just follow me baby," Faith said playfully, taking Dawn's reluctant hand and leading her out into the snow.

The cold engulfed them quickly, the snow stinging against their bare, exposed skin. The two young women hurried through the snow, huddling against each other in a vain attempt to keep warm.

Faith wrapped an arm protectively around Dawn's waist, partly to keep her close and partly to propel her forward as quickly as possible. Thankfully the snow wasn't coming down heavily enough to limit the visibility so Faith was able to navigate them both back to the hotel without too much difficulty, although by the time they reached it the cold was starting to get to them both especially since neither her nor Dawn had any heavy, warm clothing on.

Finally after what seemed an eternity stumbling through the biting cold they reached the front doors, almost running to get into the heat of the foyer and unfreeze frozen limbs. There they stayed basking in the warmth, their clothes steaming and dripping on the carpet until a frosty glare from one of the hotel employees got them moving towards the lifts.

The door into Faith's room was pushed quickly open and by the time it was closed both women were starting to shiver violently in the cold room.

"F-f-faith we need to g-get out of these c-cold, wet clothes," Dawn said, her teeth chattering together.

"N-n-no arguments h-here," Faith agreed, walking over to the heater and turning it all the way up. "I d-don't know if I've g-g-got any clothes that w-would fit you though," she added, looking Dawn up and down doubtfully.

"Faith a-a-anything would be b-better then this," Dawn said as she tried to get her shivering under control.

Faith continued to study her thoughtfully then spun around and went into the bathroom, emerging soon afterwards with a large, fluffy white towel. "Here, p-p-put this on," she said as she threw the towel over to Dawn.

Dawn clutched at the towel, gesturing at Faith that she should turn around while she changed.

Dawn continued to glare at her and made it obvious she wasn't going to budge an inch on the matter.

Faith sighed and reluctantly turned around. "I'm sure it h-hasn't changed that m-much since I last saw it D," she commented, not that she wouldn't mind finding out the truth of that. As Faith glanced around idly her eye fell on a mirror that was hanging on the wall opposite at almost the right angle, Faith leaned over and tilted her head slightly, managing to catch a glimpse of a bare, creamy white thigh before the towel covered it over.

"OK, you can turn around now," Dawn's voice came drifting over her shoulder, Faith turned around slowly to find Dawn standing there nervously, clearly uncomfortable about wearing only a towel. The towel did cover Dawn from her chest to her knees but it didn't look entirely secure which probably accounted for her nervousness.

"Why d-don't you get under t-the covers," Faith suggested. "Just to k-keep warm."

Dawn glanced from the bed to Faith and then back again. "Where are you going to sleep?' she asked.

Dawn seemed to think this over before eventually nodding. "I guess so," she made her way over to the bed and climbed in, making sure the towel remained wrapped around her.

Faith walked over to her bag, pulling out a towel, t-shirt and shorts and then began to strip off her own wet clothes.

Faith grinned at her. "You can turn around, you don't have to look you know," Faith went back to drying herself off and then changing, when she checked in the mirror Dawn hadn't turned around and was still looking.

Faith was almost tempted not to replace the wet clothes she had shed and go naked instead but she decided not to push her luck, she wasn't quite sure how Dawn would react and things were going well, she didn't want to ruin that. After she had finished changing she gathered up her and Dawn's clothes and hung them up in front of the heater to dry, Dawn's eyes on her the entire time.

She sauntered back to the bed sliding in close to Dawn, but not close enough to provoke a bad reaction from the younger woman. They lay there in an uncomfortable silence, listening to the wind and snow beat against the windows, neither speaking a word. Faith felt the bed move as Dawn shifted her weight and attempted to make herself more comfortable, in the process accidentally brushing her bare leg up against Faith's.

"Oops, sorry," Dawn said automatically, pulling her leg away although Faith noticed she didn't move her leg far.

On impulse Faith decided to test how far she could push Dawn before she told her to stop. Faith slid her leg up against Dawn and deliberately started to rub it up and down, her bare leg caressing against Dawn's skin.

She rolled over onto her side to see Dawn's reaction, close enough to feel her breath on her skin. Dawn was lying on her back, eyes closed, her breathing short and shallow.

"Faith," Dawn breathed softly. "You promised," her eyes opened as she turned her head and gazed into Faith's eyes.

"I promised not to try anything you don't want me to," Faith reminded her as she slid her leg further up Dawn's body, her knee pushing the towel up higher. "If you tell me to stop I will."

Dawn didn't say or do anything, continuing to stare at Faith with a deer in the headlights expression on her face.

Faith took that to mean yes, or at least it didn't mean no, and rolled on top of her gently lowering herself on top of Dawn. She pressed her lips softly against the other woman's, at first there was no response but eventually Dawn began to kiss her back, her arms slowly snaking around Faith's waist.

Faith interpreted that as a sign that she could take things further and unwrapped the towel, letting out a low moan when her hand touched Dawn's smooth, soft skin for the first time in a long time.

Her hand sought out and found Dawn's breast, its larger then remembered size filling her hand nicely as she felt the nipple harden in her palm. Faith gently broke contact with Dawn's lips and kissed her way down her long, slender neck as she did so Dawn tugged at her t-shirt pulling it up and over Faith's head.

At that point Faith stopped thinking and let the experience wash over her, giving into the sensations that overwhelmed her senses. The silkiness of Dawn's skin, the hardness of her nipple against Faith's tongue, the yielding warmth of Dawn's body when she entered it, the low groans as their bodies slowly moved against each other, the saltiness of Dawn's sweat as it lay glistening on her skin, the soft, sweet scent of her hair, Dawn's body clenching around her, the fingernails digging into her back, the gentle shudder and Dawn crying out Faith's name as she reached her climax.

Afterwards Faith held Dawn close, brushing her fingers gently across Dawn's skin. Dawn murmured something Faith didn't hear and suddenly her mouth was against Faith's, hot and hungry as she kissed her passionately. Faith was caught by surprise by the heat behind the kiss and was even more surprised when Dawn pushed her onto her back and moved on top of her. She could feel one of Dawn's hands grope its way down her body and slide in underneath the waistband of her shorts, Faith moaned into Dawn's open mouth as Dawn thrust eagerly, urgently moving up inside her.

And now it was Faith's turn to groan, clutch at the sheets and cry out her lover's name as white-hot pleasure coursed through her body and then Dawn was rolling off her and they rested next to each other, breathing heavily, their bodies spent by the night's activities.

Faith lay back languidly, enjoying the warm pleasurable glow that filled her body, she heard the bedsprings creak and saw Dawn moving away, rolling onto her side and away from her. She stared, confused, at Dawn's back, not really understanding what was going on. Hadn't they just made love, weren't they back together and if so why was Dawn suddenly pulling away, it didn't make sense to her.

Faith slid over, resting her hand gently on Dawn's back. She felt the other woman stiffen instantly at her touch and pulled her hand away, now very confused. "Baby, are you OK?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Dawn answered without turning around, still stiff and unmoving. "I'm just…tired is all."

"Oh," Faith regarded Dawn uncertainly for a moment and then hesitantly wrapped her arms around Dawn's waist. Dawn stiffened again, making Faith feel like she was cuddling a statue before eventually she relaxed a little into Faith's arms.

They lay together like that for a long time, embracing awkwardly, neither girl speaking, neither girl sleeping and somehow, no matter how close she held her, Faith felt she was further away from Dawn then ever.

Faith wasn't exactly sure what woke her up, one minute she was enjoying an amazing dream with her and Dawn in the romantic leads and then suddenly she was awake, once again alone in a cold, empty bed.

She moved onto her back and gave a frustrated sigh it was then the previous night's events slowly filtered through her brain and she realized it wasn't a dream and that Dawn was lying right next to her, all she needed to do was reach out and touch her. Faith reached over to the other side of the bed but encountered nothing, just an empty space and wrinkled sheets.

She sat up quickly and looked around the darkened room. "Dawn?' she whispered, not getting an answer Faith said Dawn's name a little louder when she still didn't get a response Faith became concerned and pushed back the sheets, she now had a glimpse of what her many one-night stands must have felt like when they woke up alone and she didn't much like it, it made her feel used and dirty and ashamed, none of which she particularly enjoyed.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark Faith looked around again and finally caught sight of Dawn standing in front of the window and looking out into the night, the moonlight shining on her naked porcelain skin.

"Dawn, honey?' Faith asked cautiously as she made her way over to where the girl stood. Dawn continued to stare blankly out the window; she didn't even seem to notice Faith was there.

"Dawn, are you okay?' Faith gently placed her hand on Dawn's freezing shoulder, her skin felt like ice. Dawn flinched as if Faith had struck her and span around, a wary look on her face.

"No I'm sorry, you…startled me," Dawn shrugged uncomfortably, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

"So…what are you doing up?' Faith hadn't failed to notice the way Dawn had hurriedly moved away from her when she had touched her or the nervous way Dawn was behaving, it was like she thought Faith was a vampire or something equally threatening.

"I couldn't sleep, guess I wasn't as tired as I thought," Dawn explained, looking anywhere except directly at Faith.

The silence quickly began to stretch out unbearably, neither girl knowing exactly what to say to ease the tension.

"Faith why did you come back?' Dawn finally blurted out, unable to hold the question in any longer.

"What do you mean?' Faith was taken by surprise partly by the question and partly by the fact it had come seemingly from nowhere.

"I mean why did you come looking for me, what are you doing here?' Dawn's voice went higher, taking on an almost hysterical edge.

"I'm here because I love you, I told you that," Faith was more then a little puzzled by Dawn's question, she thought she'd already told her this, hadn't Dawn got it the first time?

"Do you, then why did you cheat on me, why did you leave me?' Dawn was almost pleading with her now, desperate to know the answers to her questions.

"I don't know, I guess I didn't understand that then," Faith saw Dawn's uncomprehending look and knew she needed to explain it better. "I got scared OK, I got scared and I went out and did something stupid that's why OK?"

"You got scared, by me?' Dawn asked, trying to understand what Faith was saying to her.

Faith shook her head. "No not by you exactly, by us. I've never felt this way about anyone before Dawn and that frightened me, how close we were getting, how much I needed you, wanted you and so I did something that ruined all that maybe because…maybe because it was easier to live that way, I was used to it, to being alone all the time."

"Easier?' Faith shrugged. "At first yeah it was, but the longer it went on, the longer I went without you the harder it got, in the end it got so unbearable I had to find you again and know."

Dawn studied her silently for a long moment. "I do love you, I don't think I ever stopped," she said eventually, her words caused Faith's heart to soar. "But I don't know if I trust you," and then come crashing back to earth.

"Oh," Faith mumbled, feeling slightly deflated. "So how do I win that back, your trust?"

"I don't know, I'm not exactly an expert in these things I don't think anybody really is," Dawn smiled sadly. "Time I guess."

"Time, right," Faith wasn't sure whether she could just wait she needed to do something, she was an action kind of person not a sitting around waiting kind of person. "Do you want me to go, give you some space?' she asked, ignoring the fact that the room was technically hers.

"I don't know what I want," Dawn told her honestly. "Can you just hold me?' she added hesitantly.

"I can do that," Faith gently took Dawn back into her arms, feeling a shudder go through Dawn's frame when her cold body pressed up against Faith's warmth.

"Promise not to leave me again?' Dawn whispered, resting her head on Faith's shoulder.

"I promise," Faith agreed as she tenderly picked Dawn up and carried her back to the bed, laying her out and covering them both with the blankets.

Dawn snuggled up against her and quickly fell asleep as Faith watched over her, softly stroking her fingers through Dawn's hair. She didn't know what the future might hold for them but at least she knew that she stood a chance with Dawn, Dawn still loved her, there was still hope and that was enough, for now.

It began with a crash then proceeded into the long drawn-out clatter of crockery smashing against each other with a faint counter-point of cutlery tinkling and the final roinroinroin of the last plate spinning forlornly by itself.

Dawn winced at the noise and glanced fearfully towards the bedroom door behind which Faith lay fast asleep after a long night of solo patrolling, at least Dawn assumed it had been a long night, Faith hadn't woken her up like she sometimes did either accidentally or on purpose if she was especially worked up by the slaying so she didn't know at what time Faith had got in. It worried her when Faith went out by herself and no amount of persuasion from Dawn or reminders that there were numerous Slayers now and she didn't need to do the loner act anymore could change her mind, sometimes Faith had to go out alone and although Dawn knew Faith was an experienced Slayer and had done it many times before it didn't ease her anxiety or stop her from the occasional sleepless night.

She gingerly picked up the cup she had accidentally dropped in the sink and surveyed the damage it had created. "Crap," she muttered under her breath, cursing her own clumsiness.

Faith might find her clumsiness cute, maybe because she was used to having Slayer grace, but Dawn just found it incredibly annoying she had hoped she would grow out of it as she got older but it never seemed to completely go away no matter how hard she worked at it or how much training she did.

Dawn set about cleaning up the mess in the sink quietly, restacking the plates and bowls in the sink and thanking her lucky stars that nothing seemed broken although most things looked like they had a chip or two taken out of them.

She glanced at her watch and breathed a silent sigh of relief that she still had plenty of time before she needed to leave for the exam, she couldn't believe it was her last exam before spring break all the hard work of the past year would be over and she could finally relax and spend more time on the other things in her life like her Watcher duties and Faith. Dawn knew the last month had been a little hard on Faith because she hadn't been able to devote much time, particularly in the private one-on-one sense, on Faith and that had made her girlfriend rather restless and a little bit cranky but to her credit Faith hadn't grumbled, much, instead expending her energy on other projects. This had led to some surprising revelations for Dawn like Faith could cook, to a certain degree, and clean in fact Faith was actually a reasonably tidy person even to the point of commenting when Dawn made a mess and didn't clean it up, when Dawn had questioned her about it Faith had muttered something about it being one of the habits she had picked up in jail and hadn't managed to shake.

After another glance at her watch Dawn prowled restlessly around the apartment, pointlessly moving and straightening things and brushing her hand across already clean surfaces, stuff that clearly didn't need to be done but doing them helped to relieve some of her nerves. Eventually she reached the bedroom door and, after a couple of false starts, she decided to look in on Faith, just to make sure she hadn't disturbed the sleeping Slayer.

Faith lay on her side facing the door, her arm resting on the space Dawn had been occupying half an hour ago, she obviously hadn't moved since Dawn had got up. A soft smile appeared on Dawn's face, she shouldn't have been surprised that Faith would still be asleep it would have been more of a surprise to find Faith awake anytime before noon.

Dawn remained standing in the doorway as she watched the sleeping woman, Faith looked different when she was asleep the hard lines etched on her face from years of hard living disappeared and she looked younger, innocent, more like the tender, caring woman Dawn knew when they were alone together.

It had been a few months since Faith had reappeared in Boston and insinuated herself back into Dawn's life, at first she had been wary about letting Faith back in particularly after everything that had happened in Rome but gradually Faith had worn down her resistance and slowly things had returned to something like the way they had been before but with a few difference, like now there was no Buffy looking over their shoulders every five seconds and, after much persuasion and argument, Faith had convinced her to move into the apartment she had started renting in order to be closer to Harvard and therefore Dawn.

Their relationship itself was also different now it was deeper, stronger, more mature it wasn't all about the sex although there was still lots of that, she didn't think it was actually possible to have a relationship with Faith without sex being involved somehow. When they'd been together in Rome they had been like a pair of love-struck teenagers, although technically Dawn had been and was still a teenager, but they had acted like a pair of giddy fifteen-year-olds a lot of the time even though they had both been older their relationship hadn't been as serious as it was now it had been a little…superficial too much about the physical and not enough about the emotional there hadn't been a real connection between them but that had changed, partly because Dawn had changed but mainly because Faith had changed she was calmer now, less self-conscious not as aggressive and more self-confident. It was strange to think of Faith as being insecure in any way because she came across as so strong and self-assured but when it came to things like her emotions and relationships with other people Faith was guarded and unsure, even with Dawn, and she had put up so many barriers between her and the rest of the world, mainly due to the bad childhood Dawn had heard some things about, that it was hard to get through to her to get her to open up and see the real Faith. Thankfully she had managed to get through most of that, she thought, although it wasn't all down to her, Dawn was sure she owed Principal Wood some major thanks for breaking down some of those barriers and allowing her the chance to see the real Faith, Dawn was sure she couldn't have managed it on her own.

Dawn shook herself free of her reverie and glanced once again at her watch, her eyes widening when she realized she had been standing there thinking about and watching Faith sleep for over quarter of an hour, maybe one day she would take some advice Faith had told her once and spend less time thinking and more time doing.

Dawn snuck into the room silently and tenderly laid a kiss on Faith's brow, causing the Slayer to smile and mumble something softly in her sleep.

"Bye baby," Dawn whispered. "I'll see you when I'm done frying my brain, if I haven't had a nervous breakdown sometime before then."

She slipped out of the bedroom and gently closed the door behind her then quickly gathered up everything she needed and gave the apartment a final once-over, her eyes falling on the picture that had pride of place on her desk, a rather formal photo of her and Faith that she had insisted on having done. It was always funny to see Faith trying so hard to look that respectable and still failing miserably but Dawn had wanted to have at least one decent, professional photo of them together even if getting Faith to wear something appropriate had been a long and bitter struggle. For some reason seeing that picture always seemed to soothe Dawn's nerves and make her feel a little better about herself and the rest of the world in general, partly due to her amusement at Faith's obvious discomfort.

'Maybe this exam isn't going to be so bad,' Dawn thought, feeling good as she left the apartment. 'Then again maybe I'm just kidding myself,' she added as the reality of the impending exam sunk in once more, she sighed in resignation and shut and locked the door behind her before going off to meet her awful fate.

The phone clicked softly as Giles thoughtfully set the receiver back down and turned to an expectantly waiting Buffy.

"It seems we have a situation, on the Hellmouth," Giles sighed heavily, removed his glasses and began to clean them.

"So why are they calling us, surely they've got enough people there to deal with any sitch that comes up, don't they?" Buffy asked, leaning back into her chair.

"Normally I'd say yes but something has killed four Slayers in the past week and they're at a loss as to what's doing it and how to stop it."

"Four Slayers in a week," Buffy exclaimed incredulously. "I know Hellmouth's are dangerous but I lived on one for seven years and I only died twice."

"I know, it's bad," Giles agreed, sighing heavily. "That's more Slayers then the Cleveland section has lost in the last year, hence the phone call."

"How did they die?" Buffy asked hesitantly, she didn't really want to know but was unable to stop herself.

"Um according to Jeremy, that's the Watcher who rang," Giles replaced his glasses and picked up the notes he had made. "The victims appeared to be skinned-"

"Ew, why can't demons ever kill their victims in a non-icky way," Buffy interrupted, making a disgusted face. "I guess there isn't really a non-icky way to kill someone but eating somebody's skin is just plain wrong."

"Yes Buffy and that is why demons are evil and people slay them because they kill people and usually in an unpleasant manner, can I finish?" Buffy sulkily indicated that he could. "Thank you, as I was saying the victims appeared to be skinned however the skin itself was not consumed everything but the skin was consumed, the skin itself was the only thing that remained behind, mostly intact except for a hole punched into a place that corresponds with the victim's chest."

"Oh, that's actually even more gross then eating the skin," Buffy saw the annoyed look on Giles' face. "OK, I'm helping…say these Slayers weren't on their high-school swim team were they?"

"No unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it and there haven't been any reports of sea monsters or lake monsters considering we're talking about Cleveland so I think we can rule that little Hellmouth scenario out," Giles went back to reading his notes. "There's nothing here that rings any bells about any demon that I know of and the Cleveland-based Watchers haven't been able to find out anything even with their access to the resources of the Council."

"If they have access to all the resources of the Council how do they expect us to help?"

"Only most of the books and information we have here can and should be available to the rest of the Watchers around the world over those…infernal machines," Giles waved irritably at the computer that sat innocently on his desk. "There might be something here that isn't available to the Watchers in Cleveland that will give us a clue as to the demon's identity and a way to kill it."

"That's great Giles but you do realize that everybody else just calls them computers now don't you?" Buffy said dryly.

"You know my opinion of those…things," Giles said stiffly. "And I don't see why I need to have one in my office, I never use it."

"I bloody well won't," Giles answered resolutely. "Anyway I work quicker without one it inevitably just does something wrong and I end up shouting at it for the next ten minutes."

Buffy managed to smother the smile that threatened to break out on her face; she was used to hearing Giles' rants at his computer from her office all the way down the other end of the corridor, it was almost part of the background noise of the place. "So have you got an idea about what we can do in Cleveland?"

"I was thinking of temporarily posting a more experienced Watcher to Cleveland from a nearby area," Giles studied Buffy cautiously as he spoke, he knew she wasn't going to like what he was about to suggest and he wanted to be at minimum safe distance. "She's lived on a Hellmouth for many years so she has great familiarity with their quirks and with the demons that frequent them."

Buffy had a sneaking suspicion who Giles was talking about but needed it confirmed before she started with the shouting and violence. "You want to send Dawn don't you?"

"Yes," Giles replied simply, thereby confirming Buffy's suspicions. "She has lived on a Hellmouth longer then any Watcher in the nearby vicinity and she has greater experience with demons then most-"

"She hasn't even finished her training and Boston isn't nearby its like five hundred miles away," Buffy exclaimed angrily, leaping out of her seat and glaring at her ex-Watcher. "For gods sakes Giles you're talking about my little sister here."

"No I'm talking about an intelligent, talented and resourceful young woman," Giles said gently, attempting to calm Buffy down and show he wasn't intimidated or backing down on this issue. "She took a sacred oath as a Watcher and as such has certain duties and responsibilities, did you think I would post her somewhere safe and out of the way?"

"Well I can't and you know that, I care about her as well but I'm prepared to send Dawn wherever she's needed and I feel that right now that's in Cleveland. As for her training Dawn is doing very well at her studies and honestly her time in Sunnydale was probably greater preparation for this kind of thing then anything she will learn at university or via her Watcher training."

Buffy calmed down somewhat as Giles explained his decision; she felt the tension leaving her body causing her to slump a little in her seat. "I guess you're right but I don't like the idea of Dawn going anywhere near something that's killed four Slayers or another Hellmouth for that matter."

"Whatever it is it hasn't attacked or harmed any of the Watchers in Cleveland," Giles pointed out. "And there are many Slayers in Cleveland to protect her plus I'm sure Faith will insist on accompanying her…" as soon as he mentioned the other Slayer's name Giles regretted it, ever since Dawn had informed Buffy about her renewed relationship with Faith, Buffy had been very sensitive about the slightest mention of her fellow Slayer's name.

"Well there's a relief, that's completely reassured me she's going to be safe because a murderer will insist on "accompanying" her," Buffy muttered bitterly. "I still don't understand what Dawn sees in her."

"I know, I know," Buffy snapped. "It's her life. She's an adult now. I shouldn't interfere. I get it, I don't like it but I get it."

"I mean I want to go to Cleveland too," Buffy stated firmly. "God I never thought I'd ever hear myself say that."

"But Buffy what about your job here, your-your responsibilities," Giles sputtered.

"Come on Giles I'm not really needed here, I'm only here half the time as it is and there are others who can do my job just as well if not better then I can," Buffy went on hoping she could persuade Giles by the force if not the content of her argument. "And you said they needed someone experienced at dealing with things that happen around a Hellmouth, who is better at that then me I dealt with that sort of thing for seven years-"

"You may be right," Giles managed to cut into the flow of Buffy's speech. "But it's far too dangerous and you're far too important to risk-"

"And Dawn isn't important," Buffy interrupted. "If it's safe enough for her it's safe enough for me."

Giles sighed in defeat he knew that when Buffy had made up her mind there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. "If you insist on undertaking this escapade I insist that you at least take someone with you for added protection."

"Whatever this thing is it's already killed four Slayers, you could quite easily be next," Giles asserted stubbornly.

"Fine I'll take Xander, he's not doing anything at the moment and Dawn hasn't seen him in ages so I'm sure she would love to see him again."

"Xander is it," Buffy said Xander's name in such a way that it made it clear that this was the end of the discussion, however when Giles looked like he was going to continue to argue with her she made one final concession. "Fine I'll take that magic scythe thingy with me as well, happy now?"

"Not overly but I'm not going to be able stop you am I?" Giles asked, already knowing the answer.

"You're not going to Cleveland to get the chance to check up on Faith and Dawn are you?" Giles asked carefully

Buffy shuffled her feet nervously feeling like a schoolgirl again and trying to avoid looking Giles directly in the eye. "No," she saw Giles' questioning look and relented a little. "OK maybe that might be part of it but honestly Giles I'm bored, there's nothing really for me to do around here and you might enjoy the organizing and managing side of things but I don't. I'm a Slayer I don't like sitting around I need some action."

"All right then go, but if you die again I shall be most upset with you," Giles warned, only half-jokingly.

"And promise me you won't meddle too much in Dawn's life," Giles shouted after her.

Buffy smiled fondly at her former Watcher, it was comforting to know that even after all these years Giles still worried about her. "I won't, you'll see I'll be back and annoying you again in no time," she span on her heel and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"I hope so," Giles said into the empty room. "I've put up with too much from you over the years for you to go and leave me now," he let out a deep breath and settled back down to the never-ending task of running the Council.

The unmistakable sounds of fighting echoed throughout the room, the grunts of the combatants, the thump of fist on flesh or bone and the eventual triumphant shout of the winner as the loser slumped unconscious to the ground. Faith lounged casually in her seat dressed in a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt her fingers resting easily after their previous frantic activity on the buttons of the Xbox Dawnie had bought her for Christmas.

She was enjoying relaxing after a hard day doing all the housework stuff that had needed doing around the apartment, mostly cleaning up messes like the one in the sink that had Dawn's fingerprints all over it, living with the teenager was turning her into a regular Martha Stewart even if the only thing she knew she had in common with the domestic goddess was jail time.

Faith was getting herself ready to start another round when she heard the doorknob turn and the door burst open. She twisted around in her seat to watch Dawn bustle in and dump her bag in the middle of the floor as she headed for the kitchen. Faith winced inwardly at the sight of Dawn's bag sitting on the floor after all the time she'd spent cleaning up the girl's messes, physically restraining herself from getting up and putting it away.

Dawn shrugged and walked slowly back to where Faith was sitting. "The exam? OK I guess. I knew what all the questions meant so that's a start as to whether I got any of the answers right, we'll see."

Dawn nodded emphatically. "Yes that's definitely the last one, for this year anyway."

"Good," Faith grinned and before Dawn could react she grabbed the girl around the waist and pulled her down into her lap.

"Faith!" Dawn squealed as she made a token effort to squirm out of the Slayer's grasp.

Faith refused to give up her hold on Dawn and drew her nice and close. "You've been so busy recently I've hardly seen you at all, so excuse me if I'm a little excited at getting my girl back."

"Fine," Dawn settled herself comfortably into her Slayer's arms. "It's nice to see you too," she tenderly brushed a lock of hair back from Faith's face then leaned in and softly pressed her lips against Faith's.

The kiss lingered and deepened and was just starting to get interesting when it was interrupted by the annoying tone of the phone ringing, Dawn reluctantly pulled away and looked hesitantly between Faith and the phone.

"Leave it baby," Faith attempted to recapture Dawn's attention by gently nuzzling against her neck.

Dawn automatically tipped her head back which allowed Faith to kiss her way further up her neck. "But it might be someone important," she protested feebly.

Dawn pulled away again and gave Faith a questioning look. "Faith, we don't have an answering machine."

Dawn shook her head, exasperated by Faith's rather lame attempt at deception. She climbed out of the Slayer's lap, Faith grudgingly letting her go, and hurried over to the phone.

Faith watched Dawn closely as she answered the phone, her eyes traveling up that tight little body of hers, various scenarios of how exactly she could explore said body playing out in her mind. When her eyes reached her girlfriend's face she became concerned when she saw it change from pleasant expectation to serious to apprehensive as Dawn exchanged muttered phrases with whoever was at the other end of the line, not even her enhanced Slayer hearing could pick out exactly what they were saying.

"No-one. Nothing. Don't worry about it," Dawn answered, obviously still miles away.

And that of course instantly made Faith worry but she knew it was useless to pester Dawn with questions, she would only get an answer when Dawn was good and ready to tell her so instead she changed the subject in an attempt to draw Dawn out and hopefully get a proper answer. "OK then…anyway I was thinking about spring break and where we could go," she stared at Dawn intently for any hint of a response.

That hadn't exactly been the kind of response she had been hoping for but Faith continued on nonetheless. "So there's the whole clichéd trip to Florida, on the plus side it's got sun, sand, surf and we could go down to the beach and make out, hopefully freaking out a few frat boys along the way."

"Sounds nice," Dawn walked over to her desk and began rummaging through the mess of papers that lay on top of it; Dawn's desk was the one place in the apartment Faith was not allowed to clean.

"Or maybe we could go to Hawaii it has the sun and sand and stuff but probably less frat boys," Faith searched for any kind of sign that she was gaining Dawn's attention.

"Or I hear Mars is nice this time of year," Faith said finally getting frustrated by her complete lack of success. "Lack of oxygen might be a problem but there definitely won't be any frat boys, well alive ones anyway."

"Probably," Dawn agreed without looking up before walking into the bedroom. When she came back out she saw the hurt and rather angry look on Faith's face. "What?" she asked.

"You haven't listened to a single word I've said have you?" Faith demanded irritably.

"I'm sorry Cleveland, is that some kind of Zen non-answer?" Faith asked, thoroughly confused by Dawn's response.

"That's where I'm going during spring break, there's a situation on the Hellmouth there and the Council wants me to go help," Dawn explained.

"Oh," Faith said quietly. "Well it's not exactly my first choice for a vacation spot."

"I know, I'm sorry," Dawn apologized and crouched down next to Faith's chair. "I was really looking forward to going with you to Florida or Hawaii but you can still send me a postcard or something and I'm sure I won't be in Cleveland that long-"

"I'm not going without you," Faith interrupted. "I'm going to Cleveland with you."

"I don't have to, I want to, and I'm coming no matter what you say so there's no point in arguing," Faith stated firmly.

"But I'll have Alex for protection and…" Dawn hesitated. "My sister's going to be there," she blurted out in a rush.

"Cool I haven't seen B in a while, should be fun and besides," Faith's arms snaked around Dawn's waist and held her close. "I can guard your body a lot better then Alex can."

"So I see," Dawn whispered softly, leaning in and rewarding Faith with a gentle kiss.

"What do they need you in Cleveland for anyway?" Faith asked after the kiss reluctantly ended. "Not that you wouldn't be a big help 'cause I'm sure you would, you're great in fact you're better then great you're the best, I just thought there would have been enough Slayers and Watchers in Cleveland to deal with any crisis," Faith was back-pedaling quickly now, her words jumbling together as she tried to make up for any unintentional insult she may have said.

"Thank you Faith, it's nice to know that you think so highly of me," a small smile playing across Dawn's lips at Faith's obvious discomfort. "The reason they want me is I'm one of the most experienced Watchers left, especially in relation to Hellmouths, and what with four Slayers dying recently in Cleveland and the locals having no idea what's going on the Council decided to send me to help them figure it out."

"Yeah I know it's a lot," Dawn said, agreeing with the sentiment expressed in Faith's eyes. "That's why they want me there ASAP."

"Because I'm not letting you go," Faith argued. "I was worried about you going to a Hellmouth but now you've told me that there's something in Cleveland that's killed four Slayers I'm terrified, I've just got you back I'm not going to risk losing you again."

"Sweetie I'm a Watcher and this is my job, I took an oath and everything, remember," Dawn replied soothingly, trying to both calm Faith down and dismiss her objections. "And this thing in Cleveland is part of that job. Anyway it's only killed Slayers it hasn't harmed any Watchers yet so if anyone shouldn't be going it's you not me."

"I'm a Slayer I can take care of myself and I'm not letting you go by yourself," Faith said determinedly.

"That's probably what those other Slayers said, you know before they died," Dawn pointed out.

"That was them not me, I've almost died a couple of times and I'm not in any hurry to repeat that experience," by now it had become clear to both women that neither was going to back down and no amount of persuasion was going to get either of them to stay.

"Fine you can come," Dawn heaved a deep sigh. "But if anything happens to you I'll be most annoyed."

"I guess we better start getting organized, pack clothes and stuff and I suppose get some plane tickets," Dawn didn't move from the comfortable seat she had in Faith's lap.

"Hey if you're going off to Cleveland who's going to run things here," Faith asked suddenly.

"I guess…actually that's a good question, who will run things here?" Dawn paused to think it over. "I'm probably not going to be gone that long so there's not much point in getting a substitute Watcher here, it's not like Boston's a demonic hotspot I mean besides that Gosnarr thingy a while ago it's pretty quiet here, the Gosnarr was more like the exception that proved the rule then a precursor to something horrible."

Dawn frowned. "No and that's still bugging me but maybe Alex was right and it was on some random rampage after killing its summoner."

"I know that'd make me sleep better at night," Faith remarked. "That thing was nasty."

"Hmmmm…anyway I'm thinking maybe we could put some of the older, more responsible Slayers in charge, I'm sure they could handle the job for a couple of weeks," she looked at Faith to see if she thought it was a good idea.

"Sure, sounds good," Faith indicated her approval. "How about Alex she's the most experienced Slayer here, I mean besides me, right?"

Dawn shrugged. "I don't know, I just got told that she was coming with me. Maybe someone thought that I needed a bodyguard and you wouldn't want to come to Cleveland with me."

Dawn managed to maintain a diplomatic silence. She already had concerns about how her sister and her girlfriend were going to get along and comments like that didn't make her feel any better about the inevitable meeting. "How about Jessica and Alice they seem more responsible then most, they kept their heads when they got attacked by that Gosnarr demon and they are a couple of the oldest girls."

Faith nodded slowly. "OK I'll go along with that they do seem to be two of the more level-headed Slayers around here, but considering we're talking about a bunch of teenage girls that's not exactly saying much."

"I didn't mean you baby," Faith reassured her quickly. "I meant teenage girls in general. They're not exactly the most reliable of creatures and I should know I made a lot of bad decisions when I was a teenager."

"That's one way of putting it," Dawn said, tactfully skating around the subject of Faith's past. "So we should spin by the girls' place tomorrow and tell them."

"I'd rather tell them in person, there's also a few things I need to show them and give them, so it'd simply be easier doing it that way."

"Good. Now I suppose we should start getting ready, you know packing and stuff," Dawn suggested once again, with about as much enthusiasm as she had the first time round.

"Oh that," Dawn shook her head, smiling in spite of herself. "Is sex all you ever think about?"

"No," Faith said defensively. "But if we're going to be in the bedroom anyway I thought we could, you know, use it, the bed that is."

Faith responded by standing up quickly, cradling Dawn in her arms, causing the girl to squeal in surprise.

"I may not know much about romancing a girl but I do know a lot about keeping my girl happy," Faith said with a grin, carrying Dawn into the bedroom and proceeding to do just that.

There was a loud squeal of tires as the car slid to a stop, narrowly missing both the curb and the car parked bare millimeters in front of it.

"Here we are," Dawn said brightly, turning the car off and putting on the hand brake.

Faith released her white-knuckled death grip on the Jesus-bar in front of her, it still amazed her that Dawn had somehow managed to get her drivers license a month previously and she wasn't afraid to admit it scared the crap out of her because now Dawn insisted on driving them everywhere and that always made traveling an…experience.

"Uh huh," Faith managed to say all the while sending up a silent prayer of thanks to whichever deity had kept her alive. "So which apartments are Jess and Alice in?"

"Fourth floor, Alice is in number 402 and Jessica is in 403. The Council rents out a whole bunch of them in this building so they'll be sharing with a couple of other Slayers," Dawn told her. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with?"

"No I'll be right back with the girls," Faith scrambled out of the car, resisting the urge to kneel down and kiss the asphalt.

She entered the apartment building and decided to use the stairs, there was something vaguely reassuring about solid ground that wasn't currently zipping past at speed. She took the stairs at a leisurely pace but still reached the fourth floor quickly, locating number 403 first because, for some reason, it appeared before number 402.

Before she could knock the door swung open, catching her by surprise. The door had been opened by a small, pretty young Asian woman who looked as surprised as Faith. "Can I help you?" the young woman asked.

"Alice, small British girl?" Sung checked, Faith nodded. "Why would girl be here?"

Sung shook her head. "No swapped with Reese, next door. I thought would have known."

Faith could see the strange look Sung was giving her but couldn't really understand why. "No I didn't, why would I have known?"

"OK," Faith gave up trying to figure out what the other girl was going on about, she'd probably find out soon enough anyway. "So next door then?"

"Yeah, see ya," Faith shook her head and wandered in the direction indicated by Sung, soon finding herself in front of a door identical to the last except, obviously, numbered 402.

She raised her fist, waited to see if she would be given the chance to knock this time and then rapped lightly three times. As she waited she glanced cursorily around the corridor, it was painted stark white and was completely featureless there was nothing on the walls there wasn't even a plastic plant in the corner. It wasn't what Faith would have called inspiring but at least it was clean and seemed well maintained, not like some of the rat-holes she had stayed in during her life.

Faith waited as long as she was able before finally her patience ran out and she pounded loudly on the door a number of times, when that also didn't elicit a response she tried the doorknob and was surprised when it turned easily causing the door to open silently inwards on well-oiled hinges.

She cautiously stuck her head around the open door; the fact that the door had been unlocked had her a little on edge. Years of experience at petty crime told her it hadn't been forced and there were no noticeable signs of violence in the apartment yet something made her uneasy about the whole situation.

The girls were Slayers living in a building full of Slayers so if anything had happened it should easily have been dealt with but still a pair of teenage girls living by themselves really shouldn't leave their front door open, it wasn't terribly intelligent and had her more then a little worried.

"Hello," Faith called out, edging nervously into the empty room beyond. "Anyone home?"

As if on cue a door opened across the room and Alice walked out, an open robe draped casually around her body. She stopped short when she saw a bemused and relieved Faith watching her from the open doorway.

"Faith," Alice exclaimed, hurriedly wrapping the robe tightly around her and tying it closed. "W-what are you doing here?"

Faith carefully studied the anxious young Brit, the tousled hair, the open robe, her jumpiness the fact that Alice apparently wasn't wearing anything under the robe if the look Faith had got was anything to go by it all added up to Alice not spending last night alone, which helped explain the unlocked door and the tardiness in answering it. Faith looked past her and into the bedroom and managed to catch a glimpse of a sleeping figure in the bed before Alice closed the door behind her. Faith blinked in surprise; unless she was mistaken the figure in the bed was Jessica.

"Faith, are you OK?" Alice asked, concerned at the stunned look on Faith's face.

"Huh, what?" Faith was taking a little while to get over her shock at what she'd just seen. Alice and Jessica had slept in the same bed last night, but that didn't mean anything they could have just slept together not slept together, then again her and Dawn were together so why couldn't they be…she shook her head, this was too much for her to take in at the moment and she had other reasons for being here that had nothing to do with Alice and Jessica's private life. "Um yeah, Dawn's downstairs and wants you and Jessica to see her down there."

"Oh, Right. Council stuff," Alice nodded sympathetically, as a fellow Slayer she could totally understand what Faith meant. "I'll be right down, as soon as I get dressed that is."

"Jessica, w-why would I know w-where Jessica is?" Alice asked evasively, avoiding looking Faith directly in the eye.

"Because she lives here too," Faith said, a small smile played across her lips when she realized the reason for Alice's evasiveness.

"Right. Yes. Good point she does, live here I mean, but I don't think she's up yet I'll have to check her room," Alice gestured at another door which Faith assumed was the door to Jessica's bedroom, when she wasn't sleeping in Alice's that is.

"You do that, I'll be waiting downstairs with Dawn," Faith turned and left quickly before the grin that had been threatening to make its way on to her face became reality and ruined Alice's incredibly bad attempts to conceal the presence of Jessica in her bed.

That had to have been some of the worst lying Faith had ever seen and she'd seen some horrible liars in her time, herself being one of them.

By the time she reached the ground floor and saw Dawn she had got herself mostly back under control but clearly not completely under control because Dawn was staring at her curiously as she walked up to her.

"What's up? Is there something wrong?" Dawn asked, searching Faith's face for some answers.

Dawn got that look on her face the no nonsense look she got whenever she knew Faith was lying or trying to conceal something from her, which was pretty much every time Faith attempted to lie. "Faith come on tell me, you know you can't lie to me."

The grin that she had been holding in finally broke out over Faith's face. "At least I'm better at then Alice."

"Did you know that Alice and Jessica are sleeping together?" Faith asked grinning wildly, sure that this bit of news would completely blow Dawn's mind.

"No," Faith answered, her grin somehow becoming even wider. "But if I walked in any earlier I might have."

"Oh, well I guess that's something," Dawn said, somewhat appeased by Faith's reply. "And for your information yes I know they have, they've been together for about the last couple of months or so I think."

Faith stared at her opened mouthed, the grin disappearing in a flash. "How did-. When did-. Was it in a memo or something and if so why didn't I get it?"

Dawn couldn't contain her own amusement at the expression on Faith's face; she couldn't remember ever having seen the Slayer look so surprised before. "No it wasn't in a memo, it's been pretty obvious with the way they've been gazing at each other and acting around each other. I would've thought you'd have figured it out for yourself by now and since when have the other Slayer's private lives been your concern?"

"They're not I just thought you would've told me about it is all," Faith said, a little miffed by Dawn's revelations.

Dawn gently pulled Faith into a hug. "I'm sorry I probably meant to and it slipped my mind, it's not really that uncommon a bit of news so I guess I just forgot."

"What isn't that uncommon?" Faith asked, enjoying having Dawn this close and so only half-listening to what Dawn said.

"According to Council research Slayers are more likely to, um, swing that way then the normal female population,' Dawn told her. 'Apparently it's something like 1 in 6 of all Slayers either have been or are in a lesbian relationship."

"So this is what you Watcher guys get up to in your spare time huh, kinky research on us Slayer types," Faith said, the teasing evident in her voice.

"Yes that's all we do at our meetings, discuss Slayers sex lives," Dawn answered dryly. "I think we have better things to talk about then that Faith."

"I knew it, that's what you get for being all stuffy and repressed," Faith shook her head in mock-resignation, the effect utterly ruined by the large grin that had reappeared on her face.

"I am not stuffy or repressed," Dawn protested loudly. "If anyone knows that it's you."

"I don't know, I can see them measuring you for your tweed jacket right now," Dawn shot her a very dark look that made Faith quickly decide to change the subject before she said something she might later regret. "So anyway about this Slayer thing, why are they more likely to be into some girl-on-girl action?"

Dawn shrugged, glad that Faith had changed topic. "I don't know it's probably something to do with fighting side by side every night and sharing life-or-death situations together, the excitement, the danger all that stuff can get kinda sexy what with the near death experiences, your heart's racing, the sweating and the adrenaline, it's not really that much of a surprise they end up falling into bed together after the fight's over, I mean look at how you act after patrol you don't think other Slayers feel that way?"

"I guess, it's just I thought I was sort of unique you know, being with another woman and all," Faith said disappointedly, she had enjoyed the feeling of being different that her relationship with Dawn had given her now she found out she was just another statistic, to be honest it was a bit of a letdown.

"Um Faith, I hate to break it to you but I think Kennedy was with other women long before you were," Dawn pointed out then seeing Faith's despondency she tried to cheer her up. "But you are unique in a way I mean most Slayers end up with other Slayers you're the only one I know of who's with a Watcher, well a female Watcher anyway."

A polite cough intruded on their conversation. "We're not interrupting anything are we?" Alice asked nervously. "Because we were told to come straight down but if this is a bad time..."

Dawn and Faith suddenly realized their close proximity to each other and with some embarrassed looks they disengaged themselves and smoothed down rumpled clothing.

"Right. Yes," Dawn said briskly, covering up her discomfort at being caught at an intimate moment. "Both Faith and I and Alex as well are needed in Cleveland for a little while and while we're away someone needs to take care of the girls, keep them in line, make sure patrols are kept up that sort of thing and I was wondering if you two wouldn't mind doing that for me?"

As Dawn was speaking Faith watched Alice and Jessica closely and began to understand Dawn's earlier comment about the two Slayers, they stood very close, suspiciously close, to each other their hands occasionally brushing against each other seemingly by accident but if you watched for long enough you could tell it was done deliberately. She noticed Jessica stood protectively in front of Alice as if shielding her from anything that might cause the British girl harm in much the same way Faith knew she did with Dawn, now she comprehended Dawn's surprise that she hadn't picked up on this earlier, once it was looked for it was clear that Jessica and Alice were a couple.

"Us, you want us to run things while you're gone?" Jessica asked looking a little stunned.

"Yes, you're two of the older, more responsible Slayers in Boston and it will only be for a couple of weeks, a month at most," Dawn explained, looking hopefully from Jessica to Alice for a sign of agreement.

"I'm sure we can do that," Jessica said smiling happily at the trust Dawn was placing in her and Alice. "Couldn't we Ally?" she turned to the other girl, her hand unconsciously slipping into Alice's.

Dawn and Faith exchanged a knowing grin as the rest of the world faded into the background for the two young Slayers who stared longingly into each other's eyes.

"So if you two are going to do this for me there's some things I need to tell and show you and other things in the car I need to give you," Dawn spoke louder then was strictly necessary in order to draw Jessica and Alice's attention away from each other.

"Hmmm…what?" Alice murmured distractedly as she finally managed to tear her gaze away from Jessica. "You want to show us your car?"

"No there are a few things you need if you're going to be, well, temporary Watchers and they're in my car so follow me," Dawn replied, turning towards the doors.

"And it would be good idea if you Watched over some of the other girls as well instead of just each other," Faith added helpfully.

"What, I-I-I don't know w-what you mean," Alice stammered, taken aback by Faith's comment.

The two Slayers followed Faith's gaze and then pulled their hands away quickly. '"That doesn't mean anything, we're just, um, good friends," Jessica said hurriedly, hiding her hands behind her back as if she were a naughty child who had been caught in the act.

"Uh huh," Faith said, completely unconvinced. "So you're just friends who enjoy screwing each other then."

Jessica opened and closed her mouth not quite sure how to answer that. "Please don't tell anyone,' she said eventually. 'If my parents found out…"

"Don't worry I'm not going to tell anyone, although apparently it's already pretty common knowledge," Faith glared meaningfully in Dawn's direction. "And hey considering I'm with Dawn I'm not really in any position to judge."

"It's just we don't really want to go public right now and make a big fuss over it," Alice explained.

Faith nodded. "That's cool I can understand but I don't care what you two get up to in private as long as it's legal and between consenting adults or teenagers in your case. Oh and if you need some pointers in the bedroom you know where I am," Faith span around and began walking over to where Dawn was waiting by the car leaving a pair of wide-eyed teenagers behind her.

The suitcase's hinges creaked ominously as Dawn tried once again to close the lid, her every muscle and sinew straining to get the clips done up. Eventually with a great expulsion of air she gave up and stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the recalcitrant piece of luggage.

"Well if you wouldn't insult it so much, it might behave itself," Faith said from the doorway, she walked over to the bed and opened the lid of the offending item. "How many clothes have you packed, what do you think we're doing invading a foreign country or something?"

"It pays to be prepared," Dawn said defensively. "Besides we don't know how long we're going to be there."

"No, but I'm pretty sure we're not going to be settling down and planting crops," Faith shook her head disbelievingly at the sheer amount of clothes Dawn had packed, she didn't even own this many clothes let alone have them packed in her bag.

Faith pointed over to the corner where the black sports-bag she usually used for carrying her weapons or her gym clothes lay. "Everything I need's in there."

Faith shrugged. "I don't know, enough. I don't need to put on a new outfit every hour like some people I could mention."

Dawn scowled at her. "If you think I'm bad Faith you should see Buffy packing," she turned back to Faith's bag. "We are going to be gone for at least a couple of weeks though, are you sure that's going to be enough?"

"I traveled around the world with less I think I can make it to Cleveland," Faith said sarcastically. "And why does there have to be Hellmouth trouble in Cleveland, why couldn't it be in, I don't know, Hawaii or Malibu or Hollywood or somewhere like that."

"There is its called Lindsay Lohan but apparently we're not allowed to slay her," Dawn stared at her suitcase, frowning. "So you think I should take some stuff out then?"

Faith sighed and took hold of the suitcase. In one swift, smooth motion she slammed the lid shut and did up the clips. "You know it's lucky you're dating a Slayer because there's no other way you were getting that thing closed."

Dawn kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Thank you baby, now that's the packing done we've got the tickets, the hotel reservation, everything is organized for while we're gone here in Boston we haven't forgotten anything have we?" she asked Faith anxiously.

"Don't think so, we're ready to fly off on a non-fun-filled, non-vacation to sunny Cleveland tomorrow, yippee," Faith said with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

"I know it's not exactly what we had planned for spring break Faith but we are going to get to spend some time together and maybe afterwards we can go somewhere nice," Dawn hugged Faith from behind, resting her head gently on the Slayer's shoulder.

"Maybe you're right, maybe it won't be so bad," Faith leaned back into Dawn's embrace.

"Who knows, it might even be fun," Dawn said, as soon as the words slipped out of her mouth she knew she shouldn't have said them and wished she could take them back, Dawn just hoped she didn't live to regret them too much.

The street lay empty and deserted, the bustle and noise of the busy day being replaced by the silence and barrenness of the night as it wound wearily amongst the large, darkened warehouses. The echoing silence was interrupted abruptly as two teenage girls made their way carefully along the street, anxiously studying the shadows cast by the faint, ghostly moonlight.

"I still don't think it was a good idea to split up like this," one of the pair, a tall, black, heavyset girl grumbled. "Especially with something roaming around Cleveland killing Slayers."

The other, a shorter, redheaded, white girl shrugged. "I don't know Steven seemed pretty sure we'd be OK and all of the attacks on Slayers happened on the other side of town."

The redhead rolled her eyes, her companion's constant pessimism and complaining had started the moment they had hit the streets and it was beginning to get on her nerves. "Oh c'mon Daisy we're Slayers, it's not like we can't take care of ourselves."

Daisy stopped suddenly and tensed as she spied a large, looming shadow out of the corner of her eye. She tightened her grip around the hilt of the sword she carried and prepared herself for the inevitable fight before realizing she was about to attack a large, looming dumpster. "Yeah and in case you haven't noticed Josie this demon or whatever seems to enjoy the taste of Slayer," Daisy muttered petulantly, annoyed at herself for almost attacking a helpless inanimate object.

"Well whatever it is I wouldn't mind it turning up right now, those three vamps back there weren't really much of a challenge," Josie said airily, she was well ahead of Daisy and completely ignorant of her fellow Slayer's recent brush with nothing.

"It must be serious considering all the celebrities we're getting, I mean to think that Buffy THE Vampire Slayer is here," Daisy whispered, awe evident in her voice, thoroughly justifying the capitalization.

Josie shrugged nonchalantly. "She didn't look so tough I reckon I could take her, now that Faith chick she looked dangerous."

Daisy frowned. "Yeah I thought she was in like a jail or a mental hospital or something."

"No I think that's some other Slayer, Dana or whatever," Josie said vaguely. "But did you see the way Faith and that other girl, her Watcher, were acting around each other. Buffy certainly didn't look happy about that."

"Mmmmphh," Daisy grunted in agreement. "I don't think its right for Slayers and Watchers to carry on like that anyway, it leads to all sorts of unnecessary problems."

"You're just saying that because Steven won't give you the time of day," Josie grinned teasingly back at her.

Daisy puffed herself up in mock outrage, heightened by the fact that Josie's comments were a little too close for comfort. "That is so not true, take it back."

Daisy managed to stifle her overwhelming urge to deck the other girl. "Let's just finish this patrol and go home, I'm suddenly feeling tired," she muttered, brushing past a still grinning Josie.

Josie got the not-so subtle hint and dropped the subject, not that she could really blame her friend. Steven was a good-looking guy and Daisy wasn't the only Slayer in their group who had a thing for him, Daisy was just one of the more obvious ones in showing it, which also meant she was a more open target for teasing from the other Slayers.

"Fine we'll do this street and then head on back," Josie replied, running to catch up to the now fast-striding Daisy.

"Fine," Daisy said harshly, staring resolutely ahead of her and for all intents and purposes ignoring everything else, including Josie.

"Hey, what was that?" Josie saw a small movement out of the corner of her eye and stopped. "I'll just check down here, won't be a minute." And before Daisy could stop her Josie had ducked into a small alleyway and disappeared.

"Josie," Daisy shouted after her. "You could at least wait for me." She shook her head in exasperation and followed the other girl. Neither noticed the large dark shape detach itself from the shadows high up on the wall and crawl silently into the alleyway after them.

The alley led into a small, empty dead-end courtyard surrounded by high, crumbling brick walls, Daisy ran in at breakneck speed and was brought to an abrupt halt by the dead-end.

She glanced around hurriedly but there was no sign of Josie, there was nothing in the courtyard for her to hide behind and no way out other then the way Daisy had just come in, and she knew Josie hadn't passed her in the alley.

"Josie?" Daisy called out timidly. "Come on Josie this isn't funny, where are you?"

As she turned around her foot bumped into something solid and heavy, Daisy slowly lowered her gaze, fearing the worst. Her foot was resting up against the small hand-axe that Josie had been carrying on patrol, she knelt down to check the weapon and found the blade coated in some kind of greenish ichor, however Daisy's attention was caught by the red human-looking blood on the handle. The handle also had some kind of black sticky stuff on it that caused her to wrinkle her nose and quickly brush her hands on her jeans to try and get it off.

"Josie?" Daisy called out again, louder this time, but she didn't really expect an answer and so wasn't surprised when the only reply she got was her own voice echoing around the courtyard.

Daisy carefully picked up the axe, making sure not to touch the handle or blade and glanced anxiously around her one more time but of Josie and the thing that had obviously attacked her there was no sign.

The elevator dinged brightly, the doors opening onto a large, well-lit, plush hallway. Faith and Dawn stepped out of it arguing in low tones, their feet sinking slightly into the soft, lush carpet as they made their way up the corridor.

Faith strode confidently up to the door of their suite and unlocked it, ushering Dawn in with an extravagant wave of her arm, which Dawn, stopping the argument for a few seconds, rewarded with a sweet smile. Faith had insisted that they stay in a big suite in one of the more expensive hotels in town, reasoning that if they were being forced to spend at least part of their vacation in Cleveland they were going to do it in style. Anyway she loved spoiling her girl, and the look on Dawn's face when she first saw the large, lavish room had been worth the extra money, and it wasn't like money was a problem, the whole thing was being paid for by the Council credit card that Buffy had given her.

"I still don't see why they allowed it," Faith walked in to the room, continuing the argument from the elevator. "I mean having Slayers patrolling in pairs, especially with something wicked bad picking them off one-by-one seems like a stupid idea to me."

"The Watcher, Steven explained why," Dawn answered from the bathroom. "All the attacks on Slayers were nowhere near where the latest one happened and resources are somewhat stretched what with six Slayers now missing or dead, and what with the regular Hellmouthy badness to deal with as well as this new big-bad they needed the extra Slayers elsewhere. I agree it wasn't a great idea but I can understand the decision."

"Hmmmph, I think some Watchers take us Slayers for granted," Faith grumbled. "Just because when one of us dies another is called doesn't mean we're superfluous."

Dawn slipped out of the bathroom and moved towards Faith. "Careful, you're starting to sound like me using words with more then two syllables."

"Huh, guess you're a bad influence on me then," Faith's eyes were following Dawn's every move.

"Well I don't think you're superfluous," Dawn whispered as she pushed Faith up against the wall, a little roughly, her arms wrapping around her Slayer's waist. "In fact I would regard you as essential," she murmured into Faith's ear, her breath tickling against it softly. She brushed her lips across the soft skin of Faith's neck and then slowly began to move lower.

"That's um…good," Faith swallowed hard, her eyes half-lidded in pleasure as Dawn continued to kiss and gently bite her way down her neck. She didn't know why, but ever since they had arrived in Cleveland Dawn had been more…aggressive when it came to the physical side of things, not that Faith minded in fact she quite enjoyed this stronger, more passionate Dawn. Usually she was the one who acted this forceful, so it was kinda nice having Dawn in the role instead.

"Mmmmh…I'm glad you approve," Dawn moaned gently, pressing her lips hungrily against Faith's as her hands slid in under Faith's top and started stroking across the Slayer's stomach and waist.

"Ah Dawn, baby," Faith said in a convenient breathing break. "Don't you wanta use the bed?" she suggested as she became aware of one of Dawn's hands making its way down towards a very private area indeed.

"Why I thought you liked having things a bit…different," Dawn smiled suggestively and slid said hand inside Faith's jeans.

Faith groaned quietly and Dawn leaned forward eagerly to capture it in her own mouth. "I do, I was thinking more comfort-wise you know, if you have a bed handy why not use it," Faith mumbled, trying to concentrate on something other then Dawn's fingers as they pressed and rubbed up against her.

Dawn considered that for a second, ceasing her hand movements. "OK, I guess you're right it would be more comfortable," she hooked her hand around the top of Faith's jeans and towed the unresisting Slayer to the bed.

She pushed Faith backwards onto the bed and then climbed on top, straddling the Slayers waist before leaning sinuously down to kiss her girlfriend's lips. "Comfortable now?" Dawn whispered hotly.

"Much better," Faith answered, responding to Dawn's passion with some of her own.

Afterwards they lay languorously together, their passions spent. Dawn had finished up half on top of Faith, their limbs entwined together and tangled amongst the bed-sheets. Faith stretched out lazily, luxuriating in the pleasurable haze filling her mind and the feel of Dawn's naked body distractedly pressing against her own.

Dawn's response took a while in coming but eventually she sighed deeply and grunted an inarticulate reply.

Dawn blinked sleepily at the question that to her, seemed to have come completely out of left field. "Something wrong, why would you think there was something wrong. I'd have thought the last hour would suggest the exact opposite?"

"Actually that's kinda the problem," Faith saw Dawn's questioning look and hurried to explain. "It's just ever since we got here you've been extra…affectionate towards me and I was wondering why."

"So now it's a crime to be horny?" Dawn asked disbelievingly. "'Cause if so you're a lot guiltier then I am."

"No, no that's not what I mean and I'm not sure if I'm saying this right," Faith said anxiously. "Don't think I'm not enjoying the extra affection 'cause I am, I really am. It's just not normal behavior for you and I'm a little worried is all."

"So that's why you think something might be wrong, because I've being wanting a little more loving recently?" Dawn asked, not really seeing that as a problem.

"A little more loving, I'd say a lot," Faith tried one last time to clarify her meaning. "You haven't been able to keep you're hands off me ever since we arrived, and once again not really minding, but it's not like you, usually it's me who can't keep my hands off of you."

Dawn yawned and lay her head back down on Faith's chest, cuddling as close as possible to Faith's warm body. "Then I don't think I'm the one with the problem and as for the why of it, maybe it's because we haven't been together much recently what with my exams and everything, maybe I'm just making up for some lost time."

"Mmmm, maybe," Faith said doubtfully, she looked down at Dawn but the girl was already asleep, which put an end to any chance of further discussion. Faith sighed and settled down to sleep, pushing her doubts aside maybe things would look different in the morning.

The centre of the new Council in Cleveland was a large, glass-fronted, modern-looking office building, situated near the Hellmouth to allow quick access in case anything Hellmouthy appeared without any prior warning. Inside it was as clean, modern and efficient as it looked on the outside, and had clearly been recently renovated as everything had that too new shine to it that only wore away after frequent use.

Dawn stared curiously about her as she made her way up a wrought iron, spiral staircase that rose spectacularly up through the middle of the building. This place made quite a contrast to the old, dilapidated building she was forced to use in Boston, then again this place did have a lot more resources poured into it and had an actual full-time staff plus a lot more Watchers and Slayers, still she couldn't help but feel she had got majorly screwed somewhere along the line.

She eventually reached the tenth and final floor, parts of her wishing she had taken the elevator instead but she had wanted a good look around the building without appearing like she was a gawking tourist or something, which she then proceeded to do as she made her way along an impressive corridor towards the large conference room to which she had been directed.

"Dawn patrol, over here." A familiar voice shouted from one side of the room as she entered.

Dawn smiled, spying Xander frantically waving her over. "Hey Xander, what's up?"

"Nothing, just happy to see you," Xander rose from his chair to give her a quick hug. "Standing in a room full of Watcherly types I'm happy to see anybody I can talk to for five seconds and actually understand what they're saying."

Dawn giggled and sat down next to him. "You know that I'm a Watcher too don't you, well technically a Watcher-in-training."

"Yeah but you're still Dawn and see we've had a conversation going on here for longer then five seconds and I can still understand what you're saying, plus bonus points for not acting all upper-class and British," Xander said light-heartedly, enjoying seeing Dawn again after so long.

"Right because I have a big problem with that, acting all British," Dawn shook her in amusement. She missed having Xander around all the time, he was always able to make her laugh and he had a way of making things seem better, even when they weren't. He was still one of her most favorite people in the whole world, even if she had gotten over that silly teenage crush she had on him years ago.

"Hey guys," Buffy said quietly as she silently drifted in and sat down on Xander's other side.

"Buffy," Dawn answered stiffly, pointedly looking directly in front of her and not at Buffy.

Xander glanced uncertainly from one sister to the other. The tension between the two Summers girls was heavy and swiftly becoming very uncomfortable. "So what's the reason for the meeting Buff, or is it just some kind of a Watcher social get together that, for some reason, we were invited to?"

"According to the head Watcher-guy, Jeremy," Buffy waved vaguely towards the group of Watchers clustered together on the other side of the room, "they've had some progress on the big-bad that's recently been taking out the Slayers." Buffy paused. "So, where's Faith?" she added trying and failing spectacularly to sound nonchalant.

"Nice attempt at casual Buffy," Dawn commented dryly. "She saw someone she knew downstairs and stopped off to talk with them, she'll be here soon."

As if on cue the doors opened and Faith strolled in, spotting Dawn immediately and making her way over. "Hey baby," she murmured as she slid in next to her, putting an arm around Dawn's waist and planting a light kiss on her cheek. "B, Xander."

Xander smiled awkwardly in greeting, looking apprehensively from Buffy to Faith and then back again as if mentally calculating minimum safe distance. Ever since they'd arrived in Cleveland Faith and Buffy had been unfailingly polite to one another, but it didn't take a genius to feel the charged atmosphere that surrounded them. It would only take one spark to set the whole thing off and Xander didn't want to be anywhere near them when that happened.

"Faith," Buffy desperately tried to ignore the arm Faith had around her little sister's waist.

Dawn noticeably softened in Faith's presence, some of her tension draining easily away. "No, we haven't started yet," she replied.

The small group then sat around in an uneasy silence that steadily grew more uncomfortable before it was finally, and much to the relief of all of them, broken by someone clapping their hands and calling for everybody's attention.

"Is everybody here? Good then I'll get straight to the point," The speaker was a dignified, middle-aged Englishman, dressed in the clichéd tweed suit. It was quickly obvious to all who hadn't met him before that he was the head Watcher in Cleveland, Jeremy. "Analysis done on the axe from last night's attack has indicated several things.

"First the blood on the blade is unmistakably demonic, no surprise there, however we are still working on determining exactly which species of demon the blood is from, unfortunately that may take some time. The black adhesive substance on the handle is more of a clue as it bears a striking resemblance to spider's webbing, it's not exactly the same substance and is made from different compounds but there is no doubting the similarity-"

"So we're looking for a big, demonic spider then?" Buffy asked, interrupting the Watcher in mid-flow.

"Most probably Miss Summers, yes," Jeremy confirmed. "But there are many species of demons that bear some kind of likeness to spiders or can take the form of a spider or use substances akin to spider webbing, so while this narrows it down somewhat it unfortunately does not give us a definitive answer."

While Jeremy droned on Dawn reached forward and pulled the laptop that sat on the table towards her, and then began searching the Council's online demon database. "Spiders," she muttered to herself, there was something about spiders that had rung a huge alarm bell in her mind

"Ah hah," Dawn cried then looked up from the computer screen to find everyone staring at her strangely. "I'm sorry were you saying something?"

"No that's quite all right Miss Summers," Jeremy said, a pained smile on his face. "Did you wish to contribute something?"

"Raknarl demons, I think they're our perps," Dawn answered, pointing triumphantly to the laptop's screen.

"Raknarl demons, is there any particular reason for this…assumption of yours?" Jeremy inquired, a hint of condescension in his voice.

"The way they feed," Dawn continued on obliviously, "Raknarl's are just basically big spiders and feed in a similar manner, they inject a toxin into their victims body which liquefies the insides and then they suck the insidey-liquid stuff up. All they leave behind is the skin with a great big hole punched in it, usually corresponding to the victim's chest region."

"Well it look's like we have a winner," Buffy said, directing a disparaging look in Jeremy's direction. "And more importantly a loser."

"So how do we kill this thing?" Xander asked, standing up out of his chair to look over Dawn's shoulder.

"H-How big a spider are we talking about here?" Faith asked, her face turning a very pale shade.

"Um let me see, I'm sure there was a picture somewhere," Dawn murmured, scrolling down the screen. "There you go," Dawn announced, turning the screen towards Faith.

The picture was of the interior of a large building, the swollen body of a massive spider-like creature covered the ceiling and smaller versions of itself about the size of a human being crawled over both the larger spider and the walls.

"Huh," Buffy grunted, studying the picture closely. "Looks like we're going to need to bring out the big guns to take care of this thing."

"Excuse me do yo-" Jeremy interjected, frustrated at being completely ignored. The heads of the other Watchers in the room swung from him to the Scoobies and back again, like spectators at Wimbledon.

"Hmmm, rocket launcher might be a bit messy Xand, you know bits flying everywhere. Maybe a flame thrower or a big bomb like with the Mayor?" Buffy suggested.

"OK, hold it right there," Jeremy shouted, everybody instantly fell silent and stared at him. "I think you're jumping to far too many conclusions here, we already researched and then eliminated Raknarl demons from our investigation."

"Mainly because there are no cases of Raknarl demons attacking human beings before," Jeremy said simply.

Buffy gave Dawn a questioning look. "That's true," Dawn said defensively. "But none of the victims have been humans, they've all been Slayers and what with Raknarl's being rare and requiring large amounts of food, and Slayers having been even rarer until recently it's not that surprising that this has never happened before."

"And Slayers being somewhat other then human would make them items on this things menu," Buffy added, turning back to Jeremy with a 'beat that if you can' expression on her face.

"Well that may be so," Jeremy stuttered, suddenly feeling a little deflated. "But you have no evidence to back up this theory of yours."

"I'd say a few skinned Slayer's amounts to pretty good evidence," Xander said, condescension now in his voice.

Jeremy sighed, the fight completely going out of him. "So how do you propose finding this Raknarl's nest?" he asked.

Buffy looked confused. "How many great, big, demonic spiders do you have in Cleveland?"

"Actually Buffy that's just the queen," Dawn pointed out. "There's also a large number of smaller drones that take care of her and guard her, those are probably the ones attacking and killing the Slayers around town."

"You mean there's more then one big spider?" Faith asked faintly, now turning a shade of green. "Oh goody."

"Oh, so why don't we follow one of these drone thingies back home to mommy creepiest?" Buffy suggested.

"Raknarl demons move very quickly and can climb sheer walls with ease, following one would be both difficult and extremely dangerous," Jeremy explained patiently. "And instead of leading you to the queen it might lead you somewhere else, into an ambush for example."

"We could try a demon specific locater spell," Dawn proposed. "You still have some of the blood right?"

"I've done spells before," Dawn argued heatedly. "And this isn't even a particularly hard spell to do, Willow showed me once it's not difficult or dangerous."

"If I remember correctly the spells you've done before had the nasty habit of almost destroying our house," Buffy argued back. "And Willow is a dead woman next time I see her."

"That only happened once, and anyway it wasn't my fault," Dawn said indignantly.

"Dawnie listen to your sister, this is wicked dangerous," Faith pleaded, acutely aware of the irony of her arguing Buffy's case for once. "We can find another way to get this thing."

"I can do it," Dawn stated firmly, hoping to shut down any further argument from either Faith or Buffy. "Get me the ingredients for the spell and I'll find our demon."

After the inevitable continued arguing from Buffy and desperate pleading from Faith eventually wound down the meeting broke up, the other Watchers hurrying to get back to their appointed tasks, some going to collect the ingredients for the locater spell while Jeremy muttered something about checking to see if there was any further progress on analyzing the blood from the axe.

Faith hovered uncertainly around Dawn, obviously still upset about the teenager doing her spell. "Are you sure you're going to be OK?" she asked uneasily. "'Cause you don't have to do this we'll find the demon another way."

"I'll be fine," Dawn repeated for the millionth time. "You don't need to worry about me so much, in fact the way you look I think I should be the one worrying about you. Why don't you go get some air you're still looking all pale and shaky."

"I'm five-by-five," Faith shrugged off Dawn's concern, then saw the unconvinced look on Dawn's face. "Whatever," she said, turning on her heel and stomping angrily off.

"Good, because it's nice to see someone I know in some kind of a stable, happy relationship," Xander said.

"Still having girl-troubles huh? Don't worry Xand I'm sure you'll meet a nice girl someday, in fact I know you will," Dawn said encouragingly as she glanced around the corridor casually, her eye fell on a familiar figure. "Alex," she called out, the blonde Slayer span around and then saw her, waving and working her way over to them.

"Hi Dawn, Xander," Alex smiled briefly in greeting at Dawn and then far more brightly at Xander. "So did you miss this meeting deliberately or did you oversleep?" Dawn asked jokingly.

"Uh huh," Alex answered distractedly; her eyes and smile still firmly fixed on Xander.

Dawn smiled inwardly at the obviously adoring way Alex was staring at Xander and then came up with, what she thought, was a brilliant idea. "Say Alex I'm OK here with Buffy, why don't you and Xander go for a tour around Cleveland, you know see the sights."

"Yeah, that's a great idea. Come on Xander," Alex quickly grabbed him by the arm and began leading him towards the stairs. "See you Dawn."

Dawn stared after the two grinning, Xander seemed a little bemused by what had recently happened but she knew he had always liked strong women and Slayers so Alex, who was both, should be exactly his type. She was still congratulating herself on her good deed when Buffy suddenly turned up next to her.

"So what was up with Faith?" Buffy asked, she had noticed her fellow Slayer's rather stormy exit.

"She's worried about me doing this spell," Dawn replied. "Plus she really doesn't like spiders, one time she was in the shower and saw this tiny spider on the wall. She began screaming for help and I had to race in there and save her from it."

"Oh. Right. It's…never mind. And since when has Faith been afraid of spiders?" Buffy asked, the surprise evident in her voice.

Dawn shrugged. "Apparently she had a bad experience with one when she was little and has been scared silly of them ever since."

"Oh, never would've guessed," Buffy said quietly. "But she is right about the spell, you shouldn't be doing it, especially here. Magic is dangerous enough as it is, but doing magic on a Hellmouth is as bad as, as standing in a cemetery and flaunting your neck cleavage."

"I can handle it," Dawn glared at her sister. "I've done magic before, on a Hellmouth, I can do it again, it's a simple spell it'll all be over in a few seconds."

"Or you'll all be over in a few seconds, but fine do the spell just don't come crying to me when you turn yourself into a toad," Buffy sighed in resignation. "I know I can forget about changing your mind when you go all stubborn."

Buffy maintained a tactful silence on that. "So how have things been with Faith?" she asked, changing the subject before realizing she probably should have chosen an easier topic.

"Good, only the last memory I have about you two is you crying your eyes out for a week after she cheated on you and then left."

Dawn turned and looked Buffy directly in the eye. "That's not going to happen again."

Buffy grunted, her distrust in Faith's promises clear. "I still don't understand what you see in her, why you're with her, why you…love her."

"Then you've clearly never seen her naked," Dawn said dreamily. "She has this cute little mole on her left breast-"

"What? I'm not allowed to talk about my girlfriend that way?" Dawn asked innocently.

"No, not to me, especially considering you're talking about Faith, it's just plain creepy," Buffy said, shuddering.

Dawn shook her head and sighed. "At some point you're going to have to get used to the fact that Faith's a big part of my life now Buffy, and as for why I love her, I don't exactly know. I mean she's nice and kind, protective, looks after me, cares for me, she has a really cute smile, plus she has that whole bad-girl thing going for her and she really loves me, I mean really loves me, I can tell."

"I can think of many four letter words to describe Faith, nice and kind would not be two of them," Buffy grumbled. "And I've done the whole bad-girl thing, boy, bad-boy thing, and trust me Dawn there's no good there."

"Faith's not bad anymore," Dawn insisted. "She might still have the attitude, the tattoo and the sexy clothes but she's one of the good guys now."

Buffy looked at her sister skeptically. "So she's behaving herself, taking care of you, treating you right?"

Buffy tried to picture that in her mind, Faith cooking, but she just couldn't fit it into the mental image she had of Faith. "You said she loves you but how do you know, it could be another one of Faith's games?"

"Trust me I know, it's rather…obvious. When Faith loves something she loves it whole-heartedly, she doesn't hold anything back," Dawn explained. "Which is kind of ironic, considering she's not the most open person in the world, I mean she still hasn't told me a lot about her past, what happened to her when she was younger."

"Really, whole-hearted love huh, I've never seen her act like that. Guess that means Faith's never been in love with me," Buffy joked lightly.

"Actually she told me she used to have a little crush on you, when she first arrived in Sunnydale," Dawn said mischievously, she had to see Buffy's response to this revelation.

"Oh don't worry, she got over it," Dawn was enjoying her sister's reaction a little too much. "You know what with the whole going evil thing and trying to kill you."

"And I never thought I'd ever be glad of that happening," Buffy still sounded shocked.

"All I'm saying Buffy is that you can stop worrying about me, I'm old enough to take care of myself now, I don't need you looking over my shoulder all the time," Dawn said softly, hoping to get her point across to her sister.

Buffy studied her younger sister quietly and realized Dawn was right she didn't need to worry so much anymore, Dawn was no longer the little girl she had to watch over all the time, she was all grown-up, well mostly grown-up. Dawn was a strong, independent young woman who no longer needed her guidance and protection, she had done her job in raising her and now it was time for her to let go, for good this time and let Dawn live her own life, that still didn't mean that she couldn't keep an eye on things, check on her occasionally, just to be sure.

Buffy nodded, a few tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm fine, I'll be all right."

Buffy was saved from further embarrassment by Jeremy's arrival from downstairs, carrying a small vial of some kind of greenish substance.

"I've been down in the labs and they've done some testing on the blood from the blade of the axe," he announced, some contrition in his voice. "It appears you were right Miss Summers, it is a Raknarl demon we are dealing with, so here," he passed Dawn the vial, "the blood for the locater spell."

"Thank you," Dawn accepted the vial gracefully. "Now all I need is the other ingredients, oh, and a map of the area and then we're set."

The other ingredients soon arrived along with the map and, trailing in after, Faith, looking more together and a lot less pale.

Dawn gathered up everything she needed and then paused, looking around at the large crowd of people watching her curiously. "Um, I kind of need somewhere private to do this."

"Then follow me," Jeremy led her away from the crowd, to a secluded room in an unoccupied area of the building. "This should be more suitable." He opened the door and flicked the light-switch on revealing a small, bare storeroom almost completely filled by a large table and some chairs.

"This'll do," Dawn nodded in approval and then proceeded to climb up on the table and sit down, crossing her legs and laying the map out in front of her.

"So why do you need somewhere private, does the spell involve some kind of freaky naked dancing?" Faith asked hopefully, leaning against the doorjamb.

"No, no naked dancing," Dawn said firmly. "Just some chanting in Latin, then I mix the blood into this powder and blow it over the map and with any luck it should show us where the demon is."

"I needed somewhere private because I need some peace and quiet to do the spell," Dawn said pointedly. "And also because I didn't want a whole crowd of people staring at me while I did it, that's rather off-putting."

"Fine," Dawn said after a moment, deciding it wasn't really worth the argument. "But if you two start arguing and mess up the spell, I'm not going to be blamed for the consequences."

Faith and Buffy nodded in agreement and Dawn, satisfied with this arrangement, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She began chanting softly under her breath, feeling the magic slowly building itself up inside her. She then reached over for the blood, pouring a small amount into the powder and mixing it together, and then, gathering some of the mixture into her hand, she finished the chant and blew the powder over the map.

At first nothing happened, then a small puff of smoke appeared and steadily grew as a small hole burnt itself into the map.

"Wow, I guess you did it Dawnie," Faith said, impressed despite her doubts about the magic. "Dawnie?" she asked softly, worry creeping into her voice.

Dawn sat on the table, swaying gently from side-to-side and blinking dazedly, a small trickle of blood running from her right nostril.

"Are you all right Dawn?" Buffy asked concernedly as she supported Dawn on her other side.

"Um yeah, I think so," Dawn mumbled weakly. "That spell didn't quite go as I planned."

"I must have miscalculated the effect the Hellmouth would have on the spell," Dawn said defensively, looking around the room uneasily as she wiped the blood from her nose.

"Yeah, well, I think you're all magicked out, so no more spells," Faith stated firmly, helping Dawn down from the table.

"Yes, no more spells," Buffy agreed readily. "Although it looks like you gave us a probable location for this spider-demon thingy," she added, looking at the hole burnt into the map.

"At least something worked properly then," Dawn said faintly. "I think I'd like to go back to our hotel room now," she said to Faith as she leant heavily against the Slayer, letting her guide her slowly out of the room.

When she got to the door Dawn stopped, glancing apprehensively around the room one more time. She knew she'd done the spell the way Willow told her to, nothing had gone wrong within the actual spell and the Hellmouth couldn't have affected it that much, there had been something else, some powerful magic that had channeled into her and through her when she had started the spell, she had…felt it inside of her, changing her in some way and she wasn't certain it had left.

Buffy closed the door softly behind her and stood thoughtfully in the middle of her hotel room. She couldn't help but notice the difference between her crappy little single room and Dawn and Faith's enormous luxurious suite that was costing them god only knew how much, and she just knew Faith was using her Council credit card to pay for it all.

After Dawn had finished her spell Buffy had helped Faith drop her off at their hotel suite and, almost inevitably, by the time they had got there Dawn had insisted she was fine and that she was perfectly capable of going with them to destroy the Raknarl demons nest. At which point she had quietly slipped out and left Faith to persuade Dawn against that idea and inform her that she was staying at the hotel and the only way Dawn would be able to come with them was in the rare event of Hell freezing over.

Buffy was started out of her reverie by someone knocking at the door, she went to open the door that opened out into the corridor before realizing the knock came from the door dividing her room from Xander's.

"Touring the sights and sounds of wonderful metropolitan Cleveland," Xander exclaimed dryly.

"I know what you're thinking and nothing happened," Xander said defensively. Buffy continued to look at him. "OK, OK, stop giving me the third degree. We're kind of going out together, tomorrow night, you know barring monsters."

Buffy smiled happily. "Good, I'm glad to see you getting out there Xander. You haven't been doing much of that since, well, since Anya."

Xander nodded. "I know, it's just never felt like the right time, but I guess enough time has passed now because it feels OK. Mind you, you can't say much Buff, you haven't exactly been Miss Dates-A-Lot recently."

"I've been busy," Buffy wasn't happy at suddenly being the one put on the defensive. "Anyway at least I'm not going out with someone with the same name as me, because that's got to be weird."

"A little bit," Xander conceded grudgingly. "But she likes to be called Alex and I'm Xander so that makes things less weird."

"And between the two of you you've got a whole name, hey if you have kids maybe you can name your son Lex and your daughter…Ander," Buffy paused, her voice trailing off. "Guess that one doesn't really work."

"But I'm tired of being alone," Xander continued, ignoring Buffy's comment. "And I'm tired of Will and Kennedy and Dawn and Faith being together and happy when I'm not, so I'm doing something about it."

"Do you think they are?" Buffy asked softly, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "Dawn and Faith I mean, do you think they're happy?"

Xander sat down on the bed next to her. "Yeah I do, hey I've only got one eye and I can see it. I mightn't be an expert on these things and I mightn't have any depth perception but I can still tell when two people are in love and happy and Dawn and Faith, they're most definitely in love."

"You seem remarkably open to that fact, the Dawn and Faith being in love fact?" Buffy asked curiously.

"When Willow came out it was a big surprise, I mean me and Willow have been friends since we were little," Xander explained, "but I think that Willow may have used up all of my lesbian shock quota so when the Dawn and Faith thing happened it wasn't such a shock, though I do have to ask why, is it that the girls who have a crush on me when they're teenagers all turn out to be gay when they get older?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it has anything to do with you, or maybe it does. In which case I'd keep an eye on Alex," Buffy teased.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself," Buffy got up off the bed and reached under it, dragging out a large duffel bag. "I think it's just the way things are."

"Better I guess, at least I don't have an overriding urge to kill Faith anymore, so there's progress," Buffy opened the bag, pulling out the scythe she'd brought from Rome and casually twirling it in her hands. "It still seems a bit strange to me though, as if there's something not quite right about it."

"Uh huh," Xander stared worriedly at the large, sharp and dangerous weapon Buffy was playing with so casually. "And you think violence is the answer?"

"What?" Buffy looked confused then saw Xander staring fixedly at the scythe. "No, much as I hate to admit it, this is for those spider thingies. Dawn's locater spell worked, in a way, and I was going to check out the location tonight."

"No, I'm going to take some of the local Slayers with me," Buffy replied. "And I think Faith might be coming as well," she added irritably.

"Good, so where are the bad guys at then?" Xander stood up and moved towards the door.

"Um, Xander, I don't you should come with," Buffy said gently, trying not to hurt his feelings. "These Rake…nail demons are supposed to be really dangerous and I don't want you getting injured."

"But I've backed you up before, I've helped you kill lots of unspeakable demons, stop apocalypses," Xander argued, his pride a little hurt.

"I know, but remember there's all these zesty new Slayers around so I'll have lots of back-up. I'll have all the back-up I can stand," Buffy reflected moodily.

"You can come to the Council building with me," Buffy proposed. "Help motivate and organize."

"Sure I can do that," Xander nodded. "Then I'll sit and twiddle my thumbs with the British guys, maybe drink some tea."

"Hey you're being helpful OK," Buffy said firmly. "In fact you're essential, providing much needed emotional support. Without you I may have done something stupid, like severely hurting Faith, although I'm not so sure if that'd be considered stupid or not."

"You know you might help motivate more if you were, well, motivated," Buffy suggested.

"Hey I'm motivated, I'm a motivation machine, and if I can't help by talking," Xander opened the door and waved Buffy through, "I'll just put a Tony Robbins tape on, that'd motivate anyone to kill."

Several dark shapes huddled low down in the shadows cast by the large warehouses they crouched beside, occasionally shifting impatiently from foot to foot or playing with the weapons they were carrying. Suddenly a shadow flitted from around a corner and rushed towards them at speed. "OK, this is definitely the right place, the warehouse the locater spell pinpointed is crawling with them," Buffy said breathlessly as she stopped and knelt on the ground, laying the scythe down beside her. "So we'll stick to the original plan. Once I give the signal we'll go in the front, Faith's group will go in the back, when we're in kill everything that isn't human.

"Remember our main objective is the queen, kill as many of the drones as possible but try to get to the queen, when she dies the nest dies. These things are dangerous, they've taken out at least six Slayers that we know of so I think it's about time we evened things," Buffy looked around at the dozen grim, determined young faces in front of her. "Any questions?"

A heavyset, black girl raised her hand. "Um, yes…Daisy is it?" Buffy asked hesitantly.

Daisy smiled glowingly, she had remembered her name, Buffy had actually remembered her name. "Yeah how exactly are we going to kill that queen thing? I mean I saw a picture of it, that thing's big as a house."

Buffy sighed. "Unfortunately your Watchers didn't seem to have any heavy weaponry, well nothing except the stuff we're carrying, so I'm thinking we kill it the hard way, hit it until it stops moving then hit it a few more times just to be sure. Any other questions?" Buffy glanced around the group one more time. "No? Good. Then let's go."

Buffy picked up the scythe and made her way stealthily to the wall containing the warehouse's front door, all the time looking around her to make sure the coast was clear. She gestured to the other Slayers crouching nearby and they quickly moved to her side, weapons held at the ready.

Buffy went to stand up when a hand grabbed her shoulder and forced her down again. "What?" she whispered angrily, the Slayer next to her pointed up and Buffy's eyes widened when she saw a Raknarl on the wall above, scuttling quickly down towards them. She lifted the scythe, preparing to strike, when the Raknarl was suddenly transfixed against the wall by a bolt from someone's crossbow. The demon gave one final shriek, shuddered and then died.

Buffy sighed in relief, checked to see if there were any more demons around, then stood up and removed the flare gun from her back pocket. She lifted it up into the sky and gave the signal, firing a large red flare into the sky, then reloaded the gun before putting it into her back pocket.

"Everybody ready?" she asked and received a quiet chorus of confirmation. Satisfied, Buffy kicked in the front door of the warehouse and entered, brandishing the scythe threateningly. Vaguely she heard a large bang and the sounds of yelling from the other end of the warehouse, Faith had obviously seen the signal and led her group inside as well.

Buffy moved cautiously into the darkened building, carefully checking all around her, but she couldn't see anything, there were no demons anywhere. She stopped as a nasty suspicion grew in her mind, then all of a sudden all hell broke loose and Raknarl's began attacking from everywhere.

The demons looked like something born out of an arachnophobe's worst nightmare, they were slightly larger then a person and looked like hairy, overgrown spiders complete with claws and huge fangs dripping with something that Buffy feared was some kind of poison.

Her highly trained reflexes took over and she swung the scythe in a large arc, slicing through a couple of legs and one Raknarl's head, it collapsed in a writhing heap and Buffy jumped over it, ducking under a wildly swinging leg she thrust left and then right, dispatching another couple with ease and then she was free of the action for a few seconds.

She could hear screams, cries of pain and sounds of fighting from everywhere, clearly she hadn't been the only one who'd been attacked. A rapid movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she saw the young, black Slayer who'd asked the questions outside trapped against the wall, a sword held out defensively in front of her, as two of the demons circled and got ready to attack.

Buffy ran forward and the scythe came smoothly down, neatly cutting one demon in half. The other Slayer, Daisy was it, smiled at her gratefully and used her sword to good effect, making short work of the other one.

"We have to keep moving, the queen's has to be somewhere around here," Buffy motioned the other girl alongside as she moved further into the building, cutting away loose strands of black, sticky webbing that hung from the ceiling. She had noticed that the webbing was getting thicker the closer you got to the middle of the building. It didn't take a genius to realize what that meant, the queen would be somewhere in the middle of all that webbing. "Where are the others?"

Daisy seemed startled at the rapid-fire question but managed to stammer out an answer. "I-I don't know, when those t-things attacked we all got separated."

Buffy tried to see someone, anyone in the gloom, but the only source of light in the whole warehouse was the shafts of moonlight that came through the dirty and broken panes of the windows, and even that was mostly cut-off by the ever thickening webbing, all of which meant visibility was severely lacking and that meant the chances of finding anyone else sometime soon were next to zero.

The sounds of battle began to tail off, and since it had been a full minute since her and Daisy had been attacked Buffy decided to take a risk and call out. "Hello, anyone there?" she was answered by startled and relieved cries, some of which sounded more like whimpers of pain then anything else.

"Everybody move towards my voice," Buffy shouted, hoping this wouldn't also lead any surviving demons towards her as well. "I need everybody over here, now."

The webbing around her began to rustle and move and then figures Buffy recognized as human emerged, most sporting cuts and scrapes of some kind, however a couple were more seriously injured and were being carried by their fellow Slayers.

Buffy did a quick head count, her heart sinking when she realized at least one girl was missing, although it was a little hard to be sure in the dim light.

"OK it looks like we've repelled them for now, so here's what we're going to do," Buffy whispered fiercely, the other Slayers leaning in close to hear. "Those of you with seriously injured people, get them out through the front and then stay outside with them," the Slayers indicated nodded and began moving off in that direction. "The rest of you split into three groups, half a dozen of you go to the left, the same number to the right and everyone else with me. Go slowly and be careful, as soon as you spot the queen or it spots you, start yelling and we'll come running. Everyone got it? Good. Let's move out."

Buffy led her group towards the centre of the building, seven or eight Slayers fanning out after her. She followed her own orders, moving slowly and cautiously through the mass of webbing, though it was almost impossible to do anything else, the webbing was thick and tough and trying to get through it was like trying to cut your way through a dense, sticky jungle.

"What are those things?" the Slayer to her left indicated a series of dark shapes that hung suspended in the webbing.

"I don't know," Buffy stared at the shapes uncertainly before making her way slowly over to one. It was a bit larger then a human but roughly humanoid in shape and completely cocooned within strands of the webbing. Buffy studied it for a few seconds more and then gingerly poked at it, when nothing happened she began cutting away at the webbing, suddenly the webbing gave way, causing the thing to crash to the floor with a dull thud.

Buffy edged up to it and rolled it over with her foot. The thing had been a demon once, but was now a mummified corpse; she didn't know the species but anything that stiff and unmoving was definitely dead. The expression on what was left of the demon's face immediately caught her eye, its face was half-eaten away but she could still see the horror and pain etched onto its features.

Even though it was her job to kill demons she wouldn't wish whatever had happened to this demon on anyone or anything.

Daisy walked warily up to another of the shapes, but halted when the thing began squirming and moving. She stood, frozen with indecision for a few moments, before finally deciding to cut the webbing away from the thing's face. The strands fell away to reveal a terrified Josie, sobbing helplessly in fear.

"Don't worry Josie, you're safe now, we'll get you out," Daisy promised urgently. "Can I get some help over here?" she shouted frantically, feverishly cutting through the strands of webbing.

Other Slayers soon arrived and got to work cutting Josie free. "See, we'll soon-" Daisy glanced up at Josie and instantly stopped what she was doing.

Josie's face wore a look of pure fear and pain, her mouth working as if she was trying to say something but nothing came out. Her eyes widened in panic, staring straight into Daisy's, the look of bewilderment and terror causing Daisy to take an involuntary step backwards. Then Josie's mouth opened wider and then wider, more then was humanely possible, the redheaded Slayer began to thrash around, desperately trying to get free Then all of Josie's movements abruptly ceased and dozens of small Raknarl demons poured out of her mouth, swiftly covering Josie's face in their burning desire to feed.

Daisy screamed uncontrollably as she saw her friend being eaten alive in front of her, her mind and body shutting down from the shock of watching the horrifying act unfold.

The girls around her started to shout and cry out as the baby Raknarl's left Josie's mostly consumed body and began to attack them instead, then Buffy and Faith and other Slayers were there, ripping the small demons off the bodies of their intended victims and squashing them underfoot.

The babies emitted a high-pitched wail as they were crushed, and as it faded the baby's cry was answered by a similar cry, much louder, more powerful and full of anger.

"What the hell was that?" Faith asked while attempting to look everywhere at once.

"I think that was mommy calling," Buffy answered softly as she tried to figure out exactly where the sound had come from.

She spied a huge, bloated shape moving swiftly overhead, it then slid down a thick strand of the webbing and landed in the middle of a group of Slayers, scattering them like leaves in the wind.

Buffy stared in fascinated revulsion at the creature in front of her, the queen was absolutely massive, it towered over the girls who surrounded it, its fangs at the same height as the most of their heads, the rest of its bulk looming over the horrified Slayers.

It let out a shriek of rage and rushed forward, bowling over Slayers left and right, its surge carrying it towards Faith, she dived out of the way as it's fangs clashed together and only narrowly missed her head.

However Slayers weren't so easily discouraged, they were highly trained warriors and quickly regrouped and then counterattacked, the queen's assault was soon answered by a hail of fire from crossbows. Most of the bolts bounced off the creature's thick hide, some penetrated deep into its flesh and one lucky shot pierced one of it's large eyes, destroying the orb and causing it to cry out in pain.

Crossbows and bows were dropped to the ground and replaced by hand-to-hand weapons, swords and axes flashing as the Slayers fell on the monster from all sides, hacking into the queen's body. Buffy maneuvered herself close and the scythe sang through the air, cutting completely through one of the monster's legs.

The queen reeled under the impact of so many blows but something that big could take a lot of punishment, it lashed out making a hole in the ring of steel surrounding it large enough for it to escape through it then moved faster then seemed possible for a creature of that size, running up one of the strands of webbing and disappearing high up near the ceiling.

Everybody looked upwards fearfully, trying to track exactly where the queen had gone. Without warning it landed behind them, most of the Slayers scrambling away quickly and evading it. Unfortunately one unlucky girl wasn't fast enough and was caught by a mass of the sticky webbing that the creature spewed out, it entangled her in the substance and then slowly and inexorably drew her towards its eagerly working mouthparts.

The girl cried out and struggled to free herself from the thick webbing, eventually managing to get one arm free she swung her axe into what passed for the queen's face just as the creature's fangs crashed together in a scissor-like action and neatly severed the Slayer's head from her shoulders.

Faith watched, stunned, as the girl's decapitated body fell from the grasp of the monster's forelimbs and collapsed to the ground. She looked away from the sickening scene and noticed what seemed like gas canisters leaning up against one of the walls.

A plan hastily formed in Faith's mind as she walked up to Buffy's side and yanked the flare gun out of the blonde's pocket. "Tell everyone to get out," Faith said levelly, checking to see if the gun was loaded.

"Just tell everyone to get out, now," Faith met Buffy's gaze coolly and clicked the gun closed.

Buffy stared at her for a few seconds, seeing the resolve in Faith's expression, then turned back to the fight. "OK, that's enough guys, now let's get out of here," Buffy shouted, the other Slayers exchanged surprised looks but obeyed orders and headed for the exits. "Don't get yourself killed because I don't want to try explaining that to my sister, and here you may need this," she handed Faith the scythe and then joined the exodus out of the building.

The queen went after the retreating Slayers but was blocked by Faith, who swung the scythe one-handed and forced it to back off. The monster spun around to face the source of the annoyance, but it's many injuries and some missing legs slowed it down badly and Faith skipped away easily, the scythe flashing past and inflicting yet another painful wound.

The two protagonists circled each other warily, Faith faking to the left and then right, forcing the queen back, maneuvering it to right where she wanted it. Finally when she had everything roughly lined up she lowered the gun, took a sighter, then closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger. The blindingly brilliant flare shot out of the barrel and grazed against the creature's bulk, bouncing off the queen's back before slamming into a canister.

As soon as she squeezed the trigger Faith started running towards the nearest exit, but she had barely gone a few steps when the explosion lifted her off her feet and sent her flying through the air.

Luckily the queen's body shielded Faith from the worst of the blast so when she crashed back to earth she was still alive and in one piece. Faith lay on the ground, trying to catch her breath then looked back over her shoulder. The queen had crumpled to the ground, it's body completely engulfed in flames. It lay shuddering in the midst of a large fire, an eerie high-pitched scream filling the air.

"I'm getting too old for this crap," Faith groaned and slowly got back to her feet, looking back one last time to admire her handiwork, then her eyes fell on all the other gas canisters and old paint cans that lay directly in the fire's path.

"Damn," she whispered and ran for it, bursting through a door into a large group of startled Slayers.

"Run," she screamed, quickly following her own advice and heading down the nearest street at speed. She had almost reached the end of it when a massive explosion brought her to a halt.

Buffy stood beside her, breathing hard and watching the fireworks. "Well at least I can't be blamed for blowing up this building."

"Guess not, I don't think we'll be hearing from any of those freaky, demonic, spider thingies anytime soon," Faith commented proudly as she handed the scythe back to Buffy.

Buffy observed the destruction Faith had wrought. "I think that's a safe assumption."

They turned together and started walking back to the Council building, the other Slayers slowly trailing after as sirens wailed in the distance. "Say is anyone else suddenly feeling hungry?" Faith asked.

Faith stepped wearily out of the elevator and onto the hotel's lush dark red carpet. After the fight at the warehouse she had followed the other Slayers back to the Council building to debrief and get cleaned up, have her injuries treated and visit the kitchen to have the first part of her HH syndrome taken care of, although she did have to politely turn down one of the local Slayers who offered to take care of the second part.

She opened the door to the hotel suite quietly, hoping not to wake Dawn who was probably asleep by now.

Faith cursed herself softly; she clearly needed to work on her stealthy skills. "Yeah baby, it's me."

She walked through to the bedroom and abruptly halted at the scene that greeted her. The bedroom was lit by a small number of sweet-smelling candles, some soft music playing in the background, but the thing Faith couldn't tear her eyes away from was the sight of Dawn, lounging seductively on the bed, a sheer silk robe wrapped loosely over her body and a single, flawlessly white beautifully shaped leg out-stretched lazily across the sheets, the robe that draped across it just cutting off Faith's view right at the top of Dawn's thigh.

Faith's mouth moved but no sound came out, her brain struggling to figure out what the hell was going on.

"How did everything go tonight?" Dawn asked softly, easing herself slowly up off the bed and making her way over to Faith, her hips swaying hypnotically from side-to-side.

Faith cleared her throat and was relieved to find that her voice had finally decided to come to the party. "Um, good. We, um, got the bad guys so, yeah, good."

Dawn smiled, letting her fingers lightly brush against Faith's smooth skin. "That's good. So everyone's alright, Buffy, Xander?"

"Yeah they're fine, Xander didn't actually come with us and we did lose a couple of people but Buffy's fine," Faith rambled, her gaze magnetically drawn down the front of Dawn's robe, which had conveniently opened enough to reveal the rounded shape of Dawn's full, pert breasts.

"And how about you, are you OK?" Dawn asked, pressing herself closer to Faith's soft, warmth.

"I got blown up again but, yeah, I'm fine, a few scrapes and bruises," Faith tried and failed miserably to sound casual. "Nothing too bad."

"Well I think you were very brave, I know how much you hate spiders, demonic or not," Dawn drew Faith next to the bed and then pushed forward, causing them both to fall onto the bed together. "And I think brave warriors deserve a big reward," she murmured in Faith's ear before making her way down Faith's body, her lips grazing across the fabric of Faith's top, pausing to gently suck on her nipples and then kissing her way across the flat tautness of the Slayer's belly.

Dawn's fingers deftly removed Faith's belt and then undid her zipper, ripping the tight, black leather trousers from Faith's body. She knelt down beside the bed, gently spreading her lover's thighs and then kissing back up Faith's body, pressing her lips up against the warm, wet cotton barrier that separated her from Faith.

Faith groaned in pleasure, her skin humming, her blood singing as Dawn swiftly removed the barrier, slipping her underwear off and tossing it aside. She kissed her way back along the soft, sensitive inner curve of the Slayer's thigh, taking her time to reach her goal.

When she finally did Dawn didn't hesitate, her lips meeting Faith's passionately, her tongue thrusting itself deep inside Faith.

Faith moaned loudly, her fingers intertwining themselves tightly into Dawn's long, silky brown hair as the teenager's tongue found her perfect spot with practiced ease, caressing against her in all the right places.

Faith's back arched as a pulse of pure pleasure shot up her spine, her hips grinding upwards urgently. Dawn's arm slid underneath the small of her back, supporting her, when all of a sudden Dawn shockingly withdrew from her, nuzzling and licking across the rigid muscles of Faith's stomach that were pressing hard up against her skin.

"Oh god Dawnie, please don't stop," Faith gasped weakly as she ineffectually tried to push Dawn back down to her previous position. Dawn looked up at her, a soft smile on her lips, her cool blue eyes glittering mischievously as they met Faith's hot brown eyes.

"I never will," Dawn whispered and lowered herself back down, effortlessly re-entering Faith and sending a hot shiver through the Slayer's frame.

Faith leaned back and closed her eyes feeling the warmth and pressure build up inside her, course hotly under her skin, raising her up and up and up…

Then her body clenched and tightened and Faith cried out, her orgasm breaking and washing over her, drowning her in a sea of pleasure that she blissfully drifted in, her body all languid and heavy.

"So, did you enjoy your reward?" Dawn asked softly, somehow back on top of Faith, her breath tickling against the dark Slayer's ear.

"I don't know," Faith answered, her eyes slowly opening, "I've only got half of it so far." One arm slid in under Dawn's robe, snaking around her lover's waist as Faith then flipped her over onto her back and climbed on top of her.

Dawn stared at her expectantly, the desire hot in her gaze as Faith untied her robe, pulling it off easily and then stroked Dawn's newly revealed body softly, admiring awhile the beautiful, naked young woman underneath her.

Faith leant forward and kissed Dawn hungrily, her hands touching and caressing her lean, lithe frame, setting all of Dawn's nerves to jangling and tingling.

A hand roamed down Dawn's body and Faith's lips followed closely behind, gliding down the teenager's long neck and kissing across her chest before finding her way onto one of Dawn's nipples, small and pink, which rapidly grew hard in her hot, eager mouth, sucking and teasing as Faith's fingers pushed up into Dawn's yielding warmth.

Dawn groaned loudly in response, her fingernails digging gently into the smooth expanse of Faith's back. Faith's mouth moved off Dawn's breast and slid lower, following the direct route down and across her supple body, all the while Faith's fingers kept up a steady rhythm inside.

Dawn's fingers slipped up and entangled themselves into Faith's damp, wild black hair as the Slayer kissed her way between Dawn's thighs, pausing for a moment before gliding her tongue smoothly inside Dawn.

Dawn gasped, throwing her head back and closing her eyes, when she opened them again she found herself floating gently in a green, glowing cloud of luminescence. She felt no panic or fear it was as if she in some way had come home, like she belonged. Dawn could still sense Faith's loving touches and caresses but it felt distant somehow, remote, almost as if it was happening to a completely different person.

She drifted serenely for what felt like an eternity, nothing troubled her, she was completely at peace, and then she noticed a movement inside the cloud, a slow eddy began to swirl around her and quickly grew faster and then faster, now moving at an astonishing speed, rushing past her, then without warning it stunningly entered her and penetrated deep up inside her.

Dawn's eyes flew wide open in shock, her mouth opening in a soundless cry as the glow filled her, pulsing like electricity through her veins, surging like fire through every fiber of her being as it spread out from her belly to the very edges of her soul.

And then she was falling, plummeting back to herself just as her climax hit, her fierce cry echoing around the room as a white-hot bolt of pleasure/pain swelled throughout her body.

Dawn slowly came back to awareness and found Faith lying next to her, staring down at her in deep concern. "Dawnie?" Faith whispered, the Slayer's weapon-calloused hand softly stroking her face.

"Hmmmm…Yeah?" Dawn answered languorously, lazily stretching out a leg and rubbing it gently against her.

"Are you OK?" Faith resolutely ignored the rubbing, the troubled look not leaving her face.

"I'm fine, actually I'm a lot better then fine, why?" Dawn murmured sleepily as she attempted to focus on what Faith was saying.

"Because I've been calling your name for the last couple of minutes and you didn't answer." The relief was evident in Faith's voice that Dawn was finally responding to her.

"Have you? Oh. Sorry," Faith's words gradually filtered through to Dawn, and Faith now wasn't the only one who was troubled.

"It just looked like you were a little spaced is all D, plus the whole not answering thing, there must have been something," Faith studied her uncertainly, not sure if she should be asking.

Dawn was silent for a while, thinking back on what she had recently experienced. "I had a dream," she admitted eventually.

"You fell asleep?" Faith said incredulously, she'd never had someone do that before, at least not during the actual event.

"No, no nothing like that," Dawn reassured her quickly. "I guess it wasn't really a dream as such, more of a-a, vision."

"A vision, of what?" Faith relaxed a little and made herself more comfortable, her fingers lightly caressing across Dawn's stomach. "Because I'm a Slayer you know, connected to the visions. I'm almost an expert."

"Actually I think I'd be more of an expert then you, but still," Dawn told her what had transpired in her vision and about the strange green luminescence. "It was weird though, it felt almost familiar in a way, like deja-vu or something."

"Maybe it had something to do with that spell you did, you know the one that wickedly overpowered because of the Hellmouth," Faith suggested.

"It wasn't the Hellmouth that caused the spell to overpower," Dawn confessed quietly. "It was something else, something magical and powerful."

Dawn shook her head slowly. "No, it didn't feel evil or dangerous, just powerful."

"Why didn't you tell someone about this?" Faith was suddenly worried all over again.

Dawn shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know, at the time dealing with the Raknarl demons seemed more important and I wasn't sure whether it was real or if it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I'm not exactly an experienced witch, it could be a normal side-effect to that spell."

"Do you think we should tell someone, Buffy maybe?" Faith asked, the troubled look back on her face.

"No, I don't think we should bother, I mean I don't feel any different, no evilness or anything and it would just worry her," Dawn snuggled close to Faith. "Anyway we'll be off the Hellmouth in a couple of days and clear of danger, then on our way to Hawaii."

"Although if I start growing another head or a tail during the night I suggest you call Buffy," Dawn closed her eyes and swiftly fell asleep. Faith lay awake for much longer, her fingers stroking softly through Dawn's long, brown hair. Fears and doubts kept running through her head and wouldn't leave her alone, about Dawn, about herself, about what Dawn's vision might mean, but when she couldn't find any answers and Dawn slept quietly on Faith finally relaxed enough for exhaustion to overcome her and drag her down into a dreamless sleep.

Four figures stood self-consciously on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, not quite sure what to say or do. Dawn and Faith's bags sat on the ground next to them, ready to load into the taxi whenever it arrived. Buffy and Xander had come to see them off before they too got ready to leave the Hellmouth.

"So I guess this is goodbye," Dawn said finally, breaking the long, awkward silence.

"Yeah I guess," Buffy hugged her fiercely. "And I promise I won't wait this long for another visit, I'll come see you and Faith in Boston soon."

"Well you know, you can be a little overprotective and annoying and I get enough of that from Faith, guess it's a Slayer thing or something," Dawn noticed Buffy was looking at her a bit strangely. "What's up?"

"I suppose so," Buffy reached over and brushed a stray hair back. "And if you're happy then I'm happy too."

Buffy looked at her innocently. "What, you're the only one who gets to tease her sister?"

"No, it's just, you've never teased me about Faith before," Dawn slowly smiled. "You're finally accepting her aren't you?"

"You love her and she loves you back," Buffy stated simply. "Even I can see that, I mean I don't understand it and it's still a little strange but I can tell, so I'll have to get used to it sometime and better sooner then later."

Faith and Xander watched the Summers' sisters chatting away, exchanging the occasional uncomfortable look.

"Right," Xander stuck out a hand awkwardly and Faith shook it, just as awkwardly.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe," Xander replied and then, much to their relief, Dawn and Buffy finished talking and walked back over to them.

"Actually I want to talk to you for a minute Faith, if that's all right." Both Buffy and Faith looked towards Dawn.

"Sure, that's OK," Dawn nodded a little uneasily, not quite sure what her sister was doing.

"Good," Buffy gestured Faith to follow her, then walked a few steps away from Dawn and Xander.

"So what did you want to say B?" Faith asked guardedly, carefully checking the blonde for any concealed weapons or threatening movements.

Buffy took a deep breath and plunged in. "Look, I'm not sure how to say this so I'm just going to come right out and say it-"

"If it's about me and Dawn, B save it OK," Faith interrupted roughly. "What are you going to tell me, that's she's too good for me, that I don't deserve her, well spare it because I know that already. Dawn's not just in another league, she's playing a different sport, but I love her, I love her desperately, more then I have ever loved anyone or anything in my entire life, and thankfully by some weird coincidence she loves me back, maybe not as much but she does."

"I know Faith," Buffy said quietly. "I may not like it, I may not understand it and I don't know if I'll ever be OK with it, but I get it. I'm closer to Dawn then I am to anyone else and I can tell if she's happy or not and I think she's happier with you then I've ever seen her."

"Oh, well good," Faith muttered, suddenly feeling a bit ridiculous about her outburst.

"However I have to know something," Buffy looked Faith directly in the eye. "I have to know that you won't leave her again, Dawn has a thing about people leaving her, too many have left her in the past, Mom, Tara, me."

"I'm not going anywhere," Faith's gaze didn't budge an inch. "Not unless Dawn wants me to."

"I have to know that you'll take care of her, that you'll keep her safe, that you'll love her as much as I do," Buffy stated honestly. "Promise me."

"I promise," Faith said firmly. "Say B, have you noticed anything different about Dawn, has she been acting differently or strangely?"

"Oh, well no I haven't," Buffy started walking back to Dawn and Xander, but stopped next to Faith. "I thought you should know, Alex won't be on bodyguard detail anymore, I don't think Dawn needs her and I think Alex has…other things on her mind right now."

Faith stared after her, a slow smile spreading across her face. It may just be her but it sounded as if Buffy might finally be starting to trust her.

Dawn looked at her curiously when she strolled back to her girl's side. "So what did you and my sister talk about?" Dawn asked

"Oh," Dawn knew it had been more then that by the look on Faith's face, but she decided not to push, probably Buffy was warning her to behave herself or something.

There were hugs all around, well Dawn hugged everyone and then her and Faith climbed into the taxi, which sped off in the direction of the airport.

Buffy and Xander stood side-by-side and watched it disappear into the distance. "Well that's that then," Xander said quietly.

"They seemed good, Dawn and Faith I mean," Xander studied Buffy carefully for her reaction.

Buffy smiled at her old friend gently. "Yes they did, I think Dawn's going to be just fine."

The warm light of the newly risen sun filled the bedroom with a soft glow, enough to make the contents of the room visible but not enough to wake up the still sleeping Dawn. Faith was already wide-awake and had been for a while, she propped herself up on her elbow and studied the slumbering young woman lying next to her. She didn't know why but she always found watching Dawn sleep to be a calming and peaceful experience, it made the world seem a nicer, softer place for a few short moments.

She hadn't gone out on patrol last night and, as always, she had woken up restless and full of unresolved tension, that also explained why she was awake at this unconscionably early hour, that and the fact that her other outlet for getting rid of her excess energy was lying asleep next to her, although that outlet hadn't made itself available to her lately.

For some unknown reason, at least unknown to Faith, for the past few weeks, basically ever since they had got back from their vacation in Cleveland and then Hawaii, Dawn had been…distant, avoiding her for no good reason and even downright cold to her at times. But then at other times Dawn was back to her old gentle, loving self and things were normal, for a few days at least. Whenever she had tried to talk to Dawn about it she had brushed her off, saying she was busy with finals and that was all and stuff would go back to usual when school was finished for the summer, but these vague promises hadn't reassured Faith one bit.

And to top it all the trouble and arguments had resulted in a noticeable decline in time spent together, both in and out of the bedroom, which was upsetting enough but it wasn't just the lack of time in the one-on-one sense that was bothering her, it was Dawn's recent secretive, evasive behavior as a whole and when that was combined with some of her strange behavior when they'd been on vacation, things were seriously starting to concern Faith.

She was brought back from her worrying by a soft sigh from Dawn that, from long experience, Faith knew meant she would wakeup soon, it would be followed by a small frown and then that cute nose-crinkling thing she did and then those beautiful blue eyes opening.

"Morning gorgeous," Faith whispered tenderly, reaching over to brush back a lock of hair.

Faith leant forward and gently pressed her lips against Dawn's, feeling the young woman push back in response. Encouraged, Faith slid her body subtly closer and slipped one hand in under Dawn's top, her lips moving off Dawn's and making their way down onto her neck.

This was the furthest she had got with Dawn in almost two weeks and, as Dawn didn't try to move away or show any other signs of displeasure Faith moved on top of her, pressing herself against the yielding form underneath her, then all of a sudden she felt Dawn's body stiffen and her movements cease, and then Dawn was roughly pushing her off and scrambling away from her.

"Oh crap," Dawn mumbled as she rolled off the bed and made a rush for the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

Faith stared after her, stunned by this unexpected twist to events, before she flopped back onto the bed feeling incredibly frustrated. She lay there unmoving for a few moments, trying to get her emotions back under control and thinking over exactly what she was going to say to Dawn when she came out of the bathroom, because this sort of thing had been going on for too long and Faith wanted to know why.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the unmistakable sounds of someone throwing up, Faith took a couple of seconds to realize it was coming from the direction of the bathroom.

"Dawnie?" Faith said worriedly, getting up off the bed and making her way over to the bathroom door. "Dawnie, are you OK?"

The only response Faith got was a whimpering moan and then some more sounds of vomiting. She hurriedly pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of Dawn kneeling on the bathroom floor and hugging the toilet bowl like it was her best and only friend in the whole wide world.

Faith swiftly knelt down beside her and pulled the hair back from Dawn's face, thankfully Dawn seemed to have made it to the toilet in time and got everything in the bowl and nothing on the floor or in her hair. "Dawn, Dawnie baby, what's wrong?"

Dawn lifted her head from the bowl for long enough to shoot a dark look at Faith. "I'd say the fact that I'm regurgitating last night's dinner, and possibly the night before's as well, is what's wrong."

"OK, I'll admit that wasn't the smartest of questions," Faith conceded. "But do you know why?"

Dawn limply moved away from the toilet, mercifully the urge to relive her past meals in fast rewind seemed to be subsiding. "Not really, maybe something I ate?" she suggested half-heartedly.

Faith gently pressed the back of her hand against Dawn's forehead, it was cool and slightly damp but it definitely wasn't hot or fevered. "Well you're not burning up or nothing, but if it was something you ate wouldn't I be joining you in the, um, regurgitating?"

Dawn leant gratefully back against Faith's warm, strong body, shivering as she became aware of the cool of the air and the floor as it penetrated her thin clothing. "Not necessarily, you do have a Slayer's metabolism and constitution, remember. You could probably eat a whole bunch of diseased stuff and still be fine."

"Gee thanks," Faith said sarcastically, starting to softly massage the back of Dawn's neck.

"Sorry, but it's true you could," Dawn relaxed backwards into the massage, enjoying the pleasurable sensations from Faith's nimble fingers, which unintentionally began loosening more then just her shoulders. "Anyway I wouldn't worry I know it wasn't from anything I ate last night."

"Oh really, why?" Faith stopped her massage, feeling Dawn's shoulders instantly tense.

"No reason, I mean you're probably right we'd both be sick if it was and you're not so it's probably not." Dawn babbled, trying to cover-up her lapse.

"Dawn what's going on, there's something you're not telling me." Faith said angrily, her fingers painfully digging into Dawn's skin.

"Faith, ow, stop it. Faith, that hurts." Dawn wriggled away, a wounded look on her face.

Faith didn't apologize but simply stared at her, accusation plainly written into her expression.

"You tell me," Faith said harshly, nearly shouting. "You've been all distant to me recently and avoiding me and now you're doing it again and you won't answer my question I want to know why?"

Dawn bit her lip uncertainly, not quite sure what to say. She hadn't noticed anything majorly different about the way she was acting, and the effect her behavior was clearly having on Faith hadn't been on purpose but was purely accidental and she hadn't noticed that either. "I don't know why," she finally admitted. "I guess I haven't really been feeling very well for a while now and then with the throwing up that's, um, actually been going on for almost a-a week now. I'm sorry I didn't tell you and I didn't realize I was acting all avoidy, so I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on?" Faith asked softly, her anger slowly draining away.

Dawn shrugged helplessly. "I don't know I didn't want to worry you, I mean it's probably only a flu thing. It's usually only in the morning when I feel all blurghy, by the afternoon I'm normally fine."

"You still should've told me," Faith said firmly, pulling Dawn into a tight hug. "And if you're not feeling well you should see a doctor."

"No, see I'm fine now, no more with the vomiting," Dawn insisted. "And anyway us Summers women are tough, I mean I hardly ever get sick and neither does Buffy, she didn't even before she was the Slayer or Mom either, well before the, the tumor."

"You don't think that you might…" Faith trailed off, not really wanting to finish that thought.

"Have a brain tumor," Dawn finished it for her. "I don't think so I don't have a headache or any of the other symptoms, like I said it just feels like a stomach bug."

"Well I don't care what it is, tomorrow you're going to see a doctor," Faith stood up smoothly, cradling Dawn in her arms. "And as for now missy, you're going back to bed."

"Uh huh, and your multi-colored yawns and the fact I've seen vamps with more color then you really helps that argument," Faith carried her back into the bedroom and set her down on the bed. "Now you, stay there and don't move. I will go make us breakfast and then you're staying in bed all day today and seeing a doctor tomorrow."

Dawn nodded meekly, lacking the energy to argue and honestly not really wanting to. "OK, but when the doctor gives me the all clear or says it's only a dose of the flu, then I get to say I told you so."

"If that's all he says then I'll be as relieved as you," Faith replied from the living room, then went to the kitchen to make the promised breakfast.

Dawn sat in a hard, red plastic chair and looked uneasily around the waiting room of the local medical clinic. The clinic smelt faintly of strong disinfectant and illness and the walls had that slightly off-white color that only years of long, hard use could bring. She had gone to the nearest public medical clinic because the closest Council doctor was in New York and she was sure this wasn't a dire medical emergency, besides she really didn't feel up to all the travel that going to see him would involve.

The waiting room was furnished with several of the hard plastic chairs and the inevitable out-of-date trashy magazines; one of the mags Dawn had picked up and flicked through had had an article about a still married Tom and Nicole. A couple of the chairs were occupied by other patients, an overweight woman and a continuously coughing elderly man, both of whom evidenced the usual waiting room behavior of deliberately ignoring everyone else, while desperately trying to hide their own nerves and project an air of calm and fashionable boredom.

Faith on the other hand, she had insisted on accompanying Dawn to the doctor, could barely conceal her impatience with, and dislike of her surroundings. She was like a restless caged animal as she kept constantly wriggling in her seat, looking repeatedly up at the clock on the wall and sometimes even getting up out of her chair and pacing.

Faith had a severe aversion to anything to do with the medical and Dawn was in whole-hearted agreement with her. After everything that had happened with her mother, her sister and with her Watcher duties she had spent far too much of her life sitting around in the waiting rooms of ER's, hospitals, medical clinics and doctors offices and she could more then happily go through the rest of her life without visiting another one. Nothing good seemed to happen in them and they all looked the same, smelt the same and she was pretty sure she always saw the exact same people sitting there, waiting in despair, almost as if that was their job to sit there, like those people who were paid to sit in seats at awards ceremonies when celebrities went to the bathroom to make sure there were no gaps in the crowd.

Eventually after long minutes of nervous waiting the receptionist called out her name and led her and Faith to the doctor's office. The person sitting behind the desk in the office was a neat, professional-looking, rather motherly woman in her forties who smiled warmly up at them when they entered and pointed Dawn into a comfortable chair that sat opposite her.

"Hello I'm Dr. Morris and you must be…" Dr. Morris glanced down at the name on the folder in front of her, "Dawn Summers."

"That's right," Dawn smiled at her uncertainly as she sat down. "Um this is Faith, she's a, friend. You don't mind if she comes in with me do you?"

"That's entirely up to you Ms. Summers," Dr. Morris beamed welcomingly in Faith's direction. "Please Faith come in, sit down."

"Thanks," Faith sat down next to Dawn, if it was possible she looked even more uncomfortable then she had in the waiting room.

"So Dawn, may I call you Dawn?" Dr. Morris looked at her questioningly and received a nod in answer. "This is your first visit here?"

Dr. Morris looked back down at the slim folder in front of her. "I don't appear to have any medical history for you."

"Oh, all that stuff sort of disappeared in Sunnydale," Dawn rushed to explain. "See what happened was-"

"Sunnydale…that was that town in California that got swallowed by an earthquake?" Dr. Morris interjected briskly.

"That's right," Dawn nodded, a little surprised that the doctor knew that. "So all of my records are kind of at the bottom of a very large hole."

"No matter, it just means I'll need to ask some questions before we get started." Dr. Morris picked up a pen and turned to an empty page.

There followed a long series of questions, about her family history, past illnesses, allergies and other things that left Dawn feeling exhausted already, and they hadn't even started on what was wrong with her now.

"Now Dawn," Dr. Morris wrote down some last few notes and then looked up at her, "what's the reason you're here today?"

"Well, I guess I haven't been feeling very good recently," Dawn said cautiously, when she paused Dr. Morris smiled at her encouragingly to continue. "I've been a bit tired, run-down, and a little moody."

"I see," Dr. Morris diligently wrote that down. "And are there any other symptoms, diarrhea, constipation, a rash?"

"And this nausea, when exactly does it occur, earlier, later, all day long?" Dr. Morris looked at her expectantly, pen poised.

"Mornings, mostly." Dawn said quickly, jumping in before Faith could add anything else extremely helpful and most likely extremely graphic.

"Ah," Dr. Morris exhaled the word heavily as if Dawn had said something profound. "Your menstrual flow, has it been regular?"

"Your period," the doctor said slowly, as if she were talking to a small child, "when was the last time it occurred?"

"Um…" Dawn searched her memory, frantically trying to remember. "I don't know. Not for a while, a-a couple of months at least."

"No, it's normally pretty ratic, I mean regular. Bang on time, every month." Dawn whispered, her thoughts racing. It didn't take a genius to guess what the doctor was implying, and that was made clear by the stunned expression on Faith's face.

"Well going on what you've told me, I think we can safely assume there's a chance that you're pregnant. Now I'd like-" Dr. Morris began rising out of her chair.

"But I can't be," Dawn blurted out, interrupting the doctor abruptly. "Pregnant I mean."

"Well, because Faith and me, we're more then," Dawn paused a moment before going on. "We're, she's…my girlfriend, my lover."

"Oh, so have you recently had sexual intercourse, with a man?" Dr. Morris asked softly. Faith stared at her intently, waiting for Dawn's answer.

"No, not for ages, longer then nine months anyway," Dawn insisted, turning to Faith in desperation. "I swear to you. I haven't." Faith continued staring at her dubiously, looking completely unconvinced by Dawn's assurances.

Dr. Morris mulled things over silently as she tried to figure out how to handle this rather unique situation. It wouldn't be the first time she had had a young female patient with an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy that would cause trouble in their current relationship, although she couldn't remember the last time she had a patient in that position who was in a lesbian relationship. It wasn't exactly unprecedented but it was extremely rare. "In any case we should probably run a few tests," she got out of her chair, this time without any interruptions, "including a pregnancy test, just to be on the safe side."

Dawn opened her mouth to continue the argument, but in the end she simply nodded mutely.

"Good, now if you'll follow me." The doctor gestured her towards a curtained off area at the back of the room. Dawn stood up and then turned to Faith as if to say something, but Faith refused to even look at her, instead staring resolutely at the wall.

Dawn turned away again without saying anything and moved to where the doctor was waiting. Dr. Morris pulled the curtain closed and Dawn robotically followed the directions she was given, doing the required actions, giving the required samples and numbly answering any questions she was asked.

When they had finished Dawn clumsily put her clothes back on, fumbling with the buttons. "Don't worry dear, we'll have the results in a couple of days." Dr. Morris smiled at her reassuringly.

"Thanks." Dawn tried to smile back but she couldn't, she was too worried about things, about Faith, about what the test results, about what Faith would think about the test results to be concerned about anything else.

"Make an appointment at the desk and I'll see you again in a couple of days." Dr. Morris reached over and pulled the curtain back.

Dawn thanked her again and looked around for Faith, dreading the confrontation that was to come. But she needn't have worried, the room was empty. Faith had gone.

Faith didn't know where she was or how she had got there and frankly she didn't care. After she had left the clinic she had just started running, she hadn't worried about the direction she had run in or where she was going, all she had simply wanted to be away, to be somewhere else.

She couldn't believe what had gone on back there at the clinic, what it had all implied. Dawn might be pregnant, probably was, and since she knew she sure has hell wasn't the father that meant Dawn had cheated on her with someone, some guy, behind her back for god only knows how long and then she'd had the nerve to deny it to her face. Now Dawn's recent behavior began to make some kind of sick sense to her, the distance, the avoidance, the lack of affection, whether it was from guilt or because she was getting some somewhere else Faith didn't particularly care, it still hurt, more then she wanted to admit, worse then anything she had ever felt before, it felt like her heart had been ripped out and her life was falling apart and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, no way she could fix it or make it right.

By this time she had ran herself down and she was feeling so tired she had begun slowing down, her sides ached from all the running and her eyes were blinded by tears. Faith dashed them away angrily, she didn't want to cry over anyone, didn't want to appear weak, she wanted to hit something, someone, anything to work this anger out and hopefully make her stop feeling this way, feeling so…helpless.

Faith went quickly, blindly, around a corner, and only just managed to stop before running into a figure standing in front of her. She muttered an apology and then moved around the person, her eyes firmly fixed on the sidewalk.

"Well it's nice to see you've retained some of the manners I taught you firecracker." A familiar, jovial voice said.

Faith turned around slowly, not believing her own ears. But they hadn't deceived her it was the Mayor standing there in front of her, large as life or death considering he hadn't actually been alive for quite some time. "You're not him." Faith said bluntly.

The First sighed disappointedly. "Now Faith, I'm sure we've been through all this before. I might be many other things but I'm still me, Mayor Richard Wilkins III. You know you could at least say you're happy to see me."

"Leave me alone." Faith said dully, walking stiffly past the Mayor. She stopped short when he reappeared in front of her again.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend, you know I thought you'd be pleased, what with things being the way they are," The Mayor paused meaningfully. "I hear congratulations are in order you're going to be a mom, well Dawn is going to be a mom you're going to be a…what exactly?"

"I guess it doesn't really matter, it's not like she needs you for anything, now is it?" The First watched Faith carefully, trying to judge the effect of its words. "You know I really don't approve of that sort of behavior, going off and getting herself pregnant at her age, and outside of wedlock, that's just not proper. And, well, don't even get me started on the way you two girls were carrying on."

"Dawn needs me, she loves me." Faith said waveringly, more like she was trying to reassure herself then convince him.

"Oh please Faith, she doesn't love you, not like I do. Remember I'll always be there for you and with you in everything you do," The Mayor looked her directly in the eye. "I mean look what she's done, gone out and gotten herself pregnant with some strange man, that's not the actions of someone who loves you if you ask me."

"You don't know that, that Dawn's pregnant, it might be something else." Faith said uncertainly.

"Oh come on Faith, open your eyes," The Mayor shook his head sadly. "You know she's pregnant, I know she's pregnant, heck I'm sure even Dawn knows she's pregnant. Though I do wonder when she'll tell you who the father is."

Faith's eyes narrowed. "Do you know who it is?" she asked, hunger adding a dark edge to her voice.

"Why, what would you do if I told you who it was?" The Mayor asked, his eyes gleaming. "Kill him, kill her…kill them both?"

"Well that's just super," The Mayor chuckled warmly. "It'd be nice to see my old Faith back again, fighting on the right side instead of on the side of right. After all this is done you could sit beside me, rule by my side when I sweep over this world and destroy Buffy and all her misguided friends."

"Whatever, do you know who it is or not?" Faith repeated impatiently, ignoring the First's other remarks.

"You know what I think you should do, to punish Dawn for what she's done, you should gut her like a catfish. Stick a knife in her belly and slice her open, cut out the illegitimate babe along with the mother's intestines. And that way you can also return the favor to Buffy for trying to do the same thing to you and you get poetic justice in two ways," The Mayor smiled cheerfully. "As for the father's identity, I don't think I'm the person you should be asking, do you?"

Faith glared at him for a few seconds before marching through the First's insubstantial form. "Hey, now that's not very polite now is it? Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you can forget your manners around me young lady," The Mayor shouted after Faith's retreating form. "Think about my offer Faith, my door will always be open to you."

Faith continued resolutely on, the Mayor's words ringing in her ears. It didn't matter that she knew it wasn't him that it was actually the First, it still felt like the Mayor, sounded like him and as always she couldn't help but find herself listening to him, being persuaded by him, even after all these years he still had that effect on her. And there was a small part of her that wanted to do exactly what he had suggested, to take a knife and do something violent, to Dawn, to herself, maybe to some complete stranger. But for now she could manage to keep her violent tendencies under control, though for how long she really didn't know.

The apartment was dark and silent except for the low, muted noise from the television; its flickering light played across Dawn's skin as she sat on the couch and struggled to stay awake. She wasn't really paying attention to it, she couldn't even remember what she had been watching for the last couple of hours, though she could vaguely recall something about penguins and one of those late night talk-shows, it was only on to stop her from falling asleep so she could talk to Faith when she got home, whenever that was going to be.

She had got the test results back from the clinic earlier that day and she desperately needed to talk to Faith about them, about what they meant and what they were going to do about them. That was a conversation she was definitely not looking forward to.

The Slayer had left early that morning without saying anything to her and Dawn hadn't seen her since, although that wasn't a surprise, Faith had barely spoken two words to her since the visit to the clinic. This was a pattern that had been repeating itself for the last couple of days, Faith would leave early and then spend all day alone somewhere, Dawn didn't know where and Faith refused to tell her, and then she would only return home late at night and go straight to bed, thereby avoiding any kind of interaction with her.

Dawn's head nodded forward, her eyes gently closing as sleep finally began to win the battle. But it was denied a final victory as she was brought sharply awake by the sound of the front door opening behind her.

"Why would I-" Dawn managed to stop herself in time, she didn't want this conversation to turn into an argument straight away. "No I wasn't."

Faith grunted something inaudibly. "I'm going to bed." She announced abruptly and strode off in the direction of the bedroom.

"I got the test results back today." Dawn said casually, she didn't need to explain which test results she meant. She took a certain grim satisfaction in seeing Faith stop so suddenly at this bit of information, there'd be no quick exit on this occasion.

Dawn paused for a couple of seconds and prepared herself for the inevitable eruption. "I'm pregnant, about 8 to 10 weeks according to Dr. Morris but she wants to do more tests to be completely sure."

There were a few moments of heavy silence as Faith turned around slowly, her face a hard, rigid mask of anger. "So who's the father?" She asked harshly.

"No, there weren't any guys Faith, I keep telling you that." Dawn said firmly.

"Right of course there weren't," Faith said sarcastically. "I may not exactly be a brain and I mightn't be going to Harvard like some people but I'm not a complete idiot. I know it takes two to tango, and if you're pregnant that means somebody must have got you that way and since it obviously isn't me 'cause I sort of lack the required equipment that means there must have been someone else, a guy."

"Faith the only person I've been with since we got back together is you, I swear," Dawn insisted, reaching her hand out and gently resting it on Faith's arm. "There has not been anyone else."

Faith violently shook free of Dawn's touch. "Well the pregnancy kind of suggests otherwise doesn't it? Who was he, some frat boy you met on the beach in Hawaii or one of those Watcher type in Cleveland?" She shouted angrily, gesticulating wildly.

"I'll be as loud as I damn well want," Faith screamed at her defiantly. "I think this sitch kind of calls for a good shouting match don't you?"

Dawn was trying to stay calm and reasonable, but now found that she could restrain herself no longer. Faith's recent moods and behavior had stretched her tolerance to breaking point and this current fight had finally caused it to snap. "How dare you speak to me like that Faith, you're not exactly a paragon of virtue yourself are you. Do you even remember cheating on me and breaking my heart and then coming crawling back to me, begging me to forgive you and take you back or have you just conveniently forgotten all that?"

"No of course it's not payback. What I'm saying is that people in glass houses should be careful where they throw stones."

"Hey I'll be the first to admit that I've not behaved perfectly at times, but at least I never got knocked up in the process." Faith hissed venomously.

"The way you used to put it about, the only surprise is that you didn't." Dawn shot back, her furious face bare inches from Faith's own.

Faith didn't even think about what happened next; instead she lashed out impulsively her hand slapping Dawn hard across the cheek, the sound of the strike echoing loudly around the apartment.

Dawn stared at her in disbelief, one of her own hands resting on the burning cheek where Faith had struck her. Faith had never hit her out of anger before, not even during their most vocal arguments and Dawn didn't know what she found more shocking, the fact Faith had slapped her or the stinging pain she could feel in her cheek.

She watched the Slayer warily as Faith stood breathing heavily in front of her, those dark brown eyes that were normally filled with love or desire now full of a blazing fury. For the first time Dawn could remember she felt afraid of Faith and genuinely feared for her safety. She had always known what Faith was capable of, how dangerous she could be, and had been in the past, but she had never thought that side of Faith would reveal itself like this and be directed at her, now that it was she found it a terrifying prospect and realized just how alone and exposed here she truly was.

Faith glared at her silently, unmoving, for some time. Then without warning she span on her heel and stormed off into the bedroom, returning a short while later carrying her pillow and some blankets.

"Oh." Dawn said dully, she wasn't sure whether to be relieved about Faith's decision or not.

"The only reason I'm staying here tonight is because I can't be bothered going out and finding myself a hotel room right now." Faith explained impassively as she began making up the couch.

"OK." Dawn mumbled, she decided that she didn't want to stay there anymore, she wanted to be away, somewhere else and she started moving uncertainly towards the bedroom. She stopped when she reached the doorway and turned, taking one last, lingering look at Faith before she moved into the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind her.

Faith finished with the couch and then stripped off her clothes and settled down to sleep, she couldn't be bothered with any of the routine rituals, like brushing her teeth, she usually went through before going to bed. Besides doing any of that stuff would mean using the bathroom and the only way to get to the bathroom was though the currently occupied bedroom, and she so didn't want to see Dawn right now, she didn't know if she could trust herself not to do something else incredibly stupid, like hit her again.

She had instantly regretted the slap as soon as it had happened but she had just been so angry at Dawn, at what she had said about her, at the whole damn mess that she had acted solely out of instinct, without thinking about the consequences.

Faith shifted restlessly about on the couch, unable to get comfortable. Not that it would have helped she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, she had far too much going on in her mind right now to even consider it. The fight with Dawn was on constant replay in her head, every word, every gesture going on over and over again and every time things seemed to get worse, as their entire relationship and her entire world deteriorated in front of her eyes.

The Mayor's idea kept dancing treacherously through her mind, to end her and Dawn's relationship with a final blood-soaked act and get the little bitch back for what she had done. The impulse came so close to overcoming Faith's inhibitions, after all it would be so easy, her weapons chest was only across the room and it was full of appropriately sharp, pointy implements. And it wasn't like Dawn was a Slayer, she wouldn't be able to fight back, the knife would slide in so easily like, well, like a hot knife into butter. However Faith refused to give in to her violent urges, instead she deliberately turned her back on the dangerous temptation of the chest and tried to think about something equally distracting.

Eventually after what felt like hours of pointless tossing and turning, Faith's thoughts stopped racing for long enough to allow her to fall into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

Much later on that night three figures hovered silently over the sleeping Slayer, their long grey robes floating just above the floor.

"This prophecy is fulfilled, the chosen one has been brought into the world." One announced quietly.

"The child will still be in danger, the First will continue to try to harm her and the mother." Another warned.

"What should we do about the Slayer, her opposition was…unforeseen." The first one said, indicating the sleeping Faith.

"Leave her," number two said firmly. "The Slayer has served her purpose. The child is conceived, there is no further need for her."

"She would be a powerful protector for the child and the mother," the third one argued. "If we do not intervene the Slayer may even become a threat to the Key or the unborn babe."

The three figures hovered uncertainly as the internal, unvoiced debate raged between them.

"If we don't the prophecy could be destroyed before it has a chance to be fulfilled." Number three countered.

They both looked towards number one who it seemed would have the deciding vote. "The danger to the prophecy would be the greater if we did not intervene then if we did."

"We concur," Number two echoed reluctantly. "However we would like our warning to be noted."

All three figures stretched out their arms towards Faith and then blinked out of existence.

Faith drifted silently through a black, featureless void. She wasn't sure when this had started or if it had even had a starting point, perhaps she had always been doing this, perhaps her entire life was a dream, an illusion she had made up in order to comfort herself while she was drifting through the void and this was the actual reality.

"I hope wherever this is, is the dream," Faith said, or possibly thought, it was kind of hard to tell the difference here. "Because otherwise I'm going to go insane."

She continued drifting serenely on, possibly for a minute, possibly for millennia it was a bit difficult to measure time here mainly because there was nothing to measure it by, no clocks, no sun, nothing, but also time seemed kind of meaningless in this place if it even existed here at all.

This rather disturbing train of thought suddenly made Faith fervently wish she were back in her old life, even if that life wasn't real and it all was only a delusion created by her mind, it was better then being wherever the hell she was now.

Then abruptly she stopped moving, like she had ran into some kind of invisible wall, though not hard enough to her. Faith looked around for the thing that had caused her sudden halt but she couldn't see anything, literally anything, nothingness spread out before her in every direction. Faith sighed heavily and gave up trying, and then was startled to find three figures in identical grey robes floating in front of her, she was pretty sure they hadn't been there a second ago.

She waited for the figures to make some kind of move or say something but they just floated there, not even making a sign of recognition or giving any indication they realized she was there.

Faith took this opportunity to study them closely, although as it turned out this was a bit of a waste of time as there wasn't really a lot to see. The figures were roughly humanoid, at least their robes had a humanoid shape, they only had one head and two arms and they were the same height as her though anything inhuman, like say tentacles or slime coated skin, could have easily been hidden under their robes which were very effective at hiding their features in deep shadow.

"So…um, do you guys come here often?" Faith blurted out, unable to stand the silence any longer.

"This is our home so yes, we are here often." The figure in the middle answered.

"Oh, cool," Faith looked around her at the vast, empty expanse. "I like what you've done with the place."

Faith waited for one of the figures to make the next more but they continued to float there not doing anything, so Faith took that as a sign that she was the one who was supposed to initiate things. "Is there a reason why I'm here?"

Clearly these guys were as big on the details as they were on the decor. "And that would be…" Faith trailed off meaningfully.

"You seemed to require an explanation about certain events, events that have already occurred and others that will occur in the future." The figure replied.

The figure in the middle was the only one who answered her and seemed to be some kind of spokesperson, or spokesthing, for the others but since they hadn't supplied her with any names Faith mentally labeled him/it Bob, just for the hell of it. "Really, that sounds kind of…ominous," Faith said warily. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"The chosen one and the prophecy involving her, and your own involvement in that prophecy." Bob told her.

"The chosen one, you mean Buffy?" Faith asked hesitantly, Bob had barely started explaining things and she was already confused.

"No, not her," if Bob could have shaken his/its head, he/it would have. "We mean the child born of the Slayer and the Key."

"The child born of-" Faith stopped when she realized who Bob meant. "You mean Dawn's kid."

"So what does Buffy have to do with it?" Faith asked curiously, puzzled by the Slayer reference.

"But you said something about the Slayer and she's the Slayer." Faith pointed out.

"Um, I think you might want to check you're sources on that one," Faith suggested bemusedly, "because she's been the Slayer for a few years now."

"She is not the Slayer," Bob repeated firmly. "The title and responsibilities of the Slayer pass on to the new Slayer once the original Slayer has died."

"When the original Slayer dies huh, well B's died twice already so that means…" Faith did some quick mental calculation. "Hold on that means, I'm the Slayer?"

"Indeed." Bob's body inclined forward slightly, something Faith assumed was his/its equivalent of a nod.

"Wow," Faith slowly took in this bombshell. "Wait till B gets a load of this, she won't be happy."

It took her a while to get over that revelation and return to her earlier line of questioning. "So what did you mean before, about this chosen one being born of the Slayer and the Key?"

"The chosen one was conceived from the essences of the Slayer and the Key." Bob explained patiently.

"From the essence-" Faith stopped again once she understood the full meaning of that statement. "You mean my essence don't you, you're telling me that I'm the father of Dawn's kid?" she asked shakily.

"Oh," Faith whispered distantly, she was suddenly feeling more then a little overwhelmed. "OK, I never saw that one coming."

"We observed your misunderstanding at the chosen one's imminent advent and felt it was our duty to inform you what it truly heralded." Bob explained further.

"Because it was us who brought you together in the first place, in order to insure the chosen one's arrival."

Faith was still recovering from the earlier shock about her impending fatherhood, motherhood…parenthood, but that bit of news penetrated straight through the haze surrounding her brain. "What do you mean it was you who brought us together?" she asked suspiciously.

"For the prophecy to be fulfilled and the chosen one to be brought forth, you and the Key had to come together, your essences had to mix it was essential." Bob told her calmly.

"Essential huh," Faith's shock was now being rapidly replaced by anger. "So you what, cast some kind of love spell on us."

"Necessary," Faith interrupted Bob furiously. She leapt at him/it, hoping to do something violent but was restrained by the invisible barrier. "And did you even think to ask us about this necessary spell?"

"It was felt that your consent wasn't required." Bob answered, evidencing no response to the Slayer's fury.

"Because you and the Key were meant to be together, we merely insured that it would occur."

Faith blinked in surprise, her anger turning into curiosity. "I'm sorry, but did you say we were meant to be together?"

"That is correct," Bob replied as patient as ever. "It was prophesized that you and the Key would join together and a child, the chosen one, would be born out of the union. Unfortunately the First also knew of the prophecy and took action to make sure it was not fulfilled."

"The First considered you to be the weak link, your uncertain temperament left you more open to its influence," Bob said evenly. "And via that influence and its agents the First inexorably turned you towards evil, hoping that you would either destroy yourself or invalidate the prophecy in some other fashion."

"Yes and others too," Bob confirmed softly. "Even though the First was eventually successful in turning you it ultimately failed, you reformed and turned your back on the path of evil. But enough damage was done by your actions so that neither you nor the Key were inclined to strong feelings towards each other, or if you were so inclined the feelings were opposite to what was intended."

"Indeed, we helped to heighten your feelings for one each other in order to overcome the resistance you both had created and then let nature take its course."

"When the Key was pressed into human form by the monks of Dagon they bound her to the Slayer line, so the Slayer would protect her with her life." Bob answered; unaware that Faith hadn't really been expecting an answer to her question.

"They made Dawn Buffy's sister, shared her blood or whatever. I know that already."

"However when the monks made the Key human, they did not know there was not one Slayer in existence then, but two." Bob continued, ignoring Faith's interruption. "That was after all an unprecedented situation at the time."

"And?" Faith prompted Bob after he/it had paused for a few moments. She felt urgently that she needed to hear all of the answer.

"When the Key was bound to the Slayer it was with more then just blood it was with ties of love, the love both you and the other Slayer feel for her. Only the love you feel is in a different form from hers as the Key is not your sister." Bob finished gravely.

"So what you're saying is that they didn't plan it, the monks didn't mean it," Faith muttered, thinking things through out aloud. "And then this prophecy thing kicked in and the First started…no wait a minute, the stuff with the Mayor and me going evil happened years ago, way before Dawn came on the scene-"

"The prophecy itself is ancient, even we do not know who wrote it down," Bob said, cutting into the flow of Faith's thoughts. "The monks themselves did not know of the prophecy they merely ensured its inception. However when events conspired to disrupt the prophecy's fulfillment we intervened, and our intervention refocused the First's attention towards the prophecy which it thought had been annulled and caused it to begin acting accordingly."

"Why did you do that? Why is this prophecy so important to you? Who the hell are you anyway?" Faith demanded suspiciously.

"We are guardians, ensuring the worlds stay in balance between good and evil," Bob said, a note of pride sneaking into his/it's voice. "The First destroyed that balance when it declared war on the Slayer line and now has nothing retraining its actions and so is able to act with impunity. Your child, the chosen one, is pivotal to restoring that balance, without her the First's final victory is assured and the balance will be destroyed forever and all worlds will be thrown into eternal chaos."

"No pressure on the kid though," Faith laughed a little bitterly. "Guess that kind of stuff runs in the family. So why should I believe you on this? You might just be some fevered dream I made up, or you might even be working for the First."

"Prove to me what you said about Dawnie and me is true," Faith said impulsively. "Convince me that we were meant to be together."

"If that is your wish," Bob pronounced. "We will do so by showing you the truth." He/It pointed one arm directly at Faith, and before the world faded away Faith noticed that Bob's sleeve was empty except for the same shadowy substance that filled his/its hood.

When the world came back again Faith was standing in her old apartment in Sunnydale, the one the Mayor had rented for her. Cardboard boxes were piled everywhere stuffed full of her things, her weapons, her clothes, her comics, everything was packed up and ready to go like she was moving somewhere.

"Well that was a hell of a thing." Faith muttered to herself, looking around her at the apartment. She reached for one of the boxes but her hand passed straight through it, obviously she wasn't meant to interact with these dreams or visions, only watch.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, Faith span around and saw Buffy walking into the apartment. Now she knew this wasn't a real event from the past because the only time Buffy had visited her at this apartment was the night she had tried to kill her, and this Buffy wasn't wearing her leather ensemble or carrying the big old knife the mayor had given her.

"A higher power, what the hell are you talking about B?" Faith asked, feeling a lot more confused then Buffy looked.

When Buffy didn't answer her Faith remembered that she probably couldn't hear her and turning, she did a double take when she saw who Buffy was actually talking to, it was a younger version of her. The other Faith stood next to a bed and stared out through a broken window and onto the balcony, the window that she and Buffy had smashed during their death-match.

Faith frowned in concentration, there was something awfully familiar about all this, she felt like she'd been here before and seen this before. Her gaze fell on the large tabby cat that sat on her bed and something abruptly clicked into place and Faith remembered. She now knew why all this seemed so familiar, this was a scene from one of the dreams she had had during her coma, she couldn't recall a lot of stuff from the coma but this scene was ringing a very large bell.

"There's something I'm supposed to be doing." Buffy said softly, glancing around her.

"Oh yeah, miles to go," other Faith replied. "Little Miss Muffet counting down from Seven-Three-O."

"Great, riddles." Buffy answered and Faith found herself in wholehearted agreement.

Then the world faded away again and when it returned she was in Buffy's room at her old house, clearly before it had become part of the general large hole in the ground that was now Sunnydale.

She stood and watched as Buffy and another version of her made Buffy's bed, covering it in clean, white sheets.

Faith vaguely recalled this dream too, she thought it had occurred somewhere towards the end of her coma, just before she had woken up.

"Little sis coming, I know," other Faith interrupted gently. "So much to do before she gets here."

The world faded away once more and she was back in the void, standing in front of the three hooded guardians.

She was never completely certain, but Faith swore she saw Bob sigh heavily at that comment. "They weren't dreams, they were visions that you had while unconscious, visions that linked you to the Key even then, before she came into the world. You could sense her arrival because of that link, years before she was made human. For you to have sensed that your ties to the Key must be as strong, if not more so, then the ties to her sister, the other Slayer."

Faith thought that over, going back to the two visions Bob had been shown her. She could understand the reasoning behind the second vision. 'Little sis coming, I know.' But the other one's meaning eluded her. She went through it again, the words replaying in her mind and the second-last remark suddenly jumped out at her. 'Little Miss Muffet counting down from Seven-Three-O.' Faith grinned, Little Miss Muffet had been one of her earliest nicknames for Dawn when the girl had been around twelve, she remembered that Dawn had absolutely detested it, even more so then brat or pipsqueak or any of the other names Faith had called her.

"But Seven-Three-O, what does that mean?" Faith shook her head, mystified by that reference even though, strictly speaking, she was the one who had uttered it.

"Seven hundred and thirty is the number of days in two years," Bob explained more fully. "Three hundred and sixty-five days times two."

"And two years, give or take, is the amount of time from that vision to when Dawn first appeared." Faith finished, putting things together.

"So what you're saying is I was supposed to be there in Sunnydale when Dawn turned up," Faith reasoned through slowly. "Except the First got to me before then, hoping that would cancel out this prophecy thing?"

"Yes." Bob said emphatically, relieved that the human seemed to finally understand what he/it was trying to tell her.

"You do realize that you're asking me to take a lot of this stuff on faith here don't you Bob?" Faith asked.

Faith took the time to slowly digest all this. It was pretty astonishing even if only half of it was true and was completely beyond her comprehension, she needed someone smart to help her understand it, someone like Dawn.

However before she did that she wanted to ask something, a nagging question that, until now, had remained in the back of her mind but kept insinuating itself into her thoughts and wouldn't leave her alone until it was asked. "What would have happened if the First hadn't got to me, if I had been in Sunnydale when Dawn turned up?"

Bob raised his/its arm again, and a bright light flashed, causing Faith to hurriedly shut her eyes against the glare, when she opened them again she was in the old Summers' house again, this time in the kitchen. Dawn was standing at the counter, pouring milk into a bowl full of cereal and humming along to some pop tune.

Faith smiled softly, her eyes hungrily devouring the sight of the girl. This Dawn was younger then her Dawn, she looked around sixteen/seventeen, around the same age she had been during the battle with the First in Sunnydale.

Dawn obliviously munched her cereal, unaware she was being watched, like all the other people in her visions/dreams Dawn seemed completely ignorant of Faith's presence. After a while of just standing there watching Dawn eat Faith glanced around the kitchen to see if anything else was going on. She wasn't sure why Bob had wanted to show her this rather dull scene, when she caught sight of yet another version of herself striding into the room.

She watched enviously as this other Faith walked up behind Dawn and wrapped her arms tightly around the teen's waist, softly kissing her on the cheek. A surge of jealousy rose up inside Faith and choked her, even though it was technically her kissing Dawn and holding her that close, Faith couldn't help but feel jealous about someone other else touching her girl that way.

"Morning." Dawn whispered back, turning around to softly press her lips against Faith's.

It was kind of awkward to stand there and watch herself kiss Dawn in an increasingly passionate and slightly disturbing way, and Faith found herself rapidly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the situation when a loud coughing noise from the doorway thankfully caused the kiss to hastily break off.

"You know it'd be nice if I was able to walk into a room in my own house for once and not find my little sister being molested," Buffy commented pointedly. "God, can you two spend five minutes alone together without touching each other in a bad way, it's very upsetting."

"Sorry Buffy." Dawn mumbled apologetically, though she looked more flushed and happy with herself then sorry.

"I think I'm going to have to start carrying around two large buckets of cold water all the time, to help cool you two down." Buffy moved over to the counter and began making herself breakfast.

Other Faith grinned wickedly. "Knock yourself out B, I always enjoy seeing Dawn all wet."

Faith grinned along with her vision twin, it was nice to know some things never changed, namely her.

She stood and watched, with a hint of sadness, as the happy household went about its daily routine. She noticed the way her twin and Dawn were like around each other, the flirty glances, the smiles, the unnecessary touching and brushing against each other and clearly she wasn't the only one. Buffy didn't exactly look thrilled about it but she also didn't make another comment or stop it in anyway, and the apparent lack of animosity between her and the Faith of this reality was intriguing and kind of nice to see. Obviously not trying to kill everyone had done wonders for her and Buffy's friendship and had made B more open to the idea of Dawn being in a relationship with her.

Faith felt a tinge of longing sweep through her as the scene in front of her slowly dissolved away, she almost wished she could have stayed there a little longer so she could see which things were different there and which were the same, and just how well her and Dawn got along.

A bright white light she soon identified as the dawning sun flooded her vision, banishing the last vestiges of her dreams and then she was sitting up on the couch in the apartment, wide awake.

She sat there for a long time, deliberating on everything she had been shown and told, trying to determine if any of it was true or whether it all had just been some big, crazy dream.

When her brain began hurting and she still hadn't made up her mind she pulled back the blankets and got up, padding silently over to the bedroom door. Faith opened it quietly and gazed in at the young woman sleeping in the bed.

Dawn looked like she hadn't had an easy night either, her eyes were red and puffy from crying, her hair and the sheets were all messy and rumpled as if she had been tossing and turning all night and the pillows were creased and tear-stained.

Faith slipped inside, softly closing the door behind her and walked over to the bed, lying down beside the sleeping figure.

Dawn was normally a pretty heavy sleeper but she woke up the instant Faith lay down beside her. The teenager froze, watching the Slayer warily. After the events of last night she didn't know what Faith was doing there or what she was going to do, and that realization was almost as scary as she knew Faith could be.

Faith winced inwardly at the fear in Dawn's eyes and the knowledge that it had been her that put the fear there. "Morning lover." She whispered.

Dawn licked her lips nervously. "Morning," she answered uncertainly. "W-What are you doing here?"

Faith looked at her silently and attempted to figure out exactly what she was going to say to Dawn about last night's dream. Eventually she gave up and decided to tell Dawn about everything, the visions, the creepy robed guys, the prophecy and the First's recent visit.

"Wow, that's…a lot to take in." Dawn said afterwards, the idea that Faith might have made all this up not even entering her mind.

At some point during the long narration Dawn had instinctively cuddled up to Faith and she hadn't wanted to draw her attention to it, instead Faith had loosely draped an arm around Dawn's shoulders and hadn't let go. "I know," Faith laid a gentle kiss on the top of Dawn's head. "And I'm sorry for, you know, everything. Not believing you, slapping you and stuff."

"Not directly, no, but I implied it right before you, um," Dawn automatically brushed her fingertips lightly across the angry red mark on her cheek. "You know."

"Oh, right," Faith gave herself another mental flogging for her lack of emotional control. "I forgive you."

They indulged in the kisses for a while, sensing some of the pain and hurt from last night slowly beginning to heal itself over.

"So let me get this straight," Dawn said after the kiss-fest had subsided a little. "My baby is actually our baby and is some kind of prophesized hero, a girl and you're her father, or mother, or whatever."

"And the First wants us and her dead because she's supposed to stop it from destroying the world somehow?" Dawn checked further.

"Oh great," Dawn sighed heavily. "You know I'd understand if this had happened on a Hellmouth or somewhere where evil abounds, but here. Boston's so quiet, mystically speaking."

"I guess with you being a mystical Key-thingy and me being a Slayer, kind of makes up for it." Faith suggested softly.

"I guess. Stupid monks," Dawn muttered under her breath. "So what are we going to tell people about all this?"

"Well, both, although the doctor sitch is easily solved," Dawn saw an uncomprehending look on Faith's face. "We can use some of the Council's doctors instead of the doctors in a hospital."

"Does the Council have, um, doctors that deal with the pregnancy thing, I don't know what their proper name is?" Faith looked at her helplessly.

"Obstetricians," Dawn supplied the right word. "And yes they do. I mean considering all of the two thousand or so Slayers in the world are young women, it's sort of inevitable that one or more of them are going to be pregnant at some point."

"Oh. I suppose that makes sense," Faith said, feeling a little stupid for not realizing that herself. "And what about Buffy?"

"I think we're going to have to tell her everything, all the stuff you told me," Dawn reasoned slowly. "And I think we're going to have to get the rest of the gang in on it as well, to help us figure out what it all means."

"Sounds good, I think we could do with all the help we can get." Faith leaned down and kissed Dawn softly.

"Yeah, it's very overwhelming," Dawn murmured as she kissed her back, enjoying having Faith back this close again. Then without warning Dawn pulled away, an annoyed look on her face. "Damn." She said, jumping off the bed and racing off in the direction of the bathroom.

Faith sighed in frustration and followed her with a lot less haste, she was clearly going to have to get used to this sort of interruption to her life, at least for the next nine months anyway.

Everything in the apartment from the spotless floor to the equally spotless ceiling sparkled and gleamed as if some kind of crack team of highly trained ninja cleaners had attacked the place with heavy cloths and powerful cleaning products and left everything looking like it had been washed, dusted and scrubbed to within an inch of its life. However Dawn was still moving around the living-area anxiously, adjusting this or cleaning that while Faith looked on bemusedly and leaned nonchalantly against the wall.

"You know being that close to those cleaning products probably isn't good for someone in your condition," Faith commented casually. "Anyway it's only the Scoobies who are coming to visit, not some rabid, judgmental pack of relatives, or a demon who gains power from dirt."

"Willow, Xander, and Giles are like my family Faith," Dawn replied as she scrubbed furiously at some imagined spot. "And Buffy is my family, the only real family I have left, and so I want things to look perfect."

"That makes you my girlfriend, although I guess when the baby's born we're going to be sort of like a family," Dawn answered without looking up. "But the Scoobies are more like…well that judgmental pack of relatives you were talking about, maybe not quite so much with the judgmental, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah I know," Faith conceded reluctantly. "Although certain people might think you're more concerned about something else and are compensating for that with a cleaning frenzy."

Dawn's scrubbing rate slowed. "I always worry when you get all perceptive, nothing good ever comes of it. And anyway I think I have a legitimate reason to worry, I didn't exactly say anything over the phone to anyone and I'm pretty sure Buffy thought I was having some kind of a nervous breakdown with the way I insisted she come over here right this minute."

"And the obsessive-compulsive cleaning disorder really helps your case there." Faith pointed out.

Dawn paused in her cleaning to cast a dark look in Faith's direction. "You're not helping."

"Everything will be OK," Faith said firmly, moving over to take Dawn's hands in her own. "Things are going to work out fine."

"You don't know that for sure," Dawn maintained stubbornly, refusing to be calmed down in any way. "How's my hair, how do I look?"

"Perfect and gorgeous as always," Faith gently kissed her. "Now stop stressing out, we can do this. Besides if anyone should be worrying it's me, I don't know how B's going to react when she finds out I accidentally knocked up her baby sister, but I have a feeling it might involve me taking a little trip to the hospital."

"I don't know how any of them are going to react to this," Dawn admitted nervously. "I mean if it wasn't for the obvious fact of the pregnancy I wouldn't believe any of this stuff about a prophecy and a chosen one myself."

"And how is our little chosen one doing?" Faith glanced down at Dawn's still flat belly.

"How am I supposed to know I'm barely eleven weeks along, I haven't even had an ultrasound done yet," Dawn frowned softly. "The only way I know there's actually a baby in there is because I'm violently ill on a regular basis."

"Yeah I had sort of noticed that," Faith said dryly. "And I was just wondering, baby-wise."

Dawn shrugged. "I haven't felt anything different, I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

Dawn tried not to flinch or scream when she heard Faith use the 'm-word', she was just getting used to the idea of growing up and becoming an adult, so the thought of her becoming a mother in the next few months was a little too much for Dawn to process at the moment. "No, not really."

Faith could sense Dawn's discomfort with that subject so she decided to give the girl a break and change it. "When was the gang coming around again?"

"They said they'd be here around eleven," Dawn checked the clock on her desk, which read 10:58. "So anytime now I guess."

"OK then, remember to keep calm and breathe and it'll all be over soon." Faith squeezed Dawn's hand reassuringly.

"Right, calm and breathe because if I don't breathe then that bad fainting thing might happen," Dawn babbled anxiously. "Although a brief period of unconsciousness could be restful."

Faith grinned and shook her head. "No it wouldn't because that would then leave me to explain what was going on and you'd probably wake up in time to see the rest of the gang trying to keep Buffy from doing something extremely violent to me. Now is there anything I can do to help?"

"Finally, something I want to do." Faith leaned forward and pressed her lips against Dawn's who responded urgently, eagerly, as if she could gain some of Faith's calm and confidence via a kind of osmosis through the Slayers mouth.

Things were beginning to become a bit heated when a loud knock at the door intruded and caused Dawn to pull away reluctantly, breathing heavily and looking flushed. "I suppose I should answer that."

"Might be a good idea." Faith agreed, her lips and other parts still tingling from that kiss.

Dawn turned around and walked determinedly towards the door. "Right here we go, calm and breathe," she whispered to herself, and after taking a deep breath she opened the door.

Willow and Kennedy stood outside, looking around them curiously. The redhead smiled brightly when she caught sight of Dawn at the door. "Dawnie," she exclaimed, drawing Dawn into a tight hug. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Dawn replied, smiling and hugging her back, as always she found Willow's good mood impossible to resist. "Come in." She added, ushering the two women inside.

Kennedy hugged Dawn in turn, leaving Willow and Faith to smile at each other uncomfortably and try to decide if they should be joining in on the hugging. Eventually they settled on a mutual exchange of greetings and then waited for their respective partners to come over and ease the awkwardness.

"So what's this thing you desperately want to tell us, yet you couldn't say over the phone?" Kennedy asked, getting right down to business, she hadn't even bothered to acknowledge Faith.

Dawn and Faith exchanged a hurried look. "Um…if you don't mind Kennedy, we'd like to wait till everyone else gets here before we say anything." Dawn explained quickly.

Somehow Dawn managed to stop herself from laughing out loud, smothering her initial reaction to Kennedy's question. "No, we are definitely NOT getting married."

"Hah, I knew it," Kennedy turned to Willow with a grin. "You owe me five bucks." She told her triumphantly.

Willow looked a little sheepish. "Well you were acting all mysterious on the phone and I got curious, and then there was the long, boring flight over, so we made a small wager."

"Yeah and there's only so much sneaking off to the toilet together you can do on a plane before people get suspicious." Kennedy added.

"Kennedy!" Willow blushed a deep red and gestured desperately at her girlfriend to stop.

She was saved from further embarrassment by another knock at the door. "I'll get it." Faith volunteered, glad for the distraction.

Xander and Alex were waved in by Faith and loud greetings were exchanged between the new arrivals and those already there, a couple of minutes later the group was complete when Buffy and Giles appeared, arguing about something as usual. Soon happy chatter and loud laughter filled the apartment as people who hadn't seen each other in a while caught up, and people who had never met were introduced.

Eventually the noise started to die down and people began shooting glances Dawn and Faith's way, curious as to the reason why they were all here and the haste behind it all.

"So Dawn, are you going to tell us what was so important that we had to be here, or are we going to have to try and guess?" Buffy asked finally, breaking the tension that was building up.

Dawn and Faith exchanged a nervous look and then Dawn took a few seconds to compose herself properly before answering her sister's question. "Um, what we're about to tell you is kind of, well…surprising, so I think everybody should sit down first before I tell you."

The Scoobies shared a few wary looks as they settled onto the various chairs and couches, their curiosity heightened by the warning Dawn had given. "OK so we're all seated, now what's this all about?" Buffy asked. "You two aren't getting married are you?" She added apprehensively.

"A lesbian couple, living in Boston, it's a fair assumption to make." Alex pointed out.

"Now there's a relief," Buffy muttered under her breath. "So if it's not that then what is the reason we're all here?"

Dawn stared apprehensively at the circle of expectant faces, feeling small and vulnerable like she was five all over again. Everyone's gaze was pressing up against her like a wall, squashing her, crushing her, making it hard for her to breathe until Faith's hand slipped into her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. Suddenly the pressure disappeared and Dawn felt she could announce her big news without the world falling in on her. "I'm pregnant." She blurted out abruptly, and then braced herself for the shock and confusion that would inevitably follow.

There was a long, stunned silence following Dawn's startling revelation as the Scoobies attempted to assimilate this astounding bit of information.

"Pregnant." Buffy said carefully, as if saying it out loud would help her understand things better.

Buffy's mouth worked frantically as she struggled to say anything. "How?" she asked finally.

"Come on B, I would've thought you knew about that stuff already," Faith joked lightly. "Or do we have to explain to you about the birds and the bees?"

"But you two are sort of lacking required…things. Unless you're not…" Buffy stared at Faith uncertainly.

"Hey, hey I'm all woman, nothing extra here," Faith said defensively. "You can back me up on this Xand."

"Whoa, hey that was years ago," Xander explained hastily. "And honestly I can't remember much of anything about that one night." He added, emphasizing the one night part.

"Children please, if we could get back to the subject at hand." Giles interrupted brusquely before things got too far off topic. "Dawn would you please explain to us how this happened?" He asked kindly.

Dawn swallowed hard and then nodded bravely. "Right it's explanation time, well it goes something like this…" She proceeded to tell them everything she knew, about how she had discovered she was pregnant, Faith's encounter, the First's visit, some parts she carefully edited, others she elaborated on further, adding her own thoughts and ideas on what they might mean.

Another long silence followed after Dawn was finished, this one more contemplative then shocked.

"So your baby is going to be some kind of prophesized hero." Alex said thoughtfully.

"But how do you know that what you were told was correct?" Buffy asked. "I mean Dawnie could have got pregnant naturally, like with a boy." She added hopefully.

"Buffy I haven't been with a boy in months, not since Shawn." Dawn remarked dryly.

Giles smiled at her in sympathy. "I know this is a shock for you Buffy, I think it's fair to say it's a shock to us all. But I think it's safe to assume Dawn's pregnancy is somewhat mystical in origin, which means the mysterious figures from Faith's dreams are at least partially telling the truth."

"Do you know who those guys were, and can any of us other Slayers be expecting a visit from them in our dreams?" Kennedy asked uneasily.

"They were the Guardians of the Balance, am I right?" Dawn looked at Giles for confirmation.

"Yes, I rather fear you are correct." Giles nodded in agreement, absently removing his glasses and beginning to clean them.

"OK, now for all of us who haven't spent most of our life stuck in a book, who the hell are these Guardian guys?" Kennedy asked, looking from Giles to Dawn and back again.

Giles replaced his glasses and cleared his throat as he prepared to launch into one of his trademarked long explanations. It was something he hadn't done since Sunnydale and, while he would never have admitted it, he did sometimes miss it. "The Guardians of the Balance are a group of powerful demons who, millennia ago, took it upon themselves to help maintain the balance between good and evil. It was their belief that if the balance tipped too far one way or the other, then our world and possibly all others would be thrown into chaos and eventually destroyed."

"Even if the balance went towards good?" Willow asked, confusion written plainly onto her face.

"I didn't say that their assumption is correct, only that they believe it is," Giles clarified quickly. "They have intervened at other times throughout history, on either the side of good or evil, although actually meeting them face to face is an exceedingly rare event, Faith was very lucky."

"Really, because I don't feel it," Faith muttered. "If you want them in your dreams next time, be my guest."

"Why is it so rare to see them, I mean if these guys have intervened in the past?" Xander asked

"The Guardians prefer not to intervene directly but subtly using other people for their own purposes, some of their agents know about the Guardians and their intentions and some are completely unaware that they're being used," Giles continued. "The Guardians shed their physical forms and individuality years ago in order to make themselves into a far more powerful whole, that's why they never use personal pronouns and why you can't see them unless they wish it."

"OK, officially creeped out, right now." Xander said, glancing anxiously over his shoulder.

"So why did they intervene so directly now?" Buffy asked. "I mean it doesn't sound like their normal approach."

Giles frowned deeply. "I honestly couldn't say, they clearly regard this as a situation of extreme importance and if what they told Faith is true, they believe this may be the only way to stop the First's ultimate victory and maintain the balance. I suspect the First's recent actions and it's desire to destroy the entire Slayer line may have forced them to take this less subtle approach."

"I'm still a little confused," Alex said hesitantly. "How exactly did Dawn get pregnant, I mean we've covered the why of it but not the actual mechanics of how."

"Um, yes well, I…" Giles stumbled and stalled for a few moments. "I haven't got the faintest idea, magic of some kind I suppose." He finally admitted.

"It wouldn't actually be that hard," Willow mused out loud. "I could probably do it, given the right circumstances."

Everyone turned to look at her. "Willow you didn't…" Buffy gestured towards Dawn.

"What, no?!" Willow exclaimed vehemently. "I would never do that to Dawn without her permission first, I'm just saying I could if I wanted to."

"All that happens when a baby is created naturally is that two different sets of DNA, the mother's and the father's are combined together, of course with Dawn and Faith that couldn't happen naturally so you'd need to use some kind of spell to help combine the DNA together," Willow explained earnestly. "Although you would also need some kind of powerful natural energy source like a living magical artifact, say a tooth of draconis or a unicorn horn, to catalyze the process, and a powerful witch to perform the spell and then abracadabra, one baby."

"A powerful natural energy source." Dawn repeated slowly, a nasty suspicion starting to grow in her mind.

"Uh-huh, a magical artifact would be the most likely source Dawnie, it'd be relatively easy to obtain and channel correctly," Willow said, trying to be helpful. "Any energy source that can be used in that kind of spell is incredibly rare, it has to be extremely powerful and completely natural and pure, and even better living, otherwise the spell won't work."

"You mean a powerful, living, pure energy like, say, the Key?" Dawn suggested reluctantly.

"Yes that would be-" Willow stopped when she got Dawn's meaning. "Oh, I see. That's actually pretty clever."

"They used me as part of the spell to get myself pregnant, or at least the Key part of me." Dawn told her softly.

"You have to hand it to those Guardian guys, they really know how to recycle." Willow said admiringly.

"I don't know, I don't think they had anything to do with it." Dawn said thoughtfully, certain things were suddenly making make more sense to her.

"Well when I was in Cleveland during a, um, certain moment I had this vision, or experience or something in which I felt this green, glowy thing…enter me," Dawn blushed. "At the time I just forgot about it but the dates line up, it would have been around that time when I fell pregnant so I think it might have something to do with my pregnancy, I think it might have been the Key being activated or whatever."

"Of course it does, just not to the rest of us." Buffy said, looking as confused as everyone else who wasn't currently Willow.

"Dawn's pregnancy wasn't as a result of a spell it was completely natural, or at least supernatural, the Guardians wouldn't have needed to do anything," Willow explained hurriedly. "The Hellmouth in Cleveland would have provided more then enough magical power to kick-start the process and then the Key would have catalyzed it during…that moment and, well, you know the result."

"So my baby is a Hellmouth baby?" Dawn said worriedly, placing her hands protectively over her stomach.

"I wouldn't worry Dawn, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with it, I mean her," Buffy rushed to reassure her. "Right?" She added, looking meaningfully at Willow.

"Oh, right. Definitely," Willow agreed hastily. "But just to be sure I can check if you want."

"Of course not, it's absolutely one-hundred percent safe." Willow promised, kneeling down in front of her.

"OK then." She watched the redhead warily as Willow lifted her shirt up and laid her hands on the soft skin of Dawn's stomach.

"It's simple really, all I'm going to do is sense the baby's essence, and see if there's anything unusual-" Willow broke off suddenly, violently pulling her hands away as if she'd been stung. "Hey, that's unusual."

"Willow, what is it, what's wrong?" Dawn asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice.

"The baby's not demonic in any way is it?" Faith demanded uneasily, moving closer to Dawn.

"No not demonic, well in a way I suppose she is." Willow said distantly, her gaze vague as if she was seeing something the rest of them couldn't.

Willow snapped back to reality and looked up at Dawn's face, seeing the fear in the young woman's eyes. "I mean your baby's a Slayer Dawnie." She stated simply.

"Our baby's going to be a Slayer," Faith flushed with parental pride. "Cool, though considering the family history Will that's really not that unusual."

"No I don't mean she's going to be a Slayer," Willow corrected her. "I mean she is a Slayer, right now, I could feel it."

"But how she'd only be, like, this big," Kennedy held up two fingers an inch or two apart. "She isn't even born yet, I thought the Slayer thing only gets triggered after a potential hits puberty or thereabouts?"

"And under normal circumstances you would be correct Kennedy," Giles stared at Dawn thoughtfully. "However in this case we clearly aren't talking about normal circumstances. The child is some kind of prophesized hero, naturally things are going to be a little different."

"I just hope she's gentle once she starts kicking," Dawn commented. "Because I'm not a Slayer and I don't think I can take that much punishment."

"You know something's suddenly occurring here, you keep talking about this prophecy-" Kennedy paused.

All eyes went to Dawn who in turn looked at Faith. "Oh…I…um, actually forgot to ask so me and Dawn have been doing some research, well mostly Dawn, but we haven't found that out yet." Faith admitted reluctantly

"Hey I was kind of spun by the whole pregnancy thing," Faith said defensively. "I'd like to see if you would've remembered to ask with those freaky guys in robes invading your dreams."

"Oh, hang on a second, I'm remembering something," Willow exclaimed then stopped, leaving the rest of the Scoobies on tenterhooks. "Buffy you know how you got me to do all that research about Dawn and the Key a little while back?"

"It was after all those attacks in Rome," Buffy hurried to explain herself. "And I was worried about you and also wondering why the First was trying to get to you, although I guess we know why now, so I asked Willow to help and I would have told you but-"

"Yes and this is all very fascinating Buffy, but if Willow could please continue with what she was saying?" Giles interrupted, looking at Willow expectantly.

"Right, there was this thing I saw in a book about a prophecy involving the Slayer and the Key," Willow said slowly, rapidly sorting through her memories. "But I though it was about Buffy and Dawn, you know Dawn's origins so I didn't take any notice of it and never really read it."

"Um…" Willow's lips moved silently as she thought. "The Codex, I think it was." Willow announced a little hesitantly

"Isn't that the book that prophesied that I would die, because if so, I really don't like that book." Buffy muttered.

"Yes, right," Giles stood up abruptly. "I must go consult my books and research this properly."

"And the Watcher's on the case." Buffy commented as Giles hurried over to the door and left.

Xander took the opportunity to pointedly stand up and stretch. "Anyway if we're done with the twenty questions session then how about we get out of here and go celebrate Dawn's good news?" He suggested hopefully, the morning had unfortunately reminded him of one of the interminable research sessions that used to occur in the high-school library or magic shop, and all he wanted to do now was to get out of here, ASAP.

"Actually I do have one more question," Faith said, Xander let out a groan of disappointment and slumped back into his seat. "Willow you said to create the baby my and Dawn's DNA needed to mix, I don't get how that could that have happened?"

"Well the DNA could have come from any cell in your body, your hair, skin cells or whatever, though I think the DNA probably would have come from your saliva," Willow went pink with embarrassment. "And I'm guessing it would have mixed during, um, that moment between you and Dawn."

"My saliva," Faith looked confused. "You mean I got Dawn pregnant by kissing her?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Dawn hastily leaned over and whispered an explanation in Faith's ear.

"Oooohhhhh," Faith said as understanding slowly dawned. "OK that makes more sense."

"Anyway, I agree with Xander we should go celebrate," Buffy said brightly, desperately trying to steer the conversation away that very disturbing topic. "Who's for food, of any kind, my treat?"

"Sounds good B, I'm in." Faith nodded, she was always open to the idea of free food.

"Me too, but first," Willow stood up and wrapped Dawn in a big hug. "Congratulations Dawnie."

This sparked off another round of hugs as everyone took it in turns to congratulate Dawn and Faith on their news. Buffy congratulated her sister and then found herself in front of Faith, the two Slayers staring at each other hesitantly for a second before briefly giving each other an awkward hug.

"Thanks B," Faith answered, relieved that Buffy had accepted things without resorting to violence of any sort. Her relief however was short-lived, as Buffy proceeded to thump her hard on the arm. "Ow, what was that for?"

Buffy looked at her as if she were stupid. "Let me think, maybe for getting my little sister pregnant."

"Oh, so you only got my little sister pregnant accidentally," Buffy said sarcastically. "Well that makes it OK then."

"That's not what I meant," Faith protested. "Prophecy, chosen one, mystical pregnancy remember, it's not like I had much say in the matter."

"What like get Dawn pregnant a second time," Faith muttered petulantly. "Because I think that boat's already sailed B."

"Hey, so how about that celebratory lunch Buffy," Dawn intervened quickly before something bad happened. "I know I'm actually feeling hungry at the moment and that's a bit of a rare occurrence these days so I'd kind of like to take advantage of it."

Buffy glared at Faith for a moment longer. "Fine, let's go." She announced, turning on her heel and stalking over to the door.

"That's OK," Dawn smiled back. "And don't worry, I'm sure Buffy will calm down soon."

Faith tried to look reassured by Dawn's comment but she wasn't as confident about Buffy's ongoing calmness as her girlfriend was.

The air was filled with a low murmuring as the large group of young women stood around and whispered amongst themselves, swapping various theories as to why this impromptu meeting had been called at such short notice.

The whispering slowly subsided as Dawn hesitantly walked out in front of them, glancing around at the sea of faces that watched her expectantly.

"What, Jane's sick again," Dawn exclaimed in annoyance. "You know I'm seriously starting to wonder whether that girl is actually a Slayer or not."

"Maybe it's just because she's blonde and can't remember where this building is." Jessica joked, earning herself a few glares from the other blondes in the room.

Dawn sighed heavily. "Oh well, I guess one of you will just have to fill her in later, if you can find her."

Dawn cleared her throat nervously. "Right, so, me and Faith have a bit of news that we need to tell you," Dawn paused for a few seconds to gather her courage, she had hoped the experience of telling her friends and family about her pregnancy would make telling anyone else she knew about it that much easier, but strangely she felt almost as anxious now as when she had told the Scoobies. "There's no simple way to say this so I'll just come right out and say it. I'm pregnant."

This revelation was greeted with the by now familiar stunned silence. "Pregnant?"

"Yes," Dawn said firmly. "Now I know this will come as a surprise to you all, trust me it was surprising to me too at first, but this does mean that there will have to be some changes around here."

"What sort of changes?" Jessica asked worriedly, she hoped these changes wouldn't involve Dawn going anywhere because she really liked the young Watcher, she was always patient and thoughtful and complimented you if you did things well or worked with you if you did something wrong, Jessica would miss her if Dawn left and she knew she wouldn't be the only one.

"Definitely won't be going out on patrol at all." Faith interrupted determinedly, making it clear to everyone else in the room that this was an ongoing argument between her and Dawn.

"We'll see about patrol," Dawn continued, ignoring Faith's interruption. "And obviously I won't be around to train or help with research as much, so the Council is sending another Watcher to Boston to cover my duties while I'm…otherwise engaged."

"Another Watcher, it's not going to be some old, stuffy British guy is it?" Jessica asked, earning herself another glare from Alice.

Dawn shook her head. "No he isn't, I actually know the guy they're sending, he's young and he won't give you guys too hard a time, and he's Australian and not British. He'll be here in a couple of weeks so you can inspect him fully then, see if he comes up to standard."

"How exactly did you get pregnant, I mean I know how people get pregnant, I just thought you and Faith were, um, together and that kind of excludes…that, doesn't it?"

Dawn took her time before answering, she had known this question would come up eventually and she couldn't really say the truth, partly because the fewer people who knew the safer things would be and partly because most people wouldn't have believed the truth anyway, so she'd quickly come up with an answer for all situations that she trusted would stop anyone asking any further questions, at least until she came up with a better answer. "No offence Bronwyn, but that's sort of private if you don't mind and something I'd rather keep between me and Faith. Are there any other questions?"

"You are still staying here aren't you, I mean you're not going anywhere, are you?"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here and I'll still be your Watcher, only working part-time at least for the next little while."

There was a collective sigh of relief and a few grins at this bit of news. "That's good we really didn't want you to go," Alice smiled happily. "And congratulations Dawn, about the baby."

"Thank you Alice." Dawn was touched by the concern shown by her charges and smiled back happily, before being swamped by a bunch of excited young Slayers for another round of congratulatory hugs, a few even dared to go up and hug Faith, catching the older Slayer completely by surprise.

Dawn accepted all the congratulations with good grace, she was getting kind of used to it these days, although she might soon need the services of a good chiropractor due to a couple of over-enthusiastic Slayers who clearly didn't know their own strength.

"OK if we're all done testing how strong my ribs are, we should really get on with the rest of the meeting," Dawn announced. "I don't think we need to bother with patrol tonight so is there anything else I should know about, is anybody in some sort of trouble or noticed any signs of an impending apocalypse?"

The only answer she got was silence as the Slayers all looked around at each other to see if anyone was going to say anything.

"No. Oh," Dawn sounded a little disappointed. "Well in that case I guess you can go, all except for you Bronwyn and you Jacinta, I need to talk to you about school and specifically your recent non-attendance of it."

The two girls named shared a look of mutual dismay at being caught out but were then saved by the intervention of one of their fellow Slayers. "If we're not patrolling tonight how about we go out and celebrate, you know hit a club, have a few drinks and some dancing fun?"

"Thank you for the offer but I'm going to have to take a raincheck," Dawn replied. "I'm feeling a bit too tired for partying tonight and besides the only one in here who is actually able to legally drink is Faith."

"I don't think so, but that doesn't mean that you guys can't, you go out and have some fun for me," Dawn suggested. "Just try not to break any laws or people and be careful and don't go home with anybody who look a bit too pale."

Most of the Slayers were too busy excitedly trying to figure out which club they were going to visit to take any notice of Dawn or her warnings, which they'd heard a million times before, though a few gave some sign of half-hearted agreement as they filed out, leaving Dawn and Faith alone in the building.

"Finally I've got you all to myself." Faith whispered in Dawn's ear, slipping her arms around the girl's waist.

"I think they slipped out amongst the crowd," Faith said, watching Dawn closely. "And stop being all avoidy."

"I think we need to talk more," Faith countered. "What's up, you've been like this all day."

"I'm just so tired, with studying for finals, my Watcher duties and dealing with this mystical pregnancy, it's taking a lot out of me." Dawn said wearily.

"I can tell, I'm not completely blind or insensitive," Faith replied. "You just need to stop stressing so much and calm down, give yourself a break, let someone else do things for you."

"How, you can't do my studying for me or take over the pregnancy for a couple of days while I take a vacation."

"We could go home together," Faith moved closer, gently taking one of Dawn's hands into her own. "And I could run you a bath, maybe a massage-"

"Nothing you are about to say will lead to rest Faith," Dawn interrupted firmly.

Dawn shook her head in exasperation; a smile forcing it's way onto her face. "Fine, take me home and we'll see."

"Good." Faith nodded in approval and, guiding Dawn by the hand, led her out of the room.

The young woman was standing alone in the shadows underneath the dark, outstretched branches of a large, gnarled, old tree, she projected an aura that she wasn't to be disturbed under any circumstances and no-one who walked past her felt inclined to test it. She stared unseeing at the stunning view she had of the rest of the park and the city behind it, she wasn't here to admire the view and if she hadn't have been waiting here for a specific reason she would have completely ignored this beautiful spot and walked right past it.

She brushed her long, blonde hair back from her face and wrapped her heavy leather jacket tighter around herself as she shivered softly in the cool spring breeze, summer was supposed to be close but it still felt a long way off to her. She was on the verge of giving up and leaving when she felt a familiar presence suddenly appear behind her.

"I don't pay as much attention to time's passing as you mortals do, besides I had something more important to attend to." The First answered coldly.

"That something important you mentioned wasn't about a certain Watcher we both know mysteriously falling pregnant was it?" The Slayer commented casually.

"Heard it straight from the horse's mouth, well sort of," the blonde Slayer replied, turning to face her companion. "And I'm guessing this pregnancy is to do with that prophecy that you won't tell me anything about am I right?"

The First silently considered whether to tell the Slayer or not. "Yes it is," It eventually admitted. "The child that will be spawned from this pregnancy will be a powerful warrior for good and a possible threat to me."

"It will be something far more dangerous then just a Slayer." The First spat bitterly.

"Well if it's so dangerous to you I suggest you go after it now then, before it grows up to become a threat." The Slayer pointed out.

"Thank you, I had realized that myself," The First said sarcastically. "Unfortunately the spawn and her mother have powerful protectors watching over them, and not only her friends and family. There are other beings out there, strong and implacable and determined to see this child born."

"So why didn't you kill Dawn before she got pregnant," the Slayer asked. "It would have made things a lot easier."

"Because events caught me by surprise," The First confessed. "I knew this was coming but I didn't know when, I'm not omniscient. I thought I had more time."

"No, I'd prefer to wait," The First began to pace back and forth over the wet grass; it's feet leaving no trail behind it. "I need to think on this, when we make our move we can't afford to make a mistake, this situation needs to end, but in the way I want it to."

"Alright then, just give me the word when you're ready to go and I'll do whatever it is you need done."

The smile that appeared on the Slayer's face lacked any trace of warmth. "Wouldn't be the first time, as you well know."

"Be prepared, your time may come soon." The First inclined its head in the Slayer's direction and then popped out of existence leaving the Slayer alone once more.

"Oh my time is coming, don't you worry about that." She whispered into the darkness before hurriedly moving off.

Dawn sat quietly on the hospital bed, robotically smoothing out the creases, both real and imagined, in her hospital-supplied gown.

"I still don't understand why we're here." Faith muttered moodily, uneasily glancing around the room.

"I told you, we're here because I need to have an ultrasound and the Council doctor won't be here for another couple of weeks, hence the hospital." Dawn answered automatically without looking up from the continual straightening of her clothes.

Any further response from Faith was cut off as the door opened and a young woman bustled into the room. Judging by the white coat, the hospital scrubs and the stethoscope Dawn thought it was safe to assume she was the doctor.

"You are Dawn Summers, yes?" the doctor asked briskly, reading from the chart she was carrying.

"That's right, and this is my girlfriend, Faith," Dawn indicated the Slayer sitting beside her. "It's alright for her to be here isn't it?"

The doctor's expression flickered for a brief second before her professional mask reasserted itself and fell back into place. "Yes, of course. I'm Dr. Clark and I'll be doing your ultrasound today. According to my chart you are approximately twelve weeks pregnant, is that correct?"

Dr. Clark easily noticed her patient's obvious anxiety and smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "There's no need to worry, this is entirely routine. Would you like me to explain what's going to happen?"

"OK, so firstly…" Dr. Clark launched into a long and detailed explanation of the procedure, showing Dawn the instruments she was going to use and the monitor where she could view the baby, spelling things out clearly and in a confident way, attempting to put her patient at ease as much as possible.

Dawn was feeling a little better by the end of the talk, the doctor's self-assurance and relaxed approach helping to calm some of her nerves. "So let me get this right, you're going to put that thing up my…" Dawn gestured towards the more private regions of her body.

"I'm afraid so," Dr. Clark said sympathetically. "I won't lie it's a little uncomfortable at first but it's not too bad, it's not going to be at all painful, just discomforting."

"But I thought you, you know, put the gel stuff and the sensor thing on my stomach and used that to see inside," Dawn suggested hopefully. "Because I would like that much better."

"Really, because you don't seem to mind when I use things like that on you." Faith commented as she struggled to maintain a straight face at the, well, phallic nature of the instrument Dawn was objecting to.

"Faith, not here," Dawn shot the Slayer a warning look before quickly turning back to the doctor, a bright, false smile on her face. "So why can't you do that, with the thing on my stomach?"

"Partly because your baby is very small at the moment and it would be very hard to view it in that way," Dr. Clark explained swiftly, trying hard to ignore the last couple of remarks. "Also I need to take some samples for some tests to check there's no problems with your baby's health. Once that's out of the way and the baby's bigger then we can do it the more comfortable way."

"Oh, OK then." Dawn mumbled reluctantly, lying back on the bed and closing her eyes.

Faith averted her gaze and looked resolutely in the opposite direction as the doctor got started, trying to give Dawn at least some semblance of privacy. She was surprised to feel something brush against her fingers and watched as Dawn's hand slid into her own, it was only when she looked up and saw the frightened expression on Dawn's face that she realized just how worried her girlfriend truly was about this. Faith smiled and gave her hand a comforting squeeze, lifting it to her lips and gently kissing the tips of Dawn's fingers.

"We have a picture." Dr. Clark announced, looking at the screen. Faith felt Dawn's hand grip hers tightly as they both leaned forward and stared intently at the screen, nervously waiting to see what the ultrasound would reveal.

"OK, there's the head." Dr. Clark said, pointing to a part of the fuzzy black-and-white image. Faith frowned softly and tilted her head in an attempt to make something of the picture, but it was like looking at one of those 3D-eye puzzle books, all she could see was a slightly larger white blob next to the doctor's finger that didn't look anything like a head to her.

"Wow." Dawn whispered, a look of wonder lighting up her face, clearly she could see something that Faith was missing, or at least thought she could.

"And there's the other head." Dr. Clark pointed to a newly revealed part of the image.

"What?" Dr. Clark saw the anxious looks on the two women's faces and moved swiftly to explain. "No, no I meant the other baby's head, you didn't know you were having twins?"

"As in two babies," Dawn's eyes were wide with shock. "There's only two right, there's no more in there, are there?"

Dr. Clark turned back to the monitor, watching the image closely as it moved around. "It doesn't appear so, I can only see the two."

"Oh, good, that's…good." Dawn said distantly, her gaze riveted to the image on the screen.

The rest of the ultrasound went by quickly as Dawn and Faith watched the screen in fascination, entranced by the images of their twins and Dr. Clark finished up everything she needed to do.

"Well that should be all for today," Dr. Clark told them. "But I'll need to see you soon, so you'll need to make another appointment at the reception desk."

Dawn and Faith were sitting huddled together on the bed, talking to each other in soft tones as they pointed out various features to each other in the ultrasound photo Dawn held in her hands. "Oh no, sorry I should have mentioned this before, but I only needed this one appointment because I'll be using a private doctor from now on."

"No that's all right, if you give me their name I can send these test results to them once I have them." Dr. Clark wrote down the name that Dawn duly supplied her with and then, after saying a brief farewell, left the room.

"So can we get out of here now?" Faith asked as she stood up and stretched some sore muscles, about halfway through the ultrasound she had come to the conclusion that hospital chairs were not made for comfort.

"Yeah I guess we should." Dawn agreed, getting up off the bed and walking over to where her clothes lay.

"I really hope there's not going to be any more surprises around this pregnancy, because I think we filled our quota a couple of months ago." Faith said casually, sitting back and enjoying the sight of Dawn getting dressed.

Dawn laughed softly as she slid her jeans up over her legs. "Me too, I can just imagine how Buffy's going to react when she finds out we're having twins."

The apartment was completely and utterly silent, it was the kind of silence in which you not only could have heard a pin drop but you could also have heard the angels wings as they flew away from the pin's head as it fell.

"Um Buffy, are you OK?" Dawn asked cautiously, waving a hand in front of her stunned sister's eyes.

"Apparently so," Dawn watched Buffy closely for some sort of reaction, beyond shock anyway. "And I've got the photo and video to prove it."

"Well there was a monitor beside the bed and the doctor used this…thing to put a picture up on the screen then-"

"I meant the twin thing Dawn." Buffy interrupted hastily before Dawn could get much further.

"Oh. Right, in that case I think you're asking the wrong person Buffy," Dawn admitted. "I'm going to tell Willow and Giles about it tomorrow and maybe they can shed some light on it, but I wanted to tell you first."

"Thank you for that," Buffy didn't say anything for a little while. "So twins huh?"

Dawn sighed heavily. "Yeah, it's going to mean a lot more work. You know I was worried about whether Faith and I could cope with one baby, and now with two on the way I'm seriously considering curling up in the fetal position for the next six months, or just hiding in bed, or possibly both."

"In that case what would you think about me sticking around and helping you cope?" Buffy offered tentatively.

Dawn's eyes lit up in delight. "You mean it Buffy, really, that would be so great…but wait what am I saying you can't. I'm sure there's some important Slayer stuff you should be taking care of and that comes first."

"Nah, Giles and Andrew and the other Watchers can do that," Buffy brushed off Dawn's objections. "Besides there are hundreds of other Slayers these days who can take care of the violence. Anyway Giles has been talking about moving the Council's headquarters back to London and I'm not sure I want go or help with the packing and barring any more prophecies or mystical intervention I'll only get this one chance to be an aunt, so I want to take full advantage of it."

Dawn jumped excitedly out of her chair and gave her sister a big hug. "Thank you Buffy, I would love you to stay here and help."

"That's good because I already kind of decided that I would," Buffy answered, hugging her sister back. "Do you think this will go over OK with Faith?"

"I'm sure I can convince her," Dawn nodded. "Is anyone else going to be staying, Xander, Willow?"

"They'll probably hang around here for a while like a couple of big losers," Buffy joked. "Which means Alex and Kennedy will probably be hanging around as well."

"Looks like," Buffy hesitated for a moment, not sure about asking her next question but needing to know Dawn's answer. "So have you given any thought about what you're going to do next?"

"Well I was thinking that I might give birth sometime soon if that's all right with you." Dawn replied, a little confused by what Buffy meant.

"What I mean is what are you going to do about school and stuff," Buffy hurried to explain herself. "You'll finish this year OK but by the time summer's over and first semester begins next year you'll be what, six, seven months along which means that you will probably give birth sometime before mid-terms and, can you see where I'm going with this now?"

"Yeah I see," Dawn said softly. "But I have this habit of panicking and going into a catatonic state whenever I think that far ahead, so I try to avoid it."

"Well I'm here now so there's no more need to panic," Buffy said confidently. "We can sit down together and work our way through all this."

"Oh goody," Dawn said wanly and tried not to let the scream of terror out that was echoing around inside her head.

"And somehow I seem to remember you looking happier after that incident with Miss Kitty and the crossbow," Buffy held her sister close. "I know this is overwhelming for you Dawn but we'll get through this, you and me and Willow and Xander and…Faith, we will get through this together. Now how about you and I go discuss some of it over lunch?"

"I don't know about lunch Buffy, my stomach's feeling kind of rumbly and recently that hasn't been a good sign."

"I don't know," Dawn replied. "It's kind of hard to tell if it's just that or whether it's the paralyzing fear of my impending future."

"Well if you do need to barf, I'm sure wherever we go will have a toilet or something."

Dawn smiled bravely and nodded. "I'm sure you're right." She didn't know why but knowing that Buffy was going to be around for the duration of the pregnancy made her feel a bit safer, more confident, like nothing bad could possibly happen.

Dawn trusted her sister implicitly, more then she trusted anyone, even more then she trusted Faith, maybe it was because she'd grown up knowing her sister was the Slayer, or because technically due to her origins Buffy was more like her mom then her big sister, or maybe it was because Buffy had once sacrificed her own life to save Dawn's, all Dawn knew was that she felt much better now that Buffy was staying and that the future suddenly didn't appear so awesome or terrifying just very difficult.

"OK then, let's go." Buffy linked her arm through Dawn's and led her out through the door.

It was one of those typical late summer days, warm, sunny and full of bright promise, the heat shimmering softly off the pavement. However Buffy was too absorbed in her own thoughts as she slowly made her way over to Dawn and Faith's apartment to notice the beautiful day, besides it didn't quite feel right, the day lacked the dry, baking heat of a Californian summer that she had grown up with and at times still missed.

Except for the Hellmouth, regular apocalypses and dire lack of quality shoe stores Sunnydale hadn't been such a bad place to live, especially climate-wise. Personally she couldn't understand how Dawn could stand living in Boston, it didn't get enough sun, it was too cold and it rained and snowed far too often for her liking.

A few months had passed since the bombshell of Dawn's pregnancy had been dropped, with the added bonus of twins as well, and in the intervening period there had been yet another surprise. When Dawn had announced tat she was having twins everyone had assumed that they would be girls, twin Slayers, but Dawn's ultrasounds had revealed something else, only one of the babies was a girl the other one was a boy.

The girl was most definitely a Slayer, that had already been proven, however the boy was…well nobody knew what he was. He certainly wasn't a Slayer, his Y chromosome ruled that out and where the hell that had come from Buffy didn't know, but Willow had said she sensed something about his essence, something…unusual that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"One shall be born to the Slayer and the Key, and they shall be the hope of the new age." Buffy recited softly under her breath. "Sounds very hippy, age of Aquarius to me. I wonder what it does actually mean, stupid prophecy-writing guys, why couldn't they be more specific."

Giles had eventually tracked the prophecy down to right where Willow had said it would be, in the Codex, however he couldn't really tell them what it meant. The prophecy was apparently very ancient and very obscure, no surprises there, and so far Giles and the Council researchers in London had only been able to find a couple of other references to the prophecy's origins and it's meanings, and none of them had been particularly useful.

All of which meant they were right back at square one concerning the pregnancy, which left everyone feeling a little on edge, including Dawn.

As soon as her thoughts turned to her sister Buffy frowned deeply and walked faster. She was more then a little worried about Dawn's health, the pregnancy seemed to be taking a lot out of her and she often looked drawn and pale these days, lacking her usual energy, though she had seemed to regain some of her bounce when she started showing a noticeable baby bump.

This was the reason why Buffy was on her way over there now, to see how Dawn was coping and if she wanted her help with anything. It wasn't long before Buffy had reached the apartment and she knocked perfunctorily on the door before walking in, instantly regretting her action as she stood just inside the door, shocked at the sight that greeted her eyes.

Dawn was lying on her back on the couch, her head thrown back, her eyes half-lidded with pleasure, an occasional soft moan issuing from her throat as Faith gave her…a foot rub. Buffy couldn't guess which would have been more disturbing, if she'd walked in on her little sister and Faith having sex or in on this more gentle and caring scene.

She had never really thought of Faith being tender with Dawn, she had always imagined Faith as the same person she had known back in the old days, bad, dangerous and obsessed with sex, clearly either Faith had changed at some point or Dawn had some kind of moderating effect on the dark Slayer.

Dawn's eyes opened lazily when she heard the door open and she tilted her head back further to see who was there, smiling as she recognized her sister. "Hey, Buffy."

"It just looks like you two were-," Buffy stopped herself before she conjured up a bad mental image. "It just looks like a bad time."

"Was there a reason why you're here?" Faith halted the foot rub and resting Dawn's feet in her lap.

"No, no reason. I was in the area and stopped by to see how you were and if you needed anything done and I was in the area so I stopped by." Buffy babbled awkwardly.

"Hey," Dawn protested softly, nudging Faith with her bare foot. "The rubbing went away."

"Sorry baby I've, um, got some things I've remembered I need to take care of, so I'm going to head out, give you two some sister time." Faith replied, Dawn mightn't realize the reason behind Buffy's unease but she well understood why her fellow Slayer was looking so uncomfortable, and thought it would probably be easier on everyone if she vacated the premises right now.

"No that's all right Faith, I can come back later." Buffy said hurriedly, edging her way back towards the door.

"Its fine B, really," Faith got up off the couch. "As I said I've got some things that need doing." She leaned forward and gently kissed Dawn goodbye before leaving.

"You weren't interrupting anything," Dawn answered, a small, knowing smile playing across her lips as she finally realized what had been bothering her sister. "She was only giving me a foot rub."

"Uh huh, so are these flowers new because they are super nice." Buffy bent down to sniff the bunch of flowers that were sitting on the table.

Dawn took the less then subtle hint and dropped the subject. "Yes, Faith got them for me this morning, I wasn't feeling so great. So was there a point to why you're here or did you just decide to stop by to get your daily dose of awkwardness."

"No, no point. Like I said I wanted to see how you were, if you needed anything." Buffy eased herself down next to Dawn on the couch.

"You and Faith are both sounding like a broken record lately," Dawn said, sounding clearly frustrated. "She keeps checking up on me all the time and insists on doing every little thing for me. I've tried to tell her that I've only got twins not some horrible, terminal disease but it doesn't seem to have any effect."

"Well I find it good to know that she's taking care of you, and you have to admit that you haven't been very well recently."

"Maybe not," Dawn conceded. "But I can still make a cup of tea for myself without needing the assistance of a Slayer."

"Have you stopped with the vomiting?" Buffy asked, concern writ large on her face.

"Not quite," Dawn admitted reluctantly. "Some days are better then others. However I think I have a genuine complaint here, I had it on good authority that pregnancy was supposed to be this wonderful, natural, glorious event that was supposed to make me feel all connected and glowy and in touch with the cycle of life, and mostly all I've felt is sick and bloated and in touch with the flushing cycle of the nearest toilet."

"I know it's been difficult for you sweetie," Buffy said sympathetically. "But it's different for everyone and considering this isn't a completely natural pregnancy, and you're having twins on top of that, it's not that surprising it's been harder then an average pregnancy."

"I get that, still you'd think they could have made this easier on me," Dawn muttered sullenly. "Because I didn't exactly sign up for this deal, it got thrust upon me, or in me."

"You and Faith look like you're getting on well." Buffy remarked cautiously, hoping a change of topic would make her sister feel better.

Dawn's expression softened. "We have been and she's been great, you know besides the whole over-protective Slayer kick she goes on occasionally."

"Things do make more sense to me now, especially the you and Faith thing, because of the whole prophecy and chosen one deal."

"You did understand the whole deal, right Buffy?" Dawn asked carefully. "How Faith and I were destined to be together, how we were almost literally made for each other and that this is where I'm supposed to be. It isn't all about the prophecy and the twins, we would have been together anyway."

"Yes I did get that, yet I did wonder sometimes about you abruptly switching from being boy-crazy to being Faith-crazy. You have to admit it is more understandable now." Buffy pointed out.

"And she brings you flowers too. I dimly recall that it's nice, when someone does stuff like that for you." Buffy said wistfully.

"It is nice," Dawn could sense the longing in her sister's voice. "And speaking of someone and doing stuff for you, you really should try to get out there more Buffy. I know a couple of great single guys who I'm sure you would like."

Buffy smiled ruefully and shook her head. "Thank you for the offer Dawn, however I don't think I'm so desperate that I need my little sister setting me up on dates. I'm fine by myself for the moment, I don't need anyone and I don't need people feeling sorry for me either."

"It just seems that everyone has someone except for you," Dawn continued, ignoring her sister's comments. "I mean I have Faith, Willow has Kennedy, Xander has Alex, even Giles apparently has a girlfriend now in London and you deserve to be with someone fantastic Buffy, I don't like seeing you all alone."

"Giles has a girlfriend," Buffy exclaimed incredulously. "I don't know whether to be happy for him or seriously grossed out."

"So who is this girlfriend, and why hasn't he told me about her?" Buffy asked, a little put out that Giles hadn't bothered to let her know what was going on with him.

"She's an old friend of his I think, and a mother of one of the British Slayers. And he probably hasn't told you yet because he's not sure how you'll react, your approval is very important to him you know," Dawn replied. "And did you hear anything else I said, besides the bit about Giles?"

"Yes I did, and I was actually trying to avoid the subject," Buffy sighed heavily. "Look it's good to know that you care Dawn, but really I'm OK. Besides right now I have a very pregnant sister to concern myself with and I'll soon have a bouncing baby niece and nephew to worry about as well. I have enough to deal with at the moment without adding a new boyfriend to it."

"Fine, fine, forget I said anything," Dawn said airily. "Though don't blame me when you end up as an old lady that can only live with cats."

"I think I'm a few years away from that fate Dawn," Buffy said dryly. "And I didn't say never ever to dating, just not right now."

"If you really want something to do right now, I do feel a sudden need for a sandwich." Dawn suggested.

"I thought you said you didn't like it when other people do everything for you?"

Dawn shrugged lazily. "There are some advantages to being waited on hand-and-foot," she stretched herself out on the couch as Buffy got up and walked over to the kitchen. "Peanut butter and salami if you please."

"You know if anyone else had asked me for that I would've said they were suffering from pregnancy cravings." Buffy commented as she began making the requested sandwich.

"It's not that bad, although speaking of cravings I have been eating a combination of corn chips and ketchup lately."

"Corn chips and ketchup?" Buffy stopped what she was doing and stared at her sister. "That's weird even for you."

"That's what Faith said but I like it, it's crunchy and salty and sweet all at once." Dawn said happily. "And more peanut butter."

"I hope you're not using this pregnancy as an excuse to load up on junk food Dawnie." Buffy gently reproached her as she delivered the promised food.

"Faith and that Council doctor won't let me," Dawn replied through a mouth full of sandwich. "I said that technically since I'm eating for three now I should be able to eat almost anything, but apparently it doesn't work like that."

Buffy kept a watchful eye on her sister as Dawn devoured her sandwich, it was good to see her sitting up and talking and eating almost like normal, though she did still look worn out and even paler then usual. For some reason that Buffy had never understood Dawn had always lacked the ability to get a tan, even when they had lived in California.

At times Buffy wished she could do more to help Dawn with her pregnancy, whenever she saw Dawn struggling badly with something in her life or finding things difficult she felt an urge to guide her through it, or better yet take over for her. Except in this case it was kind of physically impossible for her to take over, so all she could do was to be there for Dawn, support her through it and help her sister out as much as possible until it was all over.

"Well there is that pile of DVD's on the floor I've been meaning to watch. It would be nice to have someone around to watch them with." Dawn said meaningfully.

"Movie-watching huh, I think I can manage that one." Buffy knelt down beside the pile and put the first DVD into the player then settled in on the couch for a long, hard day of keeping her sister company.

"And there's also the matter of a foot rub that didn't get finished," Dawn suggested hopefully, Buffy just looked at her. "I thought that might be pushing it." Dawn mumbled softly, resting her head on her sister's shoulder and turning her attention back to the TV as the movie began.

The Slayer moved with fluid grace, effortlessly working her way through the familiar fighting moves. Her sword flashed through the air, her long blonde hair flying around her in a halo until she stopped suddenly, the sword held perfectly still out in front of her level with her chest as if it were somehow an extension of her arm and not a separate object.

She slowly lowered the sword and relaxed back into a more comfortable position, mopping at the few beads of perspiration on her brow. The training room was completely empty except for her and that was the way she liked it, she couldn't stand all the chatter and noise of a room full of a bunch of, ill-trained, incompetent girls, it made her want to run a sword through someone's chest, or preferably several someone's. She couldn't understand how anyone could stand it let alone want it, much better the quiet and solitude of moments like this.

She turned to leave but stopped when she spied a darkened figure standing in the doorway.

"I think you'll find that weapons like that are useless against me, what with me being incorporeal and all." The First commented mildly.

"I know I've suggested this before, but could you use something to announce your presence instead of just popping up like that out of thin air, you scared the life out of me." The Slayer said bitterly, lowering her sword back down again.

"I thought you could sense me without any kind of announcement?" The First asked casually.

"I can, it'd still be nice to know when you're around though," the Slayer hung up her sword in a rack full of similar weapons, making sure to separate it slightly from the others so she would know which one was 'hers'. "Speaking of which, isn't it a bit dangerous you showing up here, someone could see you and blow the whole secrecy thing."

"No-one can see me unless I wish it," The First told her. "So if someone else were here all they would see is you talking to yourself and would probably come to the conclusion that you were insane, something I'm surprised no-one has figured out yet."

The Slayer glared at It icily. "Was there a purpose behind this visit or did you only come here to insult me?"

"I see I've struck a nerve and if that's so I apologize, I didn't mean that I think you're insane, only that others would judge you as such. Personally I think you're far saner then most humans, but whether that's a good thing or not I guess is up to you to decide," The First shrugged nonchalantly, not really caring if the Slayer was annoyed by Its comment or not. "And yes there was a reason for this visit. I need your assistance with something…" The First proceeded to outline its plan and then waited patiently for the Slayer's response.

"Let me get this straight, basically you want my help to kidnap Dawn for you?" the Slayer asked slowly.

"I have been waiting for an opportune time and for some of her friends to leave this city, especially the witch, as it would make seizing her and killing her far easier," The First explained coldly. "However soon it will be too late to do anything, so we must act now."

"All right then, why don't you get some of your eyeless guys to snatch her for you, why does it have to be me?" the young woman asked.

"Because she won't suspect you and will therefore let you get close enough to grab her," The First explained further. "And I want the least signs of disturbance as possible, I want it to look like she's just disappeared off the face of the earth. Hopefully this will give me enough time to deal with her before Buffy and the super-friends can interfere."

The Slayer shook her head. "No I don't mean that, I want something else on top of our other deal."

The First hesitated, It didn't want this Slayer growing too confident of her role in their relationship, thinking that It needed the Slayer more then she needed It, but It also didn't want to alienate her and lose a potentially powerful ally. "What is it you want?" The First asked warily.

The Slayer remained silent for a few moments. "The life of the original Slayer." She said finally.

"You want to kill Buffy?" The First thought on this for a while. "No, it's not time for her yet, I want her to suffer some more. However I will let you take Faith, if you can."

The Slayer indicated her agreement. "OK fair enough, and I wouldn't worry I can take her. Can I ask you something about Dawn's pregnancy?"

"Which one of Dawn's twins is the threat to you, the so-called chosen one, or is it both of them?"

"Dawn is going to give birth to twins, at least that's what she told us," the Slayer could see the confusion on The First's face and realized what it meant. "You didn't know about that did you?"

"No I didn't," The First mused thoughtfully. "That's…interesting, it has possibilities."

"If I'm going to grab her without a struggle she'll need to be alone," the Slayer explained. "And that's going to be hard since she's normally surrounded by a whole mess of people or at the very least by her sister or Faith."

Dawn glanced anxiously at the front door for about the one-hundredth time that night, considering her current condition and The First's recent threats towards her she was more then a little nervous about being home alone at the moment and she would feel much safer when Faith got back from wherever she was.

Buffy had left soon after their movie-fest had ended over an hour ago, although she had tried to insist on staying with Dawn at least until Faith had come home and Dawn had been just as insistent that she could take care of herself and that Faith would be home soon.

She was beginning to think now that maybe she shouldn't have been so insistent and that Buffy should have stayed for just a little bit longer.

"Come on Faith, where are you?" Dawn whispered to herself, restlessly moving off the couch and over to the window.

She gazed listlessly down at the street below and was surprised to see Faith standing there, alone under a streetlight on the opposite side of the road. Faith looked up, saw her and smiled, beckoning Dawn to come down and join her.

Dawn didn't know why Faith wanted her to go down there but she eventually decided that she better go see what her girlfriend wanted. "This had better be something important." Dawn muttered ominously as she made her way out of the apartment.

She hurried down to street-level and then carefully crossed over the road to where Faith was standing.

"Don't hey baby me Faith," Dawn answered frostily. "Where the hell have you been I've been worried sick and what are you doing down here, why didn't you come up to the apartment?"

"I got delayed by things of the demonic variety and they were carrying something I thought you might be interested in. Come on I'll show you." Faith turned away and walked into a nearby alleyway without even checking to see if Dawn was following her.

"Faith, where are you going?" Dawn cried angrily. "Oh you are so going to get it tonight missy."

Dawn marched into the alley, determined to tear a strip or two off Faith's perfectly-shaped butt, but stopped when she realized it was empty except for her and that she couldn't see Faith anywhere. "Faith, where did you go?"

Dawn began getting a bad feeling about the situation when there was no response and she slowly started inching her way back towards the entrance. As she turned to leave Dawn bumped into a figure that had been standing directly behind her and jumped in fright, her heart thumping away inside her chest.

"Faith what-. Oh, Jane I didn't see you there, what are you doing there?" Dawn asked, startled by the Slayer's unexpected appearance.

"I was out on patrol, heard your voice," Jane said casually. "Is Faith around here too?"

"Yes. No. I don't know, I thought I saw her before but now I can't seem to find her…" Dawn trailed off vaguely.

"Oh I see now, that's how It was going to get you out here all by yourself. That's pretty damn clever." Jane laughed hollowly, the sound lacking any trace of humor.

"What are you talking about? What's going on?" Dawn asked suspiciously. "And why are you on patrol there wasn't any tonight and if you are where's the rest of your squad?"

"Yeah I guess in retrospect that probably wasn't the best cover story to use was it," Jane shrugged carelessly. "Oh well it didn't really matter what I said, you're not going to be around much longer anyway." A fist lashed out and Dawn crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"You know that wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be, she hardly even put up a fight. I feel sort of cheap." Jane commented as Faith walked up beside her.

"If you want you can watch as I have her tortured and killed." The First suggested casually.

"No that's OK, I'll be having some of my own kind of fun soon," Jane stared at The First, taking in Its form slowly. "You know I've heard that Buffy's died before but I never knew that Faith had too."

"Nobody does, that's what makes this shape so perfect," They watched as a couple of Bringers gathered up Dawn's limp body. "She died almost a year ago, far from here on the other side of the globe. It was only for a brief moment but that's all I need."

"So where can I find the real one?" Jane demanded impatiently, her body was screaming out for some kind of violent action and the one punch she'd used to floor Dawn hadn't come anywhere near to satisfying her, only whetting her appetite for something more.

"I don't know exactly, I had a couple of demons waylay her at the nearby school to make sure she wasn't here. You should probably start tracking her from there," Jane span around and ran off without answering. "Good hunting." The First called out after her and then turned back to Dawn.

"You really are so cute when you're asleep," The First whispered softly, running a finger alongside Dawn's cheek. "However I can't wait until you wake up, because I think you'll be even cuter when you scream."

The First straightened up and gestured to one of the Bringers. "Take her to my cave, the one where I'm keeping the others." It ordered curtly. The Bringer bowed and left, The First following in its wake. None of them thought to look down to where a small, gold necklace lay on the ground near to where Dawn had fallen.

Buffy halted in the tricky process of untangling a knot in her hair to yawn and stretch languidly, she was surprised how worn out she felt considering all she'd done all day was sit around and watch movies with Dawn.

'Maybe it's my old age catching up with me.' Buffy thought wryly, and then surreptitiously began checking her reflection in the mirror for wrinkles or any other obvious signs of aging.

A frantic knocking at the door pulled her out of her inspection and she frowned, wondering who on earth would be pounding at her door in such a way and at such a late hour.

Buffy hurried from the bathroom and through the shabbily furnished rooms to the front door, the only reason she was staying in such low-rent accommodation was because it was close to Dawn and the rest of the guys, and according to Giles it was good for the Council's balance sheet, although as far as she knew the Council had so much money it probably wouldn't have made that much of a dent in the finances if everyone had been staying at a five-star hotel.

"All right, all right. I'm coming, I'm coming, there's no need to try to invade. Not that you would really want to anyway." Buffy muttered testily, opening the door to reveal an extremely distraught Faith standing on her doorstep.

"B, is Dawn here?" Faith immediately demanded, fear and worry etched onto her face.

"No she isn't here, why would she be here?" Buffy asked uneasily, Faith's appearance and behavior instantly causing her to worry.

"Because she isn't at home or anywhere else and I can't find her." Faith barged her way past Buffy and began pacing around the room.

"What do you mean she isn't at home, where is she?" Buffy asked, growing increasingly alarmed.

"If you haven't noticed B I don't know, that's why I'm here." Faith answered, the desperation evident in her voice.

"Don't tell me to calm down," Faith shouted hysterically. "The woman I love is gone and in case you've forgotten the biggest, baddest evil in the world apparently wants her dead because of some stupid prophecy, so I think I have a genuine right to panic."

"OK, OK I get it Faith you're worried, but I do have some experience with a disappearing Dawn. Now have you checked all of her usual haunts?"

"Only the ones she's visited recently. She hasn't been going out a lot, because of the pregnancy."

"I don't know," Faith said helplessly. "It's not like I can magically know where she is."

"You mightn't," Buffy looked over and caught Faith's eye. "But I know someone who will."

A short while later they were in Dawn and Faith's apartment along with Willow, Xander, Kennedy and Alex, all of whom had volunteered to help find Dawn.

"There's nothing here that can give us a clue to Dawn's whereabouts." Buffy remarked after taking a cursory look around the place.

"I told you that already." Faith said impatiently, her foot tapping an incessant rhythm on the floor.

Faith's obvious and ongoing anguish at Dawn's disappearance was driving home to Buffy just how much Faith really cared about her little sister. "There are also no signs of a disturbance or struggle or blood so she could be fine, just not fine here." Buffy tried to sound reassuring.

"Yeah or maybe something grabbed her so fast she couldn't do anything about it and then it's carried her somewhere else to finish her off." Faith muttered as she resumed her pacing routine.

"Sorry B, but I hate this standing around doing nothing," Faith apologized. "I need to be out there doing something, looking for her."

"I know how you feel, however Willow's locater spell is a lot quicker and usually more accurate." Buffy glanced over at where Willow and Kennedy sat cross-legged on the floor, a map of Boston spread out between them.

"You know I don't like doing this stuff." Kennedy whispered nervously, shifting around in her seat.

"You're not actually going to be doing any of the magic sweetie, you're only acting as a secondary to help me focus," Willow said calmly, keeping her eyes closed. "Now are you ready?"

"Here we go then." Willow concentrated for a moment and then her and Kennedy blew the powder they held in their hands onto the map. The powder mixed together, creating a blue haze over the piece of paper, a small glowing light flaring into life in the haze.

Everyone else hurried over and peered expectantly at the glowing light. "Anyone know where that is?" Buffy asked.

The light had continued to build and soon it had grown so intense everyone in the room had to shield their eyes from it. "Willow what's going on?" Buffy asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Willow replied. "It's like some other power has taken over the spell."

All of a sudden the light burst into flame and quickly reduced the entire map to ashes, leaving blackened scorch marks on the carpet.

"Something powerful was blocking the spell, to shield themselves or Dawn from me," Willow answered, meeting Buffy's glare steadily. "And I'll give you one guess as to who or what was doing the blocking."

"Well that was a complete and utter waste of time." Faith stalked over to her weapons chest and took out her favorite knife.

"Hold on Faith," Buffy said quickly, trying to talk her out of leaving. "We can do something else, figure out what's going on."

"Screw that B, I tried doing it your way and it didn't work, now I'm going to do it mine." Faith ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

"Damn it," Buffy sighed wearily. "I hope she's OK out there, I don't think Dawnie would ever forgive me if something happened to her. The rest of us need to find Dawn and we need to find her fast."

Faith stormed angrily out of the apartment building, its front door crashing shut in her wake, the sound echoing loudly around the empty street.

She knew that her going out alone to search for Dawn was probably pointless and she already regretted her heated outburst back at the apartment but she couldn't spend another minute sitting around waiting for someone else to come up with a plan or do the right research, it simply wasn't a part of her nature. She was action girl; serious thinking and patience weren't in her makeup.

'Dawn, where are you?' Faith headed across the street and tried not to think too hard about the missing woman, because if she did she would inevitably break down and once she started with the crying she mightn't be able to stop, and there wasn't time for that, not with Dawn still missing.

Faith furiously dashed the few stubborn tears that had insisted on welling up out of her eyes, she didn't know what she would do if anything had happened to Dawn, if she was hurt or dead. Dawn was her whole world, her everything, the only person who had ever loved her openly and unwaveringly in her entire life, if she was gone Faith wasn't sure that she could go on alone.

She walked blindly down an alleyway, not sure of where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there, when a glint of something metallic amongst the general litter on the ground caught her eye.

Faith knelt down and sorted through the rubbish, eventually finding a small, expensive-looking gold necklace that someone must have unknowingly dropped on the ground. She turned it over and over in her hands and suddenly it hit her where she had seen it before. The necklace had been a present she had given Dawn last Christmas and Dawn had been so thrilled by it she had rarely taken it off ever since, if Dawn had lost it at some point Faith would have heard about it by now.

That meant that something must have happened to Dawn in the alley, and it didn't take a huge leap to conclude that what had happened wasn't good.

Faith stood up resolutely, determination swiftly replacing the grief on her face, and stuffed the necklace into a pocket. She began moving purposefully back along the alley, the necklace was definitely a clue and something that Buffy and co. needed to see right away, but her progress was halted when she heard someone shout out her name.

"Good guess but no," came the reply from the tall, athletic figure that had stepped into view. "Unfortunately you just missed her."

"Oh, um, Jane is it?" Faith racked her brain to come up with the other Slayer's name. "Sorry if I haven't got that right, I haven't seen you at many meetings."

"I'm not much of a people person, prefer to do things my own way," Jane moved casually towards Faith, her eyes scanning the rest of the alley to check that they were alone. "If I'd known this was where I was going to catch up with you I would've just waited here for you, instead of wasting my time tracking you half-way around town."

"Tracking me, why would you- say you wouldn't have seen Dawn at all recently, like in the last couple of hours?" Faith inched backwards slowly, trying to stay between Jane and the alley's entrance. Something about all this didn't feel quite right to her and she wanted to keep an escape route open in case there was a need for it.

"Yeah I did, the boss picked her up here a little while ago, don't know where It took her though."

"The boss?" Faith's blood turned to ice when she understood what Jane meant. "You're talking about The First aren't you?"

"No thanks, I don't smoke anymore. Why are you working for The First?" Faith slid one of her hands onto the handle of her knife.

Jane shrugged carelessly. "Why wouldn't I, its fun. I got bored of the whole good girl, superhero act. I wanted to do something more…interesting."

"Those kind of things yeah," Jane stared through Faith, into the distance. "I've done a lot of stuff in my time but there's nothing quite like the rush of taking an innocent human life, the way it feels, the way it gets the blood pumping, no drug can ever give you that much of a high."

"I used to think that too, once, it's nothing but a lie Jane." Faith reasoned carefully, hoping that if she could reach Jane somehow maybe she could talk her down or at least discover a hint to Dawn's location somewhere along the way. "If you think that it'll only lead you down into darkness and if you go too far that way you may never be able to come back out again. I can help you, if you'll let me, I can show you the right way out."

Jane's eyes met Faith's and the dark Slayer felt her stomach drop, there was absolutely nothing in there, literally nothing, no feeling, no warmth, no spark of humanity, her gaze was completely empty and hard and one of the most terrifying things that Faith had ever seen in her life, and she had seen a hell of a lot.

"That's right, I forgot you used to be free like me, before you turned back into one of the goody good guys. Living without rules, without restrictions, nobody telling you what to do or when to do it, why would you want to give that up and more importantly why should I?" Jane asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Because it's wrong," Faith answered simply. "I know I'm not the greatest spokesperson for doing the right thing and sticking to the rules considering I still kinda think most rules suck, but you do need them, otherwise all you'll end up with is chaos."

"And why should I obey the rules, I'm a Slayer I'm above them, they don't apply to me."

"You might be a Slayer Jane, but you're still human, you still live most of your life in the human world and you should play by it's rules," Faith withdrew her knife and took up a defensive stance, it was obvious to her that Jane wasn't going to be convinced by anything she was going to say, which meant this was going to have to be resolved by something other then words. "Now are you going to tell me what you know about Dawn or are we going to have do this the hard way?"

Jane's lips twitched with amusement. "Scary," she reached behind her and drew a sword from the sheath strapped to her back, then fell into a stance similar to Faith's. "Scarier. You know I don't understand why you're so willing to get yourself killed over that little slut of a girlfriend of yours anyway, personally I think the whole love thing's completely overrated."

Faith eyed Jane's sword uneasily, taking on another Slayer was going to be difficult enough without also being at a disadvantage when it came to weaponry. "I really thought that I could help you Jane, that we had something in common, however there's something that I didn't take into account, you're a complete psycho. I mean I know I wasn't exactly Little Miss Sanity when I went over to the dark side but compared to you I was almost normal."

Jane's smile got wider. "I was actually a little disappointed when The First told me I couldn't take Buffy's life, but suddenly I think that killing you instead is going to be a lot more enjoyable."

"Don't be so sure of that," Faith warned softly. "And what's with the wanting to kill me and Buffy so bad, what have we ever done to you?"

Jane's expression abruptly changed, her face twisting into a look full of hatred and disgust. "Because it's your fault," she rasped harshly. "There's only supposed to be one Slayer, not two or two thousand, you didn't ask the rest of us if we wanted this, you just thrust it upon us and left us to deal with the fallout. You've perverted the Slayer line, desecrated it, defiled it, it needs to be cleansed, purified and restored to what it once was."

"And let me guess, after this cleansing is over and the dust has settled you'll be the last Slayer standing?" Faith circled warily around her opponent, the idea of a big smack-down in the restricted space of the alley didn't much appeal to her, she usually preferred fighting in more open spaces but she doubted that any suggestion for a change of venue would be well received.

"The last Slayer left standing will be the strongest, the one most worthy," Jane told her, mirroring Faith's movements. "And with The First's help that will be me. I will be the one found most worthy and I will be The Slayer, the one and only, the way things should be."

"And what about The First, you think after all the other Slayers are dead it will just leave you alone?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," Jane replied, stopping her circling. "Now I don't know about you Faith, but I'm starting to get tired of all this talking, so why don't we get into the good stuff."

Before Faith could reply Jane launched herself, her sword swinging in a deadly arc, and Faith found herself hard-pressed by the other Slayer's relentless attacks, instead of the evenly-matched contest she had been expecting she was soon fighting grimly simply to survive.

Attempting to parry a sword thrust with a knife, no matter the quality of the knife, was nigh on impossible to say the least and so Faith spent most of her time dodging around Jane's sword, rarely getting the opportunity to get close enough to make use of her knife. Unfortunately Jane was proving far too canny and skilled an opponent to allow something like that to happen and Faith's worst fears about fighting in the alley had been confirmed as its close confines were severely limiting her mobility, giving Jane yet another advantage over her.

Jane took a break from her remorseless attacks and surveyed her adversary's condition, noting with pleasure Faith's heavy breathing and the blood trickling from several wounds, especially from a deep slash across the top of her chest that caused the rivulet of sweat running down between her breasts to be stained a deep red.

"You're not doing very well are you?" Jane commented offhand as she looked Faith up and down. "I had hoped you were going to provide me with a decent challenge, after all you are supposed to be one of the most deadly Slayers around, a vicious and ruthless fighter. I guess you must've gotten soft in your old age."

Faith glared at her dully, using the pause in proceedings to regain some of her breath back. "All I need is one chance, anyway this isn't exactly a fair fight considering all I've got is a knife."

Jane considered her sword thoughtfully, weighing up Faith's remark. "Huh, I suppose you've got a point there, though it's not exactly my fault you only brought that knife along with you," she calmly tossed the sword aside and smiled hungrily at Faith. "So let's see how well you do now."

Faith didn't hesitate and furiously went after the girl, Jane calmly and easily evading her attack before landing a punch of her own that slammed into Faith and sent her flying into a wall.

Faith climbed unsteadily and painfully back onto her feet and slowly moved towards Jane, this time taking a more cautious and respectful approach to her opponent and for a while it seemed to work, Jane retreated a couple of paces and her knife flashed past Jane's neck, barely missing it by an inch or two. However her success was short-lived and soon another punch from Jane had a similar result to the first, sending her crashing back against the wall with a sickening thud.

Faith lay on the ground gasping desperately for air, the pain from her various wounds shuddering through her body. She couldn't understand how this was happening, how Jane was so much stronger and faster then her. After all she was like her, another Slayer, it didn't make any sense.

Jane stood over the fallen Slayer, shaking her head sorrowfully. "Wow this has been one major kicking of your arse hasn't it Faith, and I can guess what you're probably thinking right now. How can this be possible, how can I be so much better then you? Well you can thank The First for that, It shared some of Its strength, Its power with me and now I'm so much more then just a Slayer. I'm pretty much invincible and your beaten and bloody body will be ample evidence of that."

All of this sounded familiar to Faith and she vaguely remembered something Buffy had told her about that crazy preacher guy, Caleb, they had fought back before Sunnydale had gone from being an outie to an innie, how he had gained strength by merging his essence with The First or something like that. Now there was a Slayer who could do something similar and the implications of that were, well, frightening. Faith knew that she needed to live through this and tell Buffy about it, to warn her that there might be other Slayers around who could do the same thing.

But lying around here thinking about it wasn't going to help anybody, which meant she had to either put this bitch in the ground right now or at least get away from her and back to the apartment across the road. Faith gathered her strength and lashed out with a foot, hoping to catch Jane unawares, instead Jane caught her foot, twisting it around to inspect it.

"Hey those are some really nice shoes, I don't think they'd fit me though." She smoothly lifted Faith off the ground via her foot and span around a couple of time before letting go and tossing her up against the unyielding brick. Faith heard the unmistakable crack of something breaking inside her and cried out, the pain blinding, and felt her knife slip from her nerveless fingers.

Jane walked back to her sword, picking it up off the ground and then returning to where Faith lay. "Well it's been nice knowing you Faith and this fight was great, for me anyway, so much better then the one with your girlfriend," Jane worked a foot under Faith's limp body and rolled her over onto her back. "However I really think it's time you left." Jane raised the sword high over the helpless Faith and then thrust it down towards her unprotected chest.

Faith blurrily saw it coming and instinctively did the only thing she could, catching it in her bare hand. The sword's point stopped scant millimeters above her, the razor sharp edge of the blade cutting deeply into her hand and ripping another agonized cry of pain from Faith's throat.

"Hey, nice catch." Jane grinned gleefully, savoring the sounds of Faith's suffering. She twisted the sword still held within the Slayer's grip and ground it in further until it grated up against bone.

Faith whimpered softly and gritted her teeth against the excruciating pain from her hand as she scrabbled around desperately for her lost knife. She could feel things gradually fading away from her, disappearing into nothing, into black, and then just at that moment her hand bumped up against something hard and she found herself grasping the handle of her knife.

The world came back into focus for that split second and with the last of her strength Faith jerked the sword out of her way and surged upwards, burying the knife deep into Jane's chest.

Jane's mocking grin gradually changed to a puzzled frown as she looked down at the knife impaled through her heart. "No, no that's not right, that's not how-" Jane's voice faded into nothing and she collapsed to the ground, wrenching the sword out of Faith's hand.

Faith screamed in agony and almost blacked out, barely managing to hold onto the thin thread keeping her conscious. The amount of blood pumping from the gaping wound in her hand caught her attention and she quickly pressed her other hand over it, trying to apply some pressure and stem the stream of blood. Faith was damned if she was going to bleed to death in this alley and give that bitch Jane the satisfaction of taking her with her.

Faith glanced over at the cooling body of the now ex-Slayer and an idea slowly formed in her mind, crawling over she began frantically tearing strips from the other girl's clothes and wrapping her hand in them, pressing down until the flow of blood started slowing.

She didn't know how long she sat there, it could have been minutes it could have been days, staring at her hand and collecting herself for the effort of moving. Eventually she raised herself up off the ground and stood up, barely managing to stay upright, staggering and teetering on the edge of falling but somehow not quite managing to, and painfully made her way towards the beckoning square of light at the entrance to the alley.

Faith was almost halfway there when Jane suddenly appeared in front of her, causing her to draw up sharply. She looked back at the body lying on the ground and at the shape standing in front of her and her eyes narrowed in recognition. "Your girl's dead."

"Well obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be able to wear this form," The First said mildly. "This is most upsetting, Jane was very useful to me and important to my future plans. Oh well there are always others I can use, there always is."

"You mean your little girlfriend, she's with me," The First told her, stepping in close. "Don't worry Faith, I'll take good care of her, trust me."

"You'll what, ineffectually throw a punch at me," The First taunted her. "You can't hurt me and you know it, but I have others who serve me who can hurt you and your girl. When I'm finished I'll send you a piece of Dawn, as a token of my affection."

And then Faith was all alone in the alley, a gentle breeze blowing up against her and rustling her clothes. She swallowed down her anger and frustration and started determinedly moving forward again. There was absolutely no chance of her giving up now, if Dawn had actually been dead The First would have taken great pleasure in telling her so not just hinted at it and as long as Dawn was still alive Faith was going to search for her, even if it meant she had to search the entire globe, even if it killed her.

Dawn's eyes blinked open and she groaned softly as consciousness came flooding back to her, she tried to move but found herself restricted by the chains and leather straps that bound her to the hard, stone wall of what looked depressingly like a cave, her arms were securely held above her head at the wrists and her legs were similarly confined at the ankles.

She looked around her prison to see if she could recognize anything, yet as far as her eye could see there were only bare stone walls, dripping water and darkness, none of which looked particularly familiar or was of any sort of comfort to her.

Dawn struggled fruitlessly to free herself of her restraints but found there was no give in the chains and any kind of movement was severely limited. After a while she eventually gave up, her only achievement was adding a number of new scrapes and bruises to her already impressive collection.

She hung there and did the only thing she could, she thought hard about her current predicament and how she could possibly get out of it, rapidly coming to the rather bleak conclusion that she was screwed.

The one thing that really bugged her was that Jane, one of her Slayers, had been involved in all this. She had always attempted to be friendly and supportive to all the Slayers under her guidance and she had thought that they had all liked and respected her in turn, though in retrospect she had often wondered about Jane's behavior. She was a bit different, distant, she had never really participated in any of the group activities or discussions, instead always hanging at the back of things looking sullen and bored and with hindsight her frequent absences were more then a bit suspicious, I mean how often can one person be sick, especially a Slayer.

And Jane wouldn't exactly be the first Slayer to turn rogue, there had been several cases of it in the past and since the recent activation of a couple of thousand new Slayers there had been a few more recent cases as well, and of course then there was Faith, the old Faith, the bad Faith-

'Wait a second,' Dawn stopped, the image of Faith in the alley sticking in her mind. 'Faith, Faith was there, before Jane knocked me out. So does that mean…no, no, I won't believe that, if Faith had gone bad again I would know. So if it wasn't Faith then it must have been some kind of shape-shifting demon or something that could look like Faith...'

Dawn's thoughts screeched to a horrified halt as it hit her, she knew of a creature that could take any form it wished, as long as they were dead, and would very much like to harm her, The First. And if The First could take Faith's form then that would mean… "Oh God no." Dawn whispered, shaking her head in denial. No, Faith couldn't be dead, she couldn't be dead, she would know if something like that had happened to her, wouldn't she?

Dawn flattened herself up against the hard barrier behind her. "You're not her." She stated firmly.

"Aren't I? That's actually a debatable point 'cause I have all of her memories. I can remember all of her thoughts, all of her experiences," The First sauntered up to where Dawn hung and smiled at her seductively. "I can remember how you taste, what you feel like underneath me, what you sound like when we're making love-"

"You know what I can't believe," The First continued, ignoring Dawn's outburst. "All of the things we've done together and yet we've never tried chains. I mean I know we've done the handcuff thing but you look so hot hanging there like that, all innocent and helpless."

"Would I be able to wear this form if she was?" The First span around in a circle as if It were showing off a new outfit. "It's a pity she didn't die before now, this form is just so… powerful and sultry and dangerous. I could have a lot of fun with this."

Dawn managed to hold back her tears, she didn't know whether to believe what The First was saying but she refused to allow It the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "What do you want with me?" She asked, her voice raspy with unshed tears.

"You don't matter to me Dawnie, it's those things you're carrying inside you," The First gestured at her heavily pregnant belly. "It's hard to imagine that something that small could pose any kind of threat to a being like me, and who knows maybe they don't, maybe they are completely harmless. However there is that pesky matter of a certain prophecy that says they will be so I guess I'm just going to have to eliminate them anyway, to be on the safe side."

"And how are you going to do that, bore me to death?" Dawn challenged It, her voice shaking a little.

"Actually I was thinking of maiming and torturing you, but that's a good second option," a pair of Bringers stepped out from amongst the shadows and stood alongside The First, brandishing their obligatory long, curved knives. "Stick around cutie, we're going to have some wicked fun."

Dawn watched helplessly, seething with impotent rage and fear, as one of the Bringers stepped forward and held its knife level with her stomach. "Now I'm not big on the physical development of your worthless species so I don't know if your babies have developed far enough along to survive outside on their own Dawnie, but I'm kind of interested in finding out." The First gestured at the Bringer who thrust its knife savagely forward.

Dawn braced herself for the inevitable pain of the impending impact, yet when it didn't arrive she glanced apprehensively down and saw a green barrier flaring brightly between her stomach and the ominously sharp point of the Bringers knife. The Bringer strained against the barrier in silence as it attempted to push its knife in further, the only indication of its effort was the hard bunching of the muscles on its arms.

"Stop," The First commanded, the Bringer obeyed instantly and stood back from Dawn. "Isn't that interesting, someone's protecting your whelps from harm. Though I wonder if they're protecting the mother as well, slit her throat."

The Bringer slashed its knife viciously at Dawn's throat but once again the barrier flared into life, the blade's point quivering a little too close for comfort to her body.

"Now this is unexpected," The First made Its way slowly towards her, the Bringer stepping deferentially aside. "You had your little red-headed witch cook you up a warding spell didn't you Dawnie? If you think that's going to be enough to stop me, you're sadly mistaken."

The First closed Its eyes and ran Its hands along an invisible barrier in front of Dawn, a puzzled frown gradually forming on Its face.

"No, it's not a spell as such," It muttered vaguely, opening Its eyes and staring intently at Dawn. "And it's not from the witch either, you're doing this. Well maybe not you exactly, though it is something linked to you and to your brats."

"It doesn't matter anyway," The First dismissed the problem with a wave of Its hand. "Whatever's protecting you, it may be powerful but it's not as powerful as me, I will break it down eventually. And in the meantime it gives us some time to talk, woman to woman."

"Not technically no, though I can be any woman I want," The First's form changed almost too fast for Dawn to follow from Faith to Buffy, to her mom, Tara, Anya, and other women and girls she didn't recognize, before finally settling back on Faith. "And in some ways that makes me more of a woman then you or anyone else could ever be."

The First laughed, a harsh, grating, unpleasant noise without a trace of warmth. "You always have been feisty, ever since you were created…what is it six years ago now? The twenty-year-old who is actually only six, and you're calling me a freak." The First said mockingly.

"Ah yes humanity, that thing which your species places such great store in, that thing that supposedly separates you from the animals and demons," The First sighed. "I really don't understand what you revere so much, all those feelings and emotions, they make you weak. So weak that in order to fight demons you needed to create a warrior from a demon, the Slayer."

"If humans are so weak, how come you haven't wiped us off the face of the planet yet?"

The First didn't answer right away instead It walked away and stared silently off into the distance. "Because I wasn't permitted to, and there are other beings out there, beings almost as powerful as me, determined to maintain the balance between good and evil and protect your pathetic species," The First focused Its attention back on Dawn. "And now there's you, one weak, powerless human being threatening my designs. When I first discovered the prophecy involving you and the Slayer I assumed that nullifying the Slayer would give me the most trouble. As it turned out she was so exceptionally susceptible to my influence, so easily turned to evil that I really didn't have to worry about her. Then there was her coma and jail and your intense dislike of each other, I thought that was the end of things."

"Well that was a mistake, maybe you're not as great as you think you are." Dawn said icily.

"I may be powerful but I'm not omnipotent or omniscient, at least not yet anyway," The First grinned wickedly. "That kind of thing is reserved for the gods, although in my experience gods are highly over-rated."

"What do you mean?" Dawn couldn't help asking, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"After you were made human a Hellgod came after you, tried to use the Key to open a portal home, name of Glory remember?" Dawn nodded that she did, she couldn't forget that even if she wanted to. "I had hoped she would eliminate you for me and destroy the prophecy without me needing to lift a finger. I mean a Hellgod against a lowly human, even a human with a Slayer as an overprotective sister, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how that's going to end. However I didn't factor in the limits this reality would place on her, so I actually took the time and told Glory that you were the Key, I handed you to her on a plate. Unfortunately she didn't believe me, she didn't understand what I was and thought I was some kind of hallucination or ghost, and we both know how all of that ended."

"And after all that happened those meddling Guardians had to go and interfere and resurrect the prophecy," The First glared at Dawn, warning her against any further comments. "All because I destroyed their precious balance, I am really going to have to repay them for that sometime, with something nice and violent and painful."

"This has been a really nice trip down memory lane, but was there an actual reason for it?"

"You're right, this has been a nice chat," all of a sudden The First was standing right in front of her. "And the reason behind it, Dawnie, was that it gave me enough time to discover how I can deal with that annoying barrier that's guarding you and I can now get rid of both it and you." The First raised Its hands up, revealing them bathed in a sickly red light. The green barrier burst into life once more and for a second the two magics touched causing a bright, white flash and then both disappeared.

"That should be about it, and now we can resume where we left off before," The First signaled to one of the Bringer's to approach. It was kind of hard to tell if it was the same one as before or a completely different one, not that it made much of a difference its knife looked equally sharp and deadly. "I'm still not sure whether we should start with the torture or just kill your babies first, both sound equally enjoyable and they are really going to hurt. What do you think Dawn?"

"I don't think it matters what you do, you're going to pay for it somehow." Dawn replied bravely, a furtive movement in the corner of her eye catching her attention.

The First chuckled lowly, oblivious to Dawn's distraction. "Right, of course I am, because in the world according to Dawn Summers your sister or your lover is going to burst in here any second to heroically save you. Sorry to disappoint you cutie but I know they're both miles away from here, the only things alive around here are my Harbingers and me. And I think I've made up my mind, kill her spawn first, I want to see the look on her face as they die at her feet."

The Bringer drew its knife and prepared to strike, however before it could there was a blur of movement and something struck from the shadows. The Bringer stiffened and collapsed to the ground, another Bringer's knife buried between its shoulder blades.

Dawn stared at the corpse for a moment and then looked up at her savior as they lifted the hood away from their face, her eyes widening in shock when she recognized him. "Angel?" She whispered.

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The Special Two

by Drakiri

Copyright © 2005

drakiri_nsw@yahoo.com.au