Faith sat on the bottom steps in the basement chewing on her nails as she tried to listen to the conversation being held upstairs in the kitchen. Kennedy had stayed back at the apartment, Buffy ordering her not to come back to the house until Willow had enough time to cool off and get over what happened. The walk from the apartment to the house had been quiet for the most part. Buffy told Faith that Willow had been a complete mess when she saw her but at least her magic was under control for the time being. And if Buffy hadn't been wearing that flowing white skirt, she might have been able to keep her hands to herself. Instead she was sent down to the basement while Buffy, Giles, and Willow talked in the kitchen.

Satsu and Carmen were sparring, trading jabs and kicks with the ease and grace only a Slayer could display. She'd grown tired of just watching them after about ten minutes, but she'd also turned down their requests for her to join them. She wasn't stupid enough to get into it with them—not with the amount of strength she possessed now—even if her body was itching for a little bit of action. She knew she had to wait for Buffy before she could work out all her pent up energy. She did keep looking over at Satsu, pushing down the urge to say something to her about what she and Kennedy had done. Kennedy was her friend, Willow too, and she liked to think that there was a possibility that Satsu could be also. Eventually. But it wasn't her place to get in the middle of something like this.

She realized she couldn't really hear what they were saying upstairs any longer and she groaned softly as she leaned back on the steps, looking back over at Satsu and Carmen as they continued to spar. She could feel them, not quite the way she felt Buffy, but there was a slight buzz there. It was different from what Kennedy felt like too and she was starting to realize that every Slayer had a different feel to them, to their essence. The warm tingling feeling that had just started in the pit of her stomach told her Buffy was nearer now and she turned to look up the stairs as Buffy opened the door and motioned for her to come up.

"So, what's the sitch?" Faith asked as she joined the others at the kitchen table, sitting next to Buffy and trying to keep her hands from falling onto Buffy's thigh. It was only then she noticed Perry standing by the coffeemaker talking quietly to Jackie.

"We've been able to have the ownership of the building transferred over to myself," Giles said as he smiled over at her, clearly proud things were going as planned so far. "We are going to get started right away. A couple friends of mine, Watchers in fact, are at this moment attempting to gather the first group of girls to be brought here. They shall all be arriving within a week, but I do believe that should give us all enough time to prepare."

"A week? Shit, you really work fast," Faith muttered under her breath softly.

"Getting this project 'off the ground', as it were, without delay will make the new girls' training progress much more smoothly and easily in the long run. Now Faith, I was discussing with Buffy the role the two of you will be playing. As we've discussed, you will be training the girls daily, but I won't expect either of you to devote an inordinate amount of your time to these sessions. A couple hours a day is all I am asking for."

"Sure we could manage that, huh, B?"

"Of course," Buffy nodded with a smile as she turned slightly in her chair to face her more fully. She glanced over at Willow for a moment before leaning into Faith a little more, lowering her voice, "I've got things sorted out with Kennedy. The apartment next to yours—ours—is empty. Perry sent Marshall over to give Kennedy the keys. Willow and Giles are staying here at the house; Xander is going to take the apartment across the hall and Dawn will be in the one next to his."

"What about the others?"

"Andrew is coming, but we're placing him in one of the apartments on the main floor. We're going to make him act like a..." Buffy trailed off as she tried to stop the giggles that escaped past her lips. "He's going to act like a secretary or something. I don't know. Giles, what did you say you were going to have him do again?"

"Andrew is going to keep track of who is coming and going at all times. I wouldn't go so far as to label him security, however—one tends to shudder at the mere thought—and his duties will actually more closely approximate those of receptionist and doorman for the building."

Faith smirked as Buffy just stared at her. "So, what about the rest of the people livin' in that place? Ya gonna kick 'em all out or what?"

"Most of the guys live there, but with their wives and families," Perry said as he and Jackie joined them at the table. "With Sam's money still coming in, we got most of them looking for more suitable housing. Give it a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months at most, and the entire building will be cleared out of those who aren't either blessed with the power of being a Slayer or training to be Watchers."

"And Jackie?" Faith asked as she looked over at her mother who had purposely sat down next to Giles. "You stayin' here at the house?"

"No, I'll be in one of the apartments on the main floor, hopefully not anywhere near Andrew. There is something seriously wrong with that boy," Jackie replied with a teasing smile curling over her lips. "Then again I am sure you all realized that by now."

They all laughed. All of them but Willow, and Faith could see how heartbroken she was. She could even feel it, just faintly, and it broke her own heart to see Willow falling apart despite trying to look as if she was holding herself together. She just looked over at Willow and flashed a smile in sympathy, which Willow returned with a forced smile before she got up and walked out of the kitchen. Buffy went to go after her, but Faith's strong hand on her shoulder kept her right where she was.

"I should go make sure she's okay," Buffy said, her voice almost strained with emotion. "I really should go make sure she's okay. I have to."

"She needs to be alone right now," Faith whispered softly. "I know you might not think that's what she needs, but believe me when I tell ya that her being alone for a few minutes is what she needs."

"How the hell do you know that, Faith?"

"Cos I can feel it, B."

Buffy let out a soft sigh. "I just don't want her to do anything stupid. She's not too good at dealing with having her heart crushed like this."

"She'll be okay, Buffy," Giles said as he motioned to Perry to pass the pot of tea that sat at the far end of the table. "It's quite rough going through the end of a relationship, but she's a lot stronger now than she was before. She does need time and she does need to be alone."

Buffy sighed out again, frowning as she looked over at the kitchen doorway. Faith kept her eyes on Buffy, watching her as she struggled to stay right where she was, to listen to them and not to what the voices in her head were trying to tell her to do. Faith gently massaged the back of her neck, feeling the tense muscles beneath her fingertips. She barely paid attention to Giles as he spoke of the plans for the training school. Academy. Whatever they were going to call it. Buffy finally joined in on the conversation, voicing her concern about the education of the young Slayers that would need to be undertaken on top of their Slayer training. Giles told her a few of the Watchers that were coming were trained in the profession of teaching as well as training and that all the bases were pretty much covered.

The meeting—the actual meeting—started once Satsu and Carmen had come up from the basement and Amber strolled in with Dawn, Xander, and Andrew. Routes for that night's patrol were laid out, teams were established and times to report back were given. Faith rolled her eyes at the way Giles seemed to take over all control and she waited for Buffy to say something, to feel something other than willingly ready to follow Giles' orders. Willow came back in once Giles had begun to wrap up the meeting and she said she was going on patrol with them even though Kennedy would be there too.

"Will, I don't think you coming out on patrol tonight is a good idea," Buffy said softly as she stood up from the chair and followed Willow out the back door.

Faith strained to hear their conversation, but couldn't as they walked further away from the house and she let out a loud groan as she stretched out and grabbed one of the cookies that were on the plate in front of her.

"I should go let Ken know what's the what," she said as she stood up and looked over at Dawn. "Tell Buffy I'll be back in an hour."

"Sure," Dawn nodded and she followed Faith to the front door. "Can I ask you something before you go, Faith?"

"What's up?"

"How are you and Buffy? I mean, you two haven't even talked about what it was like there for you and you haven't even talked about being all super Slayers now either. Everything is okay, right?"

"Everything is fine," Faith said with an easy smile and she reached out and pulled Dawn gently in for a hug. "We're both fine, Dawnie."

"Are you...happy?"

"What makes ya think I'm not?"

"I want to hear you say it," she said softly as she backed away from Faith. "I don't ever get to see you two anymore and Buffy never talks to me about anything. She barely says two words to me when I do see her."

"It's probably nothing to worry your pretty little head over," Faith said as she reached out to muss her hair a little. Dawn rolled her eyes in annoyance but she couldn't keep the smile from crawling across her lips. "And I am happy, Dawnie."

"Gee, I wonder why that is," she laughed as she gave Faith a little wink. "You're shacking up with my sister and even though I should be all 'gross' I'm not. I've never seen her like this and no," Dawn said, stopping to laugh for a moment at Faith's bemused look on her face, "it isn't because of the whole 'Buffy is gay now' thing. It's the whole 'Buffy is actually happy for once in her life' thing and you are the reason she is so happy right now."

"You're afraid something is going to happen, aren't you?"

"No, why would you—"

"Just cos Will and Ken are havin' problems right now doesn't mean me and Buffy are gonna go down that same path."

"I know," Dawn sighed and she followed Faith out the front door. "I just...everything has been crazy in the last couple of months and things seem to change overnight. I just want everything to be normal for once. That's way too much to ask for, isn't it?"

"Way our lives always end up going? Yeah, it's a little too much to ask for. Just live in the now, embrace what ya got and don't think o' tomorrow."

Dawn was speechless for a moment and Faith just shrugged as she headed down towards the street. She followed Faith to the apartment, chattering on and on about the plans for the Slayers Giles was bringing into the city and the plans for her to finish her last year of high school and go on to train as a Watcher. Faith wanted to ask her why she wanted to be a Watcher, but she already knew the answer to that. Dawn wanted to be a part of it all and she wanted to do something worthwhile with them instead of just being another body when it came to researching. Faith had almost told her to go back home when they first set out, but soon realized she actually liked spending some time with Dawn, just the two of them. Dawn had really let her guard down around her and she was treating her as if she was her other sister, as weird as it was for her.

Kennedy was still sleeping on the couch when they got to the apartment. Faith slammed the door behind her and it caused Kennedy to jump off the couch and leap into a fighting position with her eyes half closed. Dawn was giggling as Faith smirked at the struggling Slayer before walking into the bedroom and pulling the small weapons chest Xander had made for her out of the closet. She heard as Dawn quit laughing and began to bring Kennedy up to speed on all that had happened during the meeting. Faith grabbed a few weapons for herself, stuffing them in the duffel bag that sat on the floor by the closet door.

"How's Willow?" Kennedy asked as she stood in the doorway of the bedroom. "She isn't going to like, turn me into a rat or some other kind of animal when she sees me, is she?"

"Not that I know of," Faith replied as she zipped the bag shut. "Don't think ya gotta worry about it. You're comin' with Buffy and me tonight. Doubt you'll even see her. Did Marshall stop by today by any chance?"

"Yeah, about an hour ago. Gave me the keys to the apartment next door."

"And you decided just to go back to sleep on my couch?"

"There isn't any furniture in there," she shrugged. "What, do you expect me to sleep on the floor?"

"Well, you are technically in the dog house, aren't ya? Dogs sleep on the floor."

Kennedy laughed and held out a piece of paper. "Angel called. Wants to talk to you. Gave me a number for you to call when you get the chance. Told me to tell you it's important you get in touch with him as soon as you can."

"He didn't say why?"

"He's got more information about what happened with Julie and her family. He didn't say what and when I asked him to tell me, he told me it was none of my concern. What a way to make me not feel like I'm a part of this, huh?"

"He probably wanted to tell me first. Don't take it personally and never try to understand why Angel is the way he is. I don't even understand it most of the time," Faith chuckled softly as she walked out of the bedroom and tossed the bag of weapons down on the floor near the couch. "Dawnie, help yourself to whatever in the fridge and no, you can't have a beer. Buffy would kill me if she knew I let ya have one."

"Ugh, whatever," Dawn replied as she flopped down onto the couch. "Are we hanging out here for awhile?"

"Just gotta make a phone call then we're headin' back to the house."

"Hey Dawn, want to go check out my apartment?" Kennedy asked when Faith picked up the phone and hesitated at dialling the number Kennedy had written down for her.

Faith just mouthed a 'thank you' at Kennedy as Dawn headed straight for the door. As soon as they had walked out, she dialled the number and waited for it to ring. She paced the floor as the line rang nearly half a dozen times before Angel finally answered.

"Hey," Faith drawled into the phone as she flopped down onto the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. "What's up, Angel?"

"Faith," he replied and she heard some shuffling in the background before all she heard was complete silence. "I'm glad you called. There are a few things I need to talk to you about."

"Gonna be awhile? Kinda gotta get back to the house before patrol."

"It's about what happened before, with Julie and the barrier spell and the Hellmouth," he said quietly and she just let out a soft sigh as she cracked her neck and waited for him to continue. "Do you remember how I told you things were going to be really bad?"

"And they kinda turned out to only be sorta bad?" Faith asked, chuckling when she could just picture him rolling his eyes at that. "Yeah, I remember."

"That was just an appetizer of sorts. Julie and her family—"

"Were nothing but a joke, right? Cos seriously," she laughed as she shook her head, "after all was said and done, worst that happened was the Hellmouth was opened and me and B got sucked into that portal. It wasn't even half-bad in that place either, Angel. And look at the plus side of things here for a minute. We came back stronger than ever. Can't be all bad, right?"

"No, can't be all bad at all. You don't know what is coming, Faith. None of us do. There are changes that are about to happen and not everyone is going to be able to deal with them."

"What kinda changes?"

"Death."

"Great," she said, rolling her eyes as she shifted on the couch to get more comfortable. "Who is dyin' this time?"

"Don't know, but I'd advise you to be very careful, Faith. You may possess power that all but mimics immortality, but it does not mean you cannot be killed."

"So, ya think I'm gonna end up gettin' myself killed?"

"I didn't say that. I just said to be very careful. I can't worry about you?"

"Thinkin' you're more worried about Buffy than me."

"Faith," Angel said, the irritation in his voice making her cringe, "the seers are never wrong and when they speak of death, it makes me worry about all of you, not just Buffy. More and more is coming to light with Julie and her family. They were well connected with many demons and vampires in and around Cleveland and Julie's little vampire army only followed her since they were promised and guaranteed safety. They aren't very happy with the way things turned out, but it isn't like they are mourning her loss either."

"So, we gotta watch out for vamps en masse now?"

"You always need to be fully aware of things around you and I know that it is not possible to know absolutely everything, but—"

"That's when you come in handy, right?" Faith asked, cutting him off yet again. "Look, Angel. I appreciate ya lookin' out for me—for all of us—but we can handle things here on our own. Ain't like we're doin' it all ourselves. We got Perry, Marshall, and the rest of those guys and besides, Giles is bringin' in probably like a hundred Slayers to train 'em here. We're gonna be all right."

"The seers have told me that not all is as it appears to be and that the changes that are about to transpire is going to forever change everything, Faith. I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Just...whatever happens don't let it change you."

"You mean, 'don't let it change me back into a raving psychotic murderous bitch', right?"

"Just be safe, be aware, and keep your head in the game at all times."

"Always a game," she muttered under her breath. "That's what life is, ain't it? One big fuckin' game and we're all just playing in it. Win some. Lose some. Whatever, right?"

"What you went through with Julie and her family was a test. Testing you as a person and as a Slayer. What you are going through with Buffy—"

"Wait, what does what I've got with Buffy got anything to do with...well, anything?"

"It has everything to do with everything, Faith. Don't you see? The magic used to create the barrier spell will never be fully understood, nor will everything that has happened because of it. Your relationship with Buffy is mostly because of this spell. Once you realize that, then you'll truly be able to see the bigger picture."

"Oh I see the bigger picture," she said angrily as she dropped her feet to the floor heavily. "You're sitting there telling me that my relationship with Buffy ain't even fucking supposed to be what it is. Gotta tell ya, Angel, you have no fucking idea what our relationship is and I really don't think you ever will. Jealousy doesn't look good on you, man. Doesn't sound good either. Shit, Angel. I'm in fucking love with Buffy, okay. I ain't never been in love before and I—"

"I know," he said softly before she could continue with her rant. "Do you know why I was able to come there when the barrier was supposed to keep my kind out? Somehow, it sensed that I needed to be there when I came there. It sensed it, Faith. It sensed my soul too, which is why I was able to come there."

"Like it had a mind of its own? What the hell? I thought it was a barrier? Magic? Magic can't think, can it?"

"Apparently it can."

"How come you're telling me this now? Does Giles even know?"

"We've discussed it, yes. There is just so much we didn't know even when we thought we had it all figured out. When I came there and left the first time, before I even came there, I knew that there was a chance I wouldn't be able to enter the city where the barrier ended. The seers told me I'd be able to come, that I needed to come."

"And why did you need to come here in the first place?" Faith asked, wanting to really ask him what good he's done up to that point, but kept her mouth shut. "This is a whole big mess, Angel, and I don't understand a goddamn thing that's going on right now."

"Just be careful."

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she heard the click as Angel hung up the phone. She left the apartment and knocked on the door next to hers, collecting Kennedy and Dawn so they could make their way back to the house, explaining along the way vaguely what Angel had told her. She stopped short when they reached the front walkway to the house and she spotted Buffy standing on the front porch waiting for them with Xander. She was taken over by those lusty thoughts of grabbing Buffy, pinning her against the wall and running her hands up her legs, under her skirt, and finding out if she really was going commando or not.

Buffy seemed to know what was going through her mind and she flashed a coy smile as Faith managed to start moving again and walked up the front steps. Faith waited for the others to go inside, but pulled Buffy away from the door before she too could go in. She led her down to the far end of the front porch, smirking as she backed Buffy up against the wall.

"Ya really planning to go slayin' wearing this?" Faith asked softly as her hands smoothed over the hem of her skirt and teasing the skin under it with the tips of her fingers.

"No, I was...going to change..." Buffy trailed off, her eyes sliding shut as Faith ran her hands up her inner thighs, the soft material of the skirt very slowly sliding up with her hands. Faith licked over her lips, watching Buffy as her fingers neared her destination at the apex of her thighs. "Faith!"

"Hmm?" Faith grinned as she found she'd been right about Buffy going commando. In the instant her fingers slipped through her folds, she felt a flood of wetness pour out and it nearly made her come in her pants. "Fuck, B. Ya realize how fuckin' sexy this is? Feelin' ya get so fuckin' wet for me with just a touch."

"Faith, we need to go...inside," Buffy gasped as Faith pulled her left leg up and wrapped it around her waist as she plunged two fingers deep inside Buffy. "Faith, not that inside."

They both laughed softly as Faith stilled her fingers, really not wanting to pull them out of the soft, warm, wet confines of Buffy's channel just yet. She knew they didn't have time for this and that any second now one of the others would come out to find them, but she didn't care. And from the way Buffy rolled her hips harder into her hand, she knew Buffy didn't care either.

"Y'know," Faith whispered as she leaned in to her ear, her lips just grazing her cheek as she did, "I think you should wear skirts like this a helluva lot more. Easier access."

"You really never think about anything else, do you?"

"Nope," Faith chuckled softly as she pulled back from her and stared into her eyes in the darkening light. "I know you don't either."

"We really need to go inside, Faith. Sun has almost set. Patrol..." she groaned as Faith slid her fingers out of her with a slow, wet plop.

A silent 'later' was uttered from Buffy's lips as she stepped past Faith and headed inside. Faith just brought her fingers to her lips, licking off Buffy's secretions slowly, savouring every last drop, before she went inside to join the others for a quick meeting before patrol. She stood in the doorway of the living room and listened to Buffy as she told Satsu and the others to meet up with them in two hours unless they were otherwise preoccupied with slaying. Buffy left to go change into clothes more suitable for slaying and Faith went outside with Kennedy, declining her offer of a cigarette.

"Will won't even look at me," Kennedy said softly as she shook her head. "I don't blame her though."

"Give her some time. She's hurt right now, Ken."

"Yeah."

"She won't even go near Satsu either," Faith pointed out the obvious. "Think of how it'd be if the situation was reversed and don't fuckin' forget your little jealous tirade when Julie was around and Will was spending a lot of time with her."

"Haven't forgotten," Kennedy sighed before she took a long drag of her cigarette and exhaled, the white smoke curling up to the sky slowly in the breezeless night. "You and Buffy sure can't keep your hands off each other, can you?"

"Hell no," Faith chuckled as she leaned against the railing on her elbows. "Can't blame me though. She just fuckin' asks for it sometimes."

"I think it's sweet," Kennedy smirked as she nudged Faith with her shoulder. "Young, new love is always exciting at first. Then one thing happens and it's all downhill from there."

"Ain't nothin' gonna change how it is now."

"Things always change, Faith. Whether you want them to or not."

"Ain't gonna let 'em change," Faith said firmly, but the tone of her voice gave away her fears that she did think Kennedy was right. Just a little. "Right now, I ain't worried about things with me and Buffy. It's going great, better than I thought it'd be and it just keeps getting better."

"You mean the sex just keeps getting better?" Kennedy laughed and Faith could only wiggle her eyebrows as she grinned. "You're just lucky we all knew what you were doing out here a few minutes ago and left you two alone. I think it would have traumatized Dawnie for life if she walked out to find you with your hand up Buffy's skirt."

"Not my fault I can't resist," Faith said and they both shared a laugh as the others came out of the house, all of them talking quietly as they began to split off into the designated groups. "Ready to motor, B?"

Buffy nodded as she watched the others head down towards the street. Willow was with Xander and Carmen. Satsu and Amber were going off on their own for a couple of hours, and Kennedy was with Buffy and Faith. Giles and Andrew were staying behind, planning to meet up with everyone else in a few short hours with Perry and Marshall. They headed straight for the neighbourhood around the Hellmouth, nobody saying much as they walked down the quiet, nearly empty streets. Buffy stayed close to Faith while Kennedy trailed a few steps behind them, chain-smoking and muttering to herself every once in a while about how she was more than capable to be out on her own instead of with them.

Aside from running into a few random vampires around the neighbourhood, all of whom were dusted without much of a fight, patrol was rather uneventful and the three of them spent more time talking than slaying. After two hours, they headed for the cemetery closest to the house to meet up with the others. Faith kept hoping for the night to continue to be slow. Slow meant an early night and she really couldn't take her mind off of just what she wanted to do with the rest of her night either. Every little look shared between her and Buffy got her heart racing and her body aching for her touch.

Glenview cemetery, by far the largest cemetery within walking distance of the house, was just buzzing with activity when they walked through the main gates. Faith could feel the vampires there in the cemetery and from the way her body was picking up on them, she knew there had to be two dozen or more there just waiting for them. Buffy motioned for them to split up and Faith pulled her in for a rather quick kiss before she grabbed a stake out of the duffel bag and headed off towards the furthest corner of the cemetery alone. She walked briskly up to a small group of vampires standing around one of the crypts, counting about four of them and sensing three others nearby and out of sight.

She went charging into the group of vampires, throwing a series of well-timed kicks and punches, working them over a little before plunging the stake through their hearts. With the strength and power she now had, she felt invincible, untouchable. She even thought she saw a hint of fear flash before the vampire she was now facing, staring down. She breathed heavily as she twirled her stake in her hand, grinning at the vampire who was now backing away from her, ready to run to save his undead life. She let him run—and as soon as his back was turned she flung the stake towards him, grinning almost maniacally as she watched him dust before he took another step.

Her ears picked up the sounds of a fight not too far off and she picked up her stake from the ground and took off running. Willow was cornered by three vampires, Xander and Carmen fighting off five others. Buffy and the others were nowhere near to help and even with her strength, Faith knew she wouldn't be able to take them all on by herself. She ran over towards Willow, pulling two of the three vampires away from her just long enough for Willow to stake the one closest to her.

"Go help them!" Willow said as she pointed to Xander, a hairsbreadth away from being bit by the tall, dark-haired vampire that had him pinned to the ground. "Now, Faith!"

Faith wasted not a second more, pulling the vampire off of Xander and helping him to his feet as two others charged towards her, trying to take her out. She cast a quick glance over at Carmen who seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the two vampires that she was fighting, but Faith didn't have time to help her or the others as four more vampires came out of the shadows and surrounded her.

"Fuck," she groaned under her breath, wishing she had more than just a stake to fight with. She'd left the duffel bag full of weapons on the bench near the front of the cemetery and now, because of her carelessness, she found herself in a situation she wouldn't easily get out of.

"Faith!" Xander called out as he was thrown to the ground. "Get...Buffy and the others..."

She managed to break free of the vampires circling her, but she barely got two steps away before they surrounded her again. She wasn't going to panic. They couldn't hurt her. She was only worried about Xander and Willow being caught in a fight this big. They were good fighters, she couldn't deny that having seen both of them in action a couple of times over the last several days, but they were not Slayers and one wrong move and the vampire they were facing would get a free meal. She took a steady and deep breath, trying to calm herself, find her center, and once she did she unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks, staking each vampire she got close enough to only to find herself surrounded by twice as many by the time she was nearly through.

Faith leapt on top of the closest mausoleum and looked around quickly, trying to figure out just how many there were. It hit her then that this was Julie's army since there were never that many vampires in one area unless it was a larger nest of them. She spotted Buffy and the others on the other end of the cemetery, facing their own large group of vampires. She leapt off the mausoleum and jumped back into the fight, barely breaking a sweat as she dusted vampire after vampire. She lost count after seventeen of them and yet they kept on coming.

"Shit, there's too many!" Faith said as she struggled to fight them off while she also tried to protect Xander and Willow. "Will, can't you just cast a spell to get them to back off for a sec here?"

"I tried..." Willow said, her voice shaking with fear as she gripped onto the axe she wielded. "It's not working!"

"Get the hell outta here then!" Faith yelled at her and Xander.

She grabbed onto Willow's axe, swinging it around and decapitating five vampires' heads with one strike. She ran through the dust as it fell almost in slow motion, unleashing her inner Slayer and a bit of the psychotic murderous bitch she still felt way deep inside of her. Every blow felt good as she struck out against the vampires that just seemed to be crawling out of the shadows from every angle. It felt powerful every time each one turned to dust. And just like before, right when she thought she had them all, more showed up, ready to fight.

Xander had managed to get out of there before the fifth wave of angry vampires surrounded them, but Willow was cornered once again, too frightened now to try to run. It took only that split second she turned to look over at Willow for one of the vampires to kick the axe from her hands. The vampire dust flying in the air burned her eyes as she struggled to gain the upper hand once again. Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the blood-curling scream coming from Willow as one of the vampires used the axe that had gone flying from Faith's hands to attack Willow.

Faith could hardly breathe as she made her way over to Willow, startled as a wave of arrows began to shoot towards the vampires. She looked back and saw Perry, Marshall and a half a dozen of the other guys lined up with their crossbows, trying to take out every vampire they could.

"Willow," Faith said as she knelt on the ground next to her, her breath catching in her throat when she saw how much blood was pouring from the gash across her stomach. "Will, you still with me?"

"Faith..." Willow coughed, blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth as she laid there almost motionless, barely able to turn her head to the side to look up at Faith. "Get to the others...don't worry...about me..."

"Fuck," Faith groaned as she placed her hands over the wound to try to stop the bleeding. "Ain't leavin' ya here alone, Will."

"I...can't..." Willow breathed out, her breath shorter and coming in small, shallow gasps as the blood poured out of the wound and over Faith's hands.

"Willow!" Kennedy yelled out as she ran across the cemetery, dodging the headstones and the arrows that flew through the air and the vampires that were left. "Oh god, Will..."

"We gotta get her outta here," Faith said quickly as she looked back to find an opening in the massive group of vampires that still surrounded them. She looked down at Willow, literally feeling the last breath as the life slipped out of her. "Oh fuck."

"Will? Willow!" Kennedy shook her a few times, trying to get her to open her eyes, to breathe. She pulled Willow into her lap as Faith stood up slowly, her hands shaking as she looked down at the blood that covered them.

Everything went foggy and felt as if time had literally came to a stop. Faith blinked away the tears as she watched the others fight the last of the vampires and she knew there was more waiting for their moment to sweep in and take them all out, or turn to dust trying. Buffy made her way over to them, collapsing on the ground next to Kennedy as she held on to Willow, saying her name over and over again through the torrent of tears that fell.

"What the hell happened?" Buffy asked as she got up from the ground and walked over to Faith. "What the hell happened, Faith?"

"Couple of 'em got lucky. I was too late. Couldn't..." she trailed off, her voice being choked by the tears that now fell from her eyes. "God, I was too late. There was just too many. It's all my fault."

"It's not," Buffy whispered, her own tears falling as the others finally caught up to them.

It was as if the world slipped away as they surrounded their fallen friend, emotions running high, anger flooding in. The only thing Faith could think of was that Angel had been right. Yet again.

For the next four days, Faith spent almost all her time at the house with Kennedy, Jackie, and the other Slayers. She could feel the void that was there without Willow alive. It was nearly as big as the void she felt without Buffy being there. They'd talked on the phone for some time each night since Buffy had gone with the others to California to bury Willow and to visit her family in their time of grief and loss. Most of the conversations between them had been light and brief except for the one on the second night when things got a little heated and Faith almost got caught by Kennedy with her hands down her pants, breathing into the phone for Buffy to touch herself. It wasn't the same having phone sex with Buffy, she needed to physically touch her, but it still turned her on to no end hearing Buffy whisper sweet, naughty words through the phone, her breath practically caressing her entire body.

She hadn't heard a lot about the funeral that had been just yesterday. Buffy could hardly stop crying over the phone and she ended up being kicked off while Giles got on and asked Faith how things were holding up at the house. She left out the parts where they'd done nothing but drink at night, skipping out on patrol because none of them really could be bothered to go. Perry and Marshall had promised they'd take over until Buffy and the others came back home and Faith trusted that they would keep things under moderate control until then. Before she'd hung up the phone, Giles told her to expect them later that afternoon and ever since, she'd sat out back with the others, soaking up the hot July sun wearing nothing more than a bikini top and short denim shorts she'd cut out of a pair of jeans that almost got completely thrashed one night on patrol.

"God, can it be any hotter?" Kennedy groaned softly as she rolled onto her back and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "We seriously need a fucking pool out here."

"What about one of those kiddie pools? Fill it up with cold water and just sit in it?" Carmen asked as she looked over from the lounge chair she'd been lying in all afternoon. "It's not much, but it'd do the job, wouldn't it?"

"How 'bout I go get the hose?" Faith asked as she pulled her sunglasses down a little and peered over them at Carmen. "That'd do the job 'bout the same."

"Too much effort," Carmen laughed as Faith lay back on the blanket she'd spread out near the tree and under the shade. "But if you are willing to move..."

"Nah, you're right," Faith smirked as she stared up at the sky through the bare spots in the tree. "Way too much effort. Plus it's too damn hot today to even fuckin' breathe, much less move."

"Was it hotter where you two were before?" Kennedy asked quietly from next to her. "You did say it was hot as hell there."

"Yeah, kinda unbearable, but you'd be surprised how quick your body adapts. Besides," Faith said as she looked over at Jackie who was tending to the small garden at the far end of the backyard, "Jackie was there for over twenty years. Don't know how she could stand it."

"Easy," Jackie said as she turned to look at all of them. "I had no other choice. It was accept it and deal or just curl up and die, and I was not coward enough to do the latter."

"So, just look at this heat wave just like that," Faith pointed out, smirking as Carmen rolled her eyes and reached for her glass of formerly ice water that was now just warm water.

They fell back into silence, listening to the radio they'd brought out play mellow classic rock songs Faith personally hadn't heard in years. She tried not to watch as Satsu, who was lying on the lounge chair next to Carmen, turned over onto her stomach, but she couldn't help but stare at her. She wore a tiny white bikini that barely covered anything at all. Every inch of her skin was flawless and perfect, her muscles showing just enough definition to show she was a very strong woman despite her small frame. She knew what Kennedy saw in her, besides her personality, and for a few lingering moments she really couldn't blame Kennedy for wanting a piece of that. Satsu didn't compare to Buffy, though—nobody did—and just thinking that made her feel a little better for discreetly checking Satsu out.

She smiled to herself when she felt that oh so familiar buzz in her body that told her Buffy was near, that she and the others were finally home. What bothered her was the fact that Satsu seemed to know too, since she lifted her head and looked towards the gate quite a few moments before they actually heard the van pull in the driveway. She shrugged it off and got up from the blanket to head inside, breathing a sigh of relief that Xander had fixed the air conditioner. She pulled out a cold bottle of beer from the fridge as Buffy and the others came inside. Buffy was the first to come into the kitchen and she instantly had her arms wrapped around Faith and her lips upon hers, devouring her in a very deep and passionate kiss.

"Hey, baby," Faith said softly against her lips, not wanting to pull away just yet, but doing so anyway when the others walked into the kitchen a moment later. "Flight go okay?"

"Felt longer than it was," Buffy replied softly as she pulled away from Faith. "You're all sweaty."

"Been layin' out back all day with the girls, soakin' up some sun...y'know, just another typical lazy Saturday afternoon in good ole Cleveland."

"This new?" Buffy asked as she ran her fingers over the edge of her light blue bikini top just around the underside of her breasts. Faith only nodded and flashed a smug grin as Buffy slowly pulled her fingers away. "It's nice."

"Why don't ya go put on your suit and come out back with us?"

"Sure, give me a couple minutes," Buffy said, smiling as she leaned in for a quick kiss before she pulled away and walked out of the kitchen.

"You guys feel up for a barbecue tonight?" Xander asked as he opened the freezer and pulled out a few packages of steaks.

"Sure, why not?" Faith shrugged. "What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon, right?"

"Right," Xander said with a forced smile. "Good thing you stocked the fridge full of beer. Seriously could use one or twelve right about now."

"It can't be a lazy summer day without beer," Faith laughed, and she and Xander high fived each other before she headed back outside, the heat hitting her full force the second she opened the door.

Faith laid back down on the blanket next to Kennedy, unable to wipe the smile off of her face as she slid her sunglasses back on her face. She gave Kennedy a little kick to the leg when Buffy walked out of the house and all Kennedy did was scoff and move to the other lounge chair next to Satsu as Buffy walked over wearing her small, almost matching bikini. There was just enough mix of sun and shade under the tree and Buffy laid down next to Faith and made herself comfortable. Faith couldn't not stare at her body in that light blue bikini that barely covered her where it should. It was skimpier than the bikini Satsu was wearing and Faith could feel the others' eyes on Buffy as she stretched out slowly.

"Like what you see, Faith?" Buffy asked as she glanced over at her, smiling as she reached out and lightly stroked the outside of Faith's knee.

"Of course I like what I see, baby," she smiled as she leaned over and planted a light kiss on her lips. She trailed her lips to her ear, unable to stop the laugh as she whispered, "I think the others do too."

Buffy let out a laugh as Faith pulled away from her slowly only after planting a few light kisses on her neck just below her ear. She couldn't help but cop a quick feel either and her hand was quickly swatted away from Buffy's breast before any of the others could see. Four days had been complete torture for her and from the way Buffy just glanced over at her and slowly licked her lips, she knew she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

For a little while it felt like everything was back to the way it had been before. The sound of laughter that rang throughout the group as Xander fired up the grill made it feel like Willow was still there. Almost. Everyone laughed until they were crying when Andrew walked outside wearing a black Speedo, which caused him to grumble angrily that they just couldn't appreciate a man in a Speedo as he pulled one of the lounge chairs into the sun and situated himself on it.

"Man? Hardly, Andy boy," Faith laughed as she looked over at him.

"Are all Slayers gay?" Andrew asked, sounding rather annoyed as everyone continued to laugh at him. "I'm serious!"

"I'm not gay and I can appreciate a man in a Speedo," Amber spoke up as she looked over at him. They all roared with renewed laughter at the shy smiles exchanged between the two of them. "What?"

"You're on your own there, Amber," Kennedy laughed as she sat up and wiped away her tears. "Faith, you want another beer?"

"I'm good for now," she replied as she glanced down at her empty bottle and looked back up to meet with Buffy's disapproving eyes. "This is only my second one, B."

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, but I know what you're thinkin', B."

"Do you?" Buffy asked, looking at her as she ran her fingertips over her stomach slowly, watching Faith as her breath hitched in her throat. "That's what I thought."

Faith groaned in frustration, knowing exactly what Buffy was getting at yet also knowing she couldn't just take her away inside and fuck her for hours to make up for the lost days between them. That could come once they were back at the apartment later and completely alone and until that happened, Faith would just have to deal with her raging libido and the ache between her legs that was becoming unbearable every time she even just looked at Buffy. Of course, in the end, her hunger won over all thoughts as soon as she smelt the steaks cooking on the barbecue.

The last time they had quiet, relaxing moments like this, everything went to shit. Faith tried not to think of the worst, but she knew better now. Always expect the worst to happen because without a doubt, it would happen whether she tried to prevent it or not.

---

Buffy was lying on her stomach with her face turned away from her and Faith just laid on her side, watching the sunlight as it danced over her naked skin. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch, but she kept her hand at her side and the other tucked under her head and opted on just drinking in every inch of Buffy that lay bare for her eyes to see. She could see the faintest scar from where the sword from the Turok-Han had gone through her and suddenly the urge to reach out and touch was too much as her hand covered the distance between them and her fingertips just barely brushed over the small white scar.

"Mmm, is it morning already?" Buffy whispered as she turned to look at Faith.

"Yeah," she replied just as quietly as she leaned in for a very soft yet lingering kiss. "Still wicked early though, B."

"You haven't slept at all, have you?"

"Nah," Faith said as she shook her head a little. "You kinda got me all wound up last night. Kinda hard to sleep after havin' multiple orgasms that rocked my fuckin' world."

"Mmm," Buffy sighed, smiling as she closed her eyes and moved to lay partly on top of Faith. "Usually you pass out for hours afterwards."

"Yeah, dunno why it ain't like that this time."

"Maybe you just missed me?" Buffy asked as she lifted her head from Faith's shoulder to look at her. "You did, didn't you?"

"Fuckin' right I did," she grinned as she pulled Buffy in for a deep kiss, both of them moaning as Buffy slipped a leg between Faith's and ground her thigh into the brunette's aching center. "God, I so could do this every mornin' for the rest of my life."

Buffy arched an eyebrow at her words, looking slightly terrified for half a second before she smiled a sweet smile that completely melted Faith's heart. She uttered the words silently 'me too' against her lips before she suddenly slipped out of bed and was through the bedroom door in seconds. Faith groaned and let out a soft sigh when she heard the water in the shower running a moment later. She'd meant what she said about being able to spend every morning for the rest of her life waking up next to Buffy and sharing a sweet, passionate kiss, morning dragon breath and all. It was one of those thoughts she never imagined she'd ever say before, or feel, but it felt right and it felt like nothing else she'd ever felt in her life. It was a sense of peace, of love, of belonging.

She urged her tired, aching body out of bed and padded to the bathroom, yawning as she walked in, looking at the steam billowing out from the hot shower Buffy was having. She brushed her teeth quickly, unable to stop herself from stealing glances at Buffy through the foggy glass shower door. As much as she wanted to join Buffy in the shower, she didn't, only grabbing her robe off the back of the door and slipping it on as she walked out of the bathroom and headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

The little bit of time alone gave her too much time to think about everything. About her feelings for Buffy, about how much she'd changed, about how everything had changed as soon as they'd driven off from the crater in the ground formally known as Sunnydale. She thought about those few moments she and Buffy had together, about those long lingering looks that said so much more at the time than she realized. It was hard to believe that a few months ago she'd been in jail, doing her time and spending almost every hour thinking about her past and all the wrong she'd done. When Wesley had come to get her, she saw it as a moment in time that would change the rest of her life but at that time she'd had no idea just how drastic that change would be.

So much had happened in the last handful of months and even just looking back at everything, it overwhelmed her a little bit. It wasn't like she wasn't used to her life being that way either, but for once she just wanted things to slow down and give her a chance to truly enjoy life and love instead of worrying about all the things that went bump in the night and whatever else would come along. As soon as Buffy walked out of the bathroom, clad in only a towel wrapped around her body, all her thoughts literally floated away.

"Shower's free," Buffy said with a small smile as she reached for a clean mug on the shelf in the cupboard just above the coffeemaker.

"Cool."

"We got the entire day to ourselves. Well," Buffy sighed as she placed her mug on the counter rather heavily and rolled her eyes, "aside from the meeting Giles wants to have tonight we have the whole day to ourselves."

"What's the meeting for, do ya know?"

"About the Slayers the other Watchers are bringing in to be trained. They'll be showing up within the next week and we need to have some sort of legitimate plan when it comes to training and school schedules. The whole thing makes my head hurt just a little bit."

"Guess we'll have to make the most of our free time before the SIT's start showing up then, huh?"

"SIT's?"

"Slayers in training! Keep up, B."

"Oh," Buffy laughed as she shook her head. "Leave it up to you to give them all a nickname before they even show up."

"Callin' it as I see it is all. Would be good to have some kinda technical term for 'em, wouldn't it?"

"Sure."

"You really don't care, do ya?"

"Nope."

Faith chuckled as Buffy wrapped her arms around her, their coffee long forgotten in that moment their lips touched. The towel Buffy had wrapped around her dropped to the floor as Faith's hands roamed, eager to touch, to feel, and to eventually taste. It was as if her mind slipped into its own little world, a world where all that was there was Buffy and all she wanted to do was bring her over the edge, over and over again. To feel the ecstasy running through her body, to feel that electrifying touch every time their bodies touched. To taste that sweet taste that was distinctly Buffy, the taste that made her crave so much more.

As soon as Buffy had her out of her robe she was practically dragging her back to the bedroom, her lips never leaving Buffy's as she led them there. their safe haven was that room, that bed, each other, and it was fast growing into an addiction of sorts—or it had already reached that plateau of being an addiction and they were only feeding it now. It never failed to amaze her the way Buffy's body reacted to her touch as she pushed her gently down on the bed and held up a single finger to her lips when Buffy protested against her not being right there with her.

"Faith..."

"Hold up a sec, B," she chuckled softly as she walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer. She hesitated for a moment, almost asking Buffy if she was up for it, but then just pulled out the box with the strap-on inside and made her way over to the bed. "Little somethin' somethin' I picked up the other day."

"For me?"

"For us."

Faith let her take the box from her hands and she watched Buffy as she opened it, smiling to herself as the blush crept over Buffy's face. Buffy looked a little nervous as she lifted the strap-on gingerly out of the box. It wasn't really big, about seven inches long and purple. Buffy laughed as Faith tossed the box across the room and watched her as Buffy ran her hands over the smooth rubber phallus.

"Purple?"

"Popular colour," Faith shrugged. "If you ain't up for it, B..."

"Did I say that?" Buffy asked coyly as she handed it to Faith. "I never said I wasn't, but here's where that whole uncharted territory thing comes crashing back."

The sexual animal deep inside of Faith was trying to claw its way out and it took a hell of a lot of restraint on her part to take things slow and not slam Buffy down on the bed, put on the strap-on, and fuck the hell out of her. She stood up from the bed and slipped on the leather harness, slipping the smaller end of the purple dildo inside of her before she tightened the straps. Buffy watched her with heavy lidded eyes as she lay back on the bed slightly propped up on her elbows. Faith's heart was racing and she was finding it harder and harder to contain her excitement as she crawled up the bed and hovered over Buffy.

"Hey," she said softly, leaning down to kiss her.

"Hey stud," Buffy chuckled, the sound of it reverberating through Faith's body.

Faith shook a little as she reached down between Buffy's legs, feeling a flood of wetness as soon as she slicked her fingers over her clit. She coated the dildo with as much of Buffy's wetness she could before she pressed the tip to the opening of her hole, her eyes never leaving Buffy's as she waited for Buffy to change her mind and tell her to stop. She slid it inside of her, inch by inch, her whole body tensing as Buffy wrapped her legs around her waist, burying it inside of her completely.

"Feel okay?" Faith asked softly, smiling down at Buffy as she nodded her head and gasped as Faith rolled her hips slightly.

"Feels...more than okay," Buffy said as she gripped onto Faith's shoulders. "Just go slow."

"Tell me if it's too much, B. Or not enough."

Buffy sighed out as she loosened the grip of her legs around Faith's waist. She started off slow with small, short thrusts, allowing Buffy some time to get used to it inside of her. Buffy moans were driving her on and she couldn't hold herself back and keep it slow for much longer. She thrust into her harder, holding her breath as Buffy arched her back into her and gripped onto her hips, forcing her to do it again and faster. She soon found a rhythm that had Buffy moaning and writhing beneath her.

Buffy flipped them over, grinning sexily down at Faith as she rode her slowly, raising her hips up just a little before ever so slowly sliding back down. It created delicious friction against her clit and she gripped onto Buffy's hips, holding her still where she was as she began to raise her hips into her blindingly fast. She knew she'd be sore, but Buffy was in throes of ecstasy that went beyond anything she'd felt with Faith before. Buffy fell forward, holding herself up with her hands as she kissed Faith furiously, nearly bruising her lips as the intensity and force of the kiss. Buffy gasped into Faith's mouth as they both stopped for a moment, sweat lining their bodies, hearts racing.

"Fuck," Buffy groaned as she leaned her forehead against Faith's.

"Feel good, baby?"

"Oh yeah."

Faith kissed her softly as she slid a hand between their bodies, her fingers seeking out Buffy's clit. She started thrusting up into her slowly while circling her clit in a way she knew would have Buffy coming in minutes. She felt like a haze had settled around them, trapping them for just a brief moment in time. The sounds of the city just faded away, the light streaming in through the window dimmed just a little, and all Faith could see and hear was Buffy as she gasped and moaned as her orgasm began to wash over her. Buffy collapsed fully on her, panting heavily. Faith undid the straps slowly and eased out of Buffy and slipped the strap-on off completely before pulling Buffy flush against her.

She ran her hands up and down Buffy's back slowly, waiting for her to recover from the orgasm that had ripped through her body almost violently. She'd never seen Buffy spent so easily in all the times they'd been together, but being up most of the night with very little sleep wasn't helping any either.

"That was..." Buffy sighed as she lifted her head so she could look into Faith's eyes. "That was...wow, I really don't know what else to say."

"Definitely was wow and then some, B."

"You didn't have to stop."

"Like it better just you and me," Faith whispered softly. "Love the way ya feel against me."

Buffy sighed softly, smiling as she moved to kiss across Faith's neck, nipping at the skin just over the pulse point as she slid her own body down against her lover. Faith's whole body was on edge, having been on the brink of her own orgasm since Buffy had come. She needed the release and Buffy knew she did, so she quickly made her way down the brunette's body, stopping to lick over the hard, sensitive nipples before moving down between her legs. Faith reluctantly reached down to stop Buffy when she heard someone knocking on the door and they both groaned in frustration as they struggled to get up from the bed and get dressed quickly.

"Why is it that every single time we're alone together someone always interrupts us?" Buffy asked, growling as she pulled a clean tank top over her head, not even bothering with a bra. "I thought the whole point of us living here was so we didn't have to worry about someone interrupting our alone time?"

"Fuck if I know, B."

"It's just going to get worse, isn't it?"

"Sure as hell hope not," Faith replied as she watched Buffy slip on a flowing light blue skirt similar to the white one she'd worn about a week before. "But with Giles plannin' to house all the SIT's in this building, gotta tell ya, time alone is gonna be hard to come by."

"How is this ever going to work then?"

"It's not gonna be that bad, B," Faith chuckled, pulling Buffy into her before she could walk out of the bedroom. "Who knew you were such a demon in the sack, huh?"

"Me?" Buffy laughed, trying to look as innocent as she could with her current post-orgasm glow.

"Yes, you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah?" Faith smirked as she backed Buffy up against the wall right near the doorframe. She had her hands sliding up the blonde's legs, under her skirt, and cupping her bare pussy instantly. "Still fuckin' soaked, B."

"Faith...the door," Buffy sighed out as Faith gently fingered her tender hole before she pulled her hand away. "You know it's your fault!"

"My fault?"

"You just..." Buffy looked flustered as she straightened out her skirt a little. "You always get me so worked up. Nobody has ever done that to me before. I can't even be in the same room as you without wanting to..."

"Fuck? Perfectly natural, B. We're fuckin' hot for each other and there ain't a damn thing wrong with that either."

Buffy just let out a short laugh as she walked out of the bedroom leaving Faith standing there with a pout and her arms crossed over her chest. Buffy went to answer the door and Faith could only let out a heavy, agitated sigh as she headed for the kitchen and hoped the coffee was still hot. Despite having their whole morning in bed thrown off, she was surprisingly not angry when Buffy let Xander into the apartment. He had bags of groceries and Faith just laughed off the fact that she had completely forgotten that he offered to bring them some food the day before. She made up a coffee for him and the three of them went to sit out on the balcony to enjoy the warm, summer morning sun.

The depression showed heavily on his face as he forced a smile at the two of them. He looked as exhausted as Faith felt herself and she knew the loss of Willow had hit him the hardest out of all of them. They hadn't talked about her, about the funeral, since they had come back from California and despite the fact that Faith wanted to know how everything went, she knew better than to ask before the others were ready to talk about it. Buffy had been struggling to hold herself together, but when they were making love all night long, she'd managed to forget about it for a little while and just indulge herself in Faith.

They talked about Giles' plans for training the younger Slayers, talked about plans of possibly taking some time off, going away somewhere far from Cleveland for a much needed vacation. Faith knew it'd never happen, at least not anytime soon, but she got lost in Buffy's fantasy of flying to Italy to spend a couple of months there away from the rest of the world and their day to day lives. Xander wanted to go back to California, to where his parents had relocated in Fresno, and spend some time there working with a few guys he'd done construction work with before. It was the first both Buffy and Faith had heard of him talk about this and how serious he was about doing it if he was no longer needed in Cleveland.

"What about Dawn?" Buffy asked calmly. "You're just going to leave her here?"

"It's not serious between us, Buff, and you know that."

"So what, are you using my sister?"

"It isn't like that," Xander responded through clenched teeth. "Dawn and I talked about this the other night, about the possibility of me going back to California for a couple of months. It isn't like it's set in stone. It's just one of those fleeting dreams I know I'll get the chance to do once and if I don't take it, it'll slip right through my fingers."

"I get that," Faith said as she smiled at him. "We still want you here, Xand. You're needed here."

"Doing what?"

"Groceries?" Faith joked and that got him laughing. "Nah, man. You know we'd all miss ya too much if you went back out to the west coast."

"Like I said, it's just a fleeting dream, a possibility. Done a lot of thinking in the last couple of days and asked myself why."

"Why what?" Buffy asked him as she shifted on the bench to move closer to Faith.

"Why I didn't go off and do my own thing after Sunnydale."

"But you are a part of the family, Xander. You belong here with all of us."

"I know that, Buffy. Just sometimes you get these thoughts, you know?" Xander said and he sighed heavily as he stared down into his coffee mug. "You two ever wonder what it'd be like right now if we went our separate ways after Sunnydale? You think you two would even be together now if we didn't stick together?"

It really got Faith thinking and she knew she'd be off somewhere on her own and that no, she and Buffy would have never gotten together or even made an attempt at being friends if they hadn't all stuck together after Sunnydale. It was a sobering thought and from the look on Buffy's face, she knew she was thinking pretty much the same thing even if both of them were too afraid to say the words aloud. The way Faith looked at it, if she didn't say it then it couldn't lend any weight to unwanted theories about their relationship, especially regarding how and why it had come about.

"Just a question," Xander muttered under his breath after neither of them said a word. "Because you know how things used to be and then you go and compare them to how they are now and...you know, you start asking yourself all these questions hoping to find an answer...or go crazy trying to."

"Everything would be completely different," Buffy said as she looked over at Faith and pouted a little. "I don't even think we'd...have had the chance to get over our past differences and find something new in each other. Whether it ended up being friendship or something more."

"Everything happens for a reason though," Faith said to both of them. "Just gotta let life happen and stop trying to say 'what if' or try to figure out what would be different if you did one thing differently."

"You do it all the time," Buffy said pointedly. "And don't lie to me."

"I know I do it all the time, doesn't mean I don't know that I shouldn't be," Faith replied, smirking at the oblivious look on Buffy's face as she turned to look away from her. "Don't worry, B. I'm sure if things were different we woulda found each other one way or another."

Buffy kissed her then, keeping it very brief since they were both fully aware that Xander was watching, possibly drooling just a little. Faith flashed a sweet smile at her as they parted and turned to look at Xander who was trying not to look like he'd been staring at the two of them. they all laughed at the slight awkwardness of the situation and shrugged it off, going back to talking about the plans they knew of so far when it came to training the Slayers that were about to start showing up there.

Faith could feel something different coming from Buffy. Hesitation and that ever familiar urge to pack up and run as far and fast away as she could get. Faith had to be honest with herself and admit she was feeling the same way most days. The responsibility they would have soon with the SIT's would be more than anything they'd ever known. They'd be responsible for training these girls to fight and keep themselves from getting killed by every creature and being that went bump in the night and lurked in every dark shadow. They weren't expected to have to deal with everything and Giles had made that pretty clear before.

There was one thing nobody had talked about since that night Willow had been killed and that was the fact that Faith and Buffy were supposed to have all this extra strength and yet, facing those vamps had been a challenge for both of them even with that extra strength they now possessed. Talking about anything from that night was rough on all of them but Faith's curiosity was growing now that she thought more about it. She still felt that power coursing through her body with every breath she took, but it didn't mean that they could take on a group of vampires any easier than they were able to before.

Faith sighed out softly, running a hand through her hair and listening as Xander complained about the muggy heat and smoggy air that hung like a curtain over the city most days. They moved back inside once the sun got too hot and Buffy started cooking up some omelettes for lunch while Xander checked out Faith's growing DVD collection that was stacked on the shelf next to the TV. She knew he'd come by for another reason other than the groceries he'd offered to bring. She knew he didn't want to be in that house any longer than he had to be. Although they'd been in Cleveland just over two months, that house had tons of memories and she knew for Xander, a lot of those memories were shared with Willow and the others, not her and Buffy.

Faith joined Buffy in the kitchen, helping her chop up the onions, green peppers, and cheese to make the omelettes. They kept stealing soft, tender kisses, smiling and giggling every time Xander would look over at them and blush furiously. She stole one last kiss before she grabbed the eggs out of the fridge for Buffy and that was when Dawn, Kennedy, and the other slayers showed up at the apartment with Giles and Jackie right behind them.

It made her feel truly at home with everyone she cared about and that cared about her there in the apartment. Even though the laughter was hard to come by lately, it still didn't fail to come out as Andrew started to giggle uncontrollably when he walked past the bedroom. Buffy's face went beet red when she realized that the strap-on Faith had so haphazardly tossed aside before lay in plain view on the bedroom floor next to the bed. Giles' face was just as red and he was the one who ended up closing the bedroom door, clearing his throat rather loudly as he then turned to join Jackie back on the smaller couch.

Faith stood behind Buffy in the kitchen as she made enough omelettes for everyone and rubbed her back slowly, trying to ward off the embarrassment of their friends and family seeing what they had. She whispered to her that it was just as bad as being caught having sex and Faith just nodded, trying not to laugh, and told her it wasn't, that they'd all soon forget about it and that it'd be as if it hadn't even happened. Everything would have been okay and Buffy had begun to calm down, but Kennedy, being Kennedy, decided that some suggestive gestures were in order and made Buffy nearly run out of there in sheer embarrassment.

"B, just ignore her, ignore them," Faith whispered as she grappled to keep her by the stove.

"This is completely mortifying."

"Nah, baby," she said as she stepped closer to her red-faced lover, wrapping her up in her arms from behind as Buffy gradually gave up on trying to bolt from the room so quickly. "At least maybe now they'll figure out just why we wanna spend our weekends alone and won't be so fuckin' eager to bust in on us."

Buffy groaned as she pushed Faith away from her. "Just go over there and sit. Now, Faith."

"Whipped," Kennedy coughed as Faith walked over to the couch and sat down heavily next to the brash young slayer. "She's got you fucking whipped, Faith."

"Yeah, she does," she smiled as she looked over at Buffy for a moment and laughed when Buffy flipped her the finger. "Like I said before god knows how many times, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Are there actual whips involved?" Satsu asked, quirking an eyebrow as Faith burst out laughing, feeling Buffy's anger and embarrassment even being so far away from her. "Because I think it would be rather hot if there are."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Faith chuckled as she gave Satsu a wink and quickly wiped the smirk off her face as Buffy spun around and chucked a piece of toast at her. "Thanks, B! Was getting hungry."

"Fuck off, Faith."

"Love ya too, babe," she smirked, and everyone burst into laughter that brought those happy tears to their eyes. For a lot of reasons she wished that every day would be this way but she knew it would never be.