Disclaimer: Same as in first part

Buffy endured the strange look she got from the uniformed attendant once he heard who she was here to see. The same look had graced the features of the receptionist she'd talked to just moments before. She could practically see him mentally shrug after the initial surprise, leading her through a series of stained green corridors to finally stop in front of a nondescript metal door with a small window through which one could peer inside.

"She has her good days and her bad days," he said glancing in. "You're lucky. She seems to be in a good one today."

Buffy craned her neck, looking in as well. What she saw was something most people only got to see from a movie or a news expose. A thin woman sat, rocking back and forth in the corner of a small padded cell, clad in a straitjacket. Her shoulder length hair was streaked with gray, her face blank and emotionless, her lips forming silent words only she alone could hear. "How do you know this is a good day?" Buffy asked, observing the bleak scene.

"For one thing, you don't see her banging her head against the wall and screaming at the top of her lungs, do you? Times like this, she's in her own little world...You mind if I ask you why you want to see her for? It's just that since she's been here, nobody's come to visit her. Going on fifteen years now."

"I think she might be able to help me with a question I have."

"Oh, I don't think so, Miss." He wearily shook his head. "She ain't said nothing to nobody in all that time either. Just sits there when she's not screaming, muttering to herself like you see right now."

Buffy's heart dropped at his words. This was the last option they had. Everything else they'd tried so far had either turned out to be a dead end or a red herring. And while they were chasing useless leads around, Faith was slowly dying, already so far gone that she didn't even respond most of the time when addressed.

The attendant seemed not to notice the effect his words had had as he continued, "She's really a strange case from what I've heard. Survived some kind of epidemic only to end up like this. If she had a choice, I think she would have rather died along with everybody else in that town. The doctor's chalk it up to post traumatic stress or some shit like that but if you ask me, that's a load of bull."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause I got a feeling what's haunting her ain't from the past, but that's just my opinion. So you still want to speak to her?"

"Might as well try," Buffy replied as he unlocked the door, assuring her that he would be right outside if she needed anything. She approached the seated figure deliberately, not wanting to startle her unnecessarily. "Hi, my name is Buffy," she started off, crouching down. "I'm hoping you might be able to help me with something." She received no response or acknowledgment that she'd even heard but Buffy continued on nonetheless. "My friend and I were trapped in Sayersville for a couple of days but, even though we got out, she's in pretty bad shape. She keeps having nightmares about what happened to the people that died there. Please, if you know anything that could help us..." She desperately searched the other woman's eyes for any sign that there might actually be a human being in there somewhere and just when she was resigned to leaving this place empty-handed, those eyes finally began to focus. The muttering stopped, the rocking as well.

"Why did you go there? S'nothing good happen there," she said, forming the words painstakingly, as if trying to master a foreign language.

"We didn't know," Buffy lamented, feeling the guilt run over. It was her plan after all. She had picked that town and if anything happened to Faith, it would ultimately be her fault.

"I know who did this to all of us. They think I don't hear them but I do. They visited me once a long time ago, wanted to see their handiwork. They said their chemical agent worked like a whiz."

"Who are they?" Buffy asked urgently, but the other woman's face had assumed an expressionless mask again and no amount of questioning or prodding would bring her around this time. Banging on the window, she caught the attendant's attention and was promptly let out.

"Are you sure nobody's visited her all this time besides me?" She asked as soon as the door opened.

"No, nobody. But she was in another institution before she came over here. You might want to check over there." After noting this new information, she thanked him before taking her leave. He watched her go out the door before walking over to the telephone and making a call.

****

"How did it go?" The disembodied voice of her watcher asked through the phone.

"I may have a lead. The nurse at the other institution she stayed at remembers that she only had two visitors in her entire stay there. Their names are Scott Havershaw and William Henry. Have Willow do a check on them. I'm taking the next bus back tonight..." Buffy hesitated before asking the question she dreaded to know the answer to, mainly because it never seemed to be good news. "How's Faith doing?"

She received nearly the identical response she'd expected. "A little worse than before...She's declining rapidly."

"Tell her...tell her I'll be back as soon as I can," she begged, knowing that by now, Faith might not even hear the reassurance or if she did, she might not care one way or the other. After Giles promised that he would, she hung up the phone and sat there, trying to fight the helpless feeling crawling around the edges of her mind. A sharp rap at the door startled her from her inner turmoil, prompting her to walk over and open it to reveal a suited man. Thinning brown hair topped an ordinary looking face with no distinguishing characteristics other than its utter plainness.

"Miss Summers? Can you follow me please?"

"What? Do I know you?"

"No, but it's our impression that you'd like to know what happened to your friend. Am I correct in that assumption?"

Buffy's eyes lit up with a dangerous glint. "What do you know about her?"

"If you'll just follow me, everything will be explained."

Already in desperate straits, she warily allowed him to lead her to a dark blue sedan in the parking lot of the motel. He opened the back door for her, motioning her to get in. As soon as she did so, the door closed with a solid thud behind her.

"Miss Summers, good of you to join me." A voice from the seat next to her said in subdued tones.

"First of all, how do you even know me? And second of all, what do you know about Faith?" She asked, getting right down to the point.

"You popped up on our radar a little while ago and we've been monitoring your progress ever since. Same goes for your friend. As for who we are, suffice it to say that the less you know, the better it is for everyone involved." The portly old gentleman adjusted his position as if uncomfortable in his too-tight suit, offering an apologetically weak smile to Buffy. "You have to know that what I'm about to tell you is classified information. If anything I say here is repeated outside of the confines of this car, I can promise you there will be repercussions. That's not a threat, it's a fact." He waited for the slayer to nod in understanding before continuing. "The whole thing started some thirty four years ago as a scientific experiment of a new chemical warfare agent. Somehow or other, the material was introduced into a town...Sayersville, and it spread like wild fire. It eventually infected everybody in that town within a few hours and nearly everyone of them died  in the next few days. Unfortunately, an antidote hadn't been developed yet. Isn't that always the case? Kill first, cure later?" He looked morose, his gaze turning inward as he lamented over some private pain. "Anyway, the whole town was quarantined and the ones responsible for the outbreak stood by, comparing notes on how well their bottled death worked and how fortunate it was that they had human subjects while the screams and yells from inside the town continued for three days. And that's what happened Miss Summers. Not the whole sordid mess but the essential basics. And you might as well know that Havershaw and Henry have already passed on so don't waste your time trying to track them down. The best you can hope for your friend now is a quick end."

"No, that can't be it." Buffy shook her head emphatically, refusing to believe that there was nothing more she could do for Faith. "How do you know she can't be helped? There has to be something you're not telling me. How could she have been exposed to that chemical when it was released more than thirty years ago and, if she was, how come I seem to be fine?"

"It's not the chemical that's killing her, I can assure you of that. But whatever's got her in its grips also killed Havershaw and Henry. They died within a few hours of each other half a world apart two years ago. We still haven't determined what caused them to die but they were both horrible deaths. Even with all they've done, I wouldn't wish the way they died on my worst enemy."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I have a feeling that you would've found out one way or another and, at least in this way, there won't be as many bodies piled up by the roadside. We have observed you and we are quite impressed by what you've done so far. Call this a small thank you from the human population."

Buffy stared hard at him, finally stating that Faith would be fine and she would make sure of that. Opening the car door and stepping out, she walked back to her room, sparing a last glance at the too-ordinary looking man who had been standing a few feet from the car the entire conversation. And inside that car, the elderly gentleman couldn't help but feel that she would succeed somehow because he knew by now that Buffy Summers was a very extraordinary young woman indeed.

****

So now, she had some of the answers but what good did it do if they were of no help at all in saving Faith? Saving Faith...a half smile crept onto her face as she said those words over and over in her mind. She had pretty much no idea why she was grinning at a time like this nor why two simple words strung together could have such a peculiar effect on her. Maybe she was slowly going insane or maybe that guy had lied to her and she HAD been exposed to the chemicals and this was just the drawn out symptoms finally making an appearance...or maybe she was just worried out of her mind and not getting enough sleep. Whatever the reason, she quickly grabbed her duffel bag, packed with a few clothes and stakes and walked out of the motel room. She figured, waiting at the bus depot was a hundred times more amenable than spending another minute in the claustrophobia inducing room even though her bus wasn't slated to depart for another four hours.

****

"How ya doin'?" Buffy softly asked, smoothing away stray strands of hair away from the pale face she barely even recognized anymore. The normally vibrant, shimmering eyes were reduced to a dull glaze as she plumbed their depths for any sign of recognition at all. Seeing none, she cradled a limp hand in one of her own, pressing her lips against the soft skin. She felt the pain welling up inside but more devastating than that was the guilt that accompanied it. This time, there was no stopping the flood, no use putting up the dams because sitting in front of this empty husk of a person, the tears began stinging at the back of her eyes and, unlike all the other times, she let them fall. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, shutting her eyes against the heartbreaking sight. She repeated the apology like a mantra because there was nothing else she wanted to convey more. She didn't know how long she stayed in that position when Giles' hand came to rest on her shoulder. Drawing strength from his comforting presence, she slowly stood up, recognizing there was nothing she could for Faith in her present state of mind.

"Get some sleep," Giles gently suggested. Buffy didn't argue but neither did she make any move to leave, instead, carefully climbing into the bed beside Faith. Laying on her side with an arm tucked under her head, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep while Giles quietly closed the lights and left the room. No matter what Giles said or what her body demanded, she just couldn't sleep. Wrapping an arm protectively over Faith's waist, she whispered in the other girl's ear, "You're going to be fine Faith. I won't let you die so don't even think about it. We've still go so much to talk about...I've still go so much to tell you. And I can't do that if you're like this. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...please don't leave me yet." Buffy desperately wanted to hug the other girl but Faith's delicate condition prevented her from doing so. Instead, she moved her body as close as possible, hoping somehow that Faith could tell she was there.

Unfortunately, Faith was in no condition to notice anything beyond the monstrous confines of her own mind. There was the barest recognition that she was going to die soon but the thought didn't scare her in the least. Her philosophy now was that anything would be better than this. If she really bore down, she could dull the pain, push it all to that small corner of her brain. And those would be the lucid moments when she could actually talk and interact with other people and stuff. But those were becoming harder and harder to come by, requiring more energy than she had to draw from in order to surface from this waking nightmare. She felt, however, that she had enough energy stored in her reserves now to try. It was an arduous process to say the least but she eventually made it. The first thing she did was flex her neck, relieving the crick from her back. As she did so, she heard a gasp from her left side, followed by an excited whisper, "Faith!" Turning her head, she could barely make out someone else's' outline on the bed next to her. But she would recognize that voice anywhere. "Buffy?"

"Oh my God Faith, you're here. I mean, YOU'RE HERE. You heard me."

Faith didn't disagree even though she really couldn't say what the other girl was referring to. "Yeah, I'm right here. Not feeling all that peachy though." She paused, painfully pulling herself up so that she wasn't lying flat on her back. Buffy assisted as best she could, finally settling the brunette in a more comfortable position. "So where have you been? I haven't seen you the last couple of times I was awake."

"Visiting Sayersville's last surviving resident."

"Yeah? How'd it go?"

"Dead end...I'm so sorry Faith. I shouldn't--"

"No, please, don't. I know I probably won't be around for much longer." She silenced Buffy's protest before it even left her lips with a shake of her head. "We both know what's going to happen so let's not bullshit each other. But before that happens, I just need you to know something. Buffy, I don't know what happened to us before and I don't really care cause that's not us anymore. When I die, there's not anything or anyone I'll miss except you." She swallowed hard at the statement, feeling her heart constricting like someone was squeezing her chest. She didn't say the last part to her confession, mainly that she had fallen irrevocably in love with the blonde. What good could that possibly do besides lay like a dead weight between them, making what would probably be their last few hours together an unbearably uncomfortable affair.

Buffy felt the tears once again flowing from her eyes as she cupped Faith's face gently with one hand. She wanted to say so much but found her voice failing her, her tongue inexplicably forgetting how to form words. So instead, she did the next best thing to show how she felt. Moving to hold Faith in her arms, she fought to keep from crying out. Buffy never thought she could experience this much pain again. Not after she'd sent Angel to hell, knowing full well that he'd regained his soul. Not after looking her lover in the eyes and shoving a sword through his gut for the "greater good". But she had been wrong, for the pain was back, even worse than she'd remembered. They sat together, friends once, enemies once, and now so much more than those shallow labels could ever hope to hold. They sat like that lending strength to each other, fighting against the darkness encroaching on all sides. They sat holding each other until Faith drifted back to the shadows and screams for the last time, leaving Buffy alone, holding onto nothing more than an empty shell.

****

The funeral arrangements were quick. Faith was buried the next day. One good thing you had to admit about Sunnydale, its morticians were top of the line efficient. Must be what that old saying meant about how practice makes perfect. And God knows they'd had plenty of practice. Granted, half of the people they buried rose from their graves the very next night but that wasn't their problem anymore. Faith couldn't rise though. She was dead. Died in the arms of the woman she loved. If you think about it, it wasn't such a bad way to go. How many people could claim the same.

Days passed into weeks. Weeks passed into months and Buffy was back in college attending classes, patching together a passing resemblance to a normal life. But nothing was normal anymore. Every single thread of her existence bled together, forming a bleached out tapestry as a mocking reminder of what she once had until all that was left to her life was passing time, the only goal for those left without hope, without happiness, without the desire to live without merely existing. She still did her duties, yes. As a student, a daughter, and a slayer but each role she played was just that, a role, a mask she donned in the company of others. Nobody, not Giles, not Willow, not her mother could penetrate the facade she'd so carefully built around herself. And each time they tried, she'd just withdraw a little more, denying that anything was wrong.

The breaking point had long since passed. She was broken, at least that's what she thought. It was different from all the other times when the pain was so great, she thought she wouldn't make it to the next day. The pain would always dull, not disappearing entirely but enough so she could deal. But now, the pain was as sharp as if it had all happened just yesterday. But Buffy didn't physically vent so nobody knew just how deep it ran.

She was lying in bed in her dorm room now, much like she did most of the time in between classes, staring at the ceiling with a neutral expression perpetually plastered on her face when a knock at the door managed to rouse her somewhat. Opening the door, she found herself face to face with a messenger who thrust a package in her face and then proceeded to leave. A book was revealed once she unwrapped the plain, brown paper. Upon further inspection, the book turned out to be a journal, stained and ragged in several places but once Buffy started reading, her interest was immediately piqued, for this journal belonged to one Scott Havershaw, one of the two  scientists responsible for the Sayersville debacle. And as she read, she began to understand. By the time she finished the last entry, she knew more than she had before but whether that was good or not, she couldn't say. She reread the last page and as she did so, her eyes welled up, surprising since she thought the last of her tears had been squeezed out of her a long time ago. The last entry of a dead man began as thus:

December 20,

    It's been awhile since I've written anything in this journal. The nurses here tell me I haven't been coherent since early last week. A blind man can see I'm not long for this world. I've never been a very religious man but I feel I have to unburden myself before it's too late. Whoever might be reading these words in the future, know that what I've done and what I've always striven to do is serve my country. Thinking back on some of the acts I've committed, I know I'll burn in hell if there is a place such as that. I've stood by while an entire town got poisoned. I've taken notes while some three hundred people laid dead or dying and I've covered up for why it happened. It was no accident no matter what was said in the past. It was a planned experiment that progressed from experimentation on lab animals to people. The only thing we didn't have a contingency plan for was the side effect. We didn't even know there were any besides the known hallucinations and inevitable death to those exposed to the chemical. I can't even classify it clearly except to say that it's found me after nearly thirty years. Already I feel myself slipping back and I grow afraid that I won't be waking up anymore. I don't want to die like this.

It ended so abruptly, mirroring Faith's own ignominious departure that Buffy sat there, allowing her tears to stain the page, adding to those already there, finally letting herself mourn and eventually crying herself to sleep. As soon as she closed her eyes, she found herself in the grips of a dream, standing, she knew not how, in the middle of the town of Sayersville.

"Hi."

The voice turned her around and she found herself staring at Faith, clad in jeans and a white tank top, looking more alive and healthier than her last memory of the slayer provided. Her hand immediately clamped over her mouth, stifling a threatening sob. Faith smiled that brilliant smile that seemed to light her up from the inside and stepped up until she stood directly in front of the blonde. Without another word, she wrapped her arms around Buffy, holding on as if she would never let go. And somewhere along the way, Buffy's own hands slipped around the other girl's waist, allowing herself the first taste of comfort in several months.

Faith eventually took a deep breath as if preparing herself and said, "B, you have to move on with your life. You've already wasted too much time over me."

"No."

"No?"

"I'll get over it if you come back."

Faith made a sound in the back of her throat that came out as a cross between frustration and despair. "This is death we're talking about. I can't come back whenever I feel like it...even if I wanted to."

"But..." she tried thinking up a valid reason, something that would compel Faith to come back. "I need you." It wasn't what she hoped for but it was the honest truth and the words seemed to cut something up inside the brunette as she forcefully disengaged from the hug.

Faith held Buffy at arm's reach, her eyes showing the pain she felt. "How can you lay that on me? You think I wanted to die?"

"No, that's not what I meant--"

"No, all you meant was to lay a friggin' guilt trip on me, like you always do."

"I just want you back," Buffy whispered with downcast eyes.

Faith felt herself deflating instantly, ashamed of the accusation she'd thrown. "I'm sorry B. I came here to make you feel better and I screw it up. Like I said, just move on. That's the best thing you can do." She moved as if to leave but her arm was snagged.

"Faith, I need you."

"Buffy..."

"Buffy. Buffy!"

Her eyes fluttered open as Willow's image swam into view.

"We're going to be late for dinner if we don't get a move on."

Buffy slowly sat up, unable to keep the entrenched disappointment from her eyes that not only had it been a dream but that it had ended so abruptly.

****

Everything hurt. Even places she didn't know could hurt, hurt. Preoccupied with the pain as she was, Faith didn't even realize where she was currently sprawled, laid out on a concrete floor, shivering in her all too naked state. Between clenching her teeth against the biting cold and the pain, it took a while before she managed to drag herself up and out of the building. Focusing her eyes which seemed perpetually out of focus, she stumbled over to the nearest person who looked very much like a walking blob and fainted dead away, falling into the stranger's arms.

When next she awoke, it was to the antiseptic surroundings of a hospital room. The first thing she noticed was that it hurt less but her body still felt like an open wound so when she attempted to move, a small hiss of pain managed to escape her lips. Clamping down, she maneuvered herself off the bed, standing unsteadily on wobbly legs. Since Faith was never one to wait around and in a hospital no less, she immediately took off, clothed in nothing but a flimsy hospital gown. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be around. In fact, the hallways were nearly deserted and the lights dimmed down as if they were conserving electricity or something. She ducked into a supply closet and lifted an orderly's uniform. Although green wasn't exactly her color, it was way better than a gown that barely covered her butt. She walked out the hospital's front entrance with no incident and a purpose in her limping stride. She was back for one reason and one reason alone. Because Buffy had said she needed her. She knew from the moment those words came out of the blonde's mouth that she'd be back, some way or another. It was a bit later than she'd hoped judging by the calendar in the lobby but escaping hell was as difficult a task as it sounded. Giving into the nausea that had been nagging her since she first woke up, she puked all over the sidewalk. Crouching there, in the near darkness, she knew she was in far worse shape than even she bargained for, but she slowly go to her feet, unwilling to give it all up now that she was so close.

****

It was coming on a month since her one and only dream featuring Faith and although there wasn't a day that went by that Buffy didn't think about the brunette, she was finally moving on with her life, albeit taking baby steps all the way. She'd taken some interest back in her schoolwork and in her friendships which had been neglected for far too long. It was hard, scrubbing off the rust from her mind and her relationships but it was no harder than what everybody else on the face of the earth had to deal with on a daily basis. She had been shirking her life but opted now to face it head on. And to say Giles, her mom, and the Scooby Gang were happy at the sudden change was a dramatic understatement to say the least. They were virtually ecstatic, trying their best to hide the giddiness beneath a veneer of normality but Buffy could almost feel their relief like a punch to the face. It wasn't their attitude per se, they were just happy to see her out of her funk but they failed to understand how close she'd come to ending her own life. It was the cavalier attitude they took on Faith's death that affected her the most. Nobody seemed to care beyond the first week, preferring to forget the whole affair once the body was in the ground. Maybe she was blowing things out of proportion but when everybody around her was laughing and having a good time, she couldn't help but feel out of place and trapped in some kind of artificial imitation of what her life would have been like had Norman Rockwell been God.

At the moment, she was in the Bronze with Tara, Willow, Xander, and Anya. For whatever reason known only to the four of them, the quartet seemed set on fixing her up with someone. For tonight, they'd found a generic looking guy with a charming smile and a talent for not knowing when to give up. Even when Buffy ignored him for most of the night, Eric, for that was his name, refused to take the hint. He wasn't such a bad guy really but she just didn't have the patience to deal with him. When she begged off for the night, claiming exhaustion, Eric insisted on walking her back to her dorm. Since she just wanted to get the whole ordeal over with, Buffy accepted, exchanging some perfunctory good-byes with her friends who favored the two of them with smug and indulgent looks. Buffy heaved a mental sigh at her friends' cluelessness and allowed Eric to lead her out. They made small talk for the short trip to Stevenson Hall. Actually, Eric made the small talk and Buffy alternated between listening and daydreaming, much like she'd done all night. She almost wished that a vampire would jump out just so the evening would end but no such luck. They arrived at the dorm fifteen minutes later.

"Well...here we are," Eric said with a hopeful expression on his face. Whatever he had in mind, he was sorely disappointed by the quick, almost dismissive wave from the blonde who then proceeded to turn and walk through the building's entrance. without even so much as a kiss goodbye.

Faith watched with barely suppressed amusement as the guy was shot down with ruthless efficiency. As she watched him walk dejectedly away, she made her own way over to the dorm. She still walked with a slight limp that had yet to go away but that didn't distress her nearly as much as what she was about to do. Even though it was Buffy who had asked her to come back from the dead, Faith wasn't sure how the blonde would react upon finding her at her doorstep. That's why she hesitated before knocking--but only for a few seconds. The door opened and she was afraid that Buffy's eyes would pop out of their sockets if they opened any wider. An astonished silence laid between them for the longest time before Faith cleared her throat which seemed to snap Buffy out of her paralysis.

"Faith!" She shouted, wrapping the other girl in a tight hug. The reasons for Faith's sudden and unexpected appearance didn't even enter her mind. All she knew, all she cared about was standing in front of her and nothing else mattered.

"Buffy Surprised to see me?" Faith asked, chuckling lightly , feeling the pain melding with the pleasure to form a not wholly unpleasant sensation.

Her question went unanswered as Buffy sobbed into Faith's shoulder, unable to form coherent words. Not wanting the scene witnessed by the half dozen college students still walking through the corridors, Faith awkwardly maneuvered both of them back inside the room. Somehow or other, one of them lost her footing and fell backwards onto the bed, taking the other one down with her. It didn't really matter who fell first since they both ended up sprawled on top of the bedspread. She held her close until Buffy's sobs abated somewhat.

"Promise me this isn't a dream," Buffy urgently whispered, backing away enough so she could see the truth in Faith's eyes.

"Ain't a dream, B," Faith said with a small smile etched on her face. "This time, it's for real."

At the words, Buffy buried her head back onto Faith's chest and closed her eyes tight, burning the moment into her memory. They were talking like that, discussing everything and nothing when Willow walked through the door later that night. As soon as she caught sight of the person lying next to her best friend, her mouth dropped open and incoherent grunts started making their way out. Buffy quickly made her way over to support her should she faint which seemed a definite possibility based on the distinct shade of white her face was turning.

"Willow, breathe," the blonde directed, closing the door behind them.

Faith looked on with a smirk on her face as Buffy tried to explain her much too alive presence. Stretching out her frame on the bed, she assumed a casual air as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to be there which seemed to irk the red head to no end. There was just something about pissing off Buffy's holier than thou friends that appealed to her even now. Once Willow stopped stuttering and making pointed comments that were none too subtle, the three of them settled down for the night, tired by the evening's events. Willow still acted stiff and gave her the cold shoulder whenever possible but considering that Faith couldn't give a damn, it lost most of its intended impact. The only person she came back for was Buffy and the only opinion that mattered to her was Buffy's. It was Buffy who insisted she stay with them, at least for the night. Faith didn't argue, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go and if Willow didn't look happy about the decision, then screw her. If Faith's attitude had taken a 180 degree turn, it was only because she wasn't killing herself over the guilt anymore. Sure, she would still feel bad about what she'd done in the past but factoring in everything she'd gone through, Faith considered the whole ordeal pretty much evened itself out.

****

Faith woke up the next morning at the none too gentle prodding on her shoulder.

"What?" She irritably asked, rolling over until she was lying on her back.

"You were yelling out," Willow answered, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Nothing unusual there...Where's Buffy?"

"She had an early class." Willow looked like she had something else to say but instead went over to the desk and collected her notebook. "I gotta go..."

"Okay, bye," Faith prompted when the red head continued to stand there immobile. Willow nodded curtly before leaving the room. Soon as the door closed behind her, Faith buried her head back into the pillow and immediately went back to sleep again.

****

Buffy couldn't help but be in a good mood. How could she feel any other way. For the first time in several months, she felt like she was all there, not partially, not three quarters of the way, but a hundred percent THERE. That was why she reacted as she did when Willow found her after class and said in no uncertain terms that Faith was definitely not the same person that had come out of Sayersville with memory zapped clean and therefore should be considered dangerous until they could be reasonably sure that she wouldn't go back to her psycho murderer ways. To say that Buffy reacted badly to this bit of news was putting it mildly. The minute she starts feeling happy and it was like a trap door falls out from beneath her feet, plunging her back to dark uncertainty. She ignored whatever Willow said next, instead hurrying back to her room to find that Faith was still asleep. No matter what she was told, she couldn't believe that Faith came back for the sole purpose of screwing with her life again. She sat on Willow's bed watching the other girl sleep, unable to keep the grin off her face.

Buffy was watching her sleep. Faith sensed her as soon as she walked through the door and, even in this semi-somnambulistic state, she was comforted by the fact. And then other thoughts scooted into her mind which took away from that comfort and caused her to abruptly wake up. Buffy was instantly at her side.

"Faith, are you all right?"

"Just a bad dream," she lied, catching her breath. "Done with class yet, cause I could use some company for lunch...plus, y'know, the money too."

Buffy gave her a long, hard look before finally relenting and dropping the subject...at least for now.

****

The room turned dead quiet as soon as they walked through the door but the blessed silence lasted only so long before a horrified, girly scream cut through the air.

"It's a hoot to see you too Xander," Faith said with an amused expression, flopping down on the sofa next to Tara who looked torn between staring at her and looking away for propriety's sake. She was saved from the awkward situation by Willow who pulled her girlfriend away from the bad influence that had just entered the room. Faith might have been able to corrupt Buffy, she thought, but she'd be damned if she got Tara too.

"You're supposed to be dead. C'mon Willow, Buffy, back me up here." Xander looked as if he was about to cry while Faith looked as if she were going to crack up laughing. Before either one of them could act on their impulses, Buffy interjected a calming voice to the melee. "I can explain this." As it turned out, the blonde slayer might have bitten off more than she could chew because most of the questions directed at her, such as "HOW did Faith come back from the dead?" and "WHY did she come back?" were questions she wasn't too sure of herself. When she'd asked them earlier in the day, Faith had hedged and evaded, eventually changing the subject each time.

"Hey, the point is I'm back." Faith diverted the attention away from a flustered Buffy. "Who cares how I got here. If you have a problem with my being alive Harris, we can talk about it in private."

Xander inched behind his girlfriend as Faith audibly snickered. "I guess you're back to being your old bad self," he added, unable to leave anything alone.

"I guess you're right, except, this time around, I'm not trying to kill anyone...but I wouldn't push it if I were you."

Giles, who had been quiet up until then, spoke up before the situation went up in flames. "Everyone, please, let's try to calm down. If Faith truly has no intention of harming anyone, I thing we should give her some leeway." He received some incredulous stares from certain factions of the Scooby Gang but he'd seen how miserable Buffy was after Faith's death and he wasn't keen to see it again. Already, he noticed the sudden upswing in the slayer's mood as it lightened considerably. "So, are we agreed on the matter?"

He received nods from everyone, some more reluctant than others but at least they were all, more or less, on the same page now.

"One little question though," Xander said. "Do we know if she's even a slayer anymore. I mean, don't her powers pass on when she dies. Isn't that how it works?"

"If you recall," Giles said before Faith could put in her two cents. "Buffy has also died, albeit for only a few moments, but her powers are still hers. I would expect that the same holds true here."

Suddenly everybody's eyes were on Faith, as if they expected her to do something slayer-ey to prove herself. But she didn't oblige, instead beaming an exaggerated smile that threw everyone off guard. When it became clear that she wasn't about to contribute anything further to the conversation, Giles coughed, hoping to segue into another subject.

The two slayers eventually made it out of the meeting using the old stand by of needing to patrol.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Buffy worriedly asked as soon as they entered a cemetery.

"We'll see."

Buffy threw a sideways glance at the other slayer. Even though she didn't want to admit it, there was definitely something different about the brunette. There was now a distance between them that she thought had been bridged but, unfortunately, it seemed to be back.

"Faith--" Before the words, "We need to talk" spilled from her lips, three vampires jumped out from behind a large mausoleum and as most vampires are wont to do, they charged at the two seemingly defenseless women, believing this was an easy meal. That perception immediately changed somewhat as soon as one of them expertly whipped out a stake which she then proceeded to toss to her companion. If they thought about it, they would have turned tail and run but hunger does strange things to the psyche. And these newly risen vampires were hungry.

Faith grabbed the stake Buffy tossed her and watched the other girl throw herself at the nearest advancing vamp. As the second one made its way over towards her, she sidestepped it, grabbed it from behind around the neck and plunged the stake into its heart. Feeling two arms tightly gripping her from behind, Faith snapped her head back, hearing the loud scream and the immediate loosening of the arms. Twisting around, she dispatched with the last vamp and casually looked over to where Buffy stood with a small pile of dust gathered underneath her feet.

"I guess I'm still a slayer," she said walking over to the blonde who was still staring strangely at her. "What's the matter B? You look kinda shell-shocked."

"It's just that---the way you killed them. It was so..."

"Efficient? Lacking in passion?" She shrugged. "You live, you learn---in my case, you die, you learn. So, what's the big deal?"

"Nothing. I guess I just have to get used to it."

Faith moved ahead, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "Guess so."

The rest of patrol was uneventful as an awkward silence descended between the two of them. Buffy wanted to say something, to ask what had happened but she doubted Faith would be receptive to the queries.

"Buffy? Where's Riley?" The question came out of nowhere and it took the blonde a few seconds to organize her thoughts enough to answer.

"He's around. Why?"

Faith ignored the queston, instead choosing to ask about something else. "Are you guys still a couple?"

Buffy stopped walking, causing Faith to backtrack a couple of steps until they were standing face to face. Searching the other girl's eyes, all she found was an indecipherable mask that locked out all external scrutiny. "No, we broke up shortly after you...died." At the silence that met her answer, she continued speaking. "It was a mutual break up. We knew it wasn't working out anymore."

Faith gave a short nod before turning around with the full intention of walking on but she got held back.

"Faith, talk to me," Buffy began, unable to ignore her friend's strange behavior anymore. "What's going on inside of you? Please, let me in."

"I don't know what you mean. I came back for you. What more do you need to know?"

"For starters, how about how you came back?"

For the first time that night, a fire burned in the younger slayer's eyes as she grabbed Buffy's jaw in one hand. "What the fuck does that matter? You're acting like you don't even want me here! Can you just leave that alone?"

Buffy grasped Faith's hand and squeezed until the other girl let go. "I'm worried about you Faith," she ground out past her clenched teeth. "My prayers were answered when you came back. Do you know that? So don't think, even for a second, that I don't want you here."

Faith snapped her hand back and, once again, assumed a detached air. "I think it might be a good idea if I stay somewhere else tonight. I'll see ya B."

Buffy was all set to argue the point but Faith had already walked away, heading God knows where. Thus frustrated, she made her way to the Bronze where she was supposed to meet Willow after patrol.

****

Faith sat motionless on the bus bench, arms folded across her chest, her eyes fixated on a point in the distance. It was as though she were struggling with something because a moment later, she suddenly frowned and gripped the wooden slats she was sitting on until a definitive crack whipped through the air, signalling that public property had been irrevocably damaged. Straightening up abruptly, she walked with purpose in the general direction of the Bronze. As soon as she arrived at Sunnydale's one and only club, it was almost as if something tumbled into place and she started feeling like her old self again. Not her reformed self or even the borderline psychotic one but the person she'd been when she first arrived in this one hellhole town. For whatever reason, the place wasn't as hopping as she remembered but that could simply be due to the relatively late hour or a dwindling supply of human meat, not surprising given the ever present vampire population. She spotted Buffy immediately, sitting at a table with Willow and Tara, playing listlessly with her drink. Walking over, she ignored everything and everybody except the one she was focused on until she stood next to the blonde. It took Buffy a moment before she realized someone was standing next to her and the confused expression she turned upwards only grew more so once she recognized it was the other slayer.

"Faith?" Before she could utter another word, she was being led onto the dance floor. Faith's body moved within a hair's breadth of her own before languidly swaying to the slow beat of the music. Buffy followed suit, feeling her body respond to the music and, slowly but surely, the two women became the center of attention to the remaining patrons of the club. They never actually touched but anyone with eyes could see the heat rolling off of them in waves. They moved in sync, each knowing instinctively where the other would step because, not only were they self-aware, they were acutely aware of each other as well. They slowed to a stop as the final notes of the plaintive chords faded to silence. As they had done earlier in the night, the two stood face to face looking into each other's eyes. The only difference this time around was that Faith's eyes were no longer shuttered and closed off, allowing Buffy to see the emotions laying just below the surface. The overriding emotion that Buffy observed threw her for a loop for it was the unmistakeable longing of desire. And then, as if it had never been there in the first place, it was gone. Replaced by a wide smile that never actually got as far as the eyes.

"You know how slaying always gets to me, B. Hungry and horny. Had to get the tension out of my system somehow."

Buffy didn't know what to think. Was the explanation for the impromptu dance as simple as that or was there some deeper meaning that she just wasn't getting?

"Yeah, well, I gotta go B. Got places to be and all." Faith left even more abruptly than the last time but instead of letting her go, Buffy followed the other girl out the back door of the building, catching up with her in the alley.

"Faith, stop---Faith!"

"Why are you following me?" she asked, spinning around angrily.

"Because I know you came here to tell me something and it wasn't just that you were hungry and horny."

"Would you please stop doing this to me?" Faith pleaded, eyes wide and shining.

"Doing what?"

"Wearing me down! Do you know how hard it is being near you? Wanting you?"

"What did you say?"

"I want you. I want to kiss you. I want to touch you and I can't! I can't!" Faith turned and ran but not before Buffy saw the tears tracking down her cheeks.

Unwilling to let it end at that, she gave chase but soon lost the other slayer in one of the numerous cemeteries in and around Sunnydale. She was about to turn around and leave but something stopped her and, instead, she walked to a large gravestone to her left. Making her way around it, she saw the hunched over figure of Faith, sitting with her back to the stone. Buffy crouched in front of the girl and, taking her hands, she waited until Faith looked up into her eyes. Without thinking or analysing it beforehand, she leaned down and kissed her on the lips. A long moment passed as bodies and hands came together and in that same moment, Buffy knew with absolute certainty that it was right. They parted but not before Buffy planted tiny, little kisses across Faith's lips.  She ended up, somehow or other, kneeling between the younger woman's parted legs and if anybody were to catch them in that position, it would be very compromising indeed.

"Buffy, we can't do this--"

"Why not?" She hesitated before asking, "I thought you wanted this."

"I do," Faith vehemently stated. "But...Did you really think I came back without a price? I can't be with you that way. That was the deal---I come back only if I don't sleep with you. Damnit, I didn't think it was going to be this hard. I thought you'd still be with Mr. All-American, that you wouldn't even think to look at me that way."

Buffy wearily rested her forehead against Faith's own. "That's..."

"Fucked up," Faith finished for her, taking Buffy's face in her hands and starting to kiss her again.

They eventually made their way out of the graveyard and back to Buffy's dorm room. The blonde heaved a thankful sigh that Willow wasn't there. More likely than not, the red-headed witch was with Tara. She really didn't want to put up with the tense silences that always seemed to arise whenever her best friend and her new girlfriend occupied the same room. She watched as Faith took off her jacket and shoes and crawled into her bed. She followed a few seconds later, snuggling into Faith's waiting arms. It was truly unbelievable how a few hours ago, she was depressed and alone and now...now, she was being lovingly held by the person she loved. It had taken her a long time to realize the extent of her feelings but they were finally together. Ignoring the niggling, little voice in the back of her mind that insisted on repeating the fact that they could never truly be together in that sense, she involuntarily held on tighter to the warm body next to her.

Faith woke up to the smell of brimstones. Quickly opening her eyes, she scanned the room to find a man sitting on Willow's bed. His sharp features twisted into an amused grin, he greeted her, "How are you Faith?"

"What do you want?" she asked, unwilling to move since Buffy was draped all over her and she didn't want to wake the blonde up.

"We had a deal," he said, a hard edge stealing into his voice. "Remember?"

"And I've kept it up so far, haven't I?"

"Yes but now you have to fulfill the second part. In the next few days, a couple of friends of mine will be in Sunnydale, brewing a little trouble, making a little havoc. You will make sure they're safe from the slayer. Easy enough?"

"Fine," Faith gritted out.

"Are you unhappy with our deal?" He asked, furrowing his brows in mock concern.

"You know I am."

"Too late to change it now," he said, getting up. "Oh and remember, you can't tell Buffy about this part, all right?" Smiling, he disappeared, leaving a frustrated slayer impotent to lash out at her fate.

****

The two slayers were out patrolling that night with Buffy taking up most of the conversational slack. Faith had been in a world of her own ever since they woke up that morning but she refused to tell Buffy what the problem was, insisting that it was nothing. But the older slayer knew Faith well enough to know that it was more than nothing bothering her and she also knew that Faith wouldn't tell her. At least not until she'd been badgered about it for the hundredth time.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Buffy asked for the ninety-ninth time.

"B..." Faith started to say in a wearily exasperated tone of voice. Before she could say anything more, they both simultaneously spotted activity coming from down the street. Silently moving in tandem, they got close enough to ascertain that the activity was indeed demonic. Four large figures in rather ill-fitting clothes carried what looked like a body bag between them. They were all walking nonchalantly down the darkened street as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

Buffy looked over to Faith to get her attention but the girl's eyes were fixed resolutely on the scene unfolding before them. "Faith," she whispered, finally getting the other girl to tear her gaze away for a moment. "Are you ready for this?" She asked referring to their imminent ambush. Worried by the uncertain nod that greeted her question, Buffy started to get up, intent on intercepting the group only to be pulled back almost immediately. "What's the matter?" she asked unnerved by Faith's behaviour.

The brunette struggled to come up with a suitable excuse for them to avoid the group but nothing came out of her mouth. At least nothing coherent.

"Stay here," Buffy said, unknowingly making matters even worse. Making a pun that Faith failed to hear, the blonde engaged the demons and found out the reason why their clothes were so ill-fitting. As soon as she made her presence known, the demons tore off their clothes, revealing big, nasty looking spikes and scales that had been tucked back before.

Faith had no other choice but to join the fray since she couldn't let Buffy face them all alone and she couldn't allow the other slayer to harm any of their adversaries either. Thus having to juggle two different agendas at the same time, her attention wandered dangerously and she would've been dead a second time if her attacker hadn't tripped before delivering a blow with a machete that would no doubt have rent her in two.As it was, the blow only glanced off her left shoulder although it hurt like a bitch nonetheless. Glancing quickly over to Buffy, she saw that the blonde was about to deliver a killing blow of her own and, acting on pure instinct, Faith threw herself at the other girl, effectively tackling her before the demon could be mortally wounded. Surprisingly, while the slayers were thus entangled, the group of demons didn't take advantage, instead opting to collect their baggage and make a hasty retreat.

When Buffy finally freed herself from Faith's hold, the demons were long gone and whatever the group was planning still remained a mystery to them. Looking accusingly at the brunette who still laid prone on the ground,  Buffy asked angrily, "Why did you do that? You stopped me on purpose to let them get away!"

Faith slowly sat up, resloutely refusing to look up into Buffy's eyes even when the other girl crouched down right in front of her.

"Tell me why you did that," Buffy begged imploringly. And upon recieving only silence to her plea, she grabbed the brunette by the collar of her jacket, shaking her savagely.

There was just so much abuse Faith could stand before retaliating and lashing out. Not surprisingly, she pushed back---hard. Her threshold hadn't been that high to begin with notwithstanding the addtional baggage of the deal she'd struck in return for her life. Buffy looked at her, more stunned at the unexpected shove than at any pain that accompanied the act. Faith looked at her regretfully but the damage had already been done. Buffy got up and walked away amid apologies along the lines of "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that...Buffy, will you stop for a second and listen to me?"  Buffy ignored the calls and entreaties, instead disappearing around the corner. Faith, got to her feet abd ran after the other girl. "Buffy!" She yelled at the blonde's retreating back. "I said I'm sorry, what else do you want from me?"

"How about the truth for a change?" she yelled back, not slowing down in the least.

Running ahead, Faith blocked her from walking any further. "If you trust me, you won't ask."

"If you trust _me_, you'd tell me," Buffy countered, meeting Faith's harried gaze. Softening her expression, she cupped the brunette's face and asked for the last time, "Tell me, please."

Averting her eyes, Faith remained resolutely silent. She remained there even as Buffy walked away.

Concluded in Part 4