Wherever they were, they arrived there in the middle of that night. Faith declared that yes, they'd gone far enough. They made their way out of the yard, a task that was much easier to do at night than in daylight.

"Once upon a time," Faith replied. "Decent amount of vamp and demon activity here as I remember."

They walked several blocks before they finally found a motel. Rooms were twenty bucks a night, the greasy, overweight guy behind the desk told them. They paid for a single room for two nights. Neither one could possibly miss the look he was giving the two of them, or the way his eyes kept traveling up Faith's body, down Dawn's, then back up Dawn's, down Faith's, then repeating the circuit.

Dawn leaned over the counter, motioning to him with her finger to come closer. He did.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she whispered conspiratorially.

"Sure!" he agreed enthusiastically, leaning even further forward.

"I just have this feeling you're already thinking of excuses you might find to hang around outside our room, maybe thinking you might hear something interesting through the door or see something even more interesting through the curtains. You should probably know ahead of time that if I find you within twenty feet of room number--" She glanced down at the key in her hand, "--nine, you'll be picking your balls out of your nostrils.

"Have a nice night!" she said sweetly, turned, and walked from the office. Faith gave her a huge grin, then slapped her firmly on the ass as she walked by, smirking at the clerk as she did so.

"Nice," she praised softly.

He sat and watched them leave, his chin nearly scraping on his desk. He decided he'd stay as far away from unit #9 as he could.

---

"Wonder if that guy's ever had a boner and been terrified for his life at the same time," Faith chuckled, shutting the door behind her.

She had barely turned around before she was practically knocked off her feet. She stumbled backwards, hitting the door hard, D's tongue seemingly trying to push it's way completely down her throat and into her stomach. "Mmmnnhh!" she said, surprised, then brought her hands up to clutch D's back, and began returning the kiss.

She was so lost in the feel of D's lips, her skin, her hair, that she was absolutely stunned when she looked down and noticed that they were both naked. When did that happen?

"As great as this is, we're both filthy," Dawn observed when she managed to catch her breath.

"Shower," Faith replied, a bit breathless herself, nodding toward the door on the back wall. That single word seemed to be all she was capable of at the moment.

"Thank God," D said. She took a step back, clearing a path for her lover. "Now, get in that shower, woman," she instructed in a voice that was barely more than a growl. "You're going to get me nice and clean, and I'm going to do the same for you." Her eyes were heavy with desire, burning with lust.

"And after we're done with that, I'm going to eat a nice, long, sweet breakfast," she added, her hand coming to rest between Faith's legs. "Now go!"

Faith wasn't sure her legs were going to carry her all the way over to the bathroom door; they felt awfully wobbly right now. One thing she'd learned during the last three weeks was that while D didn't get like this often, when she did, Faith responded to it like she'd never have believed possible.

"Okay," she agreed obediently, gazing back at Dawn through suddenly heavy-lidded eyes.

Her legs didn't collapse on her, and the two women emerged--eventually--from the bathroom feeling cleaner than they had in days. They also emerged feeling more aroused than they had in days, as well, and spent a long time afterwards doing something about it.

---

They woke up late that afternoon from the first good long sleep they'd had since the night before their ill-fated trip to the club back in Boston. Faith suggested they go do some shopping, pick up some necessities, and Dawn agreed, saying she had an errand she wanted to run, too.

They stopped at a nearby drug store and bought toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, hairbrushes, and a few other items. Next up was a department store where they picked out clothes that were a little more their style, and finally managed to solve the growing underwear crisis.

It turned out that Dawn's "errand" was at a little hole-in-the-wall place imaginatively titled 'Dan's Pawn Shop.' She walked up to the counter and unwrapped the bundle in her hands, which had been wrapped in one of the spare t-shirts she'd filched back in Boston. It was Dirty Harry's gun, unloaded and carefully wiped clean of fingerprints (the bullets had been thrown out of the speeding boxcar somewhere in northeastern Texas).

"Twenty bucks," the clerk--Dan, presumably--offered in a flat, businesslike voice.

"One hundred," Dawn answered in a nearly identical tone.

"Thirty-five."

"Eighty."

"Fifty."

"Sixty-five."

"Fine, sixty-five," Dan agreed, taking the gun and placing it behind the counter. He counted out the correct amount, then wrote out a claim stub which he handed to Dawn. She thanked him, and they turned and left. She balled the stub up and tossed it in a nearby gutter.

With the cash they'd taken from Harry, and the money they'd just made off pawning his gun, they were much better off financially than they'd been a couple of days ago. But the room, and all the stuff they'd bought this afternoon, had cut a large chunk out of that amount, and they knew that one or both of them would have to find work soon, or they'd be living under a bridge less than a week from now.

---

"D, duck!"

Dawn ducked, and narrowly missed being beheaded by the demon's foot-long razor-sharp claws.

"Shit, Faith, I can't fight mine and worry about yours at the same time! Take care of your own damn demon!" Apparently trusting that Faith would do just that, Dawn turned back to concentrate on her own opponent.

Their first full night in town, and their first patrol, and they'd run into a pair of demons that neither could identify. They'd come prepared to fight vamps and most average demons, but not something with four claws on each hand, all of them over a foot long and incredibly sharp. They had stakes; what they needed were swords. Big ones.

"First thing tomorrow--" Faith yelled, sidestepping a thrust aimed at disemboweling her, "--we're going to the nearest army-navy surplus, and picking out two of the biggest fuckin' Bowie knives you've ever seen." She leaned further backward than any normal human could, thanks to her slayer agility and balance, and the claws headed for her throat missed by less than two inches. Almost immediately, she jumped high into the air, avoiding the razors coming towards her knees.

"Good idea," Dawn agreed, doing her best to hold up against the onslaught. She didn't have Faith's slayer abilities--or the right weapon--and she was having difficulty just keeping her insides from being let out onto the ground in a steaming pile, and her parts all attached in the right places.

Faith's demon made a diagonal slash at her, and she saw her opening. She caught it's right wrist in her grip, twisted it so it was pointing at it's stomach, then kicked it's foot out from under it. As it lost it's balance, she yanked it forward, causing it to come crashing down on it's own hand, the long claws slicing right through it's stomach. An instant later, it was dead.

She jumped up and ran to help Dawn, but was a split-second too late.

"D!" she screamed, as one of the claws on it's hand got past Dawn's defenses and slid deep into her side. A look of shocked amazement crossed her face, and her hands fell limply to her side. The demon roared in triumph, and raised it's other hand up, preparing to strike and finish her off.

Just before it could, however, Faith blindsided it with a jumping side-kick that sent it sprawling. D screamed as the claw was pulled free of her body.

Fueled by her rage and her need to get to D and take care of her as soon as possible, Faith made quick work of the second demon, inwardly cursing herself and pointing out that if she'd been this quick and efficient with the first one, D wouldn't be bleeding to death a few feet away.

The creature hadn't even finished it's last breath before Faith was at Dawn's side, inspecting the wound, telling her that she was going to be fine, that she'd be up and kicking ass by the end of the week.

And when she got Dawn's shirt up a little and uncovered the wound, she saw that that might actually be true. Well, maybe not the end of the week part, but the rest of it. It was deep--it had gone completely through her, in fact--but not wide, and she'd been lucky and agile enough to avoid the other three claws on the hand. And if it had hit an artery, D would probably already be dead.

Faith ripped the bottom half off of both hers and Dawn's tanks, balling the rags up and pressing them against the entry and exit wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding.

She was never able to remember quite how she'd done it afterwards, but somehow Faith managed to get Dawn back to their motel a few blocks away without hurting her too badly, and keeping the makeshift bandages held firmly in place.

When she was able to look a little more closely, Faith felt pretty sure that D really needed a few stitches to close each wound, but was terrified to risk taking her to a hospital. She thought they'd be safe enough here in Houston for awhile, but not if they went walking into someplace so public as a hospital. After all this, could they let it end with the cops arresting them as they sat in some examining room while a bored doc sewed D up?

No, she'd give it a couple of days, and see how she healed on her own. If there was no marked improvement, she'd consider taking D to a hospital at that point.

In the meantime, she did everything she could for her. As soon as she'd made sure D was comfortable in bed, Faith ran out to the drug store, buying alcohol, bandages, and some pills to help with the pain. She disinfected the wound, applied the bandages, got her to swallow a couple of the pills, then stayed up all night, watching over D while she slept.

---

Two days later, as Faith had feared, things hadn't improved much. D needed real medical help.

Even worse, they were nearly out of money. Getting a job would mean leaving D alone all afternoon, and she couldn't do that. Dawn couldn't make it that long on her own yet; she needed someone there to look after her, get her food and drinks, help her to the bathroom.

So Faith could get a job and leave her alone for hours and hours each day, a situation she knew the younger woman wasn't able to handle at this point; or she could stay home and take care of her, and they'd be living on the street in a couple of days, something that definitely wouldn't do much for D's recovery.

Or she supposed she could just go mug someone, but she reluctantly dismissed that option. Being evil was just so much more convenient sometimes, she realized with a sigh.

When the answer hit her, it was so stunningly obvious that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. In fact...

Wow, this could really work out perfect, couldn't it?

"D? Do you think you'd be alright on your own for about an hour? I have to go take care of something."

"Yeah, go ahead, Faith. I'll be fine." She smiled bravely, but there was no mistaking the weakness in her voice.

I'd better hurry.

---

She stopped first at the local library, and used one of their computers to do some research on the internet. This wasn't something she'd had much experience with, and it took her a little longer than it would have for most people; especially since she could hardly ask for help, given what it was she wanted to look up.

When she finally found what she was looking for, her worst fears were confirmed. She turned off the computer and left the building in a hurry, more intent than ever on finding a phone--and quickly.

---

"Information, please. I need a number in Los Angeles," Faith told the operator. She gave her the name. "Something toll-free would be best," she added. A moment later, she was copying it down on a scrap of paper.

She punched it into the phone and waited.

"Wolfram and Hart," a pleasant female voice answered after the second ring.

"Hi, uh, I need to talk to Angel," Faith told her.

"I'm sorry, but Angel has a very busy schedule and can't personally take an interest in every case we handle. Would you like to make an appointment to meet with one of our junior partners?" the annoyingly pleasant, yet completely dry and businesslike voice asked.

"Listen, lady, I need to talk to Angel, and I need to talk to him right... the fuck... NOW! So get on your little intercom and tell him Faith is on the phone and wants to speak with him. Because if you don't, when I finally do get in touch with him, I'm going to tell him all about how the numb bitch who answers the phones there wouldn't let me through, and I know enough about how things work at that place to figure out what'll happen to you then!" Faith fumed, unconsciously clenching and unclenching her right fist; the left held the phone in a deathgrip. Somehow she'd expected things would still work like the old days at good ol' Angel Investigations: call up and ask to talk to the boss, and they'd put him right on.

"Umm... just a moment, please," the voice replied, sounding nervous and uncertain now. Canned muzak came on, and Faith waited for what seemed like a half-hour.

"Faith?"

"Angel! Thank God!" she exclaimed, exhaling deeply.

"How are you? Is everything all right?" Angel inquired, obviously concerned. Man, it was so good to hear his voice after all these years!

"No, everything isn't. I've got a problem I need help with. Christ, for a little while I didn't think they were going to let me talk to you," she confessed. "When D told me you were running that place, I didn't really believe it. What the hell are you doing there, Angel?" she asked. She just couldn't figure out why Angel would agree to take over the law firm otherwise known as Evil Incorporated.

"Doing the best I can, Faith, but it's not easy some days. Anyway, if there's anything I can do to help you, you know I will.

"And who's Dee?"

Faith sighed, and started at the beginning. She told of meeting Dawn in Boston, the run-in at the nightclub, the incident with Carl, and the accident of two nights ago that had the younger woman in bed with two holes in her side. She left out the more personal aspects of their relationship, figuring Angel didn't need to know quite that much.

"I just did a little research, Angel, and Dawn's wanted on a whole shitload of charges. Twenty-or-thirty-years-in- prison kind of stuff when you add it all together. And none of it's her fault. About the worst thing she did was help me steal some clothes from that store back in Boston. The rest of it... the thing at the club, she just knocked her guy out; he was probably fine the next day. I'm the one who lost it on the other two.

"Carl, well, he caused the whole fuckin' thing. D just got him under control and out of the way for a few hours; she didn't even hurt the asshole." Faith was rambling now.

"Angel, she can't go to jail for piddly shit like this. Is there something you can do about it?"

She heard Angel sigh. "I don't know, Faith. This sounds pretty damn serious. I believe you about all of it, but if the warrants have already been issued, then the authorities apparently don't think her role was quite so minor." He paused, and sighed again.

"Okay, listen, let me talk to Gunn, have him look into it and see what he can do."

"Gunn?" Faith was confused. "I'm sorry, but how exactly is Denzel going to help in this situation?"

"Long story. Short version is, he's the best lawyer we've got. If anyone can get Dawn cleared, it'll be him."

"Okay, you know what you're doing, I guess," Faith agreed dubiously.

"That all?"

"Not quite," she replied. "Uh, look, the thing is, we're kinda running low on cash. I can't get a job and leave D alone all day, but if I don't, we're gonna be out on the street in another coupla days. We could really use a little to tide us over until she's okay. Then we can look out for ourselves, like always."

"How much do you need?"

"I don't know, three or four hundred?"

"No problem," he told her. "Where should I send it?"

"Wire it to me here in Houston, under the name of, uh, Dixie Riggins," she instructed. Dixie had been her cellmate, once upon a time.

"Okay, fine. How can I get in touch with you?"

"You can't. Too risky. Do you have a direct number I can use, so I don't have to go through the stupid bitch at the front desk again?" He gave it to her, and she wrote it down on her scrap of paper. "Okay, great. I'll call you back tomorrow at about this time."

"Fine. Be careful, Faith."

"I will. Thanks, Angel."

"You're welcome. And Faith?"

"Yes?"

"Good to hear your voice again."

"You too, Soul Boy." She grinned and hung up.

---

Faith returned to the motel, figuring she'd give Angel a couple of hours to send the money before she went to collect it.

She really hoped Angel--and Gunn, apparently--could get the charges against D dropped, but that was a distant, long-term worry right now. The immediate concern was their cash situation, and hopefully she'd just solved that for the time being.

And she'd decided that no matter what she heard from Angel tomorrow afternoon, she was taking D to the hospital right afterwards. It would be better if she wasn't a wanted woman any longer at that point, but no matter what, Faith wasn't letting it go any longer. In fact, she was beginning to seriously consider just saying 'fuck it,' and taking her in right now. Only her faith in Angel, believing he might really be able to help them, was stopping her.

Of course she knew that even if D wasn't wanted anymore, there was still the chance they could be identified and she herself could be caught. But that possibility was much easier to live with if it was just her, knowing that D would still be free.

"Hey," she said softly, closing the door behind her.

"Hey," Dawn replied weakly.

Faith gently sat down on the bed and carefully leaned herself against her lover. "Any change?"

"Nope," Dawn told her. After a minute, she added, "Thanks for doing all this for me, Faith."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for, D," she replied lightly, then grew more serious. "If I'd been quicker, you wouldn't even be in this position."

"That's not true; you did the best you could. Thank you." She gripped Faith's hand and held on tightly.

"Faith, can I ask you a favor?"

"You know you can."

"If something happens to me--"

Faith interrupted her. "Nothing's going to happen to you, D. You're going to be fine. I personally fuckin' guarantee it," she told her forcefully.

"If something happens to me," Dawn repeated patiently, "I need you to find my sister and give her a message. Maybe you're right; maybe I'll be fine. I hope so. But I could recover completely, and get killed by something completely different next month. Or get hit by a bus. Now, will you promise?"

"Okay," Faith agreed quietly. "What do you want me to tell her?"

"Tell her I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did four years ago, and tell her that I wished nearly every day afterwards that I could take it back. I even blamed her partly for Kait's death, because I knew that if we hadn't had that fight, Kait never would've ended up dead three years later. So tell her I'm sorry for that, too, because it wasn't Buffy's fault; it was mine." Tears were leaking from Dawn's eyes, but she wasn't crying yet.

"I told you before, D, Kait's death wasn't your fault," Faith told her, gently but firmly.

"Maybe not," Dawn replied, but with obvious skepticism.

"I'll tell her," Faith promised.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened between Buffy and me? What the fight was about?" Dawn asked a short time later.

"I didn't think it was my business, that you'd tell me if you wanted me to know."

"I stole something of hers," Dawn confessed, looking over at Faith.

"What was it?" Faith asked. She was mildly curious, but mostly she realized that D needed to tell this story now. The answer she got was one of the greatest shocks of her life.

"A picture of you."

Faith tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. Buffy had had a picture of her? Why? Maybe just to remind herself what a bitch Faith was? 'Note to self: don't end up like her,' that kind of thing?

"I found it in with her stuff one day when I was looking for something she'd asked me to get for her," Dawn continued, now looking away and missing the stunned look on Faith's face. "She came in and found me holding it, and flipped out, yelling at me for looking through her stuff instead of just getting the thing she'd sent me for.

"I asked her why she had it, and she got all flustered. She said she must have hundreds of pictures, so of course she was bound to have one or two of you. She told me that if I looked hard enough, I could probably even find one of Principal Snyder, too."

Faith had managed to wipe the stunned look off her face, and replace it with one that revealed nothing of the whirlwind of thoughts blowing through her mind. 'Buffy kept a picture of me' was the one that kept repeating the most often, as if trying to convince herself it could possibly be true.

"I pointed out that she didn't have a picture of Snyder in with her personal stuff," Dawn was saying. "In fact, the only others she had in there with it were of me and Mom. Not even ones of Willow, Xander, Angel, or Spike. She grabbed it out of my hand and screamed at me to get the hell out of her room."

Dawn's voice had taken on a flat monotone, almost as if she was relating a story that had happened to someone else.

"A couple of months later, I wanted to look at it again. I snuck into her room and went through her stuff, but she'd put the pictures of the three of us somewhere else. But I kept looking, and eventually I found them. I was just going to look at the picture and then put it back, but for some reason, I put it in my pocket and took it with me, instead.

"Buffy found out it was missing the next day, and went crazy. She screamed and yelled and demanded I give it back, saying she knew I'd taken it. I denied it, and said I didn't know what she was talking about." Faith could hear the faint traces of oncoming sobs in Dawn's cracking voice.

"I was going to give it back. I didn't even mean to take it; I don't know why I did. But when she confronted me, I just got so scared and denied the whole thing. She yelled and screamed, and I yelled and screamed, and finally I told her that if she thought I was just some lying little thief, then she could just kiss my ass. I stormed out of there, and never saw her again.

"I went back the next day... and-and she wasn't there... so I f-found Kait and told her I w-w-was planning to leave," The tears were flowing freely now, and Dawn's voice was starting to break up as the sobs gradually began, "and she s-said she'd c-come w-w-with me, and if sh-she h-hadn't, she'd still be a-a-a-alive!" Dawn finished, burying her head in Faith's shoulder and crying openly.

"Shh, D, it's okay... Shh, it's okay," Faith repeated over and over, gently stroking Dawn's long hair, telling her it wasn't her fault, that she'd give the message to Buffy, that Dawn was going to be fine and could give it to her herself if she wanted.

After what seemed like an hour--but was probably closer to twenty minutes--Dawn began to get herself back under control. "I'm sorry, Faith," she said, rubbing her eyes. "I don't think I've cried as much in four years as I have in the last four weeks," she admitted, blushing a little.

"Hey," Faith admonished, pushing D's hands away, and lovingly wiping the tears away herself, "didn't I tell you once: never apologize to me for being you. I like that you're not afraid to show me who you really are, or tell me things about yourself that you wouldn't tell anyone else. Thank you for trusting me," she said, and delivered a long, slow kiss that was enthusiastically returned.

"Now tell me the truth," she continued, grinning, "Why did you take that picture?"

"I told you, I don't know." Faith just stared at her, expressionless, waiting patiently, and Dawn blushed again. "Well, I guess I always thought you were kinda, y'know... hot. Except for the times when you were trying to kill my sister," she added quickly. Faith looked away, embarrassed to be reminded of that. "And in that pic, with your leather jacket on and all..." She trailed off, and the traces of lust were now visible in her blue eyes.

"Oh my God!" Faith exclaimed as a realization hit her.

"What?"

"That picture! Kait saw that picture, and that's how she knew you wanted a jacket like that! Isn't it?" Dawn looked away and said nothing.

"Hey! 'Fess up! That's it, isn't it?" Faith persisted, nudging Dawn's knee repeatedly with her own.

"Yes! Yes, that's it. I showed her the picture, and told her how much I liked your jacket, and that's why she bought me one," Dawn admitted. "I think she knew I had a crush on you, too, but she never acted jealous."

Faith laughed softly, and they sat in a comfortable silence for awhile afterwards. Finally, she decided she'd given Angel enough time to take care of the money. Time to go pick it up.

"I gotta go run another quick errand, D. Will you be okay by yourself for a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

"Great. I'll be quick. And when I get back, I think I'll have good news." She got up slowly from the bed, being careful not to jostle it and cause D any unnecessary pain.

"Hey, D?" she called just before she left, her hand resting on the doorknob.

"Yeah?"

"When you showed Kait the picture of me, did she think I was hot?" she asked, grinning.

"Very hot," Dawn confirmed.

"Figures. This girl obviously had taste," she said, gesturing to the two of them.

Dawn was still chuckling as Faith closed the door behind her.

---

She picked the money up at the Western Union office, noting how thick the envelope was as she slipped it into her backpack. What'd they do, give it to me all in fives? she wondered to herself. She didn't open it, however, because even if you're a slayer, you don't stand on a street corner counting a large sum of cash in your hands. She'd open it when she got back to the room.

"Surprise!" she yelled as she opened the door, withdrawing the envelope from her pack and holding it up triumphantly.

"What's that?" Dawn asked, obviously curious about Faith's excitement.

"Gift from a friend," she told her, handing it over and sitting at the foot of the bed.

Dawn opened it, and Faith burst out laughing at the expression of shock on her face. "Faith, where did all this come from?" she demanded, holding it open so that the slayer could see all the greenbacks inside.

"I told you, it's a gift from a friend. So I guess we don't have to worry about rent for the next couple of weeks, huh?"

"No, I'd say we're pretty much set for the next two years."

"What?!" Faith demanded, standing up and moving to the top of the bed. Dawn handed her the envelope, and Faith looked inside. It was nothing but fifty-dollar bills. Dozens of them. "Holy shit!" She sat down, took them out, and began to add them up.

"Faith, tell me, dammit: where did this come from?" Dawn asked again.

"Huh? Oh, Angel and his spooky law firm," Faith answered absently. "Don't talk for a minute; you'll make me lose count."

A short time later, she reported they now had ten thousand dollars. They sat staring at each other for a moment, then burst into a fit of hysterical, relieved giggles, sounding for all the world like a pair of fourteen-year-olds.

---

"Hello?"

"I think you need to pay closer attention to your accounting, Angel. I asked for three or four hundred, and you sent me ten grand. So when the bills come every month, do you pay 'em over twenty times what they're asking for?"

"I guess you got it okay," Angel said, and Faith could almost hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah. Thanks. You don't know how much that helps. Really.

"So how 'bout the rest of it? Can you do anything?" She held her breath as she waited for the answer.

"All charges against Dawn Summers have either already been dropped, or will be by late this afternoon," Angel reported matter-of-factly. He said it in such a way that, for a moment, Faith wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry--what? All charges? As in, she's free to go?" she asked, wanting to be completely clear on this.

"All charges," he confirmed.

"How the hell did you pull that off?"

"You don't even want to know," he told her. "Part of it was Gunn and his legal maneuvering, and part of it was the fringe benefits you get from running an evil law firm with lots of mystical know-how."

"What, you put some hexes on a few DAs?" she asked, grinning.

"I wouldn't say that... exactly," Angel said, and Faith could picture him sitting in his chair, squirming. "Nobody got hurt, but the result is, Dawn's no longer a wanted fugitive. Isn't that good enough?"

"Angel, that is so much better than good enough!" she gushed, relief flooding through her, making her want to both laugh and cry at the same time. Now, hurry up and get her to the hospital, you moron!

Just as she was about to say a hurried goodbye and go running for the motel, a couple of other things occurred to her.

"Uh, Angel, you've already done so much, and I hate to ask..."

"Faith, come on. If I can do it, I will. Now what is it?" he asked patiently.

"Coupla things, really..."

---

Five minutes later Faith was running flat-out from the phone booth for the motel. Thanks to their new riches, she was able to call a cab, and gingerly placed D inside, instructing the driver to head for the hospital. On the way, she explained Angel's great news on the legal front, doing it quietly enough so that the cabbie wouldn't overhear.

After they'd spent seemingly forever in the waiting area, they were finally shown into an examining room, where a doctor inspected Dawn's side and confirmed that yes, she did indeed need several stitches. No problem, he told them. She'd be healed up and on her feet in a couple of weeks.

Once he'd finished sewing her up, Faith thanked him profusely, seeming even more relieved than Dawn herself. She paid their bill on the way out, then stopped in at the hospital's pharmacy to have Dawn's prescriptions filled.

The next day, Faith made another call to LA. Angel told her that he had taken care of her first request, and they were still working on the second; she should try calling back again in a few days. She thanked him once again and hung up, then immediately ran over to the post office to sign up for mail delivery under the same assumed name.

Things settled into a routine in the following days. Dawn had to stay off her feet, so they stayed in bed all day--usually with very little on at the time--watching TV, listening to music, finding all the possible ways to be intimate that wouldn't interfere with Dawn's recovery, or just talking to one another.

During these conversations, Faith told Dawn more about her life, and particularly her childhood, than she'd ever told anyone before. Dawn listened, at times shocked, horrified, angry, sad... and always sympathetic. She told Faith repeatedly how brave she thought she was to have lived through all that and become the woman she was. Faith blushed and mumbled, embarrassed by Dawn's praise.

She'd opened up more than she ever had in her life, but Faith was still unable to tell Dawn she loved her. Part of her was still convinced that if she did, Dawn would leave her, just bail the way she herself had in New Orleans. Not surprisingly, she didn't tell Dawn about New Orleans, although she told nearly every other story from the last five years.

The day after they'd gone back to the hospital and been told Dawn was healing right on schedule, Faith made another phone call. Angel had come through. She jotted down a phone number, thanked the vampire again for all his help, hung up, and dialed the new number.

She explained who she was and why she was calling, then asked if it would be okay if she called back in about an hour. It was. Next stop was the post office, and sure enough, the package Angel had arranged for had come in.

---

"Surprise again!" Faith said, coming through the door with a large box. It wasn't the same one she'd just picked up, however; she'd stopped and gotten a new empty one, transferring all the items over to it in order to avoid having the return address give it away.

"A present?!" Dawn asked happily, again sounding about fourteen.

"Absolutely," Faith replied. Her grin felt so wide that she was becoming worried that the ends would meet around the back of her head, and everything from the nose up would just topple off onto the ground.

Dawn grabbed it eagerly, easily ripping through the couple of small pieces of tape Faith had used to seal it up. Faith had made sure, as she was moving everything into the new box, that the most important thing was right on top.

"Oh my God, Faith," Dawn exclaimed softly, lifting the leather jacket out of the box. "It's beautiful. You really did buy me one, just like you prom... Hey--wait a minute..." Faith hadn't thought it was possible for her grin to get any bigger, yet somehow it did as she watched the comprehension spread across her lover's face. "Faith! This is my jacket! The one Kait bought me!"

"Yep," Faith agreed, still grinning like a crazy-woman.

"Where did... How could... I mean, how did you..." Dawn stammered, unable to take her eyes off the garment.

"Angel helped out a little, actually," the slayer explained. "After he got you cleared of all the charges, well, there was no reason for the cops to be able to keep your stuff, right? So he arranged to have it all sent to him, and then he shipped it to me. Keep looking: all the rest of your stuff's in there, too."

"Oh my God," Dawn whispered again, peering inside the box and pulling out the rest of her old clothes and personal effects. Among these was a picture of Faith that had once belonged to her sister. "I should find a way to send this back to her," she said quietly, almost as if speaking to herself.

"We can probably do that," Faith said. "And I'll make sure I replace it for you. With a pornographic one, if you want," she said and winked. Dawn laughed, and threw a mock-slap at her.

"I've got one more surprise," Faith told her, and picked up the phone.

"Another one? Jeez, it's like my birthday or somethin'."

"Somethin' like that." Faith punched in the last number and handed the phone to Dawn.

"What? Hey! Faith, I don't even know who this--" she protested.

"Hello?" a female voice said, with a noticeable accent.

"Hello? Uh, who's this?" Dawn asked, slightly flustered.

"Becky Wilkerson," the voice answered. "Dawn, is that really you?"

"Becky?" Dawn whispered in disbelief. The eyes she turned to Faith looked as big as coconuts.

"I told you she wasn't dead," Faith told her softly, again wearing a huge smile.

Dawn and Becky talked for over an hour, laughing, telling stories, crying over Kait. Dawn apologized over and over for driving Becky away from them, and again and again Becky told her that that's not what happened, that she saw Kait and Dawn together and just wanted to give them the privacy she thought they deserved.

Dawn was thrilled to learn that Becky had settled down just outside Boise, gotten a job that let her live pretty well, and had met a nice guy who she'd been living with for three months now. Boise didn't have much of a vampire problem, but she still managed to put her slayer abilities to occasional use.

Dawn responded by telling Becky all about Faith ('that girl you kept the picture of?'), and their adventures together over the last month, and how happy she was again, finally. When she hung up, her jacket still clutched firmly in one hand, Dawn looked happier than Faith could ever remember seeing her.

Faith explained how she'd asked Angel to track Becky down, so that she could prove once and for all that the missing slayer was still alive. She hadn't had anything to go on beyond a first name, an approximate age, and the fact that she was Australian and a slayer, and couldn't ask Dawn for more details, as that would've given the surprise away.

Angel had contacted Willow, Faith continued, who was able to provide Becky's last name. From there, it was just a couple of days' work to track her down in Idaho and get her phone number.

"Faith... This is just..." She couldn't finish, couldn't find the words to express it. She settled for grabbing Faith and pulling her into a long, slow, passionate kiss that conveyed all her gratitude for everything Faith had done for her, all the lengths she'd gone to, just for her.

Faith had never felt so proud in her life: she'd made D truly, honestly happy.

---

They went back to the hospital a week later, and Dawn's stitches were removed.

"Now, you still want to be cautious for the next couple of weeks," the doctor admonished. "Nothing too strenuous for a little while longer, hmm?"

"What about... I mean, uh... you know..." Dawn turned a deep scarlet and glanced away. Faith grinned and contained her laugh only with great effort.

"She wants to know if it's okay to have sex, doc," Faith supplied helpfully. At this, Dawn turned purple.

"I think that should be fine, provided she remembers she's still on the mend and controls herself." He turned and addressed Dawn directly. "You're obviously someone who's used to keeping herself in excellent condition. So, jogging should be okay, but no heavy lifting of any kind for at least another month, alright?"

"Yes, doctor," Dawn mumbled, glaring at Faith, who just grinned back at her.

"Fine, then I guess that's it," he said, closing the folder he'd been holding. "If you have any complications, come in immediately. Otherwise, it was nice to meet you, ladies." He smiled, shook their hands, and left the room.

"I can't believe you did that to me," Dawn accused as she finished re-doing the last couple of buttons on the men’s work shirt she had on. Faith noted there wasn't any real anger in D's tone; just embarrassment, and a trace of laughter at Faith's forthright way with people.

"What?" Faith feigned indignation. "You obviously weren't going to get it out, and didn't you want to get an answer to the question?"

Dawn shook her head, sighing. "Faith, you're such a bitch."

"Yeah, but I'm your bitch," she agreed, grinning and pressing up against Dawn's side, making sure her breasts brushed along D's arm. "Hey, come on. We're going to go celebrate you re-joining the land of the healthy." She grabbed D's hand and tugged her from the examining room.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Faith told her, and refused to say more.

---

"You're honestly going to eat all that?" Dawn asked, gaping at the large plate of ribs, along with barbecued duck, sitting in front of Faith. She took a bite of her brisket and nodded her approval.

"Hey, what can I say? Slayers have big appetites," Faith explained, digging into her pile of ribs.

Faith had taken them to Goode Company Barbecue, which she promised was one of the best restaurants in town; she'd eaten here several times during her first trip through Houston, nearly five years ago. In fact, she'd developed a strong love for barbecue during her time in the southwest, and missed it when she'd been forced to move on to other areas of the country--barbecue in Seattle just didn't come close to measuring up to that in Texas or Kansas City.

"I've never heard of anyone eating barbecued duck," Dawn observed between bites.

"It's good, though," Faith told her. She cut a small piece off and held it out on the end of her fork. "Go ahead, try it."

Dawn hesitated a moment, then leaned forward and plucked the morsel off the fork. She chewed cautiously, then smiled. "Yeah, not bad."

"Here, want the rest?" Faith offered, reaching down to pick up the plate with the remainder of the duck on it.

"Oh, no! No, thanks, I'm good with what I've got, and I don't have your appetite," Dawn replied.

They ate in comfortable silence for several minutes. The sounds of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline playing in the background were hardly to either woman's normal tastes, but they found they didn't mind; it just added to the pleasant atmosphere of the place.

"It's not that late yet," Faith said, breaking the silence and looking at the clock on the wall, which read 6:44. "There's a theater a few blocks from here, and probably a few movies starting at seven-thirty, if you felt like catching one."

Dawn looked at her for a moment, then began to grin. "Is this a date?" she accused, giving Faith a sly look.

"What? No!" Faith protested, her face beginning to turn the same shade that Dawn's had in the examining room earlier. "Well, you know, it's just we never really did that kinda thing, and I thought..."

"What, our fun-filled night out in Boston doesn't count?" Dawn asked, and after a moment's hesitation, they both laughed.

"Well, I guess it could, but I think when you end it fleeing from the cops, it sorta loses most of it's date-like charm," Faith decided with a grin. "But we can count it if you want, and make this our second date. So how 'bout it: will you go to the movies with me, D?" She reached across the table and took the younger girl's hand in hers.

"Yes, I'd love to go to the movies with you, Faith," Dawn agreed with a smile.

---

They walked hand-in-hand to the movie theater, turning often to look at one another, smile, and turn back to see where they were going. They were mostly oblivious to the stares they were getting; some angry or disapproving, some jealous, but mostly just small, knowing smiles from folks who appreciated seeing two people together who obviously made each other so happy.

Dawn told Faith she could pick the movie, and so naturally they ended up with something action-packed, with plenty of gunfire and explosions.

The movie quickly became irrelevant, anyway. The two of them had taken seats way in the back, and almost before the previews had ended, their lips were locked firmly together, Faith had undone three of the buttons on Dawn's shirt and slipped a hand inside, and Dawn was busily trying to undo Faith's fly one-handed, while her other twined itself firmly in the slayer's long, thick, dark hair.

What they did over the next ninety minutes was actually pretty tame compared to the standards of Faith's past, but when they sensed the end of the film approaching and had to pull themselves back together, she couldn't ever remember being more aroused in her life.

As they dragged themselves out of the theater and towards their room, hands clasped tightly once again, Faith realized that she was going to have to get them back here and take in a couple more movies. Romantic ones this time, something she would never even have considered sitting though a couple of months ago. And not only that, she was going to have to find a way to avoid a repeat of what happened tonight, so that she could actually watch them--or more accurately, study them.

She hadn't given up on her plan, formed in a boxcar traveling through Ohio a few weeks back, of giving D a great romantic evening, and showing her just how much she really loved her. To do that, she was going to need some pointers.

They stumbled through their door, all over each other once again, and made the bed creak steadily and loudly until the first rays of sunlight were shining through the curtains the next morning, and they'd collapsed into a totally spent, thoroughly contented sleep.

---

The next day it was Dawn's turn to decide what they'd do, and so they went to the zoo.

At first, she refused to believe Faith when the slayer admitted she'd never been to a zoo before, but then apparently re-considered what she'd learned of Faith's past, and changed her mind. "Well, then it's about time you did. Trust me, you'll love it."

And, a little surprised, Faith realized that she did. The large predators were impressive--the various bears and large cats, along with the giant snakes and alligators--but she was most surprised to find that her favorite animals were some of the "cuddlier" ones. She laughed in delight at the antics of the penguins (not noticing the look of happiness on D's face as she observed Faith), admired the balance of the flamingoes as they stood on just a single leg, and stared up in awe at the giraffes with their incredibly long necks.

After they'd been there awhile, Faith began to notice how D kept bringing them back to the panther exhibit. "You really like these guys, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, they're..." She trailed off and looked away, cheeks flushing slightly. "They kinda remind me of you," she whispered as she looked back at the slayer.

Faith stared down at her shoes, embarrassed. "Wow, um, thanks, D," she forced out, giving the other girl a small smile.

Finally, it was time to go; D had one more stop in mind for that afternoon. But before they did, Faith insisted they stop in at the gift shop. She looked around for a long time before finally finding what she was looking for: a stuffed panther about a foot tall.

She caught up with Dawn, who'd picked out something of her own to get Faith. "No way! I am NOT wearing that!" Faith protested, horrified.

"C'mon, you gotta! Please?" Dawn whined. Faith had no hope of refusing D when she pouted like that, and she knew it.

"Fine," she grumbled--but making sure she did it an a way that let D know she wasn't genuinely mad.

They paid for their purchases and left.

---

She glared at D every chance she got, who just grinned back at her, shrugged, and kept telling her how cute she looked. Faith knew she loved her, but in the hour they spent looking at pictures of old astronauts and spacecraft, along with looking in on Mission Control, she thought she could easily have strangled D, as well.

In a loving way, of course.

---

Faith and Dawn spent their afternoons sightseeing, shopping, trying various restaurants, or just staying in all day and getting good and sweaty.

At night, Faith would go out and patrol for an hour or so. Dawn naturally wanted to go along, but Faith absolutely refused, and no amount of whining, pouting, or yelling on Dawn's part would change her mind. Not until her stitches had been out for at least a month, she told her, and simply wouldn't budge.

Dawn responded by insisting that Faith--until she had Dawn there backing her up--get herself out of any fight against three or more vamps, or two or more demons.

"You want me to run away?" Faith had asked, incredulous.

"Bet your ass I do. Now promise," Dawn had told her. Faith promised, reluctantly.

And even though they still had most of the money Angel had sent them, they eventually decided they should both get day jobs. It was fun living like a couple of rich slackers, but it would be better to save that money for emergencies, or for special situations. In the meantime, they'd each get jobs and use the money from them to pay the rent, buy food, etc.

Dawn got another waitress gig, and Faith hired on down at the docks, helping to load and unload ships, and move heavy cargo around. She told a laughing Dawn about how all the big, brawny guys looked at her the first morning like she was insane for thinking she could do this kind of work, and how, by the end of the day, they were coming to her and asking for her help.

Their combined salaries were actually more than they were spending on rent and food, and as a result they were now adding to their savings.

Finally, the month was up and Faith let Dawn go out on patrols once again. She was rusty and not up to full strength yet, but Faith didn't think either problem would last long. She was right.

She was beginning to wonder what she and Dawn should do for Thanksgiving, which was coming up very soon, when she started to get that sense that it might be time for her to think about moving on soon, that the cops might be closing in on her again.

Reluctantly, because they'd enjoyed their time in Houston so much, they withdrew their money from the bank, packed up their stuff, and bought a couple of tickets on the next bus bound for Denver.