-1-

"I'm just still not so sure this is such a great idea," Angel said for probably the tenth time in the last four days. "I've known her for a lot of years now, Willow, and no offense, but are you sure you're not letting your own view of... life... affect your judgment at all?"

"You've known her for years, Angel, and I know you love her, but honestly, which one of us knows her better now? Which one of us has spent nearly every day of the last thirteen years with her? This is fine. Trust me, I know what I'm doing," she told him, trying to inject more confidence into her voice than she actually felt. Okay, so it was a strong hunch, but all the same, it was still a hunch.

"I hope so."

They continued their phone conversation for another few minutes, moving on to talk about other things, before Willow had to excuse herself and clear out for the evening. She wanted more than anything to stay and make sure things went well, but she knew she couldn't. If this was ever going to work, it would have to happen on its own. All she could do was give a gentle push to get things going in the right direction, then stand back and hope it all worked out.

-2-

The 'car' that picked Faith up turned out to be a top-of-the-line stretch limo, and she was able to spend the ride over to Angel's place eating canned nuts watching Looney Tunes on its large TV. She hated that stupid, smug roadrunner, and wished they'd let the damn coyote catch him one of these days.

The driver dropped her off in front of a large, modern-looking high-rise apartment building. The doorman had apparently been told to expect her; he buzzed the door and let her right in, without asking who she was or who she was there to see. She took the elevator up to one of the very top floors, found the correct door, and thumbed the buzzer. One of the penthouses; 'bout where you'd expect the guy in charge of Wolfram & Hart to be living.

The door opened, and the person behind it wasn't Angel.

"Faith! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Angel. What are you doing here?" Faith countered.

"Uh, I live here," Buffy said with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean, 'you're here to see Angel?'"

"You mean this isn't his place?"

"No, it's mine; me and Willow."

"That son of a bitch!" Faith whispered, it instantly dawning on her what all this had been about. "He set me up. Bastard!" She spun and stalked toward the elevator.

"Faith, wait. Please!" Buffy dashed after her, grabbing her by the arm and spinning her around. When she realized that this was exactly what she'd done during their fight yesterday, she jerked her hand away like she'd touched something hot. Faith turned back toward the elevator, pushed the 'Down' button, and waited for it to arrive.

"Faith, please!" Buffy pleaded again. "I'm so sorry about what I said yesterday; I can't even tell you. I didn't mean any of it, I swear!"

"Yeah, you did, B. But that's fine. Maybe you were even right about some of it." Faith remained facing the closed elevator doors, her back to Buffy, not looking at her as she spoke.

"No, I wasn't. I acted like the world's biggest bitch. You wouldn't have come if you didn't care about Dawn."

There was a 'ding' announcing the elevator's arrival, and the doors slid open. Faith stepped inside.

"Faith, please don't go!" Buffy begged, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks. She reached out and put her hand over one of the doors, preventing it from closing. "There are some things I need to tell you, and if you leave now, I'm never going to see you again!"

Faith's hard exterior softened just a bit, and she said gently, "C'mon, B, just let me leave." She reached out and took Buffy's hand, attempting to move it and let the doors slide shut.

Instead, Buffy grabbed it fiercely and pulled her forward, at the same time sinking to her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around Faith's waist, and sobbing openly. "Don't go, Faith, please don't leave me! I just lost Dawnie, and I can't lose you, too!"

What the hell? Faith wondered. This couldn't be the same woman who'd been screaming at her yesterday afternoon, practically accusing her of using her sister like a ten-dollar ho. "Uh, okay, B, I won't leave. Promise." She hesitantly patted Buffy's shoulder. "Now please, stand up?" she asked.

Shakily, Buffy got to her feet, furiously trying to wipe her tears away. "I'm sorry," she said, embarrassed. "Can we go inside and talk for a little while?" she asked the younger slayer when she'd finally gotten herself back under some kind of control.

"Yeah, okay. I guess," Faith agreed cautiously.

Buffy smiled weakly and, still sniffling slightly, led Faith through the front door of the apartment.

-3-

The place was huge. Beyond the small foyer they were currently standing in was a living room that looked bigger than B's whole house back in Sunnydale. A flight of stairs ran up the far wall to the second floor. Off to their left, Faith could see what appeared to be the dining room through an open door, and there were a couple of closed doors off to their right that led who-knew-where.

"Wow. This is really your place?"

"Well, sort of," Buffy explained, walking past her and into the living room. "It belongs to Angel's firm; he's just letting us use it while we're in town." She sat down on the large leather sofa and motioned for Faith to join her.

"How long you staying?" Faith asked, taking the offered seat.

"We're not sure. Another month or two, maybe?" She reached over and picked something up off the end-table next to the couch. "Willow tells me this belongs to you." She held up the picture of Dawn that Faith had left the previous afternoon.

Faith nodded, not trusting herself to speak. God, she wanted that picture back! How stupid had she been to have left it?

"She was really beautiful, wasn't she?" Buffy murmured, examining it for the five-hundredth time in the last two days.

"Yeah. She was."

"I want you to have this back," Buffy told her, looking up. "But I'd like to borrow it for just one more day, so I can have a copy made, if that's alright?"

"Just go ahead and keep it," Faith replied indifferently, waving it off. "No big deal."

Buffy had always had trouble reading Faith, figuring out what she was thinking. That had led to a lot of the problems between the two of them over the years; maybe they could've avoided a lot of those difficulties if Faith had been a little more open with her emotions, and if Buffy had done a better job at realizing just what the other slayer was actually thinking.

This wasn't the case now, however; Buffy saw right through Faith's facade. She'd spent the last day-and-a-half figuring out that Dawn really had meant a great deal to the younger slayer, more than she could've believed possible. She was filled with a fresh burst of shame over her words of yesterday.

Dawn had obviously been very important to Faith, and this picture was obviously very important to her, as well. Despite the way she'd tried to blow it off and pretend it didn't matter, Buffy didn't miss the quick, desperate looks Faith kept sneaking toward it; she wanted it back, and Buffy was going to make sure she got it.

"No, Faith. This is yours," she repeated, quietly but firmly. "I'd like to have a copy, too, but I'm not taking this one away from you." She held it out.

"Fine," Faith sighed, taking it. "Geez, if you're going to be a pain in the ass about it," she grumbled, but Buffy didn't miss the relieved look that flashed across her features. "Get your copy made, and then give it back to me." She offered it back to Buffy, who accepted it with a smile and a nod.

"So. What were you so fired up to talk to me about, anyway?"

Buffy took a deep breath. Okay, here goes nothing. "I wanted to tell you some things about Sunnydale... Eleven years ago... You and me."

"Hey, ancient history. Don't worry about it." Again that casual front, which Buffy was now having a little better luck seeing through.

"No, I do worry about it. There are some things you need to know about what happened back then, and you are not leaving until you hear them." Faith's eyes opened a little wider, and a small half-smile formed on her lips at Buffy's strong words and implied threat.

"I think you thought that what you and I had back then didn't mean anything to me. That for me it was just, I don't know, empty sex or something. A convenience. Right?" Faith looked away, and Buffy knew that that was exactly the case.

"But see, that's not true!" she exclaimed, and scooted closer along the couch. She reached out and picked up the other woman's hand. "It meant... God, at times it felt like you were the only good, true thing I had in my life." Her eyes had begun to slowly leak again.

"Then why--" Faith began before she could stop herself, then fell silent, looking away, cheeks flushing.

"Why did I treat you the way I did? Believe me, I've spent ten-plus years trying to figure that out. I guess... I guess what I've come up with is that it was a combination of fear and guilt. I was afraid that if I let people know how I felt about you, and the relationship we had, that they'd... I don't know, hate me, or laugh at me, or something? 'Hey, did you hear that that weird Summers chick is a big lesbo, too?'" The tears were falling faster now.

"We didn't have a 'relationship,' B. We had sex. It was great--you were great--but let's not turn it into more than it was, alright?"

"Please, just let me get this all out first," Buffy requested, and held a hand up between them to stop any more of the other slayer's words. "So I was all paranoid and neurotic about my image--high school, you know? Image was everything, and mine wasn't in the greatest shape by that point, anyway; it wasn't in any kind of condition for a fresh new beating." She shrugged and gave an abashed little smile. "But not long after that Willow started seeing Tara and everyone was great about it, and I felt so stupid for thinking people--especially my friends--wouldn't be able to deal. They loved me--they love me--and they would've handled it fine.

"And then there was the guilt. I still loved Angel, even though I knew we couldn't be together anymore. I felt guilty about moving on to someone new, and a big part of me felt like I should do whatever it took to be with him, and wait for him as long as I had to, even if that was the rest of my life. And I was worried about how badly I'd hurt him if I not only started up with someone else, but then he finds out that the someone else is a girl." Buffy choked out a brief, bitter laugh. "Would he think it was his fault, that he'd gayed me up or something?"

Faith wasn't looking at Buffy; her gaze was fixed firmly on the coffeetable in front of them. A part of her was listening to Buffy's words and jumping up and down, happier than she'd been in two years--it had really mattered to B, after all! But another part of her was refusing to believe any of this, thinking Buffy was making it all up, either to make herself feel better, or make Faith feel better--maybe both. A third part of her was believing but not caring. So what if Buffy had cared about her? Didn't mean she did now. And even if she still did, so what? Faith had gone down this road before, and all it had ever done was hurt her. Believing in people only made it hurt that much more when they ripped your guts out later on.

Together, those two negative portions of her brain combined to stamp down the small voice that was begging her to lean over, throw her arms around Buffy, and try to pick up where she and D had left off two years before.

"And really, I'm not being fair to my friends, because I don't think it was them I was most worried about." Buffy was growing more and more nervous about Faith's reaction--or lack thereof--but she had to get the rest of this out. "I was seventeen, and still kinda... I don't know. Immature? Shallow? Something like that. I didn't want to admit to myself that I could feel that way about another girl; remember, those were still the days before it had become all cool and trendy. I was fine with us screwing each other's brains out practically every night, but it was like, as long as no one else knew about it then it didn't necessarily say anything about me. I wanted to think that what we had didn't mean anything. But now I know that it did; it meant everything.

"I wanted to tell you all this so many times over the years, Faith," she gushed. "But the only times I saw you after that, the timing was just so far from being right, and I know it would've only made things even worse." She squeezed the other's hand tighter. "The timing probably isn't right now, either, but I know that if I don't do it now, I'll never see you again. And I want to, Faith! I want to see you again and again and again!"

"I get it, B," Faith said, standing up. And she did. B wanted another quick bounce. No problem--she could take care of that. She'd been doing it for perfect strangers often enough over the years; she could certainly help B out. She dropped her jacket onto the sofa and pulled her shirt over her head; she wasn't wearing a bra tonight.

Buffy never stopped to worry about Faith's obvious lack of enthusiasm, that she looked about as excited as someone heading to the dentist. Her eyes became huge and glassy as she saw the younger woman's breasts again after all these years, just as magnificently perfect as she remembered them. After one brief moment of total stunned paralysis, she darted forward and caught them in her hands, trailing kisses up from just above the top of Faith's jeans, over her navel, up her chest, to her neck, and finally capturing her lips in a fiery meeting of tongues. She had to get up as she kissed higher, and now found herself standing in front of Faith, who went to work undoing the buttons on Buffy's blouse.

They stumbled and fumbled their way toward and up the stairs, shedding one article of clothing after another along the way. By the time they collapsed on Buffy's gigantic bed, they'd run out of things to take off.

They lay there, side-by-side, eyes and hands roaming over each other. When Buffy tried to climb above Faith, the other slayer gently but firmly prevented her. Buffy frowned for a moment, then forgot about it as her mouth and fingers began to explore familiar-yet-long-forgotten territory.

As she began to move downward, Faith stopped her. "No, B. Let me," she whispered, and slithered down to a spot between Buffy's legs that had once been her most favorite place in the whole entire world.

Faith was as good as Buffy remembered. Honestly, she'd never had anyone better. Not Angel, not Parker, Riley, Spike, or any of the guys in the years since she'd left Sunnydale. None of them had ever brought her to the places that Faith had.

She worked her up slowly, then brought her back down equally as slowly. When she'd finally finished over an hour later, Buffy was a shuddering, quivering, sweat-covered, boneless, and incredibly-satisfied heap of a slayer.

"God, Faith, you're amazing," she told her when she managed to find her voice again. She reached her hand down, took Faith's, and pulled her up to lie next to her. She smiled and stroked the other slayer's cheek, moving on to her jaw, then tracing the shape of her lips.

Faith accepted this compliment with no reaction whatsoever. Yes, she was amazing. She knew that. This was one of the few things she'd ever been good at, and she'd had plenty of practice over the last fifteen years or so. So she'd gotten B off; big fuckin' accomplishment. Just one more on a very long list.

Buffy started to slide down Faith's body again, and this time Faith didn't stop her. B probably felt like she owed her something in return, so she'd oblige and let her feel like they were equal or square or whatever.

Faith, never one for romantic or flowery prose, thought to herself, 'B's goin' down on me,' like she had every time before. But while this thought had always brought a thrill of pride, belonging, and incredible anticipation eleven years ago, now it just made her feel tired and old.

As Faith felt Buffy go to work, she started making the appropriate noises and movements; if she was going to let B do this, might as well let her think she'd gotten the job done, as well.

For someone with very little experience with other women--none, in fact, other than her time with Faith--Buffy was very good. Their first couple of times together, she had been high on enthusiasm and low on skill, but with a little guidance from Faith, who'd done more of this by the time she arrived in Sunnydale at sixteen than her new sexual partner would ever have believed, she improved rapidly. By the time Faith betrayed them and went to work for the Mayor, Buffy was frying her wires on an almost-nightly basis, taking her to heights she'd never reached before or since--other than a brief period two years ago. Part of that came from the depths of her feelings toward the older girl, but most of it was purely Buffy's talent; whether Faith had loved her or hated her, Buffy was still going to have her screaming deliriously by the end of the night.

Now, eleven years later, Buffy hadn't lost even a single jot of that remarkable ability. If she was rusty after such a long layoff since their last night together, it didn't show. The effort she was giving Faith was as good as what she'd managed on her absolute best night in Sunnydale, and even beyond. Back then it had been strictly a physical exercise for her, and she'd always tried to wall her confusing emotions off and not let herself linger on them--she might've learned something about herself that she hadn't been ready for. But on this night, she threw her emotions fully into what she was doing, like gasoline on a fire, hoping that they'd combine with the words she'd already spoken to let the other slayer know how much she truly cared about her, and how sorry she was for all the lost years in between.

So why wasn't Faith building up to a nuclear bomb-like explosion? If B was as good as ever--and she was; better, even--how come Faith wasn't gasping like a landed fish, grunting like a pro tennis player, and writhing like a snake on a hot plate? Okay, so in fact she was, but none of it was real; she was just doing it to avoid hurting B's feelings. She'd been through so much already in the last few days--why let her think she was doing a shitty job at this, too? Faith did feel a climax approaching, but it was a weak one, and still very far-off. This was exactly what she had been dealing with for two years now, but that had been with strangers; she'd expected it to be different with B. Better. More like the old days.

They went on like that for another half-hour, easy, with Buffy coaxing every last trick out of herself that she knew, and Faith faking it like crazy and hoping her terrible acting would go unnoticed, with B's mind concentrating so hard on other things. At last, she was able to grab hold of that elusive release and let go with it, and try her best to make it sound twenty-times more powerful than the pathetic little thing that it actually was.

"Fuckin' unbelievable, B," she muttered, in the best approximation of a breathless voice that she could manage.

Buffy crawled her way back up, dragging her tongue along Faith's body as she went, ultimately ending up at her lips once again. After a long, long kiss and some mutual final groping, Buffy laid down next to Faith, draped an arm across the other slayer's chest, and quickly fell into one of the most contented sleeps she'd had for as long as she could remember.

-4-

She woke up some time later to find herself alone in bed. Frowning, she sat up and heard someone moving around downstairs. She ran out into the upstairs hallway, which overlooked the living room, and saw Faith.

She had collected her socks, panties, jeans, and boots from the stairs and the floor of Buffy's bedroom, and put on everything but the boots. As Buffy watched, she searched around, found her shirt, and pulled it over her head.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Faith looked up at her, surprised. The startled look vanished in an instant, replaced by that same casual indifference. "What's it look like? Gettin' outta your way. Last thing you need is me around here screwin' things up for you. But tonight was fun; thanks." She sat down to lace up her boots.

"You're leaving? You're leaving after... after all that? After everything I just told you?" Buffy felt her voice starting to hitch already, and a fresh batch of tears coming on. No, this couldn't be happening. After finally getting the chance to pour her heart out after all these years, after what they had just shared in her bed, Faith was going to walk out on her? Buffy headed for the stairs.

"What did you tell me, B? That way back when you used to have the warm fuzzies for me? Great. But that was then, and we can't ever go back to being those two kids that we were." She finished her left boot and started on the right. She tightened the laces as fast as she could; she needed to get out of here, and fast.

Once upon a time, she'd had these stupid, retarded fantasies about what it might be like to really be with Buffy, to be, like... girlfriends, or something. What would it have been like to do corny things with her, like go to the prom and dance all night with her, even the slow dances? Or shopping (and hanging out) at the mall? Or to some stupid high school football game on a Friday night? Or on a picnic together? Or just walk around in public holding hands?

Well, none of that was going to happen. Stupid lovesick crap for fourteen-year-olds, anyway. B could give her all the fancy made-up explanations she wanted; it was still perfectly obvious how she saw Faith: just a particularly-effective human vibrator. 'Oh Faith, fuck me 'til my eyes cross and I can't even remember my own name, then get the hell out of here.' Yeah, same old B. So, the hell with her.

She finished tying her right lace, shrugged into her jacket, and stood up.

"Faith, please," Buffy whispered, stepping in front of her. She was still nude, and the silent tears were running in a steady stream down her cheeks, off her jaw, landing on her bare chest, and running down her breasts. Faith observed again how visible B's ribs were, and how painfully skinny she looked.

"C'mon, B, don't make this harder." She stepped around her and headed for the door.

"Faith!" Buffy called again. "Faith, please don't go!

"I love you!"

That stopped her. Faith stood frozen in her tracks, unmoving. After maybe half-a-minute, Buffy could tell that she was mumbling something. As she stepped closer, she could make it out; it was "No" over and over again.

"Yes, Faith," she whispered, reaching out to gently touch her arm. When she felt the contact, Faith jerked like she'd been electrocuted, and whirled around to face Buffy.

"No!" she yelled. "No, you don't! That's bullshit!" Her own eyes looked suspiciously wet.

"No, it's not. I've loved you since the first moment I saw you, fighting that vampire outside the Bronze. At first I thought it was just a slayer thing, some weird mystical connection that I couldn't really define, and it took me way too long to realize the truth, but now I finally do." Buffy continued to speak softly and calmly, not wanting to spook the other woman, wanting to make sure she understood what Buffy was saying and that she meant it.

"There's no such thing as love," Faith told her. "It's all a bunch of shit. Something someone made it up to guilt-trip people into doing what they wanted. But that's all it is, is shit; it's not r-real!" She stumbled over the last word, and now the sobs started in earnest.

"It is, Faith," Buffy repeated with that same gentleness. "I love you."

"Stop saying that, you bitch!" Faith screamed, and punched Buffy in the mouth, dropping her to her knees. "Stop lying to me and trying to trick me into caring about you! You don't care about me! Nobody cares about me! They just make you think they do, and then leave you on... leave you on Christmas morning!" She sank to her own knees, hands covering her face.

"How do you leave someone on Christmas morning, B? How could she? How could she?" Faith was unable to say any more. She fell over onto her side, hands still hiding her face, and cried. Huge, shuddering sobs filled with more pain than Buffy thought she had ever heard.

She shook off the effects of the punch, crawled over, and pulled Faith's head into her lap. She just held her for what seemed like forever, stroking her hair, letting her get it all out.

Eventually, Faith ran out of tears. She didn't resist as Buffy unlaced her boots, took off her jacket and jeans, and carried her back upstairs to bed. They laid down, and Buffy wrapped her tightly in her arms, whispering over and over to her that she loved her, until they both fell into an exhausted sleep.

-5-

Willow came in early the next morning, opening the door as quietly as she could. When she saw the clothes strewn all over the place, including ones she knew Buffy would never be caught dead in, she grinned wider than she ever had in her life, and made a quick exit.

It worked! she chanted over and over in her head. It worked! I was right! It worked! Yes!

She fished through her purse, looking for her phone; the first order of business was to call Angel and gloat.

-6-

When Buffy woke up, it was morning, and Faith was still there. The other woman had already woken up, and now lay there, staring intently at her.

"Did you mean it?"

"Yes," Buffy answered, not having to ask what she was referring to. "With all my heart."

Faith rolled over on her back and looked up at the ceiling. "Mmm," she said, with neither belief nor skepticism.

Buffy leaned over, pushed up the sleeve of Faith's shirt, which Buffy hadn't bothered to take off of her after bringing her back to bed, and planted a light kiss on her shoulder.

"Faith, I owe you an explanation for what happened at the funeral home."

"You don't owe me anything, B," she told her. "Just forget it."

"No! I can't remember the last time I treated someone that badly, and you deserve to know why." Buffy sighed and tried to put her thoughts into words.

"The last time I saw Dawn was six years ago, in Australia. It's awful to admit now, but for the longest time after she left, I was glad she was gone. I was so mad at her. Willow told me a few times that she was going to try to call her, and asked me to talk to her, but I wouldn't. I thought, 'She ran out on me; why should I beg her to come back?' I worried about her some, even though I knew she was with Kait and Becky and as long as they stayed together they'd be fine. But what if they didn't? What if they split up and all went their separate ways? But even that wasn't enough to get me to talk to her. 'If she gets in real trouble, she'll come back on her own,' I figured.

"But just in the last few weeks, I started having these feelings like I really needed to see her again. I'd wake up in the mornings and think maybe I'd had dreams about her in the night, nightmares of awful things happening to her, but I never remembered much about them when I woke up. I tried to get Willow to find her for me, but she said she already had, and that somehow locator spells didn't work on her for some reason. By the end, all I wanted was to be able to apologize to her, and kiss her and hug her and tell her how much I loved her, you know?" Buffy asked, her voice starting to catch.

"And it would've been bad enough if it was just her that I was missing, but it wasn't. I missed you, Faith."

Faith gave a brief start, and she looked over at Buffy out of the corner of one eye.

"I missed you, and that just added on to all that pain of missing Dawn, and made it like ten-times worse than if it had only been one of you. I wanted to see you again, and tell you everything I told you last night, and see if we could somehow make it work better than the first time around. I'd finally been able to acknowledge to myself that I loved you, and always had, and admit that there was nothing wrong with that."

Faith rolled back onto her side, facing Buffy. Her eyes were filling up with some emotion, and the older slayer realized after a moment that it was wonder.

"So when we found out last week that Dawnie was dead, and we got her personal things back and I found that locket, I figured out pretty easily that you two had been...

"God, I was so jealous!" she exclaimed softly, but took hold of Faith's hands at the same time to try to let her know that she wasn't mad--at least, not anymore. "You were the two people in the world I most wanted to be with, and it turned out you were with each other. I was jealous of her for being with you, and jealous of you for having her in your life.

"Every day that's gone b-by," she continued, beginning to cry again, "it's sunk in more and more: Dawnie's dead."

Inside Faith's head, that small, innocent voice was getting bigger and tougher, making more and more headway in removing the foot that the hardened, bitter part of her was using to ruthlessly stomp it down. It still had a long way to go, but it had made enough progress to let her bring one hand up and attempt to wipe the tears away from B's cheeks.

"She's dead, and y-y-you got to see her and be w-with her, and know h-her, like I never did. I wanted to see who she grew up to be, Faith." She turned her green, tear-filled eyes to Faith's brown, equally pain-filled ones. "You got to see her and who she'd become, and I never did. I love you, Faith, but I hated you for that! And I hated her--for leaving, and for getting herself killed before we could make things right again.

"She's dead, Faith. She's dead, so I'm not supposed to hate her, am I? Doesn't that mean I'm a terrible person? Why didn't she ever come looking for me? Did she hate me, too? Did she hate me that much?"

Buffy couldn't say any more. She covered her face, drew her knees up to her chest, and cried, finally letting out everything she'd been holding onto for the last week.

This time it was Faith's turn to provide the comfort, and that increasingly-louder voice in her head temporarily grabbed the reins of her body and pulled B into her arms, holding her until she'd gotten it all out.

-7-

They eventually got up, showered and performed their other morning grooming rituals, and headed downstairs, where Buffy made breakfast.

When Faith saw the meager portion Buffy had fixed for herself, she said simply, "No way, B," and left for the kitchen. She returned moments later with two bowls of cereal and a carton of milk, which she set down before Buffy. "Eat," she commanded, then disappeared into the kitchen again. She came back after a few minutes carrying a tray, on which she'd piled a large helping of toast, pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. And a large glass of orange juice, just for good measure.

She took her own seat once again, started eating her own food (which had by now gotten cold), and stared pointedly at B, making it obvious she was prepared to sit there and wait for her to finish every last bit of that food, even if it took her all friggin' day.

"Fine," Buffy said irritably to Faith's unspoken challenge. She'd already finished both bowls of cereal, and now grabbed a knife and fork and started on the pancakes.

While they ate, they talked, and began comparing notes on just what had happened to bring them together last night. It was obvious Angel had had a lot to do with it, but they quickly realized that Willow seemed to have been involved, as well. "I'm going to kill her," Buffy growled, but not without amusement.

They didn't talk much about the past. Buffy desperately wanted to know what had happened between Faith and Dawn, but sensed that the other slayer wasn't ready to talk about it yet. When she was, she would, and Buffy would just have to leave her alone about it until then.

About the only thing along those lines that did come up was brought up by a question from Faith to Buffy.

"B, can I ask you something?" She reached for the milk and poured herself another glass as she watched Buffy shovel scrambled eggs into her mouth.

"Of course, Faith. Go ahead."

"Willow told me that... well, that you got a letter from D a couple of years ago. I was just wonderin' if you'd mind telling me what she said." Faith blushed and looked away. "But if you don't want to, that's cool; it's probably private anyway," she added hurriedly.

Buffy put her utensil down and look at the younger woman, realizing again just how much her sister must have meant to her. The anger and jealousy she'd felt for the past week was now replaced by happiness; they'd seemingly had their problems, but they'd obviously made each other very happy, as well, and Buffy was thrilled for both of them that they'd had that time together, however it had ended.

"Do you know what happened between us? What the fight was about?"

"Yes," Faith replied, meeting Buffy's gaze.

"The envelope I got from her had the picture in it that she'd taken," Buffy told her. "That was it. No letter, no note, no return address. Just that picture."

"Oh." That was disappointing. She had really been hoping D had been able to tell Buffy many of the things she'd told Faith, about how sorry she was and how much she wished it had never happened. "So you don't--"

At that moment the door to the kitchen swung open and Willow walked in. "Faith! Wow! Gosh, um, what are you doing here?" she asked. The surprised look she tried to put on fooled no one.

"Actually, that's an interesting story, Will," Buffy smirked, laying her fork down. "It seems Faith showed up here thinking this was Angel's place."

"Oh! Really? Gee, that's strange! Uh, how come?" she blurted, darting her eyes all around the room, looking everywhere but at the other two women.

"That's a very good question," Buffy agreed. "And we've put our heads together, and we think you might have had just a little something to do with that."

"Me?" she squeaked--and yes, it was an actual squeak.

"Willow," Buffy growled, and pointed to an empty chair between her and Faith. Willow sat down with a gulp, stealing cautious glances at the two slayers. "Well?" Buffy prodded.

"Okay!" the witch admitted. "Okay, it was me!"

"Why?" her best friend asked, honestly puzzled.

"Come on, Buffy. You think I didn't know how you felt about Faith?"

"What?!" The stunned look on Buffy's face was incredibly amusing to both of the other women, though they covered it well.

"Buffy, I knew about you two back then. I knew what was going on."

Buffy opened and closed her mouth several times, but no sound came out. Finally, she managed, "I don't believe that."

"I do, B," Faith chimed in. "Even your sister knew, and she was, what, like twelve?" She grinned and dropped her fellow slayer a wink.

Even through her shock and outrage--not directed toward Faith or Willow, but toward herself for not being more discreet--Buffy was happy; this was the first time she'd seen Faith smile since she'd been back.

"Things have been so rough lately, Buffy," Willow continued. "First that problem with Lisa, then you breaking up with Jake, now Dawnie... I was worried about you. So when I knew Faith would be coming back for... Well, I just hoped maybe you might, you know, be able to make things a little better for each other. In fact, I kinda thought Faith might be the only one who could help you."

Willow didn't add one crucial little detail, for the simple reason that she didn't remember it. Over the last few weeks, she'd been having dreams about these two, and in these dreams, someone she knew--someone she loved more strongly than even a blood relative--came to her and showed her what these two could be together. She never remembered who this mysterious person was, or much else about the dreams, but their residual effect had been to produce a stronger and stronger feeling within her that she had to get these two back together. And with the tragic news about Dawn, she'd at last had the chance to do it. As she watched them sitting there with one another, it just seemed so right to her that she never even thought to question where this strange compulsion had come from. And by the end of the week, she would have completely forgotten about ever having it.

Buffy sat in silence for a minute, absorbing this. She was mad at Willow for interfering, but she had to admit it had been a good idea--and a very insightful one. Just seeing Faith again, and getting to spend last night with her, was the best thing that had happened to her in the longest time. And now the gratitude and excitement flooding through her at maybe having a second chance with the other slayer was almost enough to offset the pain of losing Dawn. Not quite, but close.

"And so you got Angel to help you," she prompted after she'd processed everything.

"Yes, but he didn't want to!" Willow assured the slayers quickly. "I really had to talk him into it. But finally I convinced him that I was trying to help both of you, and that I thought it would work.

"Actually, I think I kinda freaked him out," the Wicca told Buffy apologetically. "I think he'd sorta guessed about Faith and Dawnie, but he didn't know about you two."

"Oh." Buffy blushed and looked down at her food. "No wonder he was acting so wiggy around me. I just thought it was because of Dawn and everything. Oh," she repeated.

"Sorry, Buffy."

"Well, normally I'd tell you to mind your own damn business," Buffy said, standing up. "But in this case, thank you." She walked behind Willow, the greatest friend anyone could ever hope to have, leaned over, hugged her, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "You're the greatest, Will."

-8-

Willow went to her room to change, and the two slayers cleared the table.

As they stood by the sink loading the dirty dishes into the machine, Buffy turned to Faith and asked, "Faith, will you stay here? With me?"

* * *

* * *

No! her brain shouted at her. You can't stay here! Are you a fucking moron? She'll only hurt you and leave you, just like her bitch of a sister! Run! Run out that door and never look back!

"Faith?" Buffy inquired, growing worried about the scared look clouding the other slayer's face.

Oh, just shut the fuck up! she told the voice, and that small, hopeful part of her got up off the mat and belted it right in the nose, knocking it on its ass. It wasn't gone for good, but it was down and out for the time being, at least. And don't even think about calling D a bitch again.