Disclaimers: Joss owns all the BTVS characters, not me.
Me: I own all Heaven and Hell characters contained in this fic. Do not borrow them. At. All.
Title: Billy Ocean owns the line, not me. It came on the radio, so it gets to be a title.
Dedications: To Finding Faith and her fic, Tonight. Absolutely stunning.
Quote: Thanks to Wlfgrrl for the this. Winston Churchill: "If you're going through hell, keep going."
 
Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
 

Buffy's POV

Slayers Do Total Recall VIII - When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Rough

Damn I must have fallen asleep.
I take a look round and Faith's... oh; getting dressed?
Did I dream all this?
She turns round and then I know I didn't.
Her arms are still bandaged up, and she looks like she hasn't slept.
She probably didn't, no that was me, falling asleep instead of being all alert and watchy.
 
'Faith, why are you getting dressed?'
 
'I'm going out to get some smokes, you want anything?'
 
Ok, this isn't good.
I need to get Dis.
I start to move towards the door.
 
'No, thanks. I'm going to go and see how Dis is, ok?'
 
She looks at me like I'm mad, and shrugs, putting her boots on.
Something is wrong because she's lacing them up, and she never does.
Always wondered how they stay on her feet, practice I guess.
I get into the front room and see Dis, crashed on the sofa.
 
'Dis, wake up!'
 
She flies up, and growls at me, making me step back.
She's so tall, I mean, I know she's tall, but still, she's big.
 
'Dreaming, sorry. What's up? How's Faith?'
 
Just then Faith walks past and goes into the kitchen.
I look at Dis, she looks at me, yup, she's clueless too.
 
'She said she's going to the shop to get some smokes. She's acting all weird, well not weird, I mean she's acting all normal. Which is usually great, but not when she's been freaking out all night trying to kill us. So I'm going with normal equals bad.'
 
'I'm with you on that long way of saying she's blocking the bad stuff.'
 
Then Faith's back, chugging a can of fizzy.
Maybe I should let Dis deal with this one, because I have no idea what to do, like, none.
 
'Man, you two look like shit. I'm going out for some smokes, you want anything Dis?'
 
'We've got smokes here, Faith. I had some more in my car.'
 
'I need some more soda then.'
 
'I stocked the fridge last night, there's heaps of it in there.'
 
'I'll get some candy, I got the munchies. Shit, we didn't smoke dope last night did we? Listen to my stomach!'
 
'That's in the fridge as well.'
 
I watch Faith's hand start to crush the can, slowly, and I think she's going to blow.
She opens her mouth as if to say something more, then shrugs, sits on the sofa and flicks the cable on.
 
I catch Dis looking at her, like she doesn't know what to do.
Well she doesn't, neither of us do.
We didn't know what to do when she was freaking, and now we don't know what to do when she's normal.
She shouldn't be normal.
Nu-uh, normal equals bad.
Have I said that already?
Ok, well, if she wants to be all fine and back to her old self, then I'm not going to treat her any different.
Maybe that's the only way to shake her out of it?
 
I sit down next to her and put my hand on her leg.
She doesn't tense up.
I thought she'd... never mind.
We always sit like this, well, unless we're doing stuff, then we're sort of on top of each other.
So I give her leg a squeeze and she smiles at me.
And you know what, that smile really freaks me out.
Her face smiled, but her eyes didn't.
Dis knows what I'm doing and makes some excuse to go into the kitchen, probably where she can keep watch.
 
'You ok then Faith? You sort of freaked out last night.'
 
'Me? I'm cool.'
 
'You sure?'
 
'I'm five by five.'
 
I'm catching on to that one, she usually says it when she's not.
Like, I say, "I'm fine."
Dawn says... well she flips me the finger, but it's like, everyone has there little phrase.
And that's Faith's.
Then I start to feel all shivery again, because she's not fine, she's no where near fine.
She's on the other side of the room to fine.
Ok, I need to snap her out of it, but, I'm not sure what to do.
She didn't like me touching her, so I'll do that.
 
I'm sorry Faith, but you're not well, so you have to be all forgiving when you get better and know that I did all this for you.
 
I snuggle up closer to her, and she puts her arm round my shoulder, pulling me in tighter.
Right, not what I expected.
Plan not going, well, according to plan.
Then oh, she's kissing my neck; really kissing it!
What do I do?!
Well I know what I'd normally do, but...
No, her hands aren't meant to be there!
 
'Um, Faith, can you... '
 
Then she puts her finger on my lips, stopping me.
She pulls me up and leads me into the bedroom.
 
So, this plan I had; sort of not working.