Author's Notes: So this is entirely different than the way I usually write. I needed a tiny change. Just a warning to start us off, this will not be a long story chapter wise and there will be a major character death before it's all over. Regardless, enjoy the rollercoaster ride I'm about to take you guys on and remember to review if you like what you read :)


Chapter One

It's been twenty days since they had gone into the Hellmouth and tried to defeat the First Evil and the army it brought forth to the world. Far too many lives were lost and it is harder to remember the names of those they lost and easier to remember the ones that were still there with them. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Faith, Kennedy, and Giles.

Everyone is incredibly exhausted. Tirelessly fighting day after day, night after night. The world has changed into something that could not even be recreated in any of their worst nightmares. This post-apocalyptic world had become their worst nightmare.

Buffy has been trying without fail to keep everyone going, to keep their spirits up, to help them find some kind of hope that maybe things would get better if they kept trying, kept fighting. She never gives up, never loses hope, never stops and keeps going every single day. The fight to stay alive is definitely beginning to take a toll on her, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Yet, she does her best to hide it from the others, putting on a front, a façade. She feels like it's her job to keep the others alive, to keep herself alive.

Willow has kept to herself; the magic she had used to activate the scythe is still causing her to feel drained even after using the simplest of spells. She doesn't speak much to the others and she barely leaves Kennedy's side. She's become a shell of herself and she's still shaken by the events that had unfolded the day their lives changed forever. And Kennedy has done nothing but be Willow's rock, taking the responsibility of making sure she isn't killed and taking on the responsibility of being the one that goes out looking for more food while Buffy and Faith stay behind to watch over the others.

Xander hasn't gotten over Anya yet. Her death isn't felt just by him, but by all of them. He tirelessly stands at Buffy's side, aiding her in any way that he can. He puts himself in the line of fire, so to speak, to fight to stay alive for another day. He has become Buffy's anchor, backing her up when they decide to move from one location to another, to try to find a safer place to be.

Giles is still Giles, but different in the eyes of the others. His vast knowledge of everything that comes out of the Hellmouth has helped them survive, helped them fight whatever is coming next. He, like Willow, has kept to himself. The days he looks like he has lost all hope in this world, it's Buffy who pulls him back.

Dawn has done nothing but step up to the plate and take whatever is handed to her with ease. To Buffy, Dawn has grown up a considerable amount in just twenty days. She can fight better than she could before, she's become stronger and more aware of her surroundings and whatever is lurking behind the dark shadows around them. She also found a friend in Faith, something that surprised everyone, even her. But Faith has taken the time to train her when Buffy won't and she's taken the time to spend those hours they're hiding out, playing cards and talking to her when nobody else will.

Faith is still in Buffy's shadow, but it doesn't bother her anymore. They're in this together and nobody is better than the other. They needed a leader and Faith knew she wasn't the leader they needed. The leader was always Buffy and she would always be the one to follow in her shadow. She is also the only one who knows that she is the one who carries the slayer line now, not Buffy. It's not as if it matters now that all the potential slayers around the world have been activated, but to her it's what keeps her motivated to get out there every day and fight to stay alive, fight to try to change an unchangeable world.

And the world has truly changed. Gone are those sunny days with bright blue skies. The skies now take on an orange hue during daylight, sometimes making the sky look on fire when the clouds roll in. The nights are blacker than black and no stars ever shine. And it's hot, even the nights. The world has become another hell dimension, one where the First Evil has envisioned for its entire existence. It has become a world where the survivors they've come across have lost the will to live, lost faith in humanity, and no longer believe that anything can be done to bring back the world they once knew.


Faith sits on the edge of the roof, watching as the red sun rises over the horizon. Today's sunrise marks the official beginning of their twentieth day, but she's been up for hours, waiting for the day to begin. A cigarette dangles from her lips as she loses herself in her thoughts. She tries not to think about the fact that she's been wearing the same clothes for the past three and a half weeks. She tries not to think about how goddamn hungry she is and how the food that Kennedy does manage to find and bring back is never enough and always cold and tastes like shit. And she tries not to think about what will happen later when she goes out on patrol with the others. Every night has been the same story. Go out, try to kill as many Turok-Han as they can only to discover the next night there's twice as many and always something else waiting, something new, something that's come from the hell dimension the First Evil has come from.

"Hey," Buffy says as she crawls out the window and sits next to her on the roof. "You're up early."

"I never went to sleep."

"Oh."

"What's the plan for today, B?" Faith asks tiredly as she takes her eyes off the rising sun to look at her. "We staying or we moving on?"

"It's safe here, so we're staying for now," Buffy replies softly and she pulls her knees towards her chest and sighs heavily, lost in her own thoughts just as Faith was before she came out there.

Here is the Summers' home, twice abandoned in the past twenty days due to far too many Turok-Han crawling all over the place. It was Faith, Kennedy, and Xander who built the barrier around the perimeter of the house, using the cars they found in the streets, wood, just about anything that they could get their hands on. And it was Willow who cast a protection spell on the barrier, keeping most things out. For now.

Faith flicks the cigarette over the edge to the ground below and reaches for her pack inside her jacket pocket. She's running low and she knows that running out to grab more is something that isn't a high priority. Food is, but that's not her job. That job has been left up to Kennedy. Shrugging, she pulls out another and lights it. It's hard for her not to notice Buffy's face scrunch up in disgust as she does either. She doesn't say anything though, she knows better than that. They need to keep things neutral between them and the little things had caused a few fights not that long ago. Faith isn't willing to go through that again and put their group at risk of being separated. Not now or anytime soon.

Things could be a lot worse and she knows it. She's thankful Buffy let her stick around after all hell broke loose down in the Hellmouth. She's never had a chance to tell her that though, not because she didn't have time to talk to Buffy whenever they were alone, it was more because she didn't know how to thank her for letting her stick around. If her presence bothered Buffy, Buffy never did show it, at least not when she was around her at least. They've come a long way and yet they're still treading the thin line of friendship. Faith hated it though, hated the fact that all she ever wanted was for Buffy to accept her, to let her into her life, into her circle of friends. All she ever wanted was for Buffy to love her and she's still a long way from that ever happening.

And that right there is the thing that could destroy her again. She fights it every waking moment of every day along with everything else. Fights her feelings she can never shake when it comes to Buffy. She hates her and she loves her-loves her in more than a friendly way. If Buffy has ever picked up on that and knows how she feels about her, she's never shown it. In fact, Faith has come to realize that Buffy is almost completely devoid of showing any kind of emotion these days. It's pretty disturbing.

"Take my bed," Buffy says as she gets up and heads back to the window.

"Take your bed?" Faith asks, raising an eyebrow since Buffy hadn't given up her bed to anyone since they'd been back at the house.

"It's better than the floor you've been sleeping on. You look like you need a decent sleep, so yes, take my bed and get some sleep, Faith. We need you out there tonight and you fight better after you've slept for more than a couple of hours."

"Thanks, B. Appreciate it more than ya know," Faith says with a smile and watches as Buffy disappears back inside.

Their conversations always went that way, they could talk but it was straight to the point most of the time and never anything too personal. Faith isn't about to let her walls down just like she knows Buffy isn't about to either. Sure, there is a lot she wants to say to Buffy, a lot of which is slowly driving her insane having to hold it inside and experience it all over again, but she knows it'll ruin any and all the progress they've made so far when it comes to each other. It doesn't help that whenever those thoughts, those feelings creep up on her when she and Buffy are alone and all she can think about is all the ways she wants her and all the ways she wants to fuck her if Buffy even let her cross that line.

Faith finishes off her cigarette and crawls back inside the window into Buffy's old room, now Willow and Kennedy's bedroom. She heads down the hall to Buffy's room and shuts the door behind her. The red light from the sun pours into the open blinds and she shuts them and pulls the blackout drapes closed. Kicking off her boots, she sits on the edge of the unmade bed and feels the pull of sleep beginning to hit her hard. Her head barely hits the pillow before she's out, the last thing on her mind before she gives in to sleep is Buffy.

Always is.


Buffy sits on the top step, listening to Giles and Xander as they discuss the plans for the day down in the dining room. She knows she should be down there with them, making the decisions with them, but she's too tired, too drained to bother today. Twenty days of living like this. Twenty days of not knowing whether they'd all make it through the night to see another day. Twenty days of holding herself together and the wall she's built up around herself is breaking thin. Twenty days of not having enough food, not having enough sleep, of having to wear the same handful of clothes over and over again is slowly driving her crazy. She'd give anything to go back to the way life used to be and she knows that will never happen if they give up trying to fight.

She still feels guilty and responsible for all the girls who died down in the Hellmouth. They failed to defeat the First and she had failed to get them out of there alive, choosing when it was only her, Faith, and Kennedy left alive down there to make a run for it. She should've got them out sooner. She should've known that they were losing long before they were killed off by the Turok-Han. It's too late to go back and change anything now. She knows she'll feel this guilt for a long time, forever even, because she knows how much differently she should've done things that day.

The other thing she feels guilty about is Spike and that he died for nothing, the amulet not working the way it should've and instead of closing the Hellmouth, it just burned him alive. She wondered if Angel knew what happened to them, but wherever he was now, she knew he was dealing with the same things they all were, fighting the army that the First had brought to their world and trying to find a way to take their world back, make it theirs again.

"Buffy?" Dawn calls out as she heads for the stairs and stops short when she sees Buffy sitting there.

"What is it, Dawnie?"

"Uh, we're out of food again," she says quietly as she climbs up the stairs and sits down on the top step next to her.

"Where's Kennedy?"

"Already went out looking for more food and supplies."

"How long ago did she leave?" Buffy asks her and Dawn shrugs.

"Half an hour, tops."

Buffy nods and closes her eyes, rubbing her temples slowly as she tries to dull the throbbing headache that's come out of nowhere. Dawn wraps an arm around her shoulders and holds her tight. Buffy can feel her tears building and she's beginning to get tired of holding them back. But she won't cry, not in front of Dawn or any of the others. She doesn't want to have them see how weak she really is underneath it all. She doesn't want them to think she can't hold it together, that she can't stay strong for all of them. It's a burden she knows she doesn't have to bear, but it's one she's taken since there's no one else she wants to have to carry that weight on their shoulders.

Dawn takes the silence as a sign that Buffy wants to be left alone. Buffy doesn't open her eyes until she hears Dawn talking to Xander and Giles in the dining room. She stands up and quickly wipes the tears that fall freely from her eyes and heads to her bedroom. She stops in front of the door and groans softly, remembering she offered her bed to Faith since she looked like she needed a soft bed to sleep in for once. She almost expected Faith to refuse her offer to sleep in her bed for a couple of hours and she wasn't that surprised when Faith took her up on it.

She's wondered a lot in the last few weeks if Faith felt guilty too about the girls they'd lost down in the Hellmouth. She'd talk to her about it, but talking to each other had never been easy and that hadn't changed since the world did. It isn't that she doesn't want that to change between them, she does, but it's where to start that's the hard part. Placing a hand on the doorknob, she takes a deep breath before she opens it and steps inside the dark room. Faith is fast asleep and snoring lightly. She shuts the door as quietly as she can behind her even though she's found out the hard way that Faith sleeps like the dead when she hasn't slept much in a couple of days.

Buffy sits down in the chair in the corner of the room, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness and allows them to fall over Faith as she continues to sleep soundly in her bed. It doesn't take her long to start thinking about how much Faith has changed and how far she's come and the things she's done to prove it. In a way, she is proud of Faith for coming as far as she has, for finding herself again, and for not becoming the former version of herself when the world changed. Although the only time they've spent together since that happened has been on patrol or those fleeting moments like the one out on the roof not that long ago, Buffy wished things could be different between them. She had hoped that they could find some kind of friendship like that had in the beginning before things started to slip away and fall apart in all the wrong ways. That is one thing that is not too late to do anything about, that she knows.

"B?" Faith mutters as she sits up in the bed slowly. "Did ya want your bed back or something?"

"No. I just needed to get away from everything else and it's quiet in here."

Faith mutters something Buffy can't quite hear before she lays back down and pulls the pillow over her head. Buffy can't help but smile a little. She feels that buzz just as she always has around Faith and it's only getting stronger. It's been like that a lot lately and it's one of the reasons she never allows herself to be alone with Faith for very long. The way she feels around her is confusing and she isn't sure what to make of it. She doesn't even know what it means or why it's always bothered her so much. Giles told her before it was the slayer inside of her that could feel the slayer inside of Faith, but somehow, deep down inside, she knows that it's more than that. So much more and it makes her afraid of what it really is.

"B?" Faith says after a few minutes and she sounds a little bit annoyed. "If you're tired, hop in. I don't bite."

Buffy raises an eyebrow at that. "I'm fine, Faith. Just sleep."

"Get your ass off that chair and get into bed, B. You fight better when you've had some decent sleep too, you know that right?"

"I uh-"

"I'll go sleep in one of the other beds if sharing one with me is such a fucking issue," Faith says and Buffy sighs heavily as she gets up from the chair and walks over to the other side of the bed.

"It's not an issue," Buffy says quietly and she lays down on the left side of the bed, right on the edge. She can always feel that buzz more strongly whenever she is closer to Faith and this time is no different.

Faith groans and mumbles under her breath as she tosses and turns, trying to get comfortable on her side of the bed. Buffy lays there, eyes wide open as she stares up at the ceiling in the dark, waiting for Faith to fall back asleep before she even tries. She's not sure how much time passes before she can hear Faith's breathing calm down and the snores start up again. She allows herself to relax and she closes her eyes, welcoming sleep like an old, long-lost friend she hasn't seen in years.


Faith isn't sure how long she's been asleep for, but she's woken up by the sound of Buffy crying next to her. Scrunching her face as she tries to wake up, she rolls on to her side and looks over at Buffy. She can just faintly see her as she lays with her back to her and there's no mistaking that she's definitely crying and trying desperately to hold it in. even waking up to the sounds of Buffy crying, she's never felt more relaxed in her life and knows she's never slept so soundly before. Part of her wonders if it's because of Buffy or because she'd gone too long without any proper sleep in an actual bed. Whatever it is, she shrugs it off for the time being and just lies there, wondering what the hell she's going to do to get Buffy to stop crying.

"B?" Faith whispers quietly and she sees Buffy freeze up immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're crying."

"I'm not crying."

Faith groans as she moves closer to Buffy on the bed, taking her chance and hopes she's not about to get her ass kicked. She reaches out and places a hand on Buffy's bare arm, shivering slightly as she touches Buffy's warm, smooth skin. She moves a little bit closer and without a word, she wraps her arm around Buffy and holds her close. Something with the way Buffy had been crying tells her that she just needs someone to hold her right now. Words can be spoken another time. It's one of those things she's slowly been getting better at, the whole comfort thing. She just hopes she's doing the right thing.

After a moment, she can feel Buffy relax and she smiles a little when Buffy places a hand over the one she has draped over her stomach. She half expects her to pull it off and push her away, but instead Buffy pulls her arm around her a little tighter and lets out a deep breath that she'd been holding since Faith touched her. Faith is taking it one second at a time, never having been so close to Buffy unless they were sparring or fighting or hiding somewhere small and tight when they came across too many Turok-Han to fight.

Faith knows Buffy is crying again and she can feel her body shudder a little as she lets the tears go. She fights the urge to ask her again what's wrong. She knows the answer is a lot more complicated than any words can explain. She can live with that for now and just hold Buffy until her little moment of weakness disappears.

She can almost feel how much Buffy hates the fact she is crying and that Faith caught her. It tears her up inside too since Buffy has been so strong after everything they've been through. This was the kind of emotion she's been waiting to see in Buffy since the world changed. She wants to be able to ask her why she's been holding it in for so long since even she knows that bottling things up isn't good for the soul.

Faith smiles a little as Buffy keeps one hand on her arm and reaches for her hand with the other, gently intertwining their fingers together. Everything about this moment is far too intimate for Faith to handle. She can't seem to process what's happening right now without those naughty thoughts of fucking Buffy in every way she's fantasized for longer than she cares to admit start to take over in her mind. She tries to push those thoughts out, knowing now isn't the time to think of all the ways she could fuck Buffy right now and make her forget about the rest of the world. She has to be the better person that she knows she is now and control herself. They might not be friends, barely, and she's not about to ruin how far they've come and have things end up as they did years before.

"Faith?"

"Yeah, B?" Faith asks, her voice cracking as she's jarred back to reality in an instant.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing," she replies quietly and she smiles as Buffy gives her hand a gentle squeeze. "Just thought ya needed someone right now. Just so happens I'm sharing your bed with ya so I seemed like the only likely person to be here for ya."

Buffy lets go of her hand and moves away from her as she turns around to face her. For a second she almost thinks that Buffy is going to lean over and kiss her, but all she gets is a small smile from her before she's getting up from the bed and opening up the heavy blackout drapes, letting in what looks like the late afternoon sun. Faith checks her watch and realizes they only got about an hour before its dark and their night begins.

"Think there's any food left?" Faith asks her as she gets off the bed and stretches out.

"Kennedy went out this morning. I'm sure she's brought something back."

"Good, I'm starved."

Buffy laughs and waits for Faith to join her before she leads the way downstairs. Faith lazily rubs the sleep from her eyes as they join the others in the kitchen. Dawn is already lighting the few candles they have left and the glow of the sun setting outside and the light from the candles create almost an eerie light in the room. Faith grabs a bottle of water out of the case next to the fridge and cracks it open, taking a sip before offering the bottle to Buffy without thinking twice. Buffy gives her an odd look, but doesn't say anything as she shakes her head no and gets a bottle of her own.

Everyone looks like they're dreading another night as it approaches quickly, darkness quickly overtaking the sky outside. Faith is ready though. She always is whether she's tired as hell or not. It doesn't matter if there's more out there tonight than there was last night; she knows that killing the Turok-Han and any demons they come across matter in the fight they have against the First. Saving the world isn't easy, it's far from it and she knows it could be a thousand times worse than it is now.

They have to keep trying. They can't give up, not now, not so easily.

They eat what's left of the food that Kennedy found earlier, which isn't much more than a couple cans of spam and cold canned vegetables and a handful of stale plain chips. They eat in silence, everyone seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Soon as everyone is done eating, Faith heads down to the basement where majority of their weapons are kept locked up in steel cabinet in case the house was looted by other survivors when none of them were around. She grabs what she knows they'll need to get them through the night and heads back upstairs quickly. The sooner they get out there, the more ground they can cover and hopefully push back the hordes of Turok-Han that seem to get closer to Revello Drive every night.

It's only her and Buffy tonight and she's just fine with that. They can move quickly, cover more ground, and normally kill more demons and Turok-Han when it's just the two of them. Even with Kennedy, she's not a seasoned slayer and she can't quite keep up with the two of them when they really get going. They don't speak as they get their weapons ready and pull on the bulletproof vests they'd grabbed from the back of a crashed police car a few weeks back. They've come in handy more than once, protected them from being sliced up by a few sword-wielding demons they've come across.

Neither says a word to each other as they leave the house together, Buffy taking the lead and Faith following her. If there's one thing Faith hates about heading out every night, it's walking through the barrier Willow has set up. She can feel the magic when they pass through and it makes her wig a little bit with how it makes her feel. She hates being on edge and it's why she's always been leery when it comes to use of magic. But at least the barrier has held up since they've come back to the Summers' house. It's kept the demons out and the Turok-Han from finding them. From what she understands of the spell that Willow used, it's not just a barrier to keep things out; it also cloaks the house to all things not from this world. Now normal vampires on the other hand, there have been a few left in Sunnydale that have gotten past it. They're piles of dust on the front lawn now.

Faith follows Buffy down the street, both moving quickly and quietly, dodging the bodies of dead demons they'd killed over the past couple of weeks, their rotting corpses lining the road, the sidewalks and the front lawns of all the houses on the street. As soon as Buffy takes a right and heads for the north side of town, Faith knows they're hitting new ground tonight. They've been over at least half of Sunnydale since the world changed and every time they tried to go somewhere else, somewhere a little bit further, things took a turn for the worse and they always got turned around.

"Quiet tonight," Faith whispers as she walks swiftly next to Buffy. "Think something's up?"

"I don't know. Just stay quiet and move fast," Buffy replies in a hushed whisper.

Faith has a feeling there's more to patrol tonight than just being out there to kill Turok-Han and demons. She has a feeling that Buffy might be looking for a different place, somewhere safer, somewhere with food and more supplies than what they have back at the house. She keeps her eyes out, focusing on the left while Buffy keeps an eye out on the right side of the street. It's still early in the night and their luck could run out at any time.

They'd found that out the hard way a week and a half back, thinking they were in for a relatively easy night since it started off quiet, just like tonight. They ended up being careless, not keeping an eye out around them and ended up being jumped by seven demons nobody could even identify. It was a hard, long fight, one they barely walked away from. If it hadn't been for Xander being late to catch up to the two of them, they would've been dead. He's the one who grabbed the crossbow before they left, ignoring Buffy and Faith when they told him it'd be useless against the Turok-Han. If it hadn't been for him and his excellent shot, they'd be dead and so would he and the others.

Buffy comes to a stop after about ten minutes of walking. They're in a neighbourhood they hadn't checked since people started fleeing from Sunnydale. It's a small gated neighbourhood, two blocks at most. The houses are huge and from the looks of things, it has been virtually untouched by the chaos and destruction the rest of the town has seen. The twelve-foot high fence and locked gates protected this neighbourhood and Faith feels like they're about to hit the jackpot soon as they get inside and start searching the houses.

"We gotta go up and over," Faith says as she points to the top of the fence. "Come on, I know we didn't come all this way not to check the place out, B."

Buffy only nods and steps back from the fence. Faith takes it upon herself to go up first. The iron is slick and she finds it hard to get a good grip, but she gets up and over the top of the fence and drops down to land on her feet. Buffy is right behind her and lands on the ground next to her. They look back out to the street, making sure they're not being watched or followed by anyone or anything before they make their way up to the first house on the left side of the wide street.

The sky is completely dark as they make their way up the driveway and head for the front door. Buffy pulls out a small flashlight from the holster on her belt and turns it on. Faith tries the door and it's locked. She smiles and raises a foot and kicks the door between the handle and the deadbolt, the wood splitting and the door flinging open, loudly banging on the wall behind it. A locked door never stopped her before, not even before she was a slayer. Buffy shines the light into the front hallway as they cautiously make their way inside. The neighbourhood may look secure and untouched, as did the house from the outside, but even Faith knows that looks can be deceiving sometimes.

They exchange a look and go their separate ways to check the house top to bottom before they start looking for food and supplies. Faith grabs her own flashlight and heads up the stairs while Buffy stays on the main floor. The house is quiet and hotter than it is outside. She wipes a line of sweat from her forehead as she checks each bedroom thoroughly and quickly. The only sign that anyone had been in the house is whoever used to live here and call the place home had left along with the rest of the town. Dresser drawers still open and cleaned out, family photos taken out of frames that are scattered on tables and the walls. She sighs in relief when she finds the top floor is clear and heads back downstairs to find Buffy.

"Anything?" Faith asks in a whisper as she meets Buffy by the front door.

"Nothing. It's clear."

"We're all clear upstairs too. Let's check the kitchen out and see what we can find. Got a feeling we're about to score here, B."

Faith lets Buffy take the lead and she can't seem to stop smiling. Something happened to her today with Buffy and in her books, it was something huge. It happened when Buffy let her hold her when she was crying instead of throwing her across the room and try to kick her ass for even touching her. It was a step, a big one. Even tonight, she could feel something different between them. Less tension of the normal kind and more tension of the sexual kind.

Faith is going to take this little change between them with a grain of salt though. Buffy's famous for her shifting moods and if this is another one of them, she isn't about to let it destroy her or how far they've come even if in reality, it's not that far at all.

She feels like her heart is locked in a vice grip when Buffy turns to her suddenly and flashes a small little smile before she disappears into the kitchen. Faith can hardly move from where she stands, feeling like her legs just turned into strands of wet spaghetti. She runs a hand through her hair and joins Buffy in the kitchen, her thoughts immediately on the open pantry door and the beam of light coming from Buffy's flashlight.

"Damn, B! We definitely fucking scored!" Faith laughs as she walks straight into the fully stocked pantry. "We're gonna be eating good for at least a week, yo."

Buffy laughs and joins her in the pantry and they stand there, taking in the sight of all the food lined up on the shelves. Faith, in her moment of excitement, wraps her arms around Buffy in a tight embrace. They freeze when they realize what is happening and Faith just shrugs it off, takes a Twix bar off the shelf and eagerly unwraps it. She offers Buffy on piece while she shoves the other into her mouth, savouring the taste of chocolate as it brings her taste buds alive again.

They both know they're not leaving that house as soon as a loud boom of thunder rumbles outside. The storms that roll through now are sudden and violent, sometimes lasting a few minutes, other times lasting hours making it far more unsafe than walking around Sunnydale with a hoard of Turok-Han chasing after them. These storms had proven to be deadly. They saw the destruction first hand when they were holed up in what was left of the Magic Box a few weeks back. Constant lightning and rain that burned if it touched skin. These storms came from a hell dimension and they all knew it would only get worse as time goes on.

Buffy heads off in search of candles while Faith finds bags to use to take as much food as they can carry back to the house. As the storm grows more intense outside, the temperature drops inside the house drastically. Faith shivers as she quickly packs up the food in big black garbage bags she found lying in a box on the floor. As Faith exits the pantry, she shivers as thunder crackles outside, shaking the house. She finds Buffy in the hallway lighting a few candles that she'd found.

"Got what I could loaded up in garbage bags," Faith says as she sits down on the second last step on the stairs. "Was thinking if we're stuck here, should try to make the most of it and find anything else that we can use back at the house."

"Okay."

Faith shrugs and grabs one of the lit candles and starts her search in the first room to the right, a large lavish dining room with a bar. Laughing, she heads around the small bar and spots the locked cabinet. Using her dagger she keeps strapped to her leg, she props the lock open and lets out another laugh as she peers inside.

She grabs an empty cardboard box she spots on the bottom shelf and starts loading it up with various bottles of whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum. As soon as she spots the bottle of scotch on the top shelf, she grabs it, knowing Giles would appreciate it more than she would. She places the box on the floor and grabs a bottle of whiskey. She cracks the bottle open and takes a swig, her whole body buzzing at the first taste of alcohol she's had in a very long time. Since before she went to prison. Too long.

Faith walks around to the other side of the bar and sits on the leather stool. She takes another swig from the bottle and closes her eyes, trying to tune out the raging storm outside and the thoughts flowing through her mind. Buffy walks in a few minutes later and Faith expects her to chew her out for drinking, but instead Buffy surprises her and takes a seat on the stool next to her. She places her candle next to the one Faith had brought in and looks at the nearly empty liquor cabinet behind the bar.

"Really, Faith?"

"We all need something to take the edge off."

Buffy shakes her head, but doesn't say anything. Her look of disapproval says more than enough. It doesn't faze Faith at all and she takes another sip from the bottle before she twists the cap back on.

"You want a sip?" Faith asks as she holds the bottle towards Buffy. With a shrug, Buffy takes the bottle from her, twists off the cap and takes a sip, immediately pulling a face as the liquor burns her throat. "Takes the edge off, doesn't it?"

"Little bit. We should check the rest of the house," Buffy says with a nod and she gets up from the stool, taking her candle with her and heads towards the stairs without another word. "Faith, are you coming?"

Faith grabs her candle and the bottle of whiskey and follows Buffy up the stairs. Faith heads down the hall straight for the master bedroom, opening the double doors wide and walks inside. Buffy isn't too far behind her and they just stand in the doorway for a moment, taking it all in. Faith knows how guilty Buffy feels going through other people's things in their houses they long since abandoned, but it has to be done. They need to survive and they're nearly running on empty now.

Buffy heads into the huge walk-in closet, leaving Faith standing where she is. Faith places her candle on the mahogany dresser and takes a swig from the bottle. She walks over to the big windows and pulls back the heavy drapes and peers outside. The storm is still raging, getting worse by the minute and the clouds in the sky almost look as if they're on fire every time lightning crackles across the clouds.

"Faith?" Buffy's voice pulls her away from the window and she joins her in the walk-in closet.

"Holy shit, B. We fucking scored with this place!" Faith laughs as she stands in front of a cabinet full of weapons. There are old rifles and handguns, swords and knives that look to be a couple hundred years old. Faith knows they can't use the guns, there is no ammo and guns are pretty much worthless when it comes to their biggest threat; the Turok-Han.

"How are we going to get all of this stuff back to the house?"

"We'll figure something out," Faith replies as she traces her finger over the dainty looking lock on the cabinet doors. "Come on, let's grab what we can use and take it downstairs. We'll get everything ready to go and leave as soon as the sun rises."

Buffy doesn't say a word, she only watches as Faith elbows the glass doors, breaking them with ease. They grab the swords and daggers of all different sizes, Faith checking each one to make sure they were real and not replicas made of cheap plastic and wood. They carry the stuff downstairs and settle down in the hallway, Buffy grabbing the couch from the living room and pulling it into the hallway. The storms were unpredictable and since the house didn't have a basement, the hallway was the safest place for them to spend the night. Besides, Faith wants to keep an eye on the things they grabbed and are bringing back to the house with them.

After they both grab some food from the bags Faith had packed up, they settle down, Faith on the bottom step of the stairs and Buffy curled up on the couch. Faith mindlessly eats the stale bag of plain potato chips, looking everywhere around the hallway but at Buffy. It's been different between them all day, in a lot of ways Faith can't quite put her finger on. She wonders if it was what happened between them earlier, when she held Buffy when she was crying, trying her best to comfort her. Whatever it is, there's a new kind of tension in the air between them and she just knows that Buffy has been trying to ignore it just as much as she has.

Faith tries to get comfortable on the stairs, taking a few swigs of the whiskey from the bottle to wash down the bitter taste in her mouth left behind from the stale chips. Buffy seems to have no problem falling asleep on the couch and Faith just sits there on the bottom step, bottle in one hand and the other picking at the rip in her jeans just above the knee.

She wonders how long Buffy had been bottling up how she really feels. Has it been since the world changed on them, or did it start long before that? She's never seen Buffy cry like that and even now, hours later, the image of the way Buffy had looked in that moment is still burned freshly in her mind. If only she could talk to her about it. That's not happening in a million years and Faith knows that. She and Buffy might be on neutral grounds now-they have no other choice-but they are still so far from being friends, from being close enough to talk about things like that.

All Faith can do now is try to get some sleep and wait out the storm and wait for the sun to rise before they do it all over again.

Every day that came was a bit of a blessing and a curse. They never knew if they'd make it through another night, if they'd make it far enough to see the dawn of a new day arrive. This was why she watched the sunrise each day, using that time to search for answers that never came. Answers on how to save the world, to bring it back to the way it used to be.

Hopeless, it was it is. But it's that hopeless feeling that creates a sense of hope that maybe things will change.

If not tomorrow or the next day, but maybe one day soon.

For Faith and the others, that day can't come soon enough.