Authors' note: My brain is working in reverse, I know what to write for the end, and the middle of the story, it's the beginning that's the problem, so bare with me cause I can sense writers block on the horizon. Thank you to everybody that's reading and reviewing this fic, especially those of you who are still following from the start : - ) I will try reply to all reviews that are sent, it just might take me a wee while because I'm rushed off my feet at work :-) Anyway enjoy lol.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything.
Chapter 2
Joyce was surprised to come downstairs and find Faith and her daughter, fully dressed and drinking coffee in the kitchen. She quickly glanced at the clock on the wall, reassuring herself that she hadn't slept in. "Good morning you two." she greeted, startling them both. She shook her head in amusement, they may be here in body but obviously not in spirit.
"Oh, hey mom." Buffy greeted. "We made lots of coffee if you want some." she offered.
"Don't mind of I do." Joyce said as she got a mug and poured herself some. "So what are you two doing up so early? Not that I mind having company for breakfast but you usually don't surface for at least another four hours." she asked curiously.
"We couldn't sleep." They both answered at the same time, looking at each other sheepishly.
"So that's the reason for the vat of coffee." Joyce said in amusement, sitting at the table next to them.
"Pretty much." Faith said, before draining her mug. "Think I'm gonna hit the shower, see if it'll waken me up a little." she grinned, getting up from the table and heading out the room.
Joyce couldn't help but notice the concern on Buffy's face as she watched her leave the room.
"So do you want to tell me what's really going?" she asked curiously. "Normally nothing short of an earthquake would prise you two out of bed."
Buffy sighed, "I just found out that Faith's been having trouble sleeping for the past few months, she didn't say anything because she didn't think it was important. But I woke up last night and found her sitting outside, so I stayed up and kept her company. It wouldn't have felt right if I went to sleep knowing that she was still awake." she explained, leaving out the parts about the blood lust and nightmares. Her mom may be okay with her dating a werewolf, but it might freak her out if she told her about the violent urges Faith had been having. "We're going to go and see Giles this morning, see if he can figure out what's causing this."
"Wouldn't she be better off going to see a doctor? I'm sure they'd be able to give her something to help her sleep." Joyce said in concern.
"Faith doesn't really like doctors, besides what with the whole, not being human thing. It could get kind of messy." Buffy said. "Besides Giles knows everything, well almost everything. And if he doesn't know something you can guarantee he'll have a book about it." she said optimistically.
Joyce nodded in agreement. "Okay if you're both sure about it. Speaking of Rupert how is he these days? I haven't seen him in a while." she asked curiously.
"Giles is fine, apart from the whole unemployed thing, but he's optimistic about it which is good."
"Well you tell him that if he wants, I can see about getting him a job at the gallery. We have a few posts opening up, it's not work he would normally do but it's better than nothing." Joyce offered. "It'll help pay the bills and put food on the table." she said, getting up and putting her empty mug in the sink.
"Will do mom." Buffy said.
"Okay, well I'd better get going, we've got a new shipment of paintings being delivered so I might be late getting home, there's plenty of food in the fridge for the both of you, and if you need anything you have my cell number." Joyce said, kissing Buffy on the cheek she grabbed her bag and headed for the door, "Oh and honey don't forget to sign up for your college classes." she said firmly.
"Don't worry I won't." Buffy said sweetly, and received a sceptical look from her mom. "I won't forget I promise, I'll go straight there when we've finished at Giles's."
"How many times have I heard that." Joyce replied, "I'll see you later, good luck with Rupert." she called as she shut the door behind her.
Buffy shook her head and made her way back into the kitchen, truth be told she'd forgotten about starting UC Sunnydale and right now that was the furthest thing from her mind.
She could hear the shower running upstairs and her thought once again turned to her girlfriend. She could understand why Faith had thought that the dreams where unimportant, having dreams about people you'd killed was normal, it was how your mind coped with the guilt.
It wasn't the dreams that worried Buffy, it was the bloodlust that Faith had admitted to feeling, and she'd occasionally heard Faith talking to herself, as if arguing with someone in the room. The one thing Buffy feared most was Faith losing control, she'd had to fight Faith once before when she was under the control of the slave disc and that had been hard enough. Being the slayer she knew that if Faith lost control and couldn't be cured, it would fall on her to kill her, and that was a burden that she shared alone.
Bathroom - upstairs
As soon as she stepped into the shower, and the warm water hit her body, Faith felt her tension flow away. Closing her eyes she let the water stream over her, enjoying the feeling. Despite the fact that she hadn't slept for God knows how long, she felt surprisingly well. Since opening up to Buffy last night she felt, lighter, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. If Buffy was confident that Giles could fix this, then Faith was all for it. Hell she would give anything to have a decent night's sleep, even if it meant clipping Giles's toe nails with her teeth. She shuddered at the mental image and quickly washed her hair, she wanted to get to Giles' place sharpish and get this thing fixed, cause tonight she planned on sleeping like the dead, figuratively speaking.
She rinsed the soap from her hair, before shutting off the shower. Opening the shower door, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it round herself before stepping out and padding over to the sink. Wiping the steam from the mirror, she stared intently at her reflection, and was shocked at how haggard she looked. God only knows how she thought she could keep this hidden from Buffy and the Scoob's, even a blind man could see that she hadn't been sleeping.
She wiped at the bags under her eyes, half hoping that they would disappear if she scrubbed hard enough, but nope they where still there stubbornly refusing to budge. Sighing she quickly dried herself off and threw on the clothes, she'd brought with her.
She turned to leave the bathroom when she heard a noise behind her, looking round she saw nothing, shrugging her shoulders she carried on walking towards the door.
/ Murderer! / Faith froze as she heard a voice hiss accusingly, knowing that there was no one else in the room with her, she threw open the bathroom door, expecting someone to be behind it but the hall was empty. Turning back into the room she thought she saw something move out the corner of her eye, but when she looked there was nothing there. She waited listening intently to see if she would hear the voice again, but the only noise that greeted her was the dripping of the shower head.
"I'm going fuckin nuts." she mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief, reaching her hand out for the door handle. Just as she thought she'd imagined it she heard the voice again.
/ Murderer! /
She froze in the doorway, she put her hand against the doorframe to steady herself and flinched as she came into contact with something warm and wet. Looking at where her hand lay, she saw that the wall was covered with blood. Cautiously turning round she saw with horror that blood had begun oozing from the walls, like wet paint, the stench of it filling the air, making her want to gag.
/ Murderer! / The voice hissed.
"No! I'm not, I didn't mean to!" she said her voice shaking, "I'm not a murderer!"
/ Murderer, murderer, murderer / The voice was now joined by others.
"I'm not a murderer!" Faith yelled.
Her words only caused the unseen voices to become louder and more forceful, she tried to back out of the room but found herself rooted to the spot, unable to move.
/ MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER! / The voices yelled back at her. She put her hands over her ears trying to drown them out, but they seemed to be echoing inside her head.
"Shut up!" Faith pleaded, "Shut up, shut up, shut up! SHUT UP!" She clamped her eyes shut, trying to block out the sight of the blood pooling on the floor, slowly seeping towards her.
The voices stopped suddenly as someone pounded franticly on the other side of the bathroom door, "Faith! What's going on? Are you okay in there?" Faith almost sobbed with relief as she heard her girlfriends voice. Slowly removing her hands from her ears, she cautiously opened her eyes, and saw that everything was back to normal, blood no longer staining the walls and floors.
"Faith! Don't make me break down this door." Buffy called worriedly. Faith threw a shaking hand out and unlocked the door, throwing it open. "God baby are you okay? I heard you shouting." Buffy asked in concern, taking in Faith's shaken appearance.
"We need to see Giles now Buffy. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this." Faith replied, her voice wavering.
Buffy pulled her into a hug, and stroked her back soothingly, she could feel Faith shaking in her arms and knew that whatever had happened in the bathroom had effected her deeply. Buffy could only hope that Giles would have some answers as to what was causing this and that he would be able to fix it, if not, Buffy dreaded to think what could happen if it got worse.
Meanwhile, Sewers - Downtown Sunnydale
The sound of feet pounding through puddles, echoed throughout the sewer, as the vampire ran for all he was worth. In the distance he could hear the footfalls of his pursuers who where still giving chase. He ran round a corner and skidded in a pile of sewage, somehow managing to keep his balance he sighed in relief. However when he looked up and saw what was in front of him he skidded to a halt.
"Oh shi-" What ever else he was about to say was cut off as twenty thousand volts shot through his body, sending him crashing to the ground.
The soldier approached the fallen vampire warily. Keeping his gun aimed on the vamp, he nudged him with his boot, when he saw that it was definitely out for the count he knelt beside him and proceeded to restrain him. The soldier looked up as he saw his comrades come running out of the tunnel that the vampire had previously exited.
"Good work Agent." One of the soldiers said.
"Thank you Sir." He replied standing to salute the man that had praised him.
"Professor Walsh will be pleased with this specimen." The soldier said, he gestured to the two men standing behind him. "Let's get the hostile back to base, and remember to cover him up when you get outside, we don't want all our hard work going up in smoke." he commanded, the two men saluted him before doing as ordered.
"Agent Finn yet again you've proved yourself to be an asset to the Initiative. If it hadn't been for your ingenuity we might not have caught the hostile as quickly and efficiently as we did." the soldier said. "Which is why after careful consideration we'd like you to become involved in the OMEGA project."
Riley looked at the other soldier in puzzlement. "The OMEGA project?" he asked.
"All in good time Agent, you will be briefed on our return to the compound." The other man replied. "If it's alright with you I think it's about time we get out of this shit hole."
Riley laughed and followed the other man as they made their way out of the sewers and back to civilisation.
TBC.
A/N: Well there you have it, please review and let me know what you think, cause I really have no idea where the start of this story's going. If anyone has any ideas about what they want to happen next let me know cause I'm open to ideas :-)