She drummed her manicured fingers on the dining room table, biting her lip anxiously. Three weeks. Three weeks since Faith had left the house and she still hadn't returned. Buffy, when not busy planning with Giles during the day, had spent most of her time searching the greater Cleveland area for her absentee girlfriend. And she'd spent every night since her disappearance waiting at the dining room table.

Buffy found it difficult to explain why Faith had left when Willow questioned her (the redhead was the only one she'd answer to). It had started out about Faith totally ditching patrol, which, Buffy now admitted, had been a stupid thing to be angry over. But she and Faith had ridiculous arguments like that all of the time and, as violent and passionate as those fights were, they also led into much better, more pleasurable activities. But the argument suddenly got serious. Faith had insulted the relationship they had going. More than that, she had affronted Buffy's role in it.

The blonde Slayer was obviously hurt by Faith's rash statements, but wouldn't calm down and show vulnerability. That just wasn't the way the Chosen Two fought. So, she defended herself recklessly, not caring how her words would affect her girlfriend. The fight escalated to the point of tossing pictures off their walls and dressers. But Buffy never thought that Faith would be pushed to threaten to hit her. Sure, Buffy had hit her when Faith had returned to Sunnydale several weeks ago and Faith hadn't returned the favor, but this could now be considered domestic violence.

But the senior Slayer noticed a flicker in Faith's eyes. It was almost as if she was coming to, waking up from one of their riddled Slayer dreams. Her eyes didn't seem so dark and angry. In fact, she looked like a lost puppy or a small child who had just been scolded. And then she left.

Willow had passed a general outline of the story to Giles, Xander, Dawn, and Kennedy. Since then, various versions of it had been passed around the house of new Slayers, but, otherwise, no one was completely certain of what had happened. Although, everyone could sense the Slayer's despair since the disappearance of her other half.

It wasn't too difficult to figure out. Buffy spent most days searching for her, even while patrolling. She had only slept an hour per night despite Willow and Giles' admonishments and she always slept on Faith's side of the bed, the left side. Willow thought that would drive her mad, but she left her alone on that front. None of Faith's things had been moved from their place; no one sat at Faith's usual seat at the dinner table which was across from Buffy, but the place was always set despite her not being home. Buffy's insistence. When she did go to bed, she left the living room and hall light on for the runaway girl. There was also a spare key under the doormat, seeing as Faith had left everything she owned. Even her motorcycle was still in the driveway, a constant reminder for Buffy of the Rogue Slayer.

There were other things Buffy did as well. She thought of ways she could've prevented Faith from leaving at random times in the day, wishing she could turn back time. She wished that Faith had hit her. She knew she could handle that. It would've been less painful.

"Buffy, you should really get some sleep," Willow suggested just like she did every night. She leaned against the archway, the entry to the dining room. It reminded all of the Scoobies of Buffy's home in Sunnydale.

Kennedy's footsteps could be heard going up the stairs. The couple stayed up with Buffy for as long as they could every night before going to get some shut eye. Willow had taken a liking to Faith. Sure, they weren't the best of friends, but they didn't hate each other anymore after the whole Angel/Angelus ordeal a few months back. Not to mention, Faith made Buffy happy and that's all Willow could ask for. Kennedy was almost as worried about Faith as Buffy. Faith was the first person besides Willow to befriend her and not think she was a spoiled brat. Although most of the new Slayers looked up to Buffy, Kennedy found her hero in Faith.

Buffy lifted her head from its resting place on her clasped hands. She looked back at Willow with a forced smile, a small one at that. She shook her head gently. This had become a nightly routine for the best friends. Willow already knew what Buffy was going to say.

"No, it's okay. You go on up. I'll be there in a second."

Both girls knew the last statement to be false. Buffy would be down here until 7 and that was in another four hours. The redhead sighed and nodded, heading up the stairs, disappearing behind the dining room wall. Buffy watched her disappear before placing her chin back on her hands. She bit her lip in anticipation.

She didn't know where Faith could have gone. She tried several options in her head. Her first guess had been Angel in Los Angeles, but he had told her he'd had no contact with her since they'd settled in Cleveland. He would keep an eye out for the Slayer, though. She had no other ideas, though. Faith was still kind of a mystery to her. From what Buffy knew, Faith kept to the Scoobies and new Slayers just as much as the rest of them did. None of them really had friends out here except one another. Buffy spent almost every waking moment with Faith, so if she had made a new friend while out here, the blonde would have known.

Buffy glanced at the clock on the wall, realizing she'd lost track of the hour. How long had she been rationalizing the same ideas in her head that had been there every day for three weeks? An hour and a half. It was now 4:30 in the morning. She sighed, picking up her cup of tea. Giles always said it would help her relax. These past few weeks it hadn't been as effective as it often was on the Chosen One.

She heard the sound of clicking and turned her head to look into the living room. It was almost frightening how much this place reminded her of the house in Sunnydale. The front door opened and in stepped the Dark Slayer, a backpack hanging over her left shoulder, as she began taking off her relatively new denim jacket.

Buffy had never moved so swiftly in her life. Not even to stake a vampire.

Her arms wrapped tightly around the brunette's neck, holding her close. Faith couldn't hold back a smile, dropping her backpack and freshly removed jacket, as she wrapped her arms around the girl's waist. She felt the tears of the blonde Slayer seep through the fabric of her shirt, but Faith didn't mind. She was just happy to be home again.

Home. What a strange thought.

"Where'd you go?" Buffy murmured. Faith ran a hand through the shorter girl's blonde waves.

"I went to Boston. I had to go back for a while," Faith explained vaguely.

"Why?"

Faith sighed. She knew one day she'd have to tell Buffy more about her past. Faith knew a lot about hers. All Buffy knew were the names of her dickwad exes. That was no fair to her.

"I had more problems than you can imagine before I came to Sunnydale. And I'll tell you all about it another time." Faith pulled back a bit, but not out of Buffy's grip. She lifted the shorter Slayer's head, placing two fingers under her chin. He noted the exhaustion in the green eyes she'd often found herself lost in. They were a bit bloodshot and small bags were developing under Buffy's eyes. "For now, you need to get some sleep." She kissed her softly before picking up her backpack and directing Buffy towards the stairs.

Author's Note: So, I have decided to make this story longer. It was originally meant to be these two chapters, but I like Buffy and Faith and The Script so much, I wanna continue. Plus, I came up with more ideas to go with songs. I already have the next chapter written and am working on finishing Chapter 4. Yay!

I also recommend listening to these songs. The chapters are written to go with them and include lyrics from them that have been slightly modified to fit the story. Enjoy! The first chapter song is Walk Away (Featuring B.O.B.). This one is If You Ever Come Back. I name the chapters after the songs.