Hope's Drowning, Chapter Two;

"Vague Explanations"

Willow sat in her room nervously. It was nerve-racking waiting for Buffy's

call. She had been waiting by her phone since their talk that morning. She wanted so badly for things to work out for her best friend. Buffy deserved to be with someone who made her happy, the way Faith did.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She had last talked to Buffy about 10:30 that morning, and it was now 11:30 at night!. She was still waiting for the slayer's call.

"That's it!" Willow said, Resolve-Face firmly set, "I'm calling her!" She picked up the phone and dialed the familiar digits… She got a busy signal. "Fine." the red head told herself in a cool tone, "I can wait a few more minutes." She couldn't. All of 30 seconds later, which felt like a short life-time of madness, she picked up the phone and pressed re-dial. Luckily; there was no busy signal this time.

"Hello?" said a tired voice.

"Buffy?" she asked, worry obvious in her voice.

"Wills? Hey, what's up?" Buffy's tone was almost lazy.

"BUFFY! You said you'd call me! That was 13 hours ago! What happened? How did things with Faith go?" just then Willow heard a familiar voice faintly ask 'you sure you won't mind me borrowing this?'.

"Uh, fine. Things are fine Willow, I'm sorry I didn't call sooner . . ."

"Buffy . . ." Willow started slowly, "Who was that talking, and why did you not call me. You know I'm prone to panic and over-react!"

"That was Faith," Buffy stated hesitantly, "She's going to be staying here for a while . . ."

"Wow," Willow whispered into the receiver, slightly awed, "I had no idea things would go that well."

" . . . I didn't tell her . . ."

"WHAT! Then what the heck is she doing there?"

"Remember how I told you we had an argument over what a slayer can and cannot do?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, now's probably not the best time to get into the details, but there will be a Scooby meeting about it, and that's why I didn't get to call you. We had to involve the Council. We spent a few hours on the phone making transatlantic phone calls and even more time calling Giles, it's very complicated, but you will know soon, I promise."

"Okay," Willow said slowly, trying to take in what little information she was given, "So why is Faith there? How did she end up at your house?"

"That's pretty simple," Buffy sighed sounding tired, "When I went to her motel to talk to her all her stuff was packed. She was getting ready to run Will! We talked, and I told her I couldn't let her leave. So I took her home, and now she's gonna stay here for a while."

"Okay." Willow was glad she was on the phone, that way Buffy couldn't see the goofy smile on her face.

"I'll let you get to bed, promise to give me the details tomorrow?"

"I will - - as soon as possible!" came the response.

"Good-Night Buffy" she said happily.

"Good night Wills."

Willow was glad Faith hadn't run away; she didn't want to think about what could've happened if Buffy hadn't stopped her. The wiccan was looking forward to getting to know the brunette, Faith had always fascinated her. She just hoped she was good enough for Buffy.