Warnings: F/F, no beta, vulgar language, angst, alcohol etc.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, UPN and WB Television Networks

Chapter 3: Cold Rain of the Coming Storm

BPOV

It's 8.20 pm and we were supposed be gone out of the house 20 minutes ago. I can't believe she fell asleep again. After we spared she went to her room, and hasn't shown up since. I've been talking to Willow, and she said she doesn't feel anything supernatural about it.

She wasn't this bad when she first came here. Sure, the first day she slept a lot, but that was only because she was unconscious, and was healing. I tried to help a bit, switch the bandages and stuff like that, but most of the healing happened thanks to Willow. She just used magic, and healed all her worst wounds.

*****FLASBACK*****

"Xander help clear the space." He quickly went to the bed in the corner that he and Will brought down here while I was in LA, and removed the chains from the middle of the bed. I'm holding up a restrained and unconscious Faith bridal style, and I need to put her down as fast as possible. Not because she's heavy or anything like that. Thanks to my slayer strength I could carry her around all day, but her wounds are starting to reopen, and she needs to be still.

I gently lay her on the bed, and remove the rope around her hands. I put it on just as a precaution in case she woke up on the ride back here, and decided that opening the door, and jumping out of the car would be better than coming with me. And considering it's Faith we're talking about if she did wake up that probably would have happened. Good thing she doesn't have any Slayer powers right now or I'd have to get something way stronger than a rope for the drive back.

I go to her side, and carefully put her hands in the restraints attached to the bed. I don't tighten it that much, just enough so she won't be able to break free without extra strength. I do the same thing with her legs, and after I'm done I take a chair and sit next to her.

"Will she be okay?" Willow asks.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if she has her Slayer abilities right now."

"I can check if you'd like." I smile, and thank her.

"She doesn't look like much right now." Xander's still holding a knife in his hand, prepared for battle that's not going to happen. Considering the damage done I know she won't wake up anytime soon.

"Yeah, she almost looks normal now," I smile. Her face is blank, and she reminds me of the time she was in a coma. Nothing on her is revealing what's going on in her head, and I find myself wishing I'd be sleeping so I could share a slayer dream with her. Of course I'm not really sure that'd work since she doesn't have her powers. At least I think she doesn't.

I look at what Willow's doing, and see her chanting a spell. After about a minute she zones back into reality, "She's still powerless, I don't know why though," she frowns, " but I think we should try to heal her first before we try with any more magic."

"I think you're right." I turn to Xander, "Could you please get the first aid kit from the bathroom?"
He just nods, and heads upstairs.

"Maybe I can heal the worst of it 'cause well, she doesn't have Slayer healing and it could take a while." I agree, and Willow starts.

After about 10 minutes most of the damage is taken care of, and Willow is exhausted. I tell her to get some sleep while I stay with Faith, and change the bandages on the cuts that remained. Hopefully her Slayer healing will come back, and take care of those. Willow has already done more than enough.

"So are you gonna just sit here all the time now?" I hear Xander approaching.

"If I have to. We still don't know in what condition she is mentally, and despite all the reassurances I got from Angel about her turning over a new leaf I still don't trust her. And even if I did believe Angel there's no way of telling how the last two months affected her. Maybe she's even more unstable than she was before."

"I don't think that's possible." He stretches.

"Don't know about that, and really don't want to find out." He pats me on my shoulder, and tells me he's going upstairs right before he leaves.

My gaze once again falls on Faith, and I just stay there starring at her. I hope she's alright. She was barely breathing before Willow did her thing, and I don't really know if her magic works on the internal injuries or just external.

I might hate her, but I really don't want her to die. We did have some fun together, you know, before she went all evil and started killing people. I think that was mostly the Mayor's fault though. He ordered her to do those things, and yeah she had a choice, but it's not like she's one to think with her own head. She was probably just trying to get rid of the guilt, or really really confused, and he took her under his wing. We at least won't have to worry about that happening again.

It's actually ironic how the only reason we're all still here is because I could use the Mayor's love for Faith against him. It's slightly disturbing to see that they could care for each other that much. Evil was supposed to be well evil. No love there, just… evil. But they did genuinely care, I mean the Mayor's rage when he found Faith in the hospital, and Faith's fury when she found out he died proved that pretty well.

I stayed there the whole day, just watching her, and thinking. I have to admit she does look sort of beautiful like this. I'm not blind, I know she's hot, everyone with eyes can see that, and her dressing like a prostitute helps clear that out. But right now, when she's like this, looking all innocent and peaceful, she looks… beautiful. I stand up, walk to her, and caress her forehead. She's not feverish anymore, and the bleeding at the back of her head stopped, but she's still not out of the woods yet.

*****END OF FLASBACK*****

She did wake up after a day, and after a couple of days, all her injuries healed. I really do love Slayer healing.

"Ready to go B?" she skipped down the stairs towards the door. She didn't look as bad as she did last night, and I'm very grateful for that. A sleepy Slayer is a dead slayer or potentially dead slayer at least.

"Yeah, I was ready half an hour ago." I say pointedly. She decides to ignore me again, and just walks out the door. I groan, and follow her.

It's not like I have a choice or anything. We're still not letting her from our sight, after all it's only been like a month, and patrols must be kept or Giles will start with his lectures again, and I really don't want to hear another "it's your sacred duty" speech or I just might go insane. And we already have one sanity deprived Slayer; I think that fills our quota.

"C'mon B, try to keep up will ya," Faith says impatiently. She's practically running to the cemetery.

"Why, are you in a hurry? Hot date or something?" I tease. I know she doesn't have a date, what with her being locked up in the house most of the time, and supervised the rest.

"Ha, ha, didn't know you were a comedian too. Here's a tip for ya, stick to your day job."

"I don't have a day job."

"I wonder why." She murmurs, but I unfortunately hear her, and send her a glare.

"Look who's talking, Miss I never take any responsibility."

"Hey! I did my time, or at least part of it, the leaving part was not my choice. I told you to send me back, but nooo… You just had to keep me in Sunnyhell 'cause you apparently don't even trust me enough to let me rot in the freaking jail!" she was yelling by the time she ended her little rant.

This is so not going to end well. I need to defuse the situation or this might turn ugly, and I can't have ugly right now, not without back up anyway. I take a deep breath, and will myself to calm down.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to do the right thing, and you dying in jail isn't exactly okay. Besides you can redeem yourself way better out here, slaying the bad guys, than slowly dying in the big house.

She visibly relaxed when she saw that I'm not going to yell at her, "Why didn't you just say that to me on the roof? You're the one who wanted me to go there in the first place."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I was angry, and I didn't think things through, but I get it now. I see what Angel was trying to tell me, and just…" I sigh, "you can do a lot of good out here, and the only reason I couldn't see that before was because I didn't think you were even capable of it. I'm sorry."

Her face is completely blank at the moment. I can't read her at all. She takes a big breath after a while and smiles weakly at me. I know she's not happy with what I said, but she's willing to let it go, and not turn it into another big fight. Another big change.

FPOV

We've been here now for like four hours already, and we've only managed to patrol through 8 of the 12 cemeteries located in the 'Dale. For such a small town they sure have a lot of those. B's been talkin' my ears off about the sale the local mall is having.

It's really fucking annoying and it's starting to get on my nerves. Of course telling her to shut up might result in another fight, and me chained up again. Although right now, I'd rather be locked up in the basement than listening to her trying to convince me to go shopping – under adult supervision of course.

"C'mon Faith, you need new clothes. You can't wear leather all the time, and the ones that Angel sent you are old." She pleaded.

"I have more clothes at my old apartment. Maybe we can swing by on our way back." She cringed at my suggestion. The Mayor's place still has all my stuff, and that includes my wardrobe. Yeah, Angel sent all my clothes I took with me when I went to LA, but most of it stayed here.

"Why would you wanna go back there?"

"I don't know. Maybe I like the atmosphere," I give her my best evil face, and then continue, "or maybe, 'cause of all my clothes that are still there!" Wow, I'm doing a real poor job at proving I'm not evil anymore. Now, I get why they still lock me up.

"Oh relax. Why are you so grumpy today?" I stop walking and try to calm myself down. I wanna punch her so bad right now, and I get lucky 'cause five vamps show up, Thank god! Three go after me, and two go after Buffy. Figures, they always think the small ones are less of a threat. Well they're in for a surprise. Not that she's a bigger threat or anything, they're just gonna be surprised is all.

One asshole tried to land a hit straight to my face, but I dodged, and kicked his legs out from under him. I'd stake him, but I can't 'cause two other shit heads are throwing punches left and right, and not giving me much space. Five seconds later he's back up, and advancing towards me. I do a spin kick, and hit the guy on my left in the jaw, and quickly push the stake in. That's one. I wonder how B's doing.

I take a quick glance at Buffy, and see she's fighting them off pretty easily as expected, but doesn't have the right opening to finish 'em off yet. I groan when the asshole hits my shoulder and retaliate, delivering a wicked kick to his balls. He howls in pain, and steps back. I smirk, you gotta love guys.

Anyway I evade the next attack from the remaining shit head, and quickly launch the stake into his chest. Upon seeing the ash I turn around, and proceed to the asshole. He straightens out, and tries to fight but we both know who will win, and after about two minutes it's done.

I still hear fighting in the background so I know Buffy's still sparring, and as soon as I turn around, ready to assist, she kicks the remaining vampire in me, and I land on my ass. What's that horrible smell?! This dude seriously needs to reconsider his cologne choice. My stomach starts turning on itself, and I get up, and sprint to the nearest bush. I puck my guts out, and after I'm done I notice Buffy's hands gently holding back my hair. Huh, I didn't even feel it before.

"Faith, are you alright?" She asks, worry written all over her face.

"Yeah, I'm five by five. Must have been something I ate." I try to play it off.

"C'mon, let's get you home, and we'll figure out the reason." I get up with Buffy's help. My feet feel kind of wobbly, and she slowly guides me towards the Summers residence.

"Will, Xand, come here!" Buffy yells as we enter the house. I flinch from the loud noise. She just had to yell right next to my ear. I hear shuffling in the kitchen as I make my way towards the couch, and sit down. The annoying blonde sits down beside me.

"Hey Buff, you're back." Red grins when she enters the living room, with Xander right behind her.

"Didn't think you'd be done this fast, what with all the 12 cemeteries, and lots and lots of new dead people."

"We had to make tonight's patrol sort of short 'cause Faith threw up." Three pairs of eyes landed on me, and I sighed in frustration. I seriously hate all the attention.

"It was nothing really, probably just ate something bad."

Buffy decides to ignore me again, and looks at Willow, "Will?"

"I don't know Buff. She seems okay now. Maybe it really was just something she ate, although now I'd like to know what you ate so we can avoid us getting sick too."

"Um…" I don't really remember, "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner?" They frown,

"Anything else in between?"

"No, nothing I can think of."

"Well that doesn't make any sense. We all ate that too, and none of us got sick. In fact if someone would get sick because of it, Faith and Buffy would probably be the last two 'cause of the Slayer metabolism." Thought Willow.

"Honestly, don't know, don't care. Can we talk in the morning? 'cause I'm pretty beat, and just wanna go to sleep for like a week. Hey, that rhymed," I grin, and stand up. Everyone looks at me like I'm on crack.

Buffy stands up, and looks me straight in the eyes, "You didn't drink again, did you?"

"What? No! I didn't drink. Can I just go now?" I seriously feel like a kid again. Although if she was my momma I'm sure I'd like the beatin'. Little S&M can be fun.

She held my gaze for a while, and I didn't' back down. After about half a minute she lets go, "C'mon let's get you to your room."

"You know, I puked. I didn't suddenly lose the ability to walk or remember where my room is." I knew there was no point in arguing with her when she gets like this but I still tried.

She grabbed my hand, and dragged me upstairs. Once we were in my room, she started going through my closet, and drawers. I hate when she does this but I'd probably be the same if I was in her position. Considering my track record, I'd search for booze too, and at least I get a great view of her ass when she bends.

"Hey B, whatcha ya looking for?" I already know the answer, but again I try…

"Any kind of liquor. If I were you I'd tell me where it is so you won't get in any more trouble."

"Then you're gonna be looking for a really long time 'cause I don't have any." I sit down on the bed, and after five minutes she gives up, satisfied she hasn't found anything. At least not this time. It's true I didn't drink tonight, but I have in the past. That didn't go so well…

*****FLASBACK*****

I was stumbling through the kitchen, and just hit a counter all prepared for a very (un)graceful landing on the floor when a blur of blonde hair caught me, and let me go as soon as I looked stable.

"You okay there, Faith?" The blur asked.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah, Five by five." My voice was thick with Boston accent. I managed to get Spike to sneak me some liquor through the window. I've been here for two weeks now, and can happily say that I am no longer a resident in the basement. This was my little way of celebrating it.

The reason I left my room was because I became really hungry, and hey, kitchen's where the hunger's slayed, or something like that. I am a Slayer after all, if something needs slaying that's where I'll be or should I run in the opposite direction considering I like to play for the bad guys? Nah, I'm the good guy now, or at least trying to be. I should at least try to do the right thing. What's the right thing again? I need to slay something, but what? Food, there was definitely food involved. I should go to the fridge; maybe I'll remember when I see it.

I take two steps forward and stop. Why is everything spinning?

"Faith what are you doing?" The twin sister of the blonde blur asks. Why are they becoming one person, and then going back to two? I'm pretty sure that's not normal. Maybe I'm drunk or there is another apocalypse coming. Probably the later, although those two are hot, and I'm horny. I think I just slayed something so I have a feeling the horny part of the double H's is coming to affect. This can't be good; I have to warn B about the apocalypse before I jump this beauty. Maybe she'll do it for me.

"Hey you two, could you do me a favor?" The blurs look behind them, but quickly return their focus on me. Huh, I won't even have to try. They both already can't stop looking at me.

"Faith what's going on? Who's here besides us?" I give her my best man eating smile, but frown when I remember something. I'm supposed to warn B about the apocalypse.

"Could you tell B something for me?" I don't wait for her response, "Tell her, that Faith is telling her, that she thinks apocalypse is near. She's starting to see people becoming one, and then falling out of each other again. It's wicked weird. Also the furniture is moving, and the food needs to be slayed."

"You're drunk." The blur states, and moves towards me. Perfect, now I don't have to worry about the furniture moving again when I lean in to do this. As soon as she's in my reach I grab her by her waist, and pull her into me.

I lean my head a little to the right, and softly kiss her. I wait for her to respond and when she doesn't I release her. "I'm sorry, I thought you wanted this."

"I didn't, and come one, you little drunk. Let's go tell Buffy in your room.

She half carried me up the stairs, and sat me down on the bed while she searched for all the bottles of alcohol, and threw them away.

*****END OF FLASBACK*****

I got a nice and long lecture about responsible drinking that time, and Spike took most of the blame. The second time I showed up drunk I had to get out of the house to get to the bar 'cause Spike didn't want to bring me booze anymore after that little incident.

That time she didn't just lecture me; she completely flipped out, and started yelling. It wasn't so much that I've gotten drunk that was the problem, it was more that I was drowning my sorrows in a bottle and didn't come home all night that did it.

TBC

A/N: Anon: Thanks for the awesome review. I agree, Faith is an adult (although barely), and I could've given her more freedom than she has now. I'm basing her behavior on two things: 1. She still feels guilty, and that's why she doesn't rebel (at least not completely), 2. She never had a good mother figure or people looking out for her, so although she hates it on the outside it's nice for her to have a stable home. There will be fights, so don't worry about Faith doing everything they say.
DarkWolf300: Yeah, I'm a natural disaster in the kitchen too. They'll figure it out... eventually :)
Fallen Priestess: Thanks, there's going to be a lot of flashbacks, so don't worry about that ;)
brittsany: Sorry, it would be way to big a spoiler if I told you :)
Thanks for reading :)