A/N: Episode tag to Shades of Grey (s03e18).

Sunnydale Mercy Hospital, nearly a week earlier; 0600 hours.

Giles was fast asleep on his bed in his own apartment; the events of the days after the ascension were fast and brutal. The destruction of the Mayor, the destruction of Sunnydale High, his firing from the Council and his watching over Faith all brought him to the point of exhaustion due to stress. He knew he had no job, but enough money in his various accounts to last him for years.

"I'll enjoy being a gentleman of leisure in the meantime" he had told Willow a few days after the destruction of the school.

He knew that Joyce returned a few days earlier from wherever Buffy had sent her so that she wouldn't be in danger during the ascension, and with the Mayor having murdered multiple parents; Giles knew that Buffy had done the right thing. However, one thing he didn't agree with was what happened to Faith and he told the Blonde Slayer exactly how he felt about her wanting to use Faith to save a vampire, the same vampire who later left Sunnydale for Los Angeles for her own protection.

The former watcher would always bring some fresh lilies for the injured Slayer, while Buffy would leave a newspaper reminding her of what she had done if she ever woke up. One day, he read the paper and noticed a small paper falling onto the floor. After reading the message, he shook his head and threw it away; however, the Watcher knew that Buffy always replaced it.. and eventually he gave up. Leaving the sleeping Slayer a note in a card about what was going on. He had hoped that eventually, the two Slayers would work together. Especially since the Council should have a new Slayer of their own who he suspected would be sent to Sunnydale one day. In the meantime he wanted to help Faith deal with what had happened, from the incident with eth Council's special operations team.. to the incident with Buffy and Angel; he wanted to help Faith.

However, all of that would change with on call in the early hours of six in the morning.

"What?" asked a groggy Giles as he reached for the phone and brought it to his ear. It was a few seconds later that he sat up with his eyes opened wide as he nearly tripped on himself as he got out of bed, "how? When? IS she hurt? Alright, I'm on my way."

Giles, who later put himself as her emergency contact, was just told by the police that Faith had left the hospital somewhere between four and six in the morning. But on her way out, according to video evidence, she had mugged a young woman and had stolen her cash and her car. The man would later find out that the dark haired Slayer had also taken out a thousand dollars from the young woman's bank account before destroying the card.

'Faith' thought Giles to himself as he rushed out of his house, 'damn it, you should have stayed. I could have helped you.. but now… now the police will be coming after you and there's nothing I can do.'

It took Giles ten minutes to reach the hospital, and by the time that he did, there were about three police cars waiting outside the lobby. The old man looked at the police cars, and rushed into an elevator which her then tool to the floor that Faith was being held in. The man walked towards a nurses station where there were four police officers along with two other men, one with a head full of dark brown hair and the other one was totally bald. Giles walked towards the officers, and the two men before he introduced himself as Faith's emergency contact.

It was ten minutes later that Giles discovered what happened after talking to the detectives in charge of the investigation. They questioned Giles, before they told him that she must have been on P.C.P since she managed to break the handcuffs. They then told him about the young girl who was in another room after she was punched, and then mugged out off her bag, and car. The detectives said that they would be issuing a warrant for her arrest, after which Giles couldn't do anything except silently hope that they don't find Faith. He knew that the Slayer would either come after Buffy, or leave the city.. and he sincerely hoped that it was the latter if it came down to it.

Once he was done talking to the detectives, Giles turned around and headed back to the elevator with his face downcast. He had hoped to help Faith somehow, but now he knew that there was no chance. He knew that the young woman would forever be looking over her shoulder. As he passed the nurses station, he overhead a nurse over the phone saying that the girl who was mugged was asking when she could go home.. that since she wasn't badly hurt, she didn't feel as if she should stay here.

Upon hearing the room number, Giles looked around and made sure that the detectives were busy before he ducked into the young woman's room.

"Hello?" asked Giles as he saw a young blonde woman look at him and then look on the floor nervously.

"H…Hi"

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhear that you were the one mugged by the mysterious woman" said Giles.

"Ye.. yes."

"My name is Giles; Rupert Giles, and you are?"

"Tara, Tara Maclay."

"Ok, Tara" said Giles as he stood just inside the door as he smiled at Tara, "do you mind if I came in?"

"N.. no" said Tara as she allowed Giles into her room, "how.. how can I help you?"

"The girl who stole from you? Faith?" said Giles as he walked towards Tara's bed, "she's my charge.. I just wanted to apologize."

"She… she said she was sorry" said Tara as she looked at Giles, "bu.. but sh… she sa… sad she had to get out."

"I see" replied Giles as he looked at Tara in her hospital gown, "I heard the detectives say that Faith took your clothes?"

"Ye.. yes" Tara replied as she looked down at the bed, and then at Giles, "and.. and my car."

"I see" said Giles as he rubbed his forehead in frustration, "did she take anything else?"

"My.. .my money" said Tara nervously as she looked down at the bed, "I.. I had five hundred on me and…. I mean it's alright and, I have more. My mom opened an account for me and… yeah."

"She's my responsibility" said Giles as Tara looked up at him, "I'll return the five hundred that she stole from you. And I'll take care of any other…"

"No" said Tara shaking her head, "tha.. thank you but.. but it's alright. She… she felt scared. Anyway.. it's alright, Mr. Giles. You don't have to."

"I insist" said Giles, "do you live around here?"

"Stevenson Hall; on the U. C. Sunnydale campus" said Tara, "I.. I was jus.. just coming in for a part.. part time job when…. Well.."

"I see" said Giles as he nodded his head just as another nurse walked into the room. She was surprised to see Giles, and had asked him to leave since visiting hours hadn't started yet. Giles nodded his head at the nurse before giving Tara his phone number. He asked the blonde to give him a call later that day so that they could meet; he also told Tara tell him if anything else had been stolen from her, that he would return any money that Faith had stolen.

Tara just gave him a smile before insisting that there was no need for any of that. But she did thank him for the number.

Major Carter's office, 1430 hours.

It had been thirty minutes since the briefing was complete as the Major stayed in her office jut looking at her phone. She was supposed to cal the Boston Police Department and inquire about Faith, her Ellie, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. The report on what the Lehane's had done made her afraid to find out what could have happened to the young woman who was in the Isolation Room. The truth was that Major Carter wanted to remain with Faith, that she belonged at her side. However, it was Dr. Fraiser who took her to one side and told the blonde officer that she was still out of it, theta the doctor would let her know when she does wake up.

"You have a job to do, Sam" said Dr. Fraiser while the both of them were in the redhead's closed office as she sat across from the Major and held her hand, "I have no doubt that the second test will show that she's Ellie. But in the meantime, you need to find out everything about Faith. If you don't feel comfortable, then ask Colonel O'Neill.. or I can do it. You're not alone in this, Sam."

The Major kept on hearing Dr. Fraiser's voice in her head as her hand hovered over the receiver.

'I'm not alone' thought the Major as she touched the receiver when she heard a sound. Looking up, she nearly jumped when she saw Colonel O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c standing at the entrance to her lab.

"Carter?" asked the Colonel as the blonde officer wiped her eyes again and nodded her head, allowing her team to come into her lab. She knew that normally they would just walk in, but now it was different.. the situation was different, "you called Boston?"

"No, sir" said Major Carter shaking her head as Daniel handed her a few pieces of paper. The Major, confused, looked at the pieces before looking back up and smiling at Daniel. He told the Major that he had printed everything that he could find on Sunnydale, and the motels in the city. The Blonde officer thanked Daniel, who silently went up and gave her a tight hug before stepping back.

She knew that all three of them suffered from heavy losses; the Colonel lost his son, Daniel lost his wife and the baby that he promised her that he would protect, and Teal'c's son was with his mother; away from him so that the child won't be harmed by Jaffa who would want to get at Teal'c for joining the human's of Earth.

"Carter" said Colonel O'Neill, "a room's ready for you in the Sunnydale Western, all you gotta do is check in. And you don't need to call Boston P.D. I'll give a call into a friend at the FBI and find out whatever I can on the Lehane's, and on Faith. I'll have her send all the document to us here. And in the meantime, I'll call Boston P.D and tell them that we found Faith trying to break into the base; basically it's a federal case. A non-existent one, but yeah…. In the meantime you go to Sunnydale and gather whatever you can."

"You don't have to, sir" said the Major softly.

"We're a team, Carter" said the Colonel, "we help each other through the best and the worst times."

"Major Carter" said Teal'c, "we will watch over Ellie Carter… Faith Lehane in your absence."

"Thanks, Teal'c" said the Major as she gave a small smile, "thanks all of you."

"No sweat, Carter" said the Colonel as he gently pushed the others out of the lab while the Major just smiled as Teal'c bowed his head, and Daniel gave her a wave before they left. The Colonel was the last to leave as he looked at the Major and gave her a small smile, "find out what you can on your daughter."

"Thank you, sir" said the Major as she nodded her head.

Isolation Room One, SGC, 1710 hours.

All Faith could see was blackness as she heard a noise in the distance; the noise of a hand pounding on a door. Walking cautiously towards the noise, she soon heard a familiar voice calling out to her.. the voice of a woman.

"Damn it, Faith!" shouted the voice as Faith fell onto her knees in the darkness and covered her ears with both hand while keeping her eyes closed shut, "Faith! Come out here now!"

"Mommy" said a younger voice, a voice that Faith recognized as she looked up into the darkness around her; the voice of a younger Faith, followed by the sound of a slap. Faith looked down again and closed her eyes when she heard her mother shouting at her, followed by another crash and a scream.

"That rat bastard left because of you" shouted Sabrina, "you!"

"No" said Faith as he put her hands over her ears, "no. You…. you drunk bitch! It was you! He left because of you, and because he was a good for nothing con-artist, murdering bastard. It wasn't me!"

"They wanted you, you little piece of scum" said Sabrina as Faith started to scream over her younger self's cry's, "so you know what. You're next.. you wanna be a breadwinner. Then your next, you wanna stay in this house. Then you're next… they'll have you, and you'll like it. Be the piece of crap that I've always known you are… the piece of crap you've been since we got you."

Faith flinched her body as she heard another crash, followed by her younger self screaming in pain. The young woman then heard nothing, everything had gone quiet as she looked up and found herself in a room.

"The room that Wilkins got me" said Faith to herself as she slowly stood up, her hands shaking from remembering what her mom had done to her. Faith looked around as two blurs went past; a blur of herself and Buffy viciously fighting after the dark haired Slayer shot Angel with an arrow, "she tried to kill me. She tried to kill me, she really did.. so did I. Are we destined to forever fight? Two Slayers in the world.. maybe that's why we've been so screwed up towards each other."

Faith then saw the scene change as she felt herself hitting the floor of Angel's mansion, the same mansion where the Council's special operations team tried to take her away. The same place where her Watcher, Wesley, betrayed her. The dark Slayer found herself on the floor with eyes wide open as she felt the pain on her neck, she looked around with her eyes in panic as she felt the life leaving her; and a voice very far away.

"Huh" said Faith to herself as she fought the pain, "Giles helping me… well, you could have done more, scone-boy. But your Princess was far more important and…"

Suddenly, Faith focused on a shimmer in front of her. She could feel her life leaving her while she looked at the shimmer.

"Was that the light at the end of the tunnel?" thought Faith to herself as she felt Angle's hand tightening on her waist as he drank faster and faster, while the other hand was at the side of Faith's head pushing it down while the vampire drank, "maybe that's where I was supposed to go. Maybe that… what?"

It was then, before it got all dark again, that Faith saw herself wearing a red stripped dress holding on to a red line in a tunnel. HS saw herself just for an instant; she saw herself with an hand over her mouth in shock while crying, and then just like that… the Slayer was surrounded by darkness. It was a few seconds later that Faith felt herself lying on something soft, with the sound of beeping in the distance.

Slowly, she started to hear voices saying that she was regaining consciousness. Faith opened her eyes slowly as she looked at a red haired woman looking down at her with a clipboard in her hand. Through her groggy, and blurred sights, Faith could see the woman looking at the machines again before she looked up and talked to someone on the Slayer's right side.

"Hey there" said Dr. Fraiser as she looked at the young woman who was lying down on the bed, "can you hear me?"

"Five…. By.. five" said Faith softly as she looked at the redhead and then looked around her surroundings slowly whole she still lay down. She saw that she was in a fairly large room with medical equipment everywhere, she saw a nurse on the other side if the room working on a computer and then she saw two men with rifles standing at the only entrance to the room. She then looked back at Dr. Fraiser without any expression on her face.

"Do you know your name?"

"Anne Renning" said Faith as she looked up at the fluorescent lights.

"Well, how about this? My name is Dr. Janet Fraiser. And yours is?"

"Anne Renning" said Faith softly.

"So it's not Faith Lehane?" asked the doctor with a smile as Faith looked at her in surprise. She then tried to get up but screamed in pain before the doctor gently helped her get back down to bed, "Faith, you've had some blood loss from the stabbing in your back. Your wounds have been amazingly healing at an accelerated rate but until we know for sure that you're completely healed… you'll be staying here. That's doctor's orders."

"Experimentation?" asked Faith softly as she panted from the sharp pain in her back, "you're gonna cut me open? Cause I'd rather…."

"Miss Lehane" said Dr. Fraiser as she gently placed her hand on the young woman's shoulder, "no one's going to be conducting experiments, or cutting you open. You're safe."

"Dr. Fraiser?" asked General Hammond as he walked into the room with the remaining members of SG-1.

"General, Sir" said Dr. Fraiser as she looked at the young woman, and then at the bald man and the ones behind her. Dr. Fraiser then looked back at Faith, "our guest's awake, Sir."

"Miss Lehane" said General Hammond, "my name is General George Hammond, commander of this base. We have a few questions for you, young lady.. if you feel up to it?"

"General" said Dr. Fraiser, "I ask that you just ask a few questions. She's still out of it and, well.. she's been out for a while and I'd prefer if she eat something before she goes out again."

Dr. Fraiser then turned to look at Faith before she asked the young woman if she felt up to answering a few questions.

"What the hell?" said Faith as Dr. Fraiser raised the back of her bed so that she could looked clearly at the people in front of her.

"Hi I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson, and…."

"I know" said Faith as the three members of SG-1 looked at each other and then at Faith, "the manager told me who you are. Where's the blonde chick?"

"Major Sam Carter's on an assignment" said the General as he stood next to Faith, "in the meantime, we'd like to ascertain if you really are who you say you are. We've received copies of your birth information from the FBI, so you really are Faith Lehane as stated on your identification card?"

"Yes" said Faith as she looked at everyone, before looking at the one she knew as Murray; the same one who was looking at Faith while holding his hands behind his back, 'what are you? Why do I get this strange feeling? Do I say anything? What will they do to me? And if they know about the existence of Slayers then, while B's not my favourite person… the both of us could be in danger.'

"While the FBI was running your information" said Colonel O'Neill, "they came across a warrant for your arrest in Sunnydale on charges of murder, and assault."

"Story of my life" said Faith softly as she looked down, and then looked back up at Colonel O'Neill, "does it matter what I say? You'll just have me either picked up by the cops, or….."

"Young Lady" said General Hammond as Faith interrupted him.

"I'd like to stop talking now" said Faith feeling deflated, "I'm tired of running, you can have the cops pick me up."

"Faith" said Daniel as he approached her, "we're not calling anyone until we have the full story."

"Including who were those goons who came after you" said Colonel O'Neill, "in the meantime.. you're not gonna be harmed. In fact, you like cake?"

"Huh?" asked Faith confused.

"We've got chocolate cake with dark chocolate butter cream frosting" said the Colonel as he put his hands into his pockets, "like those one of a kind deals."

"Colonel" said General Hammond.

"Sir" said the Colonel, "what better way to show that we're friendly than to give her some cake. I mean.. it's cake, sir."

"Faith" said Dr. Fraiser, "if you want to continue this tomorrow morning after you've gotten some rest, and more of your strength back.. that that would be great. In the meantime, I'll have some dinner brought to you.. plus some cake."

"Umm… sir?" said Colonel O'Neill, "tomorrow is…. You know… that meeting for that conference thing?"

"Of course" said General Hammond as he mentally kicked himself for forgetting about the planned meeting with the Tollan. HE then looked at Dr. Fraiser, and at Faith, before telling them that a full debrief would have to wait until tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, he told Faith that she was to stay on base until she's been questioned by one of them, "I'm sorry. But this is for your safety, as well as ours. We can't have you out there until this issue about this murder, assault and the people who are after you has been resolved."

"We could discuss this once Carter's back tomorrow, sir" said the Colonel, "even if… you know…"

The General knew what the Colonel meant, that he may not be here on base once the plan takes shape tomorrow. In order to further the act that Colonel O'Neill would do to steal technology from the Tollan tomorrow after the meeting, the General was going to offer him retirement from the SGC. The Colonel had to put up a realistic façade, and that meant possibly alienating the members of SG-1 so that the rogue NID would take him in.

"Very well" said the General as he nodded his head as he looked at SG-1, "Major Carter will join you tomorrow in questioning Miss Lehane."

"Yes, sir" said the Colonel.

Sunnydale Motor Inn, Sunnydale; 2040 hours.

It was thirty minutes ago that Major Carter reached the Sunnydale Army base from Peterson's in Colorado Springs. The blonde woman slung her to go bag over her shoulder and got out of the plane with a medium sized hand bag in her other hand. She saluted the soldiers who met her at one of the hangers before she got into an awaiting car. She placed the bags, one containing some change of clothes and the other one containing her laptop, a sidearm and a Zat. She had quickly scanned through the papers that Daniel had given her, so before she left the SGC; the Major took a sidearm and a Zat with the permission of General Hammond, with the cover story for the Zat being that it was an experimental version of a taser.

The Major then put in the addresses of the six motels in Sunnydale into the on-board GPS navigation system. Once everything was input into the device, the Major slowly drove out of the base and then followed the GPS to the first motel. It took her until she reached the fifth motel in the list, the Sunnydale Motor Lodge, for the blonde officer to hit pay dirt. She had drove into the parking lot of the complex and parked in front of the main office. Stepping out of the car, the Major made sure that her weapon was under her black jacket, while the Zat was in her right jacket pocket. As she walked toward the office, the Major looked around and could see no one anywhere; however it was that feeling that gave her Goosebumps and made her tighten her grip on the Zat. As the Major opened the door to the office, a chime went off as a balding man walked out to the desk from the front office.

"What do you what?" asked the man as he looked at Major Carter who was reaching into a bag before she took out Faith's I.D and showed it to him.

"Do you know if this young woman stays here?" asked the Major as she noticed the look of recognition on the man's face, "so she does? Stay here I mean?"

"Haven't seen her in a month, I guess" said the man, "she had a special deal with the previous owner. She did some favours for him; and then she did some favours for me so that she could stay here for free."

The Major just looked at the man, and knew that the look on his face meant that she didn't want to know the type of favours that he was referring to. However, she did imagine zatting him, and then firing a nine-milimeter round into his crotch. She then shook her head off that image and gave the man a hundred dollars for the keys to Faith's room.

"Oh" said the man as he stood up with a wide grin before taking the money, "I never knew she liked women."

The man then reached under his table and took out an extra key. He then put in on the table, and then when the Major reached for it; he put his hand on top of hers.

"Ya know" said the man as the expressionless Major looked at him while her hand was on the key, and the man's hand was over hers, "for an extra hundred, I can join the both of you. Or we could get going, and when she gets here we can…"

"Nope" said the Major as she pulled her hand roughly away while holding on to the key, "not interested."

"Bitch" said the man as Major Carter walked out of the office and headed to the room on the main floor. As she was walking towards Faith's room, the Major could hear the television in the rooms running, or children crying, or the sounds of people having sex. It didn't take too long before she reached Faith's room where she just waited outside the door and played with the key. The Major, after some time, put the key into the door of Apartment Three and opened it before entering the room and closing the door behind her. She stood in shock as she looked around at the small room were clothes were scattered all over the floor, the bed was unmade, there were strange stains on the walls. She looked at the half empty closets and then made it to the restroom where there seemed to be some clothes in the sink. She then turned and looked over the rest of the room in disbelief that her daughter was staying here, that if she had friends in Sunnydale.. then why wasn't she staying with them? If they had seen how she was living, then why didn't they offer their place to her? And if she didn't have any friends, then why was she in Sunnydale?

She then headed towards the door and looked back at the room once again as she imagined Faith staying alone in the motel.

'Why were you here, Ellie?' thought the Major to herself as she turned around and headed out the door. She looked at the key as she walked back towards the main office and knew that she had to pay another hundred dollars to find out how long her daughter had been living in that room, 'then tomorrow, I'll meet with Tara. Maybe she'll know what you've been doing in Sunnydale. Maybe she'll know why you ran to Colorado Springs and took on a false identity. And then, we'll find out who those people were… and… and I'll protect you. I wasn't there to protect you when you were a child.. but I am here now. Janet's right about you growing up as Faith… but to me, you'll always be Ellie. You have a grandfather who I know will love you, you have cousin's who'll look up to you, you have an uncle who'll probably judge me a little first.. but he'll love you too.'

"I love you, Ellie" said the Major to herself as she sighed and opened the door to the main office again.

TBC.