Here's the next chapter guys! Thanks for all of your reviews. This is just a kind of filler chapter. Hope you all enjoy anyway...

Chapter 7

"Ow..." Faith winced slightly as she raised a hand to the back of her aching head. She blinked blearily and noticed Bianca, Maggie and Buffy hovering above her nervously "What happened? I feel like I was hit by a truck!" she sat up slowly and pulled her hand back to see it was covered in blood.

"You were attacked" Buffy answered quietly from her side "I think it was an uber-vamp"

"Oh" Faith turned her attention towards Bianca and Maggie and searched them for visible injuries "Are you two okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"We're fine" Maggie answered softly, concern clear in her voice "Buffy showed up just in time"

Faith looked over at Buffy and frowned when she noticed her split lip "You're hurt..." she raised a hand to the blonde girls' cheek but after a moment she seemed to realise what she was doing and quickly removed it.

"It doesn't matter" Buffy shrugged sadly "You're more hurt than me" she stood up slowly "Come on...I'll walk you guys home" she offered a hand to Faith who hesitated slightly before taking it. She pulled the younger girl gently to her feet but Faith swayed unsteadily and almost dropped back onto the ground. Buffy tentatively wrapped an arm around Faith's waist to steady her and felt relief flow through her when Faith supported herself by wrapping an around her shoulders in response.

"She's going to leave again isn't she?" Bianca said softly to Maggie as they began to walk slowly after the two older girls.

"It seems like it" Maggie sighed and tightened her grip on Bianca's hand "I still don't really understand any of this though"

"Me either" Bianca replied in confusion "She says that she's protecting Faith. That's she's somehow going to hurt her...But how could she possibly know that?"

"Buffy's logic is a bit twisted lately" Maggie muttered darkly.

"You sound like you're still mad at her" Bianca observed thoughtfully as she glanced sidelong at her fiancé.

"Are you saying that you're not?" Maggie challenged, meeting her look "After everything that's happened with Faith?"

"I'm mad at her" Bianca answered honestly "But I don't think I'm as mad at her as you are right now."

"I just don't understand it, that's all" Maggie sighed "She says that she loves her but then she says all of this crap like she never really did love her and that she was just using her...It pisses me off that somebody could say anything like that about somebody they 'Love'"

"Maybe she was upset" Bianca offered quietly "She was a mess the night she broke up with Faith. There could be a perfectly good reason for all of this"

Maggie smiled slightly at Bianca "You know what I love about you?"

"What?" Bianca prompted curiously.

"You always see the good in people" Maggie untangled her hand from Bianca's and wrapped an arm around her shoulders "I don't know how you do it sometimes"

Bianca shrugged modestly "Yeah well..." she glanced up surprised to find they were nearing the door of the house "Looks like we're here"

"Yeah...This should be fun" Maggie mumbled sarcastically as they entered the house and she closed the door behind them. They followed Buffy and Faith into the living room and watched as the blonde slayer gently helped Faith to sit down on the couch.

"Ow" Faith winced and raised a hand to her still bleeding head "This really hurts!"

"I'll get a first aid kit" Maggie said quietly before she moved out of the room.

"Erm..." Buffy hovered uncertainly in front of the couch as if she was at a loss for what to do "Where's Miranda?"

"Dawnie has her" Bianca answered quietly.

"Oh" Buffy nodded and wrapped her arms tightly around herself "Okay" she looked up relieved when Maggie returned to the room, with a first aid kit in her hand.

"Right" Maggie sighed and sat next to Faith on the couch, indicating that she should turn around slightly.

"OW!" Faith flinched when Maggie's hand came into contact with the cut at the back of her head.

"Stay still" Maggie advised quietly as she moved the slayers hair so she could see the damage "It'll be a hell of a lot easier"

"It hurts!" Faith winced as the younger girl tended to the cut as gently as she possibly could.

"Done!" Maggie exclaimed finally as she pulled away and stood up "All you need now is..." she held her hand out to Faith and opened her fist to reveal two tablets "Painkillers"

"Thanks" Faith mumbled as she took the painkillers and reached up to tentatively touch the back of her head "I need a shower too...I have blood in my hair"

"Um...Right" Buffy said from where she stood "If you're okay I think I should get going..." she motioned towards the door and started to make her way towards it.

"Wait!" Faith said quietly stopping the older slayer from leaving the room.

"What?" Buffy questioned sadly.

"I need to ask you something before you go..." Faith looked up into Buffy's eyes.

"You can ask me anything" Buffy answered hesitantly.

"Why did you leave me?" Faith asked slowly "I need the truth Buffy. Was it because you didn't love me? You didn't want me anymore?"

Bianca and Maggie exchanged awkward glances.

"No!" Buffy exclaimed quickly "That wasn't it at all. I did love you. I do love you. It's just that..." she exhaled deeply and glanced over at Bianca and Maggie who appeared to be inching towards the doorway "Maybe you two should sit down. This could take a while"

"Oh" Bianca gestured towards the door "We were just going to give you guys some privacy..."

Buffy shook her head "I only want to have to say this once"

Bianca and Maggie nodded and took a seat on either side of Faith on the couch.

"I had a nightmare" Buffy started slowly "In which I tried to kill you...again. The same way I did before. But it wasn't a nightmare because when I woke up I could still hear the woman who told me what I was going to do. I think the dream was a warning"

"A warning about what?!" Faith asked clearly shocked "That you're going to get the urge to try to gut me again?"

"No...Yes...I don't know" Buffy sighed in frustration.

"So...Wait a minute" Faith leaned forward and gazed at Buffy with hurt eyes "You broke up with me because of a dream you had?"

"I already told you it wasn't a dream!" Buffy countered "It was real"

"Right..." Faith nodded "And you didn't think that we could get through this together? That if you had told me we could have sorted it out?"

"I didn't want to risk hurting you..." Buffy replied weakly.

"Hurting me?" Faith laughed bitterly "You don't think you've hurt me by doing all of this?"

Bianca and Maggie glanced at each other uneasily.

"Hey" Maggie cut in hesitantly "Maybe Bianca and I should..."

"What else was I supposed to do Faith?!" Buffy said loudly "Was I supposed to risk your life by staying with you?"

"Yes!" Faith responded angrily "Stabbing me would have hurt a hell of a lot fucking less Buffy!"

"Look" Buffy closed her eyes and exhaled deeply before looking towards Bianca and Maggie "I'm sorry Guys...Can you give us a minute?"

Both girls glanced at Faith hesitantly.

"I'll be fine" Faith smiled weakly. She watched as Bianca and Maggie left before she turned back to Buffy expectantly.

"Faith..." Buffy moved to sit on the couch next to the younger girl "I love you. It's as simple as that. I had to protect you. Hurting you was never my intention"

"Well you did" Faith muttered quietly as she looked up into Buffy's eyes "What about the girl at the bar? How are you going to explain that?"

"The girl at the bar?" Buffy echoed in confusion "What do you mean?"

"You kissed somebody else" Faith stated painfully "And God knows what happened after I left..."

"You were there with Maggie?" Buffy asked in shock "You saw me..."

"Yeah" the brunette nodded slowly "I saw you. Maybe there was a different reason you broke up with me. What was I to you? Some kind of experiment?"

"No!" Buffy shook her head vigorously "You were never an experiment Faith. You were...I love you, okay?! I'm trying to do what's best for everybody here"

"What happened after I left the bar?" Faith bit her lip and silently cursed herself as tears flooded her eyes "Did you..."

"I was a mess..." Buffy explained quietly "I was drunk that night and she was just...there. I promise nothing else happened with her though"

"I thought we were happy together" Faith's eyes dropped to her lap "That everything was going really great between us"

"It was!" Buffy persisted quietly "But this...Dream changed everything"

"I missed you..." Faith admitted softly "I couldn't stand being without you B"

"I missed you too" Buffy replied tearfully. She tentatively reached out and grasped the other girls hand gently in her own.

"Are you leaving again?" Faith asked sadly.

"Do you want me to?" Buffy responded nervously "If you do I can go..."

"I don't want you to go" the dark haired slayer squeezed Buffy's hand and looked up into Buffy's eyes "We can get through this...Can't we?"

"We'll take it slow" Buffy agreed hesitantly as she reached up to brush a strand of hair from Faith's cheek.

---

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Bianca asked unsurely as she followed Maggie into their bedroom. She shut the door quietly behind them and watched as Maggie dropped tiredly onto the bed.

"I don't know" Maggie sighed as she lay back "I hope so"

"Is something wrong?" Bianca moved to sit on the bed next to her fiancé and looked down at her in pure concern.

"No" Maggie responded quietly as she sat up next to Bianca "I'm just worried about what Buffy was saying...Plus Faith passed out again at the cemetery, remember?"

"Maybe she's sick" Bianca offered quietly "I mean you're the doctor...What do you think?"

"I'm not a doctor yet" Maggie grinned "I'm still in training but...I don't know what it could be Binks. She won't even go to an actual doctor to get it checked out...You know what Faith's like"

"Yeah I do" Bianca chuckled.

"At least something good came out of tonight" Maggie offered optimistically.

"What's that?" Bianca asked curiously.

"They might actually talk now" Maggie answered as she shuffled slightly closer to Bianca "And hopefully they'll sort things out"

"Hopefully" Bianca nodded and turned slightly to face Maggie, placing a light kiss on her lips.

"What was that for?" Maggie grinned as Bianca stood up.

"Just felt like kissing you" Bianca smiled before she began to move away.

"Hey!" Maggie caught Bianca's hand and pulled her back down onto the bed "Where are you going?"

"Apparently nowhere?" the younger girl responded.

"Good" Maggie leaned forward and kissed the other girl sweetly "Because I plan on making the most of Dawnie baby-sitting"

"You do, do you?" Bianca giggled.

"I certainly do" Maggie answered before she pressed a deeper kiss to Bianca's lips and gently pressed her backwards onto the bed.

---

"Hey Bianca?" Maggie grinned as she pulled away from the soft kiss.

"Uh-huh?" Bianca responded as she opened her eyes to look up at her girlfriend questioningly.

"I love you"

"I love you too" Bianca smiled before she pulled Maggie back down into the kiss. They pulled back breathlessly after a couple of moments and Maggie began to gently kiss her way down Bianca's jaw to her neck.

"Frankie..." Bianca's voice sounded breathlessly and Maggie immediately paused what she was doing. After a mere second however she pulled away and jumped off the bed almost falling over in her hurry.

"Bianca please tell me you didn't just call me what I think you called me" she said as she gazed at the younger girl in wide eyed horror.

"Uh...I don't know what you mean" Bianca attempted though the guilt in her eyes was obvious.

"Oh God..." Maggie muttered as tears formed in her eyes. She took a step back towards the door and watched as Bianca stood up.

"Maggie..." Bianca stepped forward and reached out for her girlfriend.

"Don't" Maggie shook her head causing unshed tears to cascade down her cheeks "Just don't Binks..." she turned quickly and rushed out of the room ignoring Bianca's calls for her to wait.

Maggie shot up in bed with a loud gasp and looked quickly around the room. She raised a hand tentatively to her cheek and felt that it was wet with tears "What the hell was that..."

"Maggie?" Bianca sat up next to her "Are you okay?" she placed a hand comfortingly on the dyed brunettes arm.

"Yeah" Maggie wiped quickly at her tears so Bianca didn't notice them "I just...Had a weird dream that's all" she settled back down in the bed next to Bianca and wrapped and arm carefully around her waist.

"Are you sure?" Bianca questioned sleepily.

"Yeah" Maggie nodded slowly.

After a while Maggie noticed Bianca's breathing even out indicating that she had fallen back asleep. The older girl lay in silence gazing at the ceiling, her mind still on the unusual dream...

TBC