Her reception by the other Slayer left a lot to be desired.

"Where were you?" She demanded the minute Faith got back to camp. She saw the bandages and her eyes narrowed, her hands going to her hips. "You've been fighting!"

"I said I was going to blow off steam."

"How hurt are you?"

"Few cuts and scrapes. I'll live."

They both kept their voices low, not to spook him, but the tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife. There was a tense standoff before the blonde realized Giles was nowhere to be seen. She looked all around camp, leading the other girl to catch on, and they both called his name. A single heart thudding moment had Buffy worrying that he was alone in the woods they'd never see him again unless he wanted to be found. She turned her angry eyes to her counterpart, trembling with fear and anger.

"What did you do?"

"What I did?" Faith shot back, clenching her hands in fists more readily than Buffy. "You only had to watch out for him for two days!"

"I did watch him. He was fine. He was doing better without you here!"

That hurt. Faith couldn't hide the wince as the words sank in and Buffy's face softened with guilt. She let her hands drop from her hips and moved forward, shaking her head.

"Faith, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"You're probably right."

"No," she disagreed firmly. "I'm not. You've been good for him. You get him in a whole different way than I do."

"We have to go find him."

"We have to get along."

"Yeah," she shifted uncomfortably.

"Split up?"

"Yeah."

Buffy grabbed her flashlight knowing that if he didn't want to be found he probably wouldn't. This was his cabin and he'd spent much more time in these woods than they had even if he wasn't consciously aware of it. Or maybe he was. She knew his mind was always working, learning, in the progress he'd made with them already. He wasn't anything like the man she remembered but there were moments when something he did or said reminded her so much of her Giles that she wanted to cry.

"Giles!"

She moved into the woods where he'd run off, heading east while the other woman headed left. Her eyes scanned the woods looking for any sign of her Watcher among the trees. Like he taught her she opened all of her senses, allowing them to drift as far as they could go. She felt her consciousness being pulled in a direction and followed, stopping every so often to readjust her direction. Then the trail was gone. She looked around and didn't see him, searching the darkness for any sign of him.

"Giles."

There was a rustling in the trees and she shone her flashlight into the branches. He was crouched in a fork in the limbs that could support his weight. He hid his face from the light, ducking it behind a thick limb. She turned it off and stood in silence for a minute.

"I wish you hadn't seen that."

Suddenly she was a teenager again listening to her parents fighting. Joyce would come into her room and find her there, silent tears streaking her face. They couldn't hide the fights no matter how hard they tried and she knew it was the beginning of the end. The speech began with "I wish you hadn't seen that" and ended with Hank Summers packing a suitcase and leaving. He never came back. At least she was familiar enough with the speech to give it herself.

She moved to climb the tree, gracefully hauling herself into the limbs to sit down near him. He peeked at her.

"Things with Faith are...complicated. But we both care about you and we want you to be safe. And happy."

At least she was being honest with him. It was a fight. They happened, but she didn't want him to think it was his fault. She also didn't know why, after all this time, that Faith kept her secrets. It was just how things were and probably would always be.

"I wish you could let me know you remember something."

He stared at her, brow furrowed and eyes wide open, taking all of her in. He was trying, she could see that.

"Maybe we should take you to the cottage."

It had been long enough in the woods, probably. Maybe he could rediscover himself there better than he could here. They'd be with him and those were things he'd had for a long time, longer than he'd known them. She gave him a shy smile, reaching for his hand. They sat in silence in the tree for a while, holding hands, staring up at the sky through the leaves. As the breeze blew the leaves shifted and showed brief glimpses of the blanket of navy blue overhead and the scattered diamond stars winking at them from millions of light years away.

He growled, turning his head and scenting the air, his voice gravelly. He leapt from the tree, landing heavily on the ground. Before she could protest he was off and running, a streak of a Watcher through the woods. She jumped down and tried to follow but he out distanced her and she lost sight of him in the dark treeline. It was a wonder and she finally slowed to a stop, defeated.

Faith had gone too far into the woods. She wasn't lost, but she wasn't exactly sure which way camp was either. She was trying to decide which direction to go when she heard the chorus of growls around her. All she had on her was her knife, nothing more practical than that. She hadn't expected there to be demons in these woods considering they'd been there for days without any evidence of them. Whatever it was out there, she was uneasy thinking about facing them by herself. Then, suddenly, there was familiar growling behind her. She turned, spotting a ferocious looking watcher who was watching her with his eyes darting to the trees every few seconds.

"Faith." The rumbling growl of her name sent a shiver down her spine.

"Demons. Big ones. Four, maybe five."

"Krakoh demon."

"What now?"

"Claws. Poison."

He looked at her knife and then to the one in his own hand. Whatever else it meant, beating these things meant getting up close and personal with them. It wasn't something that made her giddy with excitement. Poison, especially demonic poison, didn't sound like a good time. They broke through the treeline in a minutes time, shaggy creatures with dripping fangs and wicked looking claws. Faith took a deep breath, nodding her head as she and Giles went into action at the same time. What little she could see from the corner of her eye was that the Watcher was a savage beast. He moved as if he'd been born to the fight and not her. She was mostly too busy worrying about her own problems as two of the snarling demons cornered her.

With her back up against a tree, literally, the Slayer tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Which one of you wants to die first?"

They both seemed fairly eager, coming at her at the same time. She ducked the first swipe, slamming her elbow into the solid torso of the other. Beneath the scraggly fur it was as if the demons were made of concrete. She winced, wishing Giles had mentioned that in his description. A set of wicked looking claws came rushing toward her. She deflected the hit, feeling as it tore into her shoulder instead of her throat. She barely paused, slamming her knife through the throat of the demon to her right. It slid free as the thing fell at her feet leaving just the one for her to deal with. It roared at the loss of its comrade, attacking that much harder. She maneuvered to the left but it caught her arm in its powerful jaws. Its venom dripped down her arm. She swore and caught the claws coming toward her, wondering how she was going to work this before she saw another pair of hands wrap around its neck. They hauled it back and it released her arm as it tried to fight back.

Giles grappled with the demon, holding it tightly and keeping his body close to the demon's to help keep him safe. He was sweating, covered in demon blood and his own, and snarled every bit as ferociously as his opponent. All at once the neck snapped and the demon let out a pitiful whine before it fell. With all of the demons dead he was left alone with her, continuing to snarl. His knife was out in front of him, defensive, and the bloodlust wasn't out of his eyes. He growled, his lips twitching. Her breath caught in her throat; they were worried this would happen.

"Giles, it's ok. It's me. I'm not gonna hurt you."

He advanced, seemingly unaffected by her words. She backed up as he moved forward with her hands raised.

"G, calm down, ok? Listen to the sound of my voice. I'm right here and you don't want to hurt me. There's no danger here anymore."

He continued to advance until her back was to the same damn tree and she felt a bolt of panic shoot through her. Heat flushed through her, spreading across her skin like fire. Her arm throbbed but her hand still had a good grip on her knife. She didn't want to do anything to him but there was no Willow this time to put him into a helpful sleep.

"Don't make me hurt you, Giles." She begged quietly, earnestly.

Her vision began to blur and she wavered on her feet. The last thing she remembered was him leaping at her before she sank into darkness.