Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for Andariel of course, she is my own:-) But all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at shadowpanthergmail..com.

Pairing: Buffy/Willow and also Dawn/Faith..

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: Andariel returns to the Shadow Man for assistance with the nightmares that plague her, but in the proccess gets some shocking news.
Something is bothering Buffy. Dawn demands that Faith take her shopping for baby clothes.

There was only darkness surrounding her. She wasn't sure where she was. She fumbled around in the darkness, searching with her fingertips clumsily for some kind of light switch.

Andariel grumbled under her breath. The house was full of silence, even void of the sound of crickets that usually invade the gardens each night without fail. Finally her fingers fell onto a lamp situated on a small table, and she felt around quickly until she found the on switch, and turned it on.

Apparently she had stumbled upon Dawn's bedroom. Her body suddenly froze in place, her eyes fixated on the smooth, lithe form draped accross the double bed in the centre of the room. Laying accross mauve satin bedsheets, she let her eyes move slowly from the long, creamy, delicate legs, up the thighs only slightly covered by a seethrough black night shift, up over the curve of small hips and along the tight waist line. Over the luscious curves of cleavage peeking out of the night shift, up the long neck and finally resting on the glowing face of Dawn.

Andariel could feel her lips moving, but no words coming out. Dawn reached her hand out, curving it upwards and curling a finger, begging Andariel to "come hither".

She didn't know when or how it happened, as if she was under some kind of spell, but she could feel herself lowering down onto the bed. Dawn rolled over onto her back as Andariel's body stretched along her length, a leather clad thigh pressing down between her legs.

Gasping quietly, Dawn's lips were captured in a heated and deep kiss.

As she pressed her thigh in harder, her lips becoming more hungry and biting at Dawn's, she moved her mouth down to her creamy exposed neck. She growled softly into the flesh, biting down on it, eliciting a cry from Dawn's lips.

"Andy! Oh, Andy..." she whispered breathlessly. At that point, Andariel felt the hunger consume her, she felt her skin beginning to crack and stretch, morphing as her hands became long and clawed, her shoulders broadening to beyond masculine. The dark wings pushed out of her skin as it split open violently along her back, bursting out of her thin white t-shirt.

"Andy, Andy..." Dawn kept whispering, seeming oblivious to Andariel's transformation.

Unable to control herself, Andariel bit down too hard into Dawn's neck.

"Andy! Andy! Please, wake up!" Andariel was suddenly aware of herself being shaken hard, and the images that she had just witnessed slipped away. She sat up quickly in bed, panting for breath, the bedsheets and her night clothes sticking to her sweat covered body.

"Andy, are you ok?" Reeanus's voice came softly, but urgently.

Andariel shook her head, then pushing a hand to her forehead. Her brain was throbbing with a massive headache, her skin was clammy, and she was aware of the guilt creeping back.

"Uhn...fuck." She whispered under her breath, noticing that her sister was placing a hand reassuringly on her shoulder, rubbing her back gently.

"Another nightmare?" Reeanus asked tentatively. Andariel nodded.

She inhaled deeply, her breath catching in her throat as she did so, and let her hands fall into her lap.

As much as she knew it was her punishment, and her constant reminder of what she had done in her future universe, it never failed to unnerve her every single time.

"I don't know if I can keep up with this. They haven't been getting any better..." She said with much dissappointment in her voice. Reeanus looked at her worryingly.

"Maybe you should get some help for them. If you can't get a decent night sleep because of these nightmares, you're not going to be in any kind of shape for fighting." Reeanus said caringly, tucking some strands of Andariel's fiery red hair behind her ears.

Andariel looked over at her with a tender smile, taking her other hand in hers and squeezing tightly.

"Maybe you're right sis, maybe there is some help I could get for them. I think I might just know who to see." Andariel replied. Reeanus grinned back.

"Well then, it's settled. Tomorrow you will go and get this seen to. If you don't, I'll officially kick your arse. Or maybe just cast a spell on you to MAKE you go..." Reeanus said thoughtfully about the last part, squinting her eyes slightly, laughing when Andariel bumped her shoulder into her playfully.

"In that case, I'll go." Andariel said with a laugh. Reeanus let out a quiet little squeal, something she usually did whenever she was happy about something. She wrapped her arms around Andariel, hugging her tightly. Andariel pressed her forehead to her sister's, sighing slightly.

"Just do me one favour." Andariel asked, lifting her head and waiting for Reeanus to do the same and look at her.

"Hmm?" her eyes shined in the pale moonlight that was streaming into the room through the window. Andariel looked a little bashful and bit her lower lip tentatively.

"Will you stay with me? Just for tonight. I... I don't really want to sleep alone right now." She looked down at her lap, feeling her cheeks blushing just a bit. Reeanus grinned broadly and tackled her sister roughly, knocking the wind out of her.

"I dibs this side!" She said triumphantly as she rolled over her and onto the side of the bed that was against the wall. Andariel laughed cheekily.

"Yeah, right. I know it's only so you don't fall out of bed in the middle of the night." she teased.

Reeanus huffed and poked her tongue out at her older sister, turning onto her side to face the wall. Andariel smiled and got comfortable under the sheets, sliding down into bed to spoon Reeanus.

"No more nightmares, Andy." Reeanus said with a yawn, before already dozing off to sleep.

And indeed, Andariel didn't have anymore nightmares that night.

"But... do we really have to? Surely there's more pressing matters than this right now." Faith said, cringing slightly at the death glare her girlfriend gave her in return.

Dawn's arms were crossed rebelliously accross her chest as she stood in front of Faith, who was in the basement, "trying" to train.

Dawn let out an exasperated breath and flailed her arms out.

"THIS is the pressing matter! We NEED to go baby shopping! Don't you understand? I'm not bringing a child into this world that doesn't have everything it ever wanted, and the earlier we go shopping, the better!" Dawn told her girlfriend, stepping up closer to her, her eyes being very clear that there would be no way Faith could tell her no. At least not in a way that Dawn wouldn't hear as a yes.

Faith rested her hands on Dawn's shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"Baby, I know you're excited about us having a baby together. I am too! But I need to be in the best shape possible for fighting the bad guys... even with having Andy and Rea on our side, I don't know that we're going to make it out unscathed." Faith tried to explain to her delicately, but it seemed that just made Dawn even more determined.

"Even more reason to do it now! If the world gets nearly completely annihilated in the proccess, there won't be ANYWHERE to get baby clothes from. Besides, I think you're in GREAT shape already." Dawn pressed her hips into Faith suggestively, raising an eyebrow as she played with her girlfriends tight fitting singlet.

Faith licked her lips slightly, accidentally letting out a little moan in the proccess. She leaned down and captured Dawn's lips in a long, delicious kiss, running her fingers firmly down her arms before encircling them around her waist and picking her up. She pressed her up against the nearest solid object, which happened to be a cabinet which housed a large collection of pointy weapons.

Dawn wrapped her legs around Faith's hips, letting her kiss her for another minute or so before she pulled her lips away. Faith growled and tried to capture her mouth again, but Dawn wouldn't let her.

Faith pouted and made a noise of dissapproval. Dawn pressed a finger against her girlfriend's lips.

"I'll let you do... whatever... you like to me..." Dawn started seductively, leaning forwards and nibbling on Faith's left ear, sending a shiver down her spine. Faith liked where this was going...

"If... you go baby shopping with me first." she finished. And there's the punch line. Faith scowled.

"I want a divorce." She stated mopily. Dawn smiled broadly.

"Like you could ever divorce this." she wriggled her hips, pressing herself into Faith's crotch. Faith nearly dropped Dawn right there. She lowered her eyebrows.

"... we're going shopping."

Buffy and Willow were in the kitchen, sharing a plate of waffles. Buffy had to note how lately, Willow was starting to rival her own appetite. She raised an eyebrow at her redhead who was downing her 4th waffle so far. Willow smiled back at her slayer, before following the waffle with a large gulp of milk.

"You know, you could feed a village with how much you've eaten this week alone." Buffy stated, in-between bites of her own waffle. Willow pouted.

"Buffy! I'm with child, I can't help it that I've been eating more." she retorted, then looked back down at the food in front of her, starting to take another large chunk of waffle on a fork.

Buffy shrugged. "It's just an observation."

At that moment, Dawn bounced into the kitchen, Faith in tow. Buffy couldn't help but notice the expression on the raven slayer's face. It was some kind of combination of... turned on... angry... dissappointed...

"Guess what we're going to do?" Dawn asked enthusiastically and with a huge grin on her face.

Buffy lowered her eyebrows, her mouth still full of food, pointing at Dawn.

"Gay sex." she said simply.

Dawn scowled at her sister, looking around quickly to see if she could find something to throw at her, but when she came up with nothing she simply huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No, we're going shopping." She said simply. Willow's ears perked up and she spun around quickly to face them.

"Oh! Dawnie... could you pick me up some marshmallows while you're out? And maybe... some peanut butter... a-and maybe some cheddar cheese too?" Willow asked quickly.

Faith raised an eyebrow. "I sure hope you don't plan on eating those all at once, Red."

Willow blushed.

"That's disgusting, Faith. Sure, I can do that." Replied Dawn. Faith and Buffy looked at each other, both shrugging.

"Well, don't stay out too late. We're going to have a training session later on with Andariel and Reeanus. It's important that we all put in 120% for this." Buffy said firmly, giving Dawn an authoritive look before taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Don't worry B, we'll be back in time for the party." Faith said with a grin, taking Dawn's hand and leading her out of the room.

"Have fun!" Willow called out after them, before tucking back into her food. She started on her 5th waffle. Buffy scratched her head and watched in bewilderment.

"Baby, can you make me some more waffles?" Willow asked, batting her eyelashes at her girlfriend.

Buffy groaned and got up from her chair.

"You're going to eat us out of house and home Wills!" she stated exasperatedly.

Andariel had left the house early, before anyone else had woken up. The less people knew of her dealing with the still mysterious Shadow Man, the better. At the moment, Faith was the only one she could trust with the knowledge of his existance.

The others might see it as dangerous, covorting with what could be described as an evil genius. Even though he had helped her with summoning her sister here from the future, his motives for helping were still cloudy.

Although, it wasn't fair of her to judge. I mean Faith had once been a dangerous criminal, who sided with evil despite being a Slayer who was meant to protect the people of Earth. But look how far she'd come. She was even devoted to Dawn, and devoted to the cause of fighting against evil now. It's not like Andariel could talk anyway, with all the things she had done... after all, it was why she was here, wasn't it?

Sighing to herself and frowning slightly, she pushed the door open to Altrus's home, closing it quietly behind her. She turned around, scanning the room for the old man. She spotted him at a bookshelf, gingerly leaning up to grab a book that was slightly out of reach.

Moving over quickly, Andariel easily managed to reach the book, pulling it out and handing it to the old man. He smiled at her kindly, as she waved her hands and coughed at the dust the book had flung out in the proccess.

"Thank you child. I would have used magic to retrieve it, but a hand works just as well, doesn't it?" He chuckled quietly. She smiled in reply and followed him as he went to sit back on his couch.

Andariel hesitated for a moment, biting her lower lip and looking concerned.

Without looking up at her, Altrus opened up his book, then patted the couch next to himself. With a nod, Andariel slowly lowered herself next to him. Despite being such a powerful warlock, she couldn't help but feel that even the slightest tremor might cause him to fall to bits. She smiled at her thoughts, how outrageous!

"What bothers you?" He asked quietly, his lips parting slightly as he looked up at her for a moment, before returning his gaze back to his reading material.

Andariel rubbed her thighs with the palms of her hands.

"Um... I've been having these nightmares... and, well... they've been causing me trouble with sleeping. I was wondering..." She started, but before she could finish her sentence, the old man interrupted with the raising of a hand.

He turned to look up at her again.

"I know. You wish to stop the nightmares." He lowered his hand, then closed his book and put it on the weathered coffee table in front of him.

"The truth of the matter is, there is a more dire situation behind the reason for your dreams than what you've previously been lead to believe." He told her quietly, but matter of factly.

Andariel frowned worriedly, looking him in the eyes, and wondering what more could possibly go wrong.

"You mean there could be something worse than manipulating magic and the minds of people, just to fulfill a fantasy of having a relationship with the sister of my mother?" Andariel was feeling confused, what a crock this was. Maybe Altrus didn't know what he was on about after all... maybe he was going senile.

Altrus looked very serious for a moment, before standing up and moving away slowly over to a dresser, opening up the top draw and searching around in clutter for who knows what.

Andariel crossed her arms over her chest, becoming impatient with this whole cherade. Maybe she made a mistake coming here...

Just as she was getting ready to begin arguing against whatever crazy idea this man had, he shuffled back over to her, holding what appeared to be a hazy green coloured diamond of some kind, an incense holder and a stick of incense. She could smell the strength of it before it had even been lit, it became even worse when he actually pulled out a match, striking it against the table and lighting it.

Andariel screwed up her nose. "What is that?" she asked. Altrus simply smiled back at her, before arranging the gem within arms reach of himself. He reached over and quickly plucked a single strand of hair from Andariel's head, eliciting a sharp "ow!" from the girl.

Rubbing her head, she mumbled under her breath as he took the hair and placed it on the burning end of the incense, causing the hair to burn and shrivel up. He closed his eyes and began muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, while making some strange hand movements over the gem.

Watching in slight confusion, Andariel's eyes suddenly grew larger as a cloud rose above the gem, eventually flattening out and beginning to project what appeared to be imagery of... Buffy and Willow?

She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Watch." Altrus stated quietly, as he motioned towards the unfolding event in front of them.

Andariel leaned forwards, trying to make sense of the hazy imagery floating before them. She squinted, but it didn't seem to help.

"I can't... it's too blurry." She stated, glancing at Altrus. The old man smiled at her.

"Patience." He replied, and they both turned back. Andariel watched as the images slowly came more into focus.

They were crying. Buffy and Willow were both crying, Willow more openly, Buffy just had tears rolling down her cheeks. Her voice was shaky, but it was obvious she was trying to be strong for Willow.

They were in a white room. No... they were in a hospital. A nurse kept apologizing to them, telling them she was so sorry for their loss.

Andariel lowered her eyebrows. What? What loss? What could have possibly happened?

Dawn burst into the hospital room.

"I came as soon as I could." Her eyes were red, and it was obvious she was on the verge of crying herself.

"Dawn..." Willow looked at her pleadingly, and the two embraced each other, the tears flowing freely.

"I can't believe it... why did this happen? It's not fair! First we lost Faith, and now this?" Dawn's voice was trembling. Buffy pulled at her hair, her face revealing extreme anger now. She stormed over to the window and put her fist through it.

"This isn't fair! This isn't fucking fair! Why our baby? Why? What did we do to deserve losing OUR baby?" Buffy yelled, more tears rolling down her cheeks.

Andariel lifted her hand to her mouth. She couldn't find any words. Is this what's going to happen? Is she going to be unable to save herself and her family from pain and suffering?

The images started to flicker and fade, before a different scene emerged before her.

Dawn was nursing her baby gingerly in her bed. The baby only looked a few days old. Dawn looked so happy and so content, stroking it's head tenderly and smiling.

Willow was beside her, also smiling. Buffy was sitting on the edge of the bed. It was obvious she was troubled.

"Dawnie... I'm sorry Faith couldn't be here. She would have been a great parent... you both would be, you know that right?" Buffy whispered to her sister quietly, without turning her head.

Dawn's smile instantly dimmed down.

"My love gave herself to save us. If it wasn't for her love and her sacrifice, none of us would be here today." Dawn replied quietly.

"Dawnie... are you sure you want to do this?" Willow asked, stroking her back. Dawn nodded without looking up, simply planting a kiss to her baby's head.

"She'll be safer with 2 parents. Safer with you and Buffy. I can't protect her by myself. It'll be hard always knowing she's my child... but that I'll never hear her call me mum..." Dawn's voice caught in her throat a bit.

"Don't worry, she'll always be your child. Even if she knows us as her parents, in her heart, you'll always be her true mother." Buffy replied, now turning around to face her.

Dawn nodded softly, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"Are you ready?" Willow asked, looking at her tenderly.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Dawn replied with a smile.

Willow leaned over, gently mumbling some words under her breath, and moving her hand over the baby's body.

Where the baby had had little strands of raven black hair, it now turned a fiery red, and her eyes became a bright blue. Dawn let out a little cry, mourning the loss of the last memory of Faith in her child.

She rocked the baby gently as Willow finished.

"I'll always love you, my sweet Andariel." she whispered, before planting a kiss to the baby's head, and handing her over to Willow.

The imagery subsided and slowly faded away, like a whisp of smoke drifting off in the wind.

Andariel sat, stone faced, her mouth hanging open slightly. She slowly turned her head to face Altrus, who was looking very solemn, his hands clasped loosely in his lap.

"Wh... what... I .. I don't...u-understand..." she barely managed to get the words out without choking on her own breath. He looked up at her tenderly.

"You must know, this is not the future, it is your past. Everything you thought you knew... it was for your protection. It was done out of love for you. I showed you this, because you must know, who you truly need to protect. That is why you have been having these nightmares. They are not for you to feel guilt, but for you to know the truth of who you need to save in the coming dark times." He explained to her very quietly, but seriously.

Andariel was still unable to make any sense of it all.

"But... Dawn... is my mother? How..." she still couldn't make full sentences. Altrus took a deep breath and placed a hand on her leg.

"Your mothers, Dawn and Faith, are the reason you're here. Not Buffy and Willow. Before you were born, Willow miscarried her child. Faith had sacrificed her life to destroy the Dark God that would have annihilated human kind. It is possibly the greatest sacrifice I know of. To protect you, Dawn gave you up to Willow and Buffy. With their strong teachings and protection, you would grow up to become the great warrior that you are. You are here to save Dawn and yourself." he replied.

Andariel pressed her elbows into her knees and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head slowly.

"This... this doesn't make any sense... I'm sorry..." she whispered under her breath. Altrus squeezed her thigh.

"I understand child, it may take some time for you to come to terms. If you like, I can make you a nice herbal tea?" He said to her, with a gentle smile.

Andariel looked accross at him slowly, before letting her lips turn up into a smile. She nodded.

"I would like that." she replied.

Buffy was downstairs, hitting the crap out of her favourite black punching bag. She swung hard and fast, landing 3 heavy punches, followed by 2 quick kicks to the side.

Willow watched from the side, sitting quietly on a wicker chair which had a cross-stitched pillow as it's cushion. She noticed the expression on her love's face, different to that of how it normally was. It was more stern, more like she had a serious vendetta against the punching bag at this moment in time. Her punches came harder and faster.

Buffy was foccusing everything into her hits. The sweat was pouring down her face and chest, her lungs burned and her muscles felt like they were on the edge of failure, but she kept going. She had to keep going...

Grunting loudly she elbowed the bag then kneed it at least 10 times before finally grabbing her stake out of her belt and slamming it hilt deep into the bag. She stood there, gasping for breath as the bag creaked, swinging back and forth on it's chain.

Willow noticed, and she got up and slowly came over to Buffy from behind. She placed her hands on her waist, feeling her tense slightly before she relaxed and inhaled deeply.

"What if it's not enough?" she asked without turning around. Willow frowned.

"Buffy? What do you mean?" she asked worriedly. Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, before turning around in her arms. Willow instantly saw the troubled expression on her face.

"What if all this..." Buffy motioned all around her. "What if all of us aren't enough? What if our efforts are futile? I know we've fought against impossible odds before, but this..." she looked solemnly at Willow, who returned her expression by frowning gently and cupping Buffy's cheek.

"Sweety... no matter what... you know we'll fight to the very end. Side by side. And then, when we win, and we'll all be together, we can sit by a campfire, and we'll all sing Kumbaya and eat roasted marshmallows... oh and don't forget all the celebratory sex." Willow told Buffy, finally managing to get a smile out of her girlfriend with her last sentence.

Buffy put one arm around Willow and pressed the other hand gently to her abdomen.

"Hmm, I sure wouldn't mind making a few more of these." Buffy grinned widely, eliciting a little giggle from Willow.

"I'm sure you wouldn't Miss Summers." Willow teased her girlfriend lightly, tugging gently at her shirt.

"I just wish there was a way to make sure we could protect our child. I know Andariel and Reeanus are here now, but I just can't help but have this strange feeling. A feeling of... loss..." Buffy's smile faded into a worried look. Willow pulled her close into a tight embrace.

"We're not going to lose anyone. I promise you." Willow reassured her. But at the same time, although she wouldn't admit it to her, she could sense exactly how worried Buffy was. And she felt exactly the same way.

They just had to be strong...

Faith cringed to herself. 'baby shirts, baby bibs, cute baby toys, baby car seats, baby blankets, baby baby baby...' that's all she could hear going through Dawn's head right now.

She was being dragged along through the huge baby section of the 4th store they'd been in so far today. Her feet were sore, she was thirsty, and all the strange stares people were giving her for holding hands with Dawn were starting to royally piss her off.

"Yeah we're two girls, what, you wanna watch?" She yelled to the next couple that stared too long at them. The older woman whispered to what was probably her husband, before they hurried off in the opposite direction.

"People would think they'd never seen two people hold hands before. Christ." she muttered to herself. Dawn stopped in her tracks, leaned up and pressed a kiss to Faith's lips.

"I love you, don't ever change." She said with a happy smile. Faith blushed furiously, unable to say anything. She just made some kind of pathetic noise and then smiled back at her girlfriend. Dawn grinned and continued perusing all the baby stuff.

Dawn picked up a little pacifier that had a little princess on the handle end of it and started making cutesy wootsy noises.

"Loooookkk aww baby it's so adorable! Wouldn't our baby look so cute with this?" She showed it to Faith triumphantly, and Faith raised an eyebrow in response.

"And what makes you so sure we're going to have a girl?" She asked. Dawn glared at her girlfriend.

"We're having a girl. I just know it. And you can't tell me otherwise!" she replied, pointing her finger for emphasis. Faith sighed, and before Dawn could remove it, she leaned forwards and took the younger girls finger between her lips, slowly sucking it from bottom to tip.

Dawn's mouth hung open slightly, and her cheeks went bright red. Faith grinned.

"You're right, I can't tell you otherwise." she replied cheekily, giving Dawn a smack on the arse, which elicited a high pitched yelp from her.

"You're impossible!" Dawn said, exasperated.

Faith picked up a little princess baby shirt with little lacy bits, and stars, with a matching tiara. She held it over her chest and striked a little pose.

"What do you think, does it match my eyes?" she asked with a grin. Dawn frowned and snatched the shirt from her hands. As she put it back on the rack, she glanced over at Faith.

"I prefer you in leather..." she said with a shrug of her shoulders. Faith growled lowly and wrapped her arms around Dawn from behind, nibbling gently on her neck. Dawn moaned quietly.

"I'll wear leather for you anytime..." Faith said seductively.

Dawn spun around in her arms, her cheeks rosy.

"Ok, well, I'm done here. I think we should head home now, yes? Yes." She nodded, and began dragging Faith along with her as they left the store.

'Score' Faith thought to herself with a wicked smile.

The training that night with Andariel and Reeanus had worn everyone down to the point of passing out. Andariel seemed to have had some kind of urgency in the way she forced Buffy and Faith, especially Faith, to keep going, and going, and going.

Buffy had gone to bed along with Willow, Dawn and Reeanus, leaving just Faith and Andariel. The red head had insisted she had a few moves she wanted to share with Faith.

As she did so, she was hard on her. She corrected even the smallest mis-step or mistake, getting the raven slayer to repeat the proccess over and over again until it was perfect. Faith was caught off guard as Andariel came towards her with a tempered steel longsword. In dodging it, Faith twisted her leg at an awkward angle and cried out in pain from a pulled muscle.

"Do you think a Dark God and their minions are going to make any mistakes? Do you think they're going to go easy on you when you're running on empty?" She raised her voice at Faith as she sat on the ground, hissing at the pain in her leg.

"Andariel, come on, we've been going at this all night. I can't give anymore, you're going to wear me down and then I won't be able to train for days!" Faith snapped back. Andariel knelt down beside her.

"You're a slayer, just like me. If I can do this then so can you. Pain is nothing, it's just something your brain tells you that you feel. Block it out!" Andariel told her sternly. Faith grimaced and forced herself to stand, even though her leg was burning with pain.

Andariel came at her again with the sword, lunging at her with it, missing her by millimetres. Faith turned to land a kick, but Andariel was too fast. She held the sword out as a shield against the kick, then swung it, opening up a wide cut on Faith's left arm.

Faith grasped at the open wound, and glaring up at Andariel with renewed strength, she moved forwards and grabbed the sword by the blade. She twisted it and caused Andariel to lose grip of it.

As it clattered to the ground, she brought her fist into Andariel's chin and her knee into her stomach. She then grabbed her by the back of the shirt and threw her to the ground.

Andariel coughed where she lay. Faith stalked around her like she was about to move in for the kill on her prey.

"Is that what you want?" Faith yelled at her. Andariel continued to cough, lifting herself up slowly, then pushing herself into a sitting position. She looked up at Faith and wiped the blood from her lip.

"What I want..." she started to stand up slowly, bringing herself face to face with the raven slayer. "Is for you to never give up. I... we can't lose you."

Faith lowered her eyes.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm not the chosen one. That's Buffy's job. It always has been." She spat back at the red head.

Andariel looked frustrated. She wanted to tell her so badly. 'Faith you idiot, I'm your daughter, and I want a chance to know you like I never got to. And Dawn! If I lose you and her now, I'll never truly forgive myself.'

But the words didn't come out. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't bear to hurt Willow and Buffy like that. Maybe she could tell Faith, and maybe she wouldn't say anything... but she still couldn't form words.

Faith stared at her, expecting an answer.

Andariel looked at the ground for a moment, before finally running her fingers through her hair slowly. As she did, her fiery red hair dissappeared, and turned raven black.

Faith was confused as she watched her.

"Training is over for today. Go get some rest. I just... " Andariel shook her head, then turned and started to take the stairs upstairs.

"Andy!" Faith called out, then suddenly broke into a limpy jog, catching up to her.

"For what it's worth... I appreciate you." she said simply. Andariel nodded.

They went upstairs, then headed to their rooms for a well deserved sleep.

Note: Well that's another chapter knocked out. Seems to be coming along quite nicely. Also with the whole baby shopping thing, well... it had to be done. I mean come on, it's Dawn guys!
Please review :3 I appreciate you all!