Buffy's POV

Ever since she had been brought back, all she had wanted was to understand why. Why am I here? Why is everything so cold and hard? Why don't I care about what's happening around me? I was free, it was over. I would never have to fight or feel pain again. If she's honest with herself some of these feelings started before her resurrection. The sense of hopelessness, the fear that her life would be a never-ending battle without any hope of real happiness.

Now as she lay on the burnt out floor of the library clinging to life, she was even more confused. How could it have been Faith who saved me? Faith of all people who would have been able to bring me back to life. When they saw each other in LA before Faith went to jail, Buffy could see the agony Faith was experiencing. But she wouldn't let herself believe it was real. Even when Faith turned herself in Buffy still felt part of it was a ploy. Why did I waste so much time hating her? We should have been friends. If I could have taken the time to understand her, things would have been so much better for both of us.

She hears the chanting and feels Faith's hands press against her chest. She wants to look at Faith, wants something to make sense again, but even though her eyes are open, she can't see. Instead she begins feels warmth embracing her. All pain and fear leaving her body as she suddenly feels free of all the stress and pressures she's had to endure in her short life. At first she is relieved to think it's over, that she's getting her ultimate reward. As she reflects on the past few weeks and all she's been through, something starts to change. I don't want to die. I want to live, I need to be part of this world for Dawn, for my friends - for Faith.

It takes several long minutes, but she starts to realize the warmth and comfort she feels is not what what she had originally thought. It was Faith. Faith who is holding her and calling for her to come back. Buffy smiles as she looks up at the dark slayer. Seeing her eyes are tightly closed as she rocks and calls for her. Slowly Buffy raises her hand to Faith's cheek, and softly calls out. "Faith?"

"Buffy!" Faith pulls Buffy even closer, holding her tight to her chest.

Everyone in the room releases the breath they didn't know they were holding. They were all frozen to their spots watching the slayers, captivated by the intimate moment. Only Tara could see their auras swirling around each other as if they were dancing. As the swirls intermingled the power of each increased, as if their joining made each of them greater and stronger. Tara smiled as she watched the display, moving closer to Willow as she did so.

Faith and Buffy stared into each other's eyes, searching, hoping. Each of them knew there were going to be struggles ahead. Life as a slayer will always be a struggle. They smiled as they realized that they would finally have someone to truly share their lives with. Their thoughts are disturbed as the sound of sirens break the silence. Both slayers groan slightly as Buffy rises to standing. She was not ready to leave Faith's comfort, and Faith had not been ready to let her go. As Buffy rises, she spots Jonathan. "Oh no!" She goes to him to see that he is clearly dead.

Shaking her head with sadness she rises again. "Some of us should stay for the cops. We can explain that Warren did this, they can take care of him. Spike, Angel you two better take off." She nods to the massive hole in the ceiling and the ever lightening sky.

"How are we going to explain what we were doing here?" Xander asks.

"You'll probably want to hide those." Anya says - pointing to the chair and restraints. Buffy looks to the restraints and gets an idea. Faith's wrists show significant bruising from them, she knows they won't be there long, but for now they'll help prove their story.

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Warren and the third man were arrested almost immediately. They hadn't had time to get very far after Faith and Buffy explained their version of what had happened. Warren still had the gun that he killed Jonathan with in his possession when the police found him. No amount of attempting to explain that he didn't kidnap Faith or shackle her to a chair would convince the cops that he was innocent. Especially, not once their lair had been raided. Between all the plans they had left out, spoils from their robberies and the surveillance equipment, there wasn't much hope for them escaping conviction.

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The slayers finally returned home after hours of talking with the police. The detectives were excited to have a human crime they could investigate, so they were very thorough with their questions. They had allowed Willow and Dawn to give their statements first, so they were already home and sleeping. Buffy and Faith were exhausted, the ordeal of the spell and then having to explain everything to police was more mentally draining than any demon fighting could be.

"I think I'm going to sleep for 2 days." Faith says as they enter the Summers' home.

"Yeah." Buffy replies quietly. She was completely drained. Reliving those terrible memories had managed to heal Faith, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Buffy. Probably because Faith had dealt with most of the memories already, but Buffy never had.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just tired."

Faith could see the look of despondency back in Buffy's eyes, could see she was hurting.

"It's just…" She couldn't finish, she was just so tired. Tired in her soul. When she was laying on the floor dying, she had decided she wanted to live, but she had forgotten how hard it was to live. Fighting to save Faith had given her a purpose, but now that Faith was safe, she felt lost again.

Faith frowned, having some idea of what Buffy was struggling with, but not sure how to help her. "Let's just get some sleep, Ok?"

"Yeah, Ok." Buffy starts to head upstairs and pauses. "Will you..?"

"You want me to stay with you for a while?"

Buffy only nodded in reply.

"Of course, be right up." Faith went into the basement to change before heading upstairs. The door was left slightly open and Buffy was curled up under the covers. Faith slid in beside her and tried to relax. Even though she was completely exhausted, she felt kind of amazing. She had never had anyone care about her or do as much for her as the scooby gang had done. She knew without a doubt that these people truly cared about her, and she was determined not to let them down.

"You're smiling."

Faith was startled out of her thoughts, not realizing that Buffy was still awake and watching her.

"Yeah, is that OK?" Faith replied gently, while turning to look over at Buffy.

Buffy didn't reply, just continued to stare with blank expression. The expression shot daggers into Faith. She felt terrible for feeling anything good when her friend was suffering so much.

"What you did last night, it was the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me." Faith finally says. Wanting to find some way to bring light back into the blonde slayer's empty eyes.

"I couldn't just abandon you."

"But you could have, you could have called the cops or the council and been done with me. Instead you saved me." She's sitting up a little, holding Buffy's gaze.

After a few moments Buffy breaks the eye contact and rolls over. Faith lays back down and closes her eyes. She waits until she can hear Buffy's breathing slow and then she begins to fall asleep herself.

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"You have to forgive yourself."

"Mom?" Buffy finds herself in front of the cottage she and Faith had dreamed about before. Her mother stands before her, with a look only mother's can give. It's both disapproving and full of love at the same time. "Do you know what this place is?"

"It could be your future, if you let it."

"My future?"

"Yes, Buffy. Believe it or not, you have a chance at a future."

"I'm going to go with... not." Buffy pauses and takes a deep breath. "I do like it here though. It's peaceful."

Buffy's mother shakes her head and sighs. "Bad things are on their way, you have to be ready."

"That's not the kind of news that's going to cheer me up or get me to believe in this amazing future you say could be mine.." Buffy frowns and folds her arms over her chest.

"I'm not here to cheer you up. No one blames you for feeling sad and lost. You've been through a lot. You're allowed to feel those things. What you're not allowed to do is give up. You have to be strong. The world needs you."

"Does it need me? Faith is here now, and Willow is getting more and more powerful. Seems like they can handle whatever badness is coming."

"They can't, not without you. They need your strength and heart and you need theirs. It's the only way."

"It's not fair."

"No, it's not. But that's life. And you have to live. You have to let yourself love and be loved."

"I'm not sure I know how."

"Of course you do. You are full of love, and you are surrounded by it. Let yourself feel it."

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Buffy wakes up to find herself curled into Faith's side. Surprised to find herself in this position, she tries to stay relaxed. Faith is still asleep, and she's warm. Buffy lets herself enjoy the warmth and comfort as she drifts back to sleep.

The slayers manage to sleep until the next morning when the sounds and smells of food being prepared finally woke them up.

"Hey."

"Hey." Faith looks down at Buffy who was still curled into her side.

"Hmm.. something smells good." Buffy turns away from Faith and stretches as she gets out of bed.

Faith watches her carefully as she moves around the room. There seems to be a lightness to her movements that had been missing. Faith smiled as she watched her, she knew it was going to take more than sleep to restore Buffy, but there was hope now.

"You're smiling again."

"Yep, you better get used to it." Faith winks as she hops out of bed and heads out of the room. "See you downstairs."

"Faith? Thanks for staying with me last night."

"Anytime. Your room is a pretty big step-up from the basement cot."

"Oh.. sorry about that." Buffy felt terrible for never considering before that Faith had been sleeping in the basement all this time.

"No worries, B. It's definitely not the worse place I ever slept. And plus - no bars. I've got no complaints."

"Right, OK. Well I'll see you downstairs in a few minutes."

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Several weeks pass without major incident, the slayers had become almost inseparable. Often after patrolling they would either pass out on the couch together or Faith would end up staying in Buffy's room with her. There would still be times when Buffy would fall back into her despair, but those times were less and less frequent. She had begun taking an interest in Dawn's life again, which Dawn both hated and loved.

The scooby gang was closer than they had ever been. Through the spell, they had not only gained a better understanding of Faith, but also of themselves. This helped them all to be more honest with each other. Instead of hiding their insecurities they would actually talk about them.

Willow had tried several times to get details out of either slayer on what happened to them during the spell. She could tell that something had changed between them since that night, but neither of them would talk about what had happened. She knew they had deeper feelings for each other now, and was disappointed that Buffy wasn't able to talk to her about it. Willow didn't really understand how afraid Buffy was to love and be loved.

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"We should go out!" Willow offers up excitedly.

Faith and Buffy look up from their comfy position on the couch. "Out, like where?" Buffy grumbled in response.

"There's really only one place to go, we should go to the Bronze. I'll call Xander and Tara. It'll be great!" Everyone has been waiting for the slayers to admit what they were doing. Willow was pretty sure that Buffy was just in denial, and couldn't even admit it to herself. She hoped a night of dancing would help spark something. "Dawn is out with her friends, there's no big bad evil lurking. It's time to go do something fun!"

"Yeah, B. It does sound fun." Faith smirks at a pouting Buffy.

"Fine. I guess." Buffy couldn't say why she didn't want to go. Couldn't admit that she was afraid of what might happen if they did. Even after the dream kiss the slayers had briefly shared, Buffy wouldn't let herself accept that she felt something romantic for Faith. She only knew that she felt better when the dark slayer was around.

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"So what are you two doing? Are you dating now?" Anya asks, everyone around the table gasps.

"Anya!" Willow and Xander both call out at the same time.

Anya just shrugs "Everyone wants to know, but they're too afraid to ask."

Faith leans back in her chair. Waiting to see how deep the shade of red Buffy will turn will be. She's surprised when she looks over and Buffy doesn't seem embarrassed at all, she seems startled, like the thought hadn't even occurred to her. Buffy looks over at Faith, waiting for a snarky comment of some kind. "What? Why would you think that?" Buffy looks back to her friends confused. They only shook their heads at the denial Buffy seemed to be in.

Faith hadn't wanted to push the subject of what their relationship was. She knew what she wanted, but she had to wait for Buffy to figure it out. Faith understood Buffy's history with relationships, she knew that Buffy was sure that she wasn't meant to have love. Faith had lived most of her life believing she would never have love, but after everything that had happened she had begun to feel differently. She began to think it was time to accept that love was possible. She decided it was time to see if she could give Buffy a little push.

"I'm going to go dancing." She winks at Buffy as she leaves.

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Buffy's POV

Buffy watches Faith saunter off to the dance floor, watching her lithe body begin to sway to the music. Oh no, bad Buffy, shouldn't be staring. Must stop staring. Don't want to, though. She continues to stare, then she notices Faith is staring back. Maybe it's not bad to be staring? Maybe it's good? Should I go over there? She's looking at me like she wants me to go dance with her. Am I ready for dancing? Does being ready for dancing mean being ready for other things? Buffy is making herself wiggy analyzing every last thing.

"Will you go over there already? You're driving us all crazy!" Xander finally loses his patience watching Buffy drool over Faith.

"Xander!" Anya laughs, finally being the one to chastise him for saying what they're all thinking.

"What? How am I driving you guys crazy?" Buffy truly is shocked to realize everyone is staring at her. Do I have feelings for Faith? How is it that everyone else seems to know but me? She looks back over at Faith and finally starts to accept when everyone else seems to know.

Her entire body fills with warmth as she approaches Faith. She didn't even realize how good it felt just to be near the rogue slayer, it was like their essences called out to each other and brought comfort. Buffy let go of all her fear and guilt and just let the energy from Faith wash over as they danced. Their bodies moving in perfect synchronicity. Everything else faded away as Buffy finally let hers fear and guilt go.

Faith pulls Buffy close to her, their bodies pressed tightly together. She leans in and whispers "Are you ready to get out of here?"

Buffy inhales deeply, loving the feel of Faith's breath on her ear. She simply nods and leads Faith out of the Bronze. Their friends all but forgotten. The slayers practically sprint home, not wanting to wait another moment.

As soon as the enter the house Faith pulls Buffy into a tight embrace, kissing her deeply. Buffy reacts by hopping up and wrapping her legs around Faith's waist. Faith quickly carries the smaller slayer upstairs and into her bedroom. She carefully places Buffy on the bed and crawls on top of her. Pressing their bodies together and looking deep into Buffy's eyes. Slowly she begins placing a gentle kiss on Buffy's lips. Buffy moans at the contact and parts her lips to deepen the kiss.

She places her hands on Faith's hips and slowly slides them under her shirt to feel the smooth skin. Their bodies are humming with desire.

"Faith?"

"Hmmm?" Faith mumbles while placing gentle kisses along Buffy's neck.

"I want you to know - this means something to me. Being with you, it's not just…"

Faith looks up and starts to roll away, Buffy holds her in place with her legs. "No, no. Don't move. I just need you to know this isn't about lust. This isn't because I want anything from you."

"I know B. I can feel it too." Faith closes her eyes, starting to feel scared now. "I've always felt it."

"Always.."

"Since I first saw you. I always felt like I was more around you."

"More…?"

"More everything, like you were part of me somehow. It's hard to explain, though maybe you feel it now?"

"I do. I think I always felt it too, I was just too afraid to admit it, even to myself."

"And I was too angry. I never would have trusted you then. I was too sure I wasn't good enough for anyone to actually care about me."

The slayers are silent for a few moments, looking into each others eyes and enjoying the feeling of their bodies pressed tightly together.

"I've never.." Buffy pauses suddenly feeling nervous and shy.

"You're going to have to learn how to finish a sentence someday." Faith smiles and brushes a stray lock of hair off of Buffy's face. "I've never either."

Buffy raises an eyebrow at this unexpected information. A wicked little smile grows on her face and in one smooth motion she pulls Faith's shirt up over her head and flips them over so she is now in control. "I guess we'll figure this out together."