AN: Thanks for the feedback again and Colleen is getting some love, I didn't think that would happen. This one is a little longer than the other ones and its kinda a filler but it does have some parts that I think you guys will like. I'm posting this late tonight so if it has mistakes I'm sorry.

"The Bet"

"Wake up, slayer," Spike said as he started to shake Faith who groaned out in pain.

When she finally opened her eyes and saw the vampire standing over her, she tried to roll over but winced as she felt searing pain go through her whole body, "What the hell Spike? Leave me alone."

"No, get up. You've been sleeping for two days."

"Why are you waking me up? Couldn't Kor or someone do it?" Faith asked groggily.

"I need to talk about Buffy."

With those words, Faith sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through her, "Is she ok?"

"She's fine, but I kinda let her think that I was the one that got her down from the cave," Spike answered the girl while wondering how pissed off she was going to be.

"Why would you do that Spike?" Faith was hurt but she tried her best not to show it.

"When she came to after I got her home she asked if I was the one that saved her and well...I just said I got her home and let her fill in the rest."

Faith just sat there silent for a few moments before finally sighing, "Just let her keep thinking that then. If she can't remember then it's no big deal."

"Look, everyone is safe now and I'd really like there to be a truce between us," the vampire almost pleaded with the girl.

"Yeah, Spike, I guess," was the only answer he received but he didn't let it faze him.

"Do you really think my hair is that bad?"

"Totally."

Spike left Faith to get more rest and made his way down to his cot in the basement. He had been laying with Buffy since he brought her back that night and even though that made him happy, he needed to be alone for a bit.

As he passed through the living room he noticed the group doing their own things. Colleen, Dawn, and Andrew were sitting around the dining table playing cards, taking a break from researching it seemed.

His eyes fell to Buffy, who was sitting with Kori on the couch. For an instant their eyes met and what he saw in them he couldn't read, but strangely it gave him hope. Then he looked to Kori who wouldn't return his gaze, obviously upset about what was going on between Buffy and himself.

Spike decided that he had stood in the middle of the room long enough and continued his trek to the basement where he would contemplate a variety of things: the kiss from Buffy, the look in her eyes, Kori being upset, and whether or not he should kill Andrew for once again blasting the radio with the Backstreet Boys.

Buffy had watched the man leave and once he was out of sight she turned her attention back to Kori and saw the look on her face. Before she could say anything, though, the youngest slayer quickly stopped her.

"So how are you? Probably pretty crappy since, you know, you were staked five times."

Buffy laughed at the girl and decided to let the topic of Spike drop for now, "Well, I'm still in pain, yeah, but it feels a lot better than it did."

"I bet you have a whole new respect for vamps huh?"

"No, it just makes me want to kill them more."

"Except Spike," Kori seemed to mentally kick herself for bringing him up but stopped Buffy again as she tried to say something, "so Faith looks like crap."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen her."

"What's the deal with you two anyway?"

The girl was honestly curious about the past, but Buffy didn't know if she wanted to travel that road with her. She decided on a quick recap.

"She got called, came to Sunnydale, went crazy, killed people, I put her in a coma, eight months later she stole my body, she went to jail, three years later she helped close the Hellmouth, and then rode off into the sunset with Wood."

"Is that her stake or something?"

"He was the principle at the high school. They were together for awhile."

Kori knew something was off with how Buffy described their past, like she was hiding something. Just like Faith was and she was determined to figure it out, "So why can't you go back there now and what was with the hostility before?"

"We kinda left on bad terms after Sunnydale, and I don't know, just seeing her again brought all that back. Plus Dawn was missing."

"And now?"

Buffy looked down at her hands in her lap before answering, "And now I don't know what to say to her."

"Well you can start with saying thank you."

The blonde slayer looked at the other confused, "For what?"

"Uh, for going to save your ass."

"But Spike..."

"But Spike nothing. He came back here to get her and left her there to deal with the demon duo while you two escaped. How do you think she got injured so bad?" Kori didn't understand how the older girl was confused, hadn't she asked Spike?

"I think I need to talk to Faith, clear some things up," Buffy said standing up to walk back to the slayer's room.

Kori got up as well, looked at the basement door but fought the urge to go down there. Instead she joined the group at the table, "Deal me in."

"You can't just be dealt into a game of Go Fish. You'll have to wait," Andrew said annoyed, followed quickly by a 'Duh' from Dawn.

Buffy walked down the hall until she reached the only door that was closed and lightly knocked. After a few moments and still no answer, the blonde quietly opened the door, walked into the room, and closed the door again.

She stood rooted there until she finally worked up enough courage to walk closer. Buffy didn't know why she was so nervous, clearly the girl was asleep, but she was nervous nonetheless.

Upon closer inspection, Buffy noticed the comforter bunched around the girls waist, who was wearing a pained look on her face. Buffy could only imagine what lay under her shirt, figuring it was a lot worse than her own wounds.

The blonde walked the rest of the way to the bed, kneeled down to her knees, and lightly ran a hand through the dark slayer's tresses. The soothing movements to her scalp seemed to awaken her as she started to blink open her eyes.

Once she was fully awake, Faith tried to focus on Buffy, but the sudden brightness make it difficult.

"Hey," the kneeling girl whispered, still running her fingers through Faith's hair.

"That's a lot better wake up call than the one Spike just gave me," Faith all but croaked out, it was obvious it hurt her just to talk.

"I like to be gentle," Buffy joked, receiving a slight smile from the girl.

"If I was any other person that line might work."

"Damn, it was worth a shot, though. I came in here to talk but I don't think your wounds have been cleaned today..."

"You don't need an excuse to get me naked, all you gotta do is ask B," Faith was trying to engage in the banter but found it hard to say much of anything above a scratchy whisper, making the flirting lose its affect.

"Faith, take your shirt off and roll over."

The brunette smiled at the girl before slowly sitting up to take off her shirt. She grimaced in pain as she reached down to lift the garment over her head, only to be stopped by Buffy.

"Let me help," and with that she sat on the bed, grabbed hold of the shirt, and brought it up. She never broke eye contact with the ex con, except when the material covered her face. Buffy gave her a smile before directing her to lie down, which the other did in a very dramatic way, groaning and moaning in pain.

"It can't be that...bad," Buffy started to say before Faith had turned and revealed that it was, in fact, that bad, actually worse than what she imagined. There wasn't an inch of skin that didn't have a gash going across it. She could only imagine what it looked like a couple days ago and hoped the front didn't look this bad.

"Does it feel better?"

"I don't remember what it felt like before. I've been asleep pretty much two days straight."

"Yeah, how did you manage that?" Buffy asked as she started to rub ointment up and down the girls back, eliciting hissing noises every so often.

"You're asking me that? The girl that took an eight month nap?" Faith tried to laugh but found it too difficult.

Buffy, however, did laugh and continued to clean off the gashes. Once she had finished she told Faith to turn over. The other girl did as she was told but not before covering her chest with the shirt she had been wearing.

Buffy smirked at the girl, "When did you become so modest?"

"I guess the day I had you sitting on my bed rubbing your hands all over my half naked body."

"God Faith, you make it sound so dirty. At least you didn't grunt."

"We haven't got to the good part yet," the brunette said with a wink.

Buffy rolled her eyes and then let them fall to the girl's stomach, which didn't look as bad. She started the task of cleaning the wounds until she felt her hand go over something that hadn't been caused recently. Buffy traced her finger down the scar she had given Faith.

"Think it'll ever fade?" Buffy was upset, Faith knew that and let out the breath she had been holding.

"I hope not. It reminds me of how bad things got. I'll never get that far gone again."

"I'm sorry," the petite blonde whispered.

"Hey, don't ok? I have scars all over my body. This one means the most to me."

Buffy came out of her moment and remembered why she had come in here in the first place, "Speaking of scars and how you get them, what happened when you and Spike came for me?"

Faith looked like a deer caught in headlights, the look didn't go unnoticed by Buffy either. However, Faith quickly played it off, "He took me down there and I told him to get you out of there while I held the others back. He got you down but I was having trouble fighting them so I just told him to leave."

"How did you get that then?" Buffy asked, pointing to the bite mark on Faith's shoulder.

"That son of bitch Cyclops bit me! Damn, do you think they're like werewolf's?" Faith tried to act surprised and when she heard Buffy laugh she thought she had gotten away with the lie. She was wrong.

"Why are you lying?" The blonde asked becoming serious once more, "I don't remember much of that night but I know you're lying."

To further prove her point, she grabbed Faith's hand and brought it up to her face, leaning into the touch, "I remember softness, Spike isn't soft."

"Look B, you're safe, that's all that matters. Not who gets credit in the saving."

"It matters to me ok? I've been up there with him all this time because I thought I owed him that much, when, instead, I should have been back here with you," she held onto Faith's hand a moment longer before releasing it.

"I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything."

"I don't feel that way about you," when she noticed that Faith had started to lift her shirt to put it back on, she turned her head and continued, "look, I treated you like crap when I first got here, granted I had every right to, but you were still there for me."

"Every right to?" Faith asked, indicating that she was done with the shirt to allow Buffy to turn back around.

"Two years ago, Faith. You rejected my offer to come with me. You picked to go with some guy you barely knew instead."

Faith knew that had to talk about this sooner or later, she had just hoped for later, "As opposed to the girl that hated me? Being with him was easier."

"Easier than what?"

"Than trying to deal with whatever was going on between us."

Buffy never got the chance to respond as Kori came flying through the door.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Annoyed," Faith shot at the girl.

"I interrupted a moment didn't I?"

"Sure did," Buffy answered trying not to laugh at Faith.

"Oh well," and with that the girl turned and walked out of the room, not bothering to shut the door again.

"Is she always so..." Buffy started

"Retarded?" Faith finished.

"Well I was thinking carefree but yeah," the blonde added with a chuckle.

"I just walked in on a moment Buffy and Faith were having..."

"Were they doing it?" Andrew asked curious.

"Ew, Andrew, that's my sister. Please don't answer that, I don't want to know."

"Would you guys relax, they weren't having sex. Why would you think that anyway?"

Colleen, Dawn, and Andrew all looked at each other before turning back to Kori and busting out laughing.

"Oh you poor, lonely outsider. I too know what that feels like. To be the outcast...Ow!"

Andrew had started off on another one of his stories before Colleen nailed his arm, "What he means to say is that if you had been in Sunnydale you would have noticed the sexual tension was thick between those two."

"Yeah, like butter...you know, that you slice through...oh forget it. Why am I even talking about this?"

The other three just started laughing at the young girl as she tried to explain her comment.

Buffy had stayed in the room with Faith a little longer, talking about how she had killed the Cyclops but when she noticed the girl start to yawn she decide it was time to go.

She left the room and headed back towards the main room and watched the group at the table laughing at Andrew's attempt to tell the street racing story. It reminded her of just a few years ago when she was their age and it made her smile. This was the next generation of Scoobies.

The smile faded though as she looked towards the basement door and walked to it. She descended the steps and stopped when she reached the bottom, looking down at Spike on the cot. The vampire quickly sat up and offered her a smile, which she returned. She really had missed him.

"How are you feeling?"

Buffy let her smile fade again, "Like crap. I just talked to Faith."

"Were you fighting again?"

"No, actually, it was pretty civil. She cleared some things up for me, like what really happened down in that cave."

Spike had been caught, he knew it, and he let it show on his face, "Buffy, she said to keep it that way."

"I know that Spike and I'm going to talk to her about it again but it's like you took advantage of me when I was vulnerable...again."

"No, I would never do that," Spike said as he stood up and put his hands on either side of the girls face, "I love you."

Buffy looked down, it would be so easy to fall back into old habits, but she didn't, "I love you too, Spike, I do, but not how you want me to."

"But the kiss and the glances and you letting me hold you every night." Spike said hurt as Buffy stepped away from him, "couldn't you try?"

"I told you what that kiss was and I admit, I let myself fall into the past when I let you hold me but I'm not anymore. And, yeah, I could try but it would never happen and that wouldn't be fair to either of us."

"Is there someone else?"

"No, I don't know, that doesn't matter. I'm sorry for sending you mixed signals but this is what I want."

"Is it Angel?"

"No Spike, God are you even listening? It's not Angel...you two are both important to me and I'm tired of defending myself about it. Look, you're obviously upset and I really don't want to fight so I'll just talk to you later ok?"

She didn't wait for an answer as she started to climb back up the stairs, leaving Spike standing in the middle of the room, alone.

Everyone, except Spike and Faith, was gathered around the table and had resumed researching. Buffy had filled them in on what she had seen between Spike and Drake and that they had heard a female's voice which Dawn had confirmed since she had talked to her.

"It's been two days and you're both just now telling us this?" Colleen asked.

"So it wasn't a demon duo, it was a demon trio. No wonder Drake said something about the power of three," Kori said trying to ignore Colleen's angry question.

"They couldn't have been that powerful...you know, since Faith chopped off that things head. And can I just say 'Yay'? That thing punched the hell out of me."

"Dawn!"

"What? I'm not a little kid anymore Buffy."

"No but you're still my little sister and I'm still the slayer so i could kick you a...butt."

Dawn smirked at her older sister knowing that she had barely caught herself, "Faith lets me cuss."

"She what?" Buffy exclaimed on the verge of going back to the room to wake the other slayer, not so gently this time.

"Wow, I was kidding," Dawn laughed.

"Yeah B, Faith pretty much says all the words under the sun but won't even let Dawn think them," Andrew said as he closed the book he had been looking at.

When he looked over at Buffy he saw she wore a not so amused look with her eyebrows raised, "Just a Faith thing then?"

Buffy nodded and laughed at the boy who had started blushing.

"Uh guys...back to the problem at hand. Drake is still out there and now there's some chick in the mix. What are we supposed to do?" Colleen asked bringing the group back to focus.

"I think we should just wait. Maybe bring in some reinforcements. Faith, Spike, and Buffy are all injured and they're our strongest fighters," the youngest slayer answered but continued when she saw Colleen's annoyed look, "and there's you, but you're gonna need help."

"Aren't you a slayer too?" Buffy was confused.

"Yeah, the clumsy slayer. I'm no good at it. Faith and Spike work with me but they get frustrated."

"Those are the wrong two to be training with. Let me heal up and I'll help...I promise I'm more patient."

"I don't know Buff, she kinda likes training with Spike," Buffy gave Andrew another unamused look, "I'll just stick with Buffy."

"No I don't. He's all yours...I really don't."

"Relax, Spike and I aren't together. He's not mine. Feel free to train or whatever with him all you want."

The group started talking again and even though it wasn't about anything important, Colleen joined in anyway.

Later that night, Spike had gone off to patrol on his own and Kori, Andrew, and Colleen had gone off on their own as well. That left Dawn and Buffy alone to talk.

"I'm so glad you're here," Dawn said to her sister.

"Yeah, I was going to surprise you, though. Oh well. How is everything...have you been ok since being taken?"

"Yeah I have, I mean nothing really happened. They just chained me up and said their plan would be made clear soon enough."

Buffy shrugged, "Whatever that means. Have you been getting along here ok?"

"The best. Andrew and I spend a lot of time together. Kori is pretty cool when she's not all moony eyes over Spike, Colleen is like the brains of the group, and Faith is just really strict."

Buffy smiled at what her sister had said about Faith, finding it hard but, then again, not so hard to believe.

"Speaking of Faith, I think I'm gonna bunk with her tonight. Let you have your bed back and not that nasty cot."

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Dawn exclaimed grabbing her sister for a hug but let go when she felt her wince, "still sore?"

"Yep," she kissed her younger sister on the forehead and stood to go back to the room, "Goodnight Dawn."

"Night."

Buffy walked back to the room and found that Faith was still sleeping, which caused the blonde to smile. She walked over and climbed into the bed.

Turning to face Faith she saw that the slayer had woke up, "Can I stay here tonight?"

Faith looked at the smaller girl for a few seconds before finally speaking, "Sure, I mean yeah but why not with Spike?"

"I can't be with him like you two are pushing me to be."

"I'm not pushing B."

"Oh yeah? What do you call it then?" Buffy asked scooting closer.

"Directing. Yeah, I call it directing. Not as violent."

Buffy laughed at the girl, "You don't even like him, Faith."

"That's not true...ok it is but I don't like any of the guys you date. Well except Angel, but I hated him back then."

The blonde let her ramble on but asked seriously, "Why?"

"Because he was all 'I have a soul' and hello so did I but I didn't brag about it."

"No Faith, why do you hate all the guys I date?" Buffy asked after laughing for a moment.

Faith laid there quietly and it was only then that she noticed how close Buffy had gotten. Being this close to her, just inches away, made her think back two years ago to when Buffy had asked her to go with her. She wondered if she had said yes, would they be lying here just looking at each other or would they be doing something else? She pushed the thought from her head.

"I'm really tired B, can't we talk about this some other time?"

"Please just answer me."

Faith was no match for Buffy's pleading voice but that didn't mean she had to give some deep answer, "You pick really crappy guys. Now go to sleep or I'm kicking you out."

Buffy rolled her eyes but smiled at the brunette before letting her eyes close and drifting off to sleep.

"I bet they do it soon."

"Andrew why did you even come?" Kori asked annoyed.

"I don't know Kori, he has a point. But I don't think it'll be that soon."

"Deal," Andrew shook Colleen's hand but asked, "what do we get if we win though?"

"Oh! Let me come up with the prizes. Ok, if Andrew wins I get to use your sword when we go out on patrol but if Colleen wins, you can't talk for a week."

"No!" they both said after listening to Kori's suggestion.

"Wait, I don't know. I think I like the idea of you not speaking for a week."

"Fine, then I like the idea of you giving your sword to Kori."

"Sweet, no matter who wins, I'm the real winner."

Andrew and Colleen just stood there, wondering how they got themselves into this as they watched Kori walk off.

"Stupid bet," Colleen grumbled and started after the other slayer, dragging Andrew behind her.

Spike had been walking down various side streets most of the night. He had come across a couple of vamps, nothing too serious.

He took a break, though, to light up a cigarette, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching him.

Helena and Drake stood in the shadows further down the street just watching him, "They took one of my warriors, I'm going to take one of theirs."

Drake smiled evilly as he and his boss walked away.

AN2: Find out some of Spike's past with Drake in the next chapter and is someone starting a new relationship?