Buffy squinted at the figure sitting next to her bed. Even the dimly lit infirmary room was hard on her eyes; she couldn't quite make out who was there.
"Faith?"
"Not quite," said the voice. As Buffy's eyes began to go into focus, she could make out the outline of her sister. "I'll pretend to not be insulted by that."
Buffy smiled, "Dawn," her eyes were now in focus, but still sensitive to the light. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Almost a full day now," her sister replied. "The doctors were getting worried, but I figured you were just worn out from the battle. I'm actually surprised that you didn't sleep longer."
Buffy made an attempt to sit up in her bed, but immediately thought better of it. The quick movement caused more pain in her head than it did her freshly stitched-up side.
"You okay?" asked Dawn.
"Yeah," Buffy said, placing her hand on her forehead. "My head feels kind of funny."
Dawn began to recount all the events that had taken place while her sister was in recovery. Wolfram and Hart had provided everyone with sleeping accommodations; Dawn was sharing a room with Vi, who was spending most of her time in the infirmary watching over Rona and the other girls. Buffy was supposed to be sharing a room with Xander, Willow with Kennedy (obviously), and Faith with Robin, who was now up and about. This left poor Giles with Andrew, an arrangement to which everyone was guilty of having found amusing.
As Buffy listened to her sister regale in telling her all about the exciting world of Wolfram and Hart ("They have four swimming pools!"), she could not prevent herself from asking the question which she was guiltily longing to ask for reasons she could no longer explain.
"Buffy?"
"Huh?" Buffy had sort of stopped listening to Dawn, who was now staring at her sister.
"I said that they gave Xander a glass eye," she paused, eyeing her sister. "…And then I said 'isn't that great?',"
"Oh," Buffy blinked a few times. "Yeah, that's… that's awesome."
"Are you sure you're okay, Buffy?" Dawn motioned to stand up. "I could go call for a doctor and --"
"Where's Faith?" she blurted without even thinking. Dawn glanced back and forth from her sister to the door, unsure of whether or not to get the doctor. Buffy rolled her eyes, "Dawn, I'm fine. I promise." She grabbed her sister's arm and pulled her back down into her chair, "I just… where's Faith?"
Dawn sighed, still uncertain as to why Buffy was behaving so strangely.
"We've stopped her from coming in to see you. Wesley found you unconscious, and she was there and…" Buffy sat up, her headache and dizziness seemed to have subsided. "…We just kind of assumed…"
"You just assumed she had something to do with it?"
"Well, Wesley didn't think so. But we weren't sure; I mean, nobody really knew what happened."
"Faith found me," Buffy said, somewhat irritated. "She tried to help me. That's what happened. Didn't she tell you that?"
"Actually," Dawn replied and shrugged. "She didn't really say anything."
Buffy felt sick to her stomach; why hadn't Faith told them what had really happened? It didn't make sense. She was resisting the urge to rip the IV out of her arm, get out of her bed and go find her. She wanted to apologize on behalf of her friends. Who knew what accusations they had thrown in Faith's face? And to stand there and take it didn't sound at all like her.
Dawn had continued to go into detail about what she had seen on her tour of the building, but once again Buffy found herself just barely listening enough to respond. She nodded, smiled, and laughed at the appropriate intervals, but she really wasn't paying attention. Her slayer ability to heal and regain strength quickly had long since taken effect. She was now feeling as though she could jump out of the bed and run laps around the entire building. But Dawn wouldn't have it. She was convinced that Buffy still needed to rest, and when Dawn finally left the room to retire to her own bed, Buffy had her believing that she was going to do just that. When in truth, she had other plans.