Dawn was pouring herself a bowl of cereal, giving thanks to whatever god might be listening for giving her the gift of weekends. School had to be some sort of divine test of her ability to be patient and tolerate the existential evils of math and chemistry. But whatever deity out there that created school was also merciful, for they had crated Saturday and Sunday as well. Dawn had thought about thanking the God that she had been raised with, but something didn't click. God supposedly rested on the seventh day, but church was on Sunday: the first day. It didn't add up, but there still had to be something out there. If there was a goddess of hell that wanted to use Dawn to open a portal, then there had to be other gods out there. And one such god had probably come up with school as a way to vex poor, innocent younger sisters like herself.

So while Dawn was giving thanks for the gift of weekends, she was also preparing her breakfast, and she was also hearing a strange beat of footsteps coming down the stairs. Everyone in this house had a certain rhythm to how they walked, but whomever was coming down the stairs was doing so like they were skipping or something.

Dawn's question was answered as Buffy walked into the kitchen, humming a silly tune, and a goofy-looking smile on her face. "Good Morning, dear little sister of mine," she said cheerfully.

Something was up, and while Dawn was glad to see Buffy acting happy after all she'd been through, something didn't add up. "Good Morning, evil body-snatcher. Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?" she asked without any real bite. "You didn't come to pick me up from the Magic Box yesterday. Xander walked me and Willow back, and you and Faith were already asleep when we got back."

"Yes, indeed, we were, Dawn. Here, lemme get the milk for you," Buffy said cheerfully as she poured the milk into Dawn's bowl of cereal.

"Buffy," Dawn said carefully. She was starting to worry for her big sister. "You seem happy. And it's not that I don't like you happy, but you've just been kind of not-happy for a while. There have been moments when you've been better than others, but something's happened, right? Something good, I hope?"

Buffy merely hummed a tune as she put the milk back in the refrigerator. "A proper lady doesn't kiss and tell," she said with a giggle. A giggle of all things!

At the very least, that was good to hear. "So there was kissing involved, was there? Do I get to meet the lucky guy?"

Buffy's humming slowly died down. "There is no guy, and they're not the lucky one," Buffy said sadly. "But, they made me feel for a while. And not just feel, but feel good, Dawnie. It's just…"

Danger! Danger! Buffy's happy feelings were starting to give way to unhappy feelings. What to do? "Hey, Buffy? You can talk to me, okay? You've done so much for me, and I've been a brat about it most of the time. So, if there's anything I can do without being a brat, then let me try, okay?"

Buffy looked at Dawn and a warm, genuine smile crossed her face. Leaning down, Buffy kissed Dawn on the top of her head. "I love you, Dawn, you know that right?"

"I know, Buffy. But spill. What's got you all twitter-pated and confused?" Dawn asked.

Buffy sighed. "Yesterday, after we came back from the courthouse, I was feeling down. Worse than usual. And Faith… She took me to bed and… She really does love me, Dawn. I didn't really believe it, but what she gave me, what she showed me… I can't deny it anymore."

Dawn covered her smiling face to smother the squeal of delight that was trying to burst out of her. "Oh, my God! That's amazing! She told me about how she felt, but I'm so glad that you two-"

"That's just it, Dawn!" Buffy said, and her face was no longer full of joy. "Faith loves me. Faith is in love with me, and she has been since before we even met. And I know that she'll never do anything to hurt me, ever, and that she'll always be there for me."

Dawn nodded. "So what's the problem, Buffy?"

"The problem," Buffy said with a sigh, "is that I don't feel the same way. Faith has done more for me than so many people. We've had our ups and downs, but lately it's been all ups. She's become a part of my life, and I don't want to lose that. But love isn't something that I can just will into being on cue. Faith loves me, and I think that love is entirely unconditional. But I don't love her back. At least, not in the same way that she loves me."

Dawn's felt her eyes widen, and she realized how confused she really was. Willow and Tara had fallen in love, and after everything that had happened and was still happening, Dawn knew that it was only a matter of time before they got back together. When Faith had told her story to Dawn, it had seemed like she and Buffy were destined for something similar. Only Buffy was telling her that it wasn't that simple.

"Do you feel like you should love her? I mean, you can't feel what you don't feel, right Buffy? Does Faith know how you-"

"She knows, Dawn," Buffy said with a sad smile. "At least, I think she does. Even if she doesn't, and even if I told her, I don't think she'd care. I think she'd still be there for me no matter what. And it's weird. This isn't like Angel or Riley. This isn't even a guy, and that's been confusing enough for me to process. But whatever Faith feels, it's just so pure. And even if I don't love her, I don't have to pretend around her. When I'm at my worst, she'll listen without judging. When I need help, she's there for me without asking for anything in return. What do I make of that?"

Dawn couldn't help but smile. "I think that Faith has always been in love with you, and I don't think anything you say or do is ever going to change that. And if she makes you happy, and if she makes you feel safe, then I want her to stick around."

"Well, I guess I'll have to stick around, won't I?" Faith said as she entered the kitchen. "That is, if you want me to stay, B?" she said as she made for the fridge.

Buffy smiled at Faith, and Dawn saw something on her sister's face that had been missing for too long. Buffy looked content. "Of course, I want you to stay, Faith. Assuming Dawn's okay with it, that is."

Dawn just giggled. "Faith. Stay. Don't you dare leave her, you hear me?"

Faith smiled back. "Only way I leave is if I ever outstay my welcome. I never thought I'd say this about anywhere, ever, but I'm starting to feel like this might be home. I've never really had a home before, so this is kinda new, and a little scary. But mostly nice."

Dawn stood up and ran over to tackle Faith in a fierce hug. "This is your home if you want it to be, okay?"

Feeling a comfortable ruffling of her hair, Dawn looked up at Faith and saw a soft smile on her face. "Damn, this is weird," Faith said. "Okay, so I gotta talk to you. Both of you," she said more seriously. "I've been feeling some stuff and dreaming some other stuff, and I'm wondering if something's going on here that I'm missing out on."

Dawn backed out of the hug and gave Faith a bit of space. "What's up?"

Faith fetched a bagel from a bag in the fridge, split it in half, and put the two halves in the toaster. "Well, it's about you, Lil D. First things first, I didn't treat you right the first time around, not at all, so I'm sorry. Trying to do better now, but still-"

"It's all right, Faith," Dawn said. "What's bothering you?"

"That's just it!" Faith said. "It's less of a 'bothering me' and more of a 'confusing me.' Like, when I'm looking out for you, when things are tough, I start to feel things that I don't usually feel. I mean, I want you to be safe and all, but it's more than that. It's like… I dunno. Like I'm supposed to look after you. Like I'm less than me if I don't look after you, Dawn. I feel like you're a part of me, like a real little sis. Not Buffy's I mean, but my little sis. I don't even know what that feels like, but I know it's you when I feel this thing, whatever it is."

Dawn looked to her side to catch Buffy's eye, and judging from the look on Buffy's face, they were thinking the same thing.

"There's more," Faith said. "When Willow got you into that crash, Dawn, I dreamed about it. I saw you bleeding, only the blood wasn't blood, but a bright green light of some sort. I didn't give it much thought at the time, since dreams don't always make sense, not even Slayer dreams. So, I figure you'd want to rest when you got back, so I went to make your bed, and I remember this other Slayer dream I had back when I was in a coma. I think it was just before I woke up, but you were there, B. We were both making this bed, and we were talking about stuff. 'Lil' sis coming. So much to do before she gets here.' Doesn't make much sense, and I don't know if you dreamed that too, but it's been making me think if there's something I'm missing that I should know."

This was impossible. There was no way! Dawn wanted to say these things, but she was afraid that she'd be shouting desperately for something so obviously true not to be so. And then she gave it a moment's thought, and she suddenly wasn't sure if it would even be a bad thing if it were true.

"Buffy," Dawn said slowly, her voice shaking, "I don't remember what dad looks like. What color is his hair?"

"Brown," Buffy said, though her voice was distant. "Light brown. Sandy. Almost blonde, but not quite. And mom was blonde. Like me."

Faith looked Dawn straight in the eye, noticed the dark brown hue of her hair, and then turned her gaze on Buffy. "What's going on? What am I missing here?"

Buffy took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm thinking the three of us need to get a blood test. Get confirmation on what I'm fairly sure I already know.

"Dawnie, unless I'm very much mistaken, I'm not your only older sister. And you just asked your other one to stay here with us for my sake."

Faith was opening and closing her mouth, clearly struggling for words. "It's a long story, and I think everyone deserves to be told, don't you think, Buffy?" Dawn said.

"I think so," Buffy agreed. "Faith? I don't think there's any denying it. So long as Dawn calls this house her home, it's your home as well. She can't exactly live without either of her big sisters, can she?"

The toaster popped with Faith's bagel ready to be eaten. Instead, Faith took the bagel out of the toaster, tossed it in the trash, and then fetched a can of beer from the fridge. "I'm sorry," was all that Faith said as she opened the door to the backyard and took her leave.

Dawn looked at Buffy with tears in her eyes. "She's not-"

"She's just in shock, most likely," Buffy reassured her sister. "I remember how I was when I first found out. And we haven't even touched on the Key yet. You heard her, Dawnie. She cares for you. She just needs to come to terms with knowing that she was toyed with by those monks as much as anyone else. And she's never had a family before, not like you and me and mom. She just needs some time."

"Okay," Dawn said quietly. And then a thought hit her. "Oh no. If you're both my sisters, then you and Faith… You and Faith in bed… My sisters, in bed together with each other…"

"Eat your cereal, squirt," Buffy said with a smile. Somehow, Buffy didn't think that Faith would see Buffy any differently knowing that they shared a sister, even if the two slayers themselves weren't related by blood. Did that make them what, exactly? Dawn's two mothers? Blood donors? Supernatural guinea pigs?

Regardless of the reality, it wouldn't change that Faith was in love with Buffy, and that Buffy was not and probably never would be in love with Faith.

Faith had gone for a run after she'd finished her beer. She'd just run a few laps around some area of space. It might have been a block, it might have been the whole damn town. Faith had to deal with some heavy stuff, and she wasn't sure she could right away. So she ran. Not away from the problem, at least not forever. She knew better now that running from problems didn't solve anything. But at the very least, it got her blood flowing, got her heart racing, got her mind off the issue for a few precious hours so she could focus on something else before giving the issue the time it needed and deserved.

After her run, Faith went straight to the Bronze. She needed another drink, and then probably another after that. Faith would have probably drunken herself into sever liver disease if the bartender hadn't cut her off and given her some horrible concoction that he said would sober her up. Faith drank the damned thing more out of habit than out of any desire to be healthy or sober.

And it wasn't like she was against the idea of being Dawn's sister, which meant being Buffy's family. It was just frightening on a level she hadn't realized until she'd seen just how many bottles of beer were off to her side. Apparently, Faith hadn't let the bartender throw them out. She had been eager to get every last drop from the dregs if she could, or so she was supposed to believe. Given that she'd gotten drunk on even her Slayer's constitution, she believed it.

Before she knew it, the club was filling up, which meant that it was getting late. Damn, but this was confusing. There had to be magic involved, obviously. Probably something involving a green light, but beyond that, Faith had no idea. Magic was as much a mystery to her as anything else that needed studying, and Faith had never been the scholastic type. As much as she hated to admit it, she probably needed a shrink right now. Before prison, Faith would have laughed at the notion of therapy at all. Having gone through therapy and having reaped its benefits, she knew better now.

And she laughed. Faith Lehane laughed at the world that had taken her from Boston to Sunnydale to Los Angeles and back to Sunnydale, and that had somehow changed her so much in that journey that she barely recognized herself. She was still Faith Lehane, but she wasn't any version of herself that she'd known before. And mystery of mysteries, but she iliked/i the Faith that she had become. And that was a first. For so long, Faith had hated herself, and had felt as though she deserved to be hated.

But especially now, after what Dawn and Buffy had revealed to her… Now Faith had real stakes to live for. Faith looked at the empty beer bottles and felt disgusted. She couldn't binge like that again. Not when… Damn, but not when she had people to live for. People that she counted on and who in turn were counting on her. If that wasn't a sobering thought, then Faith didn't know what was.

So Faith walked out of the Bronze and prepared to make her way back home. iNot back to Buffy's house. Back home. God, that's weird./i Before she started on her way, however, she caught a familiar scent of leather and cigarette smoke. Following that around back, she saw a familiar leather jacket on a body with a familiar face with familiar bleached-blonde hair.

And just like that, everything seemed to click. "Yo, Spike!" she shouted as she stalked over towards the vampire.

Holding his cigarette in his right hand, he looked at Faith with that familiar look of a smug predator looking down at a weak piece of meat. "Beta-Slayer," he said by way of greeting. "What do you want?"

Faith chuckled. "You can't see Buffy anymore. You're not gonna see her anymore. She needs to get better, and so long as you're in the way, she can't and she won't. So you gotta stop."

Spike looked up into Faith's eyes, and he grinned a predator's grin. "Jealous, are you? I can smell her on you. And I heard your song. So what? You think it's your choice to make?"

Faith shook her head. "No. I think I'm her family, and I gotta look out for her. And you can't see her anymore, and she can't see you."

Spike threw down his cigarette and stalked over to stand eye to eye with Faith. "And why, pray tell, is that?" he said with a challenging smile in his eyes.

Faith just grinned as she watched Spike's eyes widen in terror. She followed his eyes down to the wooden stake she'd just jammed into his heart, and he looked her in the eyes once more, full of terror, before he turned to dust and scattered with the wind.

"Because it's wrong," Faith said to Spike's ashes with utmost sincerity. Buffy might be pissed when she found out, but Faith had no doubts and no regrets about what she'd just done. She had a family now, and she'd do whatever it took to protect them. Even if they hated her for it, Faith would do anything for her newfound family. She'd do it because after a lifetime without ever knowing such things, Faith had finally discovered what it was to love someone.