Warnings and disclaimers in Chapter 1. Enjoy!
"Andrew," Joyce ordered, "take the kids upstairs. Now!" He nodded but she didn't stick around to see if he obeyed. Instead she followed Daniel, who continued through the house to the hospital room. "What happened?" she asked as he laid Faith on the hospital bed.
"The vampire," he said darkly. She closed her eyes briefly as her mind flickered to her daughter before she refocused on Faith.
"Shit!" she exclaimed when she got her first good look at the wound. She glanced behind her to Dawn. "Call Ben."
"Already did," she said, handing her mother a pile of bandages. "He's on his way with Abby."
"Good," Joyce said, pushing everything from her mind except Faith. She put another layer of bandages over the first, which were already blood-soaked. "What happened?" she asked again, as she applied pressure to the wound, careful to avoid the dagger that was sticking out of her stomach.
"Vampire Buffy attacked," Daniel said. "Tossed us around like a ragdoll then proceeded to gut Faith like a pig."
"Why?" Dawn asked, wetting a piece of gauze to wipe away some of the blood staining her skin.
"She had a message from The Crimson Witch," Daniel said, gripping Faith's hand tightly. "Whatever Willow did worked. The Crimson Witch's power was depleted. This was their response." He gripped Faith's hand tighter. "If Willow doesn't stop, they will start killing. And not just us, but everybody they meet."
"Then Willow will stop," Dawn said. Joyce nodded. They both knew the redhead well enough to know she wouldn't let other people pay for her deeds. "Are you okay?" Daniel nodded stiffly, but Joyce let her gaze linger on him for the first time. He had several scratches on his exposed skin and several bruises waiting to bloom, and that was just what she could see in a glance. She sighed. He clearly wasn't okay, but he wasn't going to focus on himself until Faith got treatment.
"Dawn," she said, looking at her youngest daughter, "they're probably going to need the blood along with the other supplies. Can you unlock the cooler and be getting things out of the cupboards?" Dawn nodded and soon everything was ready to be used. Just in time too.
"Joyce?" Ben called from the foray. "Anybody?"
"Here!" Dawn called, ready to lead them back to the hospital room, but they burst through the door a moment later.
"Followed the blood trail," he said as Abby pushed Joyce out of the way and took her place. He gave Faith his full attention. "She needs blood." Abby nodded. She was already prepping Faith for an IV and nodded gratefully when Dawn passed over a bag. She paused just long enough to check the type and make sure it hadn't spoiled before attaching it. Meanwhile, Ben peeled back a corner of the bandage to get a look at the wound. "What happened?"
"Vampire Buffy attacked," Daniel repeated again. "Faith was gutted."
"Good call leaving the dagger in," he said, carefully putting the bandage back and adding another layer. "A hospital would be better. Why did you bring her here?"
"This was closer," Daniel replied. "Happened just outside the gate." Ben nodded and turned to Abby.
"Let's focus on stabilizing her right now," he ordered, "then we can deal with the knife." She nodded and the two of them began working in earnest. A few minutes later Giles came into the room, flanked by his father and sister.
"Faith," Veronica cried out as she saw her Slayer lying on the bed. "Faith!" She tried to get closer, but Giles held her back so Ben would have room to work.
"We saw Ben run up," Giles explained, as Willow and Tara joined the group. Xander and Anya soon followed. Albert put his arms around his daughter and pulled her to the back wall. There was little anyone could do but watch as Ben and Abby tried to save Faith's life.
"BP is rising," Abby said a few minutes later. Ben nodded. "Her vitals are stabilizing. Should we prepare to remove the knife?" Ben sighed and turned to Joyce.
"I would much rather remove the knife in the hospital," he admitted, "that way the surgical ward can be on standby in case something goes wrong."
"I'd get it out as quickly as possible," Spike said as he entered the room. He stopped in the doorway, going completely rigid as the first scent of Slayer's blood hit his nose.
"Spike!" Giles said, putting himself between the vampire and the Slayer. Xander and Anya did the same, while he could hear Willow preparing herself in case magic was needed. "Focus on me!" Spike forced his eyes away from the hurt Slayer on onto the Watcher. His whole body was trembling with need. "Why don't we wait in the hall?"
"Downstairs," Spike managed to get out. He forced himself to take a step back until he was in the hallway again. He shook his head to clear it. "Poison," he said even as he started back towards the basement. "The blade is poison." Everybody shared a look.
"We can't wait for the hospital," Ben exclaimed. Abby nodded. Giles and Xander followed Spike out of the room while Ben and Abby prepared to remove the poisoned dagger. They returned a few minutes later.
"He's locked himself in the cell," Giles said, stopping at the edge of the room to give Veronica's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "The blood was getting to him. He'll rejoin us after Ben finishes up here."
"Okay," Ben said when everything was ready. He gently pulled away the blood soaked bandages, happy to see no new blood streaming from the wound. He looked at Abby who nodded. She held a pile of gauze, ready to apply pressure as soon as the knife was gone. He took one deep breath and pulled.
As soon as the blade was removed the wound started to bleed profusely. Abby applied pressure quickly, but it wasn't enough to stop the surge of blood. "Did the blade nick an artery?" she asked as she tried to slow the bleeding while giving Ben a good view of the wound.
"I don't see anything," Ben shook his head as he examined the wound. He tried to find the source of the bleeding for a few minutes before putting the bandage down and shaking his head. "There must be internal damage," he said as he put pressure on the wound. "Call an ambulance. We need to get to a surgical suite." Abby nodded and reached for the phone just as Buffy wheeled herself into the room.
"Buffy?" Joyce tried to intercept her, but Buffy shouldered her way past until she was by Faith's side. She reached up and batted Ben's hands away. "Buffy," Joyce tried again, but she ignored her. She peeled back the bloody bandages, put her hands on the wound, and closed her eyes. Everybody stared at each other as they tried to figure out what was happening. Just when the silence was becoming tense, a glow started shining from Faith's abdomen, steadily brightening until everyone had to look away.
When the light dimmed a few minutes later they found Buffy unconscious, half propped up on the bed with her limp hands still over Faith's wound. But the wound wasn't the bleeding mess it was a few minutes ago. Ben used a piece of gauze to clean the wound and found the ragged gash had closed to a small scratch. "What was that?" he asked as he cleaned the now small scratch. All the wound needed now were some butterfly bandages and a small piece of gauze. Abby shook her head in bewilderment as she carefully moved Buffy back to her chair.
"She's unconscious," Abby reported, checking the blonde Slayer, "but her pulse is strong. I don't think she hurt herself." Joyce nodded as she began fussing over her daughter. "What just happened?" Abby asked the question as she helped clean up Faith, a task that was much easier without her blood rushing from her wound.
"She gave back what The Crimson Witch stole," Tara answered, sounding awed. "The Slayer is whole again." Abby glanced at Ben, who could only shrug.
"Okay," he said as they quickly cleaned all the blood away. When they were done Veronica fell into the chair by her bed, sobbing uncontrollably. "Now you," Ben ordered, pointing at Daniel. He nodded and quickly bared his wounds, none of which were as serious as Faith's. Ten minutes later he was all set. "Now what happened?"
"I think we'd all like to know that?" Xander exclaimed. Daniel sighed.
"They didn't like what Willow was doing to drain her counterpart. This is how Buffy chose to send the message to stop."
"I'll stop," Willow said immediately, glancing to Giles who nodded his approval.
"We'll find another way," he agreed.
"We'll need to find another way to deal with Buffy," Daniel told them. "If it wasn't obvious she's just been playing with us before it is now. She kicked the crap out of us and we barely laid a finger on her."
"You'll need more firepower," Spike shouted from the hallway.
"I thought you went downstairs," Dawn exclaimed.
"I did," he admitted, "but when the smell of Slayer's blood started to fade I thought it was safe for me to return. As long as she doesn't start bleedin' again and I stay a safe distance from the bloody gauze I should be okay. But just in case." He threw a satchel to Xander. Inside were several stakes and crosses. He quickly passed them out to the group.
"What do you mean more firepower?" Giles asked, pocketing the stake Xander passed him.
"Demons and humans working together," Spike said. "Notice the use of the plural. One demon and one human, no matter how powerful they are, are not enough. Even when you add me to the mix it's not enough. We need more."
"What about magic?" Willow asked.
"We'll need magic to fight The Crimson Witch," Giles said, "but I don't know how effective your magic will be against Buffy. Your counterpart may have given her Buffy protection from your dark magic."
"Once again I'm regulated to the side lines," Willow sighed. "Maybe my evil twin won't be there when we fight vampire Buffy and I can help."
"Maybe," Giles agreed half-heartedly, "but more than likely they won't let themselves be separated going forward. They now know that we know and are actively trying to stop them. I fear a confrontation is inevitable at this point. We're lucky Faith survived."
"Not so much luck," Spike said. Everyone turned to look at him. He sighed, took out his cigarettes and stuck one in his mouth. "Every evil mastermind has a plan. I did when I first arrived, and a few times after that. They came here with a plan. You lot managed to mess up their plan, like you so always do. But Big Bads don't just give up. We improvise when a plan goes sideways. That's what they're doing now." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it back in the pack. "You're only alive because they don't know if they'll need you yet. They don't know which one of you Willow will sell her soul for, who will Buffy become a vampire for, and until they do none of you are expendable."
"That will start to change when we go on the attack," Daniel added. Spike nodded.
"Which brings us back to more firepower." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "As much as I hate to admit it, we'll need Angel and his group."
"I'll make the call in the morning," Giles said, already coming to the same conclusion. "That should help against Buffy. But we still have Willow to deal with."
"Hey!" Willow sounded indignant and resigned at the same time.
"What if we use shadows?" Spike turned to face Andrew, who was coming down the hall. Anya huffed.
"For the last time, they are called Shades," she countered. "And let's not unleash a holy terror trying to stop the unholy one." Albert turned to Spike.
"How did you know the blade was poisoned?" He shrugged.
"I've come across a few cursed blades in my time." Giles reached out and carefully picked up the knife.
"This looks familiar," he said, getting a faraway look in his eyes. He put the blade down carefully on a table before sitting down in a nearby chair.
"When will she wake up?" Veronica asked quietly, holding onto Faith's hand gently. Ben put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder.
"I don't know," he admitted. "She lost a lot of blood. It was lucky that they were so close by. I don't know if she would have survived if she had been in the field." Veronica sobbed. Joyce left Buffy in her wheelchair to come comfort the other woman. She expected Giles to come too and was surprised when he didn't get up from his chair.
"Rupert?" she called quietly. He responded with a soft snore.
"I think he has the right idea," Ben said quietly. "I'd like to stay with Faith through the night if that's okay."
"Should we take her to the hospital?" Veronica asked in a scratchy voice.
"I want to monitor her, but I don't think a hospital is needed at this moment." Veronica nodded. He turned to his nurse. "Abby?"
"I'll stay as well," she told him. "That way we can take turns monitoring her."
"Are you sure?" Veronica asked. "It's Saturday night. Surely you have other plans." Abby smiled.
"It's Saturday night in Sunnydale. What else would I be doing?" They all laughed quietly.
"Start another blood transfusion when she finished this one," Ben ordered, "and do vitals checks every thirty minutes. We'll trade off every two hours." She nodded. He turned to look at the rest of the group. "I suggest that we all follow Giles's example and call it a night." They nodded and left the cramped room. They didn't go far though. Instead of returning to their homes they went up to their rooms. Soon the only ones in the hospital room were Faith, with Veronica and Daniel on each side, and Giles. They tried to gently rouse him, but when that didn't work they simply decided to leave him in the chair.
It was a very long night. Even though they all went to their rooms, the only people sleeping were Faith, Giles, and Buffy. They would make several trips downstairs to check on Faith, and finally gave up on sleep altogether and simply sat in the living room. Finally, just after daybreak Faith woke up. "Faith!" Daniel called out loudly when he felt her fingers twitch beneath his. "Faith! Can you hear me?" His cries alerted the others and soon the little room was overcrowded again.
"Faith?" Veronica called out desperately. She was rewarded when Faith's eyes started blinking. After a few minutes her eyes were open and she stared at the ceiling sluggishly.
"Please tell me I haven't lost years again," she said, slurring her words slightly. Daniel smiled.
"Just hours," he reassured her, "though you shaved a few years from my life. You scared me half to death."
"Sorry," she said as Giles bolted up from his chair.
"Faith?" he asked as he tried to get his bearings. "What was that?" She smiled at him dopily.
"You were really there?" she asked. He nodded. "That was a Slayer dream."
"That was a prophetic dream?" he asked, shaking his head to try and clear it. "How the hell are you supposed to get anything from that?"
"Not quite what you were expecting?" Faith asked, smirking tiredly.
"No," Giles admitted. "The only thing I recognized was the place. Buffy's former bedroom in a house that burnt down years ago. I don't know what you two making the bed was about, and what was with all those mirrors? I didn't think she had that many mirrors." Faith chuckled.
"Welcome to the not so straightforward world of prophetic dreams," she said, closing her eyes again. "But don't worry; you don't have to decipher this one. It was for me and I got the message." She opened her eyes again a sliver. "Now if you don't mind, I've had a hard day and need some sleep."
"Sure," Daniel squeezed her hand gently. "Get some sleep." He looked up to Ben, who nodded. He gave her a minute to fall back to sleep before coming over and checking her vitals.
"Looking good," he told them. They all took relieved breathes. He gently pulled back the gauze to check her wound, happy when it looked almost healed. "I wish I could bottle Slayer Healing and sell it to the masses. I would never have to work again."
"So she's going to be alright?" Veronica asked. Ben nodded.
"I want her to finish this transfusion," he told them, "and take it easy for a few days, but I think she's going to be just fine." Everybody smiled at the news. "I would like to see her in the hospital though. I'm concerned why she bled so much."
"It's the blade," Faith said, opening her eyes again.
"I thought you were asleep," Daniel told her, running his fingers up and down her arm.
"Too many people staring at me," she shrugged. "Help me up."
"What do you mean the blade?" Giles asked as Daniel rose the head of the bed until Faith was able to see everything.
"You have it, right?" Faith asked. Giles nodded and carefully handed it over. Faith cradled it in her hands.
"Isn't that the knife Buffy used…" he trailed off.
"To gut me," Faith finished. "Yeah. Although I might have deserved it." She carefully handed it back. "The Mayor got it for me. He knew me and B would have to have a showdown and wanted me to be protected."
"A Faustian blade?" Spike asked in bewilderment. "He got you a Faustian blade."
"A what?" Giles asked, putting the knife back on the table.
"A weapon you sell your soul for," Spike explained. "Custom made by a group of demons so vicious other demons are afraid of them. Each designed for one particular kill." He looked at her. "A weapon designed to kill a Slayer. It must have cost more than just his soul."
"He already sold his soul by then," she said, "but he did have a few interns that started acting strangely around that time." She shrugged. "And it wasn't designed to kill a Slayer. Just Buffy. Only…"
"Only you were the one on the receiving end," Giles finished. "How was it supposed to work?"
"No idea on the how," she answered. "All the Mayor told me is one tiny scratch and it would bleed her dry."
"That makes sense," Ben said. "If the blade contained some sort of poison that prevented the blood from clotting, a small cut could have deadly consequences. It also explains why you were bleeding so much from a relatively small incision."
"Well let's make sure it can't hurt anyone anymore," Veronica said. Joyce nodded, but Faith held up her hand.
"No. That's what the message was. Buffy showed me how I stop vampire Buffy. Use the knife and bleed her until she's a husk and then go in for the staking."
"The mirror image of what she did to you," Giles sighed in understanding.
"Well until then let's put it somewhere little fingers can't get a hold of it," Joyce suggested. Faith nodded. "Xander, can you please put it in the weapons cabinet? And be careful."
"Right," he told her. He grabbed some towels and securely wrapped it before gingerly carrying it from the room.
"I wonder how she got it?" Faith asked as she yawned. "I thought it was destroyed in the fight."
"As did I," Giles agreed. He motioned to Daniel to lower the head back down. "Perhaps The Crimson Witch created another portal through time and retrieved it. Or maybe Buffy hid it after graduation and her vampire version retrieved it. We may never know." He took a couple steps to be near her bedside. "What I do know is we are all exhausted. We all need a few more hours of sleep." They all nodded and shuffled out the door, this time heading to their beds, until only Daniel remained.
"Are you going to be alright?" Faith motioned him down and kissed him.
"Five by five in the morning," she said, scooting over so he could lay beside her. He did and she curled into him. "What's wrong?" He sighed.
"I know your past hasn't exactly been sunshine and daisies," he started, "but I've spent all my life trying to get away from evil men and you let yourself be used by one. I just can't figure out why you did it."
"It was a lifetime ago," she told him, "and apparently preordained." They both laughed quietly before she turned serious. "I was scared shitless and running for my life when I first met this group. They saved me, I will never deny that, and they tried to make me feel welcome, but it was just too much. I felt like the new toy. All shiny and bright and all everyone talks about, until the new wears off and it never comes out of the toy chest again. I could feel it happening. The honeymoon period was over and soon I would be just another has been. I couldn't go back to that, back to being another screw-up after I had been something glorious. So instead I decided to take control before the world screwed me over."
"You don't really think they would do something like that?" Daniel asked. "Do you?" Faith shook her head.
"I know they wouldn't now, but back then I wasn't so sure. All I was hearing was Buffy, Buffy, Buffy, which shattered my already fragile self esteem. I had to find my own place, and the only person looking for help was the Mayor." Faith sighed. "I knew he was evil. I wasn't sure what his plan was at first, but in a way it was kinda better that way. If he was evil then it wouldn't hurt when he betrayed me. The only thing was he never did, at least not to me." Faith got quiet. "I honestly don't know what I would have done if I had been there on graduation day. Would I have tried to stop him when he started destroying everything I've ever known, or would I stick by the first truly honest man I've ever known? In a way, I kinda owe B for that too. Thanks to her I never had to make that decision."
"For what it's worth, I think you would have done the right thing," Daniel told her, kissing her forehead.
"Thanks," she said, sliding in closer. They stayed like that until they both fell asleep.