"Giles!" Buffy shouted and just couldn't resist hugging her watcher.

"Pardon me, do I know you?" He stood stiffly in her embrace, but Buffy didn't care. Even if he didn't know her, he was still Giles, and he'd be able to help them get home.

"No - I guess not. Sorry. We've been hopping dimensions for a while, and yours is the first friendly face we've seen." Buffy wasn't sure how Giles was in Sunnydale yet didn't know who she was. She wouldn't let herself consider that she might be dead in this world.

Giles raised an eyebrow, "hopping dimensions?"

"Yeah - it's a thing. A thing I hope you'll be able to help us with." Buffy couldn't stop smiling, no matter how much she knew that she should.

"And why exactly would I help you with anything? We have quite enough of our own problems to deal with - in case you hadn't noticed."

Buffy's grin widened at his stuffiness. Even though Giles is uncooperative, she is glad to see him. "We can help." Then she frowned, "oh - and we may have brought something nasty along with us. We'll definitely help with that if you can get us to another portal - preferably the portal home."

Giles did not look at all amused, "I don't suppose you can translate any of that?" He raised an eyebrow in Faith's direction.

Faith nudged Buffy, "I know you're excited - but come on."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Buffy composed herself, "so I'm Buffy, and that's Faith - we're slayers."

"Good Lord." Giles stammered and took a step back. "I called for you… but I never dared to believe you'd show up. And there are two of you?" He finally smiled and sat down at his desk.

"No - see… we're not who you called. We're from another dimension." Buffy tried to explain, but she wasn't sure he believed her.

Giles frowned, the hope he had moments ago drained away.

"But we'll still help you with whatever you got going on here." Faith hoped that offering to help would get things moving.

"And Angelus… you're going to need us for that too," Buffy added in with a little too much excitement.

"Angelus! What do you know of him?" Giles stiffened in alarm, and Buffy almost groaned at his reaction. She had hoped that if Angel was in this world - that he would be her Angel.

"Um… it's complicated… but since you know about him… might even be more complicated since we accidentally brought another one from the last dimension we were in." Buffy added sheepishly.

"Good Lord," Giles said again, this was all way too much for him to deal with.

There was a knock at the door, and Faith answered it without thinking.

"Someone called for me?" A copy of Buffy was standing there, a vicious scar across her cheek and a scowl locked on her lips. Faith was struck silent, and the copy of Buffy brushed her aside as she entered.

Buffy sat silently on the couch while Faith and this dimension's Buffy swapped stories and the 'White Hats' watched with rapt attention. Any time she was asked a question or tried to add anything to the conversation - she was promptly cut off. It reminded her bitterly of when she first met Faith.

At some point, Buffy tuned everything out and simply watched Faith. She looked so happy and completely in her element. Buffy felt like a jerk for wanting some piece of attention for herself. She stayed for as long as she could tolerate before sneaking away.

Giles was sitting at his desk and mostly ignoring the conversation in his living room. He was researching multiple dimensions and wondering if there was something he could do to improve his. From the tidbits of Faith's stories, he could tell that this dimension was not a particularly good one.

"Is there somewhere I can sleep for a bit?" Buffy asked, not wanting to interrupt his research but also needing some time to herself.

"Of course, let me show you."

Buffy followed him through the hallway, and he motioned to the last door on the left. "Thank you." Buffy felt an urge to hug him, but she didn't think it would be welcome. Even the Giles that knew her wasn't particularly fond of hugs. "We will help out here as much as we can. But…" Buffy trailed off.

"But you want to go home?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. I really do." Buffy sighed sadly, wondering if she was going to travel through the next portal alone.

Giles hesitated for a moment, he hadn't known Buffy for very long, but he already felt connected to her. "Would you mind telling me more about the other places you've visited?"

There was a loud bout of laughter from Faith - Buffy looked back towards the living room, unable to contain her frown. After only a beat, she schooled her features and returned her attention to Giles. If Faith wasn't going to go back with her, all the more reason to cooperate with Giles and move on from here as quickly as possible. "Of course, what do you want to know?"

Giles hadn't been expecting Buffy's shift in demeanor, and it took him a moment to remember his question. "It would be helpful to know any generalities about the places you've been. Do you believe they were all Sunnydale?"

"Definitely not," Buffy shook her head. "We were in a different version of L.A. in the 50s before we came here. This place seems to be around the same time, but everything else is different. Before that, I don't think we were on Earth at all."

"Is this the first place you've come across yourself?"

Buffy nodded and then realized that wasn't exactly true. "This is the first time I met myself - but back in the 50s... we saw a portal into a world that seemed current to our time, but I had a sister."

"Saw? Meaning you didn't enter that world?"

"Yeah, we knew it for sure wasn't the right place, and we thought Sunnydale was the better bet." Buffy decided it wasn't exactly a lie. Giles didn't need to know the real reason she hadn't wanted to go into that world.

"Is there any other pattern you noticed? Time of day or location?"

Buffy frowned as she thought more about it and shook her head. She started to worry that Giles wouldn't be able to help them get home after all. She supposed if it was easy to jump dimensions, it would be a much more common occurrence.

"Huh."

"Did you think of something?"

"Maybe... just... The Mayor - something was really weird about him, and he just happened to have the exact thing we needed. It almost seemed like he was expecting us." Buffy frowned as she tried to put the pieces together. There had to be something there.

"Is that right? What did you say his name was?"

"Wilkins," Buffy said, and Giles' eyes went wide.

"We had a run-in with him several years ago. Dreadful mess.". Then he paused and rubbed his brow. "in fact, a new mayor was never sworn in."

"So he's dead?" Buffy had briefly hoped this dimension's version of the Mayor would be the solution to all their problems.

"It might be a long shot, but perhaps visiting City Hall would be prudent."

"Worth a try," Buffy conceded and tried not to wince at the latest round of laughter from the living room. She was really struggling not to think they were laughing at her expense.

"The Master will need to be dealt with first." Giles hastily added.

"Of course," Buffy nodded. She had told them of her encounter with the Master - at first, she felt a little pride in the fact that she had taken him out by herself. That was until Faith mentioned that she had died in the process. The snicker from this dimension's Buffy embarrassed her immensely.

She was dreading the talk that they'd eventually have to have about Angel. Faith hadn't given her a hard time about him yet, but she had little reason to think that she wouldn't start.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she said goodnight to Giles and slid into the room. It wasn't much, barely enough space to hold the full-sized mattress that was on the floor. She stripped off her pants and slipped under the covers, and tried not to worry about what was happening in the living room.

As she laid in the darkness, she was consumed with figuring out how to get Faith to follow her through the next portal. Then she'd berate herself for not wanting Faith to be happy. She wasn't sure how long she laid there torturing herself until the door opened.

Buffy held her breath for a few moments as Faith stumbled into the room and flopped onto the bed. She didn't understand why she was so upset or why it bothered her so much to see Faith happy. It was completely unreasonable, but she couldn't help it.

She had finally been making progress with becoming Faith's friend. The thought that she might never see her again was very upsetting.

"Faith."

"Shit, did I wake you up?"

"No." Buffy frowned, "I don't want you to stay here." She blurted out before she could come up with something better to say.

"Oh, right. I'll just go crash on the couch." Faith started to come out of the bed, but Buffy grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. "Oh wait, B-plus is already out there." Faith frowned and resigned herself to sleeping on the floor.

"No, I mean…" Then she lost her train of thought, her hand still on Faith's arm. "B-plus?" She asked instead of what she was planned to say.".

"Yeah - you know - the Buffy from here."

"Oh, right." Buffy felt like she had been punched in the gut. The fact that the nickname that she had grown to like (but would never admit to) was reduced to a grading system, and she was losing out to her darker counterpart - affected her in ways she wasn't ready to understand.

Burying her feelings and trying to get the conversation back on track, she tightened her grip on Faith's arm and tried to focus on what she wanted to say. "I meant - I don't want you to stay in this dimension. Giles has an idea of how we might get home. I want you to come with me." Buffy was embellishing a little on their chances of quickly finding a way out of this dimension.

Faith's brow furrowed, and she pulled out of Buffy's grip.

" I… maybe it's selfish of me…". Buffy stammered and felt like an idiot for

"Who said I was even thinking about staying here?" Faith asked.

Buffy shrunk away from Faith and leaned against the wall. She wasn't sure what reaction she was expecting from Faith, but it definitely wasn't this. "I just thought there might be things you liked about this place. People you like better than…" Then she froze, realizing what she was saying.

Faith just loomed over the bed, staring down at Buffy with her arms crossed over her chest. It was hard not to give in to the fury she was feeling.

"I just wanted to be clear - that I want us to make it home together."

Faith didn't respond, but she did lay back down. She tucked her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. The lack of response was making Buffy feel a little insane.

"It may not matter to you what I think… I know it's all your decision… just… if it did matter what I thought. I want you to stay... with me." Buffy didn't know what to make of Faith's silence, but she was determined to stop babbling. She said her peace, and either Faith cared or she didn't.

Buffy had thought Faith had fallen asleep when she heard bitter laughter from the other side of the bed.

"Faith? What's…"

"Shut up." Faith stood and moved around to loom over Buffy yet again. "Why did you feel the need to tell me that? After all this time… why now? Why do you suddenly give a shit about what I do?"

Buffy had hoped that this angry, combative side of Faith was gone. She hadn't seen it in weeks.

"Is it because it seemed like I finally had something? Someone who might actually care about me? You can't have that - can you?" Buffy wasn't sure she had ever seen Faith this angry.

"It's nothing like that," Buffy argued weakly back. It wasn't that someone cared about Faith. It was that Faith was more open and comfortable with this dimension's version of her. There was no way that she could admit that, though.

"Bullshit." Faith crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

Rage sparked in Buffy, and she stood, pushing Faith back. "What about you then? How long did it take you to tell me about that portal in the bathroom? You didn't even try to argue when I said I didn't want to go in there. You're enjoying this just as much as I am." Buffy shouted, and both slayers eyes widened at the admission. Buffy rolled her eyes and dropped onto the bed.

Faith chuckled and sat down next to her. "Sorry for freaking out on you."

"It's OK. I mean… You weren't exactly wrong. Not about me not wanting anyone to care about you… just…." Buffy considered trying to convince Faith that she cared about her. Her fear that Faith would just laugh in her face killed that idea.

"I get it." Faith cut her off, not ready to hear Buffy explain anything about this further. "We're cool." Faith ran a hand through her hair and laid back down on her side of the bed.

Buffy started to relax but wasn't going to be able to fall asleep until she was sure. "When you say we're cool…"

Faith laughed, "you don't have to worry. I'm with you on getting back to our SunnyD."

Now that that issue was settled, Buffy was stuck wondering about the nickname situation. There wasn't any way to bring it up without sounding petty.

Faith sighed, "spit it out. I can hear your mind going crazy over there."

"It's nothing. Sorry." Buffy did her best to quiet her thoughts. It shouldn't be surprising that Faith and the darker version of her got along so well. Maybe it wasn't surprising, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Buffy pushed out a breath and focused on the fact that Faith wasn't ditching her, and as soon as they found a way out of this dimension, she wouldn't have to think about 'B-plus' again.

She really started to regret this decision the next day. Everyone seemed to have jumped on Faith's naming scheme, and Buffy thought she might lose her mind.

"Maybe it'd be less confusing to just call me Anne and her Buffy." She finally suggested. All eyes were on her, and she felt very self-conscious. "I mean… this is her dimension - so that just makes sense. Right?"

The other Buffy smirked at her knowingly, but much to Buffy's relief, she took pity on the dimension-hopping slayer.

"Yeah - what Anne said."

Buffy was not at all surprised when Faith wasn't willing to go along. "I'm sticking with it - don't care what you say, B." Faith winked at her, and even in her annoyance, she grinned back.

"Well, now that we have the important issues worked out. Perhaps we can develop a plan?" Giles asked. He had already pulled off his glasses and was rubbing his brow. Buffy couldn't help but be amused by his irritation.

"Plan?" B-plus chided. "Plan is this - I'll go take out the Master, and you can all stay out of my way."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Great plan. did you forget the part where he practically has an army?"

"Didn't forget. Did you forget that we're slayers, and we slay vampires?" Then she laughed. "Oh, right. I forgot that you prefer to f.."

"Hey!" Buffy was surprised that Faith jumped to her defense, especially since she must have been the one that told B-plus about Angel in the first place. "Stop being a jackass, and let's get this done."

B-plus huffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just don't think for a second that I'm babysitting any of the White Hats."

Buffy watched herself acting like a petulant child and really hoped she had never behaved so ridiculously herself.

It didn't take them much longer to work out a plan. They would attack from three sides and hopefully overwhelm the Master's forces with an element of surprise.

They hoped that even if Angel had warned him, they wouldn't know there were three slayers.

After going over the details one more time, everyone geared up and piled into three vehicles. It gave Buffy some inappropriate pleasure that B-plus couldn't drive either and had to accept that at least one white hat would have to go with her.

They drove in silence to the Bronze. Buffy gripped her stake tightly and tried to portray an aura of confidence.

She may not be as impressive as Faith or the other Buffy, but she was still a slayer, and slaying was what she was made for.

The vehicles arrived at different predetermined locations, and they all filed out. There was no way to communicate with the other teams. They didn't want to risk being overheard. Buffy watched as the three humans with her took their positions. She approached the door and nodded to them.

In unison, the humans threw rocks or whatever debris they could find through the upper windows of the Bronze. Letting in sunlight as Buffy kicked in the door. She heard the sound of two other doors being crashed only moments later.

They were making decent progress with the minions. Still, Buffy found herself distracted, trying to keep an eye on B-plus and her completely reckless methods.

More than once, B-plus would bypass an enemy, leaving a civilian to defend themselves as she was pushing forward far faster than was safe or necessary.

Once Faith caught on to the problem, she joined Buffy, and with their team approach, the army of vampires was thinning quickly. With Faith by her side, Buffy fell into the battle with ease. She wished she had suggested that they stay together from the start.

She had worried that B-plus would make fun of her and even more worried that Faith would flat out refuse. It didn't matter now. She and Faith fell into each other without a word - just like they had when fighting the horde of vampires for the Mayor.

The Master roared in frustration. "This is unacceptable!"

Buffy had been closest to the Master, who was now alone on the stage. There were only a few straggling enemies, and it seemed things were under control. She felt a strong need to prove herself. If she could take the Master out, then maybe other people might respect her.

This plan was thwarted when Angelus appeared behind the Master. Without any discussion, he gripped the ancient vampire's head and twisted it clean off.

He giggled maniacally. "I have no idea why I ever looked up to him." Then he clapped his hands together to wipe off the vampire dust. "I tried to warn him that you were coming. He never was much of a listener."

Buffy growled in frustration and launched herself onto the stage. If she couldn't take the Master out, Angelus would have to do. She became more and more frustrated as he blocked her every attack, laughing like a lunatic the entire time.

She was letting her rage take control, and she was ignoring all of her training as she flailed at him like a crazy person. Eventually, he grew tired of playing with her, and on her next attack, he grabbed her arm and spun her around.

He held her back to his front and squeezed her tightly. Her arms were pinned to her sides, and she could barely move enough to breathe. Just as she felt his teeth brush her neck - he was gone, and she was covered in his ashes.

Turning quickly to see 'B-plus' grinning at her completely broke Buffy's spirit.

"Thanks," she managed to make herself say before hopping off the stage to see if anyone needed help. She pointedly ignored Faith, who was now talking to B-plus and animatedly recounting the battle.

She was annoyed with herself for taking a stupid risk after being frustrated with B-plus for doing the same thing. There were a few people that needed help. She was happy to have something productive to do to avoid what she was sure was going to be an embarrassing conversation with Faith and B-plus.

Buffy couldn't help but not at all be surprised that the Bronze was open and full of people only hours after the Master had been killed.

"Are you OK?" Amy sat on the stool next to Buffy and pushed a drink in front of her.

Buffy sat up a little and wrapped her hands around the cool glass. "Yeah, I'm good."

Amy laughed a little. "You might want to tell your face that."

Buffy grimaced and took a sip of the drink. Her eyes darted to Faith and B-plus - they were dancing up a storm. Buffy wasn't sure she had ever seen Faith that happy. She couldn't figure out why it bothered her so much.

"Why don't you join them?" Amy asked and nudged Buffy with her shoulder.

"I wouldn't want to intrude." Buffy knew she was being ridiculous. Almost everyone involved in taking out the Master was dancing together and having fun.

"If you like her, you should probably say something." Amy rose from her seat to head towards the bar.

Amy leaving gave Buffy no opportunity to dispute the comment. Buffy looked over at Faith and B-plus dancing and suddenly felt a massive rush of adrenaline as she realized that Amy might be right. She wasn't sure when or how, but somewhere along the way - Buffy had developed feelings for Faith.

Big feelings that were currently causing her to run out of the Bronze as fast as possible. Once she gained some distance from the Bronze, she finally slowed her thoughts and tried to examine what she was feeling. The more she walked, the more things started to occur to her.

One of the first things that she realized - was that Faith hadn't made a single mention of finding guys to hook up since they had been on this adventure. In fact, she hadn't even seen Faith look a guy's way once. There had even been times when her standard inappropriate flirting might have helped them out.

The next thing she realized was that the only person she had seen Faith show any kind of interest in or attraction to - was B-plus.

Her thoughts went back further to before they fell into this trap. Could Faith have really wanted to go to homecoming with her? Could all the talk about finding studs to use just been a smokescreen?

Buffy had no idea what to do next. She still had a lot of her own feelings to sort out. It was easy to accept that she was jealous of the attention Faith was paying to B-plus currently. But there could be a variety of very reasonable and non-romantic explanations for that.

It would explain her panic at the idea that Faith might have been considering staying in this dimension. Briefly, she let the idea of what it might be like to kiss Faith cross her mind. She refused to let that thought linger, though. She was pretty sure any person with an active libido would find Faith physically attractive. Figuring out if she actually liked Faith was significantly more complicated.

Faith's behavior had definitely changed since they started hopping dimensions. Buffy couldn't be sure why that was the case and had no way of knowing if it would continue. For all she knew, it was just an act to keep the peace between them until they were able to return home.

When Buffy slid into bed that night, she decided her best course of action was to observe Faith and see if she could be sure about how either of them felt. There was no doubt that she wanted to remain friends with Faith when they returned to Sunnydale. So that is where she would focus her thoughts. Along with trying not to let it drive her crazy that Faith never joined her in bed that night.

The following day, Buffy rolled out of bed after not sleeping at all. The last hour she had spent completely failing at not wondering where Faith had spent the night. That, of course, snowballed into worrying that Faith wouldn't follow her through the next portal. Then the even more terrifying thought that she might not ever see her again.

She almost laughed with relief when she made it to the living room to see Faith passed out on the couch, and B-plus was no where to be seen.

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles whispered from the kitchen and pushed a cup of coffee in her direction.

Buffy's spirits were renewed, and she gladly accepted the cup. Things improved further when Giles moved to his desk and retrieved a crystal. Buffy recognized it immediately and couldn't stop herself before thanking Giles profusely for finding it.

Buffy just barely caught the pillow that followed Faith's annoyed grunt from the couch. Buffy was too happy at the lack of B-plus and the prospect of going home to let that bother her.

"Wait - How?" Buffy was very confused as to how Giles had already obtained the stone. The plan was to go to City Hall today to look for it.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure." Giles frowned. "When I woke up this morning, there was a package outside my door. It contained the crystal along with an instruction manual of sorts."

Buffy had no idea what to make of this. Was someone watching out for them? But how could that be? Did whoever sent it want to help them get home? Or did they have some other motivation? "Do you have any idea who sent it?"

Giles shook his head and held up the packaging. "There was no return address or other markings."

Buffy frowned and wondered if it was even a good idea to use this very convenient gift.

"I can understand your hesitance, but I do believe that the item is genuine."

Buffy reached for the crystal, and it began to glow faintly as she held it. Her concerns from moments ago washed away as she became confident that this stone belonged to her. It made absolutely no sense, but she knew it with all her being.

"Additionally," Giles turned back to his desk. "If this book is accurate - though you won't be able to control your destination - you should be able to recharge the spell and reuse the stone many times."

Buffy barely heard what Giles was telling her, but it didn't matter - she already knew.

"I don't suppose you know where Buffy might be?" Giles asked as Buffy continued to stare at the stone in silence.

Buffy was confused for a moment before she caught his meaning. "I don't know. Maybe Faith will."

"Took off." Faith grumbled from the couch.

"Ah." Giles was clearly disappointed. "I suppose it was too much to hope that she would be willing to stay."

Faith, by this point, had risen from the couch and walked over to them. Without asking, she grabbed the mug out of Buffy's hand, drained the contents, and then walked off towards the bathroom.

Buffy was left completely stunned as she looked at her now empty mug. It had her rethinking her position on whether or not she actually had feelings for the uncouth younger slayer.

"Charming." Giles shook his head and then gave Buffy a pointed look. "I don't suppose I could convince you to stay with us for just a bit longer?"

Buffy hesitated, now that they had the stone - there really was no reason to rush. "I'm sorry. We have no way of knowing what is going on in our Sunnydale. our friends and family may be in danger." Buffy wasn't actually worried about her friends and family, but she couldn't stand the idea of spending another minute here if she didn't have to.

"Right, of course. I understand." Giles' frustration was evident, and Buffy felt guilty for taking off - but she had her own dimension to take care of.

Faith emerged with a backpack slung over her shoulder.

"What's that?" Buffy motioned to the bag. They hadn't had any belongings to bring with them into this dimension.

"B-plus hooked us up with some clothes." It was then that Buffy noticed Faith had changed into her trademarked tight pants, tank-top, and jean jacket. Buffy was still in the same outfit she'd been wearing since they were in the 50s.

"Oh, that was nice of her." Buffy didn't mean to say it sarcastically, but luckily Faith didn't seem to pick up on it.

Faith just shrugged and grabbed a bagel from the counter. "So, what's the plan?"

Buffy held up the crystal, and Faith nodded. Buffy wasn't at all surprised that Faith didn't ask any questions about where the crystal had come from. She also wasn't surprised that the stone grew brighter and warmer in her hand the closer Faith was.

"So are we going - or what?" Then she paused, and her nose wrinkled as she looked at Buffy. "You wanna change first?"

Buffy reluctantly took the bag and retreated to the bathroom. She considered taking a shower but didn't want to waste any more time. The outfit that appeared to be for her wasn't all that different from Faith's. But it was clean and fit better than the sweatpants she'd been wearing.

When she joined Faith and Giles in the living room, she was more than ready to leave this dimension. "Do you think it will matter where we activate the stone?" Buffy asked.

"No, I don't believe so," Giles answered and leaned against his desk.

Buffy slid the stone out of the pouch and spoke the short incantation. It took only a few moments before a swirling portal appeared in the wall next to her. It was difficult to tell what was on the other side of the portal.

Faith immediately stuck her head in and gave Buffy a thumbs up to show that it was safe to enter. Buffy secured the portal stone back into its pouch and slid it into her pocket.

"Thank you." She wrapped Giles in a hug yet again, and this time he had no trouble returning it.

"You are quite welcome. I hope you find your way home."

Buffy nodded and moved closer to the next portal. Faith had been peering into it for several moments and was clearly ready to get going.