It was Thursday night, and Buffy was tired of feeling sorry for herself, so she thought she'd head to the Bronze and try to dance her pain away. Her plan immediately fell apart when she walked in to see Faith, Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia standing around one of the tables. She stood for a moment too long. Willow caught her eye and waved her closer.

"Hi, Guys." She said when she approached the table. There was a round of hellos, and then they went back to whatever they were talking about. Which eventually, Buffy figured out was another hangout Faith had held at her apartment.

Wesley appeared a moment later - he came up to Faith and whispered something in her ear. Faith nodded and followed him out of the Bronze.

"Wow." Cordelia chided, "jealous much?"

"What?" Buffy had watched Faith leave but hadn't made any comment.

"Are you that jealous of Faith - can't stand for someone else to get some attention? You really need to get over yourself." This wasn't the first time Cordelia had chastised her, but Buffy was pretty sure she didn't deserve it this time.

Buffy froze and looked to her friends for support, but of course, there was none. Buffy couldn't come up with anything to say, so she said nothing. Telling herself that high school was almost over. Since Faith seemed to have Sunnydale under control, maybe she would go away to college.

Maybe when she started over, she'd be better at making friends.

She left without comment, and no one tried to stop her. As she was walking home, she saw two demons running through the graveyard. Without hesitation, she ran after them. It only took her a few seconds to kill one. While she was engaged with the other, she heard Faith's voice.

"No!" She hesitated and turned at the sound of Faith yelling, giving the demon the chance to punch out and knock her to the ground. Faith jumped over her prone body and started to chase the other demon. He quickly turned to face her.

It was clear from watching that Faith wasn't trying to win the fight, and after a few clumsy attacks, the demon ran away.

"Way to go, Buff," Faith said sarcastically.

"What?" Buffy had no idea what was going on.

"We were trying to track those demons to their hideout," Wesley added. "Now, we'll have to wait for them to attack again."

After that, Buffy stopped trying to slay at all and started planning for her future outside of Sunnydale.

"Buffy!"

Buffy looked up from her book, "Hey, Will."

Willow sat down next to her on the grass and pulled out her lunch. A few moments later - Oz, Xander, and Cordelia showed up.

"I don't know why we're sitting outside. There are bugs outside." Cordelia said with disdain.

"It's a nice day!" Willow said, "we're just enjoying this nice day."

"And having lunch with our bestest buddy," Xander bumped Buffy with his shoulder.

Cordelia let out a sigh of disdain, "well, I don't understand why we can't have lunch inside. Like civilized people."

There was silence, and Buffy could feel everyone's eyes on her. "Really - it's fine. You guys should go back inside."

"But Buffy - we haven't seen you. You're so different since you got back," Willow argued. Buffy frowned for a minute and tried to think back.

Buffy had tried to engage with Willow again, but Willow was always too busy - or would cancel at the last minute. Once Buffy realized that Willow was most likely spending time with Faith - she stopped trying.

She wasn't mad at Willow and had no intention of pointing out that she wasn't at fault here. Buffy was spared having to figure out how to respond when everyone's attention suddenly turning back towards the school.

"There's Faith," Oz commented, and Buffy made sure to keep her head down. She didn't imagine that Faith was coming this way, but if she was - Buffy didn't want to risk making eye contact.

"She has pizza!" Xander jumped to his feet and started after Faith.

Cordelia quickly followed suit. "Thank god. No offense Buffy."

Buffy didn't have the capacity to be offended by anything by this point and just drew her attention back to her book. Not that Cordelia wasn't halfway across the quad already anyway.

"Buffy, what is going on? All Faith does is rave about what a great time you two had. Why are you mad at her?" Willow hung back for a moment and hovered over Buffy.

That question got Buffy's attention. "I'm not mad at her. She thinks I'm mad at her?"

"Well, yeah. Why else have you been avoiding her?"

Buffy tilted her head in confusion.

"You need to figure yourself out - I don't want to have to pick between the two of you," Willow said as she turned away to follow the others.

Buffy chuckled at the absurdity of Willow's statement - since she clearly had already chosen.

Later that evening, Buffy knocked on Faith's door - after verifying that she was alone.

"What are you doing here?"

Buffy winced at the anger she heard in Faith's voice. "I just wanted to clear the air."

Faith leaned against the door jam, with her arms folded over her chest - clearly indicating that she wouldn't invite Buffy in.

Buffy sighed and tried to remember why she came here. "I don't exactly understand what happened. But I just wanted to let you know - I'm not…." Then she started to feel like a complete idiot. Faith obviously didn't care about her - so what was the point of trying to talk to her? She could feel the tears starting to form, and the last thing she wanted was for Faith to see her cry. "Nevermind, sorry I bothered you."

Buffy turned and ran. After she made it to the end of the block, she realized how pointless it was. Instead, she slunk off into an alley and slid to the ground. Then she silently sobbed until she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Are you really this petty that you're crying over me finally making some friends?"

Buffy was shocked to hear Faith's voice. She tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes before looking up. "That's not…." She started to argue, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Fine, I won't keep trying to make nice. I thought that's what you wanted!" Faith started to storm off.

"No!" Buffy chased after her. "I'm glad things are going well for you. Really."

Faith pulled her arm out of Buffy's grip. "Yeah, right."

Buffy took a deep breath. "Willow made a comment about you thinking I was mad at you… I just came here to say that I wasn't. I really am happy things are going well for you." And Buffy meant this. She really was happy for Faith. That didn't mean she wasn't devastated for herself.

"Whatever." Faith rolled her eyes and stormed out of the alley, and Buffy dropped back down to the ground.

This time her sobbing wasn't at all silent.

"What did you do!?" Buffy looked up to see Willow approaching her locker.

"What?" Buffy had a bad feeling about why Willow was so upset.

"Faith said we couldn't hang out anymore. It has to be because of something you did." Willow had her hands on her hips.

"I just tried to tell her that I wasn't mad at her. I swear I never said she shouldn't spend time with you."

Willow huffed, "when are you going to tell me what happened to you two?"

Buffy sighed. It didn't matter now. She had nothing. No friends, no slaying, and no hope. "What happened was that I fell in love with her. But she hates me. So please remind her that I don't matter to her or anyone else."

Of course, Buffy didn't actually say any of that. As much as she wanted to tell someone what happened, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. "Look - just… don't let her push you away. I'm the one who screwed up - so it makes sense for me to be the one that leaves."

She looked up at Willow, briefly thinking she might see some compassion - that someone might see how much pain she was in and take her side for once.

Instead, Willow's arms were crossed over her chest as she glared at Buffy. "Fine. I'll see if I can convince her. You better hope that I can." With that parting shot, she turned away, and Buffy felt worse than she ever could have imagined.

It's almost graduation, and Buffy is sitting alone in her room. The doorbell rings, but she knows it's obviously not for her. Buffy hasn't spoken to any of her friends in weeks. Any time she sees them - they quickly avert their eyes and pretend like she's not there. Buffy has enough pride left not to push the issue.

Her bedroom door is opened without a knock, and she's surprised to see Cordelia standing in her doorway. Cordelia sweeps her gaze across the room and frowns disapprovingly.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy finally finds the strength to ask.

"I drew the short straw." Cordelia grimaces and takes a step back like the room was going to give her cooties.

"Well, get on with whatever you came here to say."

Cordelia rolled her eyes in irritation. "Something big is going down at graduation. And even though you quit being a slayer - or whatever - they think you can help. So there's a meeting at Faith's apartment to go over the details."

"When?" Buffy frowned. It wasn't like she wanted to quit. Just that nobody seemed to notice or care when she did.

"Now, duh." Cordelia rolled her eyes again and backed out of the room. "I can give you a ride."

Buffy followed Cordelia out to her car. Xander and Willow were already inside. Buffy climbed into the backseat and tried not to wince when Willow wouldn't look at her and actually pressed herself against the door to keep as much distance as possible between them.

When they arrived at Faith's, everyone seemed to forget she existed. Which was par for the course lately. She leaned against the wall furthest from the discussion and watched as everyone went over the plan. It quickly became apparent that they didn't need her here. It was also evident that there was no need for two slayers to handle this very lame attempt to cause trouble by some minor demon.

Buffy couldn't imagine this was what Faith and Wesley had been whispering about, nor why something of this scale even warranted any kind of meeting. She considered offering just to go take the demon out herself, but so no reason to speak up and draw attention to herself.

When everyone left, leaving Buffy alone with Faith - Buffy decided it was time for one last attempt to patch things up. Though, she had no idea why. After graduation, she was leaving Sunnydale and would never see her again.

"Faith," Buffy said as she watched Faith cleaning up after her guests.

"Buffy," Faith said with disdain. She was obviously annoyed that Buffy was even here.

"Look - I just wanted…." Buffy thought that privately offering to handle this demon might be something to smooth things over between them.

"Don't really give a shit what you want. I don't even know why you're here. Feel free to leave."

Buffy grunted and shook her head. She hated that after all this time, it was impossible to control her feelings around Faith. It hurt just as much, if not more, each time she was reminded that Faith didn't like her.

With everything they had been through - she was sure they had some kind of connection. And even though she could accept that Faith didn't feel the same way she did - she couldn't deal with Faith hating her. "What did I do? I didn't think we were enemies."

Faith chuckled. "You would think that. But you couldn't be more wrong. Now get the fuck out of my apartment." Faith pointed at the door, and Buffy's eyes were drawn to the tattoo on her wrist.

The tattoo that should match Buffy's exactly.

Doing her best not to react to what she saw, Buffy nodded her head and left without another word.

Once she got outside, and a block away from the building, she stopped to think. Her mind raced with the implication of what she saw. There was no doubt that the right Faith had been with her when they first came back to this dimension.

But the right Faith definitely wasn't here now.

Part of her hoped that her Faith had just left town like she said she planned to. The more Buffy thought about it, though, the more she was sure that Not-Faith had done something to her. Buffy desperately hoped it wasn't too late to save her.

Plans quickly formed in her mind and she got moving.

Somehow she had forgotten who she was. She had let her self-worth be tied into what everyone else thought of her.

Carefully, she made her way to City Hall, where she and Faith had been kept prisoner in the last dimension. Sneaking around back, Buffy was relieved and disappointed that the sewer access was in the same place.

She lifted the cover and climbed down the ladder. Following the tunnel, she came to a door. She pressed her ear to it, and after a minute of not hearing anything, she pulled it open. She cringed when it protested loudly as the lock broke.

Worried that someone might have heard, she moved quickly into the next room. Faith was exactly where she was afraid she'd be.

"Faith?" Buffy whispered and opened the door to Faith's cell. "Faith? Can you hear me?" She whispered again when there was no answer.

"B?" Faith's hoarse voice finally replied. She was hanging by her hands. Her wrists are shackled and attached to a thick chain anchored to the ceiling.

"I'm going to get you out of here," Buffy said and moved back to the hallway to look for anything that might break the chains.

She almost squealed with delight when she saw a key hanging from a hook. She grabbed the keys and returned to Faith's cell.

Faith slumped into Buffy's arms once she was free. She was far too broken and battered to feel any shame about needing to be rescued.

Buffy scooped her up and moved as quickly as she could back into the sewer tunnels. Instead of exiting immediately - she kept running through the tunnels to what she hoped would be a safe place for Faith to recover.

She placed Faith carefully on the bed of the dingy hotel room and retrieved the water and food she had stashed there earlier.

"Try to drink." Buffy positioned Faith a little more upright and tipped the water bottle to her lips.

It took Faith a moment, but finally, she started to drink. When she finished the bottle, she licked her lips a few times and rolled her neck.

Buffy finally had the chance to assess how badly Faith was hurt. Both her eyes were practically swollen shut, and she had cuts and bruises all over her body. She was only wearing a flimsy tank top and shorts, both of which were soaked through with blood and sweat.

Buffy couldn't believe how badly she had been beaten.

"I'm so sorry. I should have found you sooner." She wiped at her tears and sat back a little.

Faith whimpered as she tried to re-position herself.

"I have some stuff that might help. Can I clean you up and see how badly you're hurt?"

Faith made what Buffy interpreted as a sound of approval. Buffy got to work carefully cutting away what remained of Faith's clothes and wiping away the blood and grime that was caked all over her body.

"Just like old times." She said, remembering having to do something unpleasantly similar for Faith many dimensions ago.

Faith's responding chuckle turned into a painful-sounding cough, but Buffy was glad that at least Faith laughed at her comment.

Buffy felt along her ribs. Several of them were out of place. "Sorry about this." She said before working them back into position.

When Faith passed out from the pain, Buffy took the opportunity to check for anything else that might be broken or in need of treatment.

"Oh, baby - what did she do to you?" Buffy asked with tears in her eyes. All of Faith's fingers had been twisted horrendously. Her hands were gnarled and swollen. They had been allowed to heal while out of position, Buffy worried that they may never heal correctly.

Buffy worked quickly and carefully, rebreaking and setting all the broken bones she could find and hoping that Faith's slayer healing would start to work.

Once that was done, she continued her examination. Her jaw clenched as she imagined how Faith had sustained these injuries. Once she was satisfied, she carefully maneuvered Faith so she was lying down and covered her with the sheet.

Placing bags of ice over the injuries that were the worst, she silently begged for Faith to recover. All she could do now was wait.

As she waited, she planned. Just having her Faith close filled her with confidence. She had no doubt that they would be able to thwart whatever Not-Faith was up to.

A few hours later, Faith began to stir. She whimpered as she tried to sit up. Buffy was by her side in a flash, helping her to sit and offering her more water.

Faith's hands and arms were healed enough that she could manage the bottle on her own. Faith finished off the bottle and handed it back to Buffy. The sheet was pulled down with Faith's movements, but she made no effort to cover herself.

"How are you feeling?" Buffy asked, knowing it was a stupid question - but she wasn't sure what else to say.

"Five by five." Faith said dryly, and Buffy laughed. After a few moments of laughing, it devolved into hysterical crying.

Faith watched her with a furrowed brow for a moment before reaching out to try and comfort Buffy. The touch was enough to pull Buffy back to reality. She wiped at her eyes and tried to settle her breathing.

"Are you OK?" Faith asked, which got Buffy laughing again.

"I'm OK," Buffy said as she stood. "Are you hungry?" The look on Faith's face answered the question, and Buffy laughed again.

"I am so glad you're you." Buffy handed Faith a sandwich and sat down on the bed. Buffy was desperate to tell Faith how much she missed her, but she didn't see the point. It wasn't like this changed anything - Faith still planned to leave, and Faith still didn't feel the same things that Buffy did.

"What has she been up to?" Faith asked between bites of her sandwich.

"I don't know exactly - but I can guess it has something to do with the Mayor."

"Are the Scoobies on the case?"

Buffy faltered for a moment, feeling pathetic for letting Not-Faith separate her from her friends. "I don't think so. I… haven't talked to any of them in a while."

Faith swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. "Why not?"

Buffy sucked in a breath. "I think she's poisoned them against me. I don't really know how - but no one will even talk to me. And I'm sure if I floated the theory that she's an imposter… that would not go too well for me."

"So, what's the plan?"

For the first time since she'd rescued Faith, Buffy started to have doubts. "I don't know. I guess it depends on what you want to do."

"What do you mean?" Faith watched Buffy carefully, something was definitely wrong, and she wasn't quite sure what yet.

Buffy sighed and looked down at her hands - wishing there was something in them to make her feel better about this situation.

"Well… I know you were planning on leaving Sunnydale…." Buffy trailed off.

Faith was quiet for a while. "Do you need my help?"

"Yes," Buffy answered immediately.

"OK, then I'm helping." Faith really didn't like how worn-down Buffy looked. She thought there might be a way to cheer her up. "I know I was kinda out of it… but did you call me baby?" Faith asked, grinning - though Buffy was turned away so she couldn't see Faith's face.

Buffy gasped and stood up from the bed. "Yeah... I guess I did. I'm sorry - I was just so worried about you."

"B," Faith called out softly, and Buffy stiffened. She only turned when she heard Faith moving on the bed.

"You probably shouldn't try to get up yet."

"Well, then you should come closer, so I don't have to."

Buffy didn't think Faith could actually mean she wanted her closer. "Do you need something? More water? Food?"

Faith chuckled and held out her hand. "I just need you to come over here."

Buffy eyed her warily but moved closer and sat on the edge of the bed, keeping her body turned away.

Faith sighed and leaned back - this wasn't going to be as simple as she'd hoped. Not-Faith had told her that Buffy had been dating Angel this whole time. This would explain Buffy's behavior. Even if she had been with Angel - Faith didn't care. She was going to tell Buffy how she felt and fight like hell for her.

"I've had a lot of time to think."

Buffy sucked in a breath, "I'm so sorry that I didn't figure it out sooner. I should have realized right away when we sparred. I was just so upset…" Buffy snapped her mouth shut. The last thing Faith needed was to listen to Buffy complain about how difficult things had been for her. Faith had it so much worse. Then Buffy covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

Faith sat up, wrapped her arms around Buffy, and tried to soothe her. Buffy initially tensed, but then she relaxed into the hug. "I should have never let you walk away. She never would have gotten the chance to swap with me if I hadn't."

Even though the comment was meant to take Buffy's guilt away, it had the opposite effect. She pulled out of Faith's arms and stood in the center of the room. Facing away from Faith and trying to push her own feelings away.

If she hadn't told Faith how she felt, then Faith wouldn't have wanted to leave. And if she had been willing to stay, then the evil Faith couldn't have done this. All of Faith's pain was Buffy's fault, and she's hated herself for it.

When Buffy turned around, all emotion was gone from her face, and Faith was very confused. "Are you willing to help me figure out what she's up to?"

"Of course I am - how can you even ask that?"

Buffy ignored the question, "I think we need to convince everyone else first. Are you feeling healed enough to go talk to Willow?"

Faith swung her legs and hopped out of bed. She moved around a little and smiled at having control of her body. "I'm fine to go meet with Red - but don't you think we should talk more first?"

Faith started to move closer, but Buffy held up her hand. "Maybe after all this is done."

"But, B... I'm telling you that I wish I had stayed. That I had taken what you were offering me."

Buffy met Faith's eyes and watched as Faith moved closer. She was terrified to speak - Faith couldn't possibly be saying what it sounded like.

Faith gently cupped Buffy's cheek. "I told myself that as soon as I got out of there - as soon as you rescued me - I was gonna fight for you."

"You're naked," Buffy said in a complete haze.

Faith laughed, "you just noticed?"

Buffy smiled, "I've been putting a lot of effort into not noticing… but now…."

Faith moved even closer and leaned in, kissing Buffy gently on the lips. The kiss that was meant to be simple and soft very quickly grew into something passionate. Buffy's hands slid to Faith's waist, and both slayers gasped. Neither of them was ready for naked touching.

"OK, I see the problem with me being naked now." Faith smiled and backed away. Buffy quickly turned and pulled out some clothes for Faith. "Thanks, B."

Buffy still didn't know how she felt about all this, but she knew everything would work out as long as Faith was with her.