Missy bolts out of the room and runs to catch up with Faith. She grabs Faith by the wrist, forcing her to turn around. "I thought you said you were going to stop running away," she says angrily.

Faith's anger seems to dissipate at the remembrance of her promise. "I wasn't running, it was more of a brisk walk," she defends feebly. Missy gives her a stern look and Faith sighs. "Buffy is just something that I can't deal with right now."

"If you don't deal with her now, when will you?" Missy asks rhetorically.

"Look Missy, I know that you mean well, but Buffy is something that I need to deal with on my own time, okay?" Faith says tiredly and Missy nods. Faith sighs and starts to walk away.

Missy watches dejectedly as her friend and sister walks off. She turns and goes back to the room Faith was in and finds Buffy sitting in one of the chairs. "Faith left. She need time to cool off I think," she says absently.

"I understand," Buffy says with a nod.

Missy looks over at Buffy. "What happened with you guys exactly?" She asks suspiciously.

"She didn't tell you?" Buffy asks incredulously.

"There's a lot of stuff about her life with her family that she never told you," Missy counters.

Buffy concedes defeat with a sigh. "I'm just saying that, since it was the reason of her being here and you being a Slayer, she would have said something."

"Well, she isn't exactly for opening up to people, as I'm sure that you know," Missy says with a defeated sigh.

"I'm sure that I had helped some in that degree," Buffy says despondently. "I mean, I never encouraged her to tell me about her life. She was always more of an on-call Slayer. She we only called her if we needed help, but never to just hang out. I was a bad friend, and that's what she needed the most," Buffy says, mostly to herself.

"I guess Faith's always just needed someone to show her that they cared," Missy says in agreement.

"Well, she has you now," she says.

"And you," Missy says with a smile. "And Torrance and Courtney too I guess," she says idly.

"Who are they?" Buffy says curiously.

Missy smiles to herself at the subtle display of jealousy and possessiveness with an edge of curiosity. "A couple of blonde cheerleaders that are trying to bond with Faith," she says with a hint of amusement at the struck expression on Buffy's face.

Faith heads back to her apartment in no apparent rush as she drags her feet on the ground. She suddenly hears a voice off in the distance.

"Faith! Hey wait up!" Torrance calls out as she and Courtney run up to her.

Faith stops and turns towards them, watching with amusement. "Stalking me?" She asks, her eyes directed at Torrance.

"She heard you were in the hospital," Courtney snipes nodding her head towards her friend. "She had to drag me from a peaceful sleep because she doesn't have a car," she grumbles, not making eye contact with either of them and yawning for emphasis.

"Well, it's not like you objected at all after I told you what happened," Torrance smirks and Courtney blushes.

"So, you guys came to my rescue. How sweet," Faith deadpans.

"You didn't look too good when I saw you last," Torrance says vaguely because of Courtney's presence.

"I heal fast," Faith shrugs. She turns around, "See, I'm five by five." She notices the confused expressions on their faces. "Never mind."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Courtney asks as she looks at the small cut on Faith's forehead.

Faith smirks. "See you guys on Monday," she says before walking off.

"Look, we should probably go before one of the doctors or nurses walk in," Missy says reasonably to Buffy.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asks with confusion.

Missy sighs. Blondes. "Well," she begins slowly as if talking to a slower version of Forrest Gump, "I think it would be a little strange for one of them to walk in and have their patient be missing," she says.

"Yeah, I guess it would be strange," she agrees before they walk out of the room.

Once outside, Missy spots three familiar figures: Faith, Courtney and Torrance in the distance just as Faith walks off. "Hey you two," Missy calls to the cheerleaders

They turn around and Torrance smiles and Courtney has an inscrutable expression on her face. "Hey," they say in unison.

"You guys were coming to see Faith?" Missy asks them as she and Buffy get closer.

"Uh, yeah," Courtney says as she eyes Buffy carefully. "Who are you?" She asks, forever being her usual tactful self.

"Uh, I, um…I'm a friend of Faith's," she states, straining on the one word.

The other two blondes narrow their eyes slightly, causing Buffy to take a cautious step back. Missy smirks at the blonde Slayer's discomfort. "She and I were just talking to Faith in the hospital and she just kind of left. She isn't a very big fan of them as I'm sure you know Buffy," she says, ignoring the lethal expression on the other Slayer's face. A sudden look of realization came over Torrance's face, which she hid almost immediately. She was too slow because the two Slayers saw it before she was able to mask it.

"So, what brings the two of you out this early in the day?" Buffy asks the two cheerleaders.

"We heard Faith was in the hospital," Torrance says.

"Yeah, what happened?" Courtney asks.

Missy clears her throat. "She got into a fight after leaving the football game. They cheated and used, um, weapons. When she got back to her apartment, Buffy was there. Faith had gone into the back room and passed out. Buffy brought her to the hospital and called me," she explains with a few 'adjustments'.

"Couldn't be too bad if they discharged her, right?" Torrance asks with a slight smile.

"Discharged? Oh yeah, right," Buffy fumbles momentarily.

"She wasn't discharged was she?" Courtney asks suspiciously. The other two girls are silent. "She just walked out," she says incredulously.

"It's not like we could have stopped her or anything," Missy defends herself and Buffy.

"She will be okay though right?" Torrance asks.

"Oh yeah. You know Faith, nothing can keep her down for too long," Missy says with a smirk. "She's probably all healed by now," she says.

"Yeah," Courtney says slowly and then there is a pause. "So, she probably went back to her apartment then, huh?" She asks them and Buffy and Missy just shrug. "Well, Torrance and I should probably just go," she says when it gets too awkward for all of them.

Missy and Buffy start walking off towards Faith's "So, that was Torrance and Courtney?" Buffy scoffs sounding more like a statement than a question. Missy just glances over at her in amused acknowledgement. "I can take them," she says with confidence.

"It wouldn't really be a fair fight then would it?" Missy asks with a chuckle and Buffy looks over at her as if she didn't know she was there to begin with. "It's not about being able to take someone or not Buff. They are all just friends, something maybe the two of you could become again," she says, mostly asking for hope more than anything.

Buffy sighs deeply. "Yeah, I hope so, but, there is just so much you know? It's like, we've taken turns hurting one another and we don't seem to know how to do anything else now," she says, looking pleadingly at Missy.

"So I've heard," she says with a crooked smile.

"But that isn't the half of it. There was other stuff too. We didn't start off trying to kill each other, it just…happened," she says with another deep sigh. "I mean, she was right with a lot of things she said. I don't even know her whole name."

"Faith Adrienne Porter," came a voice behind them.

Missy and Buffy turned and saw Faith walking towards them. "You were eavesdropping," Buffy accuses in a low growl.

"No, I was taking the long way home when the two of you go walking by talking about me. That hardly constitutes as eavesdropping," Faith explains as she pushes her way by them, but then turns around. "Why were you going to my apartment after me?" She asks, narrowing her eyes.

"To make sure you were okay," Missy says before Buffy has a chance to deny it.

"Here I am, safe and sound," Faith says as she holds her arms open in a gesture to show she is fine.

"So why do you need to go back to your apartment if you are feeling okay?" Buffy asks.

Faith's smirk fades and she pales slightly, but it only lasts a moment or two. "I just need to change out of these clothes and shower," she says smartly.

Missy looks at Buffy with a look of realization. "Since you're feeling better, how about Buffy and I come with you and we can get lunch when you're done?" She offers with a smile.

"Yeah, I remember how you were after slaying and, as far as we know, you haven't gotten any kind of release after your fight," Buffy says innocently.

"Yeah, right," Faith says slowly with a slight scowl, caught between a rock and a hard place. Go with them and feel like shit the rest of the day or not go and make them suspicious. After a moment of deliberation, she says with a grimace, "I guess we could do that."

"Great," they say in unison. "Let's go," Missy says with a smile as they head back to Faith's place.

The three girls walk into Faith's apartment. She runs a hand through her hair nervously and looks at the other two. "I'm just going to…" she trails off, motioning towards her back room and they nod in understanding. "Just hang out or whatever. I'll only be a sec."

"Yeah. We'll wait in here," Missy says as she sits on the couch. Buffy just stands and looks after Faith. "You okay?" Missy asks with a smirk.

"Fine. Do you think Faith would tell us if she was feeling crappy?" She asks with a shake of her head.

"No way. That goes against everything she stands for," Missy grins. "She should be okay. I doubt she is in mortal danger or anything," she says somberly.

Faith steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her. She goes to the mirror and wipes the fog away with her hand and looks at her reflection and sighs. Seeing the redness in her eyes, she squeezes them shut then opens them back up. Don't worry. You'll be fine.

She opens up the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and reveals several prescription medication bottles. After a moment, she pulls one down and shakes out two small, round white pills, tilts her head back and swallows them. Then, she holds the sides of the sink for support as she struggles to stay standing. Faith takes a couple of deep breaths then stands back up and changes her clothes with minimal difficulty.

"You guys ready?" Faith asks with a halfhearted smile as she exit's the bathroom, discreetly pocketing a medicine bottle.

"Sure are," Buffy says brightly, eliciting a smirk from Missy.

"Let's go then," Missy states, jumping off of the couch.

"So, where to?" Faith asks with a forged smile.

"I saw this Italian place I saw on the way down here," Buffy offers. "It's Giovanni's or something, I don't think it's far," she says thoughtfully.

"Sounds good," Missy says and Faith nods in agreement.

They were all sitting in the restaurant having just ordered their food. Faith sits quietly sipping at her Coke. Missy watches Buffy watching Faith and smirks.

"Faith?" Buffy asks, shaking Faith out of her reverie. "You're being unusually quiet. It's very unlike you," she smiles.

Faith blinks in response. "As if you would know," she mutters before looking back down at her drink.

Buffy becomes silent, suddenly subdued. "Sorry," she mumbles.

"Faith, stop being a bitch," Missy whispers harshly so the only people that hear are sitting at that table. She looks up sharply. "Buff is making an effort to be nice to you and the least you could do is be nice."

Faith looks at Buffy. "Don't you think it's a little late for that?" She asks in a tone more curious than harsh.

Buffy looks into Faith's eyes for a moment until Faith notices what she's doing and looks away. It's too late though. "Faith, why are your eyes bloodshot?" She asks with concern.

Faith grumbles a moment to herself as she runs a hand through her hair. "I'm fine. I just need more sleep," she explains, only half lying.

Missy can tell it isn't the truth. "They didn't look like that when we left," she points out suspiciously.

"I guess it's finally catching up with me," Faith snaps back as she sands up. The sudden movement causes her to get a massive head rush.

"Faith?" Buffy asks as she notices the glazed look on her face. She gets up too late to stop her from collapsing, the medicine bottle rolling out of her jacket pocket. Buffy moves to Faith's side and she sees the bottle. "Hey Miss?" She asks holding it up.