Authors Note: Yay! I love reviews! Especially from new readers! Welcome LoganAlpha30! I'll see what I can do with Faith, I like pairing her oddly (Gunn, Angel) so maybe its time Wesley got a taste! Spygirl! You make me so happy I could kiss you! I am glad you like living in my Season 7 universe! I promise that you will be seeing more old faces soon and I hope you enjoy this in a mucho grande sort of way. Anywhoo. Darklover, I agree Angelus is a sicko, but I kinda wouldn't have him any other way, he offers a nice contrast to Spike, and well just about every other living creature on the planet. Jenny! You ready for Angel tonight?? Okay, so now I go, but look at what reviews do, yup, that's right they make me write more faster. Go reviews!

Jonathon and Andrew had crossed into the United States the day before. They had driven around Sunnydale city limits for a few hours and retreated one city over.

"Isn't it ironic that the next city over is Shadow's Grove? I mean Sunnydale has a hell mouth, and Shadow's Grove has what, a Taco Bell?" Jonathon asked as they drove down Main St.

"Yo Quiero Taco Bell. Mmm it's about time we ate real Mexically food." Andrew was sitting in the seat across from Jonathon. He was still wearing a sombrero and poncho. Jonathon had asked him to take off the hat a few times as he couldn't see out the window, but Andrew insisted that his disguise was a necessity. The El Camino was the cheapest but unfortunately tackiest car they could find. The horn sounded like a geriatric mariachi band on quaaludes, as it was profoundly slow. Although it would be difficult to remain incognito in an ElCamino with flames and Mexican flags painted on the doors, it was all they could get. Andrew suggested that he get his airbrush and paint the Death Star, both versions, on either of the doors. Jonathon had only turned up the radio and ignored him. He loved Andrew to death, but sometimes he just wanted to gag him.

"J-Lo, I'm hungry, how much money do we have left?"

"If you ever call me that again I am going to dump you in the middle of the street and make an anonymous phone call to the Sunnydale PD."

"Yeah, but I can give them a description of the car so you can't do that."

"I could if I cut your tongue out."

"You wouldn't!"

"I was an evil mastermind, of course I could, and even if I couldn't I could probably magically make your mouth disappear."

"Well my mouth is hungry right now. Hungry for something not made of dog, perhaps of the beef persuasion."

"We've got a couple hundred left. But we don't know how long we are going to have to hide from Buffy." Jonathon said.

"What happened to 'I'll just go see Buffy right away, I'm sure she won't hate us and sic her satan inspired best friend on us like that dog in Cujo.'"

"I never called Willow Cujo."

"Whatever, it was a metaphor."

"Oh look, a payphone, you know what payphones are good for? Anonymous phonecalls, that's what."

"Shut up Jonathon, I want a hamburger, no, better, I want a Double Meat Medley!"

"There isn't a Double Meat Palace here, we have to go to Sunnydale for that, plus Buffy works there, not a brilliant strategic move."

"I am a Dungeon Master, I know about strategy."

Jonathon turned the car around and headed back to Sunnydale.

"Whoa, why'd you do that?"

"Because we should do this sooner rather than later, and if we don't I might kill you."

"But, Buffy's gonna kill us first."

"I hear she's real against that these days. She's got a no-dead-humans policy."

"But, she's got Spike, and Anya, and all sorts of folks who don't have a problem with that! Remember why we went to Me-hi-co?" Andrew was exasperated. He couldn't believe that Jonathon was so blind as to walk them right into a death trap. At least when people walked into death traps on TV they were dressed like commandos and didn't realize they were heading to their innetivable deaths, a death generally involving lasers. "Well can we at least stop at the DMP so I can get a Medley? I heard Buffy freaked out one day about how it was made of people, the double meat. It was a very Hestonian moment from what I hear."

"You seriously need to get out more Andrew."

"Yes Lorne, as soon as we hear from or see Angel & Wesley we will let you guys know." Dawn was on the phone with Lorne for the third time in a day. "What the hell? Did you have a vision or something?"

"Well sugarsnap, I hear Faith's a bit of a live wire, she probably could have dusted Angel, killed Wesley, dumped the body, and be on her way to Mexico by now."

"Wow, I feel so comfrotable with the thought of her sharing my room with me."

"I'm just sayin'."

"I know, and trust me, I'm sure Wes will want to call you guys as soon as he gets back. You know how he is about his books, I'm sure it's just breaking his heart to be so far away from them."

"Okay, Later alligator."

"Afterwhile crocodile." Dawn laughed as she hung up the phone. The irony was not beyond her. When she turned around she saw a very pale Buffy coming down the stairs. "Hey sis, what's up, you look like you just saw a ghost, which considering the current climate around here wouldn't be a wierd as it could be."

"Spike was freaking out about Angelus or something. I don't know, it was just wierd, cos he was acting so strange. Kinda freaked me out."

"Sounds like freaks all around." Xander said as he followed them into the kitchen.

"You're still here?" Buffy asked without effort.

"Yeah I figured I'd be the man around the house while our friends from across the pond sleep off their afternoon delight."

"Did you just call Spike you're friend?" Dawn laughed.

"I didn't mean it that way."

"Dawn who were you on the phone with, was that Wes?"

"No, it was Lorne, again. He's worried about Wes and Angel."

Buffy rummaged in the fridge, "Don't we have any more diet? I just bought diet soda, like yesterday."

"And you've had a house full of people eating and drinking your food."

"Damnit."

"Whoa Buff, watch the language in front of Dawn!" Buffy and Dawn threw him glares, if only looks could kill. "Say, how about I go out and get some more soda and other food stuffs so you don't look at me like that anymore?"

"Sounds good." Buffy smilled and nodded, patting him on the shoulder.

Xander walked out and got in his Purple Ford Taurus. He remembered how embarassed he had been when his very drunk mother announced that she bought him a car. She claimed to have fallen in love with the color, but when Xander smelled vomit coming from the backseat, he realized it was probably more like a 'you puke in it, you bought it' deal. As he pulled out of the driveway, the convertible pulled in. Xander stopped, and rolled down the window.

"Wow Harris, that is one manly vehicle." Faith snickered as she got out of the car.

"Nice, Faith, kill anyone lately? Hey you guys need anything? I'm going to the store."

"I want a burrito, and hot pockets, hell anything microwavable, and I want beer. God do I want beer. I could also go for..." Faith started.

"Whoa, I'm not a grocery service, I'm just getting a couple of things. Beer though, I can definately manage." Xander pulled onto Revello Drive and away from the Summers home.

"Well Faith, you ready for this?"

"Last time I was in this house it was a bit of an out of body experience, literally. You sure B ain't gonna jump me?"

"I'll stop her, okay?" Angel asked from the car. The sun was just about to set for the day, but he could never be too careful. He wasn't into running around with flaming blankets like some of his kin.

"Aight. Let's do this." Faith headed for the back door. As she approached it, it opened.

"Faith." Buffy nodded at Buffy/

"Buffy." Faith nodded back as Buffy stood aside to let everyone in.

"As flattering as this prison orange is, I could really use some real clothes."

"Go upstairs, I'm sure something of mine will be whoreish enough for you." Buffy replied smartly.

"Wow, I had my money you'd last at least 5 minutes before ripping into me. Looks like I was wrong." Faith headed out of the kitchen and for the stairs. Before she got there she ran into Dawn.

"Faith."

"Hey little sis. How's it hangin?"

"It's not hangin' at all."

"Ouch, so does the hatred for me run in the family or is it beyond genetics?"

"Sorry, I'm just not real into trusting you just yet."

"Understandable."

"But we're sharing a room, and I swear if you touch one hair on my head..."

"Big sis is gonna kick my ass all the way to Cleveland. Got it." Faith headed upstairs. When she got to Buffy's door, it was locked. "Figures, 'Faith go upstairs and find some clothes, if you can get into my room, I have the key shoved so far up my ass I should be able to spit it out in a few minutes.'" She mocked Buffy until the door opened.

"Whoa!" Faith naturally fell into a fighting stance. "William the Bloody. Still got that chip in your head? Still got a yen for fucking slayers?"

"Who... wait are you Faith? You must be, no one else has that homicidal look in their eye around here, 'cept Xander 'round feeding time."

"BUFFY!" Faith yelled down the hall.

"How do you know about the chip?"

"Hmm, I don't know. I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up..."

"I've got muscles you've never dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more."

"Wow, memory like a steel trap."

"'s not the kind of thing a man forgets. Buffy told me about that. You did Captain Cardboard, kudos to you, although I think you missed out on the shag of your life when you left me in the Bronze."

"You know what else steel traps are good for? Trapping animals, animals like you." Faith remarked, Buffy ran up the stairs, nearly out of breath.

"Now Faith, why would you say that? Sorry you missed out on your chance? I'd just like to say that wow, you weren't wrong, Buffy truely was the most amazing shag of my unlife, but I can't remember, Buffy, love did I ever pop like warm champagne?"

"Not that I recall, but there could have been popping I'm not remembering, after the 5th ot 6th time in one night I sort of stop keeping track of your popping status." She smiled at him.

"Whoa, wait up. So you two've been bangin' the gong?"

"Bangin' the gong? Faith, that's a horrible analogy. Did they teach you that in prison? Some sort of lesbian sex refrence?"

"We'll have to ask Red 'bout that pet."

"I'm gonna go slam my head into the wall over there until I black out and wake up in Kansas alright?" Faith was unnerved. "I mean they said things had changed, but damn B, another vampire?"

"You know what they say 'bout us, once you go vamp, you never go back."

"Spike, go check on Giles make sure he hasn't choked on his own puke or anything."

"Why do I have to check on the watcher? It's not like I'm a Watcher watcher!"

"Spike."

"Fine." Spike sauntered away from the two slayers.

"B, you have got to be kidding me. This is way too fucked up, and when I'm calling a situation fucked up, you know it's beyond normal fucked up standards."

"It's cool, come on, lets' get you some clothes." Buffy turned and let Faith into her room. Faith sat on the bed while Buffy milled through her closet.

"So what's with the change of fashion? Last time I saw you, you were all Rainbow Bright, and now it's like Rainbow Not Bright. I mean, B, all your clothes are black, well dark red or dark something and black."

"Some shit's happened in the last year, and let's just say I wasn't in such a good place for a while."

"The language, the clothes, are you turning into my blonde clone? Cos I have the patent on rogue slayer, it's all copyrighted n shit." Buffy threw a red tank top, a pair of black jeans, and one of her many black leather jackets on the bed.

"There, wear those. Your feet are bigger than mine, so go raid Dawn and Willow's closets for shoes. Anything else you need, well you pretty much know where all my stuff is don't you?" The end of her statement was said bitterly.

"Yeah. So wait, Willow lives here? I mean I heard about your mom, nice lady, I was real sorry to hear she kicked it. But Willow lives here?"

"Sort of, she did until she tried to end the world, which was after she flayed Warren alive, which was after he killed her girlfriend while trying to kill me. Then Giles took her to England to get her Wicca stuff under control."

"Willow? Red hair, mousy, brainy, about so tall? That Willow?"

"Yup. Anything else? I need to check on Giles and make some food. You hungry?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll be right down." Faith said in mostly disbelief, was this the same Sunnydale she had left? "Uh, B. Did anyone else go all evil while I was gone?"

"Umm, let's see, I died, friends brought me back from the dead, Xander left Anya at the altar, Giles went back to England, I tried to feed all my friends to a demon so I could stay in a mental hospital in my head, umm I think that's about it. Oh yeah, Spike has a soul now, so don't stake him or anything. And oh yeah, Gatorade has a new flavor, blue."

"Another one with a soul? But I thought you two were..."

"It's more permanent than Angel's."

"Oh. Wow. 3 years in lock-up and the whole world changes."

"Things are like that when you live on a hellmouth."

"I guess. So are you and me okay? I don't wanna be a pain in the ass, but Angel made it sound real important for me to be here. I just don't wanna be in anyone's way. I'm real sorry about how things went last time, I mean with the stealing your body and all that."

"Let's just take it one step at a time. I mean, I don't trust you, not completely, but I guess I have a different outlook on things now, and maybe I can kinda see things from a place closer to where you are. Plus, you pull any shit and it's back to orange jumpsuits and meals on plastic trays for you. Angel said you were trying, and I have to trust that, as long as you don't prove that trust is misplaced, I will try to trust you. I don't want things to end up like they did last time, with me stabbing you in the gut, and you stealing my body. I'd like to think we can sorta start over. But you lay one finger on my boyfriend, and I'll rip your guts out, not stab them." Buffy smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, this is gonna take some adjusting to. But I'm down. I really do want to be good now. It's not a game or an act or anything like that. Ain't it funny? I want to help save the world."

"I've heard it from stranger sources."

"I guess. Well, I'll be down in a few. Can I take a shower? Do you have any idea how long its been since I could take a shower alone? And grass! Oh My God! When I'm done takin' a shower I'm gonna run around outside and dig my toes into grass. Man, it's shit like grass and showering alone that you start to miss you know? I mean why doesn't anyone miss paying the water bill?"

"Maybe cos the freedom from checking accounts in prison affords makes you not think about the water bill? Sure you can take a shower, and just don't run around the backyard naked, the neighbors sort of frown on that." Buffy turned and left Faith. Maybe they could start over, but even if they couldn't they needed each other right now, so they really had no choice.