Thanks so much for all the reviews.  I want more though.  I know this fic will be long, but I hope you stick with it.  It'll probably end up becoming two separate fics before the end. 

As for the Faith/Wes pairing, I've always thought they had some kind of chemistry, even though rather sick at times.  I'll do a chapter on some of those thoughts soon.  Thanks for the input.

As for other characters appearing, I haven't made up my mind yet.  I thought at first I'd kill a couple of them off, but now I'm not so sure.  So, when you read, remember that this is JossVerse we're talking about here.  Anyone can come back to life.  And yes, at some point, Lindsey will pop up.  But probably not til much later, maybe the second fic. I agree he'd be great at survival techniques.

Now, on with the show.

Chapter Ten – All Shook Up

Reaching over, he took a bruised hand in his.  He could see the drying blood all over her face and the front of her shirt.  Head wounds could be very serious.  He hoped her slayer healing kicked in soon.

Dawn ran in with a basin and bandages.

"Take care of her first," he rasped out to Dawn.  "Her head wound."  Wesley lifted his hand to Faith's head, and then let it drop.

Dawn efficiently cleaned Faith's wounds on the front of her head, placing a butterfly bandage expertly over the massive cut above her eye to help pull it together.

Wesley drifted in and out of consciousness while Dawn tried to patch Faith up.

"Wes, she's got a really big bump on the back of her head too."

"Patch it up as best you can."

Connor came into the room then, looking both of them over.  "Everything's secure."

"Spell," Wesley managed to grunt out.  He'd never been hurt to the point where he didn't have the strength to perform his spell to keep him safe.

"First things first."

Dawn took control, directing Connor on what to do with Wesley.  After helping bandage him up, Connor made him take some kind of pills.  Then he was out.

"Man, I thought I looked bad," Faith said out loud to an unconscious Wesley.  The man was a walking bruise, or in this case an out-like-a-light bruise.  Someone had taken his shirt off to bandage his side.  Dried blood caked the right side of jeans where he had bled.  His ribs were bruised, plus he had a nasty one on his face.

Under all those bruises and bandages though, Faith could see all the scars.  The ones she had made stood out the most.  God, had she really inflicted that much pain?

She had already apologized to Wes for her treatment of him and he had accepted.  Now she didn't know why on earth he had done it. 

Forgiveness.  A hard concept in her book.  He had done it simply and without reservation.  If he blamed himself, by God she'd sock him one for the thought.  If he'd just wake up so she could ask him.

Looking even rougher around the edges than the last time she saw him, she brushed his hair back to make sure he had no head wounds.  His hair was longer than before and it didn't look like he'd seen the end of a razor for a while.

He was tough, really tough, she thought.  He'd get through this.  He always did.

Stroking his cheek, she bent down to place a quick peck on his forehead before anyone saw her.  Then she cuddled up on his good side and fell asleep again.

TBC

Wanted to give everyone some first impressions from Faith.