Summary: Buffy and Faith fight once more, but this time, for each other and
with each other (as in side by side) to stop a great evil. They get help
from a source that they don't expect and manage to find love. This will be
a Buffy/Faith story, so if it weirds you out, I suggest you turn back
before it's too late.
Feedback: Always Welcome. And thanks to those who have reviewed. It
totally motivates me to bust my ass on these chapters
CHAPTER 4
When the girls arrived home, they brought everything inside and began
making dinner. Buffy was in her room putting her and Faith's clothes away.
She emptied out two of her four dresser drawers and rearranged her closet
to give Faith room to keep her stuff. She could hear the faint sound of
Kennedy and Willow arguing in the room down the hall. As she was finishing
with the clothes, she heard a door slam and Kennedy fumed down the hall and
went downstairs. She heard the back door slam as she was walking down the
stairs. Buffy found Faith in the kitchen making dinner and she walked up
behind her and slipped her arms around Faith's waist.
"Hey good lookin'"
"Hey, what's up with Kenny?"
"I don't know, I think she had a fight with Will."
"Man, those two need to give it a rest already."
"Are you gonna go talk to her?"
"Yeah, I'll let her cool off for a bit."
"Anything I can do to help with dinner?"
Faith bit back a laugh.
"You can set the table."
"Okay."
After setting the table, Buffy went upstairs to Willow's room and knocked
softly at the door.
"Will?"
"I just want to be alone Buffy."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, well dinner will be ready in a few minutes, you want me to bring you
something?"
"No thanks, I'm gonna lie down for a while."
"Okay, just let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks."
Buffy frowned as she walked back downstairs. The rest of the group filed
in and they had a nice quiet dinner. Faith noticed that Kennedy never came
back inside. She put her dishes in the sink for Buffy to put away.
(That's fair, I cook, and B can clean up.) She found Kennedy sitting on
the back steps smoking a cigarette. Faith wandered over and took a seat
next to her.
"Can I bum a smoke?"
Kennedy nodded and held out the pack to Faith. She lit it and inhaled
deeply, she held the smoke in for a few seconds, savoring the taste.
"Man, no matter how long you quit for, the first one back always tastes so
good."
Kennedy remained silent and stared up at the sky. Faith allowed a few
minutes to pass without speaking until she got an idea.
"Hey, ya wanna get out of here for a while?"
"What did ya have in mind?"
"The Bronze? We can blow off some steam."
"Yeah, that would be good."
Faith finished her smoke and put the butt in an empty can. She stood up
and began walking back to the house.
"So, we'll leave in 20 minutes?"
"Yeah...thanks Faith."
Faith smiled and walked back into the house. Her grin widened as she saw
Dawn and Dylan doing the dishes singing and dancing along with the radio.
She smirked as she thought of what Buffy must have bribed the two younger
girls with to do the dishes. She walked upstairs and into Buffy's bedroom
and saw that the blonde was getting things together for her shower.
"Hey."
Buffy looked up and smiled deviously at Faith.
"Hi, just getting ready to shower, wanna join me?"
Faith's face fell and she even pouted slightly.
"Dammit, I told Kenny we'd go out to the Bronze in like twenty minutes."
"You can still go to the bronze, it's just a shower."
"You know as well as I do, if we take a shower it will be a whole hell of a
lot longer than twenty minutes."
The two slayers shared a smile, but Buffy turned on the pout.
"No, don't use the pout, not fair. She needs to blow off some steam. We
won't be gone long though, so maybe we can play when I get home?"
"Fine...maybe I'll can just wait on the shower til you get back."
"That sounds like an excellent plan."
Suddenly Buffy's eyes got wide as she remembered the gift she got for Faith
at the mall.
"Oh, before I forget, I got you something."
Faith smiled as Buffy pulled open a drawer in her dresser and grabbed a
black box. She handed it to Faith with a shy smile.
"What's this?"
"Open it and see silly."
Faith grinned as she pulled the top open on the box. Her eyes welled with
tears slightly as she saw the contents. Inside the box was a white gold
ring that was strung on a chain that matched. She picked up the ring and
noticed that it was engraved.
The Chosen Two, yours forever, B
"This is awesome, B, thank you."
She leaned in and kissed Buffy. The blonde went back to her drawer and
pulled out another chain that had a matching ring.
"I got one for me too. So we can both have one. Although, mine doesn't
say 'love you, B'. I think that would be a little narcissistic"
Faith smiled as Buffy clasped the chain around her own neck and took
Faith's and did the same for her.
"I love it, thank you."
"Just something to make you think of me."
"Sorry B, but I don't need a reason, I'm always thinking about you."
"So sweet Faithy, now you better get going. Be good, and be careful and
hurry back, I need my Faith time."
Faith smiled and kissed Buffy lightly before grabbing her jacket and
heading out the door.
She found Kennedy lingering around the front door as she bounded down
the stairs.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, let's go."
The two made it to the Bronze and walked inside dodging bodies the
whole way in. They somehow managed to find a table and dumped their
jackets and headed for the bar. The bartender was too busy staring at
their breasts to bother asking for I.D. They each got a beer and
headed for the dance floor. They were both swept into the beat and
barely noticed the group of guys lingering around waiting to dance with
either girl.
After ignoring just about every guy in the club for an hour they made
their way back up to the bar. Two very good-looking guys intercepted
them on the way and asked if they could buy them a drink. Faith
smiled.
"Sure, Corona for me, Smirnoff Ice for her." Faith said as the two
wandered back to the table as the guys went to the bar. The younger
girl shot her a look saying 'what are you doing?' Faith answered with
her own saying 'relax.' Kennedy sat on one of the stools and Faith
remained standing, dancing in place a bit. A few minutes later the
guys returned and handed the drinks over. They each took their drinks
and Faith grabbed Kennedy by the front of her jeans and tugged her to
her feet.
"Thanks." Faith said as she pulled the younger girl towards the dance
floor. The guys stood at the table looking confused.
"Hey!" Faith turned as one of the guys yelled.
"What? You asked if you could buy us a drink, you did, I said thanks,
and we go out separate ways...besides, I'm with her." The two smiled
sweetly at the guys and Kennedy allowed Faith to lead her back to the
dance floor. Faith smirked as the two guys walked away looking pretty
pissed. The two girls returned to their dancing, still laughing at the
guys. They danced for a while longer until Kennedy started to feel
funny. The two had pretty much chugged the drinks they received, but
she knew she wasn't drunk. Her vision got a little fuzzy and she was
having problems staying upright. Faith took one look at her and led
her back to the table. She held on to Kennedy with one hand and
grabbed the two jackets with the other. Faith barely managed to get
Kennedy out the door before she fell over.
"Kenny, come on, get up."
"I can't Faith, I can't see, what the hell is going on?" Kennedy's
voice was laced with fear.
Faith slipped her jacket on and helped Kennedy put hers on. She
grabbed the girl held her up so they could make it down the street.
They had been walking a few minutes when suddenly Faith started to feel
funny. Kennedy was almost comatose and barely walking and they both
spilled on the pavement as Faith lost her footing and fell. She
noticed Kennedy wasn't moving as she struggled to pull herself to her
knees. Faith brought a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes furiously
and tried to focus.
"Kenny."
Faith began to panic as her voice was seriously slurred and she barely
recognized it as her own. She began a battle with her brain,
struggling to keep her eyes open. She lifted her arm and it felt like
it weighed four hundred pounds. She managed to crawl a few feet closer
to Kennedy before she collapsed and it all went black.
A moment later, two guys stepped out of the shadows and grinned at the
two girls. One was blonde and he was dressed in jeans and a white
dress shirt, the other had dark hair and was dressed the same, but had
a black shirt on.
"Now see, if they had just stuck around after we gave them those drinks
we could have been spared the big dramatic exit."
The dark haired guy walked over to Faith and kicked her squarely in the
ribs making sure she was out.
"How much time do we have before she wakes up?"
"Thirty minutes, give or take."
"Should we have a little fun with this one before we go?" The blonde
smiled at his buddy as he walked to Kennedy and picked her up. His
friend picked Faith up and they made their way to an alley nearby.
They dropped Faith at the back of the alley and both turned their
attention to Kennedy.
Fifteen minutes later, the two walked out of the alley with Faith in
tow in the blonde's arms. Neither man noticed the ring that dropped
off the chain around Faith's neck as they turned out of the alley.
They made their way to the cemetery nearby and waked to a crypt near
the front. They walked down the stairs and the dark haired guy pushed
the lid off the concrete gave and lifted himself inside. He turned as
the blonde handed Faith to him and hopped over the side. He pulled the
lid closed above him as the two made their way down the steps. Faith
began to stir slightly as they made their way through the dark
corridors. They finally came to a large cavern and hurried through the
gate. They walked into a brightly lit room and placed Faith on what
appeared to be a hospital bed. A man in a white lab coat walked in and
smiled. The two guys stripped Faith down and threw a blanket over her.
Next they began to secure restraints on her arms and legs. As soon as
she was restrained, they left and the doctor took over. He pulled her
arm over top of the blanket and prepared to put an I.V. in, once that
was finished, he attached a heart monitor and placed a pulse-ox on her
finger. As he was taking her blood pressure a huge demon walked into
the room.
"She's still out?" It asked.
"Yes, she seems to be fine, I'm about to take the first round of
blood."
"How much do they need to be revived?"
"Eight pints should get them started. I can take four from her now and
four in an hour. As a slayer, her blood will regenerate much faster.
Four hours after that I'll repeat the process."
"Good, we don't have much time, so get as much as you can from her."
"I won't sleep until we are finished."
"Good, make sure to let me know when you are about to perform the
transfusion."
"I will."
The demon left the room and the doctor turned back to Faith. She began
to stir and he knew she would come to soon. He attached a tube to her
I.V. and began draining her blood. Once he had four pints, he removed
the tube and turned her I.V. on 100 percent. He took the blood into
another room and placed it in a cooler.
Buffy was pacing nervously in the living room when Willow walked down
the stairs. The redhead could see that the slayer was worried about
something.
"Buffy?"
The blonde jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. She gave Willow
a nervous smile and continued to pace the room.
"What's going on?"
"Faith isn't home yet, her and Kennedy went out and she said she
wouldn't be late, but they aren't home yet, I just have a bad feeling."
"Do you know where they went?" Willow's voice held a slight edge.
"No, although they probably went to the Bronze, where else is there?"
"Do you think they went patrolling for a while after?"
"I doubt it...Giles told all of us that there won't be much out there to
kill with Maltag hanging around."
"Do you want to go over there, just to make sure they're okay?"
"Yeah, we should. I wanted to give them time to talk and stuff, but I
can't shake the feeling that something is wrong."
"I'm sure they're fine Buffy, but if you have a feeling, we should
check it out, just to make sure."
"Okay. Let's go."
The two girls grabbed their jackets and struggled not to run to the
car. Each girl trying to remain calm for the other. Willow jumped in
the driver seat and as soon as Buffy was in she sped off towards the
club. They both leapt from the car and ran inside. They split up and
each made their way through the club to the back and made another sweep
back to the front.
"I didn't see them Buffy." Willow was starting to panic.
"Me either."
"What do we do?"
"Let's look outside, they might have trailed a stray through the alleys
out front."
The two ran for the front and began checking the alleyways one by one.
Buffy was about to turn right down an alley when something caught her
eye. She jogged up to the object and a gasp escaped her lips as she
realized what it was. Willow ran up behind her and looked at the
object Buffy held.
"What is it Buffy?"
Buffy's chin quivered slightly as she struggled not to cry.
"I gave this to Faith earlier."
Willow's eyebrows furrowed together as she thought.
"Maybe she dropped it?"
"It was on a chain around her neck."
Before Willow could respond, Buffy made her way down the alley where
they found the ring. She began to run as she saw the silhouette of a
girl at the end of the alley. She stopped abruptly at the scene in
front of her. Kennedy was sprawled out on the ground with her clothes
hastily thrown on top of her. She had bruises on her neck and face and
blood was flowing freely through a gash on her forehead. She turned
and yelled to Willow before the redhead could make it close enough to
see that it was her girlfriend.
"Willow, go now, call 911!"
"What is it Buffy?"
"Go Willow, please, you have to hurry."
Willow gave her a worried look as she turned suddenly and ran off in
the other direction.
Faith awoke feeling heavy. She felt like her arms and legs weighed a
ton. She tried to open her eyes but the light was almost blinding.
She groaned loudly as she struggled to move her arms. She opened her
eyes as little as possible and tried to take in her surroundings, but
her vision was still foggy. She gave up and drifted back off to sleep.
An hour later she heard two voices. She opened her eyes again and
while her vision was still cloudy, she could make out two bodies
standing nearby. One was twice the size of the other. She groaned and
the two voices stopped abruptly and the bodies moved closer. She could
make out the shorter figure to be a man in a white coat and the larger
appeared to be a demon.
"Slayer, you're awake." The demon hissed.
Faith tried to respond, but her mouth wouldn't make out the words her
brain was sending. The only sound that escaped her lips was another
groan. She heard the demon yelling something in a language she
couldn't understand. Suddenly another demon came into the room and the
two appeared to be having a conversation. After a minute, the man and
the first demon left the room. Faith gasped as what felt like fire
spread through her stomach. She looked down and saw the demon dragging
a claw through her skin. He retracted his claws and punched her in the
stomach. The demon continued to beat Faith until she fell back into
unconsciousness.
Buffy tried not to panic wondering where Faith was. She turned her
attention to the girl before her. She reached and grabbed Kennedy's
jacket and pulled it on the girl and buttoned it up around her. She
took the shirt from the ground and ripped it into strips. She folded
one strip and put pressure on the wound on her head and used the other
strips to keep it in place. She took off the hooded sweatshirt she was
wearing and draped it over the girl's lower body to offer more
covering. She heard Willow approaching as she was checking Kennedy's
pulse.
"Kennedy!"
Willow immediately collapsed on her knees next to the girl.
"Did you call an ambulance?"
"Yes, it should be here any minute. Buffy, what happened?"
"I don't know Willow, but she's bleeding pretty bad. Take your hand
and put pressure on her head. She has a pretty strong pulse."
"What happened to her clothes? Oh no...what if she was..."
"No, Willow, don't think about it, we need to get her to the hospital
fast, we can figure out what happened after that. Run to the end of
the alley and wait for the paramedics to get here."
Willow nodded and ran to the end of the alley. She flagged down the
ambulance when it arrived. Two paramedics, one male and one female,
ran down the alley with a stretcher.
"What happened?"
"We don't know, we came down here and found her just like this."
"Do you know her?"
"We're friends."
"Okay, we'll take care of her don't worry."
The male paramedic began to get her blood pressure as the female took
her pulse. They did a quick exam and loaded her onto the stretcher.
"Can I go with her?" Willow asked.
"Sure, let's go."
Buffy ran back to the front of the Bronze and jumped in her car to
follow the ambulance. Inside the ambulance, the female paramedic
removed the bandages from Kennedy's head and put some gauze in its
place then she secured it with tape. She took Kennedy's arm and
started an I.V. She put a blood pressure cuff on her other arm and hit
a button on the machine so it would start. When she was finished, she
got Kennedy's personal information from Willow.
Ten minutes later, they pulled into the hospital and wheeled her
inside. Willow watched as they transferred her to a bed and the
paramedics gave the doctor a quick report. The female paramedic smiled
and squeezed Willow's shoulder gently as she left.
"Are you family?"
"No, she's my girlfriend."
The doctor nodded and Willow figured it was okay if she stayed.
"Do you know if she was raped?"
Willow's eyes widened significantly as she pondered the question.
"When I found her she was in the alley and her clothes where covering
her up, so she might have been."
The two turned as Buffy walked deeper into the room.
"Are you a friend of hers?"
"Yes, I found her."
"Well, if that's the case, I'm going to have to ask you both to leave
so I can perform a rape kit, just to be sure."
Willow began to protest but Buffy pulled her out of the room.
"Willow, I need you to do a location spell to find Faith, we still
don't know where she is."
"Oh no, Buffy, I almost forgot about her with everything with Kennedy.
I can do the spell, but I don't want Kenny to be here alone when she
wakes up."
"Okay, I'll call Xander to come over here and we can head home to do
the spell."
"Okay, let's go."
Buffy ran to the pay phones in the lobby and briefly explained the
situation to Xander and he agreed to come down. The two girls jumped
in the jeep and headed home. They flew through the front door barely
acknowledging the two younger girls asking too many questions. They
went to Willows room and Buffy paced as the redhead did the spell.
"I'm getting something faint, I think she's in the cemetery."
"Which one?"
"Restfield. Close to the entrance. Are there any crypts in that
area?"
"Yeah, I know of one. Okay, I'm gonna go get her."
"Are you sure you should go alone?"
"I won't be, Dylan is coming with me. You take the car and go back to
Kennedy. Maybe you can take Dawn with you so she isn't here alone."
"Okay, you and Dylan be careful."
"You guys too."
Willow grabbed Dawn on her way out trying to answer all of the
questions the teen was asking. Buffy ran to the basement and threw the
lid of the weapon chest open. She grabbed weapons for herself and
Dylan and ran back up the steps. She found Dylan standing at the front
door waiting.
"What's going on?"
"Come on, I'll explain along the way."
The two blondes ran out the door and down the street as Buffy explained
as much as she knew about the situation.
Xander was pacing around the waiting room of the hospital sipping his
coffee when a nurse appeared.
"Are you with the young woman who was brought in earlier?"
"Kennedy? Yes, I am."
"Come with me."
Xander followed the nurse into the emergency room and she stopped in
front of a room with a 3 on the door.
"Is she awake?"
"Not yet, we found traces of Ruhipnol in her blood and it usually takes
12 hours for it to wear off. We are going to keep her overnight and
keep an eye on her. You can go in though."
"Thank you."
Xander walked into the room and felt his anger rise when he saw the
younger girl. She had stitches in her forehead and her left eye was a
dark purple color and it was swollen Her lip was swollen and she had
several small bruises on her neck. The muscles in his jaw twitched as
he clenched his teeth, trying not to lose it. While he wasn't really
close to Kennedy he knew that Willow cared a lot about her and he was
disgusted at the thought of Kennedy and Faith getting attacked. He
pushed his emotion aside and pulled a chair up to the side of the bed
and waited patiently as he drank his coffee.
Thirty minutes later Willow and Dawn arrived at the hospital. They ran
into the room and scared Xander who was sleeping lightly in the chair
next to the bed.
"Sorry Xander."
"No problem, just startled me."
"How is she?"
"She hasn't woken up yet, how about Dawn and I go find a doctor for
you."
"Thanks."
Willow sat in the chair next to the bed and she took Kennedy's hand in
both of hers as tears silently slipped down her cheeks.
Faith awoke with a start and she looked around wildly. Her vision had
cleared up and she could see she was in what appeared to be a hospital
room. (No, not a hospital room, I'm in a cave. A cave? How the hell
did I get here and what the hell is going on?) She tried to lift her
arms but she realized she was bound to the table. She moved her legs
and found they were bound as well. She looked at her arms and saw that
she had an I.V. in her right arm and she had wires attached to her
chest.
"Hey! What the hell is going on?" She screamed at the top of her
lungs. An older man walked into the room. He had a white lab coat on
and his hair was dark and he was slightly balding.
"Oh, good you're awake."
"What the hell is going on?"
Suddenly a large demon entered the room, he looked like an Ubervamp but
bigger and uglier. He had a grin plastered to his face. Faith
immediately recognized him from the slayer dream she and Buffy shared.
It was Maltag.
"Don't worry slayer, we just need your blood."
"What the hell for?"
"Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took the blood of a
slayer and put it in a vampire?"
Faith remained silent as she thought about the outcome. She suddenly
realized what would happen and her features hardened. His grin widened
as he watched her realize what he was doing.
"That's right, not only would they have a vampire's strength, but a
slayer's as well. You have already supplied us with the blood to
revive one vampire, and there are only more to come." He turned to the
doctor. "Keep an eye on her, I'll be gone for an hour making
preparations for my rise."
The doctor nodded as Maltag left the room.
Buffy had explained most of the situation to Dylan as they ran towards
the cemetery. Buffy could feel Faith nearby as they approached the
gates. As they ran through the gates, Buffy stopped suddenly and
closed her eyes. She focused all her energy on feeling Faith and she
stood for a minute before opening her eyes. She scanned her
surroundings until her gaze fell on a nearby crypt.
"She's in there."
Dylan nodded as they ran to the crypt. Buffy swung the door open and
looked around.
"Are you sure she's in here?"
"Yeah, look for a hidden door or some kind of a passageway."
The two searched the room until Dylan swung the top of the grave off
and saw the stairs leading down below.
"Remember Dylan, we're just going to get Faith, we aren't going after
Maltag. If we see him, we run. We just need to get Faith out."
"I know, I got it, get in, get out. Don't worry."
The two hopped into the grave and descended the steps. Buffy led the
way as she could sense that Faith was close. They weaved through the
narrow corridors lit by torches hung on the wall. As they got closer
they could hear Faith screaming at someone and as they reached the
mouth of the cavern, they stopped and looked around. The cavern
ceiling was probably fifty feet up and the room was shaped like a dome.
Torch light swayed as a breeze swept through from one of the other
corridors. Directly across from where they were, they saw a demon exit
the room that Buffy recognized as Maltag. She nudged Dylan and nodded
in his direction. Dylan followed her gaze and took in the sight of the
disgusting looking creature leaving the room. She nodded at Buffy and
suddenly something caught her eye. She could see what appeared to be a
human man in the room, he was holing a syringe and she caught sight of
dark wavy hair. Dylan nudged Buffy who was looking around trying to
sense if anything was close. Buffy looked where Dylan was pointing and
she too saw the top of Faith's head bobbing around wildly. They
watched as the man moved away from the doorway and they decided to make
their move. The two blondes sprinted across the cavern and stopped
just inside the door. The man, who they decided was a doctor, had just
finished giving Faith an injection and she was thrashing around yelling
at him. He looked up suddenly when he noticed the two girls in the
doorway. He had barely opened his mouth when Dylan clocked him right
across the face with a right hook. He was knocked unconscious
instantly. Faith stopped thrashing as soon as she saw Buffy and Dylan.
Buffy looked at her and could tell that she was given something to
knock her out. Her eyelids began to droop and she struggled to keep
them open.
"B."
"Shh, Faithy, relax, just go to sleep baby, you're safe now."
Willow sat holding Kennedy's hand crying silently when she heard a
knock on the door. She turned while wiping her tears away and saw a
doctor at the door.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Kelly." The blonde woman held out her hand to Willow.
"Hi, I'm Willow, Kennedy's girlfriend. Is she going to be okay?"
"Well, we found traces of Ruhipnol in her blood-"
"The date rape drug?"
"Yes, that's why she's still asleep."
"Was she..."
"I'm afraid she was raped, and unfortunately we found semen from two
different men." Willow brought a hand to her face and wiped the tears
from her eyes. Her chin quivered as she struggled to keep herself
under control.
"We had to put some stitches in her head, she got fifteen in all. We
did a CAT scan and that came back clear. We also gave her an emergency
contraceptive, so there is no chance for pregnancy."
"What about STD's?"
"We have some pretty potent antibiotics running through her right now,
they should take care of anything that would show up in the next few
days. We did an HIV test and it came back negative, but she will have
to come back in six months to make sure it hasn't shown up. Before she
leaves I'm going to prescribe a mild sedative to help her sleep. It
looks worse than it is. It's mostly bumps and bruises."
Willow nodded silently. The doctor handed her a card.
"It's a crisis line, she can call if she needs to. I'll get you set up
with information about support groups before she leaves."
"Thank you."
The doctor smiled sadly at Willow and left the room.
Faith smiled at Buffy and closed her eyes. Dylan began undoing the
restraints as Buffy pulled the heart monitor pads off Faith's chest.
She was glad Faith fell back asleep as she pulled the I.V. needle out
of her arm; she knew it would hurt later. She pulled the rest of the
wires off her and wrapped her in the blanket that was covering her.
She noticed the blanket had some fairly large blood spots. She
gathered Faith in her arms and the two girls made their way back to the
corridor they came through. Buffy felt her spidey senses go off and
she panicked briefly.
"Dylan, vamp up ahead."
Dylan nodded and pulled the stake out of the waist of her jeans. She
charged forward and bowled the vamp over. The vampire, while
surprised, used Dylan's momentum to roll the tiny blonde over on her
back. Dylan grunted as she slugged the vamp square in the face, she
smiled as she heard the sound of bones crunching. The vamp recoiled
slightly and whimpered like a dog. Dylan rolled herself back on top
and quickly thrust the stake through its heart and watched as he burst
into dust.
"Come on let's go." Buffy began to run down the corridor with Dylan
close behind, watching their backs. They reached the steps and got to
the top as quickly as they could. The two sprinted out of the crypt
and ran home as quickly as they could. Dylan stayed close to Buffy
until they reached Revello Drive, when they got there, she sprinted
ahead and made it to the house in seconds. She pushed the door open
and ran to the phone. She called Giles and explained the situation and
he told her he would be over shortly. She hung up the phone and ran
upstairs to the bathroom. She grabbed a pile of towels and the first
aid kit. She heard Buffy run through the door as she was laying the
towels out on the bed.
"I called Giles and he's on his way over."
"Good, thanks. Here give me a hand."
Dylan helped Buffy get Faith on the bed and she pulled the first aid
kit up next to her. Dylan stepped back and looked uncomfortable for a
moment.
"You don't need my help for this do you? It would be a little weird
for me."
"No, sorry, I didn't think about it, why don't you wait for Giles
downstairs and explain everything to him when he gets here. I'll come
down when I'm done."
Dylan smiled gratefully and closed the door behind her as she left.
Buffy peeled the now blood-soaked blanket back from Faith's body and
gasped at what she saw. She had bruises scattered all over her body
and a deep wound was bleeding freely. It began about two inches to the
left of her navel and continued horizontally to her hipbone. She
reached for the gauze pads and stacked a few of them together. She
placed them over the gash and taped them up quickly. She knew they
would need stitches. Faith had a few minor cuts that she cleaned and
covered. Buffy went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of pajamas
and dressed Faith and slid her under the blankets. She dropped a quick
kiss on Faith's head and made her way downstairs. She spoke briefly
with Giles and he made his way upstairs as the two blondes followed
him. He pulled his supplies out of the first aid kit and lifted the
bottom of her shirt. He pulled Buffy's bandage off and began to stitch
Faith up. When Giles was finished he and Dylan retreated downstairs
and Buffy stayed with Faith.
A few hours later, Kennedy woke up groggily. She struggled to open her
eyes and she felt something grasp her hand. She struggled to free her
hand when she heard a voice.
"Kenny, it's me, Willow."
Kennedy calmed immediately as she followed the voice. She could make
out the outline of Willow's body, but her eyes refused to focus. She
opened her mouth to speak, but only a croak escaped her throat.
"Relax sweetie, just go back to sleep. You're in the hospital, you're
safe."
Kennedy struggled to speak again and this time she managed to form a
single word.
"Faith?"
"Buffy is taking care of Faith, don't worry baby. Just rest, okay?"
Kennedy nodded slightly and drifted back to sleep. Willow turned at a
light knock on the door. Dawn and Xander stood in the doorway. Dawn
had tears in her eyes and Willow reached out and the young girl
practically ran to her arms. The girl sobbed into Willow's shoulder
and she held her close.
"It's okay Dawnie, Kenny and Faith are going to be fine."
"I know, I was just scared."
"I know honey, I was too."
"Is it okay if I stay here with you?"
"Yeah, it's okay, she probably won't be awake for a while, but you can
stay if you want."
"Hey Wills, I think I'm gonna head home, but call me when she's ready
to come home and I'll come back to get you guys."
Willow nodded and Xander placed a kiss on both girls' heads and left.
A few minutes later Dawn went to get coffee and Willow stayed at
Kennedy's bedside.