Hi guys! Long time no see. Sorry about taking so long, but since the last time I posted I've built and torn down three sets, designed lights for a show, was in a show, planted a garden, have been harvesting, celebrated an anniversary, finished Across the Pond, wrote two one shots for the mid-year ficathon, and started to catch up on Stargate. Oh yeah, and finally wrote this chapter.

Next one will be up sometime next week. My beta is currently grounded from the computer and won't be back until then. I decided to post this anyway because you guys have waited so long. If you'll notice, the chapter doesn't have a title yet, but if any of you have any ideas let me know. Thanks. As soon as my beta gets back to me on this one, I'll repost it with a chapter title and a huge thank you to whoever suggests the one I use.

Review Responses:

John, Kyra2, BrittyBabe, Sailor Catastrophe, buffyfan363, thank you guys for all of your reviews!

Harmoni, hey girl! Sorry this one took so long. The updates should speed back up.

vampy the chosen one, I'm sorry but this one doesn't contain too many smiling moments, although there are a few. There should be more soon.

clcountry, one of your guesses for Faith are correct, but I'm not saying which yet. And you make me blush with all of your compliments.

Broken Skye, I'm using elements from book the movie and the book, and that comment was from the book. The movie compressed a lot of the events and characters. For example: in the books Eomer wasn't banished, he was imprisoned. The force that came to Helm's Deep was a different prince, not to mention the scary trees. So if there are things you don't recognize from the movie then they are from the book. But once I get Buffy and co. more involved with the decisions a lot of things are going to change that will be original.

Chapter Fourteen

Wesley looked up from the text he was reading to see Giles staring out the window with a book loosely held in his hands. The older watcher had been distracted ever since Buffy and the others had left several days earlier. Wesley could only imagine how he felt.

"I'm sure she's fine," Wesley said after a moment.

Giles jerked and turned to look at his colleague. "What was that?"

"Buffy. I'm sure she's fine. She's quite capable."

"Yes, she is," Giles said as he adjusted his glasses and returned his attention back to the nearly forgotten book in his hands.

Wesley took the hint and went back to the book he had been studying. He was surprised when Giles softly spoke a few minutes later.

"No matter how good she is, I always worry that this will be the time she won't return home. I know she has cheated death time and again, has died twice and returned, but one day her luck will run out."

"But she's not alone. Spike will defend her with his last breath - so to speak. Plus, her group is filled with capable fighters," Wesley assured him.

Giles chuckled. "True. It's her friends that have kept her grounded over the years. Without them she would have stayed dead at the master's hand, but it doesn't stop my fears. She is my daughter in all respects except for blood."

Wesley nodded and said, "I can understand that."

Looking up from his book, Giles regarded the younger man for several seconds before saying, "I suppose you do at that."
"Meaning?"

"I've noticed your relationship with Faith has improved."

"Neither of us are who we were in Sunnydale. The years gave us a new perspective on things and people." Wesley sighed. "If I had recognized how insecure she was back then, maybe things would have been different."
"Or maybe not," Giles countered.

"Perhaps. But she and I don't dwell on the past, only on the present and future."
"She's blossomed into a lovely woman."
A smirk crossed Wesley's face. "Lovely?"

"You know what I meant."
"I do, and she has," Wesley said with no small amount of pride in his voice. "It means a lot to her that Buffy entrusted these kids safety to her."
"She wouldn't have trusted just anyone."
Wesley nodded. "She knows and won't take this job lightly."

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"Awake! Awake!" Legolas cried. He had taken the last watch and was worried by what he saw. "It is a red dawn. Blood has been spilled this night. Awake!"

"Bloody elves. Too damn loud for this early in the morning," Harry muttered. He gently nudged Ginny awake. "We need to get moving."
"Just a few more minutes, mum," Ginny mumbled as she buried her face in his shoulder.

Harry sighed. "I'm not your mum." He nudged her again. "Come one. It's dawn. We need to get moving."
Ginny blinked her eyes several times and groaned softly. "I'm awake."

Everyone quickly got up and once again followed the trail the orcs had left behind. It was still an hour before noon when they came across a wide circle. They stood back while Aragorn studied the bent blades.

He sighed as he straightened and crossed to them. "They rested here a while, but even the outward trail is already old. It is thrice twelve hours, I guess, since the orcs stood where we now stand."
"How long?" Buffy whispered as she leaned over to Dawn.

"A day and a half," Dawn supplied.

"This would be easier if he spoke plainly," Buffy grumbled.

"If they held to their pace," Aragorn was saying, "then at sundown yesterday they would have reached the borders of Fangorn."
"How far away is that?" Draco asked.

"Another fifteen leagues," the ranger answered.

"And that's how far?"
"Thirty miles," Spike answered.

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Why didn't he just say so?"

"Well, let us go on," said Gimli. "My legs must forget the miles. They would be more willing if my heart were less heavy."
By the end of the day, their pace had slowed considerably, only Legolas' steps were still light upon the ground. Even Buffy and Spike's enhanced strength and endurance were stretched thin.

Buffy looked back to see that her sister's face was tired and grim, but her eyes still contained a flicker of hope of finding their friends. The slayer examined the others and saw that they were losing hope, especially Gimli. She gave a slight indication to Spike and then fell back to the end of the line with Gimli.

"Long day, huh?" The dwarf beside her just grunted. "Great way to see the countryside though."

"Our hope to find our friends fail and you speak of sight seeing? Have you no heart?"

"Ha! I knew that one would get a response out of ya. And yes, I do have a heart. But how can you give up hope? We've only been following them for four days."

"Yet our quarry keeps getting further from our reach. They will reach Saruman soon and we will be unable to help them then."
"The first man I loved turned evil on my seventeenth birthday, and I mean that. He literally turned evil. He killed classmates and one of my teachers. For months I held onto the belief that we could turn him back. That I could turn him back to being good, even though those around me tried to convince me otherwise."

"Well?" Gimli asked when she failed to continue.

"He's one of my best friends now," she said with a smile. She decided to omit the part about having to kill him first.

A spark flared in Gimli's eyes. "Is that so?"
"It is," Buffy said, happy to see that her little story had helped. Then she quickened her pace to help set up the camp for the night.

-----------------

Ginny awoke to hear a soft voice singing. She looked and saw Legolas keeping watch. Thanks to Dawn's tutoring she was able to get the gist of what the song was about. Disentangling herself from Harry, she walked over and sat next to the elf.

"Is there a problem, Lady Ginny?"

"No," she said in a hushed tone. The elf still evoked a feeling of awe from her. "That song was pretty."
"Mine is an ill-trained voice," he said in way of apology.

"It was beautiful. Could you teach me the song?" She hesitantly asked.

"Perhaps later. You should rest. The road tomorrow will be long."
"You promise you'll teach me?" She asked as she stood.

"Aye, I will."
"Wicked." Then she went back to lie down, leaving a perplexed elf behind wondering what she had meant by her parting word.

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Xander stood and took a few steps as he stretched. He needed a break from grading papers. This year Miss Thompson, the Muggle Studies professor, had given him more responsibilities. There were days where he taught all of the classes by himself. Currently he was teaching fifth years about comic books and the papers were on various aspects of his favorite reading material.

He crossed to the window and looked out over the darkened grounds. His best friend had been gone for a week and he couldn't help but hope she'd be back soon. She and the others were out there in the middle of a war and he was unable to help them.

Sure, he was helping to keep the kids at the school safe, but he wished he was fighting by her side. Xander had long since come to terms with his feelings for Buffy and he only thought of her as a sister. One that he fervently wanted to protect despite the fact that she could take care of herself better than he could. But she had deemed it more important for him to stay in their own dimension.

The dark haired young man wearily ran his hand through his hair. He was glad to see that Faith was settling in though. Her approach to the students was different than Buffy's, but it was working. She was surprisingly patient with them and willingly answered any questions about herself - even the painful ones.

Not that he had been keeping an eye on her or anything. He was just making sure that she wasn't having any teaching problems or violent fits.

Xander sighed. Maybe Anya had been right when she said he had a problem trusting outsiders. He knew he had said things were fine, but there had been a nagging doubt in the back of his mid. Of course, he had come to trust Draco and Spike because of Buffy and Dawn; maybe he should give Faith a clean slate and trust her, too.

With his thoughts coming to a solid conclusion, he walked back to the table and wizard perspectives on Spider-man. Maybe he should find a way to show them the movie.

-----------------------

Sam frowned as he looked up at the strange stars. It was very disconcerting to not only not know where he was, but not know what world he was on. He wished Strider was there because it was beginning to tire both him and Frodo not knowing what might jump out and attack them.

He just wanted to be back home in the Shire with this whole ordeal behind them. When he had agreed to accompany Frodo on this journey he had no idea that it would be filled with so many dangers. He didn't regret his decision because he wouldn't want anyone else to take care of Frodo; he only wished he had known so he would have been better prepared.

All they could do now, though, was wait until their friends rescued them from this semi-peaceful world and take them back into hell.