'In a meadow, a warm sunny meadow, Faith found herself walking in a summer dress. She had experienced this dream before, with the mayor at her side. They would walk into the centre of the field of grass and sit down at a picnic. These were some of the few times when she felt truly happy and content. Now, though, as she turned to look for the mayor, she saw a blonde woman instead. Whenever she had seen Buffy in her dreams, Faith had instinctively run, for the other slayer always hunted her down and stabbed her with her own knife again. This time, though, she could sense that there was nothing to fear and she let Buffy catch up with her.
"This place is beautiful," Buffy commented, looking around herself, "Why didn't you show me this place before?" Faith dropped her gaze from the blonde to the ground shyly.
"I tend to keep my heart hidden from everyone," she replied nervously, "I don't like the idea of being seen as weak by anyone, especially you." She stopped talking as she felt a hand slide under her chin and draw her head up so she was making direct eye contact with Buffy. The eyes of the other slayer were warm and inviting, with no trace of cold aggression or malice.
"You will never be seen as weak by me," Buffy's reply came as a complete shock to Faith, "even when you've been at your most evil, you have never came across as weak to me. Don't you think it's time you invited me into this beautiful place?"
"Are we in your head or mine now?" Faith asked nervously, "Can't you see here that you're already in my heart? There will always be a special place for you here, B." The brunette felt her eyes slowly close as the blonde leaned up and gently pressed their lips together.
"Tell me."'
Faith woke so suddenly that Buffy leapt back from the bed in surprise. The dark slayer's eyes darted frantically around the bedroom she found herself in momentarily disorientated. Everything looked familiar but strange at the same time. She looked down at herself and saw that she was now wearing a baggy t-shirt instead of her sleeveless top that she had fought Willow in. The picture on the t-shirt was one of a black panther, which the girl really didn't mind wearing. Her gaze slowly moved up from her chest to meet the concerned look of Buffy.
"Hey, how are you feeling in there?" Buffy's words came out slightly hoarse and Faith noticed the bruises on the other girl's neck. Indeed, everywhere that Faith could see on Buffy had some degree of bruising. Tentatively reaching up to touch her own face, the brunette felt the painful bruises she was sporting on her face as well.
"I could say five by five, B, but we both know that's not true," the echoes of her dream lingered in Faith's mind as she replied, "I'm still alive, which is something at least. You managed to fix up my belly wound for me, I'm guessing?" Buffy nodded, and then she reached down and gently lifted Faith's t-shirt to show the brunette what her injury looked like. The wound was covered with a white dressing and the tight feeling that came from moving near there told the slayer that it was also stitched. Any slight movement seemed to be a tremendous effort to the girl. Sensing her distress, Buffy moved to Faith's side and took her in her arms and held her gently. Faith could do nothing aside from rest her head against Buffy's chest.
"I promised you in the Magic Shop that I would fix you," Buffy explained, "I know how much you hate hospitals and I can't blame you. If I'd spent 8 months in a hospital, I would hate them with a passion as well. Xander took Anya to the hospital after you passed out and Giles turned up from England. The watchers council sensed a powerful magical force here in Sunnydale that was coming from Willow. He came here to stop her with some primitive magic thingy that he had borrowed. But his flight was late getting into the airport due to some freak hailstorm that hit the skies and resulted in all the incoming flights circling the airport. If it wasn't for you tackling Willow, I would've been dead before Giles could have arrived. I sent Dawn to stay over at his hotel room for the night and I brought you back here to heal you. If it wasn't for your slayer healing powers, you would've died from your injury. I know how you're not exactly part of the group and you're not big on company, so I wanted to get the house as quiet as possible for when you woke up." As she spoke, the blonde had been running her free hand through Faith's lazy dark curls. It was very soothing and the dark slayer found herself closing her eyes in pleasure at the simple action.
"Thanks, Buffy," she whispered softly, "I know I don't deserve anything good from you after all I've done in the past to you." The use of her full name told Buffy that Faith was overwhelmed with emotion and it touched her deeply.
"Yes you do deserve goodness," Buffy replied, "you stopped Willow from destroying everyone and everything. You saved Tara's life and you saved mine. For these things, you deserve a lot of goodness, starting with chocolate ice cream." The dark slayer's eyes lit up at the mention of chocolate ice cream and she smiled goofily at the blonde.
"Can we watch DVDs all day as well?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement. A nod and warm smile from Buffy filled Faith with sheer joy. She was getting to spend alone time with the woman she loved more than any other. When she was recovered, she would confront her feelings with Buffy, but for now, she was content simply being something close to friends. Buffy, meanwhile, couldn't stop thinking about the revelation Willow had made in the Magic Shop about Faith's feelings for her. She knew, though, that in time, Faith would talk to her about it.
That day, the chosen two did nothing else besides lie on Buffy's bed and watch DVDs while eating chocolate ice cream. Occasionally, the telephone would go and it would bring an update from the hospital on both Tara and Anya's conditions. The girls just simply lay cuddling into one another, revelling in the security that the close contact offered the other person. As evening drew in, the telephone rang again. As it was a cordless telephone, Buffy had decided earlier in the day to simply bring it into her bedroom to save her having to race back and forward to answer calls all day. It was a call not from the hospital this time, but from Giles.
"I've just returned from visiting at the hospital," he said down the line to Buffy, "Tara's in a stable condition, although she has yet to wake up."
"That's great, Giles," Buffy sighed ominously, "I'll make sure to pass the good news onto Faith." She glanced over at Faith and smiled warmly as she noted the confused expression on the brunette's face.
"I think you and Faith should get down there, Buffy," Giles replied gravely, "Willow's in pretty bad shape. I know she faltered and tried to kill you and Faith, but she really needs support through this delicate time."
"I'll suggest it to Faith, but I'm not sure how she'll take that suggestion," Buffy replied, "she's in a bit of pain herself at the moment as well. I'm worried about her moving around too much." Faith raised an eyebrow at this comment. She didn't look amused at all at what her companion just said.
"Do whatever you think best, Buffy," Giles response was emphatic, "but don't dally too long. I'll keep Dawn another night while you decide what's going to happen next. Bye for now." Buffy said her goodbyes and hung up before crawling back up the bed to Faith's side. She lay behind Faith and pulled the other slayer into her so she was being supported by the blonde. Immediately, Buffy began to run her fingers slowly through Faith's hair as she lay against the fair slayer.
"What's the latest, B?" Faith asked calmly, trying to keep focused in spite of the delicious attention she was receiving, "I'm guessing that was the G-Man on the phone. How's Tara doing?"
"Tara's doing well, F," Buffy teased lightly, "not awake yet, but she's mending well. Giles wants us to go to the hospital to check on Will, though. He says she's not doing too well."
"Makes sense, after all, she did try to kill her best friends," the dark slayer replied, "she'll be feeling pretty shitty right now about all that. I can kind of understand how she'd be feeling, B. It's not a nice feeling, going somewhere that sees you letting loose the worst in you. We should go and see her, plus check on Blondie." Faith slid herself across the bed and got to her feet tentatively. She hadn't needed to go to the toilet all day, so this was the first she had stood since waking up that morning. Buffy immediately rushed to her side and supported the dark slayer as she made her way to the bathroom to get ready to go out.
As she washed her face, Faith purposely tried to ignore the way that Buffy was looking at her. The other girl was letting her eyes linger over every bit of Faith's body, as if she was admiring what she could see. The brunette couldn't believe it when she saw her reflection in the mirror above the wash hand basin. Her cheeks were puffy and raw looking, her nose was slightly bent and she had two black eyes. Washing her face suddenly seemed like such a huge effort, she couldn't believe that Willow had really done that much damage to her. 'Guess I deserved it, I deserve all the pain I get dealt'. She couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face and couldn't stop Buffy from putting her arms around her. She sobbed softly into the blonde's shoulder, not caring for once how weak she may be appearing by doing such a thing. Once she finished, Faith got help from Buffy to wash her face and put on clean clothes. Then, they got ready and set off for Sunnydale General Hospital.