"You okay with this?" Spike asked.

It hadn't taken long for Faith to pack up her meager belongings. She had shoved a few things in a bag that Spike held for her and in no time flat they were in the basement.

"Wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't," Faith said, rummaging around an old closet for a couple of hangers. Finding some, she hung what clothes she had up on an old nail sticking out of one of the walls.

"All I got is this," he said, indicating the futon. "Buffy brought down some sheets and blanket. Opens up and all; should be enough room."

"Do I look worried?" Faith asked, plopping herself down on the futon.

"No," he said sitting down next to her. "You're good then?"

Faith shook her head. It wasn't a direct question, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he said something. It was just how he was. "As good as I can be."

"As good as you can be or as good as you allow yourself to be?"

Faith didn't quite glare at him, but he got the point. Instead of answering him she directed his attention to her pants. "You ripped the button off my jeans," she said matter-of-factly.

"Totally accidental."

"Do you realize this is the second new pair that I've ruined since I've been here?" she asked him, not really expecting a reply. "First pair got the knees ripped out when I got blindsided."

Spike put his hand on her knee. "The jeans took the brunt?" He didn't stop there. He moved his fingers from her knee, to the outside seam of her pants, following it up her thigh, all the way to her waist, where he paused.

Faith felt a small shudder take her over as he continued his soft caresses, up over her waist, along her side, lingering on the slight swell of her breast and then finally enveloping her neck, pulling her into a kiss.

Spike slowly pushed her back so they were now both lying on the futon, his hips and legs straddling her. He rubbed his fingers across the spot where her button had been. "Maybe take these off then?"

"There is no maybe about it," Faith said breathlessly, reaching once again to free him.

Spike sat up on his knees so Faith could shimmy out of her pants. She watched as he did the same with his.

She didn't care when Spike trapped both of her hands over her head with his own. She didn't care when he thrust into her just hard enough to make her cry out and she didn't care that she came even quicker than she had in the elevator.

Faith especially didn't care when she heard all the commotion coming from upstairs telling her that Dawn and Andrew had finally arrived.

XXXXX

Faith took her time dressing. Spike would wait for her and she was in no hurry to see the spectacle of Buffy and her sister going off on each other. Sometimes their sisterly bickering could be fun to watch, but Faith was way too mellow for that right now.

Spike cocked his head slightly toward the ceiling and listened. "Seems to have quieted down."

"Might as well go up. If we don't, I'm pretty sure someone will be coming down."

"Pretty much what I was thinkin'."

Faith headed towards the stairs, taking two at a time. She stopped before opening the door. "Stop looking at my ass," she told him with a sly glance over her shoulder.

XXXXX

"Spiiiike!" Dawn screamed as soon as they opened the basement door.

Good thing Faith stepped aside. She had a sneaking suspicion that Dawn would have plowed right over her.

Spike, wasn't so lucky.

Dawn's hug sent them flying backwards. Spike managed to get his feet back under him. A good thing too, since they were headed right back towards the open doorway to the basement.

"You are real! I wouldn't believe until I saw it for myself," she said, hugging him even closer, if that was at all possible.

Faith was shocked when Dawn pulled back suddenly and punched him hard in the arm.

"That's for not telling us you were alive." She punched him again. "And you can deliver this one to Angel since he couldn't seem to find the time to tell us, either."

Dawn raised her arm to punch him again, but this time Spike stopped her. "I get the point. No more hitting."

"So you two are like a couple now, huh?" she asked, stepping back and crossing her arms in front of her chest, her question directed more towards Spike, but looking at Faith too. "Spike, you'll have to explain to me one day how this happened, because last time I checked, you were dead and you were still in love with Buffy."

"Bit…" he began.

"Don't. I am so mad at you right now I can't even see straight," Dawn said. "And you," she added, turning and looking at Faith, "Not like I needed any more reasons not to like you, but thanks for adding a new one to the list."

"Wait a minute…" Faith started, but didn't have time to finish.

Dawn glared and them both, spun on her heel and stormed off. She hadn't physically punched Spike again, but she might as well have.

Faith wasn't feeling all that mellow anymore, and wanted nothing more than to get out of the fuckin' house. But the hurt look on Spike's face couldn't very well be ignored either, and at this point, who really cared what she was feeling. Not like her feelings were normally taken into consideration anyway. Why should this time be any different?

"Don't worry about Dawn," she said to break the silence. "She doesn't know what she's talking about." Faith took his hand. "Besides, they're waiting for us and we know how testy Giles can be when we make him wait."

She could tell Spike wanted to say something, but Faith just couldn't deal with all the emotional turmoil right now, so she tugged lightly on his hand again and pointed him in the direction of the living room, not giving him the opportunity to say anything.

"I'll meet you there. I need to grab something," she said, turning and heading back towards the basement.

Faith didn't actually go downstairs; she closed the door and leaned against it, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

The idea of going and being in the same room with all of them was just too much. If Dawn said something to her again, she might not be able to control herself, the shock factor of being ambushed no longer an issue. But what if someone else jumped on her? Said something about her being a bitch who took Buffy's boyfriend away?

Boyfriend? What was this, high school? Faith hadn't finished high school, but she got a good look at it before she bailed and this was so… that.

Faith rolled her eyes.

Besides, Faith hadn't taken anyone away. He was already away when they hooked up. But if they did say something… Faith knew she'd say a bunch of shit she shouldn't and the entire thing would get totally outta control and she wasn't in the mood for that, either.

Faith was beginning to wonder what she was in the mood for.

"Shit," she said, placing her hand on the doorknob. "Let's just get this over with."

She opened the door.

XXXXX

The first thing Faith noticed when she finally joined the others was Dawn babbling incoherently to Xander about something and Buffy hanging onto every word.

Faith didn't try to make out what the little twit was saying because she really didn't care. Well, that, and she had a suspicion that she and Spike might be the topic of said conversation.

Not like she and the brat got along anyway. The girl was chock-full of false memories that made her hate Faith. Yeah, the memories were true, monks made sure of that. Faith had done some pretty shitty things… beyond shitty… but what did it take to get Dawn to move on? Everyone else basically had, more or less. The past was the past already.

Shit.

On the other hand, Dawn wasn't shy about letting everyone know how she felt about Faith. The kid had good reasons not to be number one of the Fans-of-Faith list. Unlike a lot of people Faith had met over the years, Dawn wasn't afraid to tell Faith straight to her face what she thought about her. Which, okay, kudos... Dawn having the nerve to do that? Had to say something, didn't it? Of course having a sister for a slayer probably didn't hurt, either.

Emma was sitting on the floor, leaning against Andrew's chair while Spike and Giles were talking quietly in the back corner, away from the rest of them all civil-like.

Hell wasn't about to freeze over, was it? How long was she hiding in the basement?

Giles glanced up and looked around. Probably noting that everyone was present and accounted for. After saying a few more words to Spike, he moved to the center of the room.

Let the meeting begin. Faith leaned casually against the nearest wall.

"Good to see we're all here," Giles said. "I am assuming we are settled in? Good! I have some information about a sect of demons determined to open the hellmouth using an old ritual." Giles glanced at Dawn and Emma quickly and then continued speaking. "It is true. Virgin blood is required to be successful in accomplishing this. Once the seal is opened…"

"Hell on earth, yet again," Buffy said. "How do we stop them?"

"By not giving them any virgins!" Andrew shouted suddenly. "That sounds like an excellent plan to me." Then he amended his comment quickly. "Not that it would affect me in any way."

"Oh, great," Faith said. "Now we got a virgin slayer, a virgin key," she motioned towards Andrew, "And a virgin… Well, I don't know what the hell he is."

"I am a Watcher-In-Training. Specializing in the survival tactics of our dear slayers. I assist in training and in the process, share my newly obtained knowledge, using the numerous tomes I have reviewed," he lowered his voice, "and the help of Mr. Giles," raising his voice again, "to ensure that I am indeed aiding in fighting the evil. My goal is to help our slayers extinguish it and if I need to fight along side any of you, I will. Anything for the greater good. I am here to help where required. To lend a shoulder to cry on and a helping hand…"

Faith couldn't take anymore. "Shut it already! From what I can tell, you're still a pain in the ass. No wonder you're still a virgin." Looking at Giles, she added, "Maybe we should just sacrifice him and be done with it?"

Emma threw in, "He's a geek!"

"Hey!" Andrew sounded shocked.

Emma snorted. "Like it's not true. I can tell by just looking at you. You didn't even need to talk. Evil? You? Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, look who's talking, Ms. Virgin Slayer. All slaying and no…"

"Since we have so many special virgins living here, we might as well have one big orgy… then we'd all be out of the running and the demony guys could find some run-of-the-mill type virgin to use," Dawn said coolly.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked her, a look of disbelief with a touch of anger on her face.

"Well, not with you, Willow," Dawn glanced at Faith, "her, Andrew, Xander or Giles."

"What about me?" Emma asked.

"Talk to Xander," Dawn said.

Saucer eyeballs, please, with a side of Emma's jaw on the floor.

Xander shuffled his feet nervously.

Faith just shook her head, letting the her comment roll off her back. Faith realized who Dawn had left off her list, and she was waiting to see how long it took to register on Buffy's radar.

Apparently, not very long.

"Dawn, you are not sleeping with Spike," she said, glaring at her sister.

Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "Why not? Everyone else has."

Ouch, Faith thought. Another direct hit. The kid just won't let up.

"Enough!" Giles said loudly. "Can we please get back on topic? We are dealing with a Nigriv demon. Possibly more than one. We have very strong," Giles stopped and cleared his throat, "my apologies, but we have the purest blood in our midst. You can be assured that they are well aware of this. We need to figure out how this will be dealt with. We will not accomplish this if we keep bickering amongst ourselves."

Then, shocking the absolute shit out of Faith, Giles added, "And there will be no orgies. Nothing good ever comes out of them. Trust me... I know."

XXXXX