Title: Five by Five

Summary: Faith's long lost twin sister Hope has come to Rome in search of her sister. When two sisters meet everything seems to brighten but does something supernatural threaten to end this new reunion of sisters? And the question of whether Hope is a Potential is overpowering but will she bow down to the ways of the slayer?

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for Hope.

Author Notes: Alright in this chapter there's gonna be a section where Buffy is affected by the crazy thingo from the craziness thing in the 'Destiny' episode in 'Angel'. Course it only lasts for like, ten minutes cos Buffy can't be crazy for tooo long. Also there's this whole Faith speech that is unlike Faith yet really sweet. Buffy and Faith connect early on in the chapter which is probably the first time that Faith opens up to Buffy and this is because of Hope so thank her not me. Hehe. Okay let's get this started.

Chapter 6: True Love

A few hours had gone by when Buffy walked back into the bedroom. She shut the door softly behind her in the faces of the overly curious potentials. She walked to Faith who had been sitting by Hope's side on the bed next to her all this time, not moving at all unless someone else was in the room. In that case she was polite enough to stand and be in front of her but still looked over Hope instead of looking at the person, whoever they were.

She did this when she saw Buffy enter and met her at the end of the bed with both of them looking over Hope. Both of them feeling responsible for the catatonic state that Faith's younger twin was in. She was lying there with her eyes open and white and looked horrible but they just couldn't tear their eyes away from Hope who seemed to be in a quietly painful place.

"How is she?" Buffy asked quietly, as if she would be able to disturb her if they were too loud. Neither of them looked away from Hope as they talked to each other and they both understood the need to look over her and that it took precedence over eye contact with each other.

"Same as she was an hour ago. And the hour before that. And the hour before that." Faith replied lacking any emotion in her voice whatsoever. Buffy knew that meant that Faith had withdrawn into herself and she wasn't going to get anything constructive out of her right now. She stayed there for a few more moments before turning to leave but Faith's voice stopped her.

"How did she do it?" Faith asked hoarsely. Buffy turned back around to Faith so that she was standing just behind and a bit to the right of her.

"Do what?" Buffy asked and Faith glanced at her briefly over her shoulder, as if she'd just remembered that Buffy was behind her. She looked back at Hope and she did a soft sort of slight frown at her but not an actual frown, more of a thinking look.

"Get past my defences. Make my walls crumble. Make me feel so..." The last sentence contrasted to the rest, which were soft and sad. The last sentence finished with the gritting of her teeth and clenching of her hands. She looked torn between feeling angry at Hope for doing this to her and feeling extremely worried about her.

"I know." Buffy placed a hand on Faith's shoulder, the first physical contact she'd made with Faith that wasn't threatening, and it actually calmed Faith at least slightly, "It means that you love her. You love your sister Faith It's not such a bad thing." Faith sighed softly and Buffy lifted her hand off of her shoulder.

"I know it's not." Faith said and then sighed even heavier and continued heavily, "It's just... No one's gotten that far since..."

"The mayor?" Buffy asked and Faith snorted at Buffy's assumption.

"He didn't get close. No one's gotten that far since my mom."

"And that brings back bad memories which makes you think that you might get hurt again like last time."

"Wow, check you out B. You've gone all psych student on me." Faith dodged the statement with a grimace and a quip.

"Well I did take a psych class in college. Y'know... A few years ago." Well Faith's dodging worked, Buffy was distracted from her assessment of Faith.

"Heh, the psych student lives on." Faith continued the banter but her heart wasn't really in it. However Buffy was too deep in her own thoughts on the matter that she didn't notice that Faith wasn't doing the usual smirking, wiggling eyebrows and etc. Mainly cos the quipping was there and that's all Buffy needed to quip back.

"I guess Maggie Walsh's classes really went deep." Buffy said and then continued quietly too herself in a worried tone and a matching expression on her face, "Should probably be worrying about that." Then Faith couldn't stand talking about things she didn't give a toss about and cut through the shit.

"Look B, all I know is that my twin sister has been lying there for the past three hours with white eyes and she hasn't blinked once. The only reason we know that she's alive is that she has a pulse and she's breathing." There was silence behind her when she thought there wouldn't be. Maybe Buffy wasn't quite as compassionate as she thought.

"You stupid bitch. You think that you're free. You think that I forgive you, that I've just forgotten. I'll never forgive you. And I'll never forget. You killed people. You took their lives with your hands. Anyone who ever forgives you should die. Starting with your sister..." Faith kept quiet during Buffy's entire rant until she threatened her sister. Then she kicked Buffy without looking at her. She turned and stood over Buffy who was on the ground and facing the floor so Faith couldn't see her face.

"I don't care if you don't forgive me, I don't care that you'll never forget. You have a right B. But never, never, threaten my sister. Do you hear me?" Buffy looked up at Faith and Faith stepped back, shocked by the blood that was coming from her eyes.

"New look for you B. The crying tears and all." Faith said with a slight frown on her face and Buffy stood up, not looking like she was at all disabled by the kick Faith gave her earlier. Buffy punched Faith. Hard.

"You're just a murderer. You'll never be anything more. You don't fit in here. We should have kicked you out as soon as you came in. This place is meant to train girls how to be fighters of evil. Not evil. Like you." Buffy punched Faith at regular intervals.

"You didn't answer me before," Faith said in a quiet but firm tone, "Do you hear me?" Faith's face whipped up from Buffy's punch and gave her a dangerous look.

"Oh I hear you murderer but I'm still going to kill your sist..." Faith's fist interrupted Buffy by colliding with her face. She then punched her a few more times. Buffy smirked.

"You think you're so good." Buffy said and punched Faith.

"Oh my mom was terrible, oh I had a terrible childhood, oh I only own leather pants." Buffy kept punching Faith in between phrases and continued before doling out the most powerful head wrenching bone crushing punch yet, "But you're nothing. Just a lost little girl who has no one who cares about her."

Faith was on her knees and she spit out a wad of blood before saying in a low and dangerous tone,

"You're wrong B. There's one person, just one, who cares about me." Faith looked up at Buffy before naming that one person, "Hope."

"Well she can't care if she's dead now can she?" Buffy asked and started towards Hope who was lying on the bed. Faith's eyes flashed and she whipped one of her legs around so that Buffy came crashing to the ground. Faith immediately straddled Buffy and started punching her.

"Don't. Ever. Say. That. Again. Do you hear me?" Buffy didn't respond and Faith continued almost blinded by rage and punched her good and hard.

"Faith?" Buffy asked quietly and Faith stopped immediately, breathing heavily. She noticed that the blood was no longer coming from Buffy's eyes and her own widened. She quickly got off Buffy who lay there with a shocked expression on her face.

"Do you remember...?" Faith started out slowly, about as shocked as Buffy. Buffy looked at her with the beginning of a bruise on her face and the look of shock still present.

"Remember what? You beating me?" She asked in a small voice and Faith's eyes widened even more and she shook her head vehemently.

"No. No. No. You don't understand..." Faith started again and Buffy interrupted once again, trying to figure out everything and put the pieces together in her mind.

"Did you beat me cos I said that I should worry about Maggie Walsh's classes?" Buffy asked incredulously and Faith just looked at her blankly, all vehemence (is that a word?) gone.

"What?" Faith asked with a puzzled expression on her face and Buffy shook her head slowly.

"Guess not..."

"You don't remember saying that I was a murderer and that you'd never forgive me and that you were going to kill Hope?" Faith asked and Buffy just looked at her with a, first blank and then horrified, expression on her face.

"What are you...? What do you...? I never... No." Buffy stumbled through trying to understand what Faith just said before answering her question with a fiery, extremely disbelieving expression on her face saying exactly how much she couldn't believe Faith at the moment because she was able to think that Buffy would ever consider killing Hope. Of course Buffy didn't know that it was actually true so the expression stayed glued on her face.

"Well you did. I mean, I didn't care about you saying that I was a murderer and that you'd never forgive me. You have a right to say that, y'know. But when you threatened Hope... That's why I was bashing you. You said things that were bad yeah, but I don't give. You have a right to say 'em, more'n anyone. But you don't get to threaten my sister. The only reason I didn't kill you is because it's you. You got a kind of 'Get out of Jail Free' card." Faith then said quietly to herself, "Coulda used one of those," Before continuing to Buffy,

"I love my sister so much. How would you feel if someone had threatened Dawn's life?" Buffy just swallowed, showing exactly what she would do by the clenching of her jaw and looking away with fire in her eyes. Faith took this in being able to read the signs of a protective older sister.

"Look B, the love I have for Hope isn't the kinda love that you feel cos you're related and all. Its true love that you feel every second cos your heart is pounding so painfully in your chest. I know that if Hope dies then I will. We have this connection that is so strong. It's, like, ten times stronger that ours. Why did you think I knew it was Hope after not seeing her for ages? Not cos she looks 'similar yet different'. Cos I felt the connection. I knew that this was the person whose feelings I felt, who felt mine. The one and only person I've ever truly loved who's loved me back in the same way. This goes beyond giving our lives for each other. This goes beyond anything that can be done or said. This is true love."

Buffy just looked at Faith completely taken aback. In addition to the fact that this was probably the longest lot of sentences given in one clump that she'd ever hear Faith say, all of it was completely heartfelt. Faith stood at the foot of the bed and looked at Hope once again. Buffy joined her after a second.

"What did Giles say?" Buffy asked referring to Giles' visit earlier to assess the situation and try and help Hope. She looked at Faith while she asked the question, not wanting to look at Hope from the guilt that she'd threatened, and attempted, to take her life just a few minutes earlier. But apparently Faith wasn't holding her responsible for it and talked to her normally while still looking at Hope.

"'Oh dear god. We need Willow.' Well... A bit more 'Oh dear god's." Faith glanced at Buffy during the last sentence and they shared small smiles at the expense of the British man. Of course her gaze returned to Hope almost immediately after their little 'moment'.

"He left for Brazil?" Buffy asked and Faith nodded,

"Yeah, like fifteen minutes ago." Buffy then nodded herself and shifted her gaze to Hope.

"Red'll help her right?" Faith asked, shifting her gaze to Buffy, who answered after a second with so much conviction that she made both of them believe that it was true. Buffy's eyes didn't leave Hope and Faith's didn't leave Buffy as she answered.

"She'll save her."

TBC

Well that's a nice thing to end on especially with Buffy going all crazy in the middle. I just had to have Faith letting go of everything that she's tried to hard to keep in after crazy Buffy pushes just the right button... And keeps pushing it. But everything's cool between the two slayers. Faith's forgiven Buffy and Buffy has taken this down and is very close to completely, both sub consciously and consciously, forgiving Faith. Okay, I'll stop ranting now.

JB