Note: once again a big thank you for the reviews. Much appreciated. writing in italics are people thoughts from now on.

Disclaimer:I own nothing Joss owns everything.

Chapter 4

Buffy had spent the past couple of hours filling her mom in on what had happened tonight. Her mom had agreed to let Faith stay with them while she was in Sunnydale, like Buffy knew she would, and she had just finished helping Faith get settled into the spare room.

Just as she was getting into bed the phone rang. what now? Sighing she answered the phone. "Hello"

"hey Buffy"

"oh hey Wills, what's up?"

"I wanted to ask you something about Faith and Oz, I mean I know they haven't met or anything and I think I'm just being paranoid or it could be cause I'm tired or cause-" Buffy decided to cut her off before it became a full blown babble fest.

"Willow if your worrying about Oz ditching you for Faith because their both werewolves then don't, one Oz is totally into you anybody can see that and two I know we don't know Faith but I think we should give her a little credit ok. Now off to bed with you."

"Ok thanks Buffy I told you I was just being paranoid, I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

"Bye Wills." Buffy sighed as she hung up the phone maybe now I can get some sleep. Just as she started to drift off she heard a strange noise, groaning she got out of bed and crept into the hall. It sounded like it was coming from Faith's room. She slowly opened the door and peered in. she could see Faith tossing and turning in her sleep, she could hear Faith crying out and could see tears running down her face, she quietly crept towards the bed and knelt down beside her.

"No Teren!….I'm sorry…..forgive me" Buffy cautiously reached out her hand and gently caressed Faith's cheek. " sssh it's ok, I'm here Faith, I won't let anything happen to you" she whispered, she couldn't help but smile as she felt Faith nuzzle her hand and quieten. Buffy stayed that way until she was sure that Faith had calmed, then she quietly made her way back to her own room.

NEXT MORNING

Faith was woken by the smell of food. When her stomach started growling she realised that she couldn't remember the last time she ate. She had constantly been on the move since leaving Boston, never spending more than a couple of days in the same place. She'd lost most of her belongings along the way. Left behind in one of many motels, when she'd had to leave quickly to avoid the vamps. She still had a couple of changes of clothes in a bag on her bike which, she prayed, was still outside the bronze where she'd left it.

Her stomach rumbled again breaking her from her thoughts better get something to eat she thought before trudging down the stairs.

She entered the kitchen and was greeted by Joyce who was sitting at the table surrounded by a selection of food. "good morning Faith, help yourself to some food theirs plenty to eat. Did you sleep well?"

"yeah thanks again for letting me stay Mrs S." they both continued to make small talk while they ate their breakfast. They both turned towards the kitchen door when they heard Buffy stomping down the stairs. A bleary eyed Buffy staggered into the kitchen two seconds later mumbling something about coffee. "You not a morning person B?" Faith laughed as Buffy grunted a response and slumped into the chair next to Faith. Joyce patted Buffy's head and placed a mug of coffee in front of her.

Turning to Faith she said "It's useless trying to talk to her if she hasn't had her caffeine fix, it's like talking to a brick." laughing at the look of outrage on Buffy's face, Joyce stood up and said "I'd better get off to work, are you girls sure you'll be ok." seeing their nods she continued "phone my cell if you have any problems and theirs plenty of food in the fridge. Have fun with your research" she called as she headed out the door.

"There's two words that should never go together, research and fun." she grumbled. She looked up from her coffee mug when Faith started laughing at her. "what you think me being tired funny?" she asked.

Faith smirked "No I think its cute." This caused Buffy to almost choke on her coffee and turn ten shades of red. "Uh..thanks..um maybe we should get ready and head over to Giles's".

"sure B lets motivate." Faith winked at Buffy before heading upstairs to get changed. Buffy shook her head , drained the rest of her coffee and followed her upstairs.

SUNNYDALE-STREETS

Faith and Buffy were making small talk on the way to Giles', when Buffy decided o bring up what she heard last night. "Faith can I ask you something?."

Faith glanced over at her "Sure B, shoot." Buffy hesitated before carrying on. "I was just wondering…I mean you don't have to answer cause it's none of my business, but who's Teren?"

Faith looked at Buffy in shock "How did you-"

"You were having a bad dream and I heard you shouting out…you don't have to answer-"

"she was my sister." Faith replied. "she was killed along with my mom when the vamps attacked."

Buffy placed a comforting hand on Faith's shoulder "I'm sorry." Faith seemed to draw strength from the contact "it's ok you didn't know."

"Aaawww ain't this sweet!" Faith and Buffy spun round and came face to face with two vamps. "hey Faithy didn't think we'd find you did ya?". Buffy looked at Faith whose face had paled. "Thought you could run forever didn't you. We knew you'd slip up sometime." they both started to laugh.

Faith seemed to recover from the shock "Screw you!"

"ooh looks like we've got a live one, whose your little friend." the vamps leered at Buffy.

"I'm theslayer" Buffy said steeping slightly closer to Faith. She found it unnerving looking at vampires walking around in the daylight, plus it makes them look uglier she thought with a shudder. She noticed that the vamps didn't look as confidant as they did before.

Faith also noticed this and seeing her opportunity, she threw a kick to the nearest vamps head knocking him of balance, as she continued her assault the vamp, Buffy tackled the second with a left hook to the face followed by a kick to the knee which brought him to the ground. She slammed her stake into his chest but nothing happened. He quickly threw her off before revealing the armour beneath his clothes. Buffy was distracted as the vamp Faith was fighting flew over her head and into a garbage can. The vamp used her distraction to knock her off balance, he had her pinned to the ground and she began to panic as she realised that she couldn't throw him off. Just as his fangs were about to pierce her neck she heard Faith let out a roar and the weight was lifted from her. She saw Faith in wolf form tearing into the vamps throat, before the vamp knew what had hit him he was dust.

Faith changed back into human form and walked over to Buffy "You ok B?" she asked dusting herself off.

"Yeah I'm fine, you weren't kidding when you said they were strong." looking around she asked "did you see where that other vamp went?". Faith started to reply when she felt a sharp sting in her neck. She put her hand up and pulled out a small red dart. "oh shit" she mumbled her vision going blurry.

"Faith!" she could hear Buffy shouting her name before losing consciousness.