Author's note: hey peeps thanx for the reviews! sorry for any spelling mistakes they aren't intentional lol. enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Chapter 14
MANSION - NIGHT
Giles had left an hour ago and Buffy was sitting with Faith's head in her lap watching her sleep, she had come so close to losing her, and it hurt to even think about it. She ran a soothing hand over Faith's back as she whimpered in her sleep. Giles had said it was dangerous to sedate her as she was still too weak from the blood loss. Buffy's thoughts once again turned to Kennedy. She had seen the bite mark on her leg, and from looking at the file on Garou's that Giles had given her, she knew what Kennedy would become. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony. Kennedy would become one of the things she despised so much. Buffy knew without a doubt that if Kennedy tried to hurt somebody she loved again she would be the one to put her down.
GILES' HOUSE - NIGHT
Giles had called a Scooby meeting and the Scoobies where currently lounging in various states on his couch. He had filled them in on the reason for Buffy's absence, and reassured them that Faith would be fine.
"Now the reason I called you all here, was because I have found a temporary cure for Faith's predicament. The ring of Khonsu will allow her to regain control of her wolf, however the only problem is that in order to get the ring we have to break into the Museum and 'borrow' it from the Egyptian exhibition." They all looked at him in surprise.
"You mean steal." Cordelia said.
"No borrow, we shall return it when Faith has been cured." he corrected.
"I could get some blueprints of the museum, if they'd help." Willow offered.
"That would be excellent Willow, the only problem is we need to know what room the exhibition is being held and the exact location of the ring, I suggest that a couple of you visit the museum in order to establish these fact and then we can mark them onto the blueprints."
"Oooh I'll go." Willow said quickly "Seeing their looks she replied "What, I've been wanting to see this exhibition for ages and this way I'll be doing recon and enjoying myself." she said defensively.
"Well that's one person, I suggest that you take Cordelia with you." Giles said.
"What!" Cordelia shouted "I don't want to go to a crappy museum and see a lot of dead peoples junk!"
"It's either that or you come to a warehouse full of hundreds of Day walking vampires with Xander, Oz and I to set up surveillance equipment." he said looking at her expectantly already knowing her answer."
"I'd love to go to the museum with you Willow." she said brightly.
"Could I go too?" Xander asked, seeing the look on Giles face he said quickly "now that you mention it the warehouse sounds good."
"Well now that that's settled I suggest you all go home and get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow." seeing their nods of agreement, they all got up and headed out the door, bidding him goodnight as they left.
MUSEUM - NEXT DAY
The exhibit covered the entire first floor of the museum and Willow was like a child in a sweet shop. "Would you just look at all this stuff!" she gushed, gazing at the exhibit in wonder. Cordelia looked round in disgust and sighed.
"God we've been here for two hours now! Can we just find the ring and get out of here!"
Willow looked at her in exasperation. "Would you quit complaining all you've done is moan. Anyway your in luck it should be somewhere around here so keep your eyes open."
As they neared the back of the room, Willow saw a display case that was separated from the others by red rope, walking over to it she saw that it contained several rings, one of them being the ring of Khonsu. "Cordelia over here I've found-" she was cut off by screaming coming from behind them, spinning round she saw a group of Daywalkers sauntering into the exhibit, the other people in the room fled. She was startled by Cordelia who grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a sarcophagus. Crouching behind it they listened to the vamps smashing display cases.
"C'mon just grab the stupid daggers and lets go, the rest of this stuff is useless." one of the vamps said.
"What does the boss want these for anyway." another asked puzzled.
"I dunno something to do with the vessel. Look hurry up I'm hungry, and I gotta couple of tourists with my name on em." the first vamp replied. Willow and Cordelia cautiously peered over the sarcophagus and saw the vamps leaving, one of them was carrying a wooden box. When they where sure they had left they came out from their hiding place. Seeing that they where alone Cordelia walked over to the display case containing the rings and smashed it. "What are you doing?" Willow asked.
"Why bother breaking into the museum tonight when we can just get the stupid ring now." she said, grabbing the ring she shoved it into her bag gesturing to Willow that they should leave.
"Wait I want to see what the vamps took." she said running over to the cabinet that they had taken the daggers from. Looking at the sign in the empty display case she read it aloud, "The daggers of Anubis." she murmured, she looked up at Cordelia. "We should probably get out of here before the cops show up." they both ran out of the museum and headed for the library.
MANSION
Buffy had woken and was sitting next to Faith on the mattress, who was still asleep but seemed to be more settled. Buffy was currently reading through the rest of the file that Giles had given her the night before. According to Garou culture they believed that everyone had a soul mate, someone that completed them and made them whole. When they had found their mate they stayed with them for life. Does this mean that I'm Faith's mate? she thought hopefully. She was broken from her thoughts by Willow who came barrelling through the door and ran over to Buffy, excitedly. "Buffy! We got the ring." she panted.
"You what!" she stated jumping up and looking at Willow in shock.
"Me and Cordelia got the ring from the museum." she replied when she got her breath back. She pulled it out of her pocket and gave it to Buffy who stood staring at it in shock.
"God how did you get it?" she asked in awe.
"A group of Daywalkers came into the museum. We hid while they where stealing stuff, Cordelia grabbed it before we left." she explained watching as Buffy walked back over towards Faith.
Kneeling beside her Buffy slowly slipped the ring over one of her claws and saw that the ring grew to fit her finger. She stepped back and she and Willow watched as Faith began to glow and shimmer. The light gradually became brighter until they where forced to look away. When they turned back towards her she was no longer in her wolf form.
Buffy knelt beside her and took her hand as Faith began to stir. She slowly blinked her eyes open and looked up at Buffy groggily. Although her eyes where full of pain Buffy was relieved to see that they where their normal chocolaty brown colour. "Hey baby, welcome back" she said softly bringing Faith's hand up to her lips and kissing it gently. She could hear Willow leaving the room behind her, giving them some privacy.
"Missed you." Faith mumbled tiredly causing Buffy to smile.
"I missed you too baby" she replied. She saw that Faith was fighting to keep her eyes open. "It's okay you rest. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Promise?" she mumbled.
"I promise." Buffy said squeezing her hand gently, she watched as Faith shut her eyes and her breathing slowed and evened out. When she was sure that she was asleep, Buffy placed a gentle kiss on her lips before quietly heading outside to speak to Willow.
She found Willow sitting on the wall and sat next to her. "Thanks Willow. You don't know how much this means to me." Buffy said, pulling her into a hug.
Willow smiled returning the hug, "Your welcome Buffy although it's was Cordelia's quick thinking that led to us getting the ring so soon."
"Now there's two words that you never hear in the same sentence, I'll have to thank her next time I see her."
"Oh that reminds me Giles said he's going to come over later on to see how you and Faith are doing, he was wanting to know if you where wanting Faith to stay here or if you wanted her taken back to your house, if the ring worked, which it obviously did."
"Yeah I'd rather she where at home, especially with her wound. I'd feel happier knowing that she wasn't in a drafty mansion and I'd be able to keep a closer eye on her." Buffy replied.
"I'll let Giles know so that he can get everything ready. I'll let you get back to Faith, I'm glad she's okay Buffy." Willow said smiling at her friend before turning and heading back to the library to let Giles know it was a success.
tbc.
