A short chapter, but it was a good point to end it.

Disclaimer - Not Mine. Never mind, but thankfully Joss said we could have a playdate for the afternoon.


Angel was still unapproachable and was best deemed to keep a wide berth. He became violent if approached by anyone, but Faith could at least get near enough to hand the vampire his bladder of blood.

Spike on the other hand, merely lay in his cage. The only signs of life were when Buffy bullied him into eating. But Buffy could see signs of life returning to the quiet vampire. His eyes tracked her as she moved around the room and Buffy swore up and down to Faith that she saw him scent the air on occasion when she was blocked from his sight by warriors. She lay by the side of his cage, her hand copying his by laying by her face. She looked deep in his eyes, hoping to see some tiny flicker of Spike, but only his demon stared back. Still, Buffy wasn't scared. Somehow, she knew that Spike's demon would never hurt her intentionally. She crooned softly to the silent man with the vampire face. Slowly she heard an answering sound. Glancing from the yellow eyes to his mouth, she saw it part a fraction of an inch, but enough to allow the sound to escape. Back to his eyes, she returned to the soft sound, as he matched her. It seemed like ages that they lay there, soft sounds travelling only between the two, barely to be heard a foot away. Buffy realised that the croon had drifted away and that Spike had drifted off to sleep. Groaning as she levered herself off the floor, her eyes met Faith's and the two shared a sad smile. It was progress, but so slow and both knew that the Putorna couldn't stay forever. Now that the threat was over, the Putorna needed to get back to hunting and get feeding the hungry members again and building up their stores. The different factions wanted to be off as soon as possible, back to their ancestral lands.

But the slayers would take what they could get.

As the days passed, their options slowly disappeared. It was a day more than Faith had given when Ollordna came to them. With a cough that signified sadness and/or regret, it informed that they must leave the next day. Faith and Buffy had discussed this and decided that they would risk the trip home. They would leave the vampires in their cages and get them transported to a safe location once back on Earth.

Steeling herself against what must be done, she approached Ollordna.

She explained that they were willing to try for home and would the Putorna be able to 'deal' with the results? Ollordna smiled its unique smile.

"Slayer, I see you are troubled by thoughts of this machine. Would it calm your soul to know I could make it so that no creature felt anguish at the use of this machine?" Buffy nearly sobbed with relief. YES YES!

The Slayers discovered that once Ollordna had understood the way the machine worked, it had sought alternatives. Unfortunately, to open such portals, they needed stronger magicks than all of the Clans together could produce. So it looked at other options and came up with one. While they still needed the life force of demons to run the machine, Ollordna could drug the creatures into a stupor, so that no pain would be felt when its life-force was stolen. It still felt wrong to Buffy, but she knew that as soon as they were gone, all the caged demons would be killed anyway as the Putorna couldn't risk the alien life forms on their world as they struggled to re-establish their clans again. So Buffy accepted the choice and moved on.

Feeding the vampires during their last feed, they waited until both were fast asleep before moving them to the front of the portal spot. Two sleeping demons were placed gently on the table and Makenel and Ollordna worked the machine.

Once Buffy, Faith and the caged vampires were gone, Ollordna would offer Makenel the choice of death or slavery to atone for his part in the destruction of this land and its people. Kakel would have no such options and Buffy and Faith were happy to walk away and leave him to the justice of the land he corrupted and destroyed.

Buffy and Faith thanked the Putorna for all their help and in turn, the Putorna thanked the Slayers for freeing theirs.

The machine started groaning and unlike the last time, there was no screams to accompany it. The demons shuddered, but their faces remained peaceful and Buffy was at ease with leaving in this manner. A portal opened and from their side, the Slayers could see something that looked like Earth at night. With a glance at each other, Faith grasped Buffy's hand.

"Well B, here goes nuthin..." Closing her eyes, she stepping into the portal. There was no pain this time, no disorientation. It was as Makenel said, the stable portals were simply as if stepping through a doorway into another room. Faith pulled out her phone and turned it on, checking that she had any reception. She DID!

Still holding Buffy's hand, she dialled Robin at the Cleveland base. When he answered, she nearly broke down.

"Oh My GOD Faith! Where the HELL have you been? We have been going absolutely Spare here!" Faith laughed as Robin vented his fear down the line.

"Oh My GOD Robby! You have NO idea how good it is to hear your voice! Hang on, I'll call you right back!" She tugged on Buffy's hand and felt herself being yanked back through the portal.

"Well? Is it Home? Are we right? FAITH!" The screaming Slayer yanked hard on the laughing woman's hand

"YES, you crazy bitch! Unless I can get awesome reception in a different dimension, and then damn, I love my Telco, it's home!" Her words were cut off as Buffy threw her arms around the other slayers neck and crushed her in a hug.

Quickly now, the warriors helped carry the sleeping vamps through and others kept their grip on their belts to ensure no one got left behind. With more hugs all-round, the two women said goodbye to their new friends and watched as the portal powered down. Just before it popped out of existence, a wail could be heard and suddenly cut off. Faith, pragmatic as always, shrugged.

Checking on the still sleeping vampires, both Slayers turned on their phones and waited for them to do their updatey things. Soon, times and dates were showing. It had been over two weeks in the Putorna's dimension, but here it had been just a week. While it was only just gone past 11pm, both knew that the sun would be rising quicker than they would want. Faith called the now relieved Robin back and filled him in on the bare bones and quickly organised a charter flight and cargo truck. The truck would reach them just before dawn, so they were cutting it close. Once in Cleveland, they would get the vamps to safely and work on healing them there.

It looked like things were finally looking up.

Why is it, the second you say that, Fate looks down and twinges her strings?