Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Faith's sleep was restless and filled with screams and blood. She woke with the first flashes of dawn, her chest heaving as vomit spilled from her mouth. A flood of white, gooey slime flooded her mouth, creating a mash of white across the floor. She groaned and crawled from the bed, not registering as she fell into her own mess as she tried to make her way to Tara.

"Tara!" Her hoarse throat cried, voice barely a whisper on the still air.

Tara woke with a jerk from her light sleep and gasped as she saw Faith, shivering on the floor. "Faith, Faith just take slow breaths, okay. Slow breaths!" Faith growled and whimpered in her lap, turning to her side as again the white tendrils where expelled from her body. Tara winced and ran her shaking hands through Faith's dark hair. She bent as tears poured from her eyes and softly kissed Faith's temple.

"My-" Faith coughed and dragged in a shallow breath, "My ship." Faith gripped Tara's hand as she turned wide black-eyes to her, "Take care of my ship, Tara. I'll be better, promise. Just take care of my ship." Tara opened her mouth to object. "Tara! Please." She nodded.

"Okay. Come on, lets' get you to the bed." She helped Faith to the black bed, placing a bucket near her just incase. She sat on the edge after dressing and frowned at Faith's sweating features and choked breaths. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise." She smiled down at Faith when Faith patted her cheek before coughing. When Tara exited the cabin the crew was already working across the ship. She moved to the wheel, where Tuck and Jo where already figuring out where to go.

"Tara! Tara, where's Faith?" Tara turned and gave Buffy a small smile.

"Ill. She's in her room now. Buffy, you and my sister talked about where the Forgotten was, how to get there?"

"Yeah, when you came and got us we where checking her maps. Why?" Buffy felt worry flood her when she realized that Faith's sickness was more than likely unplanned, and unexpected.

"She was, unable to tell me where we will be going. The direction. Maybe you can tell Tuck and Jo?" At Buffy's nod Tara smiled, patted her arm and headed below deck. "I'll be below. After you tell Tuck and Jo, please come down as well. It shouldn't be hard to find me." Tara turned and left without another word.

Buffy talked to the twins, easily loosing who was who when they started moving and talking. As she made to follow Tara she heard painful sounds coming from Faith's room. With a quick glance around she entered the Captain's Quarters'. The stench that filled the air caused her to almost gag. The room looked to be in a disarray, the maps that decorated the walls where torn down, the weapons where perfectly taken apart, bullets thrown across the room. And Faith was curled in a ball in the corner. She was rocking and mumbling to herself, a dark light surrounded her, pulsing erratically. Buffy inched forward, apprehension clear on her features.

"Faith? Faith are you here? Are you okay? Faith!" Buffy ran to her when she heard Faith give off a low growl. "Faith? Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?" Buffy crouched down and softly rested a hand on Faith's arm. The dark light and Faith both stopped, frozen as though neither had ever been moving. Buffy felt her heart clench in her throat.

Something seemed to snap and Faith lurched forward, snarl on her lips and animalistic growl in her chest. Faith's calloused hands clenched her throat as she held her to the ground. Her brows forward as her eyes narrowed. Both recognition and confusion shown in Faith's dark eyes. The hands loosened just a bit before sliding just far enough away for Buffy to only feel the light graze of Faith's skin against her own. "Faith?" She whispered, looking up into Faith's eyes. Faith blinked and groaned, pulling away from Buffy. "Faith, it's me, Buffy." Buffy said as slowly her voice came back. Faith shot Buffy a sharp look.

"I know it's you! I'm not—I'm just a little bit sick." Faith gasped out, chest heaving with each word and pause. Buffy reached out, gently running her hands across Faith's face. Faith sighed and slowly her breathing slowed. Buffy gave her a soft smile, laced with worry and some lasting fear. "Please," Faith gasped as Buffy moved to pull away, she grabbed Buffy's wrists desperately. "Please don't leave." Buffy stared into the black eyes, that usually showing nothing, that now showed something that made Buffy's spine shiver and at the same time pleaded at her humane side.

"I'll stay. Shhh, come here." Buffy whispered as she pulled Faith to her chest, Faith's body shaking and yet again sweating. "Shhh." Buffy hushed as Faith let out a painful sounding cry. She felt her brows forward as she felt Faith moving against her, not looking to pull away, just moving her hands repeatedly. She pulled away yanked Faith's hands away from her own chest. The nightgown had been pulled away from the center of Faith's chest and where Faith had been scratching, pulling away, at her chest was now bleeding. "What did you do? Oh Faith." She kept Faith's hands from her chest and pulled her chest close to her own, hoping to keep her from scratching at the already inflamed and bleeding area.

"I have to get it out. It, it burns." Buffy just shushed her and held her as Faith fought against her.

Neither noticed the door opening or closing. On the other side of the door Tara leaned against it, smiling to herself. She took Willow's arm and pulled her to the wheel. "Willow, can you do something for me?" Willow nodded and cast her a look. "Can you help me start packing Buffy's things into her, em, suitcase?"

"Why?"

"So we can have the room to ourselves." She hugged Willow close to her and ran the backs of her fingers across Willow's cheek. "And trust me when I say, Fai and Buffy will not mind in the least." Willow gave her a mildly confused look before she let it blow over when Tara gave her a soft kiss across her lips, nothing more than a brief grazing of Tara's lips to Willow's. The crew bit their tongues when they saw that, knowing better than to let out the howls they wanted to. After all, Faith would kill them for even glancing at the two young women.