A/N: Yes my chapter titles tend to suck most of the time! But it's more for me to remember what each chapter is than anything else haha! Anybody else watch the One Tree Hill Finale last night? I cried...

Chap. 11: The Chat- February 05

Buffy walked quietly through the house, picking up toys as she went. Nevaeh sure had gone through her toy box that day. Normally they made her pick her own toys up before bed, but Buffy just didn't have it in her to make her tonight. Faith was out on patrol, and to say she was worried was an understatement. Every time her wife walked out that door these days, she was afraid she was never going to see her again.

Dumping the toys in the toy chest, she tried in vain to close the lid all the way. The girl had enough stuff to fill up several chests. She was spoiled rotten, that was for sure. Buffy could not remember having this many things to play with when she was little, and her parents had spoiled her.

Heading up the stairs, instead of taking a left, she moved right, walking into Nevaeh's room. She wasn't ready to be alone just yet, it would mean too much time to stew. Standing in the doorway, she watched the curly-haired girl sleep peacefully.

She wondered what it would be like to be that young and innocent. Vaeh knew her moms were worried, but she was really too young to understand what was going on, so it just rolled right off her. And that's how they wanted it. No four-year old should have to know what's going on.

Moving into the room, the blonde made her way over to the bed. Lying down next to her daughter, she reached a hand out to weave her fingers through the dark locks. "You have the most beautiful hair, baby girl, just like your Mama's," she whispered, not wanting to wake the girl.

"I can't believe you're getting so big already. I remember telling you all the time how much I loved your curls when you were just a baby." She paused, running her fingers across a soft cheek. "Your Mama says she sees traces of me in you, but when I look at you, all I see is her. And I couldn't be happier about that."

And she meant that. Even when she was still so mad at Faith for all she'd done, she was still so happy when Nevaeh showed up and could have passed as a mini-Faith. This little girl saved them both and brought them together.

Buffy was sure that they were soul mates, but without Nevaeh, they probably would have never figured that out. Their love for each other made them stronger, as individuals and as Slayers. She couldn't explain it, but she knew it was true. Now she could only hope that strength would be able to save Faith when the time came. She wasn't done loving her wife just yet.

~BF~

Faith crept quietly around the cemetery, with a herd of girls behind her, equally trying to do the same. "Alright, here's the deal," she whispered, as she gathered them all around here so they could listen. "We're sure this Tarzar exists, but I want you girls to be smart if we come across him. We don't engage, only defend if we have to. We need to see what this guy's deal is before we fight him. Understood?" she asked, getting several nods of the head in answer.

She just had this feeling that they were going to be meeting him, and soon. Each patrol group over the last few days had been canvassing, looking for any sign him. So far they hadn't turned anything up. But the Dark Slayer knew that couldn't hold out for long.

Tonight they were patrolling the same cemetery they had been the night they'd run into the group that had first made them aware of the big bad. They probably should have returned here earlier, but it hadn't really occurred to any of them to do so. But now they wondered if maybe there was a reason they were here that night.

Nothing turned up out of the ordinary, just the normal graves and crypts. Nothing that looked like it had been disturbed recently.

"Think we should call it a night, not looking like we're going to find anything tonight," Kennedy suggested to Faith.

Faith looked around, hoping to spot something, anything to give them a clue as to what was going on. She in no way looked forward to how this was going to end. But this slow build up was slowly driving her insane. She was more than ready to just have this out and be done.

"Just five more minutes," she said like a kid asking to stay up later. "I just want to go through those trees over there, make sure nothing is hiding back there." She didn't give anyone time to object, instead making her way over to the trees.

Her five minutes came and went as they made their way further through the brush. Something about this whole situation didn't seem right to Faith, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

A small patch of light hit her eyes. Turning, she signaled for the girls to stop, each taking cover so as not to be seen. Creeping to the edge of the trees, she found a small clearing and in the middle of it sat a shack.

When Kennedy moved to where Faith was and able to see the structure for herself, she was surprised. She was sure they'd patrolled through here before, but she couldn't ever remember this building being here.

"You guys stay here," Faith ordered. "Keep a look out, while Ken and I go check it out." She looked at the other Slayer to make sure she was on board with this plan, but the younger girl just nodded her head and began moving as carefully as possible through the clearing.

Ducking under a window, they could hear voices inside, so the building was definitely occupied, but they couldn't make out what the voices were saying. Without speaking a word, Faith let Kennedy know what she was about to do, before leaning up just enough to peak in through the window.

The room was filled with dozen of what looked like humans. But her senses were telling her that some of them at the very least were vampires.

"Do you see him?" Kennedy whispered.

"Not sure, there's definitely vamps in there, but since we have no idea what he is, couldn't tell you." So far she couldn't see anyone that seemed to be the center of attention.

"Well, what do we have here?" Both Slayers flipped their heads to see about six vampires approaching them. Even with all the other girls hidden in the trees, they were screwed. Any commotion out here would surely just bring more from inside. Instead she tried to signal to them to stay put, without giving it away to the vamps what she was doing.

A slight movement caught the attention of the one who'd spoken as Kennedy tried to reach for her stake. "Uh uh, don't even think about it. Come now, the boss just wants to have a little chat."

"Yeah right," Faith spat, ripping her shoulder away from the blonde vamp that was trying to grab it. Deciding it was best to just play nice, they allowed themselves to be led inside.

The first thing Faith noticed was that along the wall they had been standing outside, a half dozen people were chained up. They were all still alive, but just barely. By the bite marks on various body parts it was obvious they were for snacking. Faith was sick to know there was nothing she could do to help them at this moment.

She could only hope that the other girls were smart enough to head back and bring help.

"Slayer, to what do I owe this pleasure," a voice called from a darkened corner of the room.

"Heard you were looking to kill me, figured I'd find ya and do ya in first," Faith threw back.

The being just chuckled, and started to work his way into the light. "I've heard you were a tough one. Unfortunately, it's just not that simple."

When he finally stepped fully into the light so she could see him, she was almost disappointed. He looked so… human, but he wasn't she was sure of that. She also wasn't getting a vampire vibe off him. "Trying to figure me out, eh?" He asked her, noticing how she studied him. "Well let me introduce myself, I am Tarzar."

"Thank you, captain obvious, already figured that out," Faith shot back sarcastically, earning her a punch to the gut.

"Show some respect, girl. All I wanted was a simple chat, for now." Faith looked at him like he was insane. "Hey, I'm not a complete monster. I'll let you have a chance to 'get your affairs in order' as you humans say. But don't take too long."

"You think it's going to be that easy? What I'll just go kiss my family goodbye and then come back to you so you can kill me?"

Tarzar gave a laugh. "No, I don't expect you will go down easily," he admitted. "But I have knowledge that you don't."

"Oh yeah, and what's that."

"Now why would I ruin all the fun by telling you?" He moved so that he was standing right in front of her, running a hand over her, "So strong, too bad it won't be able to help you."

Faith couldn't understand why she just stood there as he ran his hands over her. She told herself she was just trying to not make trouble, wanting to get out of here and go home if he really meant what he said about letting her go.

"Yes, I can feel your strength. I wasn't entirely sure until this moment you were the one I needed, but now I know," he told her, as he held a tight hand on her neck. "I'll be seeing you," he laughed again, walking out of the room.

Once he was gone, two of his minions led them towards the door, throwing them outside.

~BF~

When Kennedy and Faith finally made their way back home, the other girls had rounded everyone up and they were gearing up for a rescue mission.

Buffy, who was standing in the doorway of her house, was the first to notice them, having felt Faith through their connection. "Faith, you're okay," she squealed, running to her wife and jumping into her arms and kissing her. "I was so freaked out when the girls came back without you. Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked, moving to look the other girl over.

"I'm okay, promise, B," she added when she knew Buffy didn't believe her.

"So does this mean Tarzar is…" Giles started to ask.

"Still alive and kicking," Faith answered before he could finish.

"How did you escape?"

"We didn't. Can we talk about this inside?" she finished with her own question, not wanting to discuss this outside.

"Of course," Giles agreed.

They sent all the SITs back to their dorms, leaving only the Scoobies to make their way into Buffy and Faith's living room. Taking a seat on the couch, Faith wasn't surprised at all when Buffy placed herself across her lap. Worried Buffy always made for a clinging Slayer. She wasn't about to complain.

When all the attention was on her, Faith began. "We found this, well it was more like a shack, that I'd never seen before. There had to be at least twenty vampires in there, possibly more. And Tarzar was there." She quickly filled them in on everything that had happened, and everything that was said that she could remember.

"So he was human?" Dawn asked, confused.

"No, he definitely wasn't, but he wasn't a vamp neither."

"Well that gets us a step closer, he's some kind of demon that appears human," Giles says, making a mental note to start researching that aspect. "Did he have any special powers or anything?"

"Nothing that was obvious. He touched me, and for some reason I let him. But I think maybe my mind was just saying to play it safe so I could get out of there."

"Could be, but worth looking in to," Giles told her, getting up to find a paper. He needed to start writing things down before he forgot them all.

"What about this shack?" Willow asked.

"That was the weird thing," Kennedy answered this time. "We've patrolled that cemetery many times, and gone into those woods. I don't remember ever coming across it before."

"Didn't it seem like it took us to long to walk through those trees too?" Faith asked Kennedy.

The younger Slayer thought about it for a minute. "You're right, there's supposed to be a fence that marks the end of the cemetery. We should have reached that before going that far."

"Hmm, we'll have tomorrow's patrol take a look at the surrounding area. Don't worry we'll keep them far away from that shack," Giles finished after noticing the look Faith was giving him. "Just have them see if they can figure out what happened to the fence."

"Something was fishy about that clearing," Kennedy went on.

"You're right, it was almost like it didn't belong there," Faith agreed a little too loudly.

"Yeah, it was like the ground beneath our feet changed once we stepped past the trees. The grass was different," Kennedy kept going, trying to remember every detail.

"That's it!" Faith exclaimed. "It was like that whole area had just been dropped in from somewhere else."

"Mama? Why you yelling?" Vaeh asked from the doorway to the living room, trying to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes.

"Sorry, baby, I was just remembering something."

"Come here, sweetie," Buffy told her, holding her arms out for the little girl.

Nevaeh didn't need to be told twice and crawled up into her Mom's lap, laying so she was snuggled into both her mother's chests. Buffy automatically began rubbing her back, trying to lull her back to sleep.

"We thought maybe this demon was from another dimension, is it possible he brought his home with him?" Willow asked quietly, picking up right where they left off, once everyone was sure Nevaeh was sound asleep again. Nobody questioned why they didn't just go put her back to bed. After a night like tonight, having their family together seemed more important than ever.

"I suppose it's possible," Giles admitted, although he'd never heard of such a thing.

"So we're now going with the theory he's not from here then?" Faith asked, just to be clear.

"Yes, I believe so."

"Great, so we got a beast from another dimension that's drawn to my strength and wants to kill me. This should be fun," Faith sarcastically joked, getting a laugh from no one.