A/N: Anybody notice what I did with the chapter titles these last 4 chapters? I love the song Lost and Found. And I also tend to get the lyrics of "Back to Life, Back to Reality." Stuck in my head from time to time.

Chap. 23: Back to Reality- May 05

Buffy woke the next morning not quite wanting to open her eyes. Afraid that the day before had all been just a dream and Faith was still in another building. It had seemed so surreal that after so long, her wife was finally back home with them.

She knew it wasn't just a dream when a hand found her belly and began to gently rub. Movement on the bed suggested that Faith was scooting down, but still she didn't open her eyes. Wanting to see what Faith was going to do.

Her shirt was pushed up, revealing her stomach to Faith's eyes. At only nine weeks she hadn't even began to show, but apparently that wasn't going to stop Faith from whatever she was up to. Warm lips pressed themselves intently just next to her belly button.

"Good morning, baby. Sorry we didn't meet sooner, but I'm your Mama. Your Mommy decided with your sister that she gets the title of Mom, and I got stuck with Mama, but I'm cool with that. Mama's more badass anyway." Faith whispered. Buffy stayed silent trying not to let the other woman know she was awake.

"Your sister, she's gonna love you. You're gonna be so loved you won't know what to do with yourself. Never thought I wanted kids, but big sis changed all that for me. And now I get you, too. I can't wait to meet you. Love you, baby," she finished, placing another kiss.

"Alright, I'm done now," Faith said to Buffy, as she crawled back to pull her into her arms.

"You knew I was awake?" Faith just nodded. "Well that was really sweet."

"I meant every word. I've always felt so lucky to have you and Nevaeh, but still I think a part of me took it for granted. But being in that place. It changed that for me. I got my family back, and knowing we are having another baby is just amazing." Placing a kiss on Buffy's lips, slipping her fingers through the strands of blonde hair, she held her wife in place as she deepened the kiss.

"Mm, I've missed that," Buffy whispered when they finally pulled apart. She leaned in and placed another deep kiss on Faith's lips.

Hands began to wander as they continued to make out like horny teenagers. Something they were really good at doing. Just as Buffy was reaching for the hem of Faith's top, the door knob rattled followed by a loud banging on the door.

"Let me in, wanna see Mama," came the demand through the door.

"Think she wants to make sure you're still here," Buffy said.

"Yeah, probably. Better go open it before she decides to try breaking the thing down." Slipping out of bed, Faith padded over to the door as quietly as possible. The sudden yanking open of the door caught Nevaeh by surprise, leaving her hand up in mid knock. "What's with all the racket, munchkin?" she teased.

"I'm hungry."

"Well we can't have that now, can we? Wanna race downstairs?" This got a threatening 'Faith' from Buffy. But surprisingly also got a shake of the head from Nevaeh. Instead she just put her arms up to be carried. Complying, she reached down and settled the little girl on her hip, enjoying the feel of her daughter as she curled into her shoulder. "I missed you too, kiddo," Faith spoke softly into her hair, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Let's go get some breakfast."

Buffy stayed in bed, just listening to the sounds drifting up the stairs. Faith was right, their family was something they would never take for granted again. They were Slayers, they weren't even meant to live this long, and yet here they were. They were married with a child and one on the way. Something no Slayer had ever had before. And life couldn't get any better.

~BF~

Faith hesitated outside the door. Pacing back and forth, she couldn't force herself to go in. If she went in, then everything would be real again. She didn't want to have to relive it all. Why did she need to anyway? She was home again, and according to Buffy, Tarzar was worm food, if they had worms in his dimension.

The door slowly creaks open, and a blonde head pops out. "Baby, you coming in?"

Faith just shakes her head and continues to pace. Stepping all the way through the door, Buffy let it close behind her. Reaching an arm out, she stopped her wife in her pacing and pulled her into her. Placing a soft kiss on her lips, "Come on, you can do this."

"Why do we have to? It's not going to change anything."

"No it's not," Buffy agreed. But she also knew that discussing such events help the person deal with them, and they helped for future training and research. "You're right, it won't change anything about the past, but it may help the future. It may help us train better, and research better. And one day it may come in handy when Nevaeh's an active Slayer."

Faith nodded, knowing what Buffy was saying. Faith pulled back, distancing herself, but only enough so they could walk into that room. Only after their fingers were entwined did she signal for Buffy to go ahead and open the door.

"Ah, Faith, glad you finally joined us," Giles tried to tease light-heartedly. He didn't want her to think he was upset with her. He knew this was going to be hard on her. He felt a good sense of guilt for not just believing Buffy when she'd first come to him.

His reasons for not believing her were valid, he knew. However, Buffy tended to be right when it came to these kinds of things. Most of all he blamed himself for believing Tarzar's prophecy. They'd never come across a demon so cunning.

At least they'd still managed to defeat him.

"I'm here, G. Whada ya want to know?"

"Let's start with the battle. What do you remember?"

Faith began from the moment they'd stepped into the cemetery. Within a few minutes into the battle she knew how outnumbered they were. But it didn't slow them down, taking out one vampire at a time.

"I remember I started yelling out more orders, and then feeling a pain starting in my stomach. I thought for sure I'd been stabbed. Within seconds my whole body felt like it was on fire, and I believe I passed out. When I woke, I thought for sure I was dead. I checked my stomach and there wasn't a wound, so then I really thought I was dead, you know if I was in hell or whatever my wound was no longer there." Faith wasn't sure if she was explaining it right. Giles seemed to understand what she was saying though so she just continued on.

"I had no idea where I was, it looked like a room, but not made out of anything I'd ever seen before. I was left there for I don't know how long. When the door finally did open and Tarzar walked in, I started to piece together what happened. The pain I felt must have been some kind of transportation spell. He confirmed it for me later."

She felt weak for several days when she first arrived. Every day he would come in and draw some of her blood. Not a lot, just enough to maybe fill a syringe or two. And not enough to keep her feeling weak. The first chance she got where she started to feel almost at full strength, she tried to fight back. She almost got away too, but he caught up to her and that's when he'd thrown her into the cave.

"You were only gone about a month here, do you know how long you were there?" Giles asked. This was the one thing he was the most curious about.

"I think they only fed me once a day, and always just before he came in to take some more blood. Food was nasty by the way. If that was true then more than three months. I stopped counting after about ninety days."

Three months? Buffy scooted closer to Faith, wrapping her arm more firmly around her. Faith had endured that hell for more than three months. She knew she had to stay strong until they were through this, but all she really wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry with Faith in her arms. Why were they forced to go through so much? They saved the world again and again, and this was the thanks they got.

"Every time he'd come, he'd go on and on about how he'd fooled us all. Nobody would be able to figure out he'd taken me. And nobody would come looking for me. I realized from what he was saying, that he'd somehow replaced me or faked my death. After those first three months, I just felt it was hopeless and gave up. Was probably there another couple months before you found me, but not sure."

No wonder it took them so long to get Faith back. She'd been living in that hell for months, believing there was no hope that anyone would even try to find her.

"He was very cunning. He took a doppelganger from another dimension and killed her and then when he took you, he replaced you with her."

Faith let out a laugh she didn't actually feel. "Well at least the prophecy was real in a way, I did die."

"Not you, but yes in a way I suppose you did. We figure she probably wasn't a Slayer wherever she was. Made her an easy target for him."

"How'd you figure out it wasn't me?"

Buffy didn't want to tell her how they'd figured it out, because that would make it look like she should have figured it out sooner, but Faith needed the truth. "After that dream we shared, I knew something wasn't right. It was a picture of you on the beach that changed it for me. When you 'died' I was so upset, I didn't really notice anything going on around me. But looking at that picture, I realized something. The body we buried, it didn't have your tattoo. And Will remembered she didn't have your scar either."

"Wow, so as smart as he was, he made a mistake. Good to know demons are still stupider than humans."

"Quite," Giles agreed.

"And we're sure he's dead?" Faith asked, needed confirmation just so she could feel a little safer.

"We're sure. Kennedy apparently felt a bit of rage on your behalf and sliced him into several pieces. After you were all a safe distance away, they let off a nice little bomb, blowing the place up," Buffy assured her.

"Man, too bad I missed it."

"Yeah, another bomb involved and once again you were unconscious," the blonde teased.

"Hey, this one wasn't my fault. I vaguely recalled being shot with a tranquilizer."

"Kennedy apologizes for that by the way."

"I'll tell her it's cool. She had to do what she had to do." She knew soon she'd have to deal with everyone. She was glad they were giving her space right now though. Maybe they could start out small, invite Dawn and Kennedy over for dinner later. She'd suggest it to Buffy when they finally got done here. She spent so long by herself, it was going to be hard getting used to being around a bunch of people again.

Dawn had been watching Vaeh, while they had their meeting with Giles. Before she left, Buffy asked her to come back and bring Kennedy for dinner. She easily agreed. Everyone loved coming over to Buffy and Faith's for meals. It was a lot better than the food they served in the cafeteria.

As soon as the door was closed behind Dawn, Faith wrapped her arms around Buffy from behind, nuzzling her face into her wife's hair. Brushing the hair to the side, she follows up with a lingering kiss to the other woman's neck.

Buffy moaned at the contact. Five weeks of not being touched after a very healthy sex life was not helping her keep her cool right now. "Quit torturing me."

"Not torture. Teasing. Loving," Faith told her between kisses.

"With our daughter upstairs that could come down at any minute, that's torture."

"I keep telling you, she's old enough to entertain herself now and give us an hour alone."

Buffy tried not to roll her eyes, too lost in the pleasure Faith was giving her. They'd had that argument several times. She knew eventually she'd cave into Faith, but not until Nevaeh was much, much older. She did not want to explain what sex was to their four-year old if she decided to come find them.

"I haven't told her our news yet," she suddenly thought out loud. Anything to stop what was happening was probably a good thing.

"You haven't?"

"No, I thought about it when I found out. I think a part of me held back, wanting you to be here, even if I didn't consciously know that was possible."

"Vaeh, get down here," Faith shouted up the stairs.

"And apparently we're telling her right now," Buffy muttered to herself.

"Damn right we are," Faith said as if was obvious.

Buffy just shrugged and followed Faith into the living room, sitting down so there was enough room between them for Vaeh to sit between them. It made sense to her in a way she guessed. Buffy had told all her friends. Well Vaeh was Faith's best friend. It was only fair.

"Come, sit," Faith told the little girl when she wandered into the room, patting the space between them. "We got something to tell you," Faith started when their daughter was safely tucked between them. But then she turned to Buffy giving her a look as if to ask how do they wanted to do this.

"Remember that appointment I had last week that you wanted to go too?" Nevaeh nodded her head. "Well I had to go to the doctor."

"Why, you sick? Did he gives you medicine?" Vaeh asked, a little worried why her moms both wanted to talk to her.

"I'm not sick, but I'll have to go to the doctor a lot over the next few months." And hopefully Giles would find someone soon. He told her a couple days ago he thought he'd found a good candidate and she'd be coming for an interview in a couple days.

"How come?"

"Because your Mom has a baby in her belly."

"A baby? How'd it get there?" she asked curiously, looking hesitantly at her mom's stomach.

"That is not something for you to know for another twenty years," Faith said seriously. "That's not the important part. What we're telling you is that you're going to be a big sister."

"A big sister? Like Mommy?" Aunty Dawnie had told her how her mom was Dawn's big sister and how cool it was to have her as a sister.

"Yes, like Mommy," Faith answered. "You cool with that?"

"Can I play with her?"

"Of course you can, once she's born," Buffy told her.

"Or him, it could be a boy. You could have a brother," Faith tried to reason, she kind of wanted a son. Although she wouldn't mind one bit if it was another girl. Maybe this one would be a mini-Buffy. And she had a feeling that Buffy believed it was a girl, just by the look she was giving her right now. There was no way she could know, it was far too early. Which was going to make this so much fun, playing the guessing game. She could drive Buffy nuts insisting it was a boy. And she was going to, simply on principle.

"When she gonna be born?"

Buffy tried not to groan. Nevaeh was inquisitive, and telling her this early along, they had now set themselves up for months of questions, and several of them she was sure were going to be repeated time and again. It was going to be a long seven months. But watching as Faith took their daughter's hand and placed them both on Buffy's belly, she realized she wouldn't change it for anything.