"So do you think you could let go," she asked sarcastically.

We both knew that she could have gotten out of that if she wanted to. She had the power of a thousand men, she could have broken my arm easily.

I let go of my grip violently leaving fingernail marks on her neck. I took two step back and crossed my arms. She fixed her leather jacket and then her hair. I pursed my lips and set my face with an unamused expression which wasn't hard to do.

"What are you doing here, Faith?"

"Damn D," she said slyly like she usually did, "I can't get a 'Hi, how have you been? It's been seven years? Let me take you for a cup of coffee?'"

I didn't move. She sucked her teeth and took a deep breath. "Alright," she said. Her expression easily changed from comedian, to serious. A side I had never seen before. "Can we go somewhere, so we could talk?" I stood still for minute trying to come up with multiple reasons for why she would be here. I ended up with nothing. With no words, I walked toward the war room. I figured if she tried anything I can kill her and end it once and for all.

We walked toward something that seemed to be a janitors closet. She scoffed. "I wanted to talk to you," she said jokingly, "Not play seven minutes in heaven."

I still wasn't amused. We walked inside and it seemed a mess filled with brooms, and mops, and other plumber necessities. Just how I wanted it to be. I kicked some things to the side, and came across my safe. I turned to Faith, "Move that safe." Her eyebrow arched high, but with no questions she did. I directed her to put it near the door so I wouldn't forget to put it back. When she put it down, I crouched near the wall where the safe was and removed a brick from the wall. Located behind the brick was a breath analyzer. I placed my breath on it and mechanically, it said my name.

The wall caved inwards and moved to the side. "Let's Go," I said.

As I went, she followed. I turned the lights on and there was the war room. A Large white room that could have fit three times the house I grew up in. Faith was amazed. I've been here for so long, that it seemed like normality to me.

"Look at you D," she said with a smile on her face, "you got yourself a training room. For it second it looks like you were a slayer in training."

There wasn't anything in the room... at least anything visible. Just two chairs, a few paintings and and a table with a huge water tank next to it. She pulled the chair closer to the table. She sat then leaned over to take the wooden stakes out of her boots. She took the crosses out of her leather jacket and then moved her neck around making peculiar crack sounds. I knew then that she wasn't here for a deed. This was something serious. I walked to the chairs with a cup of water in my hand and handed it to her. She drank the water in one gulp before I even sat down. I leaned forward putting my elbows on the table. It was quiet. Nothing to be heard.

"Do you want more," I asked dully.

"Nah," she said leaning back putting one elbow on the back of the chair and stretching one of her legs out. , "I don't like to use bathrooms. Less is best."

A moving smirk placed on my face. It came... and then it went.

"I bet ya wanna know how I found you," she delicately said added with a smirk.

"Of course I do."

An over fatigued sigh escaped her mouth as she sat as straight as she could. Her eyes fixed onto mine.

"A lot of stuff is going down, Dawn. I don't even know how to explain it. And I'm the honorary slayer, here."

Dully I asked, "What stuff, Faith?"

She brushed her hair back with her hand. "After B died, everyone disappeared. Giles, Xander, even Willow. The last I heard of Willow she was dealing with some kind of warlock and he had her hooked on the juice again. I came across her two years after B died, and I almost had to kill her. She disappeared though, and I haven't been able to track her since. From the time we made Sunnydale an outie to an inny, I've been doing some freelance; Going from city to city killing what I can. But for the past two years or so, these guys are so different."

I didn't understand what she was saying. My face twitched, and I think she caught it. She looked down at her boots, and then back into my eyes. "When I was in New York, I was tracking down this three horned demon. Eventually, I found him and I tried to take him down. I was hurt pretty bad, but you should have seen the bruises on him. When I tried to choke him with near by chains from behind, some voodoo stuff started to happen. His head... it turned like a 180. His eyes turned gray... and like I swore I saw a cross in his eyes. He laughed at me and then his voice changed. He said the prophecy was near."

"The prophecy," I repeated. I tried to think of anything in my readings about the Prophecy but nothing came to mind. "I don't get it."

"Neither did I," she said, "At first I thought it was just the three horned demons, and then it became Vampires, goblins, and everything you could think of. Everyone we have gone against, any type of creature. They all talk about the prophecy. But that's not the crazy part."

Was she kidding? "It's not," I said sarcastically.

"...Vampires... they're bleeding."

Apparently she wasn't. I tried to comprehend what she was saying. "Faith, Vampires don't bleed."

She smirked. "But humans do. I started to study them. Pace myself before I killed them. They've gotten slower. They run out of breath. Dawn... Vampires don't have to breathe. Then I started to realize that when I punched them, it hurt them more than it hurt me."

"So, are they humans or Vampires?"

"I think they were humans, who were turned into vampires, and then are slowly turning back into humans."

"And you haven't been able to find Giles?"

"...I did. Him and I have been working for a few months together."

"Wow.. You and Giles are finally on the same page?"

She smiled. "I guess so." Her smile briskly vanished. "Dawn," she said slowly, "he's the one who found you."

My eyebrows furrowed together migrating away from my hairline. I stared at her. She did the same.

Faith was a good person, she had just made bad decisions. No one gave her the chance to be who she could have been. I know how that feels. She was burned by Buffy's light. She went down the wrong road, but she was still a good person. She was lost. So was I. I know there was something that was missing that she wasn't telling me. If she wasn't telling me, there was a reason. I parted my lips, and whispered, "Why?"

"We know you've been training slayers for the past five years. Some of them have came to us. The ones who came from you, were hella good. Just like B was. He knew you were helping for a while, but every time he asked them where you were, they would never answer."

"That was rule number one," I intervened coldly.

"It took him a while to find you. He started looking at maps, guessed where you could be. I'd head out to the place. See you weren't here and then we'd go back to square one again. He finally learned to use the computer, then he started cross referencing crap. He lives in Cleveland, now. Not far from here. I actually came to Chi-town a few times trying to find you. But you are hard to find."

"..So how did you find me?"

She smiled again and pulled out a card from her leather jacket. She handed it to me. "I got into a rough housing at a demon bar. I took 'em out, and then I got recruited." I looked at the card. I smiled hard, realizing that Jordan had been recruiting Slayers to come to me. The front of the Card said "Five By Five industries."

"I'm sorry for stealing your phrase.."

She shrugged it off, "Nah, don't worry about it. Made me feel special." She stood up and so did I. I fixed my shirt, and she fixed her jacket. She focused her eyes onto me until I looked at her. "Dawn, he wants to see you."

a beat passed.

"I just started training potential slayers today. I can't just get up and leave them. They don't know what they are capable of, they don't deserve to be alone."

It was too soon, I couldn't see Giles. Not because I didn't want to, but because I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to face the things I left behind. I wasn't ready to face Buffy.

She looked at me with a sense of compassion scribed on her face. "Dawn, you know better than anyone they will always be alone. But if that's how you want it, let me stay. I can teach them a thing or two. I still got it."

And for the first time in so long, I laughed. My heart beat amplified as I heard the sound.

I walked to the door and leaned over to place my breath on the analyzer, when I heard her voice.

"Yo Dawn," she said standing awkwardly.

I turned around and raised my eyebrows, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"You grew up good, kid. You got a pair of knockers on you," she said as she held her hands away from her chest, insinuating I had balloons on my chest.

I looked down to see the size of them. I didn't think they were that big. "Yeah well," I said carelessly, "Your face got fat."

She smiled as the wall moved to the side and we exited into the Janitors room.