A/N: This chapter pretty much speaks for itself. From here on out, it's a downhill slope and all that jazz. This episode tips the hat so to speak to Joss, if you catch it, big ol' internet cookie for you. Hope you enjoy it and as always, please review. Thank you again for all the support. I couldn't do it without your kind words, suggestions and help. Enjoy.


Chapter Thirty-Four: Maternity Leave
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"You bitch!"

Faith took a quick step back in order to miss the punch directed at her face and Kate stumbled as her fist met air instead of flesh.

"Whoa Freckles!" Sawyer laughed. "Swing and a miss for the rookie!"

"Shut up Sawyer!" She snarled and turned her attention quickly back to Faith. "How could you? We trusted you! I trusted you!"

His eyes bounced between the two women. "Freckles, what's-"

"I didn't have any other choice."

Kate stared at her, her mouth open. "Faith, you could have seriously hurt Jack!" She shook her head. "I found him with a huge knot on his head and then he tells me you were the one who helped Sawyer with the guns!"

Sawyer's surprised gaze went to Faith and froze there.

"You sat there and you pretended you didn't have a clue." Kate took a step back. "And I believed you. I told you things, I trusted you!"

"Kate, I'm sorry but-"

"No." Kate interrupted shaking her head again, "You're not sorry and that's what your problem is. You and Sawyer both, you've hurt people; hurt their trust, hurt their feelings and you just don't care."

"Damn Fire Cracker, what exactly did you do?"

Faith shot him an irritated look but anything she was going to say was lost at the sound of Claire screaming. She looked towards the woman's direction up the beach and started to move but Kate cut her off with a hard glare.

"Don't. We don't need your help." She stomped off and Faith hung back, watching as Kate tried her best to comfort Claire.

"Gotta hand it to you girlie, you just might be better at pissing people off than I am."

"Well, what can I say?" She muttered turning away. "I've had lots of practice."

"What exactly did you do?" Sawyer followed her, still chuckling. "Should have known it included good ol' Jack seeing as how Kate's angrier than a wet cat."

Faith flopped down on a plane seat, crossing her legs at the ankles and reclined as he took a seat beside her. "Where do you get all those stupid sayings?"

"Just answer the damn question."

"We had a disagreement so I hit him over the back of the head with a gun."

"You did WHAT?"

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She was aware of Kate hovering near the tent as she sat there, the woman walking back and forth as if changing her mind each time she moved. Faith continued to wait and shape the stake in her hand.

"I need a gun."

She paused and looked up. "Well, I need a sundae with nuts, whip cream, and a cherry on top."

"Faith, you have guns."

"Sawyer's not here."

"I'm not asking Sawyer." Kate crossed her arms. "I'm asking you."

"Right." Faith chuckled and looked back at her stake again, continuing to carve. "I give you a loaded gun and you, being that you're still pissed that I hit your boyfriend, shoot me with it and claim it was an accident. I know your game, I've seen CSI."

"Claire remembered parts of what happened to her."

She immediately looked up again. "What?"

"Yeah, the two weeks she was gone with Ethan." Kate nodded. "She remembers being held on the island somewhere, a place where they had medicine and a lab. She wants to go find it and try to bring back some medicine for Aaron."

"Aaron? What's wrong with him?" Faith jumped to her feet. "Is he alright?"

Kate looked over her shoulder towards Claire's tent. "He has a fever and a rash, and even though Jack says it looks normal, Claire's freaking out. She says that without the medicine that he could die so she's going." She looked back at Faith expectantly. "That's what I need a gun, I'm going with her."

"And then what?" Faith crossed her arms to imitate Kate. "You hear a strange noise, shoot and it happens to be one of us. Hasn't that lesson been learned already?"

"Or I hear a strange noise, shoot, and it's one of them." Kate glared. "Just… please. I need a gun."

Faith studied her for a few minutes then nodded. "Fine. I'll give you a gun." She agreed. "But it's gonna cost you."

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"Why do I get the feeling I'm not wanted here?"

Faith barely even looked at Ana-Lucia as she continued her steady pace through the jungle behind Claire and Kate. "Hate to ruin that thought but it's not you."

"What'd you do?" Ana chuckled keeping stride with Faith. "I mean, I know why they don't like me so what's your excuse?"

"Let's just say I tend to take things into my own hands and leave it at that."

"Does that include what happened to Jack?"

Faith snorted and shot her a look. "Is there anyone on this island that doesn't know about that already?"

"Just those of us who get the Island newspaper." Ana smirked and readjusted the gun in her belt. "I'm still a bit confused as to why you'd ask me to come much less give me a gun. Shouldn't you be worried or something?"

"I don't know." Faith looked away and picked up the pace. "Should I be?"

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They had been walking for almost an hour when noises in the bushes to their left made them all freeze. Faith blinked at the sight of Danielle standing there. Kate lowered her gun but Faith noticed right away that Claire's body remained tense.

Before she could do or say anything, Claire took immediate charge of the situation, stepping up to Danielle. "You know why I'm here. Take me to where you found me, take me to the room."

"I do not know of a room," The Frenchwoman frowned, "That night I found you in the woods, they were looking for you and-"

"No, you weren't!" Claire yelled. "You were taking me to them and-"

Danielle suddenly grabbed Claire, shaking her. "You must believe me!"

"Let go of her!" Kate raised the gun again. Her finger hovered over the trigger but the Frenchwoman barely even gave her the slightest bit of attention. Another gun cocked and Kate hesitated as the end of the cold barrel pressed against her cheek.

"Don't even think about it." Faith kept her voice calm and shot a warning look at Danielle. "And you, let go of the girl, now."

Danielle did as she was asked, backing up, and seeing this, Faith did the same. She lowered the gun and shoved it into the back of her pants again, watching as Kate lowered her own weapon. Ana still stood behind them, not having moved one inch except to lower her gun to her side and the look on her face was one of pure amusement.

"Everyone needs to calm down and concentrate on what we came out here to do." Faith looked around. "No sense in staying out here longer than necessary, agreed?"

Kate glared at her but nodded and so did Claire.

She shot Danielle a searching look. "Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Then let's keep going."

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Faith poked at the fire from beside Danielle and ignored Claire who had been staring at her for several minutes. The blonde was sitting beside Kate on the opposite side, her arms crossed over her bent legs, and her gaze set straight at Faith.

"What made you do it?" Kate looked at her as well as Claire continued. "What made you help Sawyer, why'd you do it?"

Faith cleared her throat and didn't say anything and an uncomfortable silence filled the camp. "I'm just not ready to dig any more graves right now." She broke her stick in half and tossed both ends into the fire. "I'm getting some shut eye."

"I'll take first watch." Danielle stood up, tossing her rifle over her shoulder.

Faith nodded as she left and barely looked at the two other women before turning away from them and lying down on her side. She closed her eyes and amazingly sleep came.

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The woods were dark from night and fog, the sound of birdcalls echoing through the trees, but she was far from afraid. She knew none of it was real.

Faith continued making her way through the jungle, shoving aside anything in her path, as her gaze remained focused on the light floating ahead of her in the distance.

A wall of bushes and trees blocked her way and taking a deep breath, Faith shoved through them. She looked around at the expanding sea, the long walkway leading to a dock, the light now floating at the end. Moving slowly, her bare feet padded softly forward till she could go no further, taking note of the fisherman's boat tied to her left.

"They're not what they seem." Walt was standing there with a lit torch in his hand, the boy soaking wet and staring at her with wide eyes.

"Is this your dream or mine?"

"She doesn't have a choice."

Faith frowned. "Who?" As soon as the question escaped her mouth, her gaze drifted past Walt's right shoulder to see a shadowy figure looming there. "Is that her?" She took a step forward, raising her voice. "Are you her?"

"You have to help me."

"I'm trying Walt but you have to give a little back Kid." Her eyes were glued to the figure, the face masked with darkness though as she moved closer, she could see it was definitely a woman, sections of blonde hair showing against the blackness. She was tall and thin, her body standing inches away from Walt.

"Buffy?"

"Don't come any closer."

Faith froze, tearing her gaze away from the shadow to look back at Walt.

"They're coming, I have to go." He and the woman stepped back simultaneously. "You have to help us Faith, please."

"I will Walt, I promise."

"You have to help my dad."

She frowned but nodded. "Of course Kid."

"He's not evil. He'll only do what he thinks is necessary."

"Wait." Faith took a step forward but they drifted further back. "Walt, wait!"

"She can't help me any longer, they're coming. Please Faith, you have to believe me." He shook his head, fading away. "Choice a have didn't She. Chosen was she."

"Faith? Faith!"

Someone was shaking her.

She jerked awake, eyes opening to find Danielle looming over her. "Yeah, I'm up."

"Good." Danielle nodded. "We must move. The girl, she has remembered more."

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By all reasoning, it should have been impossible but here they were, inside yet another empty hatch. The lights flickered as they entered the long hallway, and Faith paused, Kate going on into a room to her left. Faith stood there as Claire and Danielle came up behind her, Ana still lingering behind them at the exit. All three gazed down at the room located at the very end.

Faith kept her pace slow, staying a few steps behind Buffy as the blonde slayer continued to lead her. They passed door after door, each one locked with the rooms dark, and they made their way to the door located at the end.

Claire moved past her to enter a room but Danielle remained standing there.

"Everything has been abandoned."

Faith nodded and said nothing as Claire came back out of the room and immediately headed for the door located at the very end. Danielle followed her but Faith hesitated, seeing out of the corner of her eye as Kate signaled for her attention. She turned, eyeing the prosthetic make-up that rested in the Kate's hands. "What'd ya find Scooby Doo?"

Kate cocked an eyebrow, ignoring Ana's chuckle as the woman finally joined them, and she motioned with the items in her hands. "Some outfits and this fake beard, it's from the man that took our weapons."

Faith growled. They're not what they seem. She cleared her throat. "Anything else?"

"No, nothing."

She moved away and Kate followed, both of them focusing on the door at the very end just as Claire and Danielle entered the room.

Faith blinked and found herself standing directly in front of the door with Buffy beside her. The images of the room were suddenly clear, men and woman all standing around with scrubs and hospital masks.

Danielle shook her head and gazed around the small medical room slowly as Faith and Kate entered to look around. "I have never seen anything like this before."

A young girl lay on the table in the middle with her arms and legs strapped down. She struggled against her bonds, her screams echoing through the room but the people ignored her, continuing to move about like machines.

"She was chosen just like you were. She has a purpose here, and now, so do you."

Danielle looked almost as shocked as Kate when both Faith and Claire answered at the same time.

"I have."

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"You really expect us to believe you had a dream about this place?" Kate frowned as she glared at Faith. "I mean it's a bit ridiculous."

"So is a plane crashing in the middle of nowhere where people not only survive but find polar bears and an island monster, but here we are."

"You saw a girl?" Danielle whispered calmly. "She was being experimented on?"

Faith nodded. "I know what you're thinking and no, I don't know if it was Alex."

"I saw a girl too." Claire spoke up, staring at the marks on Danielle's arm that had faded. "She was different…. She helped me, just like you did." She cleared her throat and looked up. "I'm sorry for scratching you."

"You were scared." Danielle whispered. "They had drugged and brainwashed you because they wanted your baby, like they wanted mine."

Claire shook her head, gazing around again. "I don't get it. The vaccine was here, it was right here."

"You won't find it." Danielle shook her head stepping away back to the doorway. "Nothing is here anymore."

Faith watched her depart. "She's just really weird sometimes." She shrugged, focusing back on the blonde Aussie. "Maybe there's something else we can do."

"Like what? The vaccine is gone just like everything else." Claire whimpered. "My baby is sick."

"We'll do something Claire, don't worry."

Kate nodded, "Faith's right. We'll figure something out."

"And if we don't?"

Faith shook her head then motioned at Ana, "Lead the way back out alright?"

Ana surprisingly just nodded and turned to go in the same direction Danielle had disappeared. Faith continued to stand there and watch Claire as Kate moved to follow Ana as well.

"Claire?"

Claire looked up; eyes tired as she stood there and fingered the small blue booty she had found. "I made this for him, in that room they wanted to keep him. They drugged me, made me believe things… lied to me about what was best for my baby." Claire shook her head. "God, this is an awful place."

"Yes it is." Faith glanced around again. "Bad things happened here."

"Like the girl you mentioned?"

"At first I didn't realize what I was seeing in my dream… I mean, I thought it was nonsense, that it was me and in a way it is but…" Faith looked at where the operating table used to be. "She didn't want to be here and they didn't care. Whoever she was, they were experimenting on her for something but the one thing I do know is that this was the last place on earth she wanted to be."

"She wasn't the only one."

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"I take it the search did not go as planned."

Faith glanced up to see Sayid and shook her head as he took a seat next to her. "I'm not sure talking to me will look good on your island resume."

"I am not worried about that. I know you did only what you thought you had to do. The way I see it, it is a time to make allies not enemies." Sayid watched her as he talked. "But I will warn you that you must be careful of Sawyer, he cannot be trusted. He is the kind of man more likely to betray those that he considers a friend than a stranger."

"I'll be fine, you know that. Five by five and all that jazz."

"Indeed." He nodded. "I doubt I have to warn you about Ana-Lucia."

"Didn't we already have a conversation about her?" Faith tilted her head to meet Sayid's gaze. "I'm not her buddy, I just needed the back up today and you were busy."

"Was I, or was it that you simply did not want to involve me?"

"I hardly squeezed in a forth party as it was." She grunted. "Claire was like a woman on a rampage. Aaron seems to be a lot better today though, looks like it was just a rash or something after all."

"And this hatch you found?"

"Abandoned and way dirty. Whoever was there cleared out and cleared out fast."

"It looks like we have more to learn about the Others than I originally thought." Sayid murmured. "And seeing as how we have one of them in our hatch as we speak…"

"You and I both know Jack won't let you near him with a ten foot pole."

"No, but he has no choice but to let you."

She nodded. "He's gonna be a tough nut to crack and I'm gonna enjoy doing it."

"Jack?" Sayid chuckled. "Or our hostage?"

Faith paused then shrugged with a grin

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The hatch was silent until dishes began crashing to the floor. She stood by the doorway, watching as Locke hit another bowl and it went flying. He paused, grabbing the sink in anger and bent his head, not once seeing her.

"He's right you know, our hostage." Faith shrugged as she approached him, ignoring the dishes now littering the ground, "Jack and you hardly call the shots together."

Locke looked up, shaking his head and he rubbed at his eyes. "He's just trying to get under my skin."

"Looks like he's doing a good job too." She jumped up on the counter, swinging her legs and studied him. "You're losing it Locke. This place, it's making you crazy."

"This place is the only thing that makes sense to me." He stared at her then glanced towards the armory door.

"Where's Jack?"

"I don't know."

Faith looked towards the door as well. "Mind if I go in there and check up on our guest?"

"By check up on, do you mean do something violent?"

"Who, me?" She playfully mocked with a smirk, "Maybe."

Locke cracked a small smile. "I couldn't stop you if the answer was no so I don't see why not."

"Well I just wanted to make sure," Faith shrugged as she leapt off the counter, "I mean, if what you told this Henry Gale is true and you and Jack actually do call the shots together, you sure you shouldn't ask him first? While we're at it, maybe Henry would like a lawyer present too."

"I actually think we do have a lawyer on the island."

"We have cops, therapists, doctors and priests, why wouldn't we have a lawyer?"

They shared a small smile and then Faith cleared her throat, looking back at the armory door again.

"I think I'll wait. I really would hate to put a burden on your friendship with the good doctor anymore than I already have." She chuckled. "He's not my biggest fan right now and I'd hate to drag you down with me."

"I'm not sure that's the real reason why you want to wait." Locke studied her as he bent down and picked up a bowl by his foot.

"I'm starting to think this might not be a job for just one person anymore. A little back up in large numbers might be in order."

"I might have an idea of someone who will work." He nodded picking up another dish and placing both in the sink. "I have to say though, you don't seem the type of person who needs help in this type of situation."

"What situation is that?"

"Finding out answers the hard way."

"Don't you get it?" Wesley shook his head, "Torturing and beating up people, killing… That's all you're good for."

"You don't know a damn thing about me so don't start."

"You're right, I really don't and from what I've seen, I don't care to know either." He turned away from her. "You're here Faith because I don't know any way else to get Angel back, the Angel we knew and the Angel who wouldn't give up on you even though everyone else thought you were a lost cause."

"And that's exactly why I'm here now Wesley." She stuck her thumbs in the loops of her jeans trying to look casual as she struggled with the overwhelming urge to run. "Prison was a nice vacation but now it's time to get down to business."

"Is it?" Wesley looked back at her again, his face full of doubt and apprehension. "When the time comes and you have no other choice, can you kill him? Buffy loved Angel and she sent him to Hell in order to save the world. Could you do the same?"

"B and Angel had something I never will Wesley but I'm not giving up on him, I can't. I'll bring him back and I won't lose who I am, not this time."

"I still feel the glass sometimes on my skin, the flame as it got too close. Forgetting pain takes a long time Faith but anger, evil that can live inside a person, sometimes it never disappears."

"I can't take back what I did. I wish to God I could Wesley but I can't. All I can tell you is that it won't ever happen again, to anyone. I left that person back in the darkness where she belongs."

"I hope so Faith." Wesley nodded. "Because if you didn't, I won't even hesitate to kill you when your back is turned."

"You'll try but fair enough." Faith popped her knuckles, motioning to the weapons cabinet. "Can I call dibs on the crossbow or do I have to fight you for it?"

Faith blinked out of her daze and immediately looked back at the door again. "Some things still make me uneasy." She cleared her throat, "Looks like it might be time to get over it."

"Easier said then done right?"

"Actually, no. It's not." She looked back at Locke again and he was surprised to see the cold look that crossed her eyes, a gleam he hadn't ever noticed there before hovering just below the surface. "I just need time." The words echoed in her head. "Give me time."