This chapter was really hard for me, stuff had to happen, it was hard, and working out how to make it happen was hard. So forgive me for taking so long with it, and for this chapter. The next chapter will be up sooner.

Buffy woke suddenly to the sound of an elephant thundering down the stairs, who she fondly referred to as Dawn.

Still half asleep, she went to move to get up and meet her sister, but felt herself trapped by something. Her first instinct was to get away as quickly as possible, so she ripped whatever it was off her and scrambled away, only then looking back to what had been restraining her. Which had apparently been a very sleepy Faith, who now looked very confused at what had just occurred.

The noise she had created brought Dawn rushing into the room.

"What happened Buffy?" She asked, looking from Buffy on the floor to Faith on the couch.

"Sorry Dawn" She knew she had to convince her sister it hadn't been Faith's fault "I didn't mean to scare you, I just had nightmare."

"Okay" Dawn was still watching Faith suspiciously, who was oblivious to Dawn's gaze because she was still watching Buffy with the confused look on her face. "I'm making breakfast do you want anything?"

She wasn't hungry at all, which wasn't unusual for her "I'm fine Dawn, make sure you have something healthy"

Dawn rolled her eyes as she left to go to the kitchen and Buffy could hear her muttering something under breath.

Buffy went back to the kitchen and sat down, carefully sitting as far from Faith on the couch as possible.

"Sorry about that" She said to Faith, not looking at her.

"No need to apologise B, but do you mind telling me what happened just now?"

"I'm just... I woke up and I didn't realise it was you, I just thought I was trapped."

"Got it" Faith grinned at her "No little spoon for you"

Buffy smiled a little that. Only Faith she thought.

"So what's the plan for today B? Maybe a bit of you showing me what's new in old Sunny Dee?"

"If you want to look around, that's fine, but I can't got stuff I have to get done around here."

"Tonight then?"

Buffy shook her head "Work, then patrol"

"So you're stuck all day doing chores?"

"Apart from work and patrol, pretty much, yeah." It had been the same cycle for a while now, house work, work, patrol, Spike, then sleep, get up repeat, all while trying to keep up the facade that she was fine and happy.

"That's a bit unfair, since I was staying here last night, how about we split the chores. We get it finished and then spend some time on the town?"

"If you're sure you want to?"

"Course B, we're the chosen two, let's share the duties" She walked to the door "Let's get doing this"

Doing chores with Buffy had been, dare Faith even think it, kind of fun, they'd talked a bit, a comfortable conversation most of the day. And sometimes Buffy had even smiled, and when she did Faith could see some of the old Buffy coming through.

But the best part was now they had finished with half a day left to do whatever they wanted to do. So Faith decided she would try and make sure Buffy had some time off.

"So what now B? What should we do for fun?"

"I, umm, I don't really know."

"Okay, so it's up to me then? I'll make sure to show you a hell of a day then"

She smiled, a little smile, which still warmed Faith to see it. "Okay then, Miss happy funtime, bring it on then"

"Alright then, I was thinking, in all my time here, I never went to the zoo, so how about we grab a bite to eat and head there."

"The zoo" Buffy pulled a face "I've had some bad experiences there"

How can you have bad experienced at the zoo? "What happened?"

"Xander got possessed by Hyena, he was a bit of a jerk, and then he ate a pig."

"What?"

"Yeah it was him and some other people from school. They ate the school pig, who was just adorable by the way, and then they ate the school principal."

"Xander ate the school principal?" Faith yelled in her surprise.

"What? No no no, I knocked him out, so he missed that thankfully."

"Well that's a relief. Only Xander hey?"

"Yeah, only him."

"Well I still think zoo. How about we give you some good memories?"

"Okay" Buffy got up off the couch "Let's do this then."

Buffy wasn't sure why she had agreed to come out with Faith. The only reasons she had left the house lately had been slaying, work or Spike related.

Maybe she did have a thing for people who tried to kill her – maybe Dawn was right. But she didn't think Faith was going to kill her. Or maybe she just didn't care.

But Faith hadn't shown any homicidal indications, if anything it was the question was, what was Faith doing? And what was Buffy doing?

Faith had insisted they get lunch before going to the zoo. So now they were sitting silently eating at the Sunnydale cafe.

"You actually going to eat that B? Or just keep pushing it around?"

Buffy looked down at her chicken salad. She'd picked at it, at best, by contrast Faith's plate had been decimated, there were just a few chips left.

"You want some?" She asked Faith

Faith raised her eyebrow at her, and looked down at her own plate, then she shrugged "I'll have a bit, want some chips?" Faith pushed her own plate to the middle of the table, and reached over to pick at Buffy's own salad.

Buffy grabbed a chip and popped it into her mouth.

"Mmmm, that's really good"

Faith smiled at her "Help yourself B."

She kept picking at Faith's chips until she got down to the last chip. She stopped eating and looked at Faith.

"You want the last chip B?"

She shook her head "Thanks, but I'm done. Plus they're your chips."

"Well I'm done, plus I had what's left of your salad, so I'm good. So I guess let's go then"

Faith got up out of the booth and went to follow. As she did she grabbed the last chip and stuffed it into her mouth.

They were looking at the zoo map, it had a little cartoon pictures of the animals.

"What's your favourite B?"

"I, umm, don't really have one."

"How can you not?"

"I just... everything reminds me of monsters now."

"That's just sad B. Have you ever heard of leaving the job behind."

"That just doesn't happen with slaying. Comes with the job. Do you have one then?"

"Of course, but I'll tell you when we get there. Let's try starting one side and go all the way through. We have to make sure we see everything. Except the reptiles of course." She smiled at Buffy expectantly.

"Thank you, reptile monsters are the worst. So where do we start then?

She put the map in her back pocket and pulled Buffy with her "Otters first. Let's do this."

"So this is your favourite?"

"Yup. Did you know when members of the pack are sick the other members take care of them until they get better? And they always let the pups eat first? And just wait till you see their ears!"

"You sure know a lot about them. Can I see them now?"

"Okay, but first wait here, I want to look first, then you can see them."

Buffy raised an eyebrow "Fine, I'll wait."

Faith snuck around the corner to see the enclosure and she was so happy with what she saw. She went back to her impatiently waiting companion.

"Oh you are in for a surprise today. Wait till you see this."

They walked around the corner to the enclosure view point together.

"Are they puppies?"

"Yup"

Buffy read from the plaque "African Painted Dog, Endangered. Look at them, there must be over a dozen puppies in there!"

"It says here that although the puppies are born to one pair, the whole pack takes care of them."

"They're amazing" Buffy said, her eyes not leaving the playing animals "They look like they're having so much fun."

"Thank you for bringing me. Maybe we can come back another time?"

"Sure B." Faith would bring her back 100 times if she would smile like she had while watching the animals "Anytime"

They'd left enough time to get back to the Summer's house, have dinner and for Buffy to get to work.

As they walked through the front door Buffy found herself face to face with a very angry Xander.

"Where have you been Buffy?" He was almost yelling at her "We've been worried and looking everywhere for you. What's got into you?"

"Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

She noticed Faith not so sneakily duck out form behind her and go into the kitchen.

Xander grabbed her arm and moved her further down the hallway. "What are you doing hanging around with her? Have you forgotten what she did to you? To all of us?"

"Of course not. But who doesn't make mistakes? And I think she's trying to change"

"What if she's not? How do you know she's not going to little miss likes-stabbing-things again?"

Buffy sighed, suddenly she felt exhausted, and completely over this. She had been having such a good day. "You know what? I don't have to explain myself to you. Think what you want. I have to get ready for work."

She left Xander at the bottom of the stairs staring after her as she stomped away and slammed the door of the bathroom behind her.

Faith had heard it all from the kitchen, she hadn't been trying to, but it was pretty hard to avoid hearing them. She wasn't surprised at Xander's reaction, but she felt bad for leaving Buffy to handle it, and for the fact that just her being here was causing so much trouble between Buffy and her friends. She didn't want to cause trouble anymore, those times were in her past, but it didn't seem to matter, trouble followed her anyway.

She heard Xander unceremoniously slam the door on the way out Does everyone here slam doors every time they're angry? So she decided to leave her hiding spot and try to talk to Buffy.

She could see Dawn and Willow watching from the couch, but she ignored them as she made her way up the stairs. She could hear that Buffy was having a shower so she sat down in front of her bedroom door to wait for her.

Her thoughts drifted as she waited. What if she was doing the wrong thing? What if I'm only making things worse by being here? She's obviously having problems, but now I've just made more problems by being here… Maybe I should leave, but I feel like I can't, I can't leave her now, if theres anything I can do to help, I want … But I'm no good at this, I've never been any good at this, all I've ever been good at is making trouble.

The sound of the bathroom door opening snapped Faith out of her thought train and she looked up to see Buffy walk out of the bedroom.

In just a towel. A towel that just came down to her thighs, wrapped tight around her body and tucked in at her chest. She dropped her gaze to her lap, she didn't want to be ogling Buffy in a towel.

"Hi" Buffy said, still standing in the doorway.

"Hi" Faith replied, not looking up when she spoke to her. She could see to Buffy's knees and that was enough for her.

"Ummm Faith"

"Yeah"

"I need you to move. You're blocking the door to my room."

Faith jumped up and stood aside, still not looking at Buffy as she walked into her room and shut the door. She sat back down against the door, she could hear Buffy moving around in the room.

"So what do you want Faith" she heard Buffy say through the door.

She gulped, she had to do this know. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. Since I've been here I've done nothing but get you into trouble with your friends. I'm so sorry, i didn't mean for that to happen."

She heard Buffy give a harsh laugh "It's not you, it's me, or them. I don't know which, but it's not your fault they're upset, and it's not up to me to do everything in my life to please them."

Faith couldn't help but agree with her, but she knew there was more to it than that "I know where you're coming from B, but it's more than just that. They need to back off, I agree, but I also know they're just being like that cause they concerned about you" I am too "you can't blame them for being concerned, after last time I was here, if they weren't concerned I'd be worried. But I'll make it up to them, and I'll let them know that I can be trusted again."

Buffy was just finishing up her shift at the doublemeat hell, it hadn't been a bad shift, just the same as any day before.

She knew Faith would be waiting outside for her when she finished, but she didn't feel up to meeting her yet, she figured she would get changed, she never left work in that uniform if she could help it.

She finally made her way out, feeling a little but more human, to find Faith waiting for her.

"Took you a while B. Time to bust a move?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

They walked out to the cemetery in silence,

Buffy hadn't been paying attention, she knew that she was lost in her thoughts, of all the problems with her friends and her life. So when the vampire caught her unaware with its attack, she should have noticed it before she was being flung to the ground, but she didn't.

It hurt, a lot, and when Buffy looked back to get up she saw that Faith had already taken the vampire on. She watched as Faith landed hit after hit on the vampire She's got it back she thought to herself. Faith pulled a stake from her pants and drove it into the vampires heart, resulting in the tell tale cloud of dust.

It's all hopeless she thought and she burst into tears.

"B" Faith called out and ran over to her only "B are you okay, are you hurt?"

She just sat and cried

Faith knelt down to talk to her "B, are you okay? I'm here for you if you need me"

"Why are you? Why is anyone? I'm not worth it, I'm nothing anymore."

"Oh Buffy, can't you see? You're worth this, and so much more."

"Why are you doing this? I didn't help you."

"Because you're just lost Buffy. And sometimes you don't need to be the hero."

Faith wrapped her arms tight around Buffy and held her until she finished crying.

Faith rubbed Buffy's back as she gasped for air. "Do you feel better now?"

Buffy nodded her head

"Okay," She hugged Buffy tight again "Let's go home B"