No longer feeling so hopeless, no longer feeling the despair she'd been feeling, Faith stood by the open door watching as the rain continued to come down. Before leaving a still fast-asleep Buffy, Faith had spent a few minutes just staring at her—wondering at her good fortune and asking herself how she ended up having something so great with Buffy. She'd always told herself she didn't do relationships, but apparently she was wrong about that and she knew that now. She'd never done relationships before because it had never been with the right person. She was still scared, just a little, of the things that would come for both of them over time. They were still in the early stages of their relationship, the part where they were infatuated with each other.

Even just thinking about it made her deliriously happy. She'd never felt that kind of happiness in her whole life and it just filled her the same way the darkness had. The happiness was filling a void inside of her, taking over, and she was allowing it instead of doing what she'd always done before and pushing it out. If they hadn't been sucked into the portal and ended up here, she knew things in their relationship would be different and that she wouldn't have all this time to think and over-think everything. Not just things between her and Buffy, but all the changes she'd been going through. And last but not least…Jackie.

She turned to look at Jackie as she walked out of her room muttering softly to herself, making her way over to the table to light the candle. She felt a bit of sympathy for the woman for having been stuck in this world for as long as she had been. Jackie had no idea what the real world was like and how much it had changed since she'd last been there. She knew that if she had to spend a little over twenty years in a place like this, almost entirely alone, she wouldn't have a single piece of her mind intact.

"Still raining, is it?" Jackie asked as she walked over to where Faith was standing. "I keep waiting for another shift. Something changed. Something has happened and something even bigger is about to happen."

"Yeah," Faith sighed as she turned to look back outside.

"Where is Buffy?"

"Sleeping."

"Ah," Jackie said with a nod as she stood across from Faith and leaned against the frame. "I was hoping we could talk, just the two of us."

"Talk? About what?"

"You," Jackie replied. "I don't know anything about you, Faith."

"You know some things about me, ain't that enough?"

"I know you are in love with Buffy, you are a Slayer, you have temperamental mood swings and you refuse to look at me after finding out the truth. There is a lot more to you than I know and I would like to know everything I can about my own daughter."

"What do ya want me to say, Jackie? Ya want me to tell you about my shitty childhood and even shittier life because of said shitty childhood?" Faith asked rather calmly despite the anger she felt boiling inside of her. "I don't wanna talk about any of that. Ever. Ya got that? It's painful for me and it brings up memories I would rather just fuckin' forget."

"You are never going to call me 'mom' are you?"

"No."

"I wanted to ask. I figured you wouldn't. It's okay," Jackie said with a soft smile when Faith turned to look at her. "You and Buffy have a lot of, er…history, don't you?"

"Yeah, we do."

"And you two managed to get over it and find something else inside of each other?" Jackie asked. Faith just responded by nodding her head before turning to look back outside to continue watching the rain as it fell steadily. "Your father and I, we had somewhat of a tragic beginning. Always fighting. I swear we went so many years in high school absolutely hating each other...until we didn't."

Faith knew what she was doing. She was trying to open herself up, tell Faith things she just didn't want to hear yet. She closed her eyes when Jackie reached out and very lightly touched her arm, trying to get her to look back over at her once again.

"I...I have no idea if your father is still alive. Maybe when we go home..."

"No. I don't wanna know who he is, Jackie. I. Don't. Care."

"You should care."

"Why?"

"Because he is your father, Faith. Don't you care about your family?"

"I have family. With Buffy and the others. Don't need any more than what I've got."

"But they aren't your real family," Jackie said softly. "I am."

"Y'know something? They are my real family now and I wouldn't change anything about it either. Heard a saying once that sometimes you hafta make your own family with the friends and people you surround yourself with. It wasn't a choice to make them my family. It just happened."

"I understand."

"Jackie," Faith sighed as she frowned, knowing no matter what she said she wouldn't be able to stop from upsetting her. "The whole family dynamic thing, I've never known what it's like. Never had that kind of luxury."

"I've forgotten what it's like," Jackie said quietly. "I've forgotten far too much and have missed far too much."

"Didn't miss out on anything good if ya ask me. The world is one fucked up place, Jackie. At least it has been for me. Really can't speak for anyone else."

"But you've found love in a great woman, can't all be bad," Jackie said with a smile as she wiped away a few tears. "Can I ask you something?"

"You're gonna anyway even if I say no." Faith muttered under her breath quietly.

"How long have you been...with other women?"

"Always swung both ways, never questioned it. Always went with whatever felt good, felt right at the time," she shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"No. Curious is all. Despite how much I've missed—your whole life—I still want to know who my daughter is and what she's become and who she will be in the days to come."

Faith looked back towards the stairs that led up to the loft, hoping Buffy would come down so she'd get out of talking to Jackie. She sighed heavily after a moment and motioned to Jackie to go sit at the table. She sat across from her, picking at the hole in her jeans just above the knee before she started telling Jackie almost everything she could bear to tell her. She skipped past most of her childhood and edited her teen years heavily aside from the stuff she told her that happened between her and Buffy and Buffy's friends. The more she talked, the easier it was and Jackie said nothing as she listened and hung on to every last word.

She told her about what happened with the Mayor, heavily editing a lot of it since she still had trouble dealing with falling so deep into the darkness at that time in her life. She told her how she'd spent nearly eight months in a coma, of the dreams she'd had and what it was like for her when she woke up. The urge to be good, to change her life, hadn't been there and when she tried to kill Angel, that was when the darkness inside of her really began to scare her. She told her how she turned herself in to the police, mostly because of Buffy and because of Angel. She skipped past most of her time spent in prison and went right to telling her how Wesley had come to get her, how she broke out of there to capture Angelus, and how she ended up going right to Sunnydale afterward to help save the world from the First.

She kept pausing, wondering if Jackie ever was going to say anything or ask her any questions. She kept talking, keeping it brief on the details as she told her about the time after Sunnydale—the ride to Cleveland and what they found themselves in shortly after. She told her about Henry, Laura, Julie and the others and that garnered a reaction from Jackie's otherwise emotionless face. She stopped talking once she got to the point where she and Buffy were sucked into the portal, reaching for the glass of water sitting on the table and taking a few sips.

She felt as if she had been talking for hours with how dry her mouth felt and she knew she probably had been. She'd told Jackie a lot and she knew it was a lot for her to take in. She didn't know how one minute she felt like she didn't want to tell her anything and then the next she was like an open book, or at least the cliff notes version of an open book. She heard the stairs up to the loft creak softly as Buffy came down and even across the vast space and the darkness she could see Buffy smiling over at her.

"I, uh…wow," Jackie said finally as she shook her head. "You sure have gone through a lot more than most people do in a lifetime, Faith. I can understand it all now. I understand you now."

"Makes one of us."

"You don't understand yourself?"

"No, not anymore," she replied as she shook her head, not once taking her eyes off of Buffy as she walked over towards them slowly. "Ever since I got that big ass dose of empathy I don't even know what I'm feeling and what I'm picking up from others."

"It can't all be bad," Jackie said. "The empathy, I mean. Have you ever thought of using it to your advantage?"

"How?"

"To better understand the people around you. You can know what they are feeling without having to ask or be told. You have this ability to understand human emotions. Not everyone can say that, can they?"

"She does use it," Buffy said as she sat down next to Faith on the crate. "Oh boy, does she ever use it sometimes."

"Oh," Jackie laughed as she shook her head. "I see."

"B?" Faith chuckled as she casually ran her hand over Buffy's thigh. "Talking about our sex life with my mother? Not something I'm into."

"Nor am I into hearing about it," Jackie said as she stood up and headed for the door that was still wide open. "I am going to take advantage of the rain and give you two some time alone."

"Good talk?" Buffy asked softly as soon as Jackie had disappeared outside.

"Yeah. Good as it coulda gone I guess," Faith shrugged. "Told her a lotta stuff I didn't think I'd be able to. Was easier than I thought it'd be."

"Sometimes—most times—things are easier than they appear to be before you try. I should know. Thought it'd be impossible for me to work up the courage to kiss you that one night, but I'm glad I did."

"Feels like that night was forever ago," Faith said softly. "And I'm fuckin' glad ya did, too, even though it scared the crap outta me thinkin' you'd regret it the next day cos you were all drunk and shit."

"Liquid courage," Buffy chuckled softly. "And a whole lot of regular courage too."

"Hmm?" Faith smiled as Buffy moved to straddle her legs, both of them unable to stop smiling at one another as Buffy leaned in for a soft kiss. "Y'know somethin', B? I like this. Just...bein' like this together."

"Like what? Close?"

"Yeah. It ain't all gonna change once we get back home, is it?"

"No," Buffy said as she shook her head slowly and ran her fingers through Faith's hair. "It is definitely not gonna change. You know why?"

"No, why?"

"Because I won't let it," she smiled softly. "I'm done taking steps back. I only want to keep going forward. No matter what we go back home to, this isn't going to change between us. It'll only change by becoming something more."

"More?"

"Like...maybe you could take me out on a date…or I could take you out on one, I'm not really sure how that all works," she said softly as she continued stroking her fingers through Faith's hair gently. "I promised you I'd cook you dinner and maybe after dessert we could...go somewhere, you know like a..."

"Date? Like going to see a movie? Maybe going out dancing?" Faith chuckled softly, feeling a little nervous yet slightly optimistic about it all. "Maybe a nice stroll through the cemetery under a full moon, stakes in our pockets, ready to..."

"God," Buffy laughed as she slid her hands around the back of Faith's neck. "I guess we really can't do anything normal, right? Slaying is a part of our life, might as well make it a part of a date, huh?"

"Might not have much of a choice."

"You know what I've been thinking?" Buffy asked, smiling when Faith just shrugged and shook her head no. "I've been thinking that maybe the reason I've never been able to have a lasting relationship before is because I've never been with anyone that understands what kind of a life a Slayer has to live. Maybe I should have tried this whole thing with you before. Maybe things would've been a hell of a lot easier."

"Wouldn't have worked out before. You and I both know that, B. We were at a different place in our lives before and now we're not, we're in the same place. Not just all symbolic and stuff, but for real too, yeah?" she grinned. "Nobody else is gonna understand the way we feel with the weight of the world on our shoulders all the time, day in and day out. Not even the newbies. They don't know what it's like."

"I hope they never do," Buffy whispered as she let out a soft sigh and leaned her forehead against Faith's. "I get this feeling that it's just you and me again, Faith. Something happened before we got sucked into the portal."

"Been feeling that too, trying to convince myself its cos we're here and...is it weird if I told you I could feel Kennedy the way I can feel you?"

"You could?"

"Yeah, just not as strong or intense. Didn't get that full body buzz that I get with you."

"You buzz?"

"It's like a drug. Thinkin' it's one of the reasons why I'm so addicted to ya, B."

"Okay, Miss Attention Span," Buffy laughed as she stopped Faith's wandering hands from slipping under her shirt. "We're having a conversation, not..."

"Not what?"

Faith cocked her head to the side, smirking as Buffy let go of her hands, biting her lower lip as Faith slid them under her shirt and over her stomach, slowly and tenderly caressing her soft skin as she watched her eyes darken slightly.

"I don't think I'm the only one with the whole attention span problem here," Faith whispered as she leaned in and trailed light kisses over the blonde's neck as she moved her hands upwards. "All I have to do is..." she trailed off as her hands reached Buffy's breasts and she smirked as the other slayer closed her eyes and whimpered softly. "All I have to do is touch you, B. You are at the complete mercy of me whether you want to be or not."

"It's electrifying," she whispered as she leaned back just a little, arching into the touch as Faith tweaked both of her nipples. "And you were right about the addictive part. I think I am too."

"Ya think?" Faith chuckled as she studied Buffy's face, watching as a wave of pleasure rolled through her. She very slowly moved her hands away from her breasts as she leaned in to kiss her deeply, thoroughly, as the rain picked up, the roaring sound of it making it difficult to hear anything else. "B?"

"Yeah?" Buffy breathed out softly, her eyes closed and her lips barely touching Faith's.

"Maybe we should go up to the loft and..."

"And?"

Faith just leaned back, smiling at her. She could feel the mood shift in Buffy, one she'd gotten all too used to since they'd been there. She'd always thought she was the only one who could be talking about one thing one minute and the next thinking of nothing besides getting naked and fucking 'till she lost all feeling in most of her body. Buffy was turned on by the littlest things, by a simple kiss or a look at times. She wondered once again if Buffy had always been like that or if it was because of her. She hoped it was a little of both.

"And what, Faith?"

"Ya really got to ask me that?"

"Simply insatiable, aren't you?"

"We both are," Faith smirked as she waited for Buffy to slide off her lap before she stood up. "Slayer stamina, babe. Even without being a Slayer, I could go for hours."

She pulled Buffy with her, unable to keep her hands from roaming and her lips from tasting every inch of skin she could reach. Buffy grabbed onto her and pulled her lips close to her own as they reached the bottom of the stairs. They could barely stop kissing long enough to make it up the stairs, but they managed, just barely, to make it up without tripping and falling over each other. Buffy pulled back from the kiss, halting them as they stumbled towards the mattress, and she licked her lips slowly as she looked her up and down.

"Strip."

Faith wiggled her eyebrows, her fingers playing with the button on her jeans. "And if I don't?"

"I'll rip your clothes off of you and you'll be walking around naked or with a sheet wrapped around you until we go home."

"Explain to me how the whole walking around naked part is bad?"

Buffy said nothing as she raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, waiting for Faith to strip out of her clothes. Faith waited too, seeing what Buffy would do if she didn't make a move, and it turned into a staring contest of sorts until Faith took a few steps towards the mattress and slipped off her boots. Buffy copied her move, her hands now running along the hem of her shirt as Faith slowly took off her own shirt. Buffy's shirt was off in seconds, joining Faith's on the dusty floor. She slipped out of her jeans slowly, her eyes never leaving Buffy's as she kicked her jeans aside. She stood there completely nude, a playful smirk curling over her lips as she watched Buffy push her jeans past her hips ever so slowly.

She knew this game and it made her skin tingle in anticipation of Buffy's next move. Buffy liked to be in control and she'd never seen anything sexier than in those moments where Buffy had her wrapped around her little finger, and her big finger or several. She chuckled softly as she thought about it and found herself being thrown down on to the mattress and Buffy sitting astride her stomach.

"I'm a little worried about something," Buffy whispered as she leaned in, seemingly about to kiss Faith but stopping just a breath away from her lips.

"What's that, B?"

"That everything is going to change when we go back home."

"Change?"

"Well," she laughed almost shyly as she sat back and stared down at Faith, who leaned up and propped herself on her elbows. "I mean, all we've been doing when we get the chance to be alone is..."

"Fuckin'?"

"Yeah. Once we're back home we're not...I mean, you know how hard it is to be alone for more than a few minutes at a time and I don't think we can get away with locking ourselves away for an entire day or two at a time."

"B?"

"Yeah?"

"Ya tryin' to ruin the mood here?"

"No! I was just...thinking. Sorry. Stupid thing to think about right now. I was supposed to be..."

"Turnin' into dominatrix Buffy?" Faith chuckled at the glare Buffy shot her. "Kidding, B. Although, the idea doesn't suck. Y'know, you being all dom, tyin' me up, smackin' me around a little 'till I behaved like a good little Slayer."

"You get off on it, don't you? When I hit you, fight with you," Buffy smirked as she leaned forward slowly. "I knew it."

"Hot little thing like you smackin' me around sure as hell gets me all worked up," Faith whispered huskily as she pulled her down closer, her grip on the back of her neck tight, but not enough to hurt her. "I know you like it fast and rough too."

"I like it slow...sometimes."

"But ya like it when it hurts so good it's not pain, but pleasure, don't ya?" Faith smirked when Buffy just stared at her, her expression unchanging. "I think," she whispered ever so softly as she moved to whisper it into her ear, "I think you need the pain so you can feel. I know you better than ya think I do. All that talk about slow is bullshit, B."

"You don't like it?" Buffy asked and Faith smiled a little when she could just feel the pout forming.

"Never said that," she whispered the words as she trailed her lips over Buffy's jaw, stopping when she got to her lips. "This is slow."

She felt the slight surprise that Buffy felt as she kissed her again, savouring the seconds that went by until Buffy pulled back and stared down at her, their eyes seeking each other's out in the darkness. She held her breath a little as she traced her fingers over Buffy's lips and up to her furrowed eyebrows, smiling as she watched Buffy relax a little.

"What?"

"This is...new," Buffy said softly.

Faith rolled them over slowly, grinning as Buffy let out a soft whimper. This was definitely new, for the most part. Faith knew what Buffy had meant, the soft caress Faith had just done meant a whole lot more than just that. It was the way they'd looked at each other in that moment, it was the intensity that flowed through them, and it was something else. Something very new to Faith and from the looks of things, it was for Buffy as well. Not just their naked bodies, but everything they were was being laid bare between them.

The roaring rain picked up outside, creating an atmosphere around them that felt like their own little bubble. Faith felt, just for a second, her whole heart clench as the strongest emotions she'd ever felt went through her, hitting her so hard she felt like she was about to faint. She kept herself steady, kept herself together. She had to stop thinking, but she knew it wasn't her fault that being so close to Buffy made her feel so goddamn much. She kissed her hard to stop thinking so much, and focused on just feeling Buffy beneath her.

Her lips made a slow descent down Buffy's neck, stopping to savour each kiss, each taste. She barely heard Buffy's moans over the roaring rain outside, but she could feel them with every touch. Hands went to the back of her head, pulling her into the other woman firmly as her lips wrapped around Buffy's nipple. Faith teased the bud with her teeth and tongue, biting a little roughly before she ran the tip of her tongue over the hollow between her breasts. She stopped to place a soft kiss just over her heart and smiled against her skin as Buffy's fingers gripped a handful of her hair before allowing her to continue on her torturous descent down across her stomach.

Every soft nibble against her skin elicited one soft moan after another. Buffy pleaded with her softly, whimpering as Faith stopped to look up at her. That feral look was still in Buffy eyes, the passion of it all could be felt in the heat that was blazing between their barely touching bodies. She knew from one look what Buffy wanted, what she needed, and she moved to hover over her, her face just inches from Buffy's as her fingertips trailed a blazing path down her stomach, stopping short just inches from her throbbing center.

Faith's lips claimed hers in another kiss as she deftly slid her fingers lower, teasing her still, feeling her hips buck up into her hand as she tried to get her to touch her where she wanted her to most. The kiss was searing yet nowhere near the heat they felt between each other as Faith's fingers traced the lightest of touches over her clit. Still teasing, but with purpose, Faith broke back from the kiss to look down at Buffy, making out every curve and dip in her face in the almost pitch black darkness as an intense amount of pleasure tumbled through her. When her lips met Buffy's once more, she thrust a single finger inside her hot, waiting hole.

Buffy's whole body arched into hers, twisting in pleasure as she lifted a leg and wrapped it around Faith's waist, pulling her closer and forcing her to move her fingers out from inside of her. She let out a low moan, nearly a growl, that sounded completely wanton as she felt Buffy's wet pussy slide against her own. Aside from the sounds of pleasure escaping past their lips and the roaring rain outside, they heard nothing else, saw and felt nothing else but each other. The intimacy being shared between them was far beyond physical. Far beyond anything words could ever describe.

Faith slowed her thrusts nearly to a stop, breathing heavily as she laid a gentle kiss upon Buffy's forehead as they began to reach their peak of a very intense orgasm together. Buffy's hands were now on her back, holding her close, her nails digging into the skin nearly hard enough to make her bleed.

"Don't stop," Buffy pleaded softly, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke.

Faith didn't say a word as she smiled and began to steadily thrust into Buffy, hard and then slow, finding it impossible to hold herself back completely from taking her fast and rough. A thunderous roar of thunder shook the building as they came, timing or coincidence, it just intensified those few short minutes where all they felt was each other and the passion that was almost painful as it blindingly tore through them with every gasping breath.

Faith couldn't find the energy to move as she lay next to Buffy, half her body draped over the other slayer and their legs intertwined in their own embrace. Faith's body was still charged, but the rest of her, her heart, her mind, her soul, was exhausted and begged for rest. Of all the times they'd spent lying on that mattress together, basking in the afterglow, she never failed to be amazed at the soft, gentle and loving caresses Buffy lazily traced up and down the arm she had draped over Buffy's waist. She didn't even have to fight her thoughts this time, nor fight the overwhelming emotions that seemed to do nothing but take her over lately. She'd found a moment of peace there in Buffy's arms and what would have scared her before just made her feel at home now.

"Thinking again?" Buffy asked softly as she ran her fingers over the side of Faith's head tenderly.

"When am I not?"

Buffy laughed heartily as Faith didn't move her head from her shoulder and instead placed a soft kiss just below her ear. They lay there just holding each other for what felt like hours, listening to the roaring rain outside that showed no sign of letting up. The air was sticky and hot once again, making their skin stick to each other wherever they were touching. Faith was the first to move, forcing herself to since the rumbling in her stomach told her she needed to eat or risk once again becoming almost too weak to even feed herself.

"Hungry?" Faith asked as she grabbed her clothes and slowly slid them on. "Ya think Jackie whipped up another batch of her super awesome soup?"

"God I hope so," Buffy replied, both of them laughing at the sarcasm both thick in their voices. "I keep dreaming of food. Is that crazy? Is that some kind of sign of cabin fever or something?"

"More like being stuck in some in-between dimension fever."

She looked down at Buffy, still lying on the mattress watching her as she slipped on her boots. Buffy hastily got up and dressed under Faith's watchful eye, neither of them doing anything but staring intensely at one another. Words could communicate their feelings up to a point, but these looks said so much more. They shared one last kiss before making their way down the rickety stairs. Faith reached for Buffy's hand halfway down and they just smiled at each other before nearly running into Jackie on the last step down.

Jackie said nothing to them, muttering under her breath, looking and sounding flustered as she walked past them to the door that led to the front. Faith and Buffy just exchanged a look of confusion as they made their way over to the table, the small fire in the hole in the floor burning embers now with the pot half-full of that god-awful potato soup. It was even starting to smell like nothing just as it tasted like dirt having been poured into the boiling water.

"Gotta eat," Faith muttered under her breath after she and Buffy had gotten themselves a bowlful of the soup they'd been living off of for who knew how long now. "God. You better have been fucking serious about cookin' some real fuckin' food once we get home."

"Dead serious. That'll come right after about three hours spent in a nice hot shower."

"You ever wonder how bad it's gotten out there without us around?"

"I try not to think too much about anything."

"Thinkin' can't be all bad, though. Part of the whole self-discovery thing. Or whatever," Faith shrugged, trying not to bring up what the counsellor in prison had told her. Buffy looked at her, the candlelight flickering over her face, showing nothing but curiosity as she tried to understand the meaning behind Faith's words. "Spent a few years doin' nothing but thinkin'."

"Oh. In prison," Buffy said, a statement, not a question. "You ever wonder if there's another reason we were brought here?"

"What reason?" Faith asked, knowing Buffy was purposely changing the subject.

"Like this was meant to happen? I don't know, I can't—it's hard to even explain it, but before we came here, I felt happy, sort of. I couldn't quite let myself, not even when things started between us. I tried, I really did. You think maybe there's something bigger at work here? Because I mean come on," Buffy laughed as she shook her head, "the whole thing with Julie and her family? Even though there was the immortality issue and the whole owning of the Gem of Amara thing, it was kind of..."

"Pathetic? At least it was right near the end. She was just another vampire, a little more bat-shit crazy than most, but that's all she was and her parents? Give me a fuckin' break, right?"

"I thought it'd be more, I thought it'd be harder. But it didn't matter what we did then, did it?"

"No," Faith replied. "It wouldn't have mattered. Either way we were supposed to come here."

"That's what they told you in that place, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"It's what I keep hearing. Those voices. Telling me I have to find my true human nature, to let myself feel because this is what I was brought here for."

"You thinkin' it's the Powers that Be or is it somethin' else?"

"I don't know," Buffy said and let out a deep breath, tracing her fingers over Faith's shoulder as she stood next to her. "If it is the Powers that Be, I hope they know they've got one really pissed off Slayer on their hands for putting us both through this."

"Two pissed off Slayers and their family," Faith said pointedly. "We better get some answers soon. Have half a mind to go back to that place, that temple, and find out what the fuck is really goin' on around here and why we're really here."

"You can't," Jackie said as she approached them slowly. "You can only go when they call for you. They haven't called. Not since the last time."

"How many times have you gone there?" Faith asked angrily.

"A couple of times. Told me the same things you were told," Jackie said as she sat down on the other crate and let out a heavy sigh. "I know how frustrating it is not to know. I spent a long time not knowing and just trying to survive here. Henry, he—"

"It was his soul and hate to say it, Jackie, but his soul is just as fuckin' evil as he was."

"I know," Jackie nodded. "I still listened. I had no choice. Do you understand that, Faith? I had no choice. I've never had a choice. You two think you've been brought here for a reason? You ever wonder if that reason could be the fact that you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"No," Buffy said firmly as she glared across the table at her. "Nothing just happens, Jackie."

"You're wrong," she replied quietly. "Things do happen just because they happen. Sure, there are things that happen for a reason, especially here. Do you think you were brought here for the greater good? Have you thought that maybe you were brought here so you could find yourselves? That's what that witch told me—why she was sending me here—because I need to find myself."

"What a crock of shit," Faith muttered angrily under her breath. "You're fucking crazy, Jackie. Been here too long and now those wires in your brain are fuckin' crossed."

Faith saw the slap long before Jackie actually reached across the table and slapped her as hard as she could across the face. She just stood up, nearly threw the bowl in front of her to the floor, but restrained herself and just walked away. The rain was still coming down but she didn't care, walking out the back door to stand there in the rain, shaking as she tried to calm herself down. Things were starting to get bad, really bad. She could not only see it but feel it too. Jackie and her way of thinking, the way she just spoke at times; her craziness was starting to bleed into Faith. She knew if it was bleeding into her that Buffy was feeling it too.

If what Buffy had said about what the voices were saying to her was true, Faith wanted to laugh in their non-corporal faces. Human nature? What did anything they've been going through have to do with finding one's true human nature? If the Powers that Be were behind this, if they were, Faith knew there had to be a damn good reason for it. Then again, she also knew that the Powers that Be tended to fuck around just because they could. It was bad enough their dreams, the prophetic dreams and shared Slayer dreams, were cryptic. Now they'd been sent to a world between worlds where everywhere they turned there seemed to be some cryptic meaning or another.

She closed her eyes when Buffy came to stand behind her and wrapped her arms tightly around her. She didn't move, didn't turn to face her, she just kept her eyes closed and tried to relax as much as she could. Any other time, a simple touch from Buffy calmed her, but it was changing yet again. Everything was always changing. She was changing and it was just her. She could feel the essence of the Slayer inside of her growing and getting stronger with every minute that passed by.

Faith turned slowly in Buffy's arms, blinking through the rain as she stared at her, her eyes searching Buffy's as if she was trying to see everything she was thinking without having to say a word. One look and she knew she right and that Jackie was wrong. They were here for a reason and whatever reason that truly was, she was starting to see bits of it. Finding and holding on to their true human nature would make them stronger, faster, about as close to immortal as a mortal could be. It was what would keep them alive once they were returned home and it was what would help them love like they never loved before.