A/N: Sorry it's been awhile I have been working full time over the uni holidays but I am back so I hope you like this new update.
Buffy felt like she aged twenty years as she watched helplessly as her lover suffered. Over several hours Faith had woken three times, first she had been aggressive and growled and strained on the chains until Giles had shot her with another tranquiliser dart to prevent her from ripping them from the walls, secondly she had woken screaming and clutching at her chest in pain and Giles had shot her again to stop her pain, the last time she had been quietly muttering to herself and had ignored any attempts Buffy had made to speak to her.
She had seemed calm enough so Buffy had gingerly approached and helped her to drink from a mug of warm blood all the while the brunette had had her eyes focused somewhere over the blonde's shoulder. The warm blood in her stomach seemed to stir the younger Slayer and gradually her eyes focused on the blonde who watched her worriedly.
"Faith?"
"How come I'm down here?" Faith asked trying to brush the hair out of her eyes but failing when she found she couldn't move her shackled hands higher than her elbows.
"You don't remember?" Buffy asked reaching over tentatively and brushing the hair away from the other Slayer's face for her.
"I remember being upstairs in your room but I don't remember how I got down here," Faith said.
"I just thought you'd be more comfortable down here," Buffy said knowing as the words came out of her mouth that they sounded ridiculous but she couldn't make herself tell Faith what was happening.
"Damn I must've really been out if I didn't feel you move me down here, hope I didn't drool on you or nothing," Faith said her cheeks flushing.
"Nope no gross drooling, maybe the occasional comment about how amazing I am but definitely no drool," Buffy said hating how easy it was to lie to her.
"Good, 'cause even with my awesome rep it's hard to recover from that," Faith said, "So how goes the research?" she asked looking at the pile of books that had accumulated around the chair Buffy had been sitting on.
"No luck yet," Buffy sighed suddenly feeling a weariness that made her bones ache, "But the whole gang is working on it so I'm sure we'll have something soon."
They chatted comfortably, as if one wasn't on the verge of turning into a prehistoric vampire, pretending that for once they were just two people in love. Their little bubble was shattered when Giles came down to check Faith's heart rate and breathing and the younger Slayer seemed to wither under his touch. Suddenly she had dark circles under her eyes and barely seemed able to hold her head up. If Giles had a problem with the way Buffy moved so she was sitting next to the other girl on the bed he didn't say anything as he noted his findings in the little notebook that never left his hand nowadays.
"You okay," Buffy whispered to Faith, not questioning why Giles even owned the blood pressure cuff he was wrapping around the other Slayer's arm.
"Tired," Faith murmured her head falling heavily against Buffy's shoulder.
Buffy was glad the younger Slayer couldn't see the look of alarm that crossed her face at Faith's suddenly slurred voice. She shared a worried look with Giles who patted the slumbering Slayer's arm affectionately as he unwrapped the cuff and noted something else in his notepad before sitting heavily in Buffy's recently vacated chair.
"How is she?" Buffy asked, happy she could feel Faith's warm breath on the bare skin of her shoulder.
"Her heart is struggling to beat which is why she's so tired," Giles sighed.
"Should we be taking her to the hospital?"
"I'm almost positive there is nothing they could do for her," Giles said polishing his glasses on the bottom of his shirt, "I-I don't want you to get your hopes up, we may not be able to save her."
"I'm not giving up on her."
"I'm not saying that we will. Despite her past none of us want Faith to suffer and we will do all in our power to see that she survives this but Buffy there simply may not be anything we can do."
"You don't think I know that," Buffy hissed, "You don't think that over the years I haven't come to expect horrible things to happen to me, for the people that I love to die, but Giles I can't face losing anyone else I love. I mean I physically can't do it, I can't sit here and lie to her and just watch her fade away."
"Unfortunately the life of the Slayer..."
"Don't give me the life of the Slayer bullshit," she interrupted him angrily, "I'm sick of people using that as an excuse for all the bad things that happen. I was destined to save the world, it said nowhere that I would be miserable and everyone around me would suffer. I didn't sign on for this, she didn't sign on for this. If they let her die then I'm done and you can tell them, the Council, the Powers, whoever that they can find themselves a new Slayer because I refuse to help them anymore."
"I can never understand the sacrifices you have made, but I do understand the pain you are in. I have lost people I love to the forces of darkness and when I was appointed your Watcher I vowed to try and protect you in any way that I could. Seeing you suffer hurts me just as much as I'm sure seeing Faith suffer hurts you. Believe me Buffy, the pain you have been through I would gladly take away if I could so I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that Faith gets through this, but even that might not be enough," he said his face pained.
Buffy could feel her lower lip tremble but she refused to give into the tears that so badly wanted to fall. She refused to turn into the little girl who wanted nothing more than to crawl into her surrogate father's lap and hide until he made it all better. She knew she couldn't do that now more than ever when it wasn't just Faith's life she had to worry about.
"Thank you," she said softly, "Thank you for helping, thank you for being there for me and thank you for not freaking out when you found out about me and Faith."
"Believe it or not I think you two are oddly suited to one another."
"It's the Slayer thing."
"No, I believe it's the Buffy and Faith thing," he said fondly making her heart warm.
"So, honestly looking at all the notes you've taken, how much time does she have? From a medical point of view?
"A day, two at the most," he said sadly, "Her heart is weak and I would assume over the next day or so her other organs will have difficulty functioning without the proper blood flow that they desire."
"O-okay," she cleared her throat, "Tell the others when they get back that I want to have a meeting where we go over every single bit of information we have found."
"Of course, I will go gather my things," he said standing slowly and squeezing her shoulder affectionately an action he then mirrored on Faith moving his fingers swiftly to discreetly check her pulse at the same time.
Once they were alone Buffy gently manoeuvred Faith down so she was lying on the bed she was chained to. The brunette's chest shuddered with every breath she took and her skin looked almost translucent. Buffy was almost afraid to touch her as she skimmed her fingertips lightly over the slumbering girl's twitching eyelids, wondering what it was she was dreaming about.
"Won't kill B," Faith murmured softly.
So that was what she was dreaming about.
"You won't hurt me," Buffy whispered to her, "You won't hurt anyone I promise."
The doorbell sounded upstairs but Buffy ignored it content to sit and watch Faith's chest rise and fall with every breath. When it sounded again she looked towards the stairs irritated that no one had bothered to get it. When it rang a third time she sighed angrily but stood from her chair.
"I'll be back soon baby," she said before racing up the stairs.
The living room was deserted and she met a harried looking Giles at the bottom of the stairs who had obviously assumed someone else would get the door as well. Giles continued on to the living room where his stuff was spread out across the table while she went to get the door, the surprise clearly evident on her face when she saw who was on the other side.
"Angel...what are you doing here?"