The next day Buffy was released from the hospital. She couldn't even describe how happy she was when they told her she was free to go home. If it had been up to her, she would have walked out as soon as she woke up, but the doctors, who didn't know about her Slayer healing, wanted to make sure she was ok.
They were puzzled by the fact that a girl Buffy's age and size was strong enough to survive such a severe blood loss.
Faith was also happy that Buffy lived despite all the odds that were against her, and so happy she got there in time to save her. She didn't like to think about the fact that Buffy might have died if she had been just a few minutes late. Luckily, everything turned out fine and Faith was actually proud of herself for being reasonable enough to act fast.
Joyce picked them up at noon, with Xander and Willow by her side. Giles was concerned about his favorite Slayer he often thought of as his own daughter, he wanted to tag along and see Buffy, but he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't have been happy if Wesley the New Watcher started nagging straight away.
Faith wanted to have Buffy for herself just a bit longer and she couldn't hide a disappointed frown when she realized Xander and Willow came with Joyce.
Xander was smiling goofily, holding 2 balloons and a Twinkie. He hugged Buffy, handed her his gifts and said:
"Hey, Buffster, you got us all worried for a minute, but we all knew you'd be fine. If it still hurts you, Twinkie is here to ease the pain."
Buffy hugged Xander once again, smiled widely and said: "Twinkie always helps.. I'm fine, you guys really have nothing to worry about. Thanks to Faith."
A little smile on Buffy's face, her sparkling eyes and the way she caught Faith's hand told Faith that Buffy really loved her. Hearing those 3 words was always nice, but little things like that spoke louder.
"I just found you, B., I couldn't let you go just like that."-Faith said, wondering if anyone would really understand what she meant.
"Awww..."-Buffy melted completely and at that moment she just didn't care about what people would think and she hugged and kissed Faith gently and passionately at the same time. Everyone, including Faith, was speechless, they never thought Buffy would have such an emotional outburst in public. It wasn't really like her at all and Faith smiled, thinking she must be pretty damn special to the blonde girl if she let herself go with the flow like that. Miss-Tight-Ass was starting to turn into Miss-More-Relaxed and Faith loved it.
Joyce was surprised too, but more because seeing her daughter kiss another girl with so many emotions dancing in her eyes didn't freak her out, but made her happy. Buffy was happy it was all that mattered. And also, Faith saved her life factor... She had to love them together.
Willow, on the other side, got all embarrassed and confused. She wasn't so good at confronting the romantic feelings and she quickly changed the subject, hoping the situation would be less weird.
"Buff, I'm so happy you're good... Don't worry about your homework for this week, I'll take care of it..."
Buffy smiled and joked: "Don't you think the teachers will find it extremely strange if I start being all responsible suddenly?"
Her red head friend laughed and said: "If you didn't have the Slaying gig every night, I'm sure you'd be an A+ student. Hey, Faith..."-Willow started and looked like she didn't really know how to say the next part..."Thank you. for saving Buffy."
She honestly never thought she'd have to thank Faith for anything because that girl just seemed so irresponsible and full of herself... it looked like the looks really might be deceiving and she decided to give Faith a chance. She saved her best friend and Buffy loved her... Willow thought Faith deserved the Scooby Gang Gold Membership Card.
Everybody laughed when they noticed the stunned expression on Xander's face. Faith would have bet her own ass that his mind traveled to the land of 2 Slayers doing the naughty. She winked to him, which made him close his wide open mouth. He jumped in the car and waited for everybody else to get in and go to Buffy's place.
Both Slayers were happy cause there were no negative reactions when they kissed and Faith had to admit that hearing Willow say thank you made her feel good. Buffy was so happy she gave Willow an extra tight hug, which made Willow gasp and say: "Oxygen becoming a problem here... I see you're back to the Bad and Strong Buffy the Vampire Slayer mode."
"Faith is the bad one. I'm a total goodie."-Buffy joked and gave a playful look to Faith, who immediately remembered the not-so-goodie-goodie time they had at the hospital. Knowing Buffy thought the same thing, but not wanting to make her uncomfortable she just said: "Yeah, you're right..."
"Good."-Buffy grinned, jumped in the car and pulled Faith inside. Willow sat next to Buffy, but moved to give them some space when Faith put her arm around Buffy's shoulder.
Joyce drove away, hoping she'd never have to visit her daughter at the hospital again. She was smiling, happy that everything ended well, but tears appeared in her tired eyes anyway. It was killing her that she just wasn't able to protect her baby girl from all the evil in the world. Instead she had to watch her daughter fight all the monsters and hold the weight of the world on her shoulders. The worst part of it was seeing Buffy get hurt.