Over breakfast, Faith and Mort tried to figure out the details of how to gather more information. Tanya and Lorrie weren't up yet, so they had relative privacy. It might have been nice to have slept longer themselves, but strange dreams about armies of mutant vampires and ogres tearing people in half had made the night restless for them both. Shortly after dawn, having woke from yet another nightmare, they had just given up, and pulled on clothing.

"I have to try to go to Xavier's." Mort's voice was low, filled with worry. "It could go badly."

"How…" Faith paused, suddenly knowing just how Mort intended to get there. "You think that the Door can take you there. Just think of this place, open the door, and there you are?"

"Why not? Can you think of a better way to have the thing work? Why else make the magical device a door if you can't go through it?" Mort reached out, his hand resting on her cheek.

"I don't like you going without back-up. What if they… what if they try to hurt you?" Faith hated the tremor in her voice, the nervous flutter in her stomach. This was part of the reason why she hadn't wanted to let anyone get close, hadn't wanted to care. Because if you cared, then you worried, and it would hurt if he got hurt.

"Faith…" He leaned in, gently kissing her. "I'll be careful. But he's our best bet for information from the mutant end of things."

"If you get hurt, I'm going to go in and kick their asses." Faith whispered, hoping that it would help this feeling.

"Give me an hour, and then come looking for me. Just in case." He smiled, and hugged her. "I'll be fine."

Faith hugged him back, holding him close to her for a while, only reluctantly letting go. " I suppose that you can't go there if I don't let go, right? Do you really have to…?"

"We need the information. I wish there was another way, but if there's something else out there, I don't know about it." He leaned his forehead against hers, and sighed. "It's just…. This is something big, and scary. If we didn't try everything that we can think of… Could you live with that? Wondering if we could have done better, stopped them faster?"

"I guess you're right. But that doesn't mean that I have to like it." Faith whispered.

She sat there, staring at her thumb as she wondered how she'd deal with things if something happened to Mort. If these Xavier's people hurt him. If that vampire got him. But… Mort could make his choices, and she couldn't keep him in her life and at the same time keep him out of the Slaying. Actually, except for the way she worried about how she'd deal with something happening, she liked having him there to watch her back.

Faith slowly made her way towards the room with the computer, wondering if there would be a response from Willow. Wondering if there would be help from Sunnydale. Maybe it would keep her from worrying too much about Mort? Upstairs, a door shut.

Faith turned on the computer, and carefully logged into the new email account. There were already several messages. Sighing, she deleted two advertisements for penis enlargements, one for debt reduction, one offering to enable her to make more money at home, and something that was trying to get her to buy more memory space for her email account. Finally, there was nothing left but the email from what she hoped was Willow's account.

To: BackFromtheDark5x5@…

From: RedRose99@…

Subject: Re: Hey Red

Faith

I knew that you'd woke up. I'd been keeping tabs, checking on you every so often. Yes, hospitals are boring. Are we

Can you give a description of this bad girl/woman? Lots easier to try to look someone up with a name, or a description or… something. I told Giles about your email – he 'oh dear'd and hmm'd and wondered why you would try to get a hold of any of us. We're checking a few books now to see if there's anything on this door.

Just in case there really is a big danger. Which means a description so we can check more easily would help. Even say – looks so old, blond hair, feels so old… something. Especially if she's a big figure in local trouble.

Yeah, I'm not sure that I trust you. Part of me wants too really. But another part keeps remembering the office – I'm sure you know exactly what I mean. I think I can accept the apology, but trust is another question.

Willow

Faith reread the email a few times, trying to figure out just how she felt about the matter. It was good that she'd remembered the right email. And a response was good, wasn't it? 'We're looking in a few books' was a good sign, right? It hurt a bit that the words were right there in black and white – 'not sure that I trust you.' It hurt, but when she considered the past between her and Willow… They'd never been close. They'd never been friends. It had been almost like they were rivals, for Buffy's time, for Xander's attention, for… everything. And she had almost killed Willow, so… maybe this was for the best?

Assuming that the red head wasn't planning something devious and horrible. Like a computer virus, or sending someone out to cause more trouble. Or planning to send bad information out of some sort of desire for revenge…

A door slammed upstairs.

Faith got up from the chair, and started to make her way up the stairs. Surely this was too fast for Mort to be finished? But there he was, standing in front of the Door, glaring at it. The wooden frame was dark. "Something wrong?"

"It's not… it's just opening to the front yard." Mort sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"But last night…" Faith blurted, wondering what was going on. "Maybe it only works at certain times? Or certain circumstances?"

With a shrug, Mort crossed his arms as he glared at the wood. "All I know is that it isn't opening to elsewhere now."

"I guess we can try it again later. And in the meantime, there's Lorrie's stuff and the motorcycle to get." Faith pulled Mort in for a hug.

"Yeah. It's just… I don't know." Mort relaxed into the hug, and kissed her. "Frustrating, I guess."

"I know. There's too many things that we don't know, and it feels like time's running out."

End part 31.

"I'll go get the motorcycle. You can get Tanya and Lorrie and go get her stuff." Mort shrugged, again scowling at the door. "At least we know that will work."

"Yeah. That's the thing about magic – it's just too tricky. There's always fine print, or a time limit, or some sort of clause…" Faith sighed. "I guess we can't do anything about that right now, can we?"

"It doesn't look like it." Mort wrapped his arm around her, and they made their way back down the stairs. "I just hope they didn't decide to ruin the bike when they couldn't get us."

"That wouldn't be good." Faith sighed, part of her already mourning the motorcycle that had given her so many hours pressed right up against Mort. "But it can be repaired more easily than we can."

"Morning you two." Tanya yawned, one hand almost leaning on the wall. "Goodness." She yawned again before asking. "What was all the slamming doors about?"

"The Door's broken or something. It just opened up to your backyard." Mort shook his head. "I'm going after the motorcycle, you ladies can get Lorrie's stuff."

"Uhm huh." Tanya yawned again, shuffling towards the kitchen. "I'm not going anywhere before coffee. And breakfast."

So, after breakfast, Faith found herself in a car with Tanya and Lorrie, heading into town to reclaim the potential Slayers possessions. They were figuring that it would probably take several trips, especially if they wanted to get the books and weapons. Faith just shook her head and leaned back in the seat. "I hate moving."

"Weren't you running away with your mutant boyfriend?" Lorrie's question was full of nothing more than bafflement.

"That's traveling, which has entirely different problems. But moving… you gather up all your stuff, including things you didn't know you had, or had forgotten that you had, and take it with you. And there's never enough boxes, you always loose something, and the books just take up so much space that it's ridiculous." She sighed, well aware of the importance of those heavy books. "When's the council going to get with the program and put all that on CD ROM's?"

Lorrie just chuckled from the back seat. "Slightly before Hell freezes over."

Faith just chuckled, thinking back to the things that she'd heard about the Council headquarters. "Maybe some people can start without official permission? I mean, if we can find someone who knows computers, how hard could it be? They can put the encyclopedia Britannica on CD-ROM, after all."

"Do you know anyone that could do it?" Lorrie asked, her tone thoughtful.

"Do I know someone who is capable? Yes. Would she flip about the subject matter? No. Would she do a favor like that for me? Doubtful." Faith sighed, thinking about the mess of Sunnydale again. "Which is pretty much the same thing as not knowing anyone, isn't it?"

Tanya just chuckled. "Don't be quite so pessimistic, Faith. Isn't Mort good with wiring? Maybe he can do electronics as well… I'm sure between the lot of us we can manage something close to technical competence."

Faith blinked, half certain that it wasn't that easy. She could hear Lorrie in the back seat, trying very hard not to laugh. "But would something close be enough to put the demon indexes on a CD ROM? Doesn't' that take… some sort of equipment or programs or something?"

"Just let me have a nice little fantasy where things get easier, okay? At least while we're driving?" Tanya was smiling. "I know it's not very realistic, but it would sure be convenient."

Thinking back to long hours spent flipping through old books, Faith sighed. "Yeah. While we're dreaming, can there be something to make all the writing nice and neat? Easy to read?"

"Why not? We might as well dream big, since it's all pretty unlikely. I know for a fact that I don't have a burner to put information on a CD to begin with, and I probably couldn't use one if I had it." Tanya replied.

It wasn't hard to find the small house where Lorrie and her Watcher had been staying. And when Lorrie mentioned that it had been in his name, they quickly decided that they should take the stuff and have everything gone by nightfall. With the owner dead, there would be no need for an invitation. So they started to pack up books and weapons, and some of the things that Lorrie liked. Lorrie and Faith decided that if they could pack some of the things, and just have Tanya drive the stuff back, then it might go faster.

As Tanya started back with the first load of weapons and books, Faith sighed. "Well, I guess I wanted to do something other than working on the floor of Tanya's house. This should teach me to be careful about that sort of thing."

"Faith… How do you know all of this? I mean, I'm a potential Slayer, and that's why... well, why I had that guy. But what about you?" Lorrie was looking at Faith, her eyes full of questions.

"Sort of a long story." Faith muttered, wondering if there was a safe, harmless way to avoid those questions.

"We've got time." Lorrie sat on a chair, looking expectantly at Faith.

Sinking onto the couch, Faith sighed. She might as well explain. At least, she could explain a few things. As soon as she figured out how. "I suppose we do."

End part 32.