Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has been reading my stories over the last year. It means so much to me. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, happy holidays or enjoy whatever celebration you might have this end of year. I'm not sure if I'll post another chapter before 2018 but probably not. Be sure to take a look at my Open Novella Contest piece Pandora's Box: Works and Days https://www.wattpad.com/story/128189102-pandora%27s-box-works-and-days

Faith's POV

My muscles ache as I clench my right hand into a fist gently, the rest of my arm laying flat against the hospital bed.

Wow, that feels weird.

Shifting my eyes to my left arm, I clench my left fist like my right one was.

Every part of me is just tingling all over, like I've been sleeping on my arms or something. Which I guess isn't that far from the truth. I have been sleeping for a pretty long time... again.

I readjust myself in the bed and enjoy the strange feeling it gives me.

But I don't remember feeling this way the last time I woke up from my coma. Of course, I wasn't out of commission for as long on this one. 8 weeks is definitely less terrible than 8 months. Not that I wouldn't mind going the rest of my life without going into a coma again, but that plan never seems to work out.

The strange tingling feeling in me makes me take a deep breath and run a hand through my hair.

This must be what an eight week coma feels like. It kinda feels good. A little like that feeling I get around Dawn. That great low down tickle that makes me just wanna rip all her clothes off and make love to her all night long. Except, this feeling isn't making me horny. For some reason it feels more... pure.

I don't know. I think that's the word for it. Feeling pure isn't exactly something I'm all that familiar with. But it feels like the right word to describe how this feels. It's kinda nice. I'll have to ask DK about it when she gets back.

Suddenly, I hear the door to my room open.

Speaking of the woman I love...

Then I look up to see B standing in the doorway.

Either that or her sister...

"What's up B?"

She tries her best to smile when she walks in.

"I need a reason to stop by?"

That makes me chuckle a bit.

"Well it is pretty much standard procedure with you and me, isn't it B? You're not really prone to coming by without a problem that needs solving."

My girlfriend's sister shrugs.

"Right, because you always made such an effort to be friends with me."

I have to smile at her comment.

"So, you came here to trade insults did you? I'm not exactly in top fighting form but if you're that into it I suppose I could give it a shot."

Buffy grins a little back.

"Actually, that's not why I'm here. But then, we always seem to have a way of getting under each other's skin."

There's a long silence between us before I finally speak up.

"What are you here for anyway B?"

She makes her way over and pulls up a chair to sit down.

"I came here to talk to you... about Dawn."

Uh-oh...

"The last time you came to see me to talk about Dawn, things didn't exactly end all that well. Remember?"

"Where is my sister by the way? I figured she'd be here with you."

"She was looking a little hungry, so I sent her to get something to eat. Not that anything edible in this hospital could be close to food related."

A confused look appears on her face.

"And she listened to you?"

What kind of question is that?

"Why wouldn't she?"

"Because she's all but stopped listening to me..."

Great...

"And you've come to me for help?"

The  déjà vu of this moment has me chuckling.

"Why do you always seem to come knocking on my door when you need help with something?"

She sorta half smiles at me.

"Because I know you want to help... and because I know how much you care about Dawn. A lot more than you did the last time I asked for your help with her."

I'm not sure I like the sound of where this is going.

"Does Dawn know you're here?"

Buffy shakes her head.

"No, she doesn't, and if you really love her then you can't tell her when she comes back."

It's my turn to look confused.

"Why the hell not, B? I'm not in the habit of lying to my girl, and I don't really think I'm gonna start now."

"I'm not asking you to lie to her Faith. I'm just asking for your help with her."

This obviously seems to mean a lot to her. I suppose I should at least hear her out.

"And how exactly do you plan on screwing up Dawn's life by meddling in it now?"

She takes a deep breath.

"Her life is already screwed up enough as it is."

"What are you talking about B?"

There's a short pause before she says anything.

"Faith, have you actually looked at Dawn since you woke up? And I don't mean in the way I really don't want to know about. I mean, REALLY taken a good look at her. She's been a little off lately."

I haven't really looked at her I guess, I was just so happy to see her and to be awake, everything else just seemed unimportant.

"Off, how?"

"You may not have noticed because you've been in a coma for eight weeks, but if you look at her, you can see it. She looks tired and hungry."

She has kinda been really quiet. Normally when we're together she can go on and on for hours without stopping. It's actually kinda sexy after a while. But I've been out of commission for eight weeks and she's barely said a thing in the past couple days since I woke up. Shouldn't she have lots to talk about?

"While you were in a coma, she pretty much shut down, emotionally. She stopped sleeping, she was barely eating. I had to argue with her just to get her to eat something as simple as a ham sandwich and there were more than a few moments where I was worried that we'd have to admit her to the hospital room across from you in order to make sure she got any sleep at all."

"Okay... but what are you expecting me to do exactly? Hold her down while you force feed her or until she goes to sleep?"

Buffy kinda scoffs and rolls her eyes.

"I don't know. That's not up to me Faith. I'm not here because I wanted to tell you how to help her. I learned my lesson last time. All I'm here for is to make sure that you're aware of the things that Dawn is dealing with right now. How you deal with them, and her, is up to you. I have my own way, not that it's doing much good right now."

She stands up and starts moving back towards the door.

"All I can hope is that you'll find some way of getting her to open enough to start talking to us again."

My girlfriend's sister stops right before the door.

"I'm sorry... I don't mean to dump all this on you so soon into your recovery, but I'm not really sure what else to try on my end."

The only reaction that comes to mind is to shrug at the uncertainty.

"I appreciate you coming to me about this. I can't promise results, but I can promise I'll try something."

"Thanks Faith. Feel better, okay?"

"You're welcome, and I will."

"Just focus on your recovery, and on Dawn. Everything else is under control, so don't worry about it."

Then Buffy turns around and walks out the door, leaving me alone in my hospital room with my thoughts.

God I hate being alone with my thoughts. Too much actual thinking gets done. Did enough of that in prison cause... well, there wasn't much else for me to do beyond keep in shape. And even that involved a fair amount of thinking time. But I guess I have to do something about Dawn if I can. Buffy made it seem like whatever Dawn's going through is serious. Of course, Buffy has a habit of blowing things that aren't that major way out of proportion. So maybe it's not what she thinks it is.

A few minutes after Buffy left, I hear the door opening again to see Dawn walking through. She smiles at me with a rather strange, nervous smile I've never seen before. Despite that, I smile back, genuinely happy to see her.

"Hey..."

"Hi..."

Dawn starts making her way towards me.

"I missed you."

She missed me?

"You were only gone like ten minutes."

She seems to tighten up slightly at my words while she gets closer.

"I, I know but I just... I still missed you."

We get within inches of each other and she leans over the bed rail to kiss me, which I gladly accept. The kiss is simple and sweet at first but it eventually grows into something more passionate.

Mmm, sometimes I just love this girl so much.

Our kiss lasts a couple minutes before we finally pull apart.

"Well if you keep kissing me like that, I'd miss you too."

My girl lets out a forced laugh. She stays silent for a moment before looking down at my bed.

"Do you... I know the, nurses said we weren't supposed to but, do you mind if I?"

Again she looks down at the bed and I do the same before getting her meaning.

"Oh, sure..."

I move over as much as I can to give her room on the bed to lie down, so she does. We put our arms around each other, enjoying the feel of each other's warmth. She's about as stiff as a board in my arms.

"I'm not about to turn down the warmth of a good woman."

Another forced laugh escapes her and that really starts to worry me.

"I love you Faith."

Feeling her head against my shoulder, I look down and kiss her on the top of her head.

"I love you too DK."

Her body presses full against mine when I say that.

She's scared out of her mind about something. I can tell by the way she's holding me. Buffy must've been right, something's seriously wrong. And that means I have to do what I can to help. After all, Dawn's my girlfriend. What kind of person would I be if I didn't?