Author's Note: In case anyone is worried, the story doesn't end here. There's still one more twist to tell. Who wants to guess what it is?

Faith's POV

The light of the sun shines on my face through the window, waking me up. I open my eyes and I see the ceiling I never thought I'd wake up to see again. I take a deep breath and stretch out in bed, quickly realizing that B isn't next to me. I sit up slowly and look around the room, knowing I won't find her here.

I hope she's all right. Last night was really hard on her. She cried until at least 2am. I cried more than a few times myself. Just holding her and feeling her cry was too much for me. It's probably best we both take it easy for a while. I should go find out what she's doing, make sure she's all right.

I get up out of bed, straightening out my clothes and running a hand through my hair.

I should probably go back to my motel room and change into some clean clothes. I want to be sure B's all right first though.

I start to leave the room but I notice that the drawer in the nightstand is open. I close it and then leave. I make my way down the stairs and I hear a soft crash from the kitchen followed by Buffy's voice.

"Damn it!"

I walk towards the kitchen and the smell of eggs cooking hits me. I enter the kitchen and stop a couple steps in as I see B at the stove, cooking. I stand there for a few moments, not sure what to say. The only thing that comes to mind is...

"Hey..."

She stops what she's doing and our eyes meet for a while. B goes back to cooking before responding.

"Hey..."

"You know, you don't have to cook B."

She keeps on cooking throughout.

"I know I don't but... I just, I need to focus on... something else right now."

I take a deep breath, hearing her voice almost crack every time she pauses.

"If I don't I might break into tears. I don't really want to cry right now."

"B, if you need to cry then just let it out. I've been through this with my own mom. Trust me... it's better to just let it out."

"No I..."

She pauses and closes her eyes for a second.

"Now isn't the time to cry. There are other things that are more important. It'll happen eventually, I know that. I'll cry sooner or later, but not now. I'm all cried out after last night."

I can see she wants to leave it at that for now as she goes back to cooking on the stove.

"All right..."

I walk over and sit in the first seat at the breakfast bar.

"What are you having?"

"Eggs... I, I made one for you, if you want one that is."

She made me some breakfast?

"You didn't have to do that B."

She shakes the pan gently to check if it's ready.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. It's the least I can do after what you did for me last night. Do you want sunny-side up or over easy?"

I don't really say anything right away and she looks back at me. I can see the sadness in her eyes is still there and some anger but the confusion is less than it was last night.

"Sunny-side up if you don't mind."

She turns to the stove and steps left, opening a cupboard and taking out two plates. Buffy takes the pan off the stove and serves up an egg on each plate just as the toaster pops out two pieces of toast. She takes both plates after putting the toast on them over to the breakfast bar and sets one in front of me while setting the other across from me on the side with no chairs and stands there.

"B, you should sit down."

I go to get up but she puts up a hand.

"No it's okay. I don't want to sit down."

I watch her for a second to make sure she means it and then settle back down in my seat. We stare down at our breakfasts in front of us.

I don't really know what to say. I dealt with my mother's death all on my own, and I didn't handle it particularly well. I have no idea how I'm gonna help her deal with hers. All I know is I'm gonna try.

We sit in silence for a long time before Buffy finally breaks it.

"I can't forgive you."

I look at B, who's staring right back.

"I, I don't know what you thought last night was, but there is no way I can ever forgive you after what you've done."

I take a deep breath.

"So we're having this talk are we?"

She doesn't respond and we just stare at each other for a moment.

"Look, B, I don't want forgiveness for what I did. I'm not looking for it from you or anyone else."

I take a longer deep breath this time.

"I killed our daughter. I killed her and I'm gonna have to live with that for the rest of my life. That's all I can really do. Live with it and... well, that's it. Just try and live with it. It's taken me a long time and it's not something that's been easy for me, but I think I've been able to come to a point where I think I just might be able to. Forgiveness just doesn't enter into it. So I'm not looking for forgiveness. I'm not asking for it, and I don't expect it from anyone... least of all you. In the end, all that really matters is if I can live with myself."

B looks down at her breakfast for a split second.

"I know..."

She knows?

"You know?"

She nods silently.

"It's really the only thing either of us can do isn't it? Just live with it?"

I don't say anything.

"Ever since it happened, I've been trying not to live with it. I've been in so much pain that I couldn't think straight. I felt the need to lash out at every one and every thing I could, but most of all at you. But now... after my mom, I know that I have to find a way to..."

She pauses for a moment as she chokes back the tears forming in her eyes.

"A way to let go of all the pain and anger I feel. I can't live with all this inside me. I have to let it go. But I'm scared, and I don't know if I can. I've spent so long trying to fight everything around me, fighting what I think and I feel and everyone who tried to tell me that I should stop fighting... that I'm not sure I'd recognize myself if I did let it all go. I have to try though, because it's what my mom would want. She would want me to grieve for her and then move on."

We sit in silence for a moment, not saying anything. After a while, B reaches down and takes something out of her pocket. She takes a deep breath.

"And I know Dawn would want the same thing, because of this..."

She holds out a small black box to me. I look at it for a few moments before I reach out and take it.

"What is it?"

"It's something our daughter left, for us. Mom gave it to me after we buried Dawn. Open it..."

I slowly open the box. For some reason it feels like the most fragile thing in the world and I might break it if it opens too quickly. Inside is a small gold ring with an embedded diamond in the centre... an engagement ring. I stare at it.

"Mom said that Dawn asked her to get it for us back when we were fighting over the fact that I wouldn't tell you the truth about her. Dawn figured that since we were fighting about her, even though she didn't know why, if she could show us that the only thing she wants is for us to be happy, we might stop fighting and work things out. After she found out the truth about Dawn, my mom took Dawn to a jewellery store and helped her pick one out."

Dawnie...

"Dawn would've wanted us to work things out somehow. She loved us and wanted us to be happy. The ring is a symbol of what's really important. It's a symbol of what we once shared. That's what that ring means, and that's why I'm giving it to you."

I look up at B and her eyes fall to the table.

"We're not... I don't... I'm not asking you to take me back. That's not what this means. What we had is over and I don't want you that way anymore. I don't want you back. You were right about what we had not being real love. It wasn't, I should've learned that lesson from what happened between Angel and me. The truth is I have no idea what love really is, and I can't be with anyone until I'm ready to try and figure it out. Which I'm not. I'm sorry if..."

I hold up my free hand, the other firmly gripping the ring box, cutting her off.

"Buffy, it's okay... even if I wanted us to get back together, which I don't, neither of us is in any condition to be in a relationship right now. We have too much history to be together in that way. We'd both end up hurting each other again. You're right, what we had is over. Besides, I can't say that I know what real love is either, all I know is what it's not. I have no idea what it's supposed to feel like, and if I did, right now I wouldn't trust myself to recognize it."

The room falls silent for a few moments.

"Okay... then maybe we could try and be friends."

Our eyes meet.

"I'd like that B."

After staring at it through the silence, I close the ring box and reach to hand it back to her. She steps back.

"No, you can keep that."

I look at her, a little confused.

I thought for sure she'd want this back.

"I gave that to you as a peace offering. I want you to have it. It's my way of showing you that I want us to put our past behind us. She wasn't just my daughter, she was my sister. I have 14 years worth of memories to remember who she was. Compared to me you only knew her for a split second. And you knew she was your daughter for even less time thanks to me. I want you to have something that you can remember her by. Something good..."

After a second I set it down next to me on the table away from my plate.

"Thank you..."

She smiles weakly at me and I do my best to smile back.

"You're welcome."

We sit there in silence together for a while before she looks down at her plate.

"We should eat before it gets cold."

"Yeah..."

I pick up my fork.