Buffy's POV

She's, she's gone... at least I think she is. I haven't seen her since she ran out of my hospital room a few weeks ago. Where could she have gone? I keep asking about her but no one is telling. For all I know she left town. But... my friends would've told me if she'd left, right?

Or my mom, or Dawn, they wouldn't keep something like this from me would they? They'd tell me if the love of my life left town without warning. I just, I have to know that she's all right, or at least as okay as she can be after everything I've put on her.

I lean my head against the car window as Mom drives me and Dawn home.

I'm not asking her to be okay with everything right away. God she may never be okay with absolutely everything, but she can't just leave can she? I mean, she knows the truth now. She knows that Dawn is her daughter, our daughter... she can't just turn her back on that can she?

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to block out the uncomfortable feeling in my ribs.

I did the right thing, didn't I? Telling her everything when I did? I couldn't keep lying to her, and keeping something this important from her. She never would've forgiven me if I had. Course she may never forgive me anyway so I guess, I lose. No matter which way you look at it, I'm going to lose Faith.

I feel a tear down my cheek as we turn onto our street. I look at Dawn sitting in the back seat.

I guess all that matters now is that Dawn isn't the loser in this. I have to keep her safe from Glory, with or without Faith. We might stand a better chance with her, but she might not be here if it comes to that.

Mom pulls into the driveway and parks the car. I try to open the door with my bruised arm rather than the recently broken one but it's not as fun as I thought and my mom and Dawn are there in seconds to help. Dawn gets out and opens the door and Mom offers her hand to help me out. I just sit there for a second.

"You know I'm pretty much healed, you guys don't have to help me."

They both smile at me.

"We know, we just..."

"We just don't want you to work too hard. You need to take it easy."

I get out of the car under my own power.

I can't take it easy, not if I have to protect Dawn.

"I'm fine, really."

Mom hands Dawn the keys to the house.

"Would you mind getting the door honey?"

"Sure."

Dawn makes her way to the door while I limp my way to the house I haven't seen in several weeks.

I have to be ready, for if and when Glory attacks.

I try and straighten my limp while I walk but it starts to hurt and I stumble a bit. Lucky for me my mom is there to keep me vertical.

"Is she okay?"

I look up at Dawn with her worried face on.

"She's fine she's just... stubborn."

I look at Mom and she's smiling at me.

"Then doesn't that mean she's back to normal?"

They laugh at that as I make my way up the steps and through the front door Dawn had open for me. I stand in the hall and just stare at the inside of my home. The door closes and Mom comes up and stands next to me.

"Is everything all right honey?"

"Yeah I just, I wasn't sure I'd ever see this place again."

Dawn comes up and puts her arms around me gently.

"Well you're home, and everything's gonna be okay."

She seems pretty happy, it's weird.

"Thanks Dawn."

She lets go and smiles.

"Are you hungry? I could make you something before bed."

"No, I think I just wanna get some rest."

"Okay, you've had a long day. Dawn, would you make sure she gets to bed okay?"

"I can do it myself Mom."

"I know, but just indulge your mother would you? I worry about you."

"Okay..."

She's always worried about me.

I make my way up the stairs with Dawn close behind.

I guess that's what mothers do, worry about their kids. That's probably why I worry about Dawn so much, some sort of motherly intuition thing.

We reach the top of the stairs and head to my room. I look at Dawn beside me and smile.

"What?"

"Nothing I just... I love you, you know that?"

She chuckles at me.

"Stop talking crazy sis. You're probably just tired, go sleep."

She opens the door to my room.

"Be nice if I had someone to do it with."

I walk into my room and...

"Faith?"

She's sitting on the edge of our bed.

"Be careful what you wish for sis."

She pokes me in the back, urging me forward. Dawn leaves the two of us alone.

"Faith..."

She finally looks up at me for a second.

"Buffy..."

She stares back at the floor.

"I, you... is, everything...?"

I'm completely at a loss so I just shut up. After a few more moments she looks at me.

"Can we talk?"

Talk?

"Oh uh, yeah... um..."

I look back at the open door.

"Did you want me to...?"

"Sure..."

I close the door and limp my way in. I stop next to the bed, unsure of what to do.

"Do you mind if I...? You know..."

She looks down at the space next to her and moves a bit.

"If you want..."

I sit down gently, blocking out the pain.

"How are ya doing?"

Oh, me...

"I'll be okay."

"I'm glad."

I look at her sitting next to me.

"Are you?"

She looks at me, hurt.

"Of course B, why wouldn't I be?"

"I, I'm sorry I... I just thought, with the leaving and everything..."

"Yeah well, I figure you get why I bailed on you?"

I look down at the floor.

"I get it, I think..."

"You kinda dumped a lot on me all at once there. A lot..."

She takes a deep breath.

"I know I'm sorry for that."

"Did you mean it?"

"What?"

"Did you mean what you said? About, everything about, regretting not telling me you loved me, did you mean what you said about...?"

She just stops mid sentence, but she doesn't need to finish.

"Dawn..."

"Yeah, well did you?"

"Every last word..."

There's this long silence between us.

"I believe you..."

She what? She believes me?

"You believe me? Why?"

"I spent a lot of time thinking these past few weeks. More importantly, I've spent a lot of time with Dawn, thinking these past few weeks. And I realized you were right, whatever it is that the three of us have, it runs deep. The way family should feel, not that I know much about that, but when I'm with her I feel connected to her, like I belong with her... and with you."

Is she saying what I think she's saying?

I put my hand on her knee and she moves away so I take it off.

"But you hurt me B, keeping something this big, this important from me."

"I know, and I feel horrible about that."

"I think you do... which is why I'd like it, if maybe we could give us another shot."

I almost wanna cry as I look at her.

"You mean it?"

"If you still want to..."

Is she kidding me?

I all but jump on her pushing her down on the bed with little pain.

Okay there's a lot of pain, but with the way I feel I don't care.

"Of course I still want to. Faith..."

I kiss her hard.

"I love you so much. Thank you."

I kiss her again, softer this time.

I thought she was leaving, but she's not and I love her.

"Whoa, whoa B... you're supposed to be on the mend."

Screw that...

Speaking of screwing, I slip my hand down her body and rest it on her hip.

"Having you here is all the mending I need."

She kind of half smiles at me before grabbing me and turning the tables on me, she smiles down at me.

"I don't think your doctors would agree with you there B."

She pushes the hair out of my face.

"And you know that one night with me in your condition would put you back in the hospital."

She's probably right.

"I guess..."

Her face suddenly turns serious.

"But seriously B, as long as I can trust that you're being completely honest with me, then I'm willing to give us a chance, but..."

"You don't ever have to worry about any buts Faith. I'll be completely honest with you from now on."

"Thank you."

I just smile at her, basking in the joy of just being near her.

"So was it weird?"

Weird?

"Was what weird?"

"Being tortured... was it weird?"

Weird...

"I guess that's the right word for it, or at least for her."

"She was weird?"

"Well, this might be an obvious statement but, she enjoyed it a little too much. But at the same time, she seemed preoccupied with making sure I felt all right when she wasn't torturing me. She gave me food, and water, she even gave me a bath when she decided I was starting to stink up the place."

"A bath? Weird..."

"Yeah that's what I thought, but apparently the smell was keeping her from torturing me properly so she had to make it go away."

A silence falls between us as we realize what that means.

"She's really got a screw loose doesn't she?"

"I'd bet it's more than one."

Another moment of silence, not uncomfortable silence, but just... silence.

What's really weird... is me. Most people, who get tortured they, change. They come out of it, or don't, different then they used to be but me? I feel pretty much the same. I mean, physically I feel different sorta, but emotionally I feel... better I guess.

It's probably because all I could think about through everything was how I'd failed Faith, how I'd let her down so horribly that I may never forgive myself for doing so... if I lived that is. And then she was there, and she saved me. I'm not even entirely sure how she did it but all that really matters is that I love her, and she saved me.

I look over at her, apparently staring at the ceiling.

I always knew she had a right to know the truth about Dawn, ever since I found out the truth myself I knew I had to tell her, but I didn't. And every day I didn't I could feel Faith slipping away more and more.

Then I finally told her and I thought I'd lost her for good... but I didn't. She's here and she's willing to give me another chance. We may actually be happy if we can work through this.

She finally looks over at me.

"What?"

I smile at her.

"I just... thank you..."

She just looks at me.

"For saving me... in more ways than one..."

"I couldn't just let Glory have you, or Dawn if it had come to that."

"That's what I meant but I know you would've protected her even if you hadn't found out the truth. You protected her and the gang back when I was dead before and I never did thank you for that either did I?"

She shifts uncomfortably.

"No need to thank me for that B, I was born to help people remember?"

I pull myself up to a sitting position.

"Still, it means a lot to me that you would do that for me despite what I've done to you."

She sits up next to me.

"Well it's not really about you B, it's about me. I may have met them because of you, and they gave me a chance because of you, but the way I feel about them is completely separate from how I feel about you. I care about them."

I put my hand on hers.

"I get it, but thank you anyway."

She looks down at my hand on hers and almost smiles.

"You do know..."

Our eyes meet.

"You know, this isn't gonna be easy right? Getting back what we had is really gonna be hard."

"I know, but I'm willing to take the time to get back your trust again, no matter how long it takes. I love you and I want us to be a family, the three of us and Mom."

Faith takes a deep breath and looks down at our hands.

"What about your Mom? When are we gonna tell her?"

"When she's feeling better, I don't want to give her any stress that'll make things worse. Are you all right with that?"

"Yeah, we don't wanna freak her out. It freaked me out and I guess we don't want a repeat if she's not feeling well."

I feel a little light headed and she looks at me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I guess I'm just tired."

"Well we should probably get to bed then."

We?

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just figured, with you and me... and the bed, you might not want to... you know..."

"I've got no problem being in the same bed as you, we'll just have to work up to the other stuff. Unless, you know, you have a problem with it?"

"No, no I don't..."

"Then let's go to bed then."

"Okay..."

We start getting ready for bed.

I knew I made the right choice, I knew it.