Author's Note: Just in case I have to say it, no real people or animals were actually harmed in this chapter.

Buffy's POV

"So what do we do?"

She keeps asking that and I keep giving her the same answer.

"I don't know."

"Well we have to do something don't we B? I mean this is our fault."

I look at her, sorta half pacing in our room.

"How do you figure?"

She faces me.

"Did you go deaf? You heard what Willow said, Tara left her because of the spell."

"Okay but how do you get from that, to our fault?"

The look on her face changes like she's thinking about hitting me.

"Were you even in the same room? Of course this is our fault."

"Wasn't it you who told me the spell wasn't my fault? That it wasn't your fault either?"

"That's different."

"Is it?"

"B, that was about blame, not fault."

"So you think it was my fault?"

"Oh for god sakes B, are we really gonna go through this again?"

"Well we never really talked everything out did we?"

"And whose fault is that?"

I look down at my feet, sitting at the end of the bed.

"I know."

"I was the one who wanted to talk everything out. But you weren't ready for it. You needed time to figure things out."

"I know and I'm sorry about that. Things have been a little screwed up in here since..."

I stop there.

I don't want to give her any more reasons to yell at me.

"Well maybe that's why we're here now? Maybe things aren't so screwed up anymore and you've decided you don't want me around?"

"What? Faith, no that's not..."

"Maybe that's why you haven't told me what's going on? Cause you want me to leave."

She's not even listening to me anymore. She's just decided we're breaking up, when that's not what I want.

"Faith..."

"I told you before B. All you have to do is say the word and I'll leave and never come back. I may love you B, but there's no way I'm just gonna sit around and wait till you DECIDE to let me in on everything."

I stand up to look her right in the eye, face to face.

This isn't about our feelings. This is about trust, and honesty. It goes way beyond love.

"Faith... the last time you said you'd leave I asked you to stay, and it's my fault that things got to the point where you have to make that offer again. So I'm asking again, if there's any hope left in you that we can work this out, then stay. Please don't leave."

She takes a deep breath.

"Tell me what's going on... and I won't."

I stare into her eyes, seconds ticking away, every moment a lifetime in her eyes.

The door swings open and Dawn comes rushing in.

"Hey guys?"

Faith turns to Dawn and snaps.

"WHAT?"

Dawn trips and falls at Faith's anger.

Oh my god!

I rush to Dawn's side to make sure she's okay.

"Dawn?"

"Is she okay?"

I look at Faith as Dawn sits up, a little dazed but fine. Faith's just looking at Dawn, her look of concern slowly changing to a look of contemplation. As if she's trying to figure her out.

"You didn't have to yell at her."

"What?"

"No, it's okay I'm... I'm fine I just... I'm fine, it's fine. Everything's fine..."

I help Dawn to her feet.

"You shouldn't have yelled at her. She could've gotten seriously hurt."

"She just tripped B. Besides, if you hadn't made me so mad in the first place maybe I wouldn't have done it."

"Hey guys it's cool, I'm fine!"

"That doesn't give you an excuse to yell at Dawn."

"Excuse?"

"Maybe if you spent a little more time trying to control your emotions you wouldn't have done it."

"Controlling my emotions?"

Faith gets right up in my face.

"Well EXCUSE ME, but who was it that decided shortly after getting her ass handed to her that she just had to get a piece of mine in the middle of a graveyard?"

"Don't... you shouldn't talk about that stuff in front of Dawn."

"Why not? It's not like she didn't all but catch the show anyway."

"Okay guys, everything's fine. There's no reason to..."

Faith pushes Dawn out of the way, making her stumble back a few steps.

"Stay out of this Dawn."

Oh my god!

"Don't push her!"

I grab Faith by the collar.

"Geez B, freak out much?"

Screw it!

I pull my fist back, only to hit Dawn in the face with my elbow. I spin around, realizing what I've done as I see her lying on the floor holding her face.

"Dawn?"

She looks up at us, tears in her eyes.

"You hit me..."

"Oh god Dawn sweetie I'm sorry."

I kneel down to see if she's all right.

"Get away from me."

She scrambles on the floor to put some distance between us. Faith comes over and stands next to me, but that only serves to make Dawn get up and back away even more.

"Dawn, are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?"

We should take a look at that red spot on her cheek, which will probably turn purple soon.

"Dawn, honey let's take a look at that bruise."

"Oh you mean the bruise YOU gave me?"

I take a step forward.

"Don't touch me..."

She turns and runs out of the room. Moments later we hear the door to her room slam shut. I stand up and Faith turns to me.

"Now look at what you did. Go get her an ice pack or something. I'll see if I can get her to come out of her room."

She leaves and heads to Dawn's room.

An ice pack, right... oh god what have I done? What did I do?

I work my way down the stairs and head to the kitchen.

I was so angry at Faith that all I wanted to do was hurt her, and I ended up hurting Dawn instead.

I move through the kitchen to the fridge and open the freezer side.

It's not like Dawn's bruise was life threatening.

I take out one of the ice packs I leave in there for after a big fight and head back upstairs.

But I should've known better. I should've known that getting into a fist fight with Faith, it never ends well, and not just for me and Faith.

I reach the top of the stairs and turn toward Dawn's room. Faith's standing outside her door and knocking.

"Come on Dawnie let us in will ya?"

"I SAID GO AWAY!"

I look at Faith and hold up the ice pack.

"No luck?"

She rolls her eyes at me and knocks again. There's no answer of any kind. I go to open the door but Faith grabs my wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm going in."

She holds my wrist tighter as I go for the doorknob again.

"What?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Dawn to open the door for us? You know for when she feels ready?"

"Of course not, if we let her decide when she wants to talk to us she'll just sit in her room and sulk all night."

"Oh so she doesn't get to decide when she wants to deal with her feelings because you've already decided she has to deal with them now."

This is so not about us.

"Faith, can we just deal with Dawn and leave our crap for later?"

"This ain't about us B, this is about Dawn."

All of the sudden her door flies open and Dawn's standing there, upset.

"STOP IT! Stop fighting... please just STOP IT!"

She turns away, hands on her head but not before I catch the tears in her eyes.

This is really hurting her.

"I just... I can't take anymore fighting..."

"Dawn, honey we're sorry..."

"Yeah we really are..."

"Oh like you were SORRY about hitting me in the face?"

"I'm REALLY, REALLY sorry about that..."

I hold up the ice pack for her.

"See? I even got you an ice pack to keep the swelling down."

She comes over and snatches it out of my hand before turning away and putting it on her cheek.

"Gee, THANKS!"

I look to Faith for help and surprisingly, even with everything that's going on, she gives it.

"Dawn, we really didn't mean to..."

Her audible whisper interrupts.

"What's wrong with me?"

What?

"There's nothing wrong with you Dawnie."

"Then why do you keep fighting about me? What is it about me that you hate so much?"

I look over at Faith and I can tell she feels just as bad for what we've done to Dawn as I do.

"Dawn, we don't hate you or anything about you..."

Faith glances over at me before continuing.

"We love you, very much."

"Yes, very much..."

"Then why do you guys keep fighting about me?"

I take a deep breath before stepping in.

"Dawn, sometimes couples fight about stuff. Faith and I tend to fight a lot. But it's not your fault. Faith and I fighting is no more your fault then it was when Mom and Dad used to fight... remember?"

She turns around and seems a little calmer.

"Yeah..."

I close the small gap between us and take her in my arms.

"Oh Dawnie we're so sorry."

She wraps her arms around me tight and I swear I feel it. This intense feeling that I don't think I've ever felt before.

I almost feel like a mother holding her daughter.

I look over at Faith standing a few feet away and I tilt my head a bit, encouraging her to join us.

"So there's nothing wrong with me?"

After a few moments of hesitation, Faith comes over and puts her arms around Dawn and me. The intense feeling goes into overdrive as she does.

"Of course not kid. You're just fine the way you are."

We just stand there together in silence, comfortable silence, just the three of us. Dawn's head against my chest, Faith's powerful arms around us both, making all of us feel safe.

I can't lose this, any of this. Right here, right now, this means everything to me. I have to protect this. I have to protect Dawn from whatever's coming. No matter what I have to do. Faith and Dawn are my world, and I can't lose them for any reason. I have to tell Faith the truth about our daughter.

I'll get together with her and Giles tomorrow, and I'll tell her everything, our sweet beautiful Dawn... our daughter.

Glory's POV

That damn slayer's got my key. She's got my key stashed away somewhere and I want it back. I'm never gonna get it back though if these monkey rejects don't finish the job they were supposed to have done 20 minutes ago. They've kept me waiting here for that STUPID urn to start the spell. Just because I'm gonna live forever, does NOT mean you can keep me waiting forever. I swear, if they don't come in with that urn before the next time I blink, someone's gonna lose something.

I blink and throw my perfect arms up.

"THAT'S IT! Someone's losing an appendage!"

I've spent too long among these crap-filled quadrupeds. I had to kill all those stupid wolves because they wouldn't stop barking at me. Then the monkeys started screeching and I had to get my hands dirty to squeeze all their little necks. Damn things actually tried to attack me when I broke the glass on their little 'habitat of crap' thing.

After that 3 minute kill-a-thon I decided to go down the hall there and kill the lion because... well just because actually. I needed something to do for about 5 minutes and I figured that was gonna be the best way to get it. I was right too. I love it when I'm right, which is actually all the time now that I think about it.

So after all that I've still been standing here for the last 10 minutes waiting for the stupid urn that goes with my bloodstone and amulet combo.

I hear them coming down the hall and they walk in with the urn.

FINALLY!

"What the hell took you puss buckets so long?"

"We apologize for the delay most magnificent one, but we had to be sure that the urn did not break for your spell, it is of the utmost importance that we..."

"Yeah, yeah... is the spell ready yet?"

"Not just yet your incredibly effervescent one. We must first..."

"Ugh!"

I hold out the objects I bought from that pathetic magic shop.

"Get it done already would ya?"

"Of course, of course your beautiful godliness, it shall be done with great haste."

Dregg, at least I think his name is Dregg, takes the things from me and the 5 of them get to work. About 30 seconds later I get bored and remember what I forgot to do.

"YOU!"

All five of them turn around and the one I'm pointing at puts his hands in front of his face in fear.

"Y-yes your gracefulness?"

I curl my index finger at him, beckoning him forward.

"Come here sweetie."

He inches this way and nearly craps his pants when I throw my arm over his shoulders.

"What was your name again?"

"Scrap your loveliness."

"Right, right, Scrap... who the hell gave you such a stupid name as Scrap?"

"If I recall correctly most beautiful Glorificus, it was you who gave me my great and easy to remember name."

I take my arm off his shoulders and face him.

"Whoever gave you the name isn't important. What's important is that you do me a favour."

"How may I serve you your greatness?"

"Would you mind, holding out your arm for me?"

He looks at me terrified as he slowly holds his fleshy little arm out.

"Thank you."

I put one hand on his shoulder and grab his wrist with my other. Before he can protest I rip his arm clear off his body. He grabs his former shoulder with the hand he still has and screeches at the top of his lungs as he falls to his knees.

I hate stupid screeching animals.

I grab the wrist with both hands and use the arm to smack him upside the head, knocking him unconscious so he stops screeching.

"That's better."

I look up at the 4 remaining pieces of crap I have working for me.

"The spell isn't gonna cast itself people."

They scramble like frightened rats to finish preparing. Just for good measure I give Scrap a few more whacks in the head.

"We are prepared Glorificus."

"FINALLY!"

I walk over to the urn and one of my minions hands me the bloodstone while another puts the Kohl's amulet in the urn. I hear hissing.

"The thing is in there isn't it?"

"Yes Glory, the cobra is inside the urn."

"Good."

I hold the bloodstone over the urn.

"Sobek, grant the power... that it may mold this wretched creature. That it may be reborn, that it may serve. Arise to do my bidding."

The urn starts to shake but nothing else.

"Arise?"

It starts shaking more.

"Arise!"

More of just the shaking...

"ARISE!"

The urn breaks apart and a giant cobra grows out of it.

"Thank GOD! That took forever."

It turns to me.

"Spawn of Sobek find what it is I seek. Find for me the slayer and bring her to me. She knows where my key is and she IS going to tell me. GO!"

It turns to leave.

"Oh and one more thing..."

It turns back.

"If you happen upon the key in your travels, feel free to kill the slayer and just bring me the key okay?"

It roars and leaves.

"Okie doke, let's go home. I think I need a shower."