Buffy leaves a little later on with a promise to come back when I'm discharged. And God, will I be glad to get the hell out of here.

I'm worried about that vamp that got in. That's not the normal sort of behaviour you get from the Sunnydale undead, that kind of aggressive attack. Mostly they just kinda skulk around trying to avoid you. I got a feeling these guys ain't gonna play by those rules. And with B pregnant and me not quite running at full strength, that worries me.

A nurse comes in with a syringe in hand.

"Hey, I thought I was done with the medication."

"Doctor Jackson's orders." she says as she runs a swab over my arm.

There's a vague feeling in the back of my mind that I recognise too late as alarm bells going off. I try to focus on the needle as it shoots liquid into my arm but everything's a blur. Damn it, I should've known things wouldn't go easy.

I have just enough time to kick myself for letting myself get into this situation and then my world goes black.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

When I come to, the sight that greets me is one I could really do without.

"Riley."

"Faith." he says my name like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

The two of us are chained side by side to a wall in some old warehouse. I'm still not at full strength, and when I pull on the chains all I succeed in doing is nearly ripping my shoulder out. I mutter a string of curses under my breath that would've made Mom proud before I try a different approach.

"Do you know what they want?" I ask him.

"I'm guessing whatever it is won't be good. But my soon to be death is made that much easier knowing that you're going down as well." he smiles stonily at me.

"I'll remind you you said that when I kick some ass and bust out of here." I growl at him and try to lose the chains again.

"Yeah, I see that happening." His tone is dripping with sarcasm. If only he wasn't the father of Buffy's kid I would take such great pleasure in kicking his sorry, corn-fed, farmboy ass.

I'm distracted from very pleasurable thoughts of doing extreme violence to him when four of the vamps walk into the room. They're followed by the big guy with the sword who slashed me last night.

"Now, Slayer. We shall finish what was started."

He walks right up to me and it's driving me nuts that I can't lash out at him. Every nerve in my body is screaming "Vampire!", but there's something more to him as well, something powerful. It's the same kind of feeling I got around the Mayor. This guy has power of the mystical variety.

He reaches out his hand, placing it over the sword wound on my stomach, and mutters a few words in a language I don't understand. He, like all the others, is wrapped entirely in black cloth, except for his eyes. And right now his eyes seem confused. He repeats the words then looks back up at me.

"Fools!" He turns on the other four vamps. "She is not the Slayer!"

"Let me outta these chains and we'll see how un-Slayerish I am."

He points at Riley. "She does not carry his child."

Oh, see now this makes sense.

"Go!" he snarls at them. "Go and bring me the Slayer." He looks back at me and gets his temper under control. "But keep her too, we can use her when the time is come to perform the ritual."

The four vamps leave but the boss guy stays.

"Okay, so you thought I was the one knocked up, but what do you want with him?" I nod to Riley.

"The child the Slayer carries will be our saviour." He starts to pace in front of us and his voice takes on that tone used only by the severely deranged or by Southern Baptist preachers. "It has been foretold in the ancient texts. To make the child a fitting vessel for Kalinos, we shall perform the ritual of cleansing." His voice returns to somewhat normal and he looks at Riley. "He and the Slayer shall pass the trial of blood and tears to make their child worthy of the honour."

"Over my dead body." I snap at him.

"Yes." he agrees. "You will make a fitting sacrifice before the ritual begins."

"Way to give them ideas, Faith." Riley says.

"Shut it, Beefstick."

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Giles is waiting for me when I get back to my dorm. Willow's sitting beside him with a worried look on her face. Xander, Anya and Tara are there too.

"What? What's happened?"

"Um... Buffy." Giles is doing the nervous glasses cleaning thing. "There's been a phone call from the hospital."

Oh God. Faith.

"It appears Faith has... well, disappeared."

"Disappeared? How can she just disappear?"

"In Sunnydale? Weird, huh." Xander quips, but his face is serious.

I turn to Giles. "Who did this? The Council? What?"

"That's what I thought at first, but I rang around some of my contacts and it's not the Council's doing."

There's only one other main suspect I can think of.

"The vamps we ran into. I dusted one of them that came after her in the hospital. They must have sent reinforcements."

"But how could they get her out without anyone noticing? Faith's not the type to go quietly." Will points out.

Good point. "They must have had inside help."

And that help's gonna regret it.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

"Where is she?"

The nurse's eyes nearly cross as I slam her against the wall for a third time. I'm really starting to lose patience now. One of the patients in the ward across the hall from Faith said that they saw this nurse go in and leave with Faith in a wheelchair. I'm willing to bet any money that she handed her off to the vampires. And for her sake, she'd better know where they've taken her.

"I swear, I don't know."

Wrong answer. I twist her arm further up behind her back. A little more pressure and it'll snap.

"Listen, I don't know how they convinced you to help them. If it was money, believe me, no amount is worth going through the pain that I can cause you. If they threatened you... well, nothing they said they'd do could possibly compare to what I *will* do if you don't tell me where she is... now."

"Alright... alright." she winces as I reassert the pressure on her arm. "There's an abandoned warehouse up by Carter Hill. That's where he said they were taking them."

"Them? Who else have they got?" my mind races through the possibilities.

"Some guy. I don't know his name, honestly, I don't."

"Riley." Willow says.

"Yeah." I let the woman go and she drops to the ground, cradling her arm.

"So do we go to the mansion?" Xander asks.

"No. *I* go to the mansion."

"Buffy..." over the chorus of protest Giles speaks up. "As your Watcher, I have to say that going into that kind of danger, alone, and in your condition... well, I just can't allow it."

You really think he'd have learnt by now, wouldn't you?

"I appreciate your concern, all of you. But I'm going, and that's that."

"And so are we." Willow says. "You're our friend, our pregnant friend, and we're not going to let you go in there alone."

"Will-"

"No!" she holds up a finger in a pose I know well. "Resolve face. Now let's go."

I can't argue with resolve face, so I nod in appreciation instead. "Thanks guys."

"Hey, I may not be Faith's number one fan, but even though she slept with me then tried to kill me, I still have to say vamps are worse."

"You slept with Faith???" Anya turns on Xander.

"Um... did I say that out loud?" Xander looks to the rest of us for support. "Well... people need a-savin', forces of darkness at work. Let's go shall we?" and he makes his escape.

"You slept with Faith?" Anya's hard on his heels.

I have to smile a little despite myself. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it." I say under my breath as I follow the others out.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

The other four vamps haven't come back and the boss guy is still pacing the floor of the warehouse.

"You know they're dust by now." I taunt him. "B's wasted their sorry ass. And she'll be coming after you next."

I can feel the strength returning to my body now that the drugs are wearing off. I've examined the chains and they're bolted to the wall. If I was at full strength I could tear 'em off easy, but as it is I'm just gonna have to bide my time.

"They are four of my most trusted soldiers, they will not fail."

"Once they find the right person that is. Coz you're oh and one on that count."

"Silence!" I've hit a nerve. "There are only two Slayers and soon we shall have you both. There will be no mistakes this time."

"Only two Slayers? Does you have any idea how stupid a statement that is? One Slayer is more than you can handle." Riley says.

"Soon you shall see just how wrong you are." he says and walks out of the room.

We're both silent for a few minutes before Beefstick speaks up.

"Can you get out of these chains?"

I shake my head. "A little more time and I'll be back at full strength."

"We don't have a little more time." He hisses, trying not to let the vamps overhear. "We have to get out of here and warn Buffy."

"You know I've actually thought of that!" I snap back. "But unless you got a better idea on how we can get outta here then you'll just have to wait 'til I get my strength back."

He's subdued a little. "I'm worried about her... and the baby."

In spite of it all, I do feel sorry for him. "I know... I am too. But she'll be okay, just look at all the people she has watching her back."

He looks away and his next statement is so quiet I barely hear it.

"You're in love with her."

"Yeah... I am, very much."

He looks up at me. "Promise me... promise me you'll look after her, keep her safe."

I may not like the guy very much, but we do have one huge thing in common - how we feel about B, and I can understand where he's coming from. I'd want the same in his situation.

"I promise."

Whatever he's about to say is interrupted by the sound of fighting coming from outside.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

We met and dusted four vamps as we cut through the park to get here, and now there are another six in the alley outside the warehouse.

"A welcoming party? How thoughtful."

These guys are stronger than your average vamp, and the swords they're waving around could do some serious damage. To get within staking range I need to get close to them, and that puts me in their reach. So stakes become plan B. As for plan A...

I take on the first to come at me and block his swing, kicking out and breaking his kneecap. As he goes down I grab his sword and stake him. One down and we're playing on an even field now that I have a blade in my hand.

The rest of the guys have holy water and crossbows and they do as much damage as they can without getting close to the vamps. Meanwhile I've taken out three, Giles put a bolt through one and the remaining two are coming at me together.

I duck and roll out of the way, coming up in a fighting stance. They charge again and I parry one's swing while I kick out at the other. He doubles over and I drop a heel kick to the back of his head. He won't be getting up for a while.

The last vamp is a good swordsman and he manages to get a good slash in on my sword arm. He's coming in for another charge when Xander chucks the last of the holy water at him, hitting him in the face. The vamp drops his sword to clutch at his burning eyes and I stake him. Will finishes off the unconscious vamp and we head into the warehouse.

There's a large open area in the middle of the warehouse, with a walkway running all the way around the upper level. Faith and Riley are chained to the far wall and I go to release them.

"Buffy!"

Riley and Faith shout a warning together as nine more of the samurai vamps drop from the walkway into the room. One of them is bigger than the rest and I'm guessing this is the master vampire Faith told me about. Master vampire - been there, killed that.

They charge and everyone is caught up in hand to hand. Xander and Willow try to keep Anya and Tara out of harm's way as much as possible while I'm on a beeline for their leader. I take out two vamps to get to him and when I do he holds his sword up in front of him and bows slightly.

"Do not worry, Slayer. We shall take you alive."

"Really? Coz I'm inclining more towards killing you."

I go on the offensive, trying to get inside his reach, but he's damn good and blocks every blow. My arm is still stinging from where I got cut and when he lashes out, full force, the sword flies from my hand.

He steps back, not pressing his opening. "You are defenceless... surrender."

"Weaponless maybe, but I'm far from defenceless."

He shrugs and throws down his sword. Then he charges me. We're exchanging blows hard and fast and I know that one slip up is gonna cost me. He's strong, very strong, and with each punch I'm forced to block, he's driving me back.

I lash out with a backhand that connects with his jaw, but lets my guard down for a second. He grabs me in a chokehold and slams me down on a table behind me.

"I need you alive, not necessarily conscious." he growls as the air is slowly forced from my lungs.

Suddenly his head is snapped back as a pair of steel chains are wrapped around his neck and pulled tight. Faith's back in the game.

"Payback's a bitch." she grins as she pulls him back off me and throws him to the ground.

I grab one of the table legs and pull, splintering the wood. "Catch."

She does, and plunges it into his chest. I can't see his face through all the material, but I'm fairly sure he's not too happy. Then he's just dust.

With the big guy out of the way we turn our attention to the remaining vamps. Giles has his hands full with two of them and Faith runs to help. I grab one that's going for Willow and slam him to the ground. He's back up quickly and coming at me.

It's not long before it's just us and nine piles of dust. I look over to where Faith's helping Xander to his feet.

"Don't touch him." Anya steps between them, knocking Xander back to the ground again.

"Uh... sorry?" Faith looks to Xander and he shrugs sheepishly.

"You can't have him. He's mine. Don't touch him."

Something clicks and Faith grins a little. "Oh... ok. I'll try and keep my hands off him so."

"Good." Anya seems happy enough now that she's marked her territory and she helps Xander up. "She can't have you," she says to him.

Smiling, I go to free Riley. Beside where he's chained there are two holes in the wall where brick and mortar were smashed.

He follows my gaze. "She... she just... pulled."

"Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Slayer." I say, as I bring one of the vamp's swords down hilt first against the chains. After a few blows the bolts come free from the wall and I help Riley to his feet.

Faith's looking around the warehouse at the various piles of dust.

"You didn't happen to see a key round here anywhere, did ya?" she asks.

Good question. She and Riley still have manacles and a few feet of chain on their wrists. If there was a key it was dusted with the head vamp.

"Um... Giles?"

He looks between Riley and Faith for a few moments. "Anyone know of a good locksmith?"

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

On the way back, we swung by Willy's bar. Willy is a man of many skills and after a little 'friendly persuasion', which consisted of me convincing him it'd be nice if his bar was still standing come morning, and B threatening to find out how many bones she could break in his body and still keep him alive, Willy found his lockpicking tools and set to work on me and Beefstick.

Now me, B, Giles and Joyce are all sitting round in Joyce's lounge.

"Well I'm glad everyone's okay." Joyce says.

"Just about." B's been quiet since we left the warehouse.

Giles notices it too. "Buffy... everything worked out in the end." he tries to reassure her.

"It's just... when I think that they wanted to hurt my child. And they're not going to be the last..."

I put my hand on her knee.

"Buffy, there is no one and nothing on this earth or any other that is gonna hurt that kid. I promise. She's gonna be just fine."

"She?" Buffy questions.

Hmm... where did that come from. "Call it intuition."

"Buffy, it may not be easy, but just think of everyone who's here to help, who's here to protect her." Giles says.

B smiles a little sadly. "It's not like this isn't gonna be hard enough even without the supernatural side of things."

"You know we're all here for you, Buffy." Joyce says. "And we'll help however we can." She looks to Giles. He looks back blankly. She nods to B while still looking at him.

"Oh! Yes... quite." he turns to B. "Well, your mother and I have been talking, and we've decided that I'm going to move in here."

"Congratulations." Buffy looks to her Mom and Giles.

"And the thing is," he continues, "I'm going to have to find someone to move into my place. So I was wondering if you two might be interested?"

Buffy looks to me, and the expression on her face tells me she's very interested indeed.

"Well, let's see..." I say with mock seriousness, "College dorm room and dingy motel, or Giles' place? Decisions, decisions."

Buffy grins and turns back to Giles. "Are you sure?"

"Well with a baby on the way... my study would make an excellent nursery." he says.

Buffy's expression suddenly grows serious. "So this isn't just a clever form of bribery so I don't freak about you moving in with my mother?"

"Damn, she noticed." Joyce says, and mother and daughter smile at each other.

"It's yours." Giles says, looking at both of us.

"Thanks Giles, Mrs. Summers." I say.

"Least we can do." Joyce replies.

"I can start moving out tomorrow." Giles looks to Joyce. "If that's okay."

"The sooner the better." she smiles and takes his hand.

*<>*<>*<>*<>*

Three days later Mom and I are standing in the courtyard of what is now my and Faith's house. The sun is shining brightly as Giles and Faith struggle to load the car. She hands me a cup of coffee and we smile as we watch the continuing argument between our lovers.

"There is no way in hell, or any other dimension you care to name, that this chair is going to fit in this matchbox you call a car." Faith says as they try, for the fifth time, to get the antique piece of furniture into Giles' VW.

"If you just... turn it... slightly..." Giles is straining with the effort of trying to get it in, and Faith, Slayer strength and all is tiring too. I can see the muscles bunch in her back as she lifts the chair and tries to turn it, nearly falling over when it finally does slide into the car.

"There... you see." Giles is gasping for breath as he straightens up. "Not... a... problem."

"Do you want a drink?" Mom offers. "Or an oxygen mask?"

"Ha... funny." Giles grins humourlessly at her as he and Faith finish packing the car.

"So..." I turn to Mom. "You and Giles."

She looks at him and smiles. I haven't seen her smile like that in a long while.

"Me and Giles." She turns to me. "He's been really amazing these past few months. I have to say, Buffy, some of the decisions you make are... unsettling at times. But Rupert's really been there for me. He really understands you, you know?"

I nod. "I do know. And I'm glad you're happy, Mom."

She smiles and puts her hand on my shoulder.

"Well, I think that's it." Giles says as he and Faith finish loading the car up.

Mom kisses me on the cheek. "I'll call later on, just to see how you're settling in. Goodbye, Faith."

"See ya Mrs. S. I don't know how the both of you are gonna fit in that sad excuse for a car though."

Giles puts on his offended face. "This 'sad excuse for a car' is one of the most reliable models of..."

"Of course it is, Rupert, lets go." Mom puts a hand on his arm and leads him, still protesting to the car. After a backfire that sent birds flying from nearby treetops, they pull away.

"Wow." Faith says, turning a 360, "I still can't believe we live here."

"I know... I mean, we have a four-poster bed for God's sake."

"Hmm... speaking of..." she goes to pull me into her arms and I smack her away.

"Faith! You've been moving furniture for the last couple of hours. You're sticky and sweaty and you smell like a skunk."

"I thought you liked me all sticky and sweaty?" she smirks.

"Faith..." I raise an eyebrow, "Shower... now."

"Boy, you're really getting in the training for being a Mom, huh?"

She advances towards me and I back up, but there's only so far I can go. With a grin she grabs me behind my knees and lifts me up.

"'Bout that shower... do I have to take it alone?"

I wrap my arms around her neck and kiss her deeply.

"What do you think?"

She carries me into the house, kicking the door closed behind her.

"I think," she says as she takes the stairs two at a time, "That we're gonna like living here."

You know, I think she's right. Coz finally... we're home.