Chapter Two

The last few hours had been the most uncomfortable time Faith had ever experienced. It was more uncomfortable than living with some stuffy British guy or having everyone in Sunnydale seeing her as a subpar replacement. At this point, it was even more uncomfortable than the couple times her parents caught her while she was getting horizontal with some guy.

They hadn't said more than a handful of words to each other since they'd gotten to the apartment. Only when Faith finally decided to offer to pay for a pizza did they say anything to each other. Since moving to Sunnydale Faith had gotten used to the consistent three meals a day Giles offered up and the half a cheeseburger she had for lunch just wasn't cutting it. Buffy didn't question where Faith had gotten the money or how much she had either. Faith hadn't exactly been truthful on how much she had and figured if Buffy knew she could afford a motel room she might make her leave.

Buffy had gone to sleep about an hour and a half ago but Faith could tell it wasn't exactly a restful sleep. It was weird but Faith swore she could feel a connection with the other slayer. It was like her senses were on high alert when she was around Buffy and it was unlike anything she'd felt before.

Faith couldn't sleep. It wasn't like Buffy had a cot or a sleeping bag and she refused to share her bed so Faith was left with either an uncomfortable chair or the hard floor. She opted for the floor, stretching out at first but ended up simply sitting down with her back against the wall.

Instead, she concentrated on what she was feeling from Buffy. She could tell nothing Buffy was feeling at the moment was all that positive. All of Faith's senses were assaulted by it, overpowering her. If she tried to concentrate on it too much it gave her a headache but it wasn't exactly something she could ignore either. She almost wanted to wake Buffy up to tell her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing to send her all the negative feelings that were keeping her awake.

Buffy began to toss and turn slightly and Faith sat up more, wondering if she would wake up. She had to be having a nightmare from everything Faith could feel coming from her and she'd been having one for some time. Faith had a feeling Buffy wouldn't tell her if she was though.

After a few minutes, Buffy's body shook and Faith knew instantly she was awake. Most of the real uncomfortable feelings she'd been getting were starting to fade.

"Buffy?"

For a minute, nothing but silence came from the bed but eventually Buffy spoke. "What?"

"You okay?" Faith asked quietly, wondering what exactly was going on in her head.

"That's really none of your business," Buffy responded. She had her back to Faith and didn't bother to turn around.

"You were having a nightmare, right? Was it about your last fight or something?"

Buffy turned suddenly and sat up to face Faith, anger etched on her face as light from the window hit it. "What the hell do you know about it?"

"From the . . . vibes you were givin' off, that's what it's gotta be," Faith answered hesitantly, not knowing the best way to describe it. "Which brings us right back to my question: you okay?"

Buffy narrowed her eyes in the dark of the room. "What vibes?"

"Don't you feel 'em?" Faith asked, sitting up a little straighter and leaning toward Buffy. "I have since I walked into the diner. It's this insane feeling but you're making my head hurt with everything you're giving off."

Buffy looked away for a moment and thought. Her nerves were all tingling and had been since she'd been around Faith but she didn't want to think it was a slayer thing. She'd felt something like that with Kendra but this was so much stronger. She turned more toward Faith and concentrated for a moment before stopping quickly because she could swear she felt Faith's concern and it wigged her out in a major way.

"You can't actually see anything, can you?" Buffy asked, suddenly thinking about the start of the conversation.

"Haven't tried," Faith said quietly.

"Well, don't." Buffy scowled. "I don't want anyone roaming around in my head."

Faith nodded and didn't say anything for a minute. She didn't know much about the other slayer at all, only knowing a couple facts from an odd comment here and there, so she wondered if she was always this secretive about her feelings or what was on her mind. There wasn't much light in the room so she couldn't tell with any certainty if Buffy was shaken by her nightmare or not. She knew by now she wouldn't get an honest answer out of her anyway.

"It really sucks sleeping on the floor, you know?" Faith commented, opting to change the subject.

"I'm sure you have a bed in Sunnydale waiting for you," Buffy responded, lying back down.

Faith rested her back against the wall again. "Yeah, but it's at Giles' and we don't exactly get along. He'd rather have you there."

Buffy didn't respond, not knowing what to say. She had to think that Faith was lying, making it up that Giles wanted her back. She didn't want to think anything else because it made living where she was that much harder.

"You can talk about it, you know. Why you're here," Faith offered. "Why you ran away. I'm not gonna judge you or anything. No one's even told me what happened."

Buffy's only response was to turn her back to her again. Faith was being much too nice, not something she expected since she was trying hard to make her leave the place she grudgingly been calling home the last few weeks. All she wanted to do was sleep and hoped she wouldn't have any more nightmares.

Faith woke up with pain in about three different places and still tired. She'd fallen asleep for only a couple hours, sitting up and leaning against the wall, but it left her with pain in her neck, back and legs. She almost regretted not staying in a motel room. At least then she would have had a bed and would have gotten a decent amount of sleep.

She looked around the room, noticing the bed was now empty. For an instant Faith thought maybe Buffy had used her slumber to make a quick exit but she heard her in the other room so she knew that wasn't the case. She smiled at how quiet Buffy must've been to get past her since she liked to think she was a light sleeper. She hoped it was a slayer thing because she definitely wanted to be stealthy like that.

With a quiet groan Faith stood up and stretched, trying to loosen the muscles that hadn't been in the greatest position the entire night. She walked out of the room, instantly seeing Buffy in her waitressing outfit and rummaging through the cupboards.

"Morning," Faith said easily, leaning against the wall.

"I'm gonna be late," Buffy commented by way of a greeting. "I left early yesterday so if I show up late today he's gonna kill me."

Faith grinned, more due to Buffy's uniform than anything else, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You could just quit, come back to Sunnydale with me."

The comment was only met with silence as Buffy swallowed a last bit of toast and sipped a cup of coffee. Faith could tell she was on edge and she figured part of that was because she hated her job. She knew she would hate it. She was sure the other part was that she was here.

"I have to work all day. You should be gone when I get back."

"You'd have to be pretty damaged to think I'm leaving without you," Faith responded. "It's my job to bring you back and I plan on doing it."

Buffy turned and looked Faith over, a slight scowl on her face. "Fine. Stay here, go, I don't care."

Faith watched as she walked out of the apartment, leaving her alone. She leaned her head back until it rested against the wall and sighed. She had no idea what she was getting herself into since she had always assumed Buffy would want to come back with her. Everything was up in the air now and Faith didn't like that. The unexpected had never been her friend.

The first thing she knew she needed to do was call Giles. He had expected her to keep in touch, not liking that she was going off by herself, and she hadn't talked to him since yesterday morning. It was also the third day and she needed to let him know that she needed more time to get Buffy home. She just didn't know how to explain that Buffy didn't want to come with her.

There had to be something that happened during Buffy's last fight that Giles didn't know about, that much Faith was sure of. There had to have been something, or several somethings, that made her not want to come home. She was also much more closed off than Giles had described and that didn't help matters. Faith wondered what exactly went down and knew it wasn't good. She may have been told she was dumb several times in her life but this was very obvious.

There wasn't a phone in the apartment but there was one in the hall so Faith straightened up and walked over to the phone, pulling some change out of her pocket. She thought about where to call for a moment before smiling and dialing the number for the library. She knew that was probably where he was since he practically lived there.

After a couple rings, Giles answered. "Hello?"

"It's Faith."

"Faith." His tone brightened immediately. "Any news?"

"Yeah but you might wanna keep it to yourself for now," Faith started, not knowing how to word what she needed to say. "I found her."

"That's fantastic news," Giles said, excitement in his voice until he remembered the first part of what Faith said. "Why would I need to keep this information to myself?"

"'Cause for some reason, she doesn't wanna come back." Faith sighed quietly. "What the hell happened before she left, G-Man?"

"I had been kidnapped so I was slightly preoccupied when she was fighting Angel and I don't remember much of it."

"Oh." Faith thought for a moment, not knowing what her watcher had been through in the battle that ended with Buffy running away. She now wished she'd asked him more before she left. "Does anyone know what went down?"

"The only one who wasn't at the hospital was Xander and he was with me."

"Shit," Faith muttered. "Well, something happened to make her not wanna come back. If I knew what that was, it'd be a lot easier to convince her."

"Maybe I should go there," Giles offered.

"Not a good idea," Faith responded quickly. "I know I can do this, Giles. I don't know if it's a slayer thing or what but I feel this, I dunno, connection or something to her. I can do this."

Giles sighed. "Okay, Faith. Please keep me informed on your progress and I will keep Buffy's location to myself for now."

"Thanks." Faith smiled even though it sounded like Giles didn't have too much confidence in her. "I'll call when we're coming back."

She hung up the phone without another word and went back into the apartment. Now she only had to figure out the best way to ask Buffy why she was punishing herself without having to deal with one pissed off slayer. At least she had most of the day to think about it.

Buffy had a terrible day but it seemed now that every day was terrible so she knew this one would end up mixing in with all the others. It was just another day of long hours, disgusting guys hitting on her or smacking her ass, poor tips and being yelled at for not being a very good waitress. It was the same old thing, nothing new.

The only change in the day was that Buffy thought about Faith throughout. She knew Faith wasn't lying when she stated she wasn't leaving without her. Buffy knew that meant she had to put up with her because she wasn't ready to face everyone in Sunnydale. She didn't know what to say to everyone she thought she'd let down and had let get hurt.

She walked along the sidewalk toward her apartment slowly, not wanting to face Faith after her long day. Buffy didn't like how Faith pushed her buttons with such ease and all the tingles she felt when she was around her made her uneasy. Every time she looked at Faith she felt a connection she'd never felt with anyone before and that was just another thing she couldn't deal with.

"Hey, B."

Buffy jumped and looked up to see Faith leaning against the wall of the apartment building. "Don't do that."

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Faith laughed. "I figured you'd be able to sense me or something."

Buffy stopped and realized she could feel Faith. She'd just been ignoring the sensation. "What are you doing down here?"

"Oddly enough, your place doesn't offer a wide range of entertainment," Faith answered, arms crossed as she leaned against the wall. "It sucks and I got bored."

"You know . . ."

"Don't even say it," Faith said, cutting Buffy off. "I'm not leaving without you."

"Fine," Buffy said evenly. "I suppose you're gonna want to come upstairs with me then."

Faith smirked, biting her tongue on saying anything too suggestive. "Thought you'd never ask."

The pair silently walked up to the apartment, neither wanting to say anything to the other. Buffy was only irritated with the fact Faith wasn't giving up while Faith not only felt that but also an unbelievable boredom at not having done anything all day. She now looked the same way Buffy did day in and day out.

"Do you do anything for fun?" Faith asked as they entered the apartment.

"What?"

"You know, fun. You tell me you don't patrol and this place has nothing in it. Trust me, I've looked."

"You went through my stuff?" Buffy asked, voice rising slightly due Faith invading her privacy. She hadn't thought that's what she would be doing during the day but it didn't exactly surprise her either.

"You barely have any stuff to go through," Faith answered. "Do you just work at that shitty diner all day, every day? Or just sit here and think, stare into space?" She sighed. "Why are you punishing yourself, B?"

"Listen, F," Buffy started, walking up to Faith. "You wanna stay here, fine. Just stay out of my business."

"Whatever you say," Faith responded, refusing to back away. "But you're gonna need to let it out sometime."

"No, I won't," Buffy stated stubbornly before walking away and toward the bed. "It's late. I have to work tomorrow."

"Of course you do," Faith muttered before looking over at Buffy's depressed and exhausted demeanor and decided to give her a break. She decided not to even point out it was only ten at night and not all that late to her. "I guess I have the floor again, huh?"

Buffy turned to her. "You have other ideas?"

Faith smirked, again knowing there were so many ways to respond but stopping herself in the end. She didn't want to anger Buffy at the moment even if she would find it entertaining. "Only that I'd actually like to sleep tonight."

"You know my answer," Buffy responded, raising an eyebrow at the indecision on Faith's face.

Faith groaned but took a defeated seat on the floor. "Fine, but punching you out and dragging you back will look better and better if I keep sleeping on the floor."

Buffy fought off a smile and looked away. "You can always try."

Instead she took to watching Buffy like she had the night before. The other slayer wasn't tossing but Faith knew the nightmares were back. She could feel the distress Buffy was in. She had promised Buffy she would try and stay out of her head but it was hard to do that. Faith felt as though everything was being pushed on her, like she was being baited into helping her.

She was resisting temptation for the most part but she couldn't block the overwhelming feeling of sadness that was coming from Buffy. Faith wanted so badly to find out why but she wanted Buffy to tell her and wanted to wake her up to do it. A normal conversation was the only way for her.

Buffy's last fight was the key, that much Faith was sure. She wondered how their connection worked and if she could actually use it to find out what was wrong but she had no idea what to try. From what she knew and had observed about her fellow slayer she figured she could wait it out and Buffy would tell her what was wrong anyway. It looked like she might want to and if she did, Faith knew she could get her to leave.

She wondered if it was specifically her fight with Angel that made her run or if it was the battle, every part of it, that had been the cause. Faith knew very little about what happened since most of the time everyone else seemed to avoid the subject entirely but she knew there was some history between Buffy and Angel. From the looks everyone got on their faces when Faith asked about it, she knew they were more than just allies.

Watching Buffy was so eerie when she was having a nightmare. Faith was getting all the emotions of one but Buffy wasn't moving at all. She was still, lying on her side and facing Faith. She mumbled every once and awhile but otherwise by looking at her no one would be able to tell what was going on.

Faith stood up and stretched for a minute before walking into the next room and grabbing a chair. As quietly as she could, she placed it by the bed and sat down. She knew she would never get to sleep with everything running through her head anyway and she wanted to observe Buffy more closely. After about fifteen minutes went by of Faith simply watching the other girl, studying her face intently, something unexpected started to happen. It looked like Buffy was starting to cry.

"What the . . ." Faith muttered under her breath, leaning in to get a closer look.

Her shoulders were shaking slightly and every once and awhile she let out a barely audible whimper. After a couple minutes of that, she began to curl more into herself.

Faith didn't know what to do. She knew she could try to find out what was going on in her head but she promised she wouldn't and she didn't want to anger Buffy. No, she wanted to be friends, especially since Buffy was the only one who knew what it was like to be a slayer. It was a connection Faith had never even dreamed of having with another person and she didn't want to lose the opportunity to experience that.

Trying to invade Buffy's head wouldn't be a good idea and Faith really didn't know what else to do. She didn't know what would happen if she woke Buffy up but she figured she'd get yelled at. From the way Buffy had been acting toward her, she would certainly blame Faith for whatever happened if she tried to wake her.

Faith tried to do nothing, just watched and hoped she'd wake up, but that lasted all of five minutes before the urge to do something was too great. Very slowly, she moved off the chair and carefully got on the bed. It took some concentration on her part but Faith managed to position herself next to the other girl without waking her up. Buffy was facing away from her now so Faith couldn't see her face in order to see if she was still crying but she didn't want to take any chances.

"B, I hope this is okay," Faith whispered as she moved closer.

It only took a few moments before Faith had an arm wrapped around Buffy's waist, pulling her as close as possible. She smiled as she felt Buffy relax against her and she sighed almost happily as the feelings she'd been feeling all night began to fade.

Buffy mumbled something in her sleep but Faith couldn't make it out. She was starting to become preoccupied with how good it felt to have the other slayer pressed against her. It was unlike she'd ever felt, like simply having the contact she was having with Buffy right now was making her feel safe. It was the only way she could think of describing it and that did nothing but confuse her.

Faith moved slightly against Buffy, her body relaxing even as she could feel Buffy do the same. Before she realized, she was falling asleep and hoped there wouldn't be much fallout in the morning.

For Buffy, waking up was relaxing for the first time since well before she ran away. She knew she was having nightmares at the start of the night, reliving stabbing Angel then seeing all her friends hurt and not being able to stop it, but after awhile that faded away and she just slept. Her mind had simply cleared and she'd been able to relax.

Now that morning had arrived she woke up warm and comforted and it took her a moment to realize why. First, she noticed an arm draped over her stomach then realized she could feel breath softly hitting the back of her neck. It didn't take very long for her to realize the person holding her was Faith.

She wanted so much to be angry. She wanted to get up and immediately tell Faith she'd crossed a line, that they were nowhere near close enough for this and never would be. The problem with all that was Faith was single-handedly responsible for her first good night's sleep in months. Buffy couldn't bring herself to get angry when Faith had actually helped her.

Buffy shifted, craning her head to see that she should get up and get ready for work. Her movement made Faith move and mumble and she withdrew her arm, allowing Buffy to sit up and get out of bed. She sat up slowly and sighed quietly, knowing she had to go to a job she hated.

Faith rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes, hearing Buffy's sigh. "You okay, B?"

"Uh, yeah," Buffy answered quietly before turning to Faith. "Why were you sleeping next to me?"

Faith looked her over with a raised eyebrow, trying to guess her mood but she couldn't read the look on her face. "You were crying in your sleep. I didn't know what to do, if I should wake you up or whatever. I tried that and it worked. You stopped."

Buffy nodded and looked away again, keeping her eyes on the floor. She didn't know how to respond to Faith, especially now knowing she'd been crying. It wasn't something she realized she did and she was a little embarrassed about it. It felt like a sign of weakness and definitely not something she wanted to show Faith.

"I stayed all respectful, slept above the covers and everything," Faith added, trying to get a response out of Buffy.

"I appreciate that," Buffy responded with a hint of sarcasm as she looked back at Faith.

Faith let out a laugh, smiling as she sat up. "That could be the nicest thing you've said to me."

Buffy stood and turned back to face Faith, noticing the other girl was looking her over. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that." She paused and looked at the clock again. "I gotta get to work."

Faith didn't say anything, only watched Buffy get up and grab her uniform. Once she was out of the room Faith closed her eyes and rested her head on a pillow. She thought those couple little comments out of Buffy was the start of something, maybe even a breakthrough if they had kept going. Instead, Buffy had shut it down before it could even start and it was beyond frustrating for Faith.

After a couple minutes, she got up again and looked through her bag. She was running out of clean clothes, not to mention she would run out of money soon, and she knew she needed to make Buffy realize she needed to go home fast. Knocking her unconscious and dragging her back was continuing to look better and better even though she knew any thought of having Buffy as a friend would surely be ruined if she did that.

She didn't understand why Buffy kept shutting herself off. From everything Faith knew about Buffy's life in Sunnydale, she had what Faith always wanted. She had a mother who genuinely cared about her and friends who'd do anything for her. In Faith's eyes, she had a great life and even though she had some hard times, it wasn't something to run from.

Buffy started to make coffee and Faith walked out to observe what she was doing. "Can you seriously tell me why you're here? Was it all Angel or was it something else?"

"What do you know about it?" Buffy asked almost accusingly as she turned to Faith.

"Barely anything," Faith answered easily as she leaned against the doorframe. "No one tells me anything about what happened and at any mention of your name everyone gets these weird sad faces. They all just want you back and they sure as hell don't wanna talk to me."

Buffy opened her mouth to say something but stopped for a moment. She wondered how everyone thought of Faith. Her impression of the new slayer was that she liked to look tough and she could tell Faith loved being a slayer. Outside of that, she didn't know much about her. She hadn't given Faith an opportunity to tell her anything about herself.

"They don't know what happened," Buffy said quietly, looking down at her cup of coffee.

"So what happened, B? It can't be that bad 'cause all everyone wants is for you to come home."

Buffy didn't respond right away, lost in her thoughts. She kept thinking about the fight with her mother where she was told not to come back. "Doubt it," she finally mumbled.

"You calling me a liar?" Faith asked. "You're way more wanted there than I am."

Buffy looked at her finally, a scowl on her face. "My mom told me to leave."

Faith's jaw dropped. "What?"

"She found out about the slaying and took it way bad. She told me to stop and when I said that wasn't something I could do she said if I left I shouldn't come back."

"Oh," Faith said, barely audible. "No one told me that."

"Whatever," Buffy commented quickly, not wanting to mention no one knew about her fight with her mother. "I've gotta go."

Faith reached out and grabbed Buffy arm before she could leave. "You can leave now but this isn't over. You're gonna tell me what's going on and about what happened to make you leave."

"I . . ." Buffy started but stopped before she got any further. "Whatever."

Buffy looked so defeated Faith let go of her arm and watched her walk out the door. She was happy she finally knew a little at why Buffy left but knew there was more. She just needed to keep asking until she got answers.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked as she walked toward Faith, who had just taken a seat in a corner booth in the diner.

"Uh, it's noon, I'm hungry and I had this feeling that if I walked in here and sat down food may eventually appear in front of me," Faith responded, leaning back in the booth.

"So you're not here to keep an eye on me?"

Faith grinned, something she couldn't seem to stop doing when Buffy was in her waitressing uniform. "Maybe a little of that, too."

"Unbelievable," Buffy said quietly with a shake of her head. "What can I get you?"

"Cheeseburger, fries, coke," Faith said, still grinning. She couldn't stop thinking about how cute Buffy looked and she wasn't even trying. She was barely wearing any make up and her hair was in a sloppy ponytail but she still looked good. "Maybe I'll get to finish it this time."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the comment. She still couldn't understand how Faith was still there even though she was trying so hard to push her away. "Sure."

"Hey," Faith said quickly as Buffy turned to go, getting her attention. "When do you get outta here?"

"It's an early day: four," Buffy answered.

"Look, we really need to talk," Faith said seriously, keeping her voice down. "I'm trying to understand what went down but no one tells me anything and it's fuckin' irritating. You need to tell me. It'll probably help you, too. And we really need to get back."

"Okay, later," Buffy quickly agreed and walked away, choosing to ignore the last comment.

Once she got Faith's order taken care of and brought her a coke, Buffy tried her best to ignore her. She knew the other girl was watching, maybe even making sure she wouldn't run again. Even though she kind of liked having someone look out for her right now, it also put her on edge. It'd make her day a whole lot easier if Faith wasn't there but she doubted the other girl would go if she asked.

Faith was only trying to not simply stare at Buffy. Instead, she tried her best to observe everything else. She looked out the window and watched the passersby or eyed the other customers but that left her borderline depressed. The atmosphere reminded her of the places she'd frequented in Boston. The only differences were it was sunnier, warmer and everyone's accents were different. She didn't like the fact after she finally thought she'd left that part of her life behind here she was back in a place that seemed to remind her of all her own previous mistakes.

To get her mind off that, Faith almost needed to watch Buffy. Even though she didn't act like it, Buffy looked like a ray of light to Faith. She looked so out of place in the dreary environment whereas Faith knew she needed to work hard just to look like she didn't fit in. She just knew once she got Buffy to Sunnydale it'd be even better and she'd see an even better side of her.

"Here," Buffy said, setting a plate in front of Faith and interrupting her thoughts. "You can even finish it this time."

"Good one," Faith responded, grinning and giving her a wink in the process. She liked that Buffy was beginning to let her guard down, if only slightly. "I'll have to eat slowly, test you on that."

Buffy let out a laugh before walking away, knowing Faith was watching her walk away. In only a couple days Faith was beginning to grow on her. She was starting to trust her as well and that scared her a little. She knew practically nothing about her aside from her being a slayer. She decided if she was going to tell Faith why she'd run away, she would need to remember to ask Faith some questions, too.

About a half hour passed without either of them barely acknowledging each other. Buffy went about waiting tables while Faith ate as slowly as possible. Both were aware of the other's presence, more than aware with the tingles they felt, but they knew now wasn't the time to discuss anything.

"Anne?"

Buffy turned to the other waitress she was working with, Bev. "Yeah?"

"You know that girl over there?" she asked, nodding her head to Faith who was currently busying herself by drumming her fingers on the table.

"Uh, kinda."

"Isn't she the one who chased after you a couple days ago?"

"Yeah."

Bev looked concerned for a moment then leaned in slightly. "Watch yourself, hon. There's a lot of crazies out there." She paused as Buffy nodded politely. "And don't let her loiter. You don't wanna get in any trouble."

Buffy nodded again before walking over to Faith and dropping the bill on the table. "Here you go."

"How do you know I'm done?" Faith asked, a small smirk appearing on her face. "This place is much more interesting than that shitty apartment."

"Well, unless you wanna keep ordering the manager might kick you out. He doesn't like people sitting around and not ordering anything."

"I could probably do that. I always seem to be hungry." Faith made a face and Buffy laughed in spite of herself. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No," Buffy said slowly. "But you don't need to watch over me or anything. The only place I have to go after this is the apartment."

Faith eyed Buffy for a moment before giving in. "Okay. I'll meet ya when you get off."

Buffy smiled and nodded as Faith reached into her pocket and pulled some money out, placing it on the table. "All right."

"Remember, we're talking later," Faith said as she stood.

"I know. You're not exactly making it something I could forget," Buffy responded quietly.