What If??

Buffy leans against the door, looking at Faith for a few minutes, feeling down the slayer connection feeling how much stronger it’s gotten since Tara started ‘talking’ with Faith. Slowly walking in the room, Buffy sits down beside Faith, running her fingers beside the slayer’s arm as she considers what she wants to say, if anything. Sighing quietly, she glances back up to look at the dark-haired woman. Having stopped in a couple times earlier in the week, not saying anything, Buffy finally decides to speak.

“I know you can hear me, Faith.” Buffy starts then stops, hesitating as she closes her eyes, frowning. “God! What can I say to have you understand how much I want you to come back to us?”

Buffy reaches for the slayer’s hand, clasping the pale hand between her two, really noticing how frail Faith’s hand looks compared to hers, thinking back to how strong and tanned the hand used to be. “We all fucked up, Faith. We never really gave you a chance, and I cannot say enough how sorry I am for that.” Buffy bites her lip and brushes her cheek on her shoulder as the tears start to flow. “I’m going to go by the Magic Box today, see if Giles has found out anything from the Council. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll actually take me up on my offer that I’ll be their damn lap dog to a certain degree, if they’ll let us help you, but I’m hoping they will. I don’t have anything else to offer them.” Buffy admits sadly.

“Tara doesn’t trust them either. She’ll do anything and everything she can to help you, Faith. She had it rough growing up, her father and brother beat on her. I know she hasn’t even told me all of it, just that they abused her, and got her in the ribs with a beer bottle, puncturing her lung. She’s never had any friends growing up, and she has already taken you into her heart, Faith. She just wants you to give her the chance to be your friend.” Buffy places her head on the bed, sighing quietly. “If you can’t forgive us, that’s fine. Please don’t hurt her, Faith. I love her completely and she means the absolute world to me. She’ll be the best friend you’ve probably ever had. God knows I never was the friend to you, I should have been.”

Buffy tucks Faith’s hand under her cheek. Thinking for a few long minutes. “Faith, I want my sister slayer back. Mom wants you to come stay with us, and Tara wants a friend that she can talk to and bitch about me to. Because you know me, I’m going to do stupid shit and make her mad at me. Even though, she’s doing stuff to make me mad also! But I’ll never hurt her, Faith. Hurting her would probably kill me, Faith. Hell, not probably, it would. Her blue eyes seem to look into my soul and see me, flaws and all. Even with everything I’ve done, the shit with Angel, the way I treated you, she still loves me.”

“Needs head examined.” Faith hoarsely whispers as she tries to blink her eyes open, weakly squeezing Buffy’s hand.

“Oh, God!” Buffy snaps her head up, staring into the slightly hazy eyes of the dark-haired slayer. “Faith…” Buffy jumps up, holding Faith’s hand but wrapping her arm around the slayer, the tears falling faster. “I need to call the nurse.”

“No.” Faith shakes her head briefly. “Water.”

Buffy drops Faith’s hand and runs into the bathroom, looking around for something for Faith to drink before running back out. “I have to go get something, there’s nothing here for you to use.” Buffy calls over her shoulder as she runs out of the room and down to the machines, knowing there was a machine that gave out Gatorades and waters. Quickly shoving change into the machine, Buffy grabs the three waters and carries them quickly back to Faith’s room, shutting the door behind her.

“Up.” Faith’s shaky hand tries to push the button on the bed.

“I got it.” Buffy presses the bed so Faith’s sitting up before reaching back for the water, almost tearing the cap off, Buffy holds it to the dark-haired slayer’s lips, tilting it gently. As Faith motions that she’s had enough, Buffy looks at the woman, her eyes sad.

Faith takes a deep breath before turning her gaze on Buffy. “Ain’t gonna be easy, but we can work on it.” Faith whispers, her voice hoarser than normal.

“You’re going to give us a chance… You’re going to give me another chance?” Buffy whispers, the tears falling unheeded from her eyes as Faith nods. “Thank you.” Buffy whispers.

Faith watches as the tears slide down Buffy’s cheeks and the serious look in the blonde slayer’s eyes. Seeing the caring and pain deep in the hazel depths. “Please get me outta here. I don’t wanna spend anymore time in this place.”

“I don’t know…” Buffy sighs seeing the stubborn look in Faith’s eyes. “Let me call mom and Giles, they’ll come running.” Buffy rubs a hand over the back of her neck. “I would like Tara to be here, too. But I don’t want to leave you alone.” Buffy looks at Faith. “We may need her magical ability.”

Faith nods in understanding and watches as Buffy picks up the phone dialing her mother first. “Mom? Can you go by the campus and get Tara out of Art Class?”

“What’s wrong?” Joyce questions, grabbing her purse, pulling her keys out of the pocket.

“Faith’s awake. She doesn’t want to stay here in the hospital, and truthfully, I’d rather her not be here. If the Council has any idea she’s awake and they’re resistant to us helping her…” Buffy trails off sighing heavily.

“Art building, do you know what room?” Joyce’s questions quickly.

“I think it was room 112. I’m not positive.” Buffy bites her lip.

“Same building that we went into to see her paintings, right?” Joyce hooks her purse over her shoulder, ready to leave as soon as Buffy answers.

“Yeah.” Buffy answers.

“I’m there. Tell Faith we’ll do everything in our powers to help her. Love you, honey. Goodbye.” Joyce hangs up and practically runs out the door.

Buffy places the phone down, smiling briefly at Faith. “Mom said that we’re going to do everything in our powers to help you. Now, let’s see if I can get a hold of Giles.”

“Thanks, B.” Faith whispers as she lifts the water to her lips, frowning at her own weakness as the bottle shakes almost uncontrollably.

Buffy watches the dark-haired slayer for a moment, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder and clasping it gently. “No thanks necessary, Faith.”

“Yeah, it is.” Faith sighs. “Talk later.” Faith closes her eyes and tilts her head back.

Buffy squeezes her shoulder gently before picking the phone back up and dialing Giles at the Magic Box. “Can you talk?” Buffy questions quickly after Giles answers the phone.

“Yes. What is it?” Giles replaces the lid on the jar he’d just finished restocking.

“Have you talked to the Council yet?” Buffy waits for Giles’ answer as she sighs softly.

“I called them, but they’re doing their bloody meetings to make the decision.” Giles growls quietly at the bloody ponces posturing. “They hemmed and hawed around, pretty much being their usual bastard selves.”

“We have to know something now, Giles. Faith just woke up, and we’re getting her out of the hospital.” Buffy finally explains her reasoning behind her questions.

“Bloody hell!” Giles whips off his glasses, tossing them on the counter as he rubs his eyes. “Buffy, they may very well have someone watching her to see if she comes to, you realize that, don’t you?”

“I’m hoping they don’t, but we’re taking her out of here one way or the other. Now, mom is going to the college to get Tara before coming here. So, either you call and put pressure on the Council and/or get your ass over here to help us.” Buffy hisses into the phone. “I’m not having them fuck it up this time, Giles. If I have to take on the whole damn Council I will. I don’t think they’ll like messing with me and Tara both. They don’t have a fucking clue what we’re capable of, hell none of us know what Tara’s capable of, but I know I wouldn’t push her.”

“I dare say not.” Giles admits quietly, knowing that what little the young woman had done took intense control and power. “I’ll call them, Buffy. Take care and please, be careful.”

“I will.” Buffy hangs up the phone turning back to look at the curious looking Faith. “Shit!” Buffy growls rubbing her face. “I didn’t think to have mom run by the house and grab sweat pants or something for you to wear.” Taking a deep breath, Buffy tilts her head in consideration. “I wonder…” Buffy thinks about Tara, sending her the feeling that she needs her to bring clothes, concentrating, hoping that Tara understands her feelings.

“What’cha doin’?” Faith hoarsely asks watching as a huge grin splits Buffy’s face.

“Tara’s going to stop by her dorm and grab something for you to wear.” Buffy opens her eyes, the happy twinkle obvious in her depths.

“You do love her.” Faith whispers in surprise, seeing the depth of caring in Buffy’s eyes for the witch. “I didn’t think ya’ had it in ya’, B.”

Buffy chuckles as she sits down, grasping Faith’s hand in hers, smiling. “I saved her from four vampires, even though I really seriously wonder if she needed my help, Faith.” Buffy shakes her head before grinning. “Anyway, she ended up stuttering out a thank you and ran to the dorm. At some point she dropped a charm off her bracelet and I saw it. The next day I went to my Psych class and I saw this blonde sitting down towards the front of the room that seemed familiar. I didn’t think anymore about it, until we were leaving class and it was Tara. I insisted on buying her lunch, gave her back her charm and I fell completely and irrevocably head over heels for her blue eyes. I couldn’t think of anything else the rest of the day. Mom noticed and wondered who caught my eye.” Buffy sighs quietly, a soft happy smile on her face. “I did the pronoun game and mom guessed that it was a her instead of a him. I told her about what happened before having to go to the Magic Box to train. Guess who was there?” Buffy smirks as Faith chuckles quietly.

“A blue eyed witch.” Faith’s rough voice shows a little of the laughter at the thought. “Couldn’t get away from her, huh?”

“No, and I don’t want to.” Buffy smiles thinking about it as she pulls her feet up on the chair and wraps her arms around her legs. “God, do you know that’s only been two weeks since I saved her from the vampires? It seems like it’s been much longer than that.”

“Two weeks?” Faith hoarsely questions, the surprise in her voice. “Didn’t waste anytime, did ya’?”

“No, even though we did try to wait, but other things made it almost impossible.” Buffy rests her chin on the top of her knees. “She’s made me different than I was, Faith. No, that’s not right. She didn’t change me, she just helped me become complete.”

Faith looks questioningly at Buffy, her eyebrow raised.

“Let’s get you out of here and on the road to recovery, you’re going to need help getting your body back into shape, so we’ll have plenty of time to discuss all this.” Buffy smiles quickly. “I’m not putting you off, Faith. I just can’t explain everything to you in one sitting, or we won’t have anything to talk about.”

“You’ve changed.” Faith comments, as she looks over the calm slayer, thinking about how Buffy pretty much told Giles what to do, and the surprising thing was the Watcher obviously had listened.

“Hopefully for the better.” Buffy whispers, her eyes obviously going back to the past.

Faith interrupts before Buffy can say anything. “That’s something we can discuss later, also.” Faith sighs quietly as she looks at Buffy. “We’ll work through it, B. I fucked up completely. It ain’t all your fault or anybody else’s, ultimately it comes to me and what I chose to do.”

“No, Faith. I’m not going to let you take the blame for all of it. So many things could have went differently, if I’d just talked and dealt with it instead of worrying about my damn vampire lover.” Buffy growls quietly as she silently beats herself up at how she used Faith at that time. Buffy quickly stands as she hears the door squeak open, trying to use her body to block Faith from whoever’s coming in.

“Need to get someone out of here?” Joyce laughs as she pushes Tara in the wheelchair.

Buffy shifts and she and Faith both stare in stunned surprise as they look at Joyce wearing what appears to be a nurses uniform with a slightly hefty blonde woman in a hospital gown until Tara stands, whispering something and she appears as herself, wearing her skirt and carrying a small bag.

“Wicked cool.” Faith breathes out, chuckling quietly.

“I felt your worry, so figured the best way would be to use a glamour to get Faith out of here.” Tara smiles self-consciously. “How do you feel about being blonde and a bit heavier than you are now for a little while?” Tara grins crookedly at Faith.

“Anything ya’ got.” Faith sighs feeling weak.

“Joyce?” Tara questions softly. “Can you help me get her dressed?”

“Of course.” Joyce smiles at Faith. “We’re taking you home, young lady and going to get you back in shape.”

“Thanks.” Faith shifts embarrassed as the two women quickly dress her while Buffy stands by the door keeping an eye out.

“Buffy?” Tara questions smiling at her lover. “Can you put her in the wheelchair?”

“Yes, I can.” Buffy smiles and places a quick kiss on Tara’s lips before moving beside the bed and looking down at Faith. “Going to lift you now.”

“I’m ready.” Faith nods, surprised as Buffy gently lifts her from the bed, holding her against her and placing her in the wheelchair as if she weighed nothing. Her eyes look at Buffy curiously for a minute before deciding to let it go and talk to the blonde later.

“Here.” Tara places a necklace around Faith’s neck, whispering a few words over the necklace, activating the glamour charm, tying it to Faith‘s essence. “Whenever you wear this necklace, you’ll appear like you do now. It might be best until this deal with the Council is taken care of for you to wear the necklace frequently.” Tara explains softly, smiling down at the slayer.

“Thanks. How did you…” Faith trails off looking at the pretty silver necklace with the dangling cross.

“It was simple, I did the spell on the way over here.” Tara blushes lightly looking down. “Let’s get her out of here. What’s the hospital going to say when one of their comatose patients up and disappears?” Tara questions softly as she looks at Buffy.

“They’ll find something, they always do.” Buffy shrugs, before she raises an eyebrow at her mother. “Nurse Summers?”

“Tara asked me if I wanted to be the nurse or the person with the broken leg, I was always curious as to how I’d look in a nurses uniform.” Joyce wiggles her eyebrows before she glances down at herself.

“Look good, Mrs. S.” Faith chuckles as she tilts her head back to look at Joyce.

“No hitting on my mom, Faith.” Buffy jokes quietly. “Let’s get going.”

“Go ahead, I’ll follow in a minute.” Tara squeezes Buffy’s hand, smiling.

“What are you going to do?” Buffy frowns as she starts to walk towards the door.

“A little something to give us a few more minutes.” Tara whispers as she places Faith’s hospital gown back on the bed, covering it with the covers before whispering softly for a few moments.

The other women stop to turn their heads watching Tara, Faith inhales as she sees herself slowly taking form under the covers, lying there. “Fuck.” Faith whispers.

Buffy frowns looking towards Tara. “How the…”

“A little more involved than the glamour’s, where I just change the look of us, I actually had to make something where there was nothing.” Tara smiles before nodding her head towards the women. “Get out of here, ladies. It’ll only last about fifteen minutes, so I’d rather be away from the hospital when it’s gone.”

“We’re out of here.” Joyce quickly pushes Faith out of the room and down to the elevators.

Faith looks in the mirror-like surface of the elevator, seeing the same blonde woman that Tara had appeared as, that looked taller than she does normally and a good fifty pounds heavier, shaking her head in wonder, she glances up, at Tara’s reflection, smiling at the witch. “Handy to have around, ain’t ya’?”

“Little tricks is pretty much all they are.” Tara blushes darkly, shaking her head. She looks up as the elevator opens, chuckling as Giles starts to get off the elevator before stepping back, looking at them confused.

“Yo, G-man. Just in time.” Faith smirks as Joyce laughs behind her at the obvious look of surprise on the watcher’s face.

“Let’s go, guys.” Buffy whispers, her eyes turning to watch as an orderly walks into Faith’s room, taking note of what the guy looks like as he steps back out nodding towards the nurses station. She slides her eyes over, not able to tell who he was nodding at, but growls quietly as he sits back down to continue working. “They are watching her.” Buffy hisses as she steps onto the elevator.

“They’ll look at my house for her, won’t they?” Joyce questions quietly.

“I dare say they will.” Giles frowns heavily, rubbing his eyes. “I might have to rent an apartment under an assumed name to have her live in.”

“She can’t be by herself right now.” Tara whispers quietly. “She’s to weak, plus I’d feel better if someone could be there to protect her the majority of the time. If you can afford it, we can rent a small apartment under my name. They wouldn’t look for me, and I could move into the apartment, being there during the evenings and night.” Tara suggests softly.

“I only have limited classes and can be there the rest of the time, pretty much from noon until Tara gets out of class.” Buffy looks from her mom to Giles.

“I can go in late to the gallery, what use is it being the boss if I can’t make my own hours.” Joyce shrugs as they step off the elevator, quickly walking towards the exit.

“Guys, you ain’t gotta go through all this for me.” Faith shakes her head, frowning deeply at the thought of how much work she’s making for them.

“Yes, we do.” Tara, Buffy and Joyce all state at the same time, while Giles nods his head firmly.

“Of course, it’s probably going to need to be a two bedroom apartment.” Buffy smirks at Giles. “You know where Tara goes, I’m following.”

“Yes, quite.” Giles sighs, shaking his head at Buffy. “I would like it to be close to the campus, to make it easier on Tara to go back and forth to college, so I’ll get on that right now.”

“Take her back to the dorm and keep her there for the time being?” Tara offers looking at Buffy and Tara as Giles leaves to go to his vehicle.

“Your dorm is going to be awful crowded.” Buffy wiggles her eyebrows, before agreeing. “Yes. That’ll be the best place, the first places they’ll look for her are Giles’ apartment and mom’s house. Even if we were to take her looking like this, her being weak and needing help would be obvious and they’d probably be able to put two and two together.”

“Let’s run by the house and get the sleeping bags from the basement, that way you and Tara will have something to sleep on besides the hard floor.” Joyce suggests looking at the two women. “I put a roast in the crock-pot for dinner tonight. It should pretty much be done, if you ladies want to eat before going back to the dorm?”

“Food.” Faith moans quietly, smiling as Buffy picks her up and gently places her in the back seat.

“I’d say that’s a definite vote for eating at the house.” Tara chuckles as she climbs in the front seat as Buffy runs the wheelchair back to the hospital.

“Damn, you guys didn’t waste no time getting me outta there.” Faith quirks her lip, studying Tara as she turns to look at her, seeing what Buffy meant when she said that Tara seems to be able to look right into her soul. Of course, the witch pretty much had been inside her head already.

“I’m not giving those bastards a chance to hurt you, if I can help it. I can place some protective spells around the dorm room. I don’t know if I’d be able to do it for a whole house, but I might be able to for an apartment. It’ll keep people from realizing you’re there, except for us.” Tara quirks her lip as she watches Buffy hop in the back beside Faith, shutting the door quickly.

“Think I can take a bath when we get to the house?” Faith frowns as she considers her body.

“Of course. Hope you won’t mind, but you’ll be having help with bathing and the like while you’re still weak.” Tara’s brows draw together in thought.

“Nah. Ain’t much to see right now anyways.” Faith states depreciatingly as she looks at her pale thin arms and hands, her decimated body.

“We’ll get you back up to where you were in no time.” Joyce offers as she quickly drives across town. “Between Tara and I, I’m sure you’ll be well fed. Buffy will help you out to strengthen your muscles.”

“I might be able to help that along also, by continuing to feed her strength.” Tara offers, blushing shyly. “If you’d like me to.” Tara turns to look over her shoulder at Faith.

“Am I in the twilight zone?” Faith whispers, feeling her heart contract at the care so obvious in these peoples voices and tones as they try and figure out the best way to help her. “You know I tried to hurt and kill the majority of you at one time or another. Why…” Faith shakes her head, feeling the tears coming to her eyes as she turns her gaze out the window.

“It’ll be okay, Faith. Just give us a chance to make things right, and get back on even footing. Don’t try to push for anything that you’re not ready for and we’ll be there to help you through the ups and downs. I’m sure there are going to be a lot of them.” Tara whispers reaching back to gently clasp the slayer’s hand in hers. “Just give us a chance. Let us know what’s going on and we’ll help any way we can.”

Faith nods her head sharply in understanding, unconsciously turning her hand around and clasping Tara’s back weakly as she leans her head against the window, closing her eyes as she falls asleep.

Tara turns her gaze on Buffy, smiling softly at her lover. “I love you.” Tara whispers, accepting a kiss as Buffy leans forward and presses their lips together.

“Love you, too. We’ll help her through it. It’ll be a bumpy ride, and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs, but we’ll get through it.” Buffy whispers, pressing another soft kiss to Tara’s lips.