Complement

XXVII – All The Way To Heaven

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I want to find me a car ~ With only one headlight ~ A straight six Ford ~ On a good luck night ~ I want to roll down the windows ~ And teach you to fly ~ I want to give you a thrill ~ The kind you can't buy ~ I want to lose all your demons and go ~ I want to tear off your chains 'cause I know ~ All the way to heaven is heaven ~ Caught between the spirit and the dust ~ All the way to heaven is heaven ~ Deep inside of us ~ I want to find me a bar ~ With a blue light on Dollar shot specials ~ A bartender named Dawn ~ Painting the town ~ Selling the farm ~ You can pierce your nose ~ And I'll tattoo my arm...
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It had taken them less than two hours to get back to their own realm. With Glory exiled for eternity into the black hole of the abyss and Johnny dead, the threat of discovery became a non-issue. The Incarnates used their status as Immortals to influence the deities of the middle inter-dimension to transport them as swiftly as possible to the portal that led back to their own dimension. Buffy held Faith, who fluctuated between consciousness and unconsciousness, for the whole two hours.

She stepped through the portal into theled led in garden of the Mansion, still cradling Faith in her arms. She blinked rapidly, still not able to accept that this was all real. They both looked like two lost little girls in the oversized shirts they were wearing, courtesy of Angel and Spike. She stood hesitantly, only one step outside of the portal a little confused, unsure of what to do, where to go, her only concern now was Faith whose fever was beginning to rage out of control again.

Faith had begun hoarsely mumbling incoherently, in fear again, like she had been on and off for the last two hours. She ducked her head down close to Faith, her blonde, bloodstained hair covering her face and creating a protective curtain around Faith. She began murmuring softly to Faith trying to soothe her and never saw as Dawn came flying out of the house.

Buffy snapped her head up, she began growling, hissing low at the silhouette coming towards them in the darkness, her eyes more gold than hazel, ready to attack even though she still had Faith in her arms. Not less then a second later Faith started growling low into Buffy's chest from where her head was buried. She could feel the rage, the fear running through her mate. She jerked her head up from Buffy's chest, her eyes snapped open, glazed from the fever and almost completely black from the pain. The emerald green flecks within them glowing eerily. She started struggling like a weak kitten, to get loose, the need to protect Buffy paramount in her mind, helping to block the pain ricocheting throughout her body. They were both purely primal, feral, every vge oge of human behavior completely eradicated, not a hint of the old Buffy and Faith could be found in either of them.

Dawn stopped dead in her tracks like a deer caught in oncoming headlights, pinned to the spot by the unnatural light in both Slayers' eyes. Their mouths pulled back in savage snarls, their lips tightly drawn, showing their teeth as they growled at her like wild, rabid animals. There wasn't any recognition at all of who she was in either of their eyes and Dawn barely recognized them as well. They were both still covered in blood, Dawn prayed fervently that it was someone else's and not theirs, even though her mind already knew that it wasn't. Buffy's hair was matted and clumped with blood, and every part of her body that Dawn could see was covered in bruises and welts. Her face hollow, her skin almost translucent under the bruising, and in her wild, haunted eyes there was a hint of deep down to the bone fear.

Her eyes moved to Faith and Dawn started to tremble, when she saw that Buffy looked healthy compared to Faith. Every part of Faith that wasn't covered by the large shirt had bruises, welts, open cuts, claw-marks, and gashes. There was a funny yellow color mixed in with the blood on the shirt over her shoulder. That side of her neck was swollen and it was an angry, dark reddish-black color, the swelling extending down into her shoulder and collarbone. One ankle was wrapped in a piece of someone's ripped shirt and hung at an odd angle.

Dawn started to sob uncontrollably; she raised her eyes back up to her sister, "B-B-B-Buffy?"

At Dawn's sobs and the sound of her brokenly saying her name, the rage, the fury, and the fear started to drain out of Buffy. The reality that they were really home, that the nightmare existence they had been living in was finally over, crashed into Buffy. Up until this moment, she had not really believed it. She started trembling, on the verge of collapsing, her own tears joining that of her sister's. "Dawn..."

Faith started thrashing wildly, her body trembling frenziedly in fear as Buffy held her easily within her arms. The gash on her abdomen from Glory opened again and started to bleed.

Buffy felt something wet, sticky and warm seep through the shirt she had on, she looked down and thatthat Faith had started bleeding again and fear for her mate shot right through the roof.

Her growling grew louder, fiercer, she had felt Buffy's fear rise up fast and strong through their connection, not realizing in her delirium that the fear was for her, not fear of someone or something. She was frantic now to get loose and protect her mate; not remembering that Glory was gone for good and Johnny was dead, that they were safe. For her the nightmare wasn't over yet, she just thought it was a new game the Demon-Goddess was playing with them.

With a burst of strength that took Buffy by surprise, Faith broke free of her arms, toppling Buffy over in the process.

Faith managed to take one step towards Dawn before her legs collapsed right out from under her.

Dawn had been moving hesitantly towards them again, and it was she, not Buffy, who managed to get under Faith, catching her a second before she would have landed face first on the hard tiles of the patio. Faith twisted within Dawn's arms, lashing out. She clawed at Dawn's face, luckily for Dawn there wasn't any real power behind Faith's clawing hand. Even so, she still left four light scratch marks down the side of Dawn's face with her jagged nails.

The guilt overwhelmed Dawn at the feel of Faith's weak, frail, thin body twisting within her arms. The feel of Faith's blood as it dampened and soaked through her own shirt. She started sobbing even harder, this was all her fault, "Faith... I'm sorry... so sorry... Faith..."

The sound of Dawn calling her name, apologizing, her tears falling on her face, and the love mixed with the sorrow in her eyes and voice, finally cut through the thick fevered wall that was clouding Faith's mind. She raised up a badly shaking hand gently touching the side of Dawn's face to make sure she was real and hoarsely whispered, "Gamin?" She smiled softly at Dawn, then Buffy was lifting her back up into her strong arms.

"B, are we...?" Faith stopped afraid almost to say the word, afraid if she thought it or said it, that she would hear Glory's hysterical laughter and sardonic voice answering her.

"Yes baby, we hoe home... we're really home..."
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Faith had passed out again by the time Buffy got her upstairs into their bedroom. She was dangerously close to collapsing from exhaustion herself, but she needed to get them both cleaned up. The sweat was pouring off Faith and her skin felt even hotter to Buffy's touch.

She gently put Faith down on the bed and sat down next to her. She unbuttoned the shirt over Faith's abdomen, slipped her hand inside and gently rested it upon the claw-wound from Glory. She leaned down close to Faith and whispered in her ear, "Faith baby I need you to wake..".."

"B..."

Only because of her Slayer hearing did Buffy hear her name, it was said so softly. She closed her eyes and spoke to her mate softly with words and through their connection. Helping and lending her energy to Faith to stop the bleeding of the reopened claw-wound. They stayed like that for long minutes, until the bleeding stopped once again. "Go back to sleep baby everything is going to be all right..."

Faith drifted back off to sleep almost instantly.

"Buffy..." Buffy shifted around on the bed to face her sister, who had been standing quietly in the doorway. "Gary's back. He said to let him know when you're ready for him to take a look at Faith and you."

Buffy just nodded mutely at her. Dawn watched her sister as she removed her hand from under Faith's shirt; it was covered in blood; watched as her sister absentmindedly wiped the blood off on her own shirt like it was an everyday occurrence. Somehow, Dawn had the feeling that it had been an everyday occurrence for both the Slayers over the last seven months. Her sister looked ready to collapse, as she sat on the bed trembling slightly, her eyes vague, glazed over. The guilt grabbed Dawn by the throat fiercely and she felt like she was choking on it. This was all her fault, it should have been her, this should have never happened to either of them.

Buffy watched as the emotions played across her sister's face. Softly she told her, "Dawnie this isn't your fault, it's not anybody's fault. If anyone is to blame it's Glory and that lowlife piece of shit..." Buffy trailed off, the less her sister knew about what had happened to them the better. She could see though that Dawn didn't believe her. "Dawn, listen to me, this is not your fault and right now I need you to believe me. I'm gonna need you to be strong, I'm, we're going to need your help the next few days. Okay?" Buffy wa for for her sister to answer her instead Dawn just nodded yes. "Good. Would you keep an eye on Faith while I get everything set up in the bathroom and rinse off real fast. I'm gonna need to get her cleaned up a little before Gary can take a look at her injuries. Can you do that for me?" Buffy leaned down and tenderly kisFaitFaith on the forehead, then she rose from the bed.

"Sure," Dawn sat on the bed next to Faith. She gently took her hand into hers. She waited for Buffy to go into the bathroom, then she leaned down close to Faith and whispered softly to her, "I'm so sorry Faith..."
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She hissed in pain when the water hit her bruised skin. Her tears mixed with the soap, blood and water as it washed down the drain. It wasn't for herself that she cried but for Faith, who even now was still suffering, who suffering went deeper, so much deeper, that just the beatings that both their bodies together had taken. She rinsed off quickly. She could take a long hot shower later after she took care of Faith; this was good enough for now.

She pulled on the dark amber silk robe; she lightly ran her hand down the matching black one that was Faith's still hanging on the wall. If felt like decades ago that she had bought the robes for them, it was that same night that they had truly made love for the first time. The memory was bittersweet as it came back to her, and Buffy briefly laid her head against the cold tile wall.

She put the bath pillows on the bottom of the tub, not wanting Faith to feel any more pain by having to rest on the hard surface on the tub. She pulled out a blanket and the shower hose that attached to the tap from the bathroom closet. She folded the blanket up to use as an additional, makeshift pillow and firmly lodged it in a corner of the tub's edge. She attached the hose, turned the water on and adjusted the temperature to lukewarm. She got up from her kneeling position ignoring both her own pain and fatigue and left the bathroom.
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Atropos and Lachesis had joined Dawn in the bedroom. Atropos was standing by the head of the bed, Lachesis by the foot. Buffy nodded her head in greeting to them, not really liking their close proximity to her mate.

Dawn's eyes filled with tears again as she looked at her sister, who actually looked worse now that the blood was no longer hiding how badly battered Buffy truly was. She couldn't even wrap her mind around how bad Faith must truly be and she was terrified of what she would see once the blood was washed from her.

What she wanted more than anything was to hug, to hold, her sister, to make sure that she really was home, was alive. She was afraid though she might hurt her. That thought alone, that she, a fifteen-year-old normal kid, with no special powers could hurt her sister a Chosen One, with just a simple hug, made the tears spill from her eyes. She dropped her eyes from her sister unable to look at her as the guilt rained down and pounded through her.

Buffy watched her sister, every emotion, every thought had written itself across her face. "Dawn..." She softly called to her and when Dawn finally looked back up, Buffy opened her arms up wide to her.

Dawn was practically a blur as she ran to her sister, who wrapped her up tightly in her arms. Dawn held her just as tightly, her body shaking as they cried on each other's shoulders. "I missed you both so much."

"I, we both missed you too, brat. And I could stay holding you all night, but... I need... I need to take care of Faith right now." Buffy reluctantly released her sister; their reunion would have to wait a little longer. "Why don't you go see about some food for us, everyone, and see if there is some soup or broth maybe for Faith."

"Okay... I'll come back up after I find out about the food..." Dawn turned to go; she stopped and turned back around. "I... I, you know I love you, right Buffy?"

"I love you too Dawnie... Now go... I'll call you if I need help. I'll see you downstairs in a little while... Tell Gary I'll call down when I'm, we're ready..." She knew Dawn wanted to come back and help, but she wanted to shield her sister as much as possible from all of this and she knew Faith would want that too.
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Atropos had been quietly observing the blonde-haired Slayer; she didn't miss the slight trembling of her body from exhaustion. Nor did she miss the grimace of pain that flashed across Buffy's face while she was hugging her sister. From what Atropos had observed Buffy looked like she was on the verge of physically collapsing. She was amazed that Buffy was awake, let alone still standing, and once again, she was awed by the love the Chosen Two shared. It was the love that Buffy had for Faith that was keeping her alert, still functioning, still moving, still standing at this point and nothing else.

As Buffy bent down to pick Faith up, Atropos stopped her with a gentle hand upon her arm. She instantly regretted it the second she touched her and heard the hiss of pain that escaped Buffy before she could stop it. She quickly snatched her hand away.

"Let me carry her in the bathroom for you."

Buffy turned her eyes to Atropos; there was a glint of feral protectiveness and fear in them. She hadn't let anyone near or even allowed anyone to touch Faith since they had defeated Glory. Dawn had been the first and only person to get within a foot of the Dark Slayer. She trusted no one to be as gentle with Faith as herself, not the Scoobs, not the L.A. Crew, not Spike, or Luc, not even the Fates. Her gaze immediately moved to Faith who had started to move restlessly on the bed, growling softly. Obviously, she was sensing Buffy's emotions. She sat down on the bed next to Faith, her gaze softening. Soothingly she began to stroke her hair. "Sssh, it's okay, baby, it's okay..."

She picked up Faith gently, cradling her in her arms like an infant and Faith immediately calmed at her touch. She rose up onto shaky legs, her whole body straining with the effort. Johnny had beaten her almost as badly as Faith after they had passed out from the drugs. Her body had taken a further beating as it was pushed past its limit when she used the energy, the strength her sister Slayers had given to her to help her defeat Johnny and Glory. Even though they had spent ten days in the Fates' domain their outer as well as inner layers had not really healed, their metabolism and Slayer healing were severely compromised from the abuse over the last seven months. The act of helping Faith to heal enough to get home, and just now when she had lent her own energy to her mate, had exhausted her. The simple fact that they were really truly home had let free all the pain and exhaustion, that she had been forcing down for all those months. She was determined however that she would not give in to it until she had taken care of Faith. She steeled herself and began walking towards the bathroom.

She had only made it a few steps before her legs started to give out on her. She never fell to the ground though; the Fates were by her side in an instant. Lachesis catching her from behind by the waist, keeping her from falling.

Atropos gently took Faith from her arms and Buffy immediately began snarling at her.

"Elizabeth, please let me, us, help you. You know none of us would harm either of you. I promise to be gentle. Please let us help you both."

Buffy studied the Incarnate for a few seconds then nodded her consent.
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She made them leave after Atropos had put Faith in the tub. They tried to argue with her but she was firm, she wanted to give Faith as much privacy as possible, it was bad enough that the only doctor they could trust to look at Faith was a man. She stripped Faith of the grossly stained shirt with unsteady hands. The tears running nonstop down her face, she made sure the water pressure was low before she started to wash the blood and pus away.

Faith began to whimper and moan low in pain as the water cascaded over her. Buffy, without realizing it, was whimpering with her. She tried sending comforting, soothing thoughts to her mate but they weren't penetrating the fever-induced delirium of Faith's mind.

"I love her..." Faith told Buffy out of nowhere in a hoarse but clear voice.

Her voice was misleading, she may have sounded lucid, but Buffy saw Faith was staring straight through her. Her eyes shiny, glassy from the fever, and the sweat was still pouring from her body as it tried to rid itself of the infection from the venom.

"Who?"

"Promise you won't tell?"

"I promise."

"B. She hates me," Faith watched for a few seconds as Buffy began to wash the blood from her, then told her in a calm voice. "It won't come off."

"What won't come off baby?"

"The blood. Won't ever. Always there. Always. Forever." Faith lifted up her hands to show Buffy. "Won't go away. I try, I try, I try! Not ever! Not ever! Always there! Alwaysalways..." Faith's voice started to rise in volume, taking on an increasingly hysterical edge.

Before Buffy could stop her, Faith ripped a gash in the back of her own hand with her nails. "Make it go away! Can't get it off! OFF... OFFOFFOFFF..."

She grabbed both of Faith's hands with hers.

Faith began thrashing against her restraining hands. She was reliving in her delirium the two weeks she had spent in solitary, ripping and shredding her hands in an effort to remove the invisible blood from them.

Even as weak as she was, Buffy was having a hard time keeping Faith from hurting herself, her own body too weak as well.

"It's okay Faith... Faith, look at me... It's okay..." Faith wasn't hearing her though and Buffy knew that she couldn't do this alone, she needed help.

"Atropos..." she called out frantically.
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Buffy was still crying after they finished cleaning Faith up. They had found five more bites from Johnny they hadn't seen before, all swollen and infected. He had marked her again in the same spot where he had marked her when she was a child, high up on the inside of her right thigh. It was with horror that both Atropos and Buffy saw that not a single piece of skin on Faith hadn't been bruised or cut by Johnny. God only knew what else he had done to Faith that last day while they were passed out. Buffy couldn't contain her rage, she wanted to hurt him, wanted to chain him up in the basement of the Mansion and torture him for years and she was pissed that Luc had killed him. The rage hummed through her like a live thing, calling out to her and sad tad the urge to go out and hurt something, anything.

Faith forced her eyes open, she felt the rage running through Buffy, she reached out for her hand with her own trembling hand. "B... what..."

"Faith..." Buffy forced herself to calm down. She smiled tenderly at Faith. Her eyes were still glazed from the fever but for now, she seemed to be coherent. "Faith... it's okay... How are you feeling...?"

Faith didn't answer her, she knew she had been swimming in and out of consciousness, that she had been delirious most of the time she was awake. She could still feel the venom running under her skin, in her veins, and she had never been in this much pain ever in her whole life. It was secondary to her, she could feel, as well as see how tired, how much pain Buffy was in and all she wanted to do was take away that pain.

She weakly tugged on Buffy's hand pulling her towards her, "Just want to hold you..."

"Faith... I... don't want to hurt you..."

"Holding you could never hurt me..."

Buffy slid down on the bed next to Faith. They faced each other, both on their sides. She rested her head on Faith's arm, her hair spilling out softly over it. Faith inched slowly closer, snuggling up into Buffy; she gazed into the hazel depths of her mate's eyes. "Thank you..." She said softly.

"You don't have..." The gentle touch of Faith's fingers on her lips cut her off.

"Thank you..." Faith said again softly.

"I love you Faith..." Buffy softly responded.

"I love you too, B..." They fell into each other's eyes until they both drifted off to sleep.
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The soft shaking woke Buffy from her much needed slumber. Her eyes were almost too heavy to open. The side of her fahat hat was lying against Faith's arm was drenched with Faith's sweat. It felt almost scorched from the heat that was coming off Faith's body, and Buffy knew that Faith was once again burning up with the fever. She sat up abruptly, the sheets, everything, was soaked with Faith's sweat. Her whole body was shivering, her teeth clattering. Her eyes fell upon the clock, they had only been asleep for five minutes and it terrified her that Faith's fever had spiked so dramatically in such a short time. 'Where the fuck is...' a soft knock at the door halted her mid-thought.

"Come in!"

Gary opened the door and stopped just inside of the threshold almost dropping his medical bag. Atropos had tried to warn him, but nothing in his life or in his medical career had prepared him for the sight of the two of them. Like Dawn, he clearly saw how badly battered they were now that the blood was gone. He matched the rage Buffy had been feeling earlier with his own for the scum that had done this to them.

"Gary!" There was desperation in Buffy's voice, her eyes frantic, all too aware of the fact that Faith's fever was too high.

He rushed over to the side of the bed, placing his bag on the floor. He began taking Faith's vital signs, all the while seething inside wishing he had been there to help punish the motherfucker's who had done this.
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They had been home now for five days. The Scoobs, Giles, James, Gary, the LA crew, as well as Luc, and the Fates, had all but moved into the Mansion with them. Each day had felt like a year in and of itself for all of them.

Gary had stitched up the worse of Faith's injuries. He even persuaded James to get an IV drip from somewhere so he could regulate and get the antibiotics directly into Faith's system. They weren't really helping though, the venom was unknown to them. Even the healing spells all four Witches had performed together had minimal effect. He had lanced and drained the bites repeatedly over the last five days, but they quickly filled up again. They all knew the only reason that Faith was still alive was because of the energy that Buffy shared with her and that she was a Slayer. A normal person would not have survived the constantly spiking fever and the convulsions that the venom heaped repeatedly upon Faith's already battered body.

Buffy very rarely left Faith's side. Only occasionally, when they forced her, she would venture out of the bedroom, having to remind her to eat and drink. But they couldn't get her to leave Faith's side for more then a few minutes at a time. Her body was healing slowly; she gave most of her energy to Faith. She slept sporadically and the circles under her eyes were almost as dark as the bruises she had when they first came home. She barely spoke to any of them, choosing instead to spend most of her time talking to Faith, whispering quietly, soothingly, to her mate, hoping to stave off the nightmare delusions of the past that the fever brought about.

Willow, Tara, Giles, Wesley, and James had been spending all of their free time analyzing the blood and pus samples that Gary had given them. If they could figure out what type of demon or even the type of poison it was that was infecting Faith, they had a shot at creating an antibor a r a healing spell that could fight it. They weren't having much luck though. They had relatively little information on Glory's realm, even though they were given full access to the library at the Fates' domain. They had no idea what Glory had turned Johnny into, there was even the possibility that his type of demon had never existed before. Ify hay had a sample of Johnny blood, they could possibly make a vaccine or an antidote.

In fact, that was where Luc and Clotho were now. They had left two days ago when they realized that they needed more information or Johnny's blood in order to help Faith. They had returned to Shedu to see if, in fact, they could find Johnny in the domain that was the hell for Shedu or at least a healer, if there were such a thing in Shedu, who could help them. They were hoping that thmonsmons or demon who was ruling Shedu now would help them out of gratitude for ridding them once and for all of the vileness that was Glory.

After five days, Faith was getting progressively worse, the fever, infection from the bites preventing her other injuries from healing completely, if at all. The venom-induced fever was ravaging her body and her mind. She alternated between consciousness and unconsciousness, spending most of her waking moments delirious. The fever seemed to bring to the forefront all of her bad memories. It was almost as if Johnny was reaching out from the grave to still rain terror down on Faith.

Faith had apologized, begged for forgiveness from each of them once again as they took turns helping Buffy.

They all relived the night she had staked Allen Finch by accident through her eyes. They now knew that her indifference was just an act, a way of protecting herself. Afraid to reach out because of her past, hoping that someone would see through the facade. Angel was the only one back then who had struck a chord within her; the only one she had felt would understand. It was Wesley though who got slammed with new guilt over his actions then. He found out in her delirious ramblings that she had decided to go to Angel to ask for his help when he had shown up with his Black Ops team to take her back to England. Things could have been so different for her, for all of them if he hadn't been such an arrogant pompous ass back then.

Wesley's presence had brought about one of the worst memories for her. They all relived with her the summer that Johnny had taught her the five basic torture groups. They all knew that they would never forget the sound of her tortured screams and pleas for the rest of their lives as she relived the experience. Then as she cried to Wesley, berating herself, telling him over and over again how sorry she was for what she had done to him. Her internal montage of self-loathing and disgust over what she had done to him, to all of them.

They all felt a little sick to their stomachs when they found out she had done this to Wesley with one goal in mind. She knew Angel would show up sooner or later, she never had any intention of killing Wesley. If fact, she never had any intention of it going as far as it did. What she had hoped was that when Angel showed up, that what she had done to Wesley would have pushed him far enough over the edge to kill her. She begged Wesley to forgive her and then started to beg Angel to kill her, repeating almost verbatim what she had said to him in the alley that night. Nothing any of them did could get her to calm down. Even Buffy had been unable to calm her down, and Gary had been afraid to give her any more medication. He had already given her enough to knock out someone three times her size.

Xander brought about the second of the worst memories for her. When Xander had seen the finger marks on Faith's neck, his stomach had twisted up in knots. They were so dark it almost looked like they had been tattooed on her. He felt sick when he realized that the night she had choked him Faith had been unconsciously doing to him what had been done to her by her stepfather over and over again. He watched as she fought repeatedly against invisible hands against her throat in the fever-induced hallucination. Then she had started apologizing, begging for his forgiveness, crying. She had taken her rage, anger, out on him, because she had thought Xander was like Johnny, pretending to care just so he could hurt her. And Xander had cried with her, not caring who saw or heard him.

They all heard as she pleaded and begged with the now dead Johnny not to hurt Buffy anymore. Listened as she offered herself on a silver platter to him in an effort to get him to stop hurting her soul-mate. They listened to the internal mantra she had used to keep what her greatest fear truly was from not only Glory and Johnny but Buffy as well. She had let them believe it was how Johnny had, was sexual abusing her and the knowledge that eventually Glory would abuse her that way as well, when the truth really was that they would hurt, abuse Buffy that way. And she was determined at all cost, even at the expense of her own life, or by enticing both Johnny and Glory to abuse her even more, that Buffy would never know that particular torture, abuse.

Faith wasn't the only one that relived the months that Glory and Johnny held them captive in their own personal Slayer Hell. Buffy had vivid nightmares, screaming out in her sleep, thrashing, fighting against the ghosts that lived there, not just for herself but for Faith as well. Somehow and none of them could figure out how, Faith would fight her way out of the delirium, out of the fever to help Buffy. She would take Buffy into her arms, ignoring the pain that was now almost a permanent part of her, she would calm, soothe, comfort Buffy, and make the demons that haunted her sleep disappear. Whoever was in the room at the time watching over them was treated to Faith's hoarse voice as she whispered to Buffy again about all the plans they had made. Listening, as Faith would take Buffy once more to the place they had created for each other in their minds through the connection they shared. Once she knew that Buffy was safe again, Faith would slip back into the fevered world she had been living in for the last five days.
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They were all sitting around the living room, surrounded by piles of books that the Fates had faded to the Mansion. Everyone was now researching, looking for anything that could help Faith combat the poison in her system that was slowly killing her.

They heard a glass shatter on the floor a millisecond before Buffy came tearing out of the kitchen heading for the bedroom that Faith was in on the first floor of the Mansion. Dawn jumped up from the couch her hands over her ears as she ran for the garden. She knew what was coming; they all did, if Buffy didn't get to Faith on time. She couldn't bear to hear Faith crying out in such total torment and anguish, none of them could. Unfortunately, Buffy didn't make it in time.

"NO! PLEASE! I'LL BE GOOD! PLEASE MOMMY PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO! HE HURTS ME! PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME! PLEASE!"

Willow and Tara quickly followed Dawn out to the garden. Atropos disappeared in front of their eyes, they heard one last anguished cry of, "PLEASE MOMMY! and then it was deathly quiet. Gary snatched up his medical bag and went running for the bedroom.

Spike got up from his chair and started pacing; he lit a cigarette even though he already had one burning in the ashtray. Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Fred were trying to comfort Cordy who had started crying again. They all knew she had seen more in her vision then what she had told them. James got up, mumbling something about making tea, Lachesis right on his heels.

Anya was soothingly stroking Xander's back. He had his head buried in his hands and he was muttering rhetorically to himself, "What the fuck? Why did this happen? What the fuck happened to them? What the fuck did they do to them?" He didn't expect that anyone would answer him, didn't expect that anyone but Anya had heard him. He knew damn well what had happened to them, he wished to god that he didn't, but he did. He was just crying out against the gods, against what he now knew, he really didn't expect anyone to hear him, he hadn't counted on vampire hearing.

"What happened to them? What the bloody hell do you think happened to them? What the bloody fucking hell do you think she did to them you stupid wanker? What do you think she threw them in a nice little cage and visited them like you'd visit an animal in a zoo? Left them alone until she felt like visiting them again, maybe ignoring the sign that said please don't feed the animals and fed them anyway! They were kidnapped, taken to a Hell dimension by a deranged, lunatic HellGod, who hated Buffy with a passion! Who lived off the pain and fear she created in others. She touched them and knew what their greatest fears were, then turned them into reality. She fucking recreated for Faith a reality she had already lived through once! She found that scumbag piece of shit and brought him along for the ride as well. She tortured them, beat them and let that scumbag do the same. Let that piece of shit force Faith again like he did when she was just a wee one. She made them beg her, him, not to hurt the other and hurt them instead. What she did makes even my demon sick. Then Glory bathed in, danced with joy in their pain and anguish. They made the Marquis deSade look like Jesus Christ. Look at them and tell me what the bloody fucking hell do you think she, they, did to them?" Spike stood in front of Xander, his fists tightly balled by his side, his eyes glowing yellow. He waited for Xander to answer him.

Xander didn't answer Spike right away instead he stood up and shoved Spike away from him. "I don't need you to tell me what happened to them. I was there too, I saw where they were, I saw what they did to Faith and Buffy. I have ears I can hear their nightmares as well as you, every day, every night. I wasn't asking you to tell me, and I sure as hell don't have to explain myself to you. And the last thing I need is a lecture or to be berated by a neutered vampire pretending to care about the Slayers. We all know if it wasn't for the chip in your head that you would have been right there with Glory and that lowlife helping them to torture Faith and Buffy. Right there forcing yourself on Faith just like him. Only, I'm sure as hell you would've forced yourself on Buffy too! So cut the fucking act, Spike, because nobody here believes it!"

For just a fraction of a second Xander could have sworn that he saw a hurt look flicker in Spike's eyes. For a second he felt guilty, just like he would have had he accused Willow or Tara, any of the Scoobs, or the LA crew, even Angel of pretending to care. Hey, this was Spike, and the only reason that Spike was helping them was because of that damn chip. Xander knew, they all knew or thought they did, the second that chip was gone Spike would go right back to his old ways.

In the blink of an eye Xander found himself being spun around, Spike's arm pulling him tightly back to his chest. His head being forced backwards 'til it was against Spike's shoulder, exposing his neck. Spike leered down at him in full-scale game-face.

"Very funny Spike! You don't scare me," Xander's voice trembled just a le, le, belying his words. "Too bad you're as harmless as a de-clawed kitten with that chip in your head. So let me go before I have to hurt you." Xander wasn't too happy that no one had leapt to his defense, but then again why should they, it wasn't like Spike could actually hurt him. Truth be told though, most of them thought he had gone a little too far in what he had said.

"Just for the record, little boy, I've done a lot of bad in my hundred or so years, but I've NEVER, not once, ever raped a woman, ever. And certainly never a child, the thought alone makes me and my demon sick. And as for me not hurting you, you're right, you bloody little wanker. Because of the chip in my head, I can't bite you unless I want to feel searing pain. It's a good thing I have the chip 'cause it means I can't do this either unless of course I want to cause myself some mind numbing pain." Spike snarled, but there was an underlying hurt, sorrow in his tone, then he smiled at Xander, flashing his fangs.

The next thing Xander knew he was airborne. He flew across the room and it was lucky for him that Spike had aimed for the couch. Xander didn't know that as he hit the back of the couch hard, tipping it over. He bounced onto the floor with a loud grunt of pain. There was a part of him though that knew he deserved Spike's anger. He should have never said what he did; Spike had helped them and appeared to be just as angry, just as upset over what had happened to both Buffy and Faith as the rest of them. The chip kept Spike from hurting them, but it couldn't make him help them, nor could it make him care.

Even so, when he sat up and shook his head clear, he looked at Spike with a smile of anticipation on his face and waited for the chip to zap him, they all did. And they waited and waited.

"Hey... you... it... didn't..."

"That's right, I did and it didn't. Well lookie here, no pain, guess the chip's not working. Ooops! That's right it's not working 'cause it's no longer in me head. Which means I can just go right back to being the Big Bad and you all can try to stake me, while I can try to kill you all. 'Cause I certainly wouldn't still be here helping the Slayers or you all if I didn't have the chip. Now would I? Why it's a bloody miracle that you're all still alive considering the chip has been gone for over five days now! Because I tivetively couldn't control my demon without the chip now could I?" Though his words were angry, sarcastic, and snarled out they were laced with sadness and hurt.

"Five days... but that means that you... when we went to rescue them... you were de-chipped..." Xander felt a little bit of guilt worm its way through his brain. At first, they all had just assumed that Spike hung around helping because he professed he loved Bufnd dnd did it in an effort to win over her affections. And, at first, that probably had been the only reason he did stay around. Now that Xander thought about it not once had Spike ever done anything to try to drive a wedge between Buffy and Faith. In fact, he had stopped even giving Buffy goo-goo eyes a while ago. He had stayed after they all thought the Slayers were dead, had helped still with the slaying and protecting Dawn even though Buffy was no longer here. He hadn't known about their plan to try to bring the Slayers back so the only reason he had to stay was because he truly did care, demon or not. Soul or not, chip or not.

"Spike I..." Xander's voice was contrite.

"Oh sod off, I don't need this shit..." Spike started towards the patio doors in a huff. He was hurt that they thought he would harm any one of them after all this time, though he would never tell them that. If he was honest with himself he really couldnblamblame them for not trusting him without the chip, he didn't know if he could trust himself. So why should they?

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Wesley stood blocking Spike's path a cross held out in front of him in one hand, a stake in the other. "I can't take the chance that you won't decide to go back to your old ways again without the chip."

"Wesley..." Angel stood and slowly made his way over to stand by Spike's side.

"It's all right, Peaches." He smiled at the pissy look Angel gave him at the nickname. "English here is right. Who knows? Without the chip, I might just go back to my old ways. Go ahead English stake me. I'd rather die, well die again, than risk harming any of you even if you all are bloody annoying gits." Not one person in that room doubted Spike sincerity. And, at that point, all of them, even Xander, realized that Spike, whether he was a vampire or not, was part of their little family. The question now was: Were they willing to take the risk and trust him?

The youngest among them decided to make the decision for them. Before anyone could stop her, Dawn streaked across the room and wrapped herself around Spike.

"No way you're staking Spike! You'll have to go through me to do it!" She glared at Wesley, then glared at all of them. "How can you even think about staking him? He saved all of your lives more then once since Buffy and Faith were gone. He didn't have to do that. The chip didn't make him do that. He could have done nothing and you all would have died. He didn't even have to stay here after Glory but he did. He made a promise to Buffy to protect me and he did. He went with all of you to bring Buffy and Faith home after he didn't have the chip. He didn't have to do that. He's been alone with Faith over the last five days and he could have killed her. She wouldn't have been able to stop him, not the way she is right now. But he didn't. He's been controlling his demon all this time. He could have killed any of us over the last five days. And he didn't! He might not have a soul like Angel, but just because Angel has a soul, doesn't mean that he can't kill if he wanted to. There are plenty of people every day that kill that have souls, but you wouldn't kill them, so why are you willing to kill Spike?"

Angel couldn't help but think to himself, 'Out of the mouth of babes sometimes comes the most wisdom.'

Spike gently detangled Dawn from him. He smiled softly at her; he always liked the little one.

"I agree with my sister and I think Faith would agree with Dawn too if she could." Everyone spun around towards the hallway that led to the bedroom. None of them had seen Buffy quietly leaning up against the wall; she had been there since the beginning of Spike and Xander's argument. She moved so fast she was a blur, by the time they finished blinking she was standing with Angel, Spike and Dawn. "I won't let you stake him either. If for nothing else, both Faith and I owe him for saving our lives. Without him, we, you, couldn't have beaten Glory and we might all be dead. He was willing to risk his own life, rather un-life, to save ours even though he didn't have to. He did what all of us have always done for the others, risk our lives not just for the rest of the world, but for each other. Because that's what family does for family, at least our family does."

"Thank you..." Spike looked at Buffy briefly before he found the ceiling quite interesting for a second or two. "Damn dust..." He swiped at his eyes. "Thank you too 'Lil Bit'... But... you all may be willing to take the risk but I'm not. Having a soul like Angel does make a difference; it gives him a conscience, something that I don't have... "

"Actually..." Lachesis moved further into the room having come out of the kitchen earlier when she had heard Xander and Spike's raised voices. She had been waiting for the right time to interject. After their return from Shedu and much discussion, the Fates as well as Luc had pretty much decided to throw away the rulebook when it came to the Slayers and their odd, but loving family. A family of which it seemed that not only Gary and James, but the Fates and Lucifer, were now a part of, as well as them being a part of theirs.

"That's not quite true William. When we removed the chip from your head and I gave it to you right before we went into the cabin in Shedu, you had two choices at that time. You could have left and come back here; no one would have been able to stop you at that point. You could have killed those left behind and by leaving Shedu, you would have effectively killed all of us and the Slayers, as you so often had threatened to do once you managed to rid yourself of the chip. Your other choice was to stay and help, risking your own life or rather un-life because this was your family now as well."

"We all know what your choice was obviously, what I, or we the Fates never got the opportunity to tell you, was that once you made that choice, your soul was restored to you. It was a gift from the Creator for your part in helping the Slayers, and all of these good people. They knew it was something that you desired. So you see William you do have a soul, and a conscience. What you never realized, however, was that by taming your demon, even if you did have a chip, helped your demon develop a conscience as well. Even chipped you still could have caused mayhem. That was the reason for the choice you made, for you, not just the man, but the demon as well, considers all these good people family."

A shit-eating grin spread over Spike's face, the corners of his mouth practically touched his ears.

"Well I guess that means we can stop looking for the orb honey."

"What?" Xander was confused, though secretly he was glad they didn't have to stake Spike. He had grown fond of the vampire over the last year or so, though he would never tell anyone that. In reality they all had, Dawn especially.

"Before the final battle with Glory, Spike had asked Tara and me if we would restore his soul for him. He wanted to make sure that if his chip ever failed that he wouldn't return to his old ways. We've been looking for an Orb of Thesula ever since."

"Wow! You mean you were going to give up ever having an Orgas..." The rest of what Anya was about to say was cut off by Xander's hand over her mouth. She bit his hand. "What?"

"Dawn..." Xander hissed in a whisper out of the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not a kid you know." When everyone just gave her a yeah-right look, she stamped her foot. "Well I'm not. I know Angel can't have sex." She had to smirk at them when they all looked at her in surprise. "Well I know he can't otherwise he becomes Angelus. I remember that you know."

Spike's smile had slowly started to fade on him, he had completely forgotten about the happiness clause! Angel couldn't help but to chuckle at the look of pure horror that came over Spike's face. "Well at least now I won't be the only one taking cold showers all the time." And if they didn't all know it wasn't supposed to be possible they would have all sworn that Angel blushed.

"Well actually," Lachesis started and they all turned to stare at her again, she too was blushing a little. "...Cold showers won't be necessary. Your soul is anchored William, it is permanent. That too was part of the gift."

"I'm happy for you Will." Angel told Spike sincerely, though none of them missed the wistful look on his face. Nor did they miss the look that conveyed to them that Angel still didn't feel like he had even earned this much for all the good he had done.

"That particular gift was granted to you as well, Liam."

Angel was stunned, he quickly closed his gaping mouth. "What?" he sputtered.

"Your soul is now also anchored, also permanent. You can never lose it again that way, neither of you can. But just like a man with a soul can become evil or choose to be an agent for the dark side, so can both of you. When William made the free conscious choice or rather, his demon did to fight on the side of good the day we went to Shedu, when his soul was restored, it and the demon became one. The same thing happened to you that day did it not Angel? You and your demon were united in the quest to free the Slayers. In that moment, your soul and your demon merged. And though you both are still vampires you became like any other being with a soul, with both a light and a dark side. It is entirely up to you now; you have the freedom to decide which side you choose to fight on. You can not lose your souls; the difference now though is that if you choose to fight on the dark side, you will reap all the consequences that come with having a soul."

"My soul is permanent," he whispered it to himself as if it would make it more real for him.

"I'm happy for you Angel." He looked up at Buffy when she spoke, and his eyes were caught and held by hers. No one missed looklook that passed between them, not even Faith who with the help of Luc and Gary was standing in the hallway where Buffy had been not too long ago. No, not one of them missed the look, but they all misunderstood it including Faith.

She redirected her thoughts away from where they had drifted when she saw the smile, the look, her mate and Angel had shared when he was told his soul was anchored.

Softly, she croaked, rasped out, in a voice that was low even for her, "I'm happy for you too, Soul-boy."
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Again, they saw nothing but a blur, and by the time they had all turned around Buffy was standing next to Faith in the hallway. Before Faith knew what was happening herself she was lifted into Buffy's arms.

"Baby, you shouldn't be out of bed..."

"I was starting to get bed sores. Bed sores hurt, B." Then Faith gave Buffy one of those cocky lopsided grins she loved so much.

Buffy gave her one right back, her heart skipping a little beat. It was then that she realized that while Faith's eyes were still glazed with the fever, they were clear. Her skin, which over the last few days had been almost to hot to touch, was still warm but not boiling anymore. How come she hadn't felt it? Over the past week, she had known without even being in the room if there was the slightest change in Faith condition. Hell, she would wake up from sleeping a second before Faith would get thrown into one of her fever-induced hallucinations. How could she have possibly missed this?

"You're better or getting better, aren't you? They found something to combat the venom didn't they?" At Faith's silent nod of yes, Buffy's legs almost gave way as sheer joy and relief washed over her. She rained happy kisses all over Faith's face, her smile serious competition for the one Spike had on his face when he found out he had been given a soul. Her kisses slowly tapered off when she rzed zed that somehow, or another they had kept this from her and she wanted to know why.

She looked first at Faith, whom she knew was pretty much catching everything she was thinking in one of their echoes. Faith kind of looked away and Buffy was sure that if Faith's lips weren't so dry and chapped from the fever she would be whistling tunelessly while staring into space. Then she looked at Gary whose eyes were darting everywhere in an effort to avoid her own. Luc was finding his shoes very interesting, Clotho and Atropos took one look at Buffy and started to fade. All five looked guilty as sin.

"Oh no you don't," Buffy yelled down the hall at the two sisters, "Somebody start talking and tell me what happened and why I didn't know. Why no one came and got me."

By this point everyone, the Scoobs, the LA crew, and Giles were all in the hallway with them. It was a little crowded to say the least. They were all grinning like village idiots, shocked, relieved and surprised when they realized, like Buffy, that Faith was better or rather that she was on the road to recovery. They all started asking fifty million questions at once.

"Um... maybe we can go sit down?" Faith gave Buffy another of her cocky lopsided grins, only this time it didn't work.

Buffy carried Faith into the living room and plopped down on the couch with her. Faith tried to squirm off Buffy's lap but she wouldn't let her. She suddenly felt awkward, shy around them, she remembered in a vague way all that had happened over the last five days and she was embarrassed.

Angel threw a blanket over the both of them; he cocked his head at Buffy silently asking for permission to join them on the couch. While they might have been helping her with Faith over the last week she still went a little feral on them if any of them, especially the men got too close to Faith. And, Faith did likewise when anyone got to close to Buffy, even when she was delirious she would get protective of her mate. A part of her always aware of who Buffy was regardless of how deeply entrenched she might have been in the hallucinations of the past.

Buffy looked from Gary, to Atropos, to Clotho, to Luc and finally at Faith, "Somebody want to tell me what happened? 'Cause not more then fifteen minutes ago you were burning up with a fever and delirious and now even I can tell that your fever is breaking. And you two," she nodded her head towards Luc and Clotho. "...weren't even here."

"We ah... they ah blocked you... I asked them to... Can I get a glass of water?"

Buffy arched an eyebrow at Faith, her expression puzzled. She noticed that Faith's voice was a lot more hoarse then fifteen minutes ago, it looked like the gash under her bottom lip had been bitten clean through again. She nodded for Faith to continue. Before she did, Spike handed her a glass of water. Faith smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks Spike, or should I call you Soul-Boy Junior now? Or maybe a fruit since Angel is Peaches. Maybe you could be Kiwi or Plum. 'Cause now you're a Poof just like Soul-Boy!" She took a sip of water and it was the most wonderful thing in the world to her at the moment. She couldn't even describe how good the cold water felt sliding down her parched throat. She chugged the whole thing, Spike just took the glass back and went to refill it. She waited for him to return before she continued.

"Anyway Clo and Scamp over there showed up in the room about two seconds after you came out here, B, to see what X-Man and Junior," she paused and looked at Spike who just stuck his tongue out at her like a two-year-old. He was pleased though, it showed in his eyes, he knew that Faith had finally accepted him, nicknames were her way of showing affection. Didn't mean he had to like the nickname though. "...were fightin about. They got an antidote for the venom from some Shaman. They thought I was sleeping when they were talking to G about it. I wasn't. The Shaman didn't know if the antidote would work on me or not, plus he told them it would be wicked painful. Said it would take about an hour or two to work. So I blocked you from knowing and asked them if we could do it back at the Fates' place, since time moves faster there."

"Why block me? Why didn't you want me to know? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing, B... I just didn't want you to get your hopes up is all."

Buffy didn't miss the look the five of them exchanged. They were keeping something from her and that fact alone was scaring her. "Faith?"

Faith stared at Buffy and knew she was afraid, she knew she needed to tell her it all. But she knew Buffy was going to be pissed that they kept her out of the loop, she hadn't wanted Buffy to make the decision especially if it hadn't worked out the way it did. Didn't want to lay that responsibility on her shoulders or that guilt.

"Well, seems there wasn't an antidote and they had a hard time finding him in the hell he got sent to. Someone helped them find him and then made the antidote."

"Someone?"

"Yeah B, it was Ben. He, Glory made him immortal in exchange for him not fighting her on sacrificing Dawn so she could go home. Seems he's the Big Man there now. Anyway, he was the only one that could help them. And, since he once was human and a doctor, well, he made the antidote. Said it was to make up for what he'd done and for not helping us when we were there. Anyways seems the venom would have slowly killed me, should have killed me by now but being a Slayer and what you did sharing your energy is what kept me alive this long. Thing is, with the antidote well, there was a... was a... fifty–fifty chance it could either cure me or kill me, it depended on how much the venom had infected my body. I made them block you and take me to the Fates' place. I didn't want you to make the decision. I knew I had to try the antidote. There wasn't any choice, not at this point, and time was running out. I was going to either die slowly or die from the antidote. And... and well I knew you would see it that way and well... if it didn't work I didn't want you thinking it was your fault 'cause you decided we should try the antidote."

Faith dropped all her blocks and Buffy got the whole thing from her in an echo. She also knew now why Faith's voice was so hoarse, she had screamed for almost an hour straight in pain as the antidote raced through her veins. The venom's poison running through her veins boiling her blood, seeping into her cells, muscles and flesh had felt like a pleasant but rough massage compared to what the antidote had felt like. She had felt like someone had dropped her in a vat of acid after they gave her the antidote, as it went on a search and destroy mission, eradicating the poison from her blood, her cells, her muscles, flesh, fuck even her hair had hurt.

Buffy was in shock she couldn't believe that Faith had kept this from her. Couldn't believe that she would make such a life altering decision without her, not after all they had been through together. Make a decision that could, would affect both of them, would have kept her from saying goodbye. How could she have done that? She could have died! Even as she was thinking it, Buffy knew she would have done the same thing.

"Faith... I wouldn't have..."

"Don't... Don't B, don't even try and tell me that... We both know that if the antidote killed me you would've blamed yourself. It wouldn't have mattered if we made the decision together or even if I made it alone, if you were there, you would've found a way to blame yourself if it didn't work. I couldn't let that happen, B... I couldn't do that to you... I wouldn't let you do that, it wouldn't have been fair to you... Not after all you've done for me, after all that we went through together. I love you too much B... Buffy, to ever put you in that position, to ever do that to you," Faith looked at Buffy with eyes that pleaded for her understanding.

Buffy smiled softly at Faith and gently stroked the side of her face. All she cared about right now was that Faith was going to get better, that she wasn't going to die. The constant state of terror that Buffy had been living in over the last five days slipped from her and all she could feel was joy and relief again, and for the first time since they had been back, Buffy truly believed that everything would be all right.

The Chosen Two looked around at all the smiling faces of their family. They had forgotten about them during their conversation. The relief, love, and happiness were plain to see on all of their faces. Faith was a little overwhelmed by it, by them, by the fact that they too still loved her after all that happened, after what had happened to Buffy because of her. She pushed the guilt aside that she was feeling for now and instead luxuriated in the warmth of her family with her soul-mate, as they all sat around smiling like lunatics at each other, happy not for just the Chosen Two but for Spike and Angel as well.

For the first time in over seven months, both of the Slayers had boundless hope in their hearts. They finally let themselves feel the bone-deep exhaustion they had been keeping at bay. As they listened to the happy chatter of their family both Slayers' felt their eyes growing heavy. Idly they thought to themselves they should get up and go into the bedroom to sleep. In a second, they both thought. In a second. They started to drift off to sleep, feeling completely safe for the first time since Glory had taken them, safe, and surrounded in the comfort, the love of their family.

"Child, it appears that you and your Chosen could use a little nap," Atropos chuckled; they all did, at the sleepy nods both Slayers gave her.

"Hmmm... stay here.... safe here..." Faith mumbled burrowing her head further into Buffy's neck.

"Like it here...." Buffy mumbled in agreement with her mate, and pulled Faith tighter to her.

Angel got up from the couch, he gently drew Buffy's legs up onto it, helping her lay down, not once letting Faith go. The Chosen Two curled into each other, their breathing in sync and Angel couldn't help but think how beautiful a sight they were together. He tucked the blanket around them and smiled when he realized that this was the first time since they had brought them home that neither of them had snarled at him for being so close to them.

They all decided to make an impromptu slumber party out of it. They all understood the Slayers wanted, needed, to be surrounded by their family, which had grown considerably over the last few months to include the Fates, Lucifer, Gary and James. Blankets and pillows were strewn around the living room floor. Someone lit a fire, then humans, vampires, witches, and incarnates alike lay down to sleep.

For the first time in a very long time, they all slept peacefully, deeply and soundly through the night. The only sounds to be heard that night were the occasional snore, and a mumbled, "Rollover!"
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...I want to lose all your demons and go ~ I want to tear off your chains 'cause I know ~ All the way to heaven isven ven ~ Caught between the spirit and the dust ~ All the way to heaven is heaven ~ Deep inside of us ~ I want to find me a carnival ~ Outside of town ~ A tilt-a-whirl set up ~ With a merry go round ~ Cotton candy fingers ~ And a snow cone mouth ~ I want to roll you in sawdust ~ Till they run us both out ~ All the way to heaven ~ All the way – Melissa Etheridge
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Continued in Chapter XXVIII – Body and Soul