Together We Stand Divided We Fall

Chapter 9

Spike walked around the cave waiting for the sun to set. “Bloody hell, I’ve never been so bored, how about you?” he asked the body. “I’ll be right back, I think the sun is setting…do you need anything?” He turned and walked to the opening to the cave. The sun was setting but there was still another hour before he could risk leaving. He went back to the room were the body was. “Okay, I can leave soon so I’ll say my good-byes now…bye!” He then walked over and sat on a boulder and waited.

***

Buffy walked back into the waiting room with Willow and Amie. They had gotten some food for everyone. “Okay, so who had what again?” Willow asked.

“Dawn are you sure you don’t want anything?” Buffy asked.

“No, I’m not that hungry. I think I’ll go check on Faith again…you know, see if she’s awake yet.” She walked down the hall towards Faith’s room.

The blonde slayer sat next to her girlfriend. “I’m not sure how to take this Tara. I mean I love Dawn and Faith has proven to be a good person, but I don’t know if I like them together.” She handed Tara her sandwich.

Tara smiled at the sandwich. “You know Buffy its not up to you. She’s going to love Faith if you like it or not and they will find a way to be together…we did!” She turned as locked eyes with her lover.

“I guess you’re right but do I have to like it? I mean if she’s in a loving relationship then that means she’s all grown up. That is just another thing I miss out on.” She looked at her sandwich and wasn’t hungry anymore.

“Buffy she still needs you. She’ll have a lot of questions and what about their first fight. Who do you think she’ll run to for comfort?” Tara put her hand on Buffy’s knee. “We have to let her grow up and find out who she really is. She won’t stray too far you’re her sister and she looks up to you and she loves you!” The lovers talked for a while until the doctor came into the room.

***
The sun was now set and Spike could leave the cave. The walked over to the body and gave in a little kick. “Well be see ya…don’t be a stranger.” Then he walked out of the cave.

“Oh don’t worry William I won’t!” A voice said.

Back at the hospital, Dawn sat in Faith’s room holding her hand as she slept. She didn’t say anything as she sat with her girlfriend.

Faith started to wake up and felt that someone was holding her hand. She opened her eyes and seen Dawn sitting there. “Dawn? How long have you been here?” She asked with a small smile.

“Oh the first time when we brought you then I left and I’ve been back for a couple hours.” She told Faith and holding her hand a bit tighter.

“I woke and Angel said that Tara and B had to go find you.”

“Yeah I had to leave to clear my mind a bit. I went to Spike’s but he wasn’t there so I took a nap.” She filled the dark slayer in on her where a bouts.

Faith moved a little trying to get more comfortable and seen the letter on her chest. “What’s this?” She took her hand from Dawn and opened it. As she read the letter tears built up in her eyes. She finished the letter and locked eyes with Dawn. “Dawn I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right here with you and love you as long as you want me. I know that my life is dangerous and in the past, I’ve taken a lot of stupid chances. I know you worry that something is going to happen. Dawn I promise when I go on patrol that I will always come home to you!” She took Dawn’s hand and raised it to her lips and kissed it. Dawn stayed the night at the hospital. She slept in the chair next to Faith’s bed. Their hands never parted.

The next morning Dawn was woke up by Faith talking to someone quietly. “So I only have to stay here for one more day?” She asked. Dawn looked up to find her sister standing on the other side of the bed.

“Yes the doctor said you are going to be fine and doesn’t see why you can’t come home. We thought it might better if you didn’t sleep in the basement. So, if you want Xander will get your things and move them to Tara and my room. We can sleep in the basement.” She told her sister slayer.
"B, you can’t move to the basement. Besides I like it down there I’ll be fine.” Faith told the blonde.

“Sure Buffy I can help with Faith too." Dawn popped her head up at the thought of taking care of Faith.

“Oh I know you will. In fact, you’ll be the number one person taking care of her. I think you’ll be great at playing doctor…nurse…oh shut up Buffy!” Her face turned bright red.

“I get it Buff.” Dawn looked at Faith who was trying not to laugh.
***
Back at the Summer’s house, the Scoobies waited for Buffy to return. The front door opened and Spike came in. “I have some things for Willow.” He gave her the wallet. “I don’t think he will need this.” He said. Looking over at Cordy, he noticed that she was crying. “So Willow can you find something on this bloke?” He walked over to Cordy. “Is there anything you need?” He asked not really caring that much. “Cordy you did what you had to do for Faith. I know killing a human isn’t the best thing to do…”

Angel stepped in. “Spike stop helping.” He told the blonde vampire.

Willow was looking the man’s name up on the web when she called. “He wasn’t human or at least not all human. Look, he was killed two years ago. There’s an article about the death. Witness say that the man was knifed down by a girl with long dark hair in her mid to late teens.” Willow finished the article and looked at the Scoobies.

Spike turned to Cordy. “You see you didn’t kill a human so get over it.” He wasn’t getting the bigger picture. That Faith was the one who actually killed this man two years before.

“Shut it Spike.” Xander told his friend. “So what do we do? I mean here is the man Faith killed two years ago dead again in a cave. So do we call someone or do we just leave it?” Xander asked.

“Well we have to do something but I don’t think it involves the law. If Faith was responsible for his death in the first place.” Willow said to the group.

“Willow is there a way you can find out if man’s grave was dug up or if there is any zombie masters around here. Well being the Hellmouth most likely.” Amie said as she ran to the stairs. “I have some books. They have some things about how to make zombies more human.” Then she was gone up the stairs.

They all sat doing research. “Okay I’ve got it. This is a potion that you put on the body as you chant. Oh, here's the chant. We got it…now what do we do?” She asked the Scoobies.

“Well we could take the ID to Faith and see if she knows who he is,” Anya said not looking up from her book.

“Good idea, Anya,” Willow said.

“Oh yeah. Thanks.” The ex-demon replied. “But I think that Dawn should be the one who talks to her and maybe Buffy could be there. Faith might respond to her girlfriend more,” Anya again spoke without looking up from her book.

“Again, Anya, good idea…does that come with pregnancy…anyway, I think I’ll call Buffy and fill her in. Then I’ll take the stuff to her.” Willow made her plans aloud.


Willow walked into Faith’s room carrying the stuff that Spike brought back from the cave.
“Faith I have some things to show Buffy and Dawn. Do you mind if I steal them for a minute?” she asked the dark slayer.

“No, Will, I’m good. You can take them. I’ll catch a nap while you’re gone.” Dawn leaned over to Faith’s lips and placed what was to be a small kiss on them. They kissed lightly at first but then Faith felt the need to deepen the kiss.

“Okay, Dawn, we need to go,” Buffy told her sister, but when she didn’t get a response, she raised her voice a little. “Dawn, now!” Then Dawn broke the kiss and locked eyes with her lover.

“I love you!” she whispered.

“I love you too, Dawnie.” Faith said back.

Willow was waiting for the two Summers girls in the hallway. As they came out, she pointed in the direction of the waiting room. She knew from all the other times they had to wait in the room that no one would bother them. “Okay, so Spike went back to the cave last night to cover any tracks. He brought back this stuff and we thought Faith could fill in the blanks,” she told the girls as they made their way to the waiting room.

“So what does Faith have to do with this?” Buffy asked as she looked in the man’s wallet.

“The man was killed two years ago by a girl that fits Faith almost to a T. So we thought she could help piece this together,” Willow told her friend.

“Okay, but if he was killed two years ago, then how?” Dawn asked.

“Well, we did some research and found that his grave was dug up and then we found a spell to make zombies more human. Amie said the spell will leave a signature that we could trace. I don’t think we could find the person behind this but it’s worth a try. The only thing we need Faith for is to tell us if she knows the man or not by showing her his ID,” Willow told Dawn and Buffy.

“Okay but if she starts getting upset then you have to back off. Got it?” Dawn said as she stood up to walk back to the room.

“Dawn, all we want is to help Faith and if she is the one who killed this man there is nothing we can do about it. You see he’s dead in a cave two years after he was killed. I don’t think the law would believe us if we tried to tell them,” Willow told the teen as they all walked back to Faith’s room.

“Okay, but remember she freaks you stop!” Then Dawn opened the door to Faith’s room. “Faith honey we have some things to show you. Are you up to it?” Dawn asked as she sat next to Faith.

“Sure, I’m five by five. What’s up Red?” Faith pointed at the little box by Dawn’s hand. “Dawnie, could you raise the bed?” she asked.

Willow handed her the wallet. “Spike went back to cover any tracks and brought this to me,” she filled Faith in. “Do you have any idea who he was?” she looked at Faith.

“Yeah, he worked in the mayor’s office. A real pain in the ass. The boss got mad at him one day and sent someone to off him,” she told the story. “I was the one he wanted to do the job but I had other things to do.” She looked at Buffy then back to the ID. “He said something about either way I would make him proud. I didn’t know what he meant until I saw the newspaper. He had some one that looked like me from behind do the job. You don’t think it was me, right? I mean the day this happened I was chasing Oz around the school with you guys.” Her eyes opened wide at the thought of Buffy and Willow thinking she was the one who killed this man. Her heart started to race a little and she shook her head at them.

“Faith, we don’t think you did it…well okay, so at first I thought you did but then I thought who cares he’s dead again and she didn’t do it this time…but Cordy did. But he was dead before she killed him anyway so it doesn’t matter…or maybe it does and we’re…”

“Willow, that’s enough. Shit, we all have to settle down here. Faith no one is blaming you we just needed to find out who the HELL HE WAS!” Buffy raised her voice at the end.

“Okay, so we know now. What do we do?” Dawn asked.

“Well we work on the signature of the spell and try to find who or what is behind this,” Willow put to the group.

“So you and Buffy head back to the house and start on this and I’ll stay here with Faith," Dawn said.

Buffy and Willow left and Dawn stayed with Faith. She slept in the chair by her girlfriend and held her hand. She will have Faith home and back in her arms within hours. The thought made her very happy. She pulled the slayer’s hand closer to her and fell into a deep, happy sleep.