AN: Sorry for the long wait, I hope people are still interested. This story will be ending in the next two chapters. Just a heads up.

Willow and Xander had left early that next morning since everything appeared to be under control with Spike. All the group had to do was make sure that he stayed out of trouble and the effects would wear off, eventually. They still didn't know how to find Helena, though, and figured that if she wanted to be found, she would come to them.

The next two days had been quiet ones. The slayers went out for their routine patrols but never came across anything suspicious. They had begun to wonder if Helena had just picked up and left town because of the spell that Willow had cast. Faith knew, that with their luck, that wasn't the case. She knew that it was only a matter of time before she made herself known, again.

"Hey, you," Buffy said as she walked into Faith's bedroom, closed the door, and climbed onto the bed. She crawled up it and laid on her side as she watched the brunette sitting on the edge, putting her boots on.

"Hey back," she responded and stood up once both boots were tied and turned to leave the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" the blonde asked, wondering if she had done something to upset the girl.

Faith paused in front of the door and took her hand of the knob. She turned back around and walked over to the bed before sitting back down on the edge. "What are we?" She asked after sighing and running a hand through her hair.

"Slayers?" Buffy tried answering, not really sure what the other girl was getting at.

"No.." Faith let out a slight laugh before continuing, "I mean, are we together or are we just friends with benefits?"

The blonde smiled and scooted closer to the other girl, "Well, we can't be friends with benefits because what we have isn't really benefit-y."

"Ugh, Buffy," Faith groaned and stood back up from the bed. "It's like the one time I decide to be serious, you want to joke around."

"Whoa, hey, I'm sorry," Buffy apologized and jumped up from the bed to stand in front of the other girl and stop her from pacing. She grabbed both of the brunette's hands, looking down at them before glancing back up to the girl's face. "What do you want us to be?"

"I don't know. It's weird, whatever it is that we have. I've been in relationships but I don't think I've ever loved the other person before." Faith answered, looking down at their conjoined hands.

"You love me?" Buffy smiled.

"Shut up," the brunette tried to pull away but Buffy was having none of it.

"You love me!" the blonde exclaimed with a little more excitement.

"Shut up," Faith said again, still trying to pull away from the girl.

"I love you, too."

Faith froze and stop trying to pull away. That was really the first time anyone had said those words to her without the expectations of getting something in return. Even though she liked what she heard coming from the shorter girls mouth, she was still confused as to what that made them. "So, I mean...there's the love part but what does that make us?"

"It makes us whatever we want to be. We can call it a relationship, being girlfriends, if you want, but, if not, then that's ok, too, because we're still together."

"I don't know. Maybe...try that girlfriend thing and see how it goes?"

Buffy smiled and leaned in for a kiss. It started off slow because she still wasn't sure how Faith was handling everything that was going on between them but it soon picked up in intensity. The taller girl started backing the blonde up until her knees hit the side of the bed and they both fell onto it. They began inching their bodies up the mattress so that their legs weren't hanging off the side and, all the while, Faith trailed kisses down Buffy's neck.

The blonde let out a moan and thought that this could be the moment that her and Faith took their relationship to the next level. Just as the thought entered the girl's head, Faith's hand started making its way down her side, to her stomach, and down to the top of her pants. Before she could go any further, however, there was a knock at the door and Andrew came running in, causing the two girls to fly apart, both breathing heavily.

"Hey guys, there's...uh...we're you two about to have sex?" the boy asked once he realized that he had walked in on something.

"We'll never know, now, will we?" Faith grumbled as she smoothed out her shirt while Buffy was busy trying to fix her hair.

"Sorry," Andrew laughed and continued, "Colleen came across a vamp nest this morning on the way to the store. I thought I'd fill you in.

"Yes, Andrew, because that couldn't wait at least two hours," the brunette answered, causing Buffy to smirk and raise an eyebrow.

"We'll never know, now, will we?" He shot back.

"Get out."

"Right," he replied, not wanting to anger the ex con more than he already had.

The two girls waited for the boy to leave the room and shut the door before Buffy looked over at the other girl and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Faith asked, confused as to what the girl was laughing at.

"You wanted to wait so this is what you get. Let's go take care of the nest."

Both girls got up from the bed, the blonde practically dragging the other behind her, to go and slay the vamps that Colleen had seen earlier.

"How's Spike doing?" Dawn asked after she made her way into the living room and saw Kori sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating cereal.

"He's still pretty grumpy and hostile whenever I try to feed him but I know it's wearing off," she answered, never taking her eyes off the cartoon she was watching.

"That's good. Evil Spike is a bad thing and we don't need any of that."

Kori finally looked up from the TV and smiled at the younger girl, "You don't have to worry about evil Spike as long as I'm here."

Dawn returned the smile and sat down next to the slayer to enjoy the morning cartoons. She started fidgeting, though, and caused Kori to look over at her, "What's wrong with you?"

Dawn fidgeted some more before finally answering the girl, "You remember Mark?" When Kori shook her head no, she went on, "The guy from the internet?" This seemed to register with the girl as she nodded for her to continue, "He's coming over today."

Kori sat silent for a few moments, processing what was being said to her before voicing her thoughts, "Do you really think that's a good idea? None of us know him and there's this little problem of a vampire in the basement, losing his soul."

"Don't be mad, but he knows all about that. He seemed so cool and I needed someone to vent to."

The slayer couldn't believe her ears. This girl had told a guy, that none of them knew, everything that had been going on the past few weeks. "You can't be serious. Dawn, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"How dangerous what is?" Buffy asked as she and Faith walked into the main room.

The two girls on the couch didn't say anything at first, just looked at each other and back at the two older slayers standing across the room.

"Bug spray."

"Taking candy from strangers."

Faith and Buffy stared wide-eyed at the two girls who had answered at the same time before the brunette started laughing, "And to think, you used to think I was retarded, B."

Buffy slapped the girl's arm before turning her attention back to the two sitting on the couch, "We'll finish this later."

Dawn and Kori watched the two slayers walk out the door and each let out a breath of relief. Dawn looked over at the slayer sitting next to her with a confused look, not knowing why the girl had lied for her.

"Just think of it as a favor, but you owe me," Kori answered the girl's silent question and got up from the couch to make her way down to the basement to check on Spike.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" Andrew yelled as he ran down the street to catch up with the slayers.

"If we run, I don't think he could catch us," Faith said looking over at Buffy with a look of complete seriousness on her face.

The blonde laughed but before she could give a response, Andrew had caught up to them, breathing heavily, "You...don't...know...where...to...go." The boy was bent over, both hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Both the girls looked at each other and couldn't believe that they had walked out of the house without a clue as to where this nest was. They waited a few more seconds for the boy to catch his breath, neither one of them sure as to how anyone could be so out of shape, he hadn't even ran a hundred yards. Once

his breathing was under control, he stood back up and smiled at both of the girls.

"I lied about the vamp nest," he said, looking between each of them.

"You what?" Faith asked, fists balled up in anger because the boy had interrupted her time with Buffy with a lie.

Buffy saw Faith start to get angry and decided to cool the situation off by grabbing one of the brunette's hands and linking their fingers together. "Andrew, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I needed a way to get you both out of the house without the other's knowing what was up. It's far too crowded in there to keep something on the down-low," he answered and stepped a little behind the blonde so that she could shield him from Faith.

"Explain, now," the brunette said, taking a step closer, only to be stopped by Buffy placing a hand on her hip.

"Maybe we could go get some coff.."

"Now, Andrew," she yelled, trying to get her point across.

"Giles found out some information on Helena. He says that there is a prophecy of a demon descending down into hell to release all the spirits into this world. This demon gets their strength from draining the souls of other beings, but needs the soul of a champion to take the plunge into the fiery pits."

"That would be Spike," Buffy commented, looking over at Faith to gauge her reaction, but not really seeing much of one.

Andrew nodded and continued, "Right. Spike is the last piece of the puzzle for her. Once she takes his soul, she can start her journey."

"We took care of that with a spell," Faith finally spoke up.

"A demon journeying to the depths of hell? I don't think a simple spell is going to stop her. We have to be ready for something major. Giles said he was on his way with backup. I thought we could wait to tell the others until he got here. As of right now, Helena can be killed like any other mortal thing, it's just locating her and being able to get close enough to finish the job."

"No."

"No, what?" Buffy asked, turning to look at Faith.

"No to Giles and the backup. I can handle it."

"Faith..."

"I said no, Buffy. Get him on the phone and tell him it's under control," and with that said, she yanked her hand from Buffy's hold and walked back inside the house.

The day had slowly dragged on until the sun had set. Faith had filled the other two slayers in on what was going on and decided that they were done waiting for Helena to make her move, they were going to make theirs first.

It was decided that Faith, Buffy, Colleen, and Andrew would patrol the city more closely, looking for Helena or her place of hiding. Dawn and Kori would stay home to keep an eye on Spike and make sure that nothing went wrong.

As the four doing patrol walked out the door and walked towards Kori's car, they each stopped and looked around at each other.

"Uh...where do we start?" Andrew asked.

Faith and Buffy looked at each other and shrugged before turning their attention to Colleen to see if she had any ideas. She stood there silent for a few moments, running thoughts through her head before she finally voiced one, "I've heard rumors of a chapel underground that is host to all sorts of demon activity. They say, that with the right words spoken, a portal can be opened."

"Why haven't we heard of this before?" Faith asked, confused as to why this was just now coming up.

"Well, I didn't know that our demon was so set on getting all flame-y down in hell," the shorter slayer responded, shrugging her shoulders.

The other three all shook their heads and climbed into the car, with Colleen climbing into the driver's seat. Once everyone was buckled up and the car started, Colleen looked around at the three waiting for her to reverse out of the drive-way.

"One problem, though, I don't know how to get there," she said with a nervous grin on her face, only to be answered with a collective groan from the group.

About twenty minutes after the patrol group had drove off, there was a knock at the front door. Dawn jumped up to answer it, excited at the thought that it could be Mark, but was stopped by Kori grabbing her arm.

"I'll get it," she said, and pushed passed the confused girl to make her way over to the door.

She opened it and found a fairly attractive boy on the other side. He looked to be about 19 or 20 and was built like a football player. Kori looked him up and down, impressed with Dawn finding such a good looking guy. She smiled up at him and stuck out her hand for him to shake, "Hi, I'm Kori. You must be Mark."

The boy smiled and accepted the girl's outstretched hand, only to look down in confusion as he felt something resting on the inside of her palm.

Kori smiled wider and brought the cross up for him to see, "You pass the test, you can come in."

"I can't believe you just did that, he isn't a vampire, Kori," Dawn all but cried out from embarrassment.

"Hey, it's cool. You can't blame the girl for being a little bit cautious. You never know what kind of person someone really is."

"Or a person at all," Kori responded, handing Dawn the necklace and walking back over to the couch.

The three sat there in a somewhat uncomfortable silence, staring at the TV. Dawn kept sneaking in quick glances at Mark and would attempt small talk every so often but it was clear that the girl was nervous and it appeared that he was feeling the same way.

"So...about this vampire, he isn't going to attack me or anything, is he?" he asked glancing over at the two girls sitting next to him.

"Spike? Oh, no. He's locked up with nice sturdy chains down in the basement," Kori answered and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, he couldn't harm anything right now," Dawn added on, reaching over to squeeze one of Mark's hands.

"Right," he answered, looking down at the girl's hand on top of his and then to the door that led to the basement.

A few hours, and a couple of demon bars, later, the Neon was headed to the outskirts that lay to the east of LA. They had been told that they could find the chapel they were looking for out there. It had taken them a little while to reach their destination, but they finally pulled up to a rundown building that would lead them underground.

"Good to know that slimy thing wasn't lying," Andrew said as he unbuckled his seat belt.

They all got out of the car and walked over to the building. Once inside, they looked around quickly, trying to find anything that might look like stairs. Andrew was the first to spot a large medal door with a downward pointed arrow painted on it.

The group walked over to the door and Faith pulled it open, which took more strength than she was expecting. The area that the door opened up to was dimly lit, allowing the four to be able to see where they were going.

Once they made their way to the bottom of the steps, they came across a large opening full of columns and pillars. There was the occasional cross lying broken on the floor and many overturned chairs and tables. In the center of the room was where the light was coming from.

There was one table, standing upright, with dozens of candles lining its surface and a knife sticking up from the middle. The group all exchanged glances with one another before walking slowly towards the table. Once they reached it, they all leaned over to read the note that was stuck to the table by the knife.

"I soon will be strong."

"Spike," Buffy gasped as she finished reading the note.

Throughout the rest of the night, Dawn had relaxed more and allowed herself to flirt and be more comfortable around Mark. Kori had periodically checked on Spike, to feed him and make sure his chains were still strongly secured. The last time she came up from the steps, she found Dawn asleep with her head resting on Mark's shoulder.

She smiled at the sight but knew that it was time for the boy to go, "It's getting late and we should probably be getting to bed."

Mark looked up at the brunette and knew that him staying over with Dawn wasn't an option. He sighed and gently removed himself out from under the sleeping girl so as not to wake her.

The two walked to the door and, as Kori opened it, he turned and smiled down at her, "You gave me the wrong test."

His statement was met with a confused look from the slayer, which caused him to smile even more before reaching out, grabbing the girl's head, and slamming it into the wall, successfully knocking her out.

The commotion had caused Dawn to stir from her sleep and look over towards the fallen slayer, "What's going on?" she asked but was only met with a backhand that sent her flying over the back of the couch and into the wall behind her.

Mark stood there smiling before his features slowly started to change. His large frame started to shrink and his short hair started to grow. Before long, Helena stood in the middle of the living room, looking at the mess she had created.

She then made her way over to the door leading to the basement and descended down the steps until she reached the bottom, standing over Spike.

Another cold smile passed over her lips as she reached into her pocket to draw out a small packet of blue powder. As she sprinkled the contents over the sleeping vampire, she chanted a spell, "Down with the walls a spell was cast to stop the attacking, to protect the soul that you soon will be lacking."

There was a loud crack which caused Spike to lurch forward, only to be grabbed and shoved into the wall behind him. She leaned in close and allowed, yet another, smile to appear on her face before she closed the distance and started draining his soul.