The harsh light of the morning sun woke Buffy from her dreams. She had been chasing Wile E. Coyote with Giles and her third grade teacher. Reality began to impose itself on her as she strained open her eyes, moaning irritably and the invasion of her beauty sleep. Shaking her head, she sat up and untangled herself from the girl next to her. Faith was, predictably, still fast asleep with no signs of waking up soon. She ran her fingers through the younger woman's hair, and noticed that she was mumbling seemingly gibberish under her breath. Cute, she thought. The childish babbling with her face screwed up in concentration was pretty endearing. Vaguely wondering what her girlfriend was dreaming about, she gave her a quick peck on the cheek and bounced off to the shower.
She emerged from the bathroom about 10 minutes later, towelling her hair. She noted that Faith was still asleep, clutching her pillow. Buffy threw her towel at her to try and wake the slayer, but she didn't budge.
"C'mon Fai, you can't sleep all day. We were gonna go shop for food, remember? And don't think that pretending to be asleep's gonna get you out of food shopping, I swear I'll drag you there naked." She paused. "Then again you'd probably enjoy that."
She looked over to where her lover was still lying, towel covering her head. She walked over and gave her a sharp poke in the stomach.
"Faith!"
No response. Buffy gave her another, harder nudge.
"Honey, come on!"
No response. Betting that Faith was suppressing hidden giggles from under the towel, she whipped it away. Faith wasn't laughing, but still mumbling with her face screwed up – in what Buffy now realised was not concentration, but pain.
"…Faith?"
Her heart suddenly quickening in fear of what was happening to her sister slayer, she dropped to her knees and touched her cheek. It was cold and wet, with either cold sweat, tears or both. She shook her.
"Faith, wake up. You're having a nightmare, baby, just wake up."
Still no response, just a twitch in her frown to show extra pain, as she began to mutters slightly louder and faster. Buffy leaned in to hear what she was saying.
"No, please don't… no I can't, it hurts…. No, don't…please… No, please don't… no I can't, it hurts…. No, don't…please… No, please don't… stop… no I can't, it hurts…. stop, don't…please…"
Buffy felt tears running down her own cheek as she shook Faith, desperately trying to wake her.
"Fai please, wake up, just wake up! I know you're hurting baby, but I promise I can make it better if you just wake…"
She was cut short by a blood-curdling scream leaving the brunette's lips as she writhed and shook, seemingly trying to get away from something but not being able to.
"NO PLEASE STOP, I CAN'T…. PLEASE! NO!"
She grabbed hold of Buffy, her hands like vice grips on the blonde's arms, holding her with such intensity, unsure whether she was trying to hold her closer or push her away.
"Faith, it's OK, I'm here, it's me!"
"DON'T… PLEASE…"
She held the younger slayer in her arms, desperately trying to calm and soothe her, as Faith sobbed into her girlfriend's shoulder, screaming at her past.
Buffy cradled her lover, the last of her sobs beginning to ebb away, leaving just the tears staining her face. She wiped away tears of her own, and steeled herself. She pulled the sheets away and, with difficulty, dressed Faith in her favourite leather pants and white tank top. She brushed her hair, and wiped her face clean of tears. She scooped her up, Faith's arm hanging lifelessly and her head lolled backwards so that she alarmingly resembled a corpse. Trembling, she carried her to the only person she knew could help.
"Giles, I need your help."
She walked straight past the English watcher into his apartment, carrying her sister slayer and laying her down on Giles' sofa.
"Buffy… what on Earth happened?"
"Faith… she… something happened, I don't know, she won't wake up…" She only noticed now that she too was crying.
"It's OK, calm down. What exactly happened?"
"I w-woke up, and she… she didn't. She won't. I was trying to wake her, and she kept…" Her voice trembled. "She was c-crying and screaming… it was like she was r-relieving her worst memories a-and I couldn't do anything…" She stopped, unable to speak through her tears. Giles drew her into a hug.
"Sssh, it's OK Buffy."
"Y-you need to help her."
"We will, I promise. We'll help her."
40 minutes later, the Scoobies were assembled. Willow and Tara sat on the floor, setting up a spell to reveal magic cast on Faith recently. Xander and Giles pored over ancient texts spread out on the desk, and Anya sat in a chair breastfeeding baby Jesse. Buffy knelt next to Faith's sleeping form, holding her hand and whispering to her.
"I'm gonna make you better baby, I promise. Everyone's researching, trying to find out what's wrong with you. And then we can help you, and we can go shopping and have dinner and… Faith, please wake up." She leant over to press her lips against the sleeping girl's forehead. "I need you."
"Buffy?"
She jump in surprise at the hand at her shoulder, whipping round to see Willow sitting down beside her.
"Hey."
Buffy quickly wiped her eyes. "Hey."
"How's she doing?"
"She's doing OK. I think. She's not screaming any more so…"
"And what about you?"
"I… I'm fine."
The redhead raised an eyebrow.
"OK, I'm not perfect but… look, its Faith we should be worrying about OK?"
"It must be tough."
The blonde stroked her partner's face. "Yeah. But she's strong."
"I meant for you."
"Will, I'm not thinking about me. It doesn't matter What I feel, how much this hurts… It's nothing compared to what she's going through. She's the one seeing it all, not me. All the things that have happened to her. She could barely live through it once, and now she has to see it all again…"
"Buffy, it's OK…"
"No, it's not OK! She's stuck there, reliving the worst moments of her life, and I'm just sitting here, and I can't do anything! I want to fight whatever's hurting her, I want to save her but I can't..."
She collapsed tearfully in Willow's arms, letting her draw her into a hug.
"What if I can't save her? What if she's stuck like this forever, or it gets worse? I need her. I couldn't live…" She could barely even say "without her".
"Buffy, look at me. I know what you're feeling right now. I felt it too, when Glory went after Tara." Buffy looked up at her best friend. "I thought I'd lost her forever. And I tried to fight, wanted to hurt Glory so bad but… you know how that turned out. I thought there was nothing I could do." She looked over to where the blonde Wiccan was sitting. "But I found her again. And we're happy. And you'll find Faith too, I know you will. I know you won't give up until she's safe."
"I… I'm scared, Will." Her voice was less than a whisper.
"I know." She embraced the slayer. "I really do."
Giving the witch a smile of gratitude, she turned away and took Faith's hand.
"Did you hear that, Fai? We're gonna be OK. I know I don't say this enough but… I love you."
On those last three words, Faith's hand squeezed hers.
"Oh my God, Faith? Faith, can you hear me?"
The rest of the room pricked up, and shuffled a little closer.
The rogue slayer's lips parted a little, and one little letter escaped. "B…"
"Fai? Faith, wake up. I know you can do this."
And slowly, with the greatest of effort, her eyelids began to twitch and move upwards.
The harsh light struck her eyes, and the world swam for a moment. Where was she? She had been in Boston, sleeping in a warehouse somewhere. Now she was… someplace warm. Someplace new. Her slayer senses kicked in and her vision snapped into place. A blonde woman was looking at her with a look on her face that she'd never seen before. She guessed it might be affection. She blinked and remembered what world she lived in. This was a trap, she knew it. Some demons in disguise had drugged and kidnapped her and taken her god-knows-where. Instinctively she snapped her hand away from the blonde woman's and pulled as far back as she could.
Buffy looked at the newly woken slayer, her joyous expression turning to worry. Faith was staring at the older woman with a look in her deep brown eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time – fear and panic. She was perfectly still, halfway between sitting and lying down, caught like a deer in the headlights.
"…Faith?"
How the hell did this girl know her name? Her heart beat faster and she was ready – fight or flight? There were at least half a dozen of them, so she was ready to get the hell out of there. Her senses told her that there was a door about 10 yards to the left of her. If she punched the blonde and leapt over the back of the sofa, she could take down the old guy and make it out. But there was something in the blonde's eyes that stopped her from running. Something almost tender. Panic blazed anew, fuelled by her confusion, and she knew that the other woman could see the terror in her eyes.
"Faith? Baby, it's me."
She scanned the face for a moment, searching for some recognition, but it slipped away from her like the aftermath of a dream.
"And who the hell are you?"
To be continued…
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