My Time To Live

Author: Carm

Feedback: CarmieMcMahon@aol.com

Series: The Collision of Worlds

Disclaimers: I own no one. All things WWE belong to Vince McMahon. All things Buffy/Angel belong to Joss Whedon.

Rating: PG-13 to R

Pairing(s): Faith/Batista, Trish/Randy, Stephanie/Hunter

Summary: Faith suffers from amnesia after her battles with Angelus. She has found a new, happy life as a WWE diva, but when Angel and Giles find her, that life may come to an end.

The skin cut so easily, but he never screamed. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction, and it pissed her off. She wanted to hear him wail with pain and degradation. She wanted him to feel weak and helpless, the way she had ever since he had failed her. The way she had when everything and everyone she knew and loved had been snatched away from her by the monsters of the dark.

Her hands were covered in blood. She dropped her tool to watch the thick, viscous fluid course the lines in her hands. It reached the inside of her wrists in thick horizontal lines, then streaked vertically up her arms. One long line trailed down to her elbow as she lifted her arms, then circled then welled up in the crease.

She looked at him, again. A part of her didn't want to do it. Somewhere, deep inside, she knew this was wrong. She knew that none of it was his fault. She knew that he had tried his best, but neither of them had been good enough for his best to enough to save either of them. She held too much bitterness and resentment. He was too young and sure of himself. Maybe if she'd had the other one, it would have been better. Maybe if she'd have never been Called, things would have turned out differently. Maybe if everyone she loved wasn't dead...

"Scream!" she cried, but he wouldn't do it. Even now, right before his death, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. He wouldn't give her what she needed, what she wanted. He never had before, and he wouldn't do it even now.

Then, everything was a blur.

The next thing she knew, she was outside in the rain, kicking, punching and screaming. She shouted at him to fight back. She begged him to throw a punch. She pleaded with him to kill her. She wanted it all to end, but she knew she couldn't do it herself. She didn't have it in her to commit suicide, but he was better than her, and he could take her. She wanted him to take her. To take her miserable life and let her go wherever her kind went when it was all over.

She was drenched in rain. Her clothes were heavy with the falling water and weighed down her arms. Her hair stuck to her face and head. She couldn't remember ever being so desperate for anything. She wanted it over, and he refused to do it.

***

Faith sat up abruptly in the bed and her eyes instantly searched the darkened room. She didn't know what she was looking for, but it had always been that way, or at least she thought. She always bolted up and took in her surroundings, just in case there was something there, something waiting to get her when she was sleeping.

But... why would something be after her? And why did she always think of it as something instead of someone? There were so many questions about her life that she didn't have answers for, and she didn't think she ever would have answer for them. Parts of her life would always be a mystery, and the only look inside that she would get was through her dreams.

She could remember that her name was Faith, but that was about it. She didn't know what her last name was, and had felt no need to make one up. She told everyone she was like Cher and Madonna. She was too damn cool to have anything but one name. Most just laughed, and nobody said anymore about it. She didn't care if anyone had a problem with it. She didn't, and that was all that mattered.

A hand touched her and she jumped. Her head spun so fast that her hair whipped around and slapped her in the face. As her eyes focused on the face that looked at her with concern, Faith pushed her hair back behind her ear. For reasons she could only say dealt with her past, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable by the closeness that she had developed with Dave Batista.

Though she didn't remember her past, she thought that at one time, she had been a loner. She didn't let anyone get close, and she didn't want anyone close to her. She preferred to be on her own. But, since joining World Wrestling Entertainment, she had been unable to do that. She had found friends, relationships, and something that felt like a family. She wasn't too sure that, even if she had a good memory, she would be able to remember an actual family. The concept seemed too foreign, no matter the circumstances.

"What is it?" Dave sat up, and as he moved closer to her, his bare chest brushed her arm. Faith shivered. "What's wrong?"

"It's, uh... nothing." She shook her head. "Everything's five-by-five. Just a dream."

She wasn't too sure that she could call it that, though, and be honest. She thought maybe it was a memory, and in that case, she didn't want to tell him about it. If all of her dreams were memories, then she had been a person that no one wanted to be around. She had been a bad person, an evil person. She wouldn't tell him about this dream anymore than she would tell him about the others.

"What was it?" Faith leaned back against the headboard and Dave leaned over her. His right arm stretched out over and around her. He pressed hard on the mattress to hold himself up. "Nightmare?"

"You could call it that."

"Memory?"

She shrugged and turned her head to the side. "I don't really wanna talk about it."

Dave sighed and his body sagged. His chest brushed her again, and once more she shivered. "Maybe, if you talk about it, we could actually get some sleep." He groaned. "You've been waking up like this every night we've been together this past month."

"I..." She was about to say she hadn't, but that would have been a lie. She'd been waking up with vague memories in the form of dreams for over a month, actually. Others had asked about them, but she never answered. "It's just not the kinda thing I wanna remember, ya know? Honestly, I don't think I wanna remember at all."

"Faith..."

"Uh uh. Just..." She groaned. "I woke up almost a year ago, and the only thing I could remember was my name. I was somewhere I didn't know, but I felt like I shouldn't have been there, I didn't want to be there. Whatever my life was before, I didn't want it. I don't want it now, either."

"What do you want, then?"

"I wanna go back to sleep." She looked up at him and smirked. "You tire a girl out, and even without a memory, I'm thinkin' I've never met a guy that could do that."

Dave laughed. "Think you've met a lot of guys?"

"Dozens," she said with a wink, "but none like you."

Dave leaned into her and though his kiss wasn't rough, it wasn't hard, either. There was an ease to it that she thought she would have never admitted before that she wanted. In her previous life, she was a loner. She was a rebel. No man was an island, but that woman had been and she liked it that way. Now, though, she was a part of something and she liked it. They didn't look like at her like she was a freak or someone not to be trusted. To them, she was just Faith, a kickass chick in the ring and a fun girl outside. She thought that, for the first time in a really long while, she was actually living.

~*~

"Has it occurred to you that the fact that we haven't heard anything about Faith might be a good thing?"

Rupert Giles stared at Wesley Wyndham-Price with dark eyes. The fact that the Watcher's Council was no more had no bearing on his ideas of how things should be done. Neither did it matter that Wesley had long since been thrown out of the Watchers. The loss of a title or its governing body did not change a person's duty. Wesley's duty was to keep an eye on his Slayer, and he was still failing at that duty.

Giles understood the younger man's reluctance, though. It was the same reluctance he had felt when it came to trusting Angel who, as Angelus, had given Giles over to his darling Drusilla for torture. But, they all knew that there had been something more to Faith's torture of her former Watcher years ago. She'd been in pain, and Wesley claimed that he had forgiven her. Now, a year after Faith's disappearance, Giles wasn't too sure he believed him.

"How could this possibly be a good thing, Wesley? How could no word of or about Faith be anything but disastrous?"

Wesley sighed and his body sagged. "We've kept a close eye on hospitals all around the world. She hasn't been admitted anywhere. A new Slayer hasn't been called, which means that she is still alive. And, she's not been imprisoned again, either."

"And that, you can thank Willow for."

Willow Rosenberg was one of the most powerful witches that Giles had ever seen, but there had still been spells that didn't work for her. Whenever she tried to blur the mind, it didn't work... until it was absolutely necessary. She had erased Faith from the minds of those who would come after her. The last thing they needed in the wake of Sunnydale's destruction was for Faith to be captured and put back in jail.

And yet, it wasn't all Willow's doing that kept Faith a free woman. Giles had turned his nose up at Angel and his merry band of demon fighters for their alliance with the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart. There was a thick, definite line between good and evil. Good did not make deals with evil. However, Giles was forced to admit the usefulness of Angel's alliance with the Senior Partners. It was Wolfram & Hart who destroyed all evidence that Faith was a fugitive from justice. As far as the law was concerned, because of the firm and Willow, Faith had never existed.

"That's not what I meant, Giles." Wesley closed his eyes. His hand rose and he pressed the pad of his middle finger against his temple, then rotated. He turned slow circles against his skin. "I meant, she hasn't done anything else. She hasn't gotten herself into trouble."

"This is Faith, we're talking about here. She's not altogether sane, Wesley." Giles took off his glasses and stood abruptly. He walked back and forth behind his desk, then moved around it. "You realize how much like Buffy you sound? Next, you'll be trying to tell me that if Faith doesn't want to be found, she won't be."

"Because that's true. Faith has never been one to play group games, Giles."

"She's also never been one to abandon a crisis. She may not have enjoyed being a Slayer, but she knew her duty. She wouldn't have left, knowing that the world was near an end. She would have fought it out."

"Are you trying to say that she was taken by something? Someone?"

"I don't know, and that is what bothers me." Giles stopped beside the window and stared out. "There must be something wrong. She disappeared without a trace. It's been over a year, and no one has heard anything. I don't like the idea of a Slayer out there, especially one with Faith's background, without any supervision."

"Angel is looking for her. We all are." Wesley stood, but he didn't move forward. "Spike isn't much help outside of Los Angeles. We still can't find a way to break his ties with Wolfram & Hart. But, Angel thinks he's getting closer. Every time he gets a lead, she's gone. We're trying to find some sort of pattern. However... when we do find her..." He sighed. "What do we do, then? If she really did run, she won't come back easily."

Giles hesitated. His first thought was to send Buffy after her, but that would only send her farther. There was too much animosity between the two, too much rivalry on Faith's side. She would bolt the second Buffy came near, but Angel... "She trusts Angel."

"Yes. But, will that bring her back? Is that even what we're after? To get her back?"

Giles turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"We're everywhere now. Buffy travels as much as she can to do her duty. Perhaps, having Faith out there is a good thing. Perhaps, all we have to do is let her know how much she is needed. We could let her travel, let her have her privacy, as long as she still Slays."

"And who will watch her? Will you go with her? Will you trail her footsteps?"

"Why do you even care? You've never been close to Faith."

"Because I'm a Watcher!" Giles surprised himself with the loudness and strength of his voice. "My duty in life is to look after the Slayer. We have all failed Faith time and again. I will not do it, again."

He had prospered with one Slayer and failed miserably with the other. Faith hadn't been his charge, but as a Watcher, weren't all Slayers his children to guide and teach? She had been so insolent, so distant, Giles had never given her much of a chance. He treated her like the unruly child, while praising the other. He knew Buffy. He hadn't known Faith. He was partly to blame for what she had become, and he would never forget that. If she were out there alone, somewhere, the least that he could do was let her know that she was welcome back with them. That she wasn't forgotten.

Giles let his body shake with a heavy sigh. His head lowered for a second, then slowly raised to look at Wesley. "We have to find her. No matter what the outcome may be. We can't just leave a Slayer on her own. We did that once, and we will not do it again."

~*~

The first thing she'd had to learn was to control her instinct to go into too much martial arts when her matches started going. The second thing she had to learn was how not to hurt anyone else. Faith possessed a strength that she didn't understand. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she knew that she could take every guy in the locker room, Dave included. It wasn't ego or recent experience that told her, but an innate feeling that she was stronger than they were. She was agile and quick, and all of her moves were crisp.

In OVW, she'd thrown around most of the guys there. The only reason she couldn't say all was that some refused to work with her unless she learned to tone it down some. In her last few months there, Lance Storm had reminded her more than once that she wasn't in a fight for her life. She didn't have to put that much into it for it to look good. With as sharp as each of her moves were, and as crisp as her flow, she could try less than half as hard and still make an impression.

As she leaned against the turnbuckle, her forehead pressed against the pad, she had a moment where she wondered what the hell she was doing out there. It had been a fluke, really. She was working in a gym in Louisville, teaching a karate-style aerobics class, when a group of students from OVW walked in. She made friends quickly, and within a month, they had her sending in a video package that made her look like the next coming of Red Sonja.

Even though wrestling was a lot of hard work, it was mostly fun. Aggression seemed to build up within her for no reason, and wrestling gave her just as much an outlet for it as working out did. No one told her that she was too forceful, or that she shouldn't behave a certain way. That was something that kept coming to mind as being a fault in her previous existence. She thought she played the heel a little too well, but everyone told her that her bitch attitude was perfect. She had friends because these people accepted her in ways she didn't think she had ever been accepted before.

Faith felt a tug on her hair right before her head came smashing down onto the turnbuckle. She had spent too much time thinking, and now she was going to pay for it. She was supposed to block that. The next time her head came sailing towards the buckle, she grabbed the ropes and put a foot up on the second turnbuckle, holding herself up. She hurled her body backwards and while Victoria fell to the mat, Faith did a somersault over her and landed on her feet.

She rushed Victoria with a sneer as the other woman started to rise. She caught her in the midsection and took her down to the mat. Faith grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the mat until the referee came and tried to break it up. She shoved him out of the way, then jumped up to her feet.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

"No pulling on the hair!"

"Bite me!" She shoved him, then turned back to Victoria, who was already on her feet and coming at her. Victoria caught her in the midsection with a boot, then shoved her head under her arm. A DDT, and Faith was down. She rolled slowly onto her back, and Victoria was quickly back up.

Victoria hooked Faith's legs and dropped back, catapulting Faith into the ropes. She was caught hard against the neck and rebounded off. She turned, holding her throat, and Victoria backed her up into the rings with a flurry of forearm shots. Faith bounced against the ropes as Victoria grabbed her arm and sent her flying across the ring. Faith ducked the clothesline on her way back, but on the second round, was caught in the chest. She landed hard on the mat.

Through fluttering eyelids, she saw Victoria gyrating. Faith waited until Victoria was jumping up to roll out of the way. Victoria landed hard on her stomach and Faith got to her feet. She went for her, grabbing her by the hair, then stopped as her insides started to churn. She hunched over and groaned, but didnt' let go of her hair. She didn't know what was going on. She could count on one hand the number of times this had happened in the last year, but none had been quite so hard.

Faith did her best to shake it off. For a quick second, her vision went into slow motion. She blinked until her sight was normal, and everything was fine. However, she couldn't fight off the urge to look around her. That feeling was something... She knew it wasn't sickness, but whatever it was, it was definitely something. An instinct told her to be on her guard, but for the moment, her guard would have to wait. She had a match to finish.

Still holding Victoria's hair, she turned their bodies until her back was to her. She dropped Victoria hard on the mat, then jumped back up. She saw Victoria moving, knowing that the taller woman would be back on her feet soon. Faith edged to the far end of the ring and waited. When Victoria was almost vertical, Faith started her back flips across the ring. When she was in front of Victoria, her legs gripped her around the waist. In a handstand, she lifted her opponent with her legs, locking them around her waist, and tossed her over her head.

Victoria landed with a bouncing thud. Faith dropped flat on the mat and scurried across the ring. She hooked Victoria's leg and rolled onto her back. The referee counted and when his hand hit the mat for the third time, Faith jumped up and shouted her victory. The referee came over and lifted her arm. Her hand was only up for a second when she jerked away from him and ran to the ropes.

The fans hated her, and she'd never felt so good to be so hated. That meant they would talk about her. They would curse her. And yet, they would go straight to the website the following week when her t-shirt hit the market. This wasn't an undeserving hatred. She had worked hard to get so much animosity towards her and she planned to revel in it.

Faith flipped over the top rope and landed in a cat-like stance on the floor beside the ring, crouched with her legs apart and fingertips trailing the thin mats that lined the floor. She rose slowly and stared at the crowd. Instantly, the feeling from before came back and she found herself looking around. Something was near, something that she was supposed to be careful of, something she was supposed to... fight?

The thought seemed odd, yet at the same time, natural. She felt like a hunter and her prey was waiting for her somewhere in the crowd. Every other time she'd gotten that feeling, it had passed within minutes, and nothing ever came of it. This time, however, she was almost positive that she would be getting into some kind of trouble that night. She was also very confident that she'd have a damn good time doing it, too. Though, not as good a time as she'd just had in the ring.

~*~

"Oh, bloody hell!" Spike fell down on the sofa, and promptly went through three floors. He floated his way back up and could hear Angel's laughter the entire time. His grandsire's amusement over his uncorporeal body was going to get on his nerves. He found his footing and glared. "This is not funny."

Angel looked up at him and smirked. "Oh, no?" He leaned back in his chair and grinned. "I think it's hilarious."

"You would." Spike rolled his eyes. "The least you could do is give me cable in this ruddy hole. Things have been changing while I was off in hell. Passions is all fouled up and now I can't watch wrestling! I can't watch Raw without cable, you bloody moron, so give me cable!"

Angel shook his head. He couldn't believe Spike actually watched that mess. Granted, Angel had his run-in with them before. He remebered Ric Flair before he became a legend, but to be so engrossed as to come stomping in every single week... it was just ridiculous. Every Monday, Spike came into his office to tell him just how boring his nights were and that it was completely unfair of Angel to force him to live such a miserable existence.

"You're not supposed to be watching anything. You're supposed to be out there looking for Faith."

"I'm trying! For all I know, she could be right out there in the audience. She's a wild bird, ya know. She would get a kick out of this. Or maybe she's trolling for bad guys. Lots of vampires go to these things, Gel Boy. We could be missing her right now because you won't give me cable. Or find a way to give me a body."

"What the hell does having a body have to do with finding Faith?"

"Because, jackass, then I could go out there and look." Spike gave him a look as though that were obvious. "I could leave this forsaken and very ugly city and actually go off to find her. Fred's a smart bird, but she can't fix this corporeal thing on her own. Give her a team, man! Then I can get a ticket for Raw the farthest place from here!"

"You're not getting cable!"

Angel stood up and faced the window. The city was dark, and somewhere out there, beyond the borders of Los Angeles, he knew there was a Slayer out there who needed to be saved. Whether it was from someone or herself, she needed to be rescued, and Angel was the only person that she had ever allowed to do that.

He had been shocked when Giles first called him to let him know what was going on. The last time he had set waking eyes on her, he had been Angelus and had revelled in the taste of Slayer blood. Now, he regretted ever touching her. He regretted letting the world get so low that they needed to break her out of the security of prison. She was out there somewhere alone, now, and it was because of him. It was up to him to find her.

Angel had also been shocked because Giles had made it perfectly clear that he didn't trust Angel. It was six months after Faith's disappearance that Giles made the call and by then the group at Angel, Inc had moved from the Hyperion to Wolfram & Hart's Los Angeles offices. He didn't believe in making deals with the devil, but when it was obvious that there was nowhere else to turn, he had come to them. And being the nice tormented vampire that he was, he didn't even make him beg. Spike had begged him to, though.

There was no one left to look for Faith but them. Buffy was busy slaying. Xander and Anya were off doing anything that made Xander's life with one eye easier. Dawn had practically begged to be shipped off to boarding school, whining that she needed some kind of normal life for just a little while. Willow was all that was left, and even though she did her best to help, she still had to focus on the Slayer. With all the people working for Wolfram & Hart, Angel Inc only had to personally focus on finding Faith.

"She's out there somewhere..." Angel pulled one hand out of his pocket and tapped the glass. "There's no way that a Slayer just disappears. She's hiding from us because she's scared. She's always been scared."

"She's not scared, ya bloody wank. She's pissed off. She doesn't want any of your damned crusades and Big Bads or whatever else you throw at her. She just wants to be normal."

"Well, she can't be normal. She didn't get asked if she wanted to be Chosen, but she was, and now she has to own up to it. She's the Slayer. Her death calls another, and I'm not ready to have another Slayer called."

"Don't you think she knows what she's doing? She knows how to stay alive, Angel. She'll show up when she's ready and in the meantime, everybody's looking for her. Even the big lawyer type is keeping an ear to the ground. The only thing around here that seems to take even remotely the same amount of precedence is waking up Cordelia. You can do one, mate, but ya can't do both."

"She will wake up!" Angel whirled around. If he breathed, his chest would have been rising quickly with each angry breath. "Cordy's waking up and Faith will be found. And you? You'll still be a pesty ghost that gets on my last damn nerve. I knew I shouldn't have let Dru make you."

Spike's eyes narrowed. "You look for the girl. Take a flight out. I can't do it. I'm going to find somebody in this stupid city that has cable because I missed this week, but I am not missing Raw next week." Spike started to slowly float down through the floor. As he disappeared, he muttered, "Takes too damn much concentration to type on a bloody keyboard."

Left alone in his office, Angel turned to stare out the window. So much had gone wrong the past two years. It was time that something got fixed. They would find a way to bring Cordelia out of her mystical coma. He wouldn't be able to have her the way he wanted, but she would still be alive, and that was better than nothing. And they would find Faith. He wasn't going to leave her out there to fend for herself. He was a champion, after all. The Champion if he believed the prophecy. It was his duty to save the hopeless, and in some ways, they didn't come more hopeless than Faith.

~*~

Hunter's voice was suitably grumpy and growly as it floated out from behind Faith. "What the hell are we doing in a cemetary? I can't believe I got talked into this shit. Steph is seriously gonna have to stop hanging out with them."

"No shit." Randy Orton kicked a rock in front of him and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "I'm supposed to be partyin', but I can't because Dave's chick has an affinity for fuckin' graveyards."

Ric Flair looked down to the ground and growled. "My shoes are dirty. Do you know how much these damn things cost? How am I gonna get chicks with dirty shoes? They'll think I'm losin' it."

"Would you all shut the fuck up." Dave shook his head and moved forward. "I don't wanna be here, either, and if Steph hadn't thought it was so great an idea, then I could've talked her out of it. Blame Steph. Don't blame Faith."

"It was Faith's idea," Hunter told him. "I knew that crazy bitch was trouble."

"SH!" Faith whirled around and glared at them. The talking got on her nerves, and it wasn't because they were talking shit about her. There was a reason that she was in this graveyard. She didn't know what that reason was exactly, but it would come to her as soon as they shut up and let her senses work.

Every time she walked past a headstone, she felt the urge to touch it. They passed one shaped like an angel and she carefully rested her hand against the edge of one wing. She didn't know what she was expecting to happen, but she felt a strong rush of relief when nothing happened at all. It was just another grave with wilted flowers adorning the site.

The plan hadn't originally been to go to the cemetary. Who really made plans to troll a cemetary, anyway? Especially dressed in their finest. All of the men were in expensive suits. Trish Stratus was wearing a short silver dress that swished around her thighs. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley was dressed in a pinstripe power suit. Faith had on black slacks and a baby blue blouse. They were supposed to be going to a club. Faith had dragged them to the cemetary.

"We're hunting ghosts!" Stephanie turned around and grinned. "How are we going to find ghosts if you're talking? They'll run away."

"It's something new, guys." Trish turn and stood next to Stephanie. The two started walking backwards and Trish said, "We always do the same thing. Party, party, live like Evolution's pretending to be the Horsemen, blah blah blah. It's fun and all, but sometimes, a girl likes something new."

"And what's more new than trolling a cemetary?"

"We could have a seance or something." Trish laughed and turned to Stephanie. "Whaddya think? It could be fun."

"We don't have candles, though, and I always thought you needed candles for that. Or at least a Ouija board."

"Or silence, so a girl can think." Faith looked at both women and shook her head. Over the past few months, she'd seen them form some strange brand of camaraderie that Faith didn't exactly understand. They didn't particularly like each other in the way of best friends, but they had a certain respect for one another. If anyone outside of their circle said something bad about either of them, the other would take them to school, but they were allowed to say anything. They probably wouldn't have been so nice with each other had they not had the common enemies of Hunter, Ric, Randy and Dave at the moment.

Faith thought the reason she fit so well with the women was because there was no bullshit in them. They were honest with her, even if it was something she didn't want to hear. In turn, they allowed her to be honest with them without instantly calling her a bitch when she opened her mouth. It didn't hurt, either, that Trish was a fighter. She got in the ring and she tore it down. Even though Stephanie wasn't an actual wrestler, she still worked out, and the three of them could go to the gym with no problem. They all went their own place and didn't complain about the freakish speed that Faith had when she worked out. They were tough and ruthless, and not everyone's best friend. Faith fit right into their category. At the moment, though, they were just loud.

Faith turned and stared out into the darkness. This was what she truly hated about her amnesia. Things happened to her and she didn't know why. Late at night, she would wake up with a feeling that she should be outside, looking for something. Tonight, she felt that something was out there waiting for her. She had felt that way ever since her match with Victoria, and now it was only getting worse.

She stepped forward, then stopped as her insides twisted in knots. She bent forward and before she knew it, there were hands on her arms. She almost gave a hip-toss to the person until she realized it was Dave. She heard him talking in her ear and she shook her head. She couldn't understand his words. Slowly, she pulled herself back to standing straight and searched around. Absently, she pushed Dave back.

"Everybody back," she said, taking a step forward. "Something's here."

"Very fuckin' funny, Faith." Randy growled and moved up to stand next to Trish. "I'm not finding this shit funny at all."

"Shut up, Orton, or none for you tonight!" Trish looked at Faith and nodded. "Go on."

"There's something about her," Stephanie said softly, standing between Ric and Hunter. "She's... I don't' know. It's almost weird, but she's interesting as hell."

Faith ignored all of their words and kept moving forward. Her fists were balled in front of her, ready to protect herself and strike all at the same time. She thought she should have had some kind of weapon, but there was nothing around. She searched the ground ahead of her and caught sight of a fallen branch. She picked it up quickly, brandishing it like a knife.

Something moved past her quickly and she heard a grunt. She whirled around and saw Hunter getting back to his feet. "What the hell was that!" He brushed his suit off and looked around. "What the..."

Something came at him again, and this time, he went careening through the air and into a tree. Next was Randy, thrown to the ground easily. Trish and Stephanie screamed as they were grabbed from behind. Ric and Dave rushed forward to fight the attackers off, but there were too many and they had a strength that didn't make sense. They picked off the other two men of Evolution easily before going back to attack the women.

Faith ran over to them in a blur and started kicking and punching. She jumped up in a spin and kicked a man with short black hair in the head. He went flying back and she advanced on him. Out the corner of her eye, she saw the others getting back up. Hunter and Ric were working on the one that had Stephanie. Dave and Randy had the one holding Trish. They were fine, Faith thought. She had two of her own to take care of.

As the brunette was getting up a blond came up from behind her and grabbed her around the waist. She threw her head back to hit him in the face, then forced him over her shoulder. He jumped up to his feet and she fought more. Her hands were a blur as she punched the face and body. She stepped back, then jumped up and nailed him with a perfect dropkick. The stick she'd been holding earlier had fallen from her hand and there was only her body to use as a weapon.

Testing out her strength, she picked the blond up and powerbombed him to the ground. She went for it again, but the brunette was behind her. He grabbed her by the hair and Faith fought. "Not the hair!" She brought her arms up to break his hold, then shot out with a foot to the midsection. Despite her martial arts skills, it was her wrestling techniques that came to mind. She shoved his head under her arm and gave him a DDT. In the ring, she would have protected whomever she did the move on. In the cemetary, she made sure that his nose crunched against the ground.

"Slayer!" She whirled, even though she had no idea what that meant. She just knew that it was meant for her. The blond that had just been by her feet was now across the way, standing behind Dave. He had the big man's arm bent at an unbearable angle behind his back.

Faith ran straight forward. At the last minute, she yelled, "Jump!" Dave went up as far as he could and Faith slid under him. She speared the blond to the ground. She jumped up and stomped him in the face until there was nothing left there but a bloody mess. When she got to her feet and looked around, the others of the attacking group were running.

"Ha!" Faith jumped up and down with excitement. "Now was that the shit, or what! That was wicked cool! Oh my GOD!" She turned to see Dave massaging his shoulder. "Oh, come on, you're alright, aren't you?"

"I'm fine." He rotated his arm, then shook his head. "What the hell... You were like a crazy person."

"No shit! It was wild! I took two of ‘em at once!" She looked around. The others were battered, but they were alright. "Looks like you did pretty good, too. Talk about a night not like the norm, huh?"

"Uh, can we stick to seances next time?" Stephanie shuddered. "And can we get the hell out of here? You seriously hurt that guy and we don't wanna be around when the cops show up."

"Uh.. Guys?" Trish gulped. Her hand was shaking as she pointed behind Faith. She leaned against Randy, and he wrapped a protective arm around her. Faith noticed that a thin line of blood ran down her neck and knew that soon, Trish would realize it, too. "That guy, um... with the face all gone? He's getting back up."

Faith whirled around as he came to his feet. He lashed out at her, then everything seemed to go in slow motion. She dropped down to the ground. Her hand fell on top of a stick and she picked it up. She came to her feet in a spinning motion. Standing sideways, she struck out. The end of the stick drove into his heart. She yanked it out, and suddenly, he burst into a cloud of ashes. She stood in shock as the ashes fell into a pile on the ground.

Everything was quiet, and Faith thought for a moment that her hearing had gone out on her. She looked around to see that everyone was staring at her in shocked silence. She swallowed hard, then looked back down to the ground. She stepped backwards until her back hit the solid wall of Dave's body. Jumping, she turned to him and said the only thing she could think of. "What the hell is going on?"

~*~

People were running away when Angel arrived on the scene. He'd heard the fighting from a mile away and burst into a run. He hoped he'd get there in time, but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be in time for. It couldn't have just been to save someone. The noises didn't sound like vampires munching on victims. It sounded like vampires getting their asses handed to them.

That thought had made him think that he was finally close to Faith. Maybe that fighting was her. Maybe she was doing her Slayer duty and taking out vamps left and right. He'd gotten a call from an informant that claimed to have seen her in Boston and had taken the first flight out. He didn't give anyone else time to catch up with him. He just boarded the Wolfram & Hart jet and took off.

He was starting to get disheartened over everything. Every time he thought he was on Faith's trail, she disappeared. It was as though she felt him coming and instantly took flight. Back in L.A., Cordelia was no closer to coming out of her coma than she had been in months. The two women that he most wanted to help, he couldn't. There was nothing he could do for either of them and that didn't make him feel much like a Champion. The only thing that kept him from going insane with frustration was the joy he got out of driving Spike to the city limits, then jumping over the line while Spike stayed behind with a scowl.

When he arrived, the runners were gone, and he knew that none of them could have been Faith. She wouldn't have ever run away from a fight. She would have stood up and stared it down until her last breath. That knowledge is what made him believe that something had come into the Hyperion and stolen Faith away. She wouldn't have run from the fight ahead of her. She would have faced the Big Bad and made it wish it had never laid eyes on her.

He stepped in a pile of ash and looked down. "Looks like somebody got lucky," he said with a smirk. The others started to rise from the ground and rushed him. Angel flicked his wrist and a stake appeared in his hand. He whirled and drove his arm backwards, piercing the chest of a vamp behind him. Dust fell over his arm. He dropped down in a spin, sweeping the other's legs out from under him. The vampire fell to the ground and Angel staked him.

The final one was still on the ground and Angel stalked towards him. He hadn't found Faith yet, but at least he could have a little fun. Deep down in him, Angelus still screamed his outrage over his own body being used to destroy his people. However, Angel's soul was overjoyed by the burst of dust that fell to the ground and settled on his clothes.

Angel raised his arm, and the vampire yelled, "The Slayer! I know where the Slayer is!"

Angel's arm froze. He stared down at him as he slowly lowered the stake in his hand. He gripped the vampire by the shirt and jerked him to his feet. "What are you talking about? Which Slayer?"

"The rogue one. The dark one." He blinked rapidly and his eyes darted quickly from side to side. "The one you're looking for."

"Where is she."

"She... she..."

Angel shook him. "Where the hell is she!"

"She was here!" Angel dropped him and before he could run away, he grabbed him again, his hand wrapping around his throat. Angel squeezed and the brunette vampire opened his mouth, trying to speak. He couldn't get the words out around Angel's grip until it was loosened. "We attacked her and some friends..."

"Faith..." He started to say that Faith didn't have any friends, but thought better of it. He didn't need to show the enemy that there was anymore issues where Faith was concerned. "What the hell do you mean you attacked Faith?"

"We didn't know it was her." His eyes were wide. "We didn't recognize her at first, but it was her. She's here, Angel, in the city. She just ran off. You just missed her. I... I tasted her friend! I can find them for you if you just let me go. Please, Angel, just let me go and..."

Angel cut his words off as he drove the stake through his chest. Dust fell on his hand and his arms dropped to his sides. His head turned and stared in the direction of the people he'd just watched run away. "Dammit!" Angel growled. He had been so close. If he had just called out to her...

But, why did she run? It wasn't like Faith to run off like that...

He pulled out his cellphone and made a quick call. When Giles answered, he explained to him what the vampire had told him. Giles listened carefully, then said, "And you're sure that he wasn't lying?"

"Why would he? He thought the information would save his skin."

"Why would Faith run?"

"That's what I'm wondering. We've all been assuming that more than likely, someone snatched her but... what if she's just fed up, Giles? What if she really did run away when she woke up?"

"Faith wouldn't do that."

"She ran tonight, Giles. Yeah, she fought, and she took one out, but then she ran. Did she run because she sensed me around and doesn't want to come back? I'm the reason she's in this, Giles. I'm the reason she broke out of jail. I'm the reason she was in that coma. We all know that she's not a team player. What if she just doesn't want to come back?"

"She's still a Slayer, Angel!"

"And she's still Slaying. She's just doing it on her own. If she wants to do it that way, then maybe we should let her."

"But will she keep running?" Giles sighed and Angel could almost picture him as he took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If we're going to allow her to go on her own, we have to be sure that it's safe, Angel. Faith is unstable, and we can't leave her out there if there's a chance she might hurt someone."

"This guy said she had friends, Giles."

"All the more reason to be sure that it's safe. She's had friends before, Angel, and we both know how that turned out." Giles took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Find her, talk to her, and if you can't bring her back, make sure that she at least knows that we care. If she's going to be on her own, make sure that she can handle it. Otherwise..."

"What?"

"We'll have to bring her back, whether she likes it or not."

~*~

"I'm not hearing anymore bullshit explanations. I want something serious, honest and... would you shut the fuck up!"

Hunter whirled around and stared at Trish as she sat in the chair. Her neck was bent painfully to the side as Stephanie pressed a warm towel against her skin. Randy knelt in front of her, not holding her hand but with his touch hovering just above her legs. Trish had been screaming since they got in the car and she realized there was blood on her neck. When she saw the small, shallow holes she had become frantic. Stephanie offered to slap her. Hunter offered to smother her.

Faith looked around the room and wished she knew what to say to them. She didn't know what had happened anymore than they did. Everything had happened so fast, then stopped so abruptly. After her brief question of shock, she hadn't said another word. They had all rushed upstairs to Hunter and Stephanie's suite, ignoring any and all calls their way. The police could have been after them for all they knew, and they didn't want anyone to see them with blood on their clothes.

"I don't know what the hell happened, and I don't know why. It just... it felt like what I should do, ya know? The guy was there and he was about to attack Dave. One had already bit Trish..."

"He bit me! He fucking... Who bites anyone anymore! And... ow, it hurts! Steph, stop pressing so hard!"

"I've got to get it to stop bleeding!" Stephanie pressed down a little harder. "It's not that deep, but it just keeps coming out."

"It'll stop soon." Faith moved across the room and looked out the window. They were too far up for her to see anything, but she could feel them. Whoever was out there... She felt there were more of them out there, but she didn't know exactly what they were. She kept wanting to say people, but that didn't seem to describe them. Her imagination wanted to say vampires, but she looked like a maniac already. She didn't want to look even crazier.

The others had rushed her off. Dave had held her wrist so tightly that she thought the small bones would be crushed under the weight of his grip. The first order of business had been to get the hell out of dodge. Sure, they were covering their own asses, but Faith couldn't help the burst of joy within her at the thought that someone was actually trying to protect her. They weren't going to throw her to the wolves. She had an idea that people didn't do that for her much in her past life.

"How do you know it'll stop, huh?" Trish narrowed her eyes, then winced as Stephanie pressed down again. "Dammit, Steph! Stop trying to break my neck!"

"I'm not! Though, if you keep yelling at me like that, I just might consider it."

"Try it, bitch. I'll be up and on your ass so fast..."

"You won't do anything but whine like you're whining right now."

"I am not whining!"

"Yeah, you are."

"I am not!" She shifted her eyes. "Randy! Tell her I'm not whining!"

"But, uh... you sorta are, Trish." He edged back, just in case she jumped up and attacked. "Just a little..."

"Well... you get bitten on the neck by some freak and we'll see how much you whine."

"Would you all shut the fuck up!" Hunter stalked around the room. He stopped for a second at Ric, waiting for him to say something. When he said nothing, he kept stalking. "We've gotta figure something out. We have to get our story straight because we're each other's alibis if the cops come banging on the door."

"Simple story." Ric shoved his hands deep in his pockets and slowly began to walk back and forth across a small spanse of the floor. "We went to the cemetary and got attacked. We just tell the truth." Ric snorted a laugh. "Novel fuckin' idea, huh?"

"The truth." Hunter growled, then smirked. "The first time in his entire life, Ric Flair picks now to decide to tell the truth. She killed somebody, Ric! We can't tell the cops that! We can't just say, ‘Oh sorry, Officer, but our friend stabbed a freak in the chest with a stick and murdered him.' They'd lock us all away."

For the first time since arriving at the hotel, Dave spoke. "She didn't kill anyone," he said, his voice low. He'd spent the entire time watching Faith, trying to come up with some kind of idea of what was going on that made sense. She had been quiet and confused, but her body was jumping. During the ride to the hotel, she kept touching him. If they hadn't all been shuttled into Hunter's room, she probably would have dragged him to their own hotel room and jumped him. She was excited and turned on. It seemed so natural that he had to believe that she had done this all before.

He stepped up behind Faith and put his hands on her hips. She gave a slight jump, then settled down. Her body went rigid for a second, then she loosened up and leaned back until she was leaning against his chest. "Someone," he said, "implies a person, and that was not a person."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hunter asked him.

"People don't burst into a cloud of ashes when they get stabbed, H. They bleed. People don't have fangs. People don't have that kinda strength to where we had to actually fight. They were small and there's no way in hell they should have gotten as many shots in on us as they did."

"So... what are you tryin' to say? If you're gonna say..." He shook his head. "That chick is driving you crazy, man. Her insanity is rubbing off on you. What the hell did we expect to happen when we went trolling a cemetary? Damn sure not anything good."

"I'm not saying anything." His arms slid around Faith's waist. He pulled her tightly against him. His cheek rubbed against her hair. "What was it, Faith?"

"I... I don't know."

"Yes, you do. You've seen it before."

"I haven't."

"You knew they would be there. You knew something was there. You knew what to do. Just... say it."

"I... I can't." She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to pull away, but Dave wouldn't let her go. Behind her eyelids, she could see the... thing... going to dust. She could see others doing the same thing, and every time it had been her hand that held the sharpened wood. She heard a word ringing between her ears. Slayer. She didn't know what it meant, but at the same time, she wanted to change that and say yes she did.

But, she couldn't say it. If she told them, they would turn away from her. They would leave her behind and she would be left to fend for herself. She knew that others always did that to her. She was too rowdy, too aggressive, too dangerous. If she just ignored it, if she denied it, everything would be alright. But, if she said the words that were on the tip of her tongue, her good life was over. She'd go back into the darkness, spending every night waiting for them to come out. Waiting for something else. Waiting for anything that was in the category of "those she was meant to kill." She had a duty, but it was one she wished she could deny.

"We know what it is, Faith." Stephanie's voice was strong and close. Faith didn't open her eyes. She didn't turn around. "It's crazy and stupid, but what else could it be?"

"It bit me," Trish said. "People don't just... bite. And they don't have eyes like that."

"And," Randy put in, "they're not strong enough to throw us around like fucking rag dolls."

"They don't run that fast," Ric told her.

"This is fucking insane, but people don't burst into dust." Hunter's voice was still angry, but he wasn't screaming anymore.

They were all around her. Dave held her, but the others were close enough to form a tight circle around the two of them. These were her friends. These were her people. They would understand, even if she didn't. They would try to help her figure things out. They would be there so she didn't have to hunt alone. She wouldn't have to hunt at all, because they wouldn't make her. They wouldn't force her out into the night and admonish her if she didn't do it the right way, whatever that it was. They helped her in the ring and they would help her out of it because they were her friends, and she didn't know if she had ever had friends before.

Faith took in a deep breath. She gripped Dave's arms tightly, her nails scratching at the cloth of his light blue dress shirt. Her breath came out shakily. Slowly, her eyes opened and she whispered. "They were vampires." Her throat convulsed painfully and her chest tightened. Yet, her voice was steady as though she spoke the truth and knew it. "They were vampires and there are more out there. And..." She stood up straight and pulled away from Dave. Faith looked around to everyone and slowly said, "...it's my duty to destroy them... I think."

~*~

"Oh bloody hell, man!" Giles resisted the urge to leap from his chair. His fists were balled in front of him. His glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose. "Get up, you lazy bastard!"

There were many things that weren't widely known about Rupert Giles, especially during his time as Ripper. Had he not been taken into the Watcher's Council, that probably would have been his ring name. From an early age, he had wanted to be a fighter of some sort. He was an aggressive youth, quick to anger back then. He'd been too small to be a true boxing contender and nowhere near coordinated enough for martial arts.

In his day, wrestling hadn't been sports entertainment. It was a free-for-all of blood, sweat and pure adrenaline, driven by testosterone and, at least on his side of the Atlantic, a need to brawl. For Ripper, it would have been a great prize for a youth misspent. For Rupert Giles, it was an embittered memory that made him want to hurl the television straight out the window.

Logically, he knew that he could fast forward through to the end of the match. He was watching a tape, after all. Though, in his mind, he was watching it live. He didn't even know where he had thrown the remote control. The tape he watched was over a month old. In previous years, he would watch no later than Wednesday. He would lock himself away for two hours so as not to be mocked for watching Raw. With his mind so firmly gripped on finding Faith lately, though, he hadn't had the time. And yet, he needed to watch it so badly.

This was his release, his stack of Raw tapes and separate stack of Smackdown tapes. This was something that had nothing to do with Slaying or Watching. It was a way to escape everything and, after finding himself more and more frustrated, he decided to sit down and have his few hours of uncomplicated life. Though, he was still confused how his former friend William Regal had managed to become such a strong babyface, even with his constant use of the brass knuckles.

"Power of the punch my ass," he muttered as he gripped the arms of his chair tightly. "That weak left-handed punch..."

"So... yeah... I'm looking at this thing and I'm just not seeing it, Giles." Willow Rosenberg walked into the room, her head down. She held the ends of a scroll and her brow was narrowed in confusion. "I don't have that much experience reading actual Latin scrolls. You know, the ones with no spaces or punctuation."

"Willow, please." Giles waved her off absently, then leaned forward. "Not now."

"Yes, now, Giles. I got something about someone being lost and a fight for survival, but I don't know who is lost and who is fighting to survive."

"The scroll is thousands of years old. I'm sure it can wait a few more hours."

"Giles, you're... You're watching..." Her head rose and she stared at the television. "Oh my God! I can't believe you're watching this!"

"Hush, woman! Regal just... LOST!" Giles jumped from his chair. "Dear Lord, the man lost! How the bloody hell does he lose to that scum! It's that dear boy, Eugene. He distracts him. Good boy, that Eugene, but awfully distracting."

"Giles! You watch wrestling! Why do you watch wrestling? When did you start watching wrestling? Who..."

Giles rolled his eyes and shook his head. He took in the room quickly until he found the remote control and paused the tape. He turned to Willow and she was staring at him with shock. Why was it so absurd that he would be interested in something of the sort? Alright, so he had shown a high level of disdain for most things considered to be pop culture the past few years, but he was allowed to do more than read ancient texts and nag the Slayer.

"There are parts of me that you will never know, Willow."

Her eyes went wide. "I didn't mean... I mean, you don't have to..." She shook her head. "I just didn't think you were into that kinda thing, ya know? You've always just been... Giles. Well, there was that thing with the chocolate. Oh no! Have you been eating chocolate, again? Is this..." She looked around conspiratorially. Her voice lowered. "Is this Ripper I'm talking to?"

"Willow!"

"Sorry! I just..." She shrugged. "I wondered."

"Well, stop wondering." He sat back down and hit play. Giles fast fowarded through the commercials. When the show started again, he was surprised to feel Willow perching down on the arm of the chair. "Willow..."

"Oh, she's cute!" Willow leaned forward, the scroll in her hand forgotten. "She's got really long legs."

"Willow..."

"Oh! She flipped! Did you see that?"

"Yes, Willow."

"Look at those legs! What's her name, Giles? She's really cute. You know I sorta had this thing for blondes, anyway. Well, one blonde in particular..." Willow went quiet for a second, her eyes falling. She took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Her head rose and she she shook herself. "Anyway... what's her name, Giles?"

"Willow..." He looked at her and sighed. Her eyes still held a haunted look. It was a look that he had become accustomed to seeing on her face from time to time, but it still hurt to see. He sighed again. "Her name is Stacy Keibler."

"Stacy Keibler. That's a nice name." She turned back to the television as Stacy did a cartwheel. "Whoa! Those legs could probably wrap around and..."

"Willow!" Giles stood up quickly. He was ready to tell her to just stop when the phone rang. He was going to pause the television again, but Willow snatched the remote from him and slid down into his chair. She was obviously paying him no attention.

With a groan, Giles crossed over to his desk and picked up the phone. The second he heard Angel's voice, he was pulled back into the reality of things. The vampire wasn't exactly frantic, but his words were more hyper and excited than any other time in recent years that Giles could remember. Halfway through the talk, Giles stopped him. "Wait, wait. You're telling me that you've found her?"

"I haven't found her," Angel said, "but I'm close. I've found the names of the people she's made friends with. Problem is, they travel a lot. They keep moving around and..." He paused. His voice changed as he shouted, "Dammit, Spike, get away from me!"

"Angel!"

"Sorry, Giles. Spike's being a pain. He's babbling something about some dumbass wrestling show..."

Giles bit his tongue. He already had Willow on him about watching wrestling. He certainly wasn't about to leave himself open to mockery from Angel. And he damn sure wasn't about to come to Spike's defense.

"Oh, now you're just lying." Angel sounded exasperated. "Faith? At a wrestling show? You didn't see that. How did you see wrestling anyway? I didn't give you cable!"

"Wait!" Giles let out a heavy breath. "What do you mean Faith at a wrestling show?"

"Huh? Oh... Spike's trying to get cable out of me. He claims he ghosted into someone's house while they were watching a tape of wrestling and he saw Faith. Now he's saying... Well... Hell!"

In the background, Giles could hear Spike yelling, "She wasn't in the crowd, you silly prat! She was in the ring!" At the same time, Giles could hear Willow frantically calling her name. He was confused. What would Faith be doing in a wrestling ring? Why would Spike lie about something like that? Raw wasn't even that good anymore to where one would want to come up with such an elaborate excuse to get the chance to see them.

"It's Faith!" Willow shouted. "Faith is... she's beating up on the girl with the wrapping legs! She's beating up that Stacy Cookie girl!"

Giles turned slowly towards the television, still unable to believe what was happening. "The names," he said quickly. "The names, Angel. What were the names of the people that she's befriended."

"What?"

"The bloody names, man! What are their names!"

"Uh... Trish something, Batista... Triple H... Wait! One of them was Ric Flair. I've met Flair and I could have sworn that Spike was just lying about that. Faith's not exactly the type that I remember Flair going for but..."

"Dear Lord..." The phone fell from Giles's hand. He watched in astonishment as Faith performed a handstand, then wrapped her legs around Stacy's waist. He watched her flip Stacy over, sending her half across the ring, then jump to her feet. Faith ran to one of the corners and climbed up on the turnbuckle. The camera zoomed in on her face and Giles whispered, "...our missing Slayer has become a WWE diva."

"And she just beat up that hot blonde chick!" Willow fell back in her chair and pouted, crossing her arms. "That's about as unfair as unfair can get."

And on the other end of the line, Angel's jaw was as stretched to the floor as Giles. Because he had just been informed that Cordelia was awake and the first word out of her mouth had been a screeching, "Faith!"

~*~

"Dave, don't." Faith moved away from him as he tried to touch her. The entire night, she had slept on her side of the bed with her back to him. She hadn't said anything once they left Stephanie and Hunter's suite, and no one but Dave had tried to talk to her. They seemed to be ready to believe everything then, but by the light of day, Faith wasn't even sure she believed it. She wanted to go down the hall and check Trish's neck. No small puncture wounds would mean it had all been a bad dream, and she could move on with her life.

But, somehow, she knew that it was all real. She knew that she had driven a piece of wood into a vampire's chest and watched it explode into dust. She knew that she had some kind of duty to solve the problems under the category of "weird" when they arose. She knew that she wasn't meant to ever be a WWE diva. What she didn't know was how her life had so drastically changed and what she was supposed to do about it now.

Everything she knew was because of feelings, not memories. Even when she said the words out loud the night before, nothing had been kick started in her. No door was unlocked in her mind. No flood of memories came forward. She still didn't know what she did before. She didn't know who she was before. All she knew was that she was strange, she was different, and she felt that she was alone.

"Faith, you've gotta talk to me." Dave sighed and his arms dropped to his side. He watched as Faith moved back and forth across the room, snatching things from tables and shoving them into her bag. "You can't just ignore me."

"Oh, really?" She snorted. "Watch me." She walked past him and he reached out, grabbing her arm. Faith turned to him with dark eyes. "Let me go."

"You're going to talk to me."

"I don't want to talk." She jerked her body backwards, but Dave tightened his grip. "Don't make me hurt you." She waited for the laugh that didn't come. After last night, he knew that she could have hurt him if she wanted to, and he was probably well aware that she really didn't want to hurt him. "Dave..."

"I'm not letting you go."

She took in a deep breath and let it fall shakily out of her mouth. She closed her eyes for a second and a small stream of tears fell from beneath her closed lids. Faith reared back and let her fist fly. Dave caught her by the wrist and she flipped over. In the process, she kicked in him the chest. By the time she was back to her feet, he was stumbling backwards, and only effort and flailing arms stopped him from hitting the floor.

"Do you see that?" Faith shook her head and wiped her cheeks. "I could have hurt you if I wanted to, and I think before, I really did want to hurt people. No, I know I did."

"Faith..."

"No! I tortured someone! Do you understand that? It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a nightmare. Nothing that I woke up sweating about at night was a dream. I tortured someone who was close to me. He did a shit job watching over me, but I still tortured him, and I would have killed him. Why? Because I wanted to die. That's a life that was going to kill me, Dave! Why the hell would I want to talk about it!"

"You're talking about it now, Faith." He sighed and shook himself. He walked towards her slowly and with much caution. Faith could see the wariness in his moves and she suddenly felt bad about kicking him. She could have done so much worse, and she didn't want to. "I know this is bad, but that was your life. Whatever you remember, I want you to talk to me about it."

"That's just it, Dave. I don't remember. I mean, there are the dreams, and the bits I'm seeing, but it's like a movie. It's like I'm watching someone else, even though it's me. I don't feel anything. Nothing is opening or sparking or any of that shit. It's just... it's what I did, and I know I did it, but I don't feel anything about it. I'm dead inside to that life."

"But last night, you were alive to it. Last night, you knew those things were out there."

"Don't tell me you believe that. I mean... vampires?" She shook her head. "Just because I'm apparently insane and believe it..."

"What would you rather us believe? That you killed someone? Don't get me wrong, Faith, we'd cover that shit up. You're one of us, we're not about to let you go down for that shit. I'm not about to let you go down for that shit. But we all saw it. Hunter's been ranting and raving all morning, but even Steph and Trish have said that we can't deny what we saw. And Ric..."

"What about Ric? Have I made him lose his last marble?"

"Ric's talking about believing this shit deeper than any of us. That he's seen ‘em before or something. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd have blamed it on the effects of whatever he was doing with Piper years ago. But it doesn't matter. We saw it, and we'd have to be stupid not to believe it. This makes absolutely no sense at all... vampires and fuckin' balls of dust... but it's what happened. And now, we just have to cope."

Faith's mouth opened, but no words came out. A squeak eminated from her throat and she closed her mouth, then her eyes. She took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself. When she was finally able to talk, her voice was heavy with unshed tears of anger and frustration. "I don't remember." She hit herself in the chest. "I don't remember me, Dave. I don't know who Faith was."

"Then tell me what you do know. Tell me who Faith is now."

"Now... Now, I know... I don't know." She sat down hard on the bed. "I've always gotten these feelings... my guts would twist in fuckin' knots, ya know? I never knew what it was, but it put me on guard, but now... I know I'm something. The knots, the extra strength, the extreme night vision... it's all something that helps me know where the bad guys are so I can find them. I'm supposed to find them, and kill them. But, I don't want to search. These things are fucking everywhere, Dave. They come to me and... somebody's going to get hurt."

"We're all fine."

"Bullshit!" She jumped to her feet. "That fucker bit Trish!"

"But she's fine. I saw her this morning when you were in the shower. She's pissed, but she's already sitting with Steph to figure out the best way to cover up the little scars on her neck."

"But what if I'm not there? What if I can't save someone?"

"You're just one person. It's not your job to save the world."

"Yes, I am! That's why I'm here. That's why I have what I have. I'm supposed to save the world, and... I don't know if I can. I didnt' save anybody before. I don't think I did. I just... I ruined everyone's life."

"You're not ruining anyone's life. If this is what you have to do, then fine. But no one said you had to save the world. They may have said it before, but that's not you. Whatever your supposed duty is, you don't have to destroy your happiness for it."

"Sometimes..." She sighed. "Sometimes, I wonder if I was ever meant to be happy."

Dave reached out and tentatively put his hands on her hips. When she didn't jerk away, he pulled her towards him until their bodies were touching. He looked down at her with a grin that she didn't really understand. "You're a friend of Evolution, Faith. Fuck, where it matters, you are one of us. It's not written in our storylines, but once we go out in the real world, you're one of us. And, babe, we're all meant to have whatever the hell we want. If you want to be happy, then you deserve it. So, the question is... do you want to be happy?"

"Yes." Her answer came soft, but quick. Even without knowing her past, she felt that all she had ever wanted was to be happy and to be accepted. In her knew life, she wanted to be happy and she wanted to be accepted. It was the common thread between the unknown and the present.

"Then, fuck the past. Do what makes you happy. I felt it in you, last night. You were excited as hell after you killed that vampire. If it wasn't such a shock, you'd have probably jumped me right there." Dave laughed and Faith blushed. It wasn't something she did often. "Killing vampires gives you a high."

"Yeah."

"And wrestling makes you happy. It gives you an even bigger high."

"Yeah."

"So, you do what makes you happy. And leave the cover-ups and the explanations and shit to us. You're not on your own anymore, Faith. You've got Hunter and Steph and Randy and Trish and Ric... You've got me. You've got everyone you need to get you through whatever your life turns out to be."

Faith didn't respond. She just pressed her head to Dave's chest. She took in the smell of his cologne and enjoyed the feel of his muscular arms tightening around her. He made it all sound so easy, as though there were no problems at all. Like vampires were nothing new, and while they obviously weren't new to her, they should have been new to them. Dave made things seem clearer, and in his arms, it felt easier. But deep down, she knew it wasn't that simple and nothing was over. Something else was coming, something major was getting ready to happen, and this... this was all just the beginning.

~*~

"I can not believe this. Of all the reasons for me to wake up... Faith? They give me visions of Faith? Thanks a lot, Powers. Just great."

Angel watched Cordelia with a mixture of astonishment and relief. He had been told that she wasn't going to wake up so many times. He had been in denial, swearing that they were all lying, but deep down, he knew that the chances were slim to none. To have her sitting up and complaining... She was so much more like the old Cordelia that he didn't know whether to tell her to shut up or to kiss her.

"Cordy..."

"I'm ranting here, Angel." She rolled her eyes and turned back to the small mirror she had forced a nurse to give her. "Look at my hair. They couldn't do something with this while I was in that coma? I mean, come on. They didn't have to make it glamorous, but they didn't have to leave it like this."

"Cordy..."

"Still ranting, Angel." She rolled her eyes again. "And you could have brought me a brush. You know how I am. And something better to wear than this hospital gown, because you know I'm not staying here. Neither am I walking outside like this. If I've got to wake up with Faith in my head, the least I deserve is some kind of pampering or something to cheer me up. You try being in a coma and waking up with visions of blood, guts and a deranged Slayer who's even more out of her mind now."

Angel took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was starting to lean more towards telling her to just shut up, though afterwards, he might still kiss her. There definitely weren't any side effects to the coma. She was exactly the way he thought she would always be. "Cordy, the vision? What was it?"

"I just told you. It was Faith."

"A little more, maybe? Like... what's going to happen? Giles and Spike have already found her, but..."

"Wait a minute!" She put down her mirror and stared up at him. "What does Spike have to do with this?"

Angel sighed. There was so much to explain. There was so much that Cordelia didn't know. She had no idea that he'd made a deal with the Senior Partners to erase Connor from everyone's memory. She didn't know that Sunnydale was destroyed and that so many people had died in the battle. She didn't know that Faith was missing, and now found, and apparently a wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Where to start? He groaned and guessed the answer was, at the beginning. Slowly, Angel sat down on the edge of the bed and started to explain to the best of his ability. He started with the destruction of Jasmine, the deal for Connor's life and Angel Investigations taking over the Wolfram & Hart offices. From there, he went to the disappearance of Faith after her coma, the destruction of Sunnydale, and Spike's emergence from the amulet in his office. He rounded the story out with everything they'd just found out, then sat quietly, waiting for her response.

Cordelia just stared at him. She looked down at her mirror, then looked back up to him. "So, you're telling me that Connor doesn't know who we are, my hometown is gone, and we've got a crazy Slayer on the loose who goes out and wrestles on TV every week... and you just managed to find this out?"

"Cordy, come on. Why would I give Spike cable? He gets on my nerves. He keeps taunting me so..." He shrugged. "I punished him."

"And everybody else. Though, I still can't believe that Spike is there and he actually watches that stuff." She shook her head and shuddered. "The idea of Spike around... Can't we get rid of him now? He bugs me."

"I've tried. Believe me, I've tried. Unless Fred can figure out how to make him corporeal again, we're stuck with him."

"Well, Fred's gonna have to get on the ball, then." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and carefully put them on the floor. "You think I'll actually stand up or do you think I'll fall?"

Angel smirked as he stood up and stepped in front of her. "My bet is fall."

She rolled her eyes. "Great way to believe in me, there, Angel."

"I believe in you. I just don't believe in your muscles after a coma."

"Well... We'll just have to see won't we?"

Cordelia stood up... and promptly fell back down. Her knees buckled beneath her and the only thing that kept her from hitting the floor was Angel's arms as they wrapped around her and held her up. She leaned against him and looked into his face. Angel looked down at her and wanted to kiss her so badly, but with everything else so much more important, this wasn't the time to have a talk about the relationship they never got to have. And yet, knowing this, he still couldn't let her go. He still couldn't put her back on the bed and tell her to talk about the vision. He'd gone so long without holding her that he just couldn't let her go.

"She... was being attacked," Cordy said softly. She didn't push away from Angel, and she didn't tell him to let her go. "I couldn't see what it was, but... there was a lot of blood, and there were dead people around her. She was crying. She knelt next to someone, a guy and... she kissed him."

"She kissed him?"

"Soft. Not what we'd imagine Faith doing, but..." She sighed. "She kissed him, then she let whatever it was kill her. It was like, seeing that guy dead, seeing all those people dead... She must have known them, Angel. They must have been her wrestling friends, and with them all dead, she let herself get killed."

Almost reluctantly, Angel lifted Cordelia and sat her back down on the bed. Nothing could kill the mood better than the thought of a dead Slayer, especially one that he felt that he had personally let down. He knew that Giles wasn't going to take this any better than he could, but he was going to have to tell him. It was just hard to believe that Faith could ever be so beaten, in so much despair...

But then, he changed that thought. He remembered when she had tried to get him to kill her. And yet, even then, she hadn't just let it happen. For all of her screaming that she wanted Angel to kill her, Faith had never stopped fighting. If she wanted to die that badly, she would have just stopped fighting. Even her own guilt hadn't been enough to take the fight out of her, so what could have done it this time?

He shook his head and sighed. He had to get to Faith. He had to get to her before something else did. He had to convince her not to do this. He had to stop all of those other people from dying. He had to do something...

"There's something else you need to know." Cordelia's voice broke through his thoughts. She pulled herself back against the pillows and let out a heavy breath. "She doesn't know anything, Angel."

"What?" He blinked in confusion. "What do you mean she doesn't know anything?"

"She doesn't know who she is. Her mind... I felt it in the vision, somehow. I don't know why or how, but..." She sighed. "The Faith that we knew is gone, Angel. Vanished."

~*~

"You should try this."

Faith looked at the short, deep blue dress that Trish held up and rose an eyebrow. It wasn't bad. Of course, the dresses that Trish and Stephanie picked up usually looked great... on them. She just wasn't the dress type. "Not my style," she muttered, then turned back to the rack of pants. She was thinking pinstripe.

"You've got amnesia. How would you know what your style is?"

Stephanie smirked. "As much as I hate to admit it, she's got a point. You don't really know what your style is, do you?"

"It's a feeling." Faith shrugged and pulled a pair from the rack. "I don't think I was ever the dress type of girl, and I really don't feel like the dress type now. Besides, have you ever tried to fight in a dress? I'm betting it's hard as hell."

"Actually, it's pretty easy." Trish laughed as she walked a few feet away to replace the dress. "There's less material to confine you and your legs are just free. It's the heels that cause a problem."

"And you can solve that by wearing lower, chunky heels."

"Oh, uh uh!" Trish shook her head violently. "I refuse to let you go back to those ugly shoes, Steph."

"They were not ugly! Just because they were comfortable..."

"Comfort means ugly, so hush." She rolled her eyes. "You don't have to wear stilletos, but you don't have to go just ugly, either."

Faith listened to them bicker over fashion, but her mind was elsewhere. The past two nights, she had tried her best to stay inside. Every time she stepped outside at night, her stomach tightened in knots that she knew signified that something for her to fight was very close. They were in the crowds at the arenas, they were lurking outside of the hotel. She didn't think they were looking for her in particular, but she was supposed to be looking for them.

Dave kept offering to stay in with her, but all he ended up doing was trolling the streets with her when she couldn't deny the calling anymore. Part of her worried about taking him out there with her, knowing what lie ahead, but she didn't want to be alone in her oddity. She didn't want to walk through the night with nothing but the darkness to keep her company. So, Dave walked with her, close enough so she could feel his presence, but far enough away that she could burst ahead if necessary.

She could still hardly believe that things were going so easily. She figured if she had just told this as a story, it would have been harder to believe. But the others had seen it. They had been attacked. They couldn't say that Faith was just delusional or making stuff up for attention, because they had seen it, too. They had seen the vampires, felt their foul breath upon their necks, and watched Faith perform with superhuman strength.

As easily as things were going, though, she still waited for her persecution to come. One day, she was sure that the novelty would wear off and they would send her packing. It wasn't like Hunter was the nicest guy in the world, and honestly, Stephanie was cool, but Faith wouldn't call her honor-bound and trustworthy. She wouldn't say that about any of them. Of course, she couldn't say that about herself either. All she knew for sure was, at the moment, everyone was coping.

"Hunter doesn't have plans for tomorrow night, does he?" Faith turned to the women curiously. "After the show, I mean?"

Stephanie thought for a moment, then shrugged. "You never know when it comes to Hunter. Sometimes he gets an idea and..." She shrugged again. "And then, there's Ric. Sometimes, he just decides on a whim that he wants to go out and party. Why?"

"Because I think we should stay in." Faith sighed. She thought the entire city should have stayed in that night, but that wasn't nearly as plausible as just getting her friends to stay inside.

"Are you having one of those weird moments?" Trish moved closer, carrying an armful of shirts that looked like they would match with the pants Faith was holding. "Like... something's gonna happen?"

"Maybe." Faith shrugged. "It just feels wrong, ya know? Like there's something waiting..." She held back the rest of the thought, which was that she felt like something was waiting for her, specifically. Things were weird enough without adding fuel to the fire. "I wish we could get out of Detroit, altogether."

"Not gonna happen," Stephanie said, shaking her head. "If I go to Dad and say we need to cancel a show because we have a vampire killer on the roster and she thinks that we're in danger, he'll lock us all up. Not that I don't believe you," she added quickly. "If you say we should stay in, then it's in that we stay. But, I can't get it cancelled."

"I know. I just wish..." Faith sighed. "I wish that I had lost the feelings with the memories."

"You wouldn't rather remember?" Trish looked at her with confusion. "That's weird. I'd have thought you wanted to remember so you could know what was going on."

"You know what they say. Ignorance is bliss." Faith pushed a dangling lock of hair back on her head. "I'd rather know nothing than have the bits and pieces. I want to be able to start fresh, but I can't, because I have this leftover duty that's not going to go away just because my memory did."

"I know that has to be hard, Faith, but think of it this way." Stephanie walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "At least you're not alone. You were lucky enough to be accepted by the elite. You're with the best of the best of the wrestling world. Hell, as far as Hunter and I are concerned, we're the best of the best of the entire world. For a new life, you could have done a lot worse. You could be hanging out with Lita, and that would be a fate worse than death."

Trish laughed, then smirked. "Ya know, I hear there was a time when she was very modest. A delight to be around, even. What happened to the lovable, dare I say likable, Stephanie McMahon?"

"I married Triple H and he showed me the wonders of conceit."

"Oh, I'm so lucky." Faith rolled her eyes, but a grin curved her lips upward. "I got rich losers as opposed to poor ones. So rich that, as a present for saving your life, you can float me a loan because your old man doesn't pay me enough for four hundred dollar pants."

Stephanie groaned, then snickered. "You're so full of shit." She took the pants from her. "Fine, but you're buying the shirts. You're so lucky that I like you."

"Yes, I know. And think... as strong as I am, you're lucky that I like you, too." Faith laughed and picked a few shirts from Trish's arms. Her last statement had been a little more true than anyone knew. Without her around, Stephanie, Trish and everyone that Faith now called her friends would probably be dead.

~*~

"This is just bloody fucking unfair!" Spike glowered at the trio standing in front of him. At that moment, he would have given anything to have a moment of solidness, if for nothing other than to hit Angel right in the face. "I can't believe you're taking the witch and the Watcher, but you won't take me!"

"You can't go, and that's that." Angel rolled his eyes. "You can't even leave the city, Spike. What do you expect us to do? Wait until they come to L.A. to get it done?"

"But... why do they need to go? All Red's gonna do is drool over the divas."

"I'll have you know that I do not drool." Willow stood with her back straight and folded her arms. "I'll just very politely ask that one with the legs if she's ever thought about kissing a witch."

"Stacy Keibler doesn't bat for your team! She bats for my team! And so does Trish Stratus. And Victoria. And..."

"And it's just because they haven't met the right girl. The right witch. You never know, Spike. I mean, I thought I batted for your team, too. And really, I do have a thing for blondes and the one with the legs is very blonde and very... leggy."

"And very straight! Get off it, bird! She's not for you!"

"Would the both of you stop it right now or I'll bloody well hand spankings to you both!" Everyone turned towards Giles. Willow's eyes were wide. Spike merely smirked. Giles took in a deep breath and thought about his words for a moment. It wasn't the most thought-out threat he could think of, but at the moment, it seemed the most appropriate. They were behaving like children, and a parental threat seemed apropos. "Er... shut up, the both of you."

"But, Giles..."

"Willow, we are not going to Detroit so you can try to find a new girlfriend. And Spike, you can't leave the city, so you can't go. Besides, we're not going to see a show. We're going to save lives."

"Lives that you don't know." Spike growled. "How do you expect to get in there, hm? Red's going to pop off a spell to blind you to security? Nothing against you, luv, because you're good, but I don't know if you're that good."

"You have no idea how good I am." Willow pouted. "And besides, we don't need spells because Giles knows that Regal guy. He was going to be a wrestler, you know."

"Giles! A wrestler!" Spike started to laugh. His guffaws grew so hard that his body jerked backwards. He fell to the floor... then through the floor. He stopped just as he passed through the ceiling of the lab. Fred looked up at him and he winked at her. "Hey, luv. Working hard on that spell? Right right... good job." Then he floated back up through the floor into Angel's office. "Don't you laugh," he said, pointing at Angel.

"Would I laugh?"

"You always laugh." He growled again, then pointed at Giles. "And I don't give a toss who you know backstage. You don't all need to go. Why do I get stuck here babysitting Gel Boy's vision girl?"

"You're not babysitting Cordy, you're staying here because you can't go. And if she gets another vision, you can move the fastest to get a call through." Angel sighed and his body shook. He didn't know why he was arguing with Spike, anyway. There was nothing that could be done, and even if Spike were corporeal, Angel still wouldn't have taken him with them. "The point is that you can't go, and even if you physically could, you wouldn't, so stop messing with Willow and go away so we can set strategy."

"What need is there for strategy? The bird doesn't know who she is. So, grab her, brainwash her, let Red do her mojo, then bam... the bad ol' Slayer is back in the action."

"Right now, the important part is keeping her alive." Angel looked to Willow and Giles, and sighed. He hadn't had the time to tell them everything in Cordelia's vision yet, and this seemed to be the only time they would have. The Wolfram & Hart jet was almost ready, and they needed the basic stuff out of the way to plan.

As best he could, he relayed what Cordelia had seen. She hadn't been able to come up with anything else about what attacked Faith. All she could impress on him was that she didn't know who she was and that she cared too much for the people around her. If they died, Faith would die, and they couldn't let that happen. No one was prepared to bring in a new Slayer. No one was prepared to fail Faith again.

When he was done, Angel's body sagged. He leaned against his desk and was quiet for a few minutes as the sun diffused through the UV-protectant windows and fell over his shoulders. Slowly, he rose his head to the others and looked at them. "For so long, Faith was alone. She had no one. Now, she's got people, and they're going to die unless we do something. Whatever it was, it was too strong for her alone. If they die, then Faith dies, and I'm not about to let that happen."

Giles looked to Willow, then back to Angel. Until then, his top priority had been to get Faith home and recover her memory. The only thing Angel had told them on the phone was that Faith's memory was gone. Knowing, though, that she would allow herself to be killed... Priorities had to change. The Slayer cared so much for these people that she would allow herself to die? Faith hadn't cared about anyone, but now...

Giles sighed. "We have to make sure they all live. And then..." He sighed again and shook his head. "Then, we decide what to do about the Slayer out there on her own."

"Uh huh, and while you're at it," Spike said, "you had better bring me Triple H's autograph!"

~*~

Something felt wrong from the moment she stepped off the plane. Though the sky was clear, it felt as though a dark cloud loomed over the city of Detroit, hovering just out of reach. Yet, at any moment, that cloud could swoop down and blanket the city in darkness and evil. Walking from the airport to the waiting limousine, Faith felt a shiver. Goosebumps crawled up her arms.

During the ride to the arena, she kept her attentions focused outside, staring out the tinted windows. Conversation flowed all around her, but she wasn't paying any attention. She watched people moving by and wondered if any of them were the reason for the cold that slid up her spine. Did one of those innocent looking people have a plan for that night that could be put in the category she somehow knew to be "Big Bad?"

She knew that it wasn't vampires. That was an entirely different feeling. When vamps were around, her stomach twisted in knots and she felt nauseous. This was almost an ache behind her eyes. She could massage her temples until her fingers went through her skin but it wouldn't do any good. Nothing would stop it until the disaster was averted.

Faith felt somewhat guilty. She was planning to hide from the whole thing, when all her senses told her that she should be out there trying to find it. She shouldn't have been trying to get herself ready to cut a promo or wrestle Victoria. She shouldn't have been thinking about what she and Dave were going to do once she was sure everyone would stay inside. She was special, and that meant going out there to face the Big Bad and making sure that no one else was hurt.

But right then, the only way she could think of doing that was to stay inside with them. Even if the others listened, Dave would have followed her. Dave had spent all the nights since their first vampiric encounter trolling the streets with her and there was nothing she could do outside of knocking him unconscious that would stop him. By the time Dave found her, he would have everyone else with him, and then they'd all be in danger. How could she fight if she were constantly worried about others?

She thought that maybe that was why she had been alone before. Maybe she knew that being close to people only got them hurt, or worse, and had therefore pushed everyone away. It seemed like a lonely life, and although the idea made sense and had merit, it wasn't a life she wanted to go back to. She never wanted to remember it fully because her partial memories clouded her new life enough.

"Faith!" She jumped in the seat and turned with blinking eyes to Trish. "We were saying that we would humor your need to stay in tonight and have a party. You can keep at least three girls safe by finding chicks to party with Ric."

"I don't need her to find me chicks." Ric snorted a laugh. "I can do it on my own. The second I step outta this car... WHOOO... they'll be all over me."

"Uh huh. Space Mountain and all that." Trish giggled. "It's kinda icky when ya think about it. I mean, sure he's hot for his age..."

"Hey, now!"

"...but he's like... a parent with us. I mean, Steph..." Her head turned. "Would you wanna ride Space Mountain?"

Stephanie pretended to gag, holding her throat as she leaned in against Hunter. "No offense, Ric," she said, sitting backk up and laughing, "but thinking of you like that is akin to reliving the moment Dad called himself a genetic jackhammer. It's like... parental sex and that's just... ew."

Ric rolled his eyes. "Then it's a good thing for the both of ya that I don't want ya. I can find my own chicks, thank you, and trust me, they'll be as safe as safe can be."

"You got seatbelts for Space Mountain?" Randy smirked and elbowed Dave in the side. "That's one to see."

"Uh huh." Dave's eyes traversed the interior of the car and finally landed on Faith. "You alright?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but Hunter cut her off. "She's fine. Stop babying her. She's the one that's supposed to be the tough broad, right? The big hero to save everybody. You're just lucky I didn't wanna go out tonight, anyway."

"Hunter, if you want to die that's your business." Faith rolled her eyes and turned back to look out the window. "I would just prefer not to have it on my hands. I don't know what's going on, but it's not vamps. It's not anything that I know right now. I just... it's weird and it's wrong and I should be out there."

The car went silent for a few moments. They continued on with only glances passing between them. When they pulled into the arena parking lot, Trish leaned over and stretched her arm out. Her fingertips just barely touched Faith's leg as she said, "You don't have to save the world, ya know."

She didn't know how to say that, in a way, she did. She had to save them, and that was her world. If she couldn't save them, then what would be left? Faith took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I have to save my world," she said as the door opened, "and for right now that's what I'm doing."

Faith got out of the car and quickly walked around. Dave caught up with her and grabbed her hand. She pulled him along, keeping her eyes straight forward. She didn't need to see his sympathy or his concern. She just needed him and the others to stay inside this one night, until everything was over.

Faith went inside the building and before the door could close behind her and Dave, she bent over, holding her stomach. "What the hell?" She forced herself up and tried to look around. A vampire? In the arena? In the backstage area during broad daylight? Something had to be wrong. Her senses had to be screwing up on her. She took a few steps forward and her stomach cramped up again. She felt Dave beside her and the grip she held on his solid arm was the only thing that kept her grounded.

Then suddenly, she shoved him back. Whatever it was, it was coming towards her. She didn't stop to see where everyone was. She just spun and her foot landed solidly against an arm. Faith dropped down into a handstand and bent her body backwards. Her feet planted solidly in a chest and she kicked. As the body reeled backwards, she jumped back to her feet. She stood in a fighting stance, then watched as the man across from her stumbled back then steadied himself on his feet.

Faith started to go forward, then stopped as she got a good look at his eyes. Flashes from one of her most vivid nightmare-memories popped in her head. The torture, the rain... begging him to kill her because she deserved to die. Looking at him, she knew that this person had at one time been her friend, her only friend, but now, she couldn't feel anything for him. He was a stranger. She didn't know his emotions or even his name, just his face.

"Faith," he said, moving towards her in halting steps, "it's me, Angel."

"Angel..." She said the name, but it didn't spark anything. She didn't feel anything. She watched as two people came up behind him, one an older man with glasses, the other a short red-haired woman. Behind them came William Regal. She knew the faces of the people behind Angel, but that was it. "What are you?"

Hunter shoved past, bumping Faith's shoulder as he moved in front of her. He took a stance just ahead of her. Dave and Randy moved up at either of his sides. Ric stood just to the left of Dave. Trish and Stephanie took their places on either side of Faith. Hunter bellowed, "What the hell is going on here! Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing here!"

The one with the glasses moved in front of Angel, and the woman came up with him. Faith couldn't see him, but she heard his unfamiliar voice as he said, "My name is Rupert Giles and this is Willow Rosenburg and Angel. We've come for Faith."

Angel's voice came again as he said, "We're here for the Slayer."

"The Slayer..." Faith whispered, shaking her head. The title made sense. She did slay the vampires. But it held no recognition for her, no feeling of being. It was just a title that was put on her that she didn't know if she even deserved.

Faith was ready to step forward and shove everyone out of the way when a small voice that she assumed came from Willow said, "Actually, they came for Faith and, um... I came to meet Stacy Keibler. And yeah, I sorta came for Faith, too, but right now... can one of you pretty girls please tell me where Stacy Keibler is? You're both hot, too, by the way, just... where's the leggy blonde?"

And in a moment filled with tension and uncertainty, Faith couldn't help but laugh and be glad for the moment of levity.

~*~

"So, let me get this straight. This Buffy chick.. And excuse me, but that's a shit ass name. But yeah, this Buffy chick dies and... Kendra, you said her name was? Kendra was called. Then she got whacked, and I was called. But Buffy, again a really stupid ass name, came back from the dead not once, but twice. So I'm the Slayer, and she's the Slayer. So you've got two Slayers."

Giles and Angel looked at one another, then turned back to Faith. With a nod, Giles said, "Yes."

"Then problem solved. You've got a Slayer and I have a life. So, go the fuck away and leave me to it. Done?" She looked around to the others standing near. Dave stood behind her chair, his hand resting on her shoulder. Hunter, Ric and Randy were spread out around the room, each giving unwelcome glances to the vampire and the Watcher. Trish and Stephanie stood on either side of her chair. William Regal was behind Giles. And Willow was nowhere to be found.

"Sounds done to me." Hunter stepped forward and smirked. "Now, get the hell out of our locker room. We've got shit to do."

"Nothing is done." Angel stood tall, his arms folded across his chest. He lowered his head and sighed. Slowly, he rose his head and looked at Faith. "We may have two Slayers, but you're the one that calls another. If you die..."

"Ah, but I don't plan on dying." Faith winked and leaned back. She looked up at Dave. He hadn't said anything the entire time. At the same time, neither had he left her back. He'd stood there the entire time with his hand on her shoulder, waiting for everything to be over. She blinked at him, then turned her attention back onto Angel. "I don't die, no new Slayer is called, and even if one is, then you've still got a back up. Go let that Buffy chick do it all since, from the way you talk, she actually wants to do it, and leave me alone."

"She doesn't always want to do it, Faith. No one does." Giles stepped forward. He made a move to go closer to Faith, but his path was blocked by Trish and Stephanie. Ric and Randy came up on his sides. He stopped, then groaned. He removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose before replacing them. "I realize that you didn't ask for any of this. None of the Slayers do. You were chosen. You are the Chosen One."

"But there are Chosen Two, not One, because there are two of us."

"Faith..." She could tell that Giles was wary of something. Was it her? He seemed almost afraid to say it. "We're not altogether comfortable having you out here on your own?"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well... you weren't exactly the most... stable of people."

"Well, hell, we knew that one, already!" Ric laughed and in a matter of moments, Randy, Trish and Stephanie were chuckling along with him. "The girl's not all there, but neither are we. She'd have to be a little crazy to hang around with this bunch."

"Faith's my new bodyguard!" Stephanie grinned, then turned to Trish as the blonde diva cleared her throat. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, she's out new bodyguard. I swear, this woman has a thing about sharing. We want her violent, because then the real crazy people won't mess with us."

"You keep your Slayer," Randy said, "and we'll keep ours. You've got your bases covered and we get someone to save our asses from the freaks out there like the one that bit my woman."

"Ugh," Trish groaned, "I do have a name, ya know."

"I know that."

"Then use it."

"Please!" Angel spoke loud enough to break in before the bickering got too bad. "There's more to everything than has been said. Yeah, Faith's the Slayer. Yeah, we've got another. But there's something happening in this town tonight and we're here to make sure that it doesn't. From the wonderful Powers That Be, who love to only give us half the story, none of you are going to survive this night and personally, I'm not ready for another Slayer to be called."

And the room erupted in screams. Everyone shouted and argued... except for Faith and Dave. She turned her head up to him again. He stared down at her with unreadable eyes. She looked up at him with worried eyes. She knew something bad was going to happen. It was all because she was there. They didn't have these types of things happen before she showed up. She would have heard about them when she arrived. Her mere presence was enough to bring disaster down on those around her.

Dave shook his head and she wondered if somehow, he knew what she was thinking. It had bothered her that he was so quiet through everything. Was he trying to decide just how fast to get rid of her after hearing the long, sordid tale of Slayer history? She wanted to ask him, but at the same time, she didn't. She was happy, dammit, and she didn't want these idiots to ruin it.

"It's not you," Dave told her. His voice was low, just loud enough to be heard over the screaming in the room.

"Yes, it is," she told him.

"No," he said firmly, "it's not. Shit happens."

They both turned their heads to the others just as the screaming stopped... because Willow had entered the room with a rather sour look on her face. The redheaded witch plopped down on the nearest chair and slouched with her arms folded. "So, yeah, while you were in here yelling and being all crazy, I found Stacy Keibler. All on my own, might I add. And, as nice of a girl as she is, she's straight. Which means, I am so ready to get out of here. Did we convince Faith to come back with us or not?"

Before anyone else could speak, Dave said, "She's not going anywhere." He walked around the chair and faced off with Angel. "First of all, like Randy already said, you have your Slayer and we have ours. Second, if your Powers That Be wanted Faith with you, they wouldn't have let her go off and get amnesia. She was sent to us for a reason, and it's not just to be their bodyguards..." He pointed at Trish and Stephanie. "...or save our asses. She's here to save herself. The Faith you knew doesn't exist anymore."

Dave took in a deep breath and stood a little bit taller. Hunter, Ric and Randy came to stand around him. Trish and Stephanie stood in front of them. Faith pushed her way through the crowd to position herself in front of Dave. He put his hands on her shoulders and let out a heavy breath.

"She went through a lot of shit with you, so what the hell makes you think taking her back is going to make things better? It may save your consciouses, but it's just going to destroy her, and we... I... am not about to let you do that. From what you say, she hasn't had a real home in years. Fine, then. She's got one here and you're not taking her away from it. So, she's here to finally be happy and you're here to make sure that whatever the Powers showed you doesn't happen. We've already got that covered. Faith told us to stay in, and we're staying in. Problem solved, and you can go back to wherever in the hell you came from."

There was a silence in the room following Dave's words. Faith kept her eyes trained on the vampire in front of her, but she wanted to look at Dave. She didn't know that he felt so strongly about her place with them. From his words, she felt that he would fight to keep her there, and there was nothing more touching that he could have done or said.

William Regal came forward and stood between Angel and Giles. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, then said, "I can't say anything about whether Faith leaves or not, other than that she's a very good wrestler and an asset that we do not want to lose. However, I have had my contact with the Watcher's Council. I know Rupert, and I trust him. If he says that something is going on, well... None of us can convince Mr. McMahon of calling off a show, but afterwards, Eugene and I will not be going anywhere. If the Slayer has said to stay in, then at least that dear boy and myself will stay inside."

"Just... let her stay, Angel." Willow sighed and stood up. "Whatever needs to be settled can be settled later. Right now, though, we just have to worry about keeping everybody alive, right? So... let them do what they've got to do, and we'll go and do the Scooby thing. I need something to get my mind off of the legs I don't get anyway."

"What is your obsession with Keibler?" Faith shook her head. "Wait, I don't wanna know." She sighed. "It's already been decided. I'm not going anywhere, and if you try to make me, you've got to fight us all."

"And there's no way in hell you're getting past Evolution," Hunter chimed in.

"So, if you'll excuse me," Faith said, rolling her eyes, "Trish and I have a tag match tonight that we'd like to prepare for. So, get the hell out. After the show, we go into hiding until we get the fuck out of Detroit."

Faith walked off, though it was with some reluctance that she pulled away from Dave. She crossed the room and went out the door. Whether they all fought it out or not when she was gone, she didn't care. Evolution had taken on four vampires. She was sure they could take care of one vampire, a Watcher and an obsessed lesbian. And now, she was absolutely sure that they would fight for her. She was Evolution, and nobody came in and told Evolution what they were going to do or where they were going to go.

~*~

The decision had been made. Angel, Wesley and Willow would stay during the show, then the second it was over, they were going out to patrol. They still hadn't told Faith everything in Cordelia's vision, and they didn't plan to do so. If she knew what would happen, she might run again, and that was the last thing anyone wanted. Giles and Angel weren't too sure about letting her stay behind and be a WWE diva, as well as a Slayer, but for the moment, that was on the back burner. The first order of business was just to keep her alive.

When the show was over, everyone parted. Faith watched the trio drive away in a rental car and almost wished that she could remember them. She knew their faces, she knew some of their stories. She knew that Willow's lover had been killed. She knew that Giles wanted to be everyone's father figure. She knew that Angel was the only person she had trusted in her previous life. However, she didn't have any feelings of recognition. It was all just a mass of facts, as though she had learned and memorized them for school, but it didn't really involve her.

The ride to the hotel was relatively quiet. Faith thought about everything she had tried to accomplish. She had done her best to impress on everyone that going out wasn't a good thing tonight without being too obvious, but it wasn't working. Some people were just going to go out there and do what they wanted. The only others besides her own inner circle that she knew would be safe inside were William Regal and Eugene. She had never been so grateful for the influence of strangers as she was then. If something happened to Eugene... At least Giles had been there, because otherwise, she'd have never told Regal that she killed vampires.

As they pulled up to the front of the hotel, Faith looked at the doors and instantly got the feeling that something was wrong. The night seemed to be the darkest that she could remember. Even the stars were hiding from the danger behind thick black clouds. At the hotel, she almost felt even less safe going inside.

The door opened and she hesitated. Dave nudged her and she turned. "Uh... yeah, I think we should just go straight to the airport."

"What the hell?" Hunter growled. "First it's stay at the hotel. Then it's go to the airport? Make up your mind, woman."

"How about you kiss my ass, huh?" Faith rolled her eyes. "Something just feels wrong with this place. Something... I don't know."

"Look, we can't even get a flight out of here tonight. I'm pissed off at those assholes for daring to come into my goddamned locker room and tell me what the fuck they're gonna do with members of my elite fucking group. Get out of the goddamned car so we can go upstairs."

"H!" Dave looked at him and glared. "We're all pissed, but don't take it out on Faith. We don't need to be fighting each other. We need to figure out what we're gonna do when they come back. Keeping Faith here is more important than you damned attitude."

Before Hunter could respond, Ric said, "Both of you stop. The danger's supposed to be out there. Not in here."

Stephanie sighed and slouched down in her seat. "Well..." She looked around the car. Randy and Trish were trying to stay out of the argument, probably because if they started fighting they wouldn't do anything else that night, and Stephanie really didn't want the drama of Randy showing up at their door because Trish had kicked him out again. "...if we really need to leave, I guess I could put a call in and have the company jet waiting."

"But it's still got to get here," Hunter said, "and I'm not sitting in the limo all night long because she's paranoid."

Faith shook her head and groaned. Was she just being paranoid? She had been sensing things all night long. Just the idea of being in that city had been enough to make her worried, but Giles, Angel and Willow showing up with their news pushed that concern straight to paranoia.

"He's right," she said with a groan. She didn't know what was worse. The paranoia or admitting that Hunter was right. "We can't just sit here all night. Yeah, the jet's a good idea but... I'm being paranoid. I thought a vampire was in the front row of the crowd, and I was just sensing Angel two rows behind him. My senses are all out of whack. Steph, call the jet and until then... we'll just stay here."

Faith got out of the car and walked up to the door. The doorman held the glass door open and she hesitated again. It was just a hotel. She didn't know why she was so worried about going inside. Had something bad happened to her inside of a hotel in the past? Was this just her paranoia or was it a memory of some sort? Or... Hell, she didn't know. She just knew that she was tired and wary, and feeling a little guilty that she wasn't outside trying to find whatever was so dangerous that they had to stay holed inside for the night.

"Fuck it," she muttered. Slowly, she crossed the hotel's threshold. The second her foot passed over the line, she shuddered. Something felt evil inside. Not just wrong, but truly evil. She thought that maybe the hotel wasn't the safest place, but there was nowhere else for them to go. Were they going to drive around the city all night, waiting for the call from the airport? Not likely.

Dave bumped her back and she turned towards him. "Maybe... maybe I should patrol the hotel," she said to him. "Just a once over to make sure it's okay."

"Or maybe you should go upstairs, get undressed, and get on me." He winked at her and she couldn't help the humorous smirk that spread across her lips. Dave touched her face with his fingertips. "You said the hotel would be safe."

"I know."

"So is it?"

"I... I don't know."

"We can't keep running from everything. We're the end of your running and whatever it is..." He shrugged. "You can handle it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because..." He knelt down and whispered in hear ear. "You're the Slayer. You're a WWE diva. You're part of Evolution. You can do anything."

Faith shivered as his breath passed her ear. She wasn't sure if she truly believed him or if she was just so turned on in that moment that she didn't want anything to be wrong. Whatever the reason. She took a step back and turned towards the reception desk. She was the Slayer. She could do anything. If danger arose, she would take care of it, but for the moment, she had something a little more important to take care of. Namely, the desire that had started to well up inside of her from just a simple whisper.

~*~

At 1:28, Faith sat up straight and whipped her head around the room. Something dark had just disturbed a perfectly good moment of afterglow. Her body was slick with sweat. Her hair was a tangled mess upon her head. She felt something break loose, but she didn't know if the floodgates were opening inside of her or if she was just feeling the effects of something else breaking through a weak and cracked dam.

Dave didn't sit up, but he reached over to touch her. She didn't jump as his warm, heavy hand landed on her arm. She turned her head slowly to him. From the look of confusion on his face, it was obvious that whatever had just happened, he didn't feel it. Moments like these were what made her think she was crazy, the times when she felt a physical presence that no one else seemed to feel. The times when she just knew she was losing her mind because there was no reason for her to swear she had heard something break. She hated feeling things alone, and looking at Dave, she knew this was going to be one of those moments where, should she ask him, he would say he didn't feel anything.

Stupid as the question may have been, considering the fact that she already knew the answer, Faith said, "Did you feel that?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what that is, but I'm guessing it's not what I'm feeling." He looked down the length of his body to the tent starting to rise already beneath the sheet. "Because I'm feeling something..."

Faith rolled her eyes, then snorted a slightly amused and somewhat sarcastic laugh. "I'm not talking about that. You always feel that." She rolled her eyes again. "I'm talking about..."

At 1:33 in the morning, the entire building shook.

******

"Um, maybe this is a Slayer thing, but uh... I don't really feel anything." Willow walked around rather bored. She thought that if they had found something, she would at least have something to take her mind off of the fact that she was completely in lust with a perfectly straight person. "I mean, I am this uber powerful witch, and I've been on the dark side before. I should be able to feel it right?"

Giles and Angel kept moving forward in front of her. There had to be something out there. It couldn't just be a coincidence that the sky was pitch black with thick, heavy clouds. Something was going on, and it was somewhere in Detroit.

"Maybe we're in the wrong part of the city." Angel looked around. "We expect things to happen in the busiest places, which usually means downtown, but I'm not getting anything."

"We need Faith here." Giles was still wary of leaving her behind with those wrestlers. What happened if she got in a rage? Who would be able to control her hair trigger temper? Yes, that one, Batista, seemed to calm her but that couldn't last forever. But, William Regal was a trusted friend, and if he said that they could handle her, he should have believed him.

And yet, there was still more. Leaving a Slayer behind, even if she wanted to be left alone... He had done enough of that with Faith already. They would have a fight on their hands if they tried to take her back, but maybe if she were with them, if she saw the carnage that she could prevent by going back to her Slayer training, she would see that she needed to return with them. Or maybe it would just drive her farther away.

Suddenly, Willow screamed and dropped to her knees. Giles and Angel rushed to her side. Angel fell down beside her and lightly touched her back. "Willow," he whispered. Her back was bowed at a painful angle, her body nearly bent in two. "Willow, what is it?"

She bent backwards and faced the sky. "Evil... dark, evil from the darkest place. Fire and ash..." Her hair was completely black. Her eyes were slowly bleeding into dark pools to match. Her skin was pale. "Someone has opened a portal and I can feel it..."

"Willow!" Giles dropped down in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. Willow started to chant in Latin and he shook her briskly. Her neck snapped back and forth. He slapped her hard across the face. "Fight it, Willow!" He looked up at Angel's confused face. "We shouldn't have brought her. There must be dark magicks around. They tempt her, call to the darkness within." He turned back to Willow and slapped her again. "Willow, fight! You've buried this! Do not let it come back!"

She stared at Giles, and slowly her hair seeped back to red. Her eyes swam in a sea of color before the whites around her pupils returned. "It... it was so thick... so rich... so... purely dark." Her voice was husky and breathless. She took in deep breaths and let them out slowly. Willow rose to her feet wobbly, then said, "It's in the city, but not here. Not where we are and yet... it's close." She turned her head to the side and stared blankly into the night. "Someone called something, and they can't control it."

A ringing broke the silence that followed her words and it took a moment for Angel to realize he was the one ringing. He dug in his pockets until he came out with a small phone. He flipped it open. "Yeah."

"Angel!" Cordelia spoke quickly. "It's a hotel!" There was a grunt on her end of the line, then a scream. "Hold on a sec." She shouted, "Don't mess up my hair! Do you know how long it takes to fix this after a magical coma!" There were more grunts and a scream, then Cordelia came back to the line. "A hotel!"

"What? Cordy, what's going on?"

"All hell broke loose, that's what's going on!" He heard running, then there were more muffled sounds. She had obviously moved away from the major battle scene, though in the background he could still hear Fred, Gunn and Spike shouting. He wondered how Spike managed to fight in his noncorporeal state. Was he trying to spook the enemy to death?

Cordelia broke his thoughts with, "I got another vision right before every Mini Bad in this city went completely crazy. There are vamps and everything out here, and Gunn had to call in the Evil Law Firm Army to pick up the slack. Let me tell you, there's nothing funnier than seeing lawyers scared of another lawyer when he threatens to–"

"Cordy!"

"Huh?"

"The hotel?"

"Oh, yeah, right. That." She paused, then shouted, "I'm talking to Angel! You got it covered!" She grunted, then came back to the line. "I got another vision, like I said, and it was clearer. A hotel. I mean, it was the same vision, I think, just clearer or... Hell, I don't know. All I know is that people were still dead and Faith still let her head get taken. But now I can see the place, and that is definitely the lobby of a decent hotel."

Angel went quiet. Hotel. Faith. "Shit!" He whirled around, then spun back towards Willow and Giles. "We left Faith at the hotel. Thought it was safe..."

"Well, it's not! Go save her so my headache will go away!"

The line went dead and Angel clicked the phone together. "Dammit!" He shoved the phone in his pocket and started running off. He yelled over his shoulder, "It's the hotel! Get to the car! We've gotta get back to Faith's hotel! Whatever this thing is... we left her right in its path!"

*****

Faith gulped. "I was talking about that." She jumped up from the bed, her eyes searching the darkness. There was still a low shake of the foundation, but these were like aftershocks. The biggest blast was past them. Though, that still left one question. "What the hell was that?"

Dave was up and at her side within seconds. He bent and picked his boxers up from the floor and tossed a shirt at Faith. "What did you feel? Before the shake... what did you feel?"

"I don't..." She shook her head as she thrust her arms in the sleeves of the shirt, then started to button it. "It wasn't like that but... like something bustin' free. Like when you're under water and you shoot out, ya know?" She searched a few seconds, then found her panties and put them on. "I've gotta go see what that was."

Already people were screaming outside of their door. Faith imagined that everyone in the hotel was up in arms, wondering what the hell was going on. At first, the screams were more angry shouts, and even on the other side of the door, she could clearly distinguish Hunter's voice as he demanded to know what kind of shitberg they were staying in that overcharged them for shitty foundation. If she didn't know that there were things out there worse than bad construction work, she would have agreed with him. However, she had a feeling that this was definitely not the hotel's fault... and it was the reason she hadn't wanted to come to Detroit in the first place.

"Stay here." By the time the words left her mouth, she was already to the door, hand on the knob. Of course, Dave was already half a step in front of her, pushing her out the way. She shoved him hard with her shoulder, making him stumble to the side. "I said stay here!"

"You're out of your goddamned mind if you think I'm letting you go out there..."

He stopped as the angry shouts turned to terrified screams. There was banging at the door, and it sounded like Stephanie and Trish. Others didn't know where to go, but they would know. Find the Slayer, find safety. Faith jerked the door open and the women fell inside. Trish looked up and pointed to the hallway. "Randy... Hunter..."

She was cut off as Ric came stumbling into the room in his underwear, two leggy brunettes right behind him. "The dumbasses! Hunter and Randy are still out there!"

Faith shoved her way past and burst into the hallway. "Son of a..." She stared at this... thing was the only way to describe it. The horny head raked the ceiling, and as it moved, plaster fell down around its head. It was a mixture of black and red, and it smelled like sulfur. The entire body looked to be made out of lava rock. The body was humanoid in terms of heads, limbs and eyes, but the rest of it was just a mass of stone.

Hunter was on the floor, pulling Randy along behind him as he crawled towards Faith. She dashed forward. She picked up Randy, throwing him over her shoulder. She tried to grab Hunter, but with Randy's weight, he was just too heavy. She started to call out, but Dave was already there, helping Hunter to his feet and pulling him towards the room. The thing roared and Faith only had a second to scream, "DOWN!" Everyone in the area dropped to the floor and fire flew over their heads. Someone was at the end of the hallway. Whoever it was didn't have time to get down and went down in a screaming ball of flames. Faith didn't recognize the person, but even as a stranger, she thought that she could mourn the loss later. Now, it was time to fight.

She scurried into the room and threw everyone inside. The door slammed behind her and she took inventory. Hunter had a large gash across his stomach and the skin around the wound was dark, as though he had brushed against something hot. His eyes were barely open as Stephanie lifted his head and put it in her lap. Her tears fell onto his cheeks. He was hurt, but he was still alive enough to tell her to stop crying like a little girl. How long he would be alive without medical attention was another question, though.

Randy was completely unconscious. Trish knelt down beside him, screaming at him to wake up. She slapped him and, though he groaned when his head fell to the other side, his eyes didn't open. Trish laid down on the floor beside him, her head next to his, and whispered in his ear. Faith couldn't hear what she was saying, but she could see the tears glistening on his cheeks. The side of his body was red, again looking as though he'd run against something hot just like Hunter, but there were no other marks on him. She assumed that he'd been slammed into the wall.

Faith ran towards the bathroom and ran into a solid wall of flesh as Dave came out. She hadn't even seen him leave the room. He held a handful of towels and put them down on Hunter. The leader of Evolution roared as pressure was put against his wound. Faith grabbed Ric and dropped him, and his dates, down beside Hunter.

"This thing is gonna tear the fuckin' place up if I don't do something." She looked at Ric and the girls. "Hold this down on him." She focused on Ric. "Be ready to run when I tell you to." Her head turned towards Dave. "I don't want you to go in the hallway, got me? Stay in the doorway. When I say run, you get everybody outta here."

"Hunter can't walk, and Randy's not even awake."

"Well, you've got the time it takes me to distract that thing to wake him the fuck up."

"And just how the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"Fuck if I know, and fuck if I care. Get him up and all of you run. Grab anybody you can along the way and just get the hell out of here. Go down the back stairs. I'm gonna try and turn that ugly son of a bitch the other..." Her words were cut off by another thunderous shake. Her head whipped to the side and half of the wall to her room was gone. The burning creature roared into the room, sending an arc of fire into the air as its head turned in a semi-circle.

Faith jumped to her feet. Dave was up beside her in a second. "Faith!"

"No!" She shook her head and pulled away from him as he grabbed her arm. "I've got to do this! It's what I do!"

"You're a diva! Wrestling is what you do!"

"I'm also a Slayer!" She shook her head again. "Please, just go, alright? I don't know what things were before, but... I know I didn't save anybody. I can save all of you. Or at least I can try." Without warning, she reached up and grabbed his face. She jerked him down to her and kissed him hard enough to bruise. Faith shoved him back, then said, "On my line, go!"

Faith dashed out into the hallway and started waving her arms. There was no point in going through the door. That entire side of the room was gone in a pile of debris. She looked to the side and saw Randy finally getting up to his feet. At least that was one less person to figure out how to carry. She looked back at the creature and shouted, "Hey! You big son of a bitch! Right over here, cinder boy!"

It bent down towards her, and she jumped over its back, somersaulting to the other side. The rest of the walls were torn apart as it whirled around. Faith screamed, "NOW!" The creature turned its head as the others went shooting out of the room, Dave and Ric doing their best to carry Hunter while Stephanie helped Trish get Randy out of the room. The creature started to go after them and Faith ran forward.

She jumped up and slugged it hard in the neck. She hit the floor and her hand burned. That motherfucker was made out of molten fucking lava! It worked though, and the creature turned back towards her. Faith stayed on the floor as it roared fire over her head, then jumped up to her feet. She looked down at herself and sighed. She was only in a shirt way too many sizes too big and panties. Her feet were scratched and bleeding from standing on rocks and broken plaster.

Faith shook her head and took a fighting stance. It could have been worse, she figured. She could have been completely naked, and that would definitely be her last choice of attire to fight in. She charged the thing, and before she burnt her hands up some more, she muttered, "Where the fuck is my vampire back-up and his buddies when I fuckin' need ‘em?"

~*~

An entire three floors had given away beneath her feet. Faith groaned as she achingly pushed herself up from the pile of jagged rubble. Her skin was flush from the contact she'd had with the heated demon. The outer side of her left thigh was scorched, the skin peeling back from where it had hit her as she came flying at it. The fall had given her more scratches and bruises, and for the first time, she was truly thanking whatever Powers had chosen her to be the Slayer. If she were normal, she'd have been dead by then.

She stood up on wobbly legs and faced the demon. It had fallen through, as well, but it stood easily. "Think burning the floor is gonna keep me down, huh?" Faith shook herself and took another fighting stance. "If the Molly Go Round doesn't keep me down, then nothing can."

She flexed her toes and winced. The bottoms of her feet were sore and bleeding, but she didn't have time to think about that. She could worry about infection and gangrene later. Right now, there was a monster in front of her, and they were two floors away from the lobby.

Faith wondered if the others had gotten out safely. Every solid hit that she had received happened when she heard a scream. Each time, she had turned her head to see who it was, grateful that it wasn't one of her friends, and angry that some idiot had the nerve to still be in the building when she was fighting a huge ball of molten lava. As long as her friends were out of the building, she could do her job. As long as they were safe, she could focus. Or at least, she would have been able to focus, if she knew they were alright.

A huge, burning fist came down at her and Faith back-flipped out of the way. The fist came crashing down and went to the floor... and through it. Faith stumbled backwards and looked down at the hole. At this rate, she would be in the lobby in no time. She waited until the lumbering arm moved out of the way, then jumped down one floor, landing in a crouch. She looked up and shouted, "Get down here, you big son of a bitch!"

The creature jumped and she tottered as the building shook with the weight of its landing. She ran at it before it was fully on its feet and landed on its shoulders. Her skin was heating, but the actual burning was minimal. She punched it hard in its head, and only after her third punch did she realize she was grinning. Faith had to admit that she was having fun. She had been holding back her strength and aggression so hard in the ring that the chance to let it out was an immense relief. This was the most exhilerating thing she could think of next to sex, and the thought of that made her want to finish the job even faster so she could find Dave and slam him against a wall with her tongue down his throat.

Then, a voice screamed, "Gela!" The creature went still and Faith felt a cool breeze rushing towards her. She jumped back from the creature and landed in a crouch. She watched as a whirlwind of ice circled the monster. When the ice and snow stopped, it was frozen in six inches of ice. Her head whipped around and she glared.

"About fuckin' time you showed up!" She stomped towards the group that had just arrived. Angel, Willow, and Giles stood staring at her, Willow's arm outstretched as she tried to hold the spell. "Where the hell have you been!"

"We thought it was out there," Angel said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "We got here as soon as we could, now we've got to get out of here."

"I don't wanna get out of here," she said, snatching her arm away. "I wanna beat that thing up some more." She bounced from side to side on the balls of her feet. "That was fun as hell. Why didn't somebody tell me it was that great? I mean, the vamps was a thrill yeah, but that... I could wrestle a match, then go out and find an ass to kick, then have the best sex of my life!"

"Faith, sex later." Angel rolled his eyes. "Right now, we need to get outta here."

"I said I don't wanna!"

"Uh, guys?" All heads turned to Willow. "While I'm sure this conversation is great with its back and forth saying of the same thing, but I can only hold this thing for so long, so Giles, you think you can do that spell?"

"What? Oh... Oh yes." Giles held up a scroll and stretched it open. It was the same one that Willow had previously been trying to translate days before. "Between the latest developments and memory jumpstarting, we finally figured out what this was referring to. The beast..."

"Giles, explain later!" Willow's arm started to shake, and so did the ice around the creature. "Spell, now!"

"Oh... yes, right." Giles started to read the spell, his accent a little warbly. It had been quite some time since he'd had to read Latin aloud, and he hoped that he was getting the pronunciations correct.

The more Giles read, the quicker the ice started to crack. The building began to tremble. Plaster fell from the parts of the ceiling that remained in tact to sprinkle around them. They continued to move towards the stairwell. Giles continued to read. Then, his words stopped as ice came flying towards them and a great roar shook the building. They dropped to the floor just in time for a burst of fire to miss them.

"Down the stairs!" Angel jumped up and took off running. The others followed him, Faith nearly pushing him out of the way as she raced down.

The walls surrounding them exploded as they hit the bottom stair. They were able to surge forward in time to miss being crushed by a huge falling stone, but not in time to avoid the monster that crashed to the floor and landed between them. "Fuck!" Faith yelled, diving out of the way as an arm came swinging her way. She landed hard on her side and whipped her head around in time to see Giles being swatted like a fly. He careened against the wall and the scroll went flying from his hands as he slid down into an unconscious slouch, his glasses cracked against his face.

Willow ran to him, but was swatted away before she could reach him. She landed near the scroll, her arm outstretched. Faith thought that maybe she was conscious, maybe she would grab the scroll and finish the spell. Willow didn't move and Faith ran towards her. She heard Angel call out her name and her head whipped around. He had vamped out, his brow furrowed deeply and eyes yellow. He jumped on the creatures back, then fell off as his skin started to sear.

Faith called out, "Hey!" She saw it ready to blow a stream of fire towards Angel. Its head turned and she dropped to the ground. The arc of fire from the monster's mouth passed close enough over her body that it singed the back of the shirt she wore. She jumped to her feet and ran. Her aim was for a gold-toned post that stretched from floor to ceiling. She called out, "Angel!" She nodded in the direction she was heading and hoped that he understood what she needed.

He did, which made Faith wonder how many times they had fought together, or if there were just some strange link between them. Or maybe he just had common sense. Angel ran in between her and the creature as a distraction. He waved his arms frantically, then got the beast to follow him. Fire blew, but he didn't duck fast enough. The arm of his duster caught fire and he quickly ripped the coat from his body, throwing it to the floor.

Faith grabbed hold of the bar and yanked hard. It moved, but not enough. She focused and tried harder, but then stopped as she caught sight of an arm sticking out from beneath a pile of rocks. She bent down and peered inside. Red hair. She threw some of the large boulders to the side, then looked down sadly at Lita. Just beyond her was Edge. Even if they were still alive, both of their lower bodies were crushed. She knelt down and felt Edge's neck for a pulse. Nothing. She moved to Lita, and the same, nothing. She wondered how in the hell they would explain this. She hadn't liked either of them, but she definitely didn't wish them dead. The site of her co-workers, their lives extinguished, angered her and filled her with enough strength that she leapt to her feet and gripped the pole hard. With one brisk yank it came free and she turned back to the scene.

Angel was down near Willow, his hand just inches away from the scroll. "Dammit!" The beast turned towards her and she swung her weapon. The end of the metal post slammed into the side of its head. It reared back and roared. It came at her again, and she hit it again, bashing in the side of its body and head until bits of burning rock fell to the ground. As she caught glimpses of the room, her anger increased. Seeing Lita and Edge had opened her tunnel vision wide enough to see the bodies littered around the lobby. Some moved, others didn't. She didn't recognize them all, but she knew enough of them to be angry. Most of them were crew members, but they were people she had worked with, people she saw almost every day, and they were broken or worse becasue of this disgusting thing standing in front of her.

Faith continued to hit the monster until it stumbled to its knees, missing one arm from the elbow down and half of its head. It still moved, but it was slower. She used the pole to vault over its head, then took off running. She knew she had to get to that scroll. She wasn't a witch and she didn't read Latin at all, but she thought that maybe the words would be powerful enough. If she could just manage to pronounce them close enough it would be alright.

"Faith! Look out!"

Her head turned as Dave's voice rang out. Dave? What was he doing there? Faith screamed at him to go away, but he continued to run towards her. He caught her with a spear at the midsection, sending her flying across the room. The scroll fell from her hands and hit the floor. She heard a scream of pain and pushed Dave off of her, rolling himto his side. From armpit to waist, he was sliced open by the jagged rock of the beasts fingers. Blood leaked out onto the floor.

"Dave!" She grabbed the nearest cloth to her, a tapestry hanging from the wall and wrapped his body in it tightly. "Dammit, what are you doing here!"

His words caught in his throat as he tried to breathe. "Others... hospital... you were... alone..." His words faded out and then he screamed again as his body rolled to the side.

The monster was forgotten in the midst of Dave's agony, and Faith knelt with his head in her lap. There was blood on her fingers and she stared at it. Slowly, she turned her head down to Dave and watched his eyes close. She was having fun, but he was... Just the thought, the mere possibility, made her throat clog up. The anger she had felt from seeing the others seeped out of her, replaced with remorse and depression. Suddenly, she thought that there was no point to being a Slayer. There was no point to have this power and this strength if the one person she truly cared about couldn't be saved by it.

Faith let his head slip languidly from her lap, then slowly rose to her feet. She turned towards the lumbering creature that came towards her and the fight was gone. Her purpose hadn't been to save the universe. She just wanted to save her own life. With Hunter and Randy in the hospital, Hunter barely holding on the last she'd seen of him, and Dave lying on the floor, there was nothing left to save. The life she had created to make her happy was gone. There was no point in the rest.

She watched the creature come towards her and lowered her head in defeat.

~*~

Willow had started to return to consciousness when Dave came streaking across the room. Her eyes opened and she saw the jagged rocks scrape his side, tearing the man open. By the time Faith realized what was going on, Willow was already on her hands and knees. She crawled towards them. She knew what Cordelia had said, and if this vision were coming true then Faith would soon be dead and somewhere out there, another Slayer would be called.

Her moves were slow and her foot caught on Angel as she climbed over him. He started to move, grabbed her leg, and she jerked free. She turned her head back just long enough to say, "Get the scroll," then turned back. Faith was starting to rise and Willow could feel the defeat coming off of her as she grew nearer.

The young witch understood how she felt. She remembered holding Tara's lifeless body in her arms, begging Osiris to bring her back to life. She remembered the feeling of utter helplessness and despair at the thought of life without her lover. She thought that her life had ended. But, she also remembered the fury that had welled up inside of her. She remembered every evil thing she had done in her quest for revenge, and that was what she would have expected from Faith.

Seeing Faith so defeated is what made her realize that their Slayer was truly gone. The old Faith would have gone ballistic on the creature and made it sorry that it had ever broken into this dimension. The fact that she had given up, that she thought her life was over, that she had been so much like Willow in her loss... She knew that despite the strength and the senses, Faith the Slayer was gone, and in its place stood something else, someone else. The knowledge made her much more ameniable to the idea of letting her stay with her wrestlers, if they could keep her alive. If any of them were still alive.

Willow reached Dave and threw her arm over him. His body was still and his face was slack, but that didn't necessarily mean death. She needed him to be alive because that was the only way to save Faith. She felt around his neck until she landed over his jugular. She waited, no more than a few seconds, then felt something. It was faint and the blood pumped slowly, but it still pumped all the same.

"Faith!" Willow pushed herself over until half of her body was on Dave. If her arms were a little longer, she could have reached out and grabbed Faith's ankle. "Faith! He's still alive!"

The Slayer heard the words and her body instantly went into action. Life in Dave sparked life in her. The beast's arm was already swinging towards her and at Willow's shout, she dove to the side. The fist came down and Faith heard a scream. She whipped her head around and was relieved to see that, though Willow had cried out, neither she nor Dave were hurt anymore than they had been previously.

"Willow!" Faith pushed herself to her feet. "How alive is he?"

"Enough!"

"That's not an answer!" She rotated her neck and rolled her shoulders. "How much time do I have to get him the hell outta here!"

Willow checked again, then called out, "Ten minutes, tops!"

Faith smirked, then clicked her tongue. "I'll have him out of here in two." She ran towards the lumbering beast. Her feet caught it at the knee and she ran up its body. When she reached its chest, she jumped over to the shoulder, launched herself off and kicked it hard in what was left of its face. She did a backflip and landed on her feet. The creature stumbled backwards.

She looked around and found the pole she'd had earlier. Faith ran forward, then rolled. When she came to her feet, she was holding the pole. She ran back screamed at the beast. "You wanna come to my domain?" She swung and impacted, taking out one knee. The beast roared and she moved to the other side. "You wanna play with me, you ugly son of a bitch?" She took out the other knee. "Let's see how well you play, then."

Faith dropped the pole to the ground and to work with her hands. The creature was bent forward, giving her a perfect angle to take off the rest of its head. Her fists slammed into the sides, back and forth, until there was nothing left but a jagged neck. Her hands burned and she knew that if she touched it for too much longer, her skin would peel away. She switched to her feet. Though she wore no shoes, the burning wasn't too bad. If anything, the heat closed the open cuts on her soles.

Chanting came from behind her and Faith jumped back. What remained of the beast's body rocked from side to side. It tried to get up from the floor, but there was nothing to rise onto. Faith moved backwards, staring at the creature as its body started to pulsate. She dropped down and covered Dave's body, expecting what was coming next. She felt a body falling down on top of her and moved enough to see a flash of red hair. She had forgotten that Willow was so close. Faith rolled so that she was on top. If something came flying, she would survive the impact better than Willow.

A few feet away, Angel dropped to the floor. He pulled Giles down, and the Watcher continued to read. When he reached the last word, the beast exploded in a shower of burning rock. Angel growled and hissed as his body was dotted with simmering coal. Each rock extinguished itself quickly, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Faith felt the most burning on her legs and arms. She kept her head down until the showers stopped, then slowly looked up. The floor was littered with bodies, some alive and others dead. While she took a moment to mourn the loss of people she once knew, she couldn't help the relief that welled inside of her when she lightly touched Dave's neck. His head lolled to the side. Hastily, Faith moved Willow out of the way and took Dave's face in her hands.

"Come on," she said, squeezing his face, "open your eyes. Just for a second." He didn't oblige, but his lips parted slightly. "You're alive," she said, though she wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself. "You're alive, and that thing is gone and..." She shook her head, then bent down and pressed her lips to his. Dave's skin was growing cold, but he was still alive. She whipped her head around, "Get an ambulence here, now!"

Willow stood up and left the two on the floor. She went to stand near Angel as he pulled a phone out of his pants pocket, miraculously still in tact. She watched as Giles got to his feet. He turned towards Faith and sighed. Willow put a hand on his arm and thought she knew what he was thinking. He had his own remorse, but it wasn't because of what he had failed to do. It was because what he had achieved meant that he had to give up his other designs.

Willow squeezed his arm slightly and sighed. "We have to leave her here, Giles. She's not our Faith, anymore."

"I know," he whispered.

"But, she's still Faith, and she'll do what she has to do. But... we can't take her away from him."

Giles looked down in defeat and nodded slowly. "I know."

~*~

"There's only so much I can do." Willow sighed and lowered her head in regret. "I can't bring people back from the dead. Well, okay, I did it once, but I can't anymore."

Her head turned to the side and she looked at Giles. Truthfully, she probably could have brought them all back. She was powerful enough. The night before, she had felt the energy coursing through her body; enough energy that, in that moment, she could have done anything if she embraced it. However, Giles had already forbade her. He knew the risks and surmised that it was too dangerous. She may have been able to revive a couple of dozen people, but would most likely end up killing millions in the process.

Other than that, though, Willow had another reason. If she wasn't allowed to resurrect Tara, she didn't want to give that gift to strangers. She knew it was selfish, and the only thing that kept her from feeling guilty over it was the fact that she knew it was all a moot point anyway. She could be selfish now because it was an hypothetical. She wasn't really hurting anyone with her selfishness.

Sighing, Willow turned back to Faith. "Basically, all I could do was erase them from memory. Well – more like erase their memory from existence." She shrugged. "It's the same thing I did when you disappeared, which is why you can be on TV every night and not get arrested."

"So just like that, they don't exist?"

"Pretty much."

"And last night? Everybody that got hurt?"

"Well, we were going to go with terrorist attack, but Giles said so."

"Absolutely right!" Giles was obviously flustered as his eyes darted back and forth. He couldn't stand the idea of having this discussion in the middle of a hospital, no matter how many times Willow claimed she had protected their words. He moved closer to the group and lowered his voice. "In this day and age, you can not go around making up terrorist attacks. It's unethical and just... evil."

"It's not evil." Willow rolled her eyes. "Just plausible. Besides, you already said no, so we came up with something else." She nodded as she looked at Faith. "We picked something else."

"Uh huh."

"Okay, see there was this leaky gasline in the hotel that had gone undetected all day until it blew up, like right in the middle of the place. Lots of fire and falling rubble and debris... That pretty much explains it all without having to get into idiots that conjure demons and can't control them."

"Wait a minute." Faith crunched her brow in confusion. "If that's the case, why did we have to erase some of the people? Like... okay, we can explain away Edge with the explosion, but why not Lita?"

"The redhead?"

"Yeah. And, Jim Ross. And Lawler, and half of the ring crew."

"Oh, well." Willow shrugged. "An explosion doesn't explain why someone's heart is missing."

"Oh..." She nodded. She supposed it made sense, though it was a lot of stuff to explain something that could have been simple. Unbelievable yes, but still simple. "And so... everything is forgotten? Like... everything?"

Angel stepped forward and shook his head. The sun was shining outside, but after centuries of hiding, he was well versed in finding his way around underground. They were leaving when the explanations were over, and he didn't want to miss the chance to say goodbye. "Almost everything. Regal already knew everything, so we couldn't change him. And... we didn't want you to be alone."

Faith blinked. "What?"

"We left your friends's memories. You can't be here without some support, Faith, and that's what they are." Angel shook his head. "It's hard to leave you here, but... after last night, it's what's for the best. These people mean something to you, and we can't just take you away from them. We came here to save you, not destroy you."

"Well, uh..." She tried to give thanks, but the words just wouldn't come out. It was like she had a gag reflex around those words. "Yeah. That's good ‘cause if you tried, I'd have to kick your asses." Faith smirked. "And the guys might have been out of commission, but Trish has a kick you wouldn't believe. And Steph's slap." She laughed. "Not to mention Ric. You'd have had a fight on your hands there, bub."

"Uh huh. I could take ‘em." Angel smirked. He reached inside of his pocket and pulled out a small white card. He grumbled, annoyed that he hadn't brought a spare duster with him. Luckily, he had a closet full of replacements. "Next time you come to town... or if ya just need some backup that's not wrestlers, give me a call."

"Will do." She took the card and put it in her back pocket. "So, uh... you're leaving?"

"Yeah. We gotta get back. I need to talk to Cordy and Spike and..." He groaned. "And a lot of people you don't remember. So, we're going to go and leave you to your life."

Angel clasped his hand tightly on her shoulder, then turned away. Willow stood for a moment, not knowing what to do. She finally settled on a wave, then followed Angel. Giles walked up to her last and sighed heavily. He removed his glasses and looked down to the floor. Slowly, his head rose and he replaced the spectacles. "I came here to bring you back," he said, "but now... To leave a Slayer out here alone goes against everything that I was taught."

"I'm not alone, though, G." Faith gave a small smile. "I've got friends, something I hear I didn't have much of before."

"Yes. Friends..." He turned and looked down the hallway for a moment, then turned back to Faith. "Be careful, and if you need anything, call us. We move around quite a bit, but Angel always knows how to find us."

"Don't sweat it, G. I got this thing, ya know? I'm good. I think I'm the best I've ever been. So you go on and get back to the other Slayer. Go kick some bad guy ass and all that. We'll be fine. And, if something comes up." She shrugged. "I got it."

"Yes," Giles said with a slight chuckle. "I bet you do."

Faith stood back and watched Giles turn and walk away. When the group rounded a corner, Faith walked down the hall. Hunter was on the other side of the hospital. He would be alright, but there had been infection and a lot of blood loss. With Stephanie screaming about lawsuits, the doctors had managed to save her husband's life. From the moment he woke up after surgery, all he'd done was bitch. Faith was pretty glad that she was nowhere near him, though even more glad that he was alive.

Somewhere upstairs, Randy Orton was complaining that he wasn't allowed to sleep or leave the hospital. The doctors kept talking to him about concussions. Trish kept threatening to hit him in the head and give him an even bigger one if he didn't shut up and get better. They were back to their usual selves. It was annoying, and sometimes nerve wracking... but Faith couldn't be happier about it.

When she stopped at the door to Dave's room, Ric was seated next to the bed. Fifteen hours after the incident at the hotel, Batista was weak, but alive. She didn't know what they were talking about, but whatever it was, Ric started to laugh. She heard what she thought was wheezing, then realized it was Dave trying to laugh, too.

Clicking her tongue, Faith walked into the room with her arms crossed. "Ric, you know you're not supposed to be making him laugh. He'll pop some stitches."

"Like you walkin' in here like that won't pop his stitches."

"His stitches aren't down there." She rolled her eyes, then bumped him to the side. "Get outta here, old man. I need to talk to Dave." Surprisingly, he didn't protest. He muttered something unintelligible to himself, patted Dave's shoulder, then left the room. When they were alone, Faith sat down and lightly touched his arm.

She was still amazed that he was alive. More than that, she was amazed that he'd risked his life to save her. Wasn't it suppose to be the other way around? She was the one with super human strength. He was just a wrestler with a fantastically sculptured body of muscle. "Next time, don't do that, alright?"

Dave opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was dry. He cleared his throat and brought up enough saliva to wet his mouth. "Do what?"

"Be a dumbass, you shit." She rolled her eyes. "I'm the Slayer. You're the hot guy that fucks me when the slaying is over, got it?"

"Is that all I am?" He shifted, then groaned. "Your living vibrator?"

"You might be a little more." She rose up and leaned over the side of the bed. "You could be a lot more, I guess." She hadn't told him what had happened when she thought he was dead. She wasn't concerned that he would think her weak. Instead, she didn't want him to know just how much he meant to her. She just wasn't comfortable with that many emotions in such an enclosed space. "I guess we'll see when you get out of here, huh?"

"Back on patrol?"

"You got it."

"I can't wait."

Faith smirked. "Me neither." She leaned down and kissed him lightly. As she closed her eyes, her lashes fluttered against his face. She felt his fingers weakly brush against her as he rose his hand as much as he could. She touched his cheek. This was where her life was, not just in the ring, but with this group of people. For the time being, with Dave. Faith didn't know how long it would last, how long she and Dave would be together, but for the time they were together, she owed him her life just as much as he owed her his own.

"Um..." Faith growled and whipped her head around at the voice. Willow stood in the doorway, holding what looked to be an 8 x 10 glossy in front of her. "Yeah, sorry to intrude and all. Oh, and by the way, Faith, I don't think you're supposed to be doin' that with him right now. You could..."

"Did you want something?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. Um... We were almost out when I remembered this. Spike is gonna kill me, or at least try as much as a ghost can kill you, if I don't get this. Could you get that Hunters Hurt Hicky guy..."

Faith chuckled. "Hunter Hearst Helmsley."

"Whatever. It's not Stacy Keibler so..." She shrugged. "Anyway, could you get him to sign this for Spike? To the greatest savior of the world with fangs, blah blah blah." Willow shrugged again as Faith started to laugh.

"Yeah," she said, walking over to take the picture from her. "I'll just drop it in the mail after it's signed."

"Great! Thanks! Ya know, you're a lot nicer now than you used to be. Very cool. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a life to get back to."

Faith grinned, then turned until her eyes fell on Dave. With a sigh and softening smile, she said, "Yeah. Don't we all."

...

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