Buffy gave up trying to sleep.

 

The first hour all she did was toss and turn; the second hour she kept thinking she heard people arguing; the third hour she dreamed.  It was about Angel and Spike; Xander and Willow; Giles and her mom; Dawn and Ms. Calendar.  She even dreamt about The Master and The Mayor.  It was like every memory she had involving Sunnydale was rushing back to her all at once.

 

Enough was enough.  She figured she might as well get up and take a shower.  Problem was, she felt even more exhausted now than she did before she had gone to bed.

 

They had hidden their bags in the alley outside The Bronze.  “Good plan,” she thought as she went through her closet and dresser drawers.  They were all full of her clothes.  She grabbed a pair of jeans and a baby blue short-sleeved sweater and headed for the shower.

 

She ran into Xander in the hall.  “Hey Buff.  How’d you sleep?” he eyed the dark circles under her eyes.

 

“I didn’t.  You?”

 

“Not a wink,” he said.  “Willow didn’t either.  Maybe Faith had the right idea?”

 

Buffy glared at him.  She couldn’t help it.

 

“Or not.”

 

“I’ll be down in a few.”

 

“Alrighty then,” Xander mumbled, heading toward the kitchen.

 

Willow had beaten him there.

 

“Breakfast?” he asked.

 

“Figured I’d make something.  Don’t know how long a day it’s going to be,” she said, flipping a pancake.  “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she said with added excitement.

 

“Like lunch and dinner aren’t important?  And who could forget the all important snacks,” Xander said, reaching for a pancake that was cooling on a plate.

 

Willow slapped his hand playfully.  “Xander Harris!  You can wait for Buffy.”

 

“Humph! She probably won’t even eat,” he said sitting down.  “Have you seen her this morning?  She’s not looking too good.”

 

“I resemble that remark,” Buffy said, coming into the kitchen.  “Clean now, but still very tired.”  She perked up, realizing what Willow was cooking. “Ooooh pancakes!”

 

“Ha!  And you said she wouldn’t eat any,” Willow added triumphantly.

 

“Can’t sleep.  Figured I’d eat instead,” Buffy said smiling.  “Any word on Faith?” she asked looking at them both.

 

“Nope,” Xander said.  “She said she’d see us in the morning.”  Looking at the clock.  “That leaves her exactly two hours.”

 

XXXXX

 

Faith woke with a start.  The first thing she noticed was the horrendous kink in her neck.  She rolled her head side-to-side trying to work it out.  The second thing she noticed was how uncomfortable she was.  Wonderful, her headache was still there too.  She was still sitting on Spike’s lap and he was watching her closely.

 

Everything came rushing back to her.  She rubbed her eyes so hard she saw stars.  But she didn’t care.  She just wanted to wipe all the memories from her mind.

 

She wasn’t surprised at how fast she flew from his lap.

 

“How long was I out?” she asked looking around.  She wasn’t feeling very well rested.  Faith knew it couldn’t have been long.  She felt even more tired now.  She was starting to wish she hadn’t slept at all, especially on Spike’s lap, especially after their argument.  It made it all that much more personal – and that’s the last thing she wanted.

 

“’Spect it wasn’t even an hour,” he said stretching himself out.

 

Faith raised her hands above her head and laced her fingers together.  She twisted side to side, rolling her neck and shoulders, trying to relax, trying to work out the kinks. 

 

“Let me help you,” Spike said coming towards her.

 

Faith took a step back shaking her head.  “No, I’m fine.”

 

He didn’t listen to her.  Spike turned her around and slowly began rubbing, working the knots out of her shoulders and her neck.

 

She tried not to enjoy it, but it just felt too damn good.  Like everything did with him.  Without realizing it, she began to into him.  She could feel him against the curve of her back.  It couldn’t have felt more natural.

 

Spike whispered in her ear, “Is that better?”

 

Faith pulled away from him.  “I gotta go… supposed to be at B’s,” she said turning towards the door.

 

“Faith,” Spike said.

 

“Stay… just... let’s not talk anymore.  I gotta go.”  She didn’t wait for a response.

 

XXXXX

 

Faith made sure to grab her bag out of the Viper before heading off to Buffy’s.  She was hungry and she needed a shower.  She was hoping there would be time for both.

 

“Wow!  Don’t you look chipper this morning?” Xander said as Faith came in the back door.

 

“I think it’s unanimous,” Buffy said.  “We all look worse than we did last night.”

 

“Good morning to you too,” Faith said, plopping down on a stool and grabbing a pancake.

 

“Okay, why doesn’t she get yelled at?” Xander asked.

 

“What did I miss?” Faith said catching the look Willow gave him.

 

“You’re just lucky you didn’t get your hand slapped by a certain cook,” Xander provided.

 

Faith still confused but lacking interest, decided to change the subject.  “I know we are all for getting lots done in the brightness of day,” she paused to take another bite of pancake,” but I so need to take a shower and change my clothes.  Do you mind B?  Won’t take me more than fifteen.”

 

Buffy motioned for the door.  “Go ahead.  We’re not sure what we’re doing yet anyway.”

 

“Perfect!” Faith exclaimed, grabbing her bag and yet another pancake before heading out.

 

XXXXX

 

Make that twenty, Faith thought as the hot water poured over her aching body. 

 

She was exhausted physically and emotionally.  And now she got to spend the day with the ‘Buffy The Perfect’ and her adoring friends.  Part of her wished she could go off on her own, but she knew where she would end up.  And that was a bad idea – he would want to talk some more.  “Get over it already,” she muttered as she turned off the shower.

 

She quickly dressed, and towel dried her hair.  Not knowing where to leave her stuff, she decided to toss it down the hallway, at the top of the stairs.  Hopefully B wouldn’t mind.  She ran down, meeting up with the others in the living room.  Faith casually dropped down into a chair and eyed Buffy as she paced around the room.  She glanced over to Xander and Willow who were on the couch.

 

“What did I miss?” she asked.

 

“Not much of anything,” Buffy said.  “Yesterday going to the high school, the library, seemed to be the thing to do.  Today, it’s not looking all that great.”

 

“And that would be bad why?” Faith asked.

 

“We’ve got nada,” Xander added.  “Go there and do what? Read a book or two?”

 

“We can’t research anything because there’s nothing to research,” Willow said.  “We have no demons, no spells, nothing strange.”

 

“How about hellmouth’s coming back once it’s gone bye-bye?” Faith asked.  “Sounds strange to me.”

 

“Giles already looked that up,” Buffy said.  “Sunnydale was the first hellmouth to be closed as far as he can tell.  There’s nothing to compare it to.” 

 

Buffy finally sat down on the arm of the couch closest to Willow.  “We have the mystery amulet that Wolfram and Hart gave Angel.  Angel gave me what he had on it – which wasn’t much and,” Buffy paused finding it difficult to go on, “The sheer force of its power was enough to close the hellmouth.  At the time we thought for good.  Nothing’s different besides Sunnydale being back, and possibly the hellmouth too.  If the First was back, or Caleb, or the Bringers, if anything tied to that day was here we might have something to go on, but right now we don’t.”

 

“You’re not wrong pet.  It’s all true.  But I’m back.  As for the why I couldn’t tell you.”

 

Spike’s words echoed in Faith’s head.  Could he have something to do with this?  No.  That didn’t make any sense.  But what if?  Could Sunnydale have come back the same time as Spike?

 

“Hey B,” Faith interrupted,  “do we know when Sunnydale came back?  How long has it been here?  I mean exactly?”

 

“It hit Giles’ radar about a week ago, two at the most why?” Buffy asked.

 

“No reason.” Faith tried not to show her relief. “Just grabbing at anything.”  So it didn’t have anything to do with Spike.  Then what in the hell did it have to do with?  “Does anyone else find this pointless and frustrating or is it just me?”

 

Xander raised his hand.  Willow nodded her hand slightly.  Buffy just sighed.

 

“Good to know,” Faith said leaning back in the chair.

 

“I suppose we could do more recon today,” Buffy said, looking for confirmation from the group.

 

“Recon what?” Faith asked.  “We basically scoured the entire town last night.  I didn’t see anything this morning on my way over here.  What are we supposed to do?  Hang out and wait for something to happen?”

 

“What do you suggest, Faith?  I’m open to anything.”  Buffy jumped to her feet.  “If you have a better idea I’d be more than happy to hear it.”

 

“Whoa! B,” Faith said, immediately on the defensive. She rose, drawing on her very slight height advantage.  “Not a personal thing.  Okay?”

 

“This isn’t going to get ugly again, is it?” Xander whispered to Willow.

 

Both Slayers glared at him. 

 

“Nope, not at all.  No uglies here,” Willow volunteered.

 

“Why don’t we go back to the Bronze and get our bags?” Willow suggested.  “We left them there last night.  That’s someplace to start, right?”

 

“We could always go cruising around in Faith’s car,” Xander said.  “Maybe she’d even let us take turns driving it.”

 

Buffy’s eyebrows registered confusion.  “That’s right.  Faith has a car.  That could make things speedier.  Can you drive us to the Bronze?”

 

“I didn’t drive it.  I… I walked here.” Faith said, averting her eyes.

 

 “Walked here?  Where did you stay last night anyway?”

 

“I get by, B.  Figured you knew that by now.”

 

XXXXX

 

Buffy was in luck.  Her mom’s car was still in the garage.  She found the keys where her mother had always left them.  They didn’t need Faith’s mystery car. 

 

Humph, maybe Angel hadn’t even given her a car.

 

They made their way to the Bronze and grabbed their bags, which appeared to be undisturbed. That in itself should’ve been surprising, but it wasn’t.  Nothing surprised her in the new and improved Sunnydale anymore.

 

Once they had them loaded in the car, Buffy made a decision.  “We’re sticking to yesterday’s plan; we’re going to the high school.”

 

Which is were they went every day for the next few weeks, looking through any book that had a reference to the Sunnydale Hellmouth in it or any hellmouth for that matter.

 

“This is crap!” Faith yelled, tossing yet another volume across the table.  “We have been at this for weeks and we haven’t found anything.  How much longer are we going to waste our time?” she asked, shoving her chair back, mindless of the clatter it made as it fell to the hard floor.  “We do this every day and find nothing.  We patrol every night and, looky there - we find nothing.  Enough is enough already.”

 

“Do you ever stop complaining?” Xander asked.

 

“Do you ever stop asking stupid questions?” she shot back.

 

“Enough,” Buffy said,  “I know we’re no further along today than we were when we got here.  I’m open to suggestions.  If anyone has any other ideas, please tell me.”

 

“A spell,” Willow said. She looked around cautiously to see what everyone’s reaction would be.

 

“We’re listening,” Faith said. 

 

“A type of Reveal Spell,” Willow continued.  “We all know what we see.  Figured it was time to find out what we don’t.”

 

Recognition flashed across Buffy’s face.  “The curtain spell.  You’re talking about the same one we used with Dawn?”

 

“Yes,” Willow said.  “’Tirer La Couture – Pull the Curtain Back. If Sunnydale is under some sort of spell that would be one way to see it.”

 

Faith picked up her chair and sat back down. Willow’s idea had some possibilities.

 

“Who would do it?” Buffy asked.

 

“I think we all could.  Maybe we’d all see different things,” Willow suggested.  “It wasn’t too dangerous when you did it.  You knew where you were, you just saw other things too.”

 

“Whoa.” Faith was all for spells, as long as they didn’t involve her.  “I’m not into the mojo.  If that’s something we need to do, fine.  But everyone?   Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.  Someone will need to be in the here and now… if you catch my meaning.  Who knows what we might stumble across?”

 

“Faith has a point.  We’ll need to get our supplies and someone will need to oversee.  We won’t be able to set everything up when we’re all sitting in a circle,” Buffy said.

 

“Who’s we?” Faith asked.

 

“Who do you think?”

 

“I knew you were going to say that.”

 

Buffy glanced at her watch.  “It’s almost 9:00.  I say we skip patrolling tonight, get something to eat, a good night’s sleep and hit the Magic Box in the morning for our supplies.”

 

“Where are we going to do it?” Xander asked.

 

“Figured here was as good a place as any,” Buffy said.  “If the hellmouth is still here,” tapping her foot on the library floor, “this might be the way we find out.”

 

“I’m going to look up what we need,” Willow said.

 

“I’ll come with,” Xander said getting up and following her.

 

Faith leaned back in her chair, lacing her fingers behind her head.  “You are so in your glory right now aren’t you?”

 

“What?” Buffy asked, obviously confused.

 

“You’re back in charge.  Giving out your orders.  Having everyone run around and do what you tell them to do,” Faith said.  “You live for this shit.”

 

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Buffy said coolly.

 

“Please!  This is who you are.  You have your own little Scooby Gang, your perfect life, your little villa in Italy, or whatever it is you’re living in nowadays and everyone respects you, listens to you – no questions asked – well usually no questions asked.  The past few months you’ve probably been bored as hell.  Normal life and all - where’s the fun in that? And now you have your beloved Sunnydale back.  It couldn’t be anymore perfect.” 

 

Buffy laughed humorlessly.  “My perfect life?  Is that what you call this?  Let me clarify Faith because you’re a little confused.  Perfect as in my mom died?  Wait, no perfect in the fact that I died not once but twice?  Or perfect as in any relationship I have ever had ended up with that person leaving me or dying?  No, that couldn’t be it.  How about everyone always looking to me for answers and me knowing, before I give them the answer that it could lead to someone dying?  Wow!  Yes, that’s a perfect life.  You are so right.  What have I been thinking all this time?”

 

Buffy flew to where Faith was still sitting.  She was glaring at her. 

 

“But you on the other hand, you have never been responsible for anything.  You come and go as you please.  You’re the Slayer, Faith.  Remember?  Reins turned over to you after Kendra died?  But you didn’t take over - you took off and left me in charge.  You think I like this?  I don’t.  Never have.  I’m tired of being responsible for everything all the time.  It was supposed to be different now, but it’s not.  So don’t you dare sit there and tell me how perfect my life is when you have absolutely no idea how much it basically sucks, okay?”

 

Faith’s chair hit the floor again but she didn’t care.  She hardly noticed.  She stood up to face Buffy, jabbing her finger as she spoke, each jab getting closer to Buffy’s face. 

 

“You think I’ve been sitting on my ass, B?  I came back or did you forget that part?  I’ve been all over doing what slayers do.  Slaying.  I didn’t take off and leave the country with basically every slayer there was.  I don’t recall you asking if I wanted to come with.  You took all of them with you and left me here – alone.  That was a perfect ‘thanks’.  Oh.  I’m sorry.  I never said ‘you’re welcome’, did I?”

 

Buffy stopped glaring, her arms dropping to her sides.  “I didn’t think you wanted to come.  You were with Robin.”  Her tone softened.  “Figured you wanted to stay.”

 

Faith wasn’t sure how this entire exchange had gotten so out of control.  She bent over and picked up the chair.  “Wasn’t the point.  You didn’t even bother asking.”

 

They both sat back down, opposite sides of the table, neither having anything left to say; avoiding looking at each other.

 

“Sorry,” Buffy said finally, her voice soft with understanding.

 

“Me too,” Faith said even more quietly.  “I guess we have some issues, huh?”

 

Buffy looked up at her and smiled.  “Maybe a couple.”

 

“Oil and water much?” Faith asked.

 

“We so need to get beyond this you know?” Buffy asked.  “Grass is always greener.  Both of our lives have sucked for different reasons.  Neither one of us have it perfect.  Just leave it at that?”

 

“Deal,” Faith said extending her hand across the table.

 

Buffy took it and they shook.  “Deal.”

 

"What?  No Slayer hugging?" Xander asked coming down the ladder.  "I so thought there was going to be Slayer hugging."

 

"Wow, Xander," Faith said, "we usually save that stuff for when you're not around, but if you're feeling up to taking on both of us..."

 

"We could definitely schedule him in," Buffy said.

 

"What? Huh? Wait a minute..."

 

“I know this isn’t nearly as exciting as what you three are talking about,” Willow interrupted, waving her list in the air.

 

Buffy turned to Willow.  “Sorry, Will.”

 

“I got it.  It’s not much.  Incense, some conjuring powders, candles, a few magic talismans and we’re good.”

 

“Will we need to double it since both B and I are going to do it?” Faith asked.  “Is it like a recipe or something?”

 

“We’ll make sure we get enough tomorrow.  It’ll be okay,” Willow said.

 

“Okay, let’s go before that weird principal shows up again.” Xander said.  “New principal - old school, now that makes sense - not.” 

 

“I’m just glad Giles called him.  He bought the story about us being library aides until the real librarian showed up,” Willow said.  “I’m thinking our time here might be limited.  And I’m not even taking into consideration the worry feeling I get when I think about why the new librarian hasn’t shown up yet.”

 

“Hopefully after tomorrow, it won’t matter,” Buffy said.

 

XXXXX