A/N: Major spoilers for "Fool for Love", "Shadow", and "Listening to Fear" (including lifted dialogue).


Dawn fiddled with the bracelet on her right arm, focusing on it intently. Next to her, her big sister sighed, leaning her head back against the wall. Looking over at her, she continued to play with her bracelet. "What is a CAT scan exactly?"

"I don't know. It's some… x-ray, I guess."

The younger Summers nodded as she looked back down at her bracelet. "Where do they get the CAT scan from? I mean, do they test it on cats or… or does the machine sort of look like a cat?"

Buffy let out another sigh, this one laced with annoyance. "Dawn, I'm really…" At Dawn's apprehensive look, she stopped herself. Instead of commenting any further, Buffy merely put her arm around her sister, bringing her head to her shoulder, and placed a reassuring kiss on top of Dawn's head. Hearing something to her right, she looked up to find Faith standing next to their chairs with three canned drinks.

Sticking two under her left arm, she opened one, which she handed to Dawn. Then she pulled out another can, opening that one, too. Handing it to Buffy, she spoke softly. "Thought you guys could use some refreshment."

With a small smile, Buffy mouthed her thanks, to which Faith nodded.

Opening her own drink, she slid down the wall to the floor, waiting with the Summers'.

* * * * * *

After looking at her watch, Buffy stopped pacing and turned to the dark slayer, who was leaning against the wall. "I'm going to go in now. Will you watch Dawn?"

"You got it, B."

Nodding, the blonde turned and walked into a door marked "Examination Room".

After watching her for a moment, she turned and walked in the opposite direction.

* * * * * *

Dawn was curled up on the couch, asleep, her head in Faith's lap. The brunette seemed uncomfortable, her arms resting on the back of the couch. She looked up at Buffy, who was across the room, watching them intently. Carefully, so as not to wake the teen, Faith eased her way off the couch, placing Dawn's head lightly down where she had been sitting. Taking a shaky breath, she walked over to the blonde and sat down next to her.

Seeking comfort, Buffy leaned over and put her head on Faith's shoulder.

In response, the brunette slowly put her arm around the blonde, unsure of what to do.

As she saw the doctor approaching, Buffy suddenly stood up and walked over to him, Faith quick on her heels.

"Everything went fine, they're moving her into recovery now," he informed her.

Nervously, she grabbed Faith's hand. "Do we have the results yet?"

With a blank look, the doctor gestured to a chair. "Let's, um, sit down over here for a minute."

"No!" Realizing her outburst, she quieted down, her emotions flooding her voice. "Excuse me, no, I… I don't mean to be rude. I just, I've been sitting for hours. I don't wanna sit. I just… tell me, please."

Nodding, the doctor began to explain while Buffy gripped Faith's hand tighter. "Your mother has… the term is low-grade glioma. It's a brain tumor. The clinical name is oligodendroglioma. It's in the left hemisphere of the cerebrum. In your mother's case, the tumor seems to have started there. In other words, it hasn't spread from another part of the body…"

* * * * * *

"You gonna eat that?" Faith gestured to the ice cream float that Dawn was holding.

Tearing her gaze away from the carousel in front of her, Dawn looked over at the brunette. "I guess I'm not hungry."

Faith only nodded.

Turning back to the carousel, the younger girl took a deep breath. "I had my tenth birthday party here."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. We'd just moved to Sunnydale and Mom rented the carousel for an entire hour for just me and my friends. Except I hadn't made any friends yet, so it was just me and Mom and Buffy riding it by ourselves, over and over and over again for the whole hour, just so Mom felt like we'd gotten our money's worth." She took another deep breath as her voice began to break. "She's… she's not gonna get better, is she?"

Faith smiled and leaned over, pushing Dawn slightly. "'Course she will. Summers' chicks are tough."

This caused Dawn to smile. "I'm glad you're here."

"Really?" The brunette couldn't help the surprised look that crossed her face.

"Yeah." She nodded vigorously. "Buffy's glad too."

"Oh yeah?" She had the same surprised look.

"She sure cries a lot less with you than she did with Angel."

Faith smiled, a small, shy smile.

Dawn, not really noticing, continued. "Everything with him was all…" She grimaced, making clawing motions with her hands. "Eee. You know? It's like, every day was like the end of the world. She doesn't get all worked up like that over you."

Absorbing this information, Faith thought hard about it. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? She came to the conclusion that, after all the pain she had caused "Other Buffy", this Buffy deserved a calm relationship. This caused her to smile more.

"I'm really glad you're here."

* * * * * *

After dropping Dawn off at school, Faith ran back to the apartment. She sighed as she found the door still unlocked. Racing to the bedroom, she pulled the box out from under the bed that contained the journals. Digging through them, she removed the most recent one, deciding to go back and fill in the holes later. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she skimmed through the pages, trying to learn as much as she could, as soon as possible.

The book cleared up a few of the areas of confusion. It outlined Buffy's mother's illness, some evil bitch named Glory, and how Dawn was really a key, which explained why Faith didn't remember her. According to one of the entries, Glory had kicked both of their asses without even breaking a sweat, which had the brunette worried a little. But she pushed the worry down, determined to beat down anything that stood between her and B, and their happiness.

Throwing the journal back in the box, she ran out the apartment, barely remembering to close the door behind her.

* * * * * *

Giles looked at his customer with a slightly perplexed look. "'Aleister Crowley Sings'? Um, sadly, no, I-I don't carry that, but I do have some very nice whale sounds." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a slow-moving Faith enter the magic shop with an unsure expression. "Excuse me for a moment," he said, stepping away from the Crowley crony and towards the brunette.

Seeing Giles, she smiled slightly, doing the same when she saw Xander walk up to join them. "Where's B?"

The shop owner pointed to the door. "Um, she-she left a while ago."

Flustered, the younger of the chosen looked around. "What?" Starting to shake slightly, she took a deep breath. "Where?"

The response came from Xander, who bore a concerned look. "That creepy demon woman's conjuring some kind of monster."

Shaking her head, Faith choked out, "Alone?" Closing her eyes for a moment, she opened them to reveal dazed and unfocused brown orbs.

Seeing this, as well as a new customer, Giles stepped closer to the dark slayer. "Xander, would you take care of them please." Nodding his head to the customer, he reached his arm out slowly to place a reassuring hand on Faith's shoulder. Then, with a last glance to Xander, he led the violently shaking Faith to the training room in the back, closing the door behind them.

Teeth clenched, she leaned heavily on the ex-Watcher, tears forming in her eyes. "What the hell's happenin' to me?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Faith fell to the floor in a heap.

* * * * *

"She's in good hands, Buffy. There's really nothing else you can do. Bye." Hanging up the phone, he stepped out from behind the counter to return to the back room. Walking further in, he made his way to the bathroom in the far right corner. There, lying in a filled bathtub, was Faith, clad only in a pair of black boxers and a black tank top.

The tub water was an ugly brown, and filled with various floating herbs and leaves. Faith sat quietly, her eyes half open, as the vapors floated up from the water, filling the air. Her tremors had stopped and she was now resting comfortably.

Giles sat down on the stool that was next to the tub. "That was Buffy, on the phone. She's all right. She's safe, at the hospital, with her mother."

The brunette nodded so slightly it was almost imperceptible. "Did you tell her?" Her voice was weak and tired.

"No."

"Good. She doesn't need to worry about me."

Nodding, Giles gently placed his hand on her forehead. "So you've told me for over a year. Normally, I'm inclined to disagree with you. But, with everything she is dealing with right now, perhaps you are right." Holding up his hand, he silenced her, in case she tried to speak. "For the time being. But you will have to tell her eventually."

She shifted slightly in the water, whispering through slightly parted lips. "Giles…"

"Faith, I don't want to upset you right now. Not in your state. You know that is not my intention. But you have to understand the situation you're in. The attacks are getting worse and the treatments aren't helping nearly as much as they did in the beginning. We are running out of options. At a time like this, I think you need all the support you can get." Reaching behind him, Giles picked up a large towel and held it out for her. "You've been in there long enough. Dry off and get dressed, and I'll take you home."

"Nah. Don't worry about me. I'll walk."

Shaking his head, he opened his mouth to argue, only to be cut off by the brunette.

"No, Giles. Dawn's here. Buffy's not. Someone's gotta keep an eye on the kid. I can take care of myself. So you stay here, and I'll walk home." She gave him a pointed look, waiting for his agreement.

Offering her a sad smile and a nod, he stood and left the room, giving her privacy to change.

* * * * * *

Twenty minutes later, Faith was lying down in the bedroom of her and Buffy's apartment. As soon as she had gotten home, she dug through the box of journals until she figured out what was wrong.

It only took her five minutes to learn that she was suffering from the magic the Mayor had used. In the end, the cure hadn't been a cure at all, only a suppressant. It temporarily put the poison on hold, placing the slayer's health in remission. This had never been discovered before, because the other slayers had died in battle shortly after the "cure" was administered.

No one knew about this though, besides Faith and Giles. That had been "other Faith's" request, that Giles not tell anyone, especially Buffy. It was a matter of pride, though she didn't admit it to the ex-Watcher. The last thing that "other Faith" wanted was to appear weak to the others. But she didn't want to worry her girlfriend either.

It wasn't about weakness anymore, though. Now, everything was about making her second chance work. Faith resolved to keep up the façade. She would fight through the attacks, making sure Buffy never found out. That way, Buffy wouldn't have to worry about anything but her mother and Faith wouldn't have to worry about anything but making things work. Right?

Still trying to convince herself, Faith succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.

* * * * * *

"Okay. Let's do this." Joyce put her hand on Buffy's arm. "Stay close."

With a smile, the blonde put her hand over her mother's. "I will." Turning, she walked to the door, letting Dawn in. Pausing, she stood in the doorway, watching them embrace, before walking into the hallway. With a heavy sigh, she dropped down into the chair against the wall, putting her head in her hands. There was nothing she wanted to do more at the moment than to break down, to let all the pain out. But she couldn't. She had to be strong.

Hearing her mother call her name, she wiped her hands over her face before standing up. With a brave smile, she walked back into the room.
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