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Chapter 13

The heavy bag jerked and protested on its chain despite the guard demon that tried to stabilize it. Faith aimed careful, focused jabs into the center of the punching bag and let the stress of their situation roll off of her with each connection of fist to leather. They had been through worse she reasoned to herself. They would get through this, too.

True, they'd barely survived their first Battle Royale with The First without a few mortal wounds, and the rest of the Scoobs were in their home dimension and not hear to help them, plus now there was Nora to consider… but they'd find away. They had to.

"It's a good thing I can feel you in my bones," came a familiar voice. "I never would have found you."

Faith continued her assault on the heavy bag, utilizing a variety of punch combinations. "I'm surprised you could sense me over the constant spidey-tingle of being surrounded by demons," she commented without straying from her task. "How do you stand it?"

Buffy leaned against a wall in the gymnasium where she'd trained The First's demon guard only days before. "It helps when I'm looking at you."

Despite her dour mood, Faith couldn't help the small smile that played on her lips. She'd never imagined having Buffy's love would be so rewarding. She'd thought about it often—having fallen a little in love with the storied slayer even before she'd ever left the East Coast—but it couldn't compare with the real thing.

"What do you think about Dagmar's offer?" Buffy asked.

Faith let her wrapped wrists fall to her sides, the urge to punch something now gone with Buffy's appearance. "To run away?"

Buffy pushed herself off the wall. "That's one way to look at it."

"That's how I look at it," Faith remarked. "I'd be running away from my responsibilities; I'd be taking the Slayer line out of our world." She pushed out a deep breath. "I don't think I can do it."

Buffy stepped closer. She could feel the heat and energy pulsing off of Faith's body. "Not even for me?"

Faith's mouth twitched. "I really wish you wouldn't ask me to."

Buffy carefully pushed a sweaty lock off her partner's forehead. "You're kind of amazing, Faith Lehane."

Faith averted her eyes and felt a blush creep up her chest and neck. Thankfully, she was already flushed from the workout, so it would go unnoticed. "Not really," she demurred.

Buffy flashed her patented half-smile, and Faith's stomach flip-flopped at its appearance.

"You don't see it, but you are. I look at you, and my heart is so full and so proud of the woman you've become. When you showed up in Sunnydale, with your leather pants and eyeliner, who would have ever thought that one day you'd be making such a selfless decision—that you'd put the Calling above your own happiness?"

Faith cleared her throat and her eyes began a rapid fluttering. She could feel them dampening at the corners. First blushing and now crying? God, she had changed.

"Are you ready to come to bed?" Buffy asked. "It's getting late and we have some big decisions to make in the morning."

"Soon." Faith wiped at her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'll be up in a bit. I just want to finish up here."

Faith stayed a while longer in the gym working on the speed bag until her triceps demanded her surrender and then doing lunges until her lower body complained as well.

She was exhausted and sore by the time she returned to Buffy's chamber on the second floor. The room was dark, and Buffy was already asleep. The blonde slept on her back with one arm thrown over her eyes and her mouth was agape in a silent snore. Faith thought it was adorable and wanted nothing more than to slip into bed with her girlfriend, but her skin was covered in salty residue and it would feel good to wash it and other soreness away.

The shower in Buffy's en suite was hot, and the water pressure beat down on her naked skin like billions of tiny, thrumming fingers. Her arms ached when she brought them up to work the shampoo into her hair. Luckily, a second set of hands joined her to assist on the doubled effort.

"You didn't think I'd miss an opportunity like this, did you?"

Faith spun on her heels, careful not to move too quickly to startle the other woman or to slip herself. "I was hoping you'd wake up."

Buffy rested her chin on Faith's shoulder and her hands reflexively went to the expanse of the taller woman's back. She flattened her palms against the smooth, flawless flesh and pulled Faith tight against her.

The press of naked breasts caused Faith's eyes to flutter closed. She swallowed down the rising heat of her libido. "I don't know what to do about our situation, B," she said, voice wavering. "But I know I can't stay in this dimension forever."

Buffy pressed her lips against the top of Faith's naked shoulder. "You won't have to. I've got an idea. But I don't think you're going to like it."

Faith burst through the front door of the Magic Shop II. The overhead bell jangled violently with the aggressive entrance. "Willow!" she yelled out.

The redheaded Wicca appeared through a storage room door. "Faith!" she exclaimed. "You're back! Where's Buffy? Did you find her?"

Faith needed a moment to catch her breath. The return portal had dropped her off just outside of the used bookstore where she'd originally entered the dimension hopper, and she'd run all the way back to the magic store. "She's still in that other dimension. But I found her, and I need your help getting her back."

Buffy had been right. She didn't like the plan—mostly because it required her to use her exit portal and travel back to Cleveland while leaving Buffy temporarily behind. But they'd both promised each other it was just for a short while; as soon as Faith found the item that Buffy needed, she was to return to the demon dimension with Willow's help. They banked on the hope that once Willow knew the destination, she wouldn't need to go back to Amy the witch to portal jump. The used bookstore employee had been useful and her portal had worked, but Buffy didn't trust their luck a second time. Willow's magic was far more stable, reliable, and powerful.

It took little time to catch Willow up on everything that had transpired since Faith had first tumbled through the magic portal to find Buffy.

"Demons and humans co-existing?" Willow wondered aloud. "Like…together?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the definition of co-existing," Faith remarked. She knew it didn't seem natural. But she had to admit that her job as Slayer would be a hell of a lot easier if she didn't have to constantly hide the fact that monsters and demons were real.

"And Nora…" Willow hesitantly added. "She's there? She's alive?"

"Buffy's daughter is real," Faith nodded. "She never miscarried; the First stole her to lure Buffy to Kafka. And now the First is using Nora to keep Buffy there."

Willow licked her lips. "What if Nora's not real?"

Faith's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Let's not start this again, okay? I know the blocking magic is probably making it harder for you to believe me that Nora exists, but I saw her with my own eyes."

"No. That's not what I mean," Willow self-corrected. "What if…what if The First only wants you to believe that Buffy's daughter is alive? You said it yourself—Buffy won't leave Nora, and that's exactly what the First wants. Have you ever seen the First and Nora in the same room at the same time?"

Faith swallowed hard. "I…no. I don't think so."

"Have you touched Nora?"

"No. But Buffy has."

"Are you sure about that?" Willow pressed. "Faith, this is really important."

Faith wracked her brain. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, she couldn't be sure of anything anymore. She thought she remembered the child hugging Buffy, but the harder she thought on it, the fuzzier the memory became. She wondered if being back in this dimension where Nora had been erased from their collective memories was affecting her memories of Nora back in the other dimension as well.

But even if Nora and Buffy had hugged or touched in some way, Buffy had told her that the First was corporeal in Kafka. Would that negate the corporeal test then? How could she be sure?

Willow took the other slayer's silence and troubled expression as her answer. "I can replicate Amy's portal potion, but let's be sure you're not bringing back the First with you."

The sun had set in Kafka, and Faith had yet to return. Buffy tried not to worry, knowing that time could very well move differently in the two dimensions, but it was hard not to be concerned. She'd sent Faith through a portal with the aid of the witch Amy's return-ticket spell, hopeful that Faith would return to the right dimension. She wished there was a way to contact the other slayer, but for now she'd have to remain cautiously patient.

She didn't have to show up at the park to reject Dagmar's offer of procuring passage to a safe dimension, but she felt she owed it to the guardian demon. Dagmar was standing by itself in a clearing when she arrived. Nora was not in sight, but Buffy knew she wasn't far away or was at least safe. Dagmar would make sure of that.

"Slayer. You came. I wasn't sure."

"I'm not here for that," Buffy explained. "I've got another plan."

The stone-faced demon's features were immobile. "I don't think this is wise. I have procured safe passage for you, Nora, and the other slayer to a world without magic."

"No. We're not going to run away."

"You and the other slayer?"

"Her name is Faith," Buffy stated. "And yes."

"What about your promise to Nora? To not hurt her grandmother?"

"First of all, that thing is not her grandmother." Buffy couldn't help the venom with which she spoke. It hurt her so badly that her mother never had the opportunity to meet her grandchild and visa versa. "I promised Nora I wouldn't hurt the First, but that doesn't mean I can't defeat it."

"What do you plan to do?"

Buffy hesitated. She wanted to trust Dagmar. The rock demon had given her no reason not to trust it, but she needed to keep her plans to herself just in case. She hadn't even fully explained to Faith what she intended to do. There was no room for error. Everything would be revealed soon enough.

Faith tore through the closet in the guest bedroom in the home she shared with Buffy. The magic that blocked her memories of preparing for Nora's birth still remained, as did the absence of any baby paraphernalia. The closet should have been filled with tiny outfits, not empty hangers. The walls should have been a cheerful, gender-neutral color, not the noncommittal beige. A crib and mobile should have dominated the space, not half-filled packing boxes.

The canvas bag was right where Buffy had said it would be, shoved in the back of the second bedroom closet. Faith hefted its weight in one hand. It made a metallic jingle as its contents knocked together. She didn't bother checking to make sure everything was still inside because Buffy hadn't told her what the bag contained—she'd only told her that whatever was inside the simple bag was the solution to their problem.

Her curiosity urged her to open the bag and look inside, but she wanted to return to Buffy as soon as possible. There was no time for even a simple detour. She shouldered the bag and began the walk back to the Magic Shop where Willow would be waiting with a potion that would return her to Kafka, as well as a potion for the return trip that hopefully wouldn't limit how many people could go through the dimension-hopping portal at one time.

Her return trip had two tasks: to give Buffy the bag, but to also ascertain that Nora wasn't the First. She didn't know how to bring up the subject with Buffy without catapulting them back to square one. There was no way Buffy would entertain the idea that the First and Nora were the same being—not after everything she'd done to track her daughter down. But Faith had to try.

She hated that Willow's idea actually gave her hope. She wanted Buffy to be reunited with her daughter. She wanted Nora to be real. But if Nora didn't exist, there was no reason for Buffy to stubbornly remain in Kafka and they could return to their lives in Cleveland once again.

But if this was all a ruse, orchestrated by the First and Buffy truly had lost her child before it had ever been born, she worried that Buffy might not ever recover.

"We'll get through this," Faith muttered to herself. They had to.

TBC