She Who Was My Love (girlxgirl) (Book 2)

Family

Buffy's POV

I hold her tighter to me, desperate to find some kind of comfort with her in my arms.

"Are you sure you can do it? I can't say I like the thought of you killing someone. Even an evil someone."

She shifts against me in my arms.

"I mean, I know it's different than before. I'm not worried about you... falling back into old habits or anything like that, I just hate the idea of you having more blood on your hands."

Faith looks down at her hands and I look with her, sliding my hands down her arms to hold her wrists as we do.

"There'll always be blood on my hands B, even after the real stuff washes away. What's important is why it's there."

I take her hands in mine and pull them to her chest, holding her close.

"I hope it doesn't come to that Faith. Things were about to get better, we were all on the mend. I was just starting to think that our family might actually come together, that we might be happy and now this happens."

I kiss the top of her head as we sit here together in the back room of the magic shop, dreading what's to come.

"My mom is in the hospital, she almost died. You've got this huge gash on your head and Dawn..."

I feel like I want to cry as I say her name. Faith sits up and turns to face me.

"Hey..."

She takes my head in her hands and kisses me sweetly.

"Your mom's gonna be fine remember? And so am I. My head's almost completely healed thanks to slayer healing... you don't have to worry about me or your mom."

There's a long pause between us.

"We'll just have to wait and see about Dawn."

I reach out and put my arms around Faith, who wraps her own around me.

Dawn...

"Why blood? Why did it have to be a blood ritual Faith?"

Her hand strokes the back of my neck and I hold her tighter.

"I don't know B."

"If Glory starts the ritual, she'll be in so much pain. I can't stand the thought of Dawn that way."

"I couldn't stand the thought of you in that much pain when Glory captured you, but Dawn..."

I pull myself back to look her in the eyes.

"We have to save her from that baby. We can't let our daughter go through that. Maybe it won't be as bad as Glory did to me, but it will still be bad. Dawn's just a little kid."

Her hands rest against my cheek and I turn my head, kissing her palm.

"We will B, one way or another we will. That's why we're going in just before the ritual begins, so we can keep Glory from hurting Dawn and starting the ritual. Giles said the ritual doesn't start till just after the sun goes down tomorrow, and he should have the location the ritual has to be done in a few hours. We'll save her Buffy, whatever we have to do, we'll save her."

I pull my hands from her back and hold her hands in mine. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Do you think it was right to tell Giles, Xander and Anya they couldn't come? They love Dawn very much and they want to help."

"They won't be a hundred percent and they know that. Giles has his broken hand which Glory would zoom in on to throw us off, not to mention her minions, and he is still gonna have that limp tomorrow. As much as Xander loves Dawn like the little sister he never had, he has a hard enough time walking let alone fighting. You and I are the only ones who have a shot at going up against Glory. And, that's probably how it should be."