Buffy closed the door behind Giles and leaned against it, shuddering. This was not happening. How could it? Dawn...she could remember all the things she had done with Dawn. All their arguments. How Dawn had ignored her for days after she ran away, angry at what Buffy had put their mother through, but none of it had actually happened. What was real and what wasn't? Which parts of her memories were her own and which had been created?
She took a deep breath, calming herself, and pushed away from the door. Part of her wanted to go out and patrol, use the adrenaline to push away the uncertainty, but she knew she couldn't. She had to think of Dawn now, and protect her.
The phone rang as she passed it and Buffy picked it up, somehow knowing before she answered who it would be.
"Hello?"
"B?"
"Faith." Buffy waited for the familiar anger to appear at the other Slayer's voice but it was not there. "Hi. How are you?"
"Not bad. Wasn't sure if you'd talk to me."
"I got your letter."
"Oh."
"Funny thing is...I stopped hating you a while ago. Weird, huh?"
There was silence at the other end of the line.
"Faith?"
The silence continued.
"Faith, are you still there?"
"Yeah," Faith said slowly, and Buffy thought she detected a slight tremble in the girl's voice. "I'm here. Just...had a dry throat for a bit, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
"So, how are you?"
"Fine, I guess," Buffy said uncertainly.
"No, you're not."
"Excuse me?"
"B, I know you. I can hear it in your voice. Something big is up, and you aren't at all fine with it."
Buffy paused for a moment, but then it all tumbled out. Events and emotions were still too raw for her to conceal them, despite her misgivings about talking to the other Slayer. "It's...there's this person. I have no idea what she is but she kicked my ass like she was playing with a really pathetic Barbie doll. And she's after Dawn. Who turns out not to be my sister after all, but some kind of mysterious Key and I have to protect her. And I have all these memories of her but none of them are real. I don't know what's real now and what isn't! Mom's sick, Riley can't cope with my Slayerness and everything is getting screwed up."
There was silence at the other end of the line for a moment before Faith cautiously asked, "Dawn?"
"Yeah. You know, my annoying little sister? The kid who makes my life hell? Girl who...you don't remember her?"
"B, this is the first time you've mentioned a sister," Faith said, sounding hurt.
Buffy abruptly slid to the floor. "You don't remember? But you met her. You stole her fries the first time you came dinner. She gave you that ugly vase at Christmas, and you smashed it the night we fought. She-"
"B, you don't have a sister."
"No. No I don't." Buffy shoulders began to shake as the events of the night finally sank in. "I don't have a sister."
Silently, she began to cry.
After a few moments of silence Faith began to worry. "B?"
Pause.
"B, are you ok?"
Pause.
"Look, I know this is weird..."
Pause.
"B, stop crying."
Pause.
"Shit, I'm coming down there. Just hold on and I'll-"
That pulled Buffy out of herself. "No, don't. Stay there. You won't do any good if you break out of there."
"But B-"
"No. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I'm just tired right now. Tomorrow it'll all be ok." Buffy smiled through her tears, even though she knew Faith couldn't see her. "Stay where you are. I know you want to make up for what you did but you won't do that by rushing down here. I've told Giles, he'll help me, and I have all my friends here."
"I know."
"So you'll stay?"
There was silence for a moment. "Jeeze, B, I don't know what came over me there. I don't normally do that."
"Offer to break out of prison?"
"Stick my neck out for someone."
"How did it feel?"
"It felt...really good. How about that?"
"Yeah, how about that."
"Are you sure you're gonna be ok?"
"No. But I'll try."
"Atta girl."
"Way to make me feel like a horse."
Buffy could hear the grin in the younger girl's voice. "Nah, you're nothing like a horse."
"Glad to hear that."
"You're more like a duck."
The blonde Slayer blinked. "A duck?"
"Yeah. You fly well and you make a lot of noise."
"For that I might have to..."
"What?" Faith challenged, laughter mingling with her voice for the first time in a long, long while.
"Call you again to pester you," Buffy finished, wiping her eyes. The verbal sparring with the other Slayer was actually helping her to forget her troubles.
"Would you?" the other girl asked uncertainly.
"Maybe...yeah, I will."
"Thanks."
A loud buzzing sounded down the line and Buffy frowned as she recognised it. "Guess you have to go now, huh?"
"Yeah, they wanna lock me safely away for the night so I can't get out and hurt anyone."
"They have no idea, do they?"
"Nah. Not that it's a bad thing, really. I don't think it would be good for them to know what our world is like. They have enough problems with the other world." Buffy heard Faith sigh down the telephone. "It would be nice, though, if they knew."
"Why?"
"Because...damn, I gotta go. Look, B, will you...?"
"Yeah. Take care."
"I will."
"Sleep well."
"You too."
The line went dead and Buffy put the receiver back on its cradle. Maybe things would not be as bad as she thought they would...
*finis*