It's been two weeks since I lost my heart.

"I wondered when you'd get here, Blondie."

Faith stood up from the red leather couch in the center of a blindingly white room. Her beautiful features were twisted into a look of annoyance as though she'd been waiting for a while. Buffy quickly took in her surroundings. The two former slayers were in a nearly empty space, not unlike the one in which they had only months ago shared so many Slayer dreams. But the elder woman knew better than to hope that even beyond the dimensional divide that she would still be able to communicate with her sister-Slayer.

"You're not really here," Buffy frowned. "This is a dream."

"Does that matter, B?" The dark woman frowned as well, looking hurt by the blonde's words. She cocked her head to the side and stared at her partner. "I thought you'd be happy to see me?"

"I'm not a Slayer anymore," the small blonde stated gravely, shaking her head. "So this can't be a Slayer dream. You're not real. You're just in my head."

Faith stepped dangerously close to the older woman. Wordlessly she took the blonde's hands in her own and placed them on her ample chest. A smirk found its way to the Boston woman's mouth. "I feel real enough, don't I, Buffy?"

The Californian dropped her hands to her sides, reluctantly releasing the dark woman's breasts. She felt the dampness accumulating on her face. Faith reached out and brushed the stray tears from the golden-haired woman's bronzed face. "You're crying," she stated. The brunette looked at her fingertips quizzically as if she couldn't imagine why they were wet.

Buffy inhaled loudly through her nose, not wanting to become a snotty mess. "You're gone," she explained.

The Californian tried to remind her brain that this was only a dream – it wasn't really Faith standing in front of her, looking devastatingly gorgeous in black leather. But when she looked into her lost love's dark chocolate eyes – no longer cold and charcoal colored like they had turned when she came back from the Shadow Men – she felt all her resolve melt away.

Buffy threw her arms around the taller woman, pulling her in for a crushing embrace. She buried her face into the Boston woman's neck and let her pain spill out onto the other woman's olive-tinted flesh. "Oh, God," she sobbed. "I miss you so much."

Feeling the tears falling on her skin, Faith gently eased the woman back to gain purchase on her face. She swiped her thumb under the small blonde's hazel-green eyes, uselessly wiping away tears that were only quickly replaced by fresh, salted sorrow.

"Baby, shhhh…" she tried to calm her partner down. The Boston girl pulled the shorter woman back into her body, returning the embrace. "It's okay. I'm here," she murmured, kissing the top of the small girl's blonde head. She lightly stroked her hand down the back of Buffy's head, smoothing the silky strands.

Buffy sighed, stemming her tears for the moment. She leaned her head on the other woman's shoulder, just listening to the steady throbbing of her heartbeat and enjoying the heat of her lover's skin.

"You need to wake up, baby," the Boston woman murmured in her lover's ear, her thick lips brushing against the skin. "You need to get out of bed."

"I want to stay here," the Californian insisted softly. She closed her eyes and concentrated again on the sound of the lost slayer's heart.

"They need you, B." Faith replied. She continued to hold onto the smaller woman. Her body felt so fragile, so vulnerable in her strong arms. "I'll always be right here, waiting for you. But right now, they need you."

Buffy looked up at the dark slayer, new tears streaming down her face. "But I need you!" she cried. "I can't do this without you, Faith," the blonde sobbed. "I don't want to do this without you."

The pulsing of the Boston woman's heart became louder, echoing in the blonde woman's ears. The rhythmic beating continued louder and louder as if the dark slayer's heart threatened to jump out of her body.

+++++

Dawn knocked briskly on the solid wooden door. She had been knocking on the bedroom door for the past few minutes with no response from the other side. Ever since Faith had…gone…her sister had cloistered herself in the dark slayer's old bedroom, only emerging when she needed food. When she did momentarily resurface, the blonde girl barely acknowledged the others. She moved from one room to the next like a zombie, or as if in a deep trance.

The teenager – formerly a giant, centaur, and mermaid – was inwardly relieved that after Faith had defeated Angelus, magic was banished from the earth. Her own body had experienced enough magic for an entire lifetime due to her misguided bedroom antics in college. But with the end of magic came a number of circumstances that perhaps none of them had fully considered.

True, all vampires had disintegrated and demons were banished from the earth, but the Fates took no consideration of who had been good and who had been evil when it locked the gate to Hell. Willow and others at the Coven were no longer able to do magic of the Wicca variety, and demons like Clem whom the group had tolerated back in Sunnydale were gone – banished to alternate dimensions.

But most hurtful of all, especially to the two Summers' girls, had been the fate of the Boston-born slayer. In her preparation to defeat Angelus, she had sought out the Shadow Men – the ancients responsible for the creation of the First Slayer. They had given her the power necessary to defeat Angelus, but it came with a price – her humanity. When the Hellmouth opened itself that brisk Cleveland night just two weeks ago, it reclaimed all the magicks in this world – including the demon aspect of the Slayer.

Buffy and the other slayers were rendered powerless. No longer the Chosen of the world, they now had to deal with the consequences of being normal women and girls. Faith, recently returned from her journey to the Shadow Men, had suffered a more severe ending, however. Without the proper balance of demon to humanity within her form, the Hellmouth had reclaimed her – body and soul.

Dawn tried at the doorknob and finding it unlocked, cautiously opened the bedroom door. The door opened only partially when it hit against a large pile of dirty clothes. "Buffy?" she called into the dark room.

Hearing her younger sister's voice, the blonde woman pulled the duvet cover over her head. All of that insistent knocking on her bedroom door had awoken her from another dream starring the dark slayer.

Shoving a little harder with her shoulder, Dawn was able to open the bedroom door more fully, pushing the giant pile of laundry further into the room. The former Key maneuvered around the discarded pizza and take-out boxes strewn on the floor, scowling as she padded over to the bedroom curtains.

The teen yanked open the blinds, allowing streams of brilliant sunlight to pour into the stale bedroom for the first time in weeks.

"Are you ever going to get up, Buffy?" Dawn asked, annoyance creeping into her tone. She placed her hands on her hips, awaiting a reaction from the blonde woman.

Her sister merely moaned indistinguishably from underneath the covers.

"At least let me do your laundry," her younger sister insisted. "I'm sure those sheets could use a good washing." She wrinkled her nose for effect. "Or thirty."

Buffy suddenly sat straight up in bed, a look of panic in her eyes. "No!" she rasped. Her voice sounded tired and worn, evidence of how hard she had been crying the past two weeks. "You can't take her away from me," she begged. "It's all I have left." She clung desperately to the cotton bedding, wrapping the sheets around her thin wrists.

Dawn held up her hands in retreat. "It's okay, Buffy," she sighed, defeated. "I'm not going to take them from you." The young woman shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry…I-I'm just trying to help. This has been hard on all of us," she reminded her elder sister.

Buffy rolled on her side, away from the young woman, and pulled the flannel duvet over her head again. Dawn stared at the Buffy-sized lump under the comforter and sighed sadly. She tiptoed her way back over to the shutters and pulled the drapes closed again.

The former Key soundlessly crept out of the bedroom and closed the heavy wooden door behind her with a soft clicking noise.

Her sister was clearly not ready to re-emerge yet.

+++++

It's been three weeks since I lost my heart.

When I wake up, a low groan escapes my lips and one side of my face feels damp. I touch my cheek and bring my fingers in front of my face, looking at the small droplets of water accumulated there. Why am I wet?

I gingerly push myself up into a seated position and blink my eyes a few times, squinting into my surroundings. Why is it so bright? I curse under my breath and close my eyes, allowing myself to be swallowed in the familiar darkness. Dawn must have opened the blinds again while I slept last night. Sneaky brat.

A hand travels to my forehead and I press there, hoping to stem the hangover I feel quickly springing on me. Ugh, my ears are ringing. Why are those birds so loud?

And more importantly, as I open my eyes again and let them adjust to the bright light and take in my surroundings, why am I sleeping in a graveyard?

I blink a few times and it all comes flooding back. The bottle of alcohol I'd found under her bed. The tears that refused to stop falling. Wandering down into the makeshift cemetery beyond the castle walls in my pajamas. I sat here, at her gravesite, drinking and crying until I must have fallen asleep or passed out. And now I'm covered in dew.

I stretch my arms over my head and yawn. Gah, the ground is so not comfortable. And, I think I have an entire tree tangled in my hair. A smirk forms on my lips as I ponder something. At least I'm starting to leave my bedroom; that should keep them satisfied for a while. Let's not mention that I fell asleep in the graveyard though. At least it's not dangerous – I mean besides the major ick factor. No more worrying about vampires. No demons. No witches. And…no Slayers.

I'm supposed to get to live my life now. I'm normal. Or, well…as normal as Buffy Summers can be. I'm just like every other girl in the world. Not Chosen to do anything beyond living my life. Except that I don't have a heart. How can you live without a heart? It's like I'm the Tin-man in the Wizard of Oz.

I look around at the scattered graves from my seated position. We've lost so many along the way. There's too many innocent, brave people buried beneath this Scottish soil. Too many graves with no actual bodies. Mom. Tara. Anya. And now Faith.

It's been three weeks since I lost my heart.

+++++

"Buffy?"

The small blonde turned her head to see the owner of the voice. Her redheaded best friend padded down the worn dirt path towards the small graveyard. The light wind whipped her long red hair, and she struggled to keep the strands out of her face while not spilling the warm beverage steaming out of the ceramic mug in her hand.

"Buffy," she started again, coming closer. "What are you doing down here? And so early?" She paused in front of the former slayer, her eyes scrutinizing the blonde's outfit and the sleep lines across her face. "You-you," she stammered nervously, "you didn't sleep here last night did you?"

"What are you doing down here, Wills?" Buffy interrogated, not answering her questions.

A slight blush formed on her face. "I, um, sometimes come down here to…to talk to Tara," she admitted to her friend. The blonde nodded once in understanding and gave her a small smile, letting her know her secret was safe.

"That was really rough on you….losing her…" the golden-haired woman naively observed. Unable to look at her friend, Buffy began absent-mindedly pulling at the long blades of grass in the fresh sod.

Buffy could almost hear the ironic smile in her friend's voice. "Well, I tried to end the world…" Willow reminded her, "So yea…it was rough." The former witch sat down next to her friend in the grass, crossing her legs Indian-style. She looked thoughtfully into the mug cupped between her two hands. Blowing on the hot beverage, she carefully chose her next words.

"How come," she started tentatively, "you didn't tell me about you and Faith?"

Buffy exhaled deeply, having already anticipated this conversation with her best friend. Not only was the former witch one of her best friends, but she'd also been doing the whole girlie-loving gig for a while. It seemed like such an innocent question; Willow should have been the obvious choice to go to first after the blonde and the rogue slayer first became intimate. So why hadn't she confided in her friend?

Buffy twisted her hands together anxiously and continued to stare at the ground. She sighed sadly before beginning. "I-I don't know, Will. I just knew how much you'd never really warmed up to Faith." She looked up at her best friend, ignoring how much she wanted to cry. "I guess," she choked out, "I was worried you'd think differently of me."

Willow shook her head sadly. "I wish you would have told me. I was so...so..." she struggled to find the right words, "naïve in high school. I mean, sure I thought I was pretty cool, being in the know about monsters and mystic portals….but everyday life stuff…" She twisted her mouth up. "I think I was book smart, but just not life smart."

Buffy looked up from her hands. "What do you mean?"

The redhead took another sip from her mug and cleared her throat. "When Faith came to Sunnydale, I was jealous. And I didn't know how to deal with that emotion. It made me hate her almost from day one." She paused, as if remembering that long-ago world. "Of course it bothered me that Xander was drooling over her skanky ass…" she flushed and flashed her eyes at her best friend. "Sorry," she murmured, embarrassed by her slip. "But I was more jealous about you."

Buffy's eyes widened slightly, but she remained silent, allowing her friend to continue.

"I was your best friend, but you and she had a connection I could never touch," the former witch explained.

"You mean because we were slayers," Buffy nodded, looking wistful.

Willow frowned and shook her head. "No…not just the Slayer thing. It was so much more. Like, you could be a different person around her. You were wilder, more confident…reckless." The redhead blushed. "It was kind of sexy."

"Wills!" the blonde exclaimed, nearly choking on her tongue.

The former witch hid behind her hands. "What?" she exclaimed, innocently. "You know there's no lesbian bug or something that just instantly bites you, right? Tara might have been the first girl I dated, but she certainly wasn't my first crush."

"I, uh…" the blonde felt incredibly awkward and red in the face. "Are you hitting on me, Wills?"

The redhead snorted and rolled her eyes. "No offense, Buff. But you're not really my type anymore. If you hadn't noticed," she drawled, "I kinda have a thing for brunettes now."

Buffy smirked knowingly. "Right there with ya."

Willow smiled mischievously at her friend. "Do you know how much fun we could have had gossiping this entire time?" She waved her hands around excitedly in the air. "I never get to talk to anyone about lesbian stuff. You know, like…" she dropped her voice to a hush. "Like about me and Kennedy?"

The redhead beamed and continued to babble on. "I mean, I'm sureXander would love to hear all the gory details, but as much as I love the guy, I'm sonot ever going there," she grinned widely. "It would fuel his fantasies far too much for his own good."

The blonde woman gave her friend a warm smile. It felt strange on her lips. A smile.

The slayer bit her bottom lip. "If I could go back…I would do things so differently," she sighed to herself. "So many things," she whispered. She twisted her fingers around the tall blades of grass until they snapped in her feminine fingers.

A silence fell upon the long-time friends and Buffy went back to picking at blades of grass. Finally, she looked up from the ground and grimaced. "Have you heard from Giles?" she asked. "About where he went?"

Willow worried her bottom lip and silently shook her head. "Sorry, Buff. No one's heard from him since…" she trailed off and averted her eyes.

After the Hellmouth had swallowed her lover, Buffy had banished the Watcher, accusing him in her manic rant of betraying her – of betraying Faith. She believed that he knew all along that if Faith won the battle against Angelus, the Hellmouth would claim her along with all of the world's magic.

In the aftermath of Angelus's defeat, vampires everywhere turned to dust. The demons' essence sucked away, leaving the skeleton of the host body behind. Police were baffled by the enormous number of decaying corpses randomly strewn across the globe. Witches no longer possessed the ability to perform simple spells, yet alone powerful magicks. The demons were sent to alternate dimensions, regardless of their previous behavior on earth. Those with demon aspects were only saved if their humanity outweighed their magic. And in those cases, the magic had been sucked from them, like Dawn and her former mermaid status.

But because Faith had taken on more of the demon's essence, because she had accepted what the Shadow Men offered her, she possessed too little humanity to remain in this world.

A strong wind blew across the Scottish meadow, the tall blades of grass bending from the massive gust. Willow held her hand over her coffee mug to protect her liquid breakfast from leaves and other debris. Buffy closed her eyes, the intensity of the wind stinging her sensitive eyes. Everything just seemed to hurt more lately.

When the wind finally died down, the two friends found they had been joined by a third.

"Wesley?" Willow sputtered, climbing quickly to her feet.

The former Watcher stood before the two women, dressed in a freshly pressed three-piece suit. He readjusted his jacket, coughing to clear his throat, and fiddled with the knot in his tie.

Finally, he spoke.

"There may be a way to get her back."

++++

TBC