Faith managed to get some sleep but not before she quizzed the demon on a couple things. She needed to know some basic knowledge of the spell so she wouldn't be found out and needed any knowledge he had about the rest of the gang.

The spell made it so the Mayor was her dead uncle Richard, who happened to be wealthy and left all his money to Faith when he died two years ago. He was her only family which was why she showed up to Sunnydale solo after she was called. She had a watcher who died prior to her arriving in Sunnydale but it was from a heart attack and not due to a vampire so she was only transferred by the Council. There wasn't any running this time around.

Buffy had been dating her most of her senior year, something that was easier to happen because Angel never came back from hell. She moved into her apartment the summer prior to her starting at UC Sunnydale and the spell made them the perfect, happy couple.

Everything else kind meshed with what was real. Outside of Buffy being Faith's girlfriend, all the other relationships, friendships and events were the same as it always was, just with Faith added in. The only major difference was they found out a demon was the mayor of Sunnydale and he was the big bad, not Richard Wilkins. The demon in Faith's room said everything he saw that changed mixed in perfectly, seamlessly. He said even the Mayor would marvel at its ability.

Of course, the demon didn't know the personal details in Faith's new life so he could only fill her in on what he saw from the others as he spied on them from time to time. That was how she knew Willow now had a girlfriend, something that was a relatively new development, and Xander was dating an ex-demon. She also knew Buffy had a boyfriend prior to the spell. After those facts he left and Faith quickly fell asleep.

"Wake up, sleepy," Buffy said happily as she walked into the hospital room, smiling at the sight of her girlfriend. When she reached her, she leaned in and gave Faith a soft kiss on the cheek. "Still tired from last night?"

Faith shook her head as she looked Buffy over. Her hair was long and pulled back and she had on tight jeans and low cut red top that seemed to cling to her body in all the right places. She looked beautiful, like she put in some effort in her appearance, and Faith wondered if she dressed just for her.

"Nah, already slept for three days," Faith said, managing a smile.

Buffy grinned as she set her bag down on the chair. She had to get to class but she knew she needed to check on Faith first. The way she acted the previous night concerned her. The look in her eyes had, too. "I slept great last night but it'll be even better once I get you home. Have they taken you for any tests yet?"

"Not yet," Faith answered and glanced at the bag. "Got class?"

"Yep, in about an hour." Buffy chose to ignore the fact that Faith normally had her schedule memorized. It was something that could be blamed on her injuries. "Wanted to come see you first. I took the car to make sure I get there in time. Hope that's okay?"

"Yeah." Faith smiled at the fact she had a car. Things really were working for her with this spell and she really wanted to know what else she had other than a car and a Buffy-shaped girlfriend that liked to look hot for her. "You'll need it to pick me up later, right?"

"Of course." Buffy leaned in again and kissed her lightly. "If you're not already discharged the gang's coming by later and probably Giles . . . and my mom, too. Hope you're rested."

"Sounds like I don't have much choice."

Buffy furrowed her brow slightly. "I could try to get them not to if you're not up to it."

Faith shook her head, realizing that probably wasn't the best response. "Nah, I'll be up to it."

"Okay." Buffy squeezed her hand and was about to kiss her again when the nurse came in causing her to turn away from her girlfriend. "Good morning, Annie."

"Good morning to both of you," the nurse said, smiling brightly as she looked at the couple. "How are you feeling today, Faith? The nurse last night she you felt 'hazy'."

"It's getting a little better, I think," Faith said, trying to ignore Buffy's stare. She knew she would be reading into whatever answer she gave, liking making her she told the nurse the truth. "I'm not sure."

"We'll run some tests to make sure."

"When can I take Faith home?"

"You'll have to talk to the doctor on that one," Annie answered as she checked Faith's vitals.

"We can do that when I come back after my classes are done for the day," Buffy said as she smiled, reaching down to give Faith's hand a little squeeze. She leaned down and put her lips to Faith's ear. "Then we can have a little homecoming party, just the two of us."

Faith had to smirk at the comment. The Buffy she remembered would have never said anything like that but then again, that Buffy wasn't in love with her like this new and improved one clearly was.

"Okay, I've gotta go," Buffy said as she moved away from Faith, sad that she couldn't stay with her for when the doctor came. "I'll be back this afternoon, I promise. I love you."

There was a small panic but Faith squashed it quickly, knowing she had to play along. "Love you, too."

Buffy stopped for just a second, the way Faith said what she did getting to her. She'd never said "I love you" like that and it bothered her. She almost wanted to say something but didn't. Faith had just spent three days unconscious so she only walked out of the room.

Her last class done for the day, Buffy walked out of the classroom and realized she had no idea what had been said. She hadn't even written a single note and with finals fast approaching that was going to be a problem.

"Buffy!"

She turned to see Tara rushing to catch her and she stopped to wait for her, smiling as she did. "Hey, Tara."

"How's Faith? W-we were thinking of visiting her later if she's not being discharged."

"I'm not sure. She was supposed to get some tests done today. I was going to go there now."

Tara looked at Buffy for a second and noticed easily that she didn't look like the relieved girlfriend she probably should have. "Is everything okay?"

Buffy sighed. "I'm not sure. Faith's acting a little . . . weird."

"What do you mean?" Tara asked, furrowing her brow in the process.

"Well, it's like she's not remembering things she should, things that have to do with us." Buffy paused, wondering if she was jumping to conclusions. "When I left today I told her I loved her and she said 'love you, too'. Except she's never said that before."

"What do you mean? I've heard Faith say she loves you. We all have."

"But she doesn't say that. She's always said 'love you more than ever'. Every time until today." Buffy paused, realizing how she was sounding. "I'm overreacting, aren't I?"

Tara smiled. "Maybe a little."

"Hey, what are we talking about?" Willow asked, joining them as they walked out of the building. "How's Faith doing?"

"That's what we were talking about," Tara said, grinning at her girlfriend. "Buffy's . . . overreacting."

"How?"

"It's nothing," Buffy said quickly. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she was getting worked up over nothing. In a couple of days, she'd be back to normal. She was sure of it.

"Okay," Willow said slowly, raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend who only shook her head. "Are we going to the hospital to see a certain slayer? I saw you drove here today. Does Faith know about that?"

Buffy nodded. "That's the other strange thing. Faith didn't seem to care I drove her beloved Mustang to the hospital or that I was driving it here today. You know she gets paranoid at the thought of me driving it."

"I'm sure that's the last thing on her mind, Buffy," Willow commented. "She was out for three days. I'd be a little out of it, too."

Both of her friends were right and Buffy knew she needed to only concentrate on getting Faith back home. She hated hospitals about as much as Faith did. "All right. Let's go to the hospital."

Faith insisted that she was okay to walk but after meeting with her doctor she had insisted she would be in wheelchair to be taken to get an MRI. A nurse also took some blood and had Faith do a few other tests to determine if her motor skills and reflexes were affected by the hit to the head she'd received. It felt like everything was okay so now Faith only wanted to know when she could leave.

She'd been back in her room an hour when she heard voices coming from outside and she could tell one of them was Buffy. If she didn't know any better she was talking to the nurse outside, questioning her about the day's events.

"Hey, you," Buffy said as she walked into the room a few seconds later. "The nurse said they're just waiting on the results from the blood work and the MRI."

"But I passed the other stuff with flying colors," Faith said with a smile on her face. "Hopefully, I'm outta here before they make me eat another meal in this place."

Buffy sat on the bed and gently placed her hand on the side of her face. She thought her girlfriend looked much better than when she saw her in the morning. "Just so you know your precious Mustang doesn't have one scratch on it. I took good care of it today."

"That's good," Faith said, grinning. She still loved that she had a car and a cool one at that.

"So heads up," Buffy said, smiling, "Will and Tara tagged along. They're in the gift shop buying you stuff."

Faith nodded and tried her best to remember what the demon had told her the night before. She figured that Tara was Willow's girlfriend since she was told that Buffy's best friend now had one. Once they got to the room Faith new she had to pay attention to everything closer than she normally would. The couple would likely ask her questions and she was sure Buffy would be paying attention to her answers.

There was a silence and when Faith looked at Buffy she saw she was simply smiling at her. She decided to test out the spell and placed an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her close before giving her a soft kiss. Buffy smiled against her lips before returning it and that made Faith happier than she thought it would.

Buffy loved that Faith was getting better and she thought the kiss proved it. A healthy Faith was always kissing her and had her arm around her, always pulling her close.

"Are we interrupting?" Willow asked as she walked into the room with Tara close behind.

Buffy turned away from Faith to look at her best friend, smiling at her. "No, not interrupting. We're just waiting for Faith's results to come back."

"I think I saw the doctor in the hall. Maybe she's coming in here in a minute."

"Maybe," Faith said as she looked both of them over. Willow looked a little different than she remembered. Her hair was shorter and there was something else she couldn't quite place her finger on. It wasn't anything she was going to dwell on though, especially since she had bigger things to remember.

Willow noticed that Faith was looking at her differently than she normally did but then she noticed that her eyes were looking toward the small bag in her hand. She hoped that was the reason she seemed to be staring at her so intensely. The look was making her slightly uncomfortable.

"So the gift shop really doesn't have anything that's not for a kid, a spouse or a really old person. You would think that with all the mystery neck wounds we get there would at least be a better card selection."

Faith smiled. "So what'd you get me?"

"Here," Willow said as she sat the bag on her bed. "It's not much."

She opened the bag and pulled out a small stuffed teddy bear that had "get well soon" stitched on its stomach. Faith smiled at the little bear, thinking that the gang she knew would probably have just left her to rot in the hospital. They certainly wouldn't come bearing gifts. Once again, another bonus of the spell.

"That's so cute," Buffy said as she continued to smile.

Faith looked up from the bear to Willow and Tara. "Thanks."

"Knock, knock," Faith's doctor said as she walked in. "Who wants to get out of this place?"

"Hi, Dr. Andrews," Buffy said as she continued to sit on the bed next to Faith. "Can Faith leave?"

She smiled at the pair. "Everything looks fine and there doesn't seem to be any damage from what happened." She paused. "I think you should stop playing around in cemeteries though."

Faith met Buffy's eyes quickly before looking to the doctor. "Sure thing, doc."

"I'll sign off on your discharge but I think you should take it easy for a couple days. No work, not much activity." She looked down at her chart then back at her. "Buffy, I'm sure you can make sure she doesn't do anything too strenuous."

"You bet I can," Buffy said, winking at Faith in the process.

"All right," the doctor said, "let's get you out of here."

Buffy dropped off Willow and Tara at the dorms before carefully driving to the apartment. Faith sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat the entire time, now realizing why Buffy thought she would have concerns about her driving the vehicle. She almost took out a side mirror not once but twice on their way home.

"B, you need to look out," Faith said as they pulled into a spot in front of the apartment building.

"It was fine," Buffy said, a little amused at Faith's reaction. Whenever she drove Faith would always get uncomfortable. It made her happy Faith was acting as she usually did yet it would've been a nice surprise if her reactions to her driving had changed.

Faith thought about saying something else but instead kept her mouth closed. If they started arguing about something she might say the wrong thing and she didn't know enough about what the spell had changed yet. She needed to know what was going on first, how things were different so she could play along.

The positive was that Faith still had the apartment she had while she was working for the Mayor so she knew where to go once they got out of the car. She was also relieved that when she opened the front door nothing major had changed. The layout was the same as it had been before and a lot of the furniture was the same as well.

Buffy had definitely left her mark on the place though. The biggest difference was there were pictures everywhere, something Faith hadn't had at all previously. There were pictures of Buffy and her mom, various pictures of the gang and of course, plenty of the two of them together. One she noticed immediately was the one on a small table by the door: they were standing in front of some entrance with their arms around each other, looking very much in love.

"Welcome home, baby," Buffy said as she closed the door behind them. She noticed Faith looking at a picture, one of her favorites, and placed her arms around her, getting up on her tiptoes to put her chin on her shoulder. "You hungry? We can order some food and watch a movie or something. I think Giles will be okay with us taking a night off."

"Guess I am supposed to take it easy."

Faith turned in Buffy's arms and before she knew it, Buffy pressed her lips against her own. She found it very easy to play along with being Buffy's girlfriend. For one, the other slayer was an excellent kisser and she found herself getting lost in each one. She also liked how Buffy looked at her now. There wasn't any hate or contempt, just love.

"Hmm," Buffy mumbled out as she pulled away from Faith's lips. There was still a nagging feeling that something wasn't right but that feeling was being drowned out by the feel of Faith's lips against her own. That was all she needed at the moment. "What do you think? Pizza? Sandwiches?"

"Whatever you want, babe," Faith said. "Just happy to be out of the hospital."

"I'll surprise you then," Buffy said. "Just sit down and relax."

Buffy turned away from Faith then and walked over to where they kept all the takeout menus. She thought about asking her girlfriend more about which place she should call but thought better of it. Faith still looked a little tired and she didn't want to push it.

Once Buffy wasn't looking Faith took the opportunity to look around the apartment and figure out what had changed. The bed, TV, punching bag and all the big things were right where they had always been. It was the little things that were changed. Buffy seemed to have brought lighter shades of color into the entire apartment, making it slightly brighter.

She also looked over all the pictures. There was a picture of the couple from what looked like prom and then of other events over the last year and a half. It was almost as though she could tell how their relationship developed as she looked at the pictures. There was some where they looked almost nervous to have their picture taken together which progressed into them not being able to take their eyes, and in some cases hands, off each other.

"Hey, whatcha doing?" Buffy asked as she saw Faith looking at the pictures.

"Nothing," Faith said as she turned to look at her. She placed her arms around Buffy's waist before leaning in and giving her a light kiss. She had to tell herself not to freeze and wait for a negative response. Buffy was her girlfriend after all.

"Glad to see you're starting to feel better," Buffy said as she moved away. "Food should be here in twenty minutes or so."

"Cool."

"I'm thinking vidfest tonight." Buffy led Faith over to the couch and they sat down, Buffy automatically curling up next to her girlfriend. "The doctor said to take it easy so I think that's the perfect excuse to not do anything at all. We can watch all those action movies you like."

"Are you sure you don't need to patrol?"

"It calmed down the last couple nights so I think I can take the night off."

Faith nodded and wasn't sure what else to say. She had never had that many conversations with Buffy to begin with and none of those would help her now. Part of her wondered what kind of memories the spell had given Buffy. It definitely would have been helpful for her to get some of those memories, too. Maybe the Mayor wanted her to mess everything up.

Buffy looked over to Faith and knew immediately she was thinking about something. Her brow was furrowed and it looked like she was somewhere else. She always seemed to get that look when she was confused and Buffy wondered what that was.

"Baby, I don't wanna seem like a broken record here but are you sure you're okay? You have that look on your face that you get when you're trying to figure something out."

A small amount of panic threatened to rise but Faith pushed it away. "Didn't realize I had that kind of look."

"I think it's cute." Buffy leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

They kissed lightly for a few seconds before Faith deepened it, sliding her tongue into Buffy's accepting mouth. She almost stopped when Buffy moaned out a few seconds later but only wrapped her arms around her instead, cursing herself for the constant second-guessing her brain kept doing.

Buffy broke away to breathe but stayed close to her girlfriend. "Hmm . . . I'm happy you're home."

Her eyes opened and Faith realized it was dark in the apartment and she was in bed. Buffy was snuggled against her, an arm draped across her stomach. She was sound asleep, snoring quietly as she did and Faith couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked.

She shook the thought out of her head and tried to remember when exactly she had fallen asleep. Once the pizza had arrived, the two of them had eaten while watching an action movie Faith couldn't remember ever seeing before but Buffy had said it was one of her favorites. There wasn't any option other than to believe her unless she admitted to her that she couldn't remember and she wasn't about to do that.

The other thing she noticed was that they weren't wearing very many clothes. In fact, Faith was only wearing her panties and it didn't take much for her to realize Buffy was only wearing the same. The other woman was pressed against her after all.

For a moment she thought about how the position she was in made her feel. According to the tape, the Mayor thought this was what she wanted but she wasn't sure if that was true. Maybe he was playing an angle she hadn't considered. The problem was she couldn't think of what that would be.

Buffy was so in love with her though and Faith had to admit she approved of what she had seen so far. Her girlfriend was so attentive and concerned for her, not to mention she was a fantastic kisser. That thought put a smile on Faith as she thought the kissing and what else Buffy would be good at as far as their relationship went.

The sex was probably amazing.

She shifted around on the bed and felt Buffy move in response which felt fantastic since they were pressed against each other so deliciously. That caused her to stop all movement entirely though and look over at the other slayer.

Buffy felt Faith move and groaned, knowing it was too early before she even attempted to open her eyes. Her girlfriend had been so tired she had thought she'd be out for the night. "Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Go back to sleep, baby," she said quietly. "It's too early . . . or late . . . or something."

Faith smiled at her mumblings. "I'll go back to sleep."

"Good." Buffy placed a kiss on her shoulder and moved her arm so it was draped over Faith's stomach a little more. "Love you."