We do our best not to grin like idiots as we walk through the hotel lobby, trudging slime on the carpet all the way towards the elevator.

It's kinda hard. So much fun was had in that mausoleum that I can't help but smile at the thought of how badly we beat those guys into dust in the wind.

My shoes slosh on the carpet as the slime in my shoes moves around in an uncomfortable way.

Dust and slime... mostly slime.

Other people in the hotel look at us like we're insane with all the green puss and slime covering us pretty much from head to toe. We step into the elevator that opens up just as we get to it and everyone else who was waiting for it seems to step aside and let us take the ride up to our rooms alone. Faith and I do our best to keep from bursting when we step into the elevator but the second the door closes we break out into this uncontrollable urge to laugh that we've been holding almost since the minute we got back to the hotel a couple minutes ago.

"Oh, my god..."

Faith can't stop laughing either as she wipes away some slime that's dripping down from her hair onto her forehead.

"Did you... did you see the l-looks on their... faces?"

I lean back against the railing in the elevator car, despite the fact that I'm getting slime all over it.

It's hard to stand up that's so funny.

"It was kinda hard not to, not to notice, the way they were... staring at us like we'd grown a third arm or something."

Faith lifts her arms and checks back and forth to make sure that's not the case with a big grin on her face while laughing.

"I think we're, we're safe with that. It looks like I've still got only... my two."

Her joke makes me crack up even more and she joins me as the elevator continues to make its way up to our floor.

"One... one of them gave me the evil eye. It was hilarious."

"Was he slimy anywhere? Maybe we killed one of his relatives?"

Both of us keep laughing like we're gonna die if we stop. We eventually calm down a little though as the doors to the elevator open onto our floor. I pull myself off the wall and almost fall over from the weak feeling in my knees on account of all the laughter. Faith's quick to act though, grabbing me and holding me upright until I can get my balance back quickly.

"Watch yourself B, if you'd done that in the mausoleum, you'd be dead right now."

I roll my eyes with a grin on my face as I step out of the elevator and head towards my room, Faith following behind.

"Not with you watching my back F."

Faith chuckles with a big grin on her face.

"True, I'm always watching your back B, especially when you're not looking."

Despite thinking about what that means, I chuckle at what Faith says with a bit of a smile.

"Good to know."

Why does her saying that feel kinda weird but also kinda good?

"So, what do you think? Shower?"

I turn around to her while walking backwards to our rooms.

"What?"

Faith shrugs at me.

"I was thinking taking a shower would be a good idea, followed by lying in bed watching movies or something. Wanna join me?"

Rather than answering, I just sorta stare at her with a confused look.

"For the movies or whatever, you up for it?"

Oh...

"Oh, yeah, sure... movies would be good... movies and junk food."

"Sounds like a plan."

Making it to my room, I stop in front of it and try to dig out my keys from my slime covered pocket while Faith continues to the door right next to mine. I look at my hair as a piece of it, covered in slime, falls in front of my eyes.

"Assuming I can get the slime out of my hair, I'll knock on your door when I'm all settled in again."

Faith looks over at me with a bit of a grin as I get my keys out of my pocket and eventually open my door.

"Yeah, good luck with that."

We both laugh a little more, as if we haven't laughed enough, and go into our respective hotel rooms. I shut my door behind me and throw my keys onto a nearby end table before walking into the place. When I get about halfway between the door and my bed, I stretch out a bit before grabbing the hem of my shirt and slowly pulling it up over my head. Letting my shirt, slime and all, drop with a splat on the floor.

Mmm, best part about staying in a hotel is that I know I'm not gonna have to clean up the mess I just made. I'll do the clothes myself, but someone else will get the floor.

With a deep breath, I enjoy the feeling of air against the parts of my skin that aren't covered in slime and start to undo my pants as I head towards the bathroom.

Damn, I can't remember the last time I had this much fun. In fact, I'm not even sure there was a last time I had this much fun. Things are always fun when we come out here to get in some serious slayage, but I don't remember that much fun ever being had. It's weird. Not that I should complain, better to just enjoy it.

My pants drop to my ankles as I step out of them and walk into the bathroom, heading towards the shower/bathtub combo.

I'll just take a shower, get clean, and enjoy this good feeling. I just hope nothing will ruin the good feeling for Faith. She had a lot of fun tonight. We got one hell of a large step closer to being real friends again and it was really nice.

I reach into the shower to turn on the hot and cold taps to get the water just the right temperature.

Of course, being the real friend that I like to try and be with Faith, I can't let one good time give me a reason to ignore the fact that I really need to talk to Faith about things. Need to find the right time to bring up the stuff she needs to deal with and find a way to help her deal with it. That would be the friendly thing to do.

Switching the water to shower mode, I take off my underwear and prepare to step in.

Maybe now is as good a time as any to do the talking thing. Talk to her now during an upswing in the roller coaster that is the Buffy and Faith dynamic. Could even bring us closer together as friends, which'd be nice since Willow, Xander and me don't get enough time to talk like we used to.

I take a deep breath as I test the water to make sure it's still the right temperature.

I'll have to give it some thought, figure it out when I see how things go after I'm clean.

* * *

My knuckles touch the wood of the door that connects both of our rooms a couple times to let Faith know that I'm asking for her. For a while there's no sound on the other end and I focus my hearing through the door to hear the sounds of moving on the other side.

"Yeah?"

Why does it sound like she's asking who it is?

"It's me."

I hear her come up to the door and unlock it before pulling it open. She's on the other side and we smile at each other when our eyes meet. Her hair is still sorta wet and she's wearing shorts and a t-shirt that obviously aren't meant to be worn outside.

"Hey..."

Faith turns around and walks into her room, so I follow her.

"Hey... looks like you got the slime out of your hair."

Closing the door behind me with one hand, I use the other to take a piece of my still slightly wet but drier than her hair in my hand and look at it, rolling my eyes.

"Just barely, can we promise not to do that again for at least the rest of this trip? I'd really like to avoid more slime for a while."

Faith laughs at me as she clears off stuff that's piled up on her bed and couch that are facing the TV.

"Yeah, sure, I could do without slime for a while. But hey, at least we had fun eh?"

I don't really even try to deny it as I smile at the memory of the fight.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun."

Faith stops, looking at me like I'd just grown a third head.

Why is she looking at me like that?

"What?"

She gets this strange grin on her face before cleaning one or two more things off the bed with a sweep of her hand.

"Nothing, it's just... I don't think I've ever heard you admit to having actual fun when it comes to the slaying."

I shrug.

"Apparently it's escaped your keen notice in the three years we've been working together at the dojo that I've actually changed since we last hated each other."

Again Faith sorta laughs and I smile.

"Seems like it."

All right, might as well get to the important stuff before we have too much fun.

"Yeah, listen, Faith... I, speaking of change, I was sorta hoping I could talk to you about something."

She turns and faces me, a confused expression on her face.

"About what?"

Gotta handle this delicately, can't have her getting too defensive all at once.

"Well, about... you, specifically."

Faith isn't quite sure how to take that and I can see her getting slightly tense about the subject.

"Me?"

My weight shifts back and forth.

I hope she doesn't take this the wrong way. I don't wanna turn the good time we've been having into an argument or a fist fight. I've had enough of fists tonight.

"Uh, yeah, I uh... I noticed that you've been kinda hard on the girls lately and I wanted to talk to you about why."

One of her eyebrows raises themselves at me.

"Didn't we talk about why already? I went a little overboard, not gonna do that again. We were cool."

"Yeah but why did you go overboard?"

Faith sorta grins at me like she thinks the question is ridiculous.

"Never been one to be known for my restraint B, you of all people should know that."

I sorta step toward her a bit, not sure why.

"But that's not true. You show a lot of restraint, a lot of times Faith."

She shrugs and rolls her eyes, not believing me.

"Sure I did, like when?"

"My sister?"

The mere mention of the fact that I have a sister makes every muscle in her tense up with a defensive posture.

Okay, explanation time.

"You may not have noticed this Faith, but the whole time you were with my sister, I saw this completely different side to you. I didn't see the mean, over-confident bitch that I'd known for so many years. I saw this, nice person. A person that I could be friends with and joke around with and hang out with like friends are supposed to."

Her reaction gets sorta unreadable and I'm not sure if I should keep going, but I do.

"But more than that, I saw the way you were with Dawn."

Again the mention of my sister gets a reaction out of her, this time a more sad but angry face stares back at me.

"With her, you were this... honest, attentive, reasonable woman who was exactly everything that my sister could need."

What I'm saying makes the sadness in her eyes worse but the anger is still very much there.

"You know, when I used to think about the kind of person that would be good for Dawn and who I'd like to see her with, you weren't even on the list anywhere. Mostly because I kinda assumed that whoever Dawn finally wanted to be with would be more of the male variety. The whole lesbian thing never really occurred to me. But... if I honestly look back on everything, I... I can't really imagine anyone who could've been better for Dawn than you. And, okay, so, it didn't really work. You weren't meant to be or whatever. But lately, all I'm starting to see is that bitch I used to know, and that bothers me. So I'd least like to think that talking about whatever it is that's bothering you might help with that."

Faith just sorta stares at me on account of my impromptu speech, a slightly defeated expression on her face.

I'm not sure that's exactly the response I was hoping for. I was expecting a little more.

Taking a deep breath, I try and push things a little farther without going overboard.

"Okay, uh, how about, now that I've gone and vented about everything I've been keeping pent up, you're welcome to do the same."

There's a while where just silence is in the room and Faith has that same slightly defeated expression, before she becomes slightly resolved.

"Thanks but no thanks B. It's not a good idea."

Not a good idea?

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Because why?"

She gets slightly angry for pushing things further than she might want. My former nemesis sorta rolls her eyes and sighs.

"Because, me talking about things would involve you and your fist and my face. I'd rather that didn't happen."

She's starting to get all cryptic.

"Never stopped you before..."

"Yeah well, like you said before, I'm not the same person you used to know."

Okay, I guess I sorta walked right into that one.

"All right, but... the new Faith that I've gotten to know? She talks about her problems when she needs help. So... talk..."

Faith looks at me, not convinced that my suggestion is really the best for some reason.

"You really wanna know?"

I nod at her even though I'm kinda worried about whatever it is that she'll say.

"I'd appreciate it."

She takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh.

"Fine... I sorta... cheated on Dawn once."

The sudden need to use the fist that's instantly clenched up with my right hand is repressed just barely and I look up at Faith again.

"Okay, I've resisted the urge to bury your face into the floor. Do you wanna explain to me what you mean by sorta cheated on my sister?"

"See, I knew this was a bad idea. If I say anything else we're gonna end up putting holes all over the room."

She probably shouldn't bet on that.

Letting my fist slowly relax, I go back to having a conversation.

"Uh, actually, I think it's probably more likely to be blood on both of us and the room if you don't go ahead and explain what you meant by 'sorta cheated' on my sister."

That doesn't exactly give her a reason to keep talking, so I take a deep breath, make a solid attempt to not jump to conclusions, or fists, and then look at her again.

"Okay... I asked... I wasn't really expecting that answer, but I got one. So I'd really appreciate it if you explain what you mean and why it's making you angry lately."

She stares at me for a while. The fact that she thinks this is a bad idea totally plain on her face. I move a little closer to her in a non-threatening way.

"Please?"

"I don't really know if it qualifies as cheating exactly, but it felt like cheating and it's the only word that really makes sense to me. It... it was when we were on that 'relationship time-out' thing that we went through before we actually broke up. I went out to a bar instead of doing my usual moping around my apartment or pounding on vamps in a cemetery."

I get closer, just listening as she continues.

"I had a few drinks, felt less bad about everything. Then this girl came a long and started hitting on me. She made me feel better and reminded me of Dawn a little, so I sorta let her. We talked, danced, and actually had some fun which had been really hard for me to do lately."

Faith pauses for a second, waiting for my reaction, which I've intentionally tried to delay until I hear everything.

"Things went a little further than they should've, but after she kissed me, I felt horribly guilty."

Okay, sorta bad on account of the kissing, but the guilty part sorta makes up for that.

She doesn't say anything after that so I offer to keep the conversation going.

"And?"

Her expression makes me think that she thinks I've gone insane or something, which is sort've ironic.

"And? What do you mean, and?"

That was probably a poor choice of words, but I can't take it back now, might as well run with the feeling.

"And I'm waiting for the part that's making you angry."

Nothing but silence follows for a while and she gets this really angry look on her face. It makes her pick up a can of beer that she was probably planning on drinking later.

"Fuck, B..."

She squeezes the can in her hand to the point where the tab pops and beer starts pouring out onto the floor.

"You made your pretty little speech about how much I've changed and what a great person I am now, but you don't have a problem with what I just told you?"

Staying silent for a second, I sorta think about it.

She kissed another girl, but she felt bad about it. That's a good thing, better than before anyway.

"Not really..."

Faith tosses the can which is probably about half empty into a nearby garbage pail.

"B, I haven't changed at all."

Hasn't changed?

"What do you mean? Did you not hear my over-dramatic speech?"

She rolls her eyes at me.

"Except it's all crap. I haven't changed at all. DK and I have ONE fight and I'm back to being the same bitch I've always been. Sleeping around, getting off any way I can, not really caring about anyone but myself."

One of my eyebrows raise at her.

"I thought you said you didn't sleep with this girl."

"I didn't, but... I might as well have. I mean, it's not like it really would've made a difference."

God, she's really beating herself up about this. Is this why she's been so pissed off for so long?

"Uh, okay, first... sleeping with someone is COMPLETELY different then kissing someone. So yes it does make a difference. I'd be pounding your face into the floor right now if you'd done more than just kiss her. Second, what was the girl's name?"

Her confused expression looks back at me from the question.

"Why?"

Okay, that sorta tells me what I wanna know already, but I kinda need to make sure she sees it.

"Just... go with it. I'm trying to help."

Faith thinks about it for a second before responding.

"Danielle, I think..."

"All right, see? The old Faith, she would've never even bothered to remember what Danielle's name was. But you did. That's not the old Faith talking, that's the new and improved one."

She stays silent, not sure she should believe me.

"I guess... maybe..."

"No, Faith, not maybe, you..."

That makes me walk right up to her but I do it kinda quickly and that makes her take a step back, worried I'm gonna do something violent, so I stop.

"Look, Faith... breaking up is hard to do. I know, I've been through enough of my own to know how much it sucks. But, you shouldn't beat yourself up like this."

"But what I did..."

"You had a weak moment. We all have them Faith. You felt bad and you found someone who was trying to make you feel better. There's nothing wrong with that. It probably would've been better if you hadn't, but god knows I'm not the one to be telling you not to be weak and find some way to make yourself feel better. I've done that more times than I can count. Everyone makes mistakes Faith, it doesn't mean you're back to being who you used to be."

After a strangely comfortable silence, Faith actually sorta smiles.

"I guess I'm not the only one who's changed, eh B?"

That makes me smile a little myself.

"Thanks for noticing."

We smile at each other for a while before she breaks the silence.

"Thanks B..."

Then she reaches out and does something totally unexpected. She puts her arms around me and hugs me. Our bodies press together as she squeezes me thankfully and I have no idea what to do.

Uh... why does this feel so good? I know I helped her and she's thanking me for it, which feels good. But I'm not entirely sure that's why it feels way better than it should.

"Uh, no problem... anything I can do to help."

I pat her on the back uncomfortably for a second before she finally lets go and pulls back, stepping back in the process. She smiles with a kind of real happiness that's still sorta uncomfortable.

Okay, definite improvement. I may have actually helped her.

"So, you still wanna watch some movies and eat popcorn and stuff?"

Suddenly my first reaction is not so much, but that would be totally rude of me after all the talking and bonding we just did.

"Sure, I could go for someone else's drama right now."

Faith chuckles and then tilts her head towards the incredibly small kitchen area of the hotel room.

"Cool, I'll get the popcorn. You pick out some girlie flick I know you wanna watch."

She heads off in the direction of the kitchen.

Well, now that we've got that out of the way, this trip might be even more fun.