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The doctors at the hospital were surprised when Faith was physically ready to leave within forty-eight hours of waking up. By the time Tara arrived, her sister was already arguing with a nurse, demanding that she be given some clothes so she could leave with her sibling.

The nurse was absolutely exasperated at her patient's behavior. She cast a grateful eye at Tara, who stood with her arms folded over her chest, glaring at Faith from the doorway. The nurse scooted out of the room with Faith's protests ringing in her ears.

"Quiet down, Faith, you're disturbing the entire wing," said Tara, sitting down next to the frail slayer. "And eat this glop that they're passing off as food or I won't take you home tomorrow."

Faith's eyes shined at the mention of her imminent release, but eyed the food suspiciously. "What the hell is this supposed to be, anyway?" she asked, poking something brownish with her fork.

Tara read the menu out loud, amazed that the variously-colored piles of goo were supposedly, "Salisbury steak, sweet potatoes, and corn with chicken soup and jello."

"You've got to be kidding, Tar," the slayer replied, "that doesn't look a thing like Salisbury steak."

"Well, it's sure not the same as Gram's is, but eat it." Tara took the spoon off the tray and lifted up a bite of potato to her sister's mouth, "Unless, of course, you want to play airplane and I'll feed you." She only laughed at the dark glare she was given and settled back as Faith shoveled the food into her mouth, trying not to taste it as she chewed. When the slayer was done, she settled back and pushed the hospital rolling table away from her.

"Now what?" she asked her sister. "Do you want to hear my side of the story or are you going to fill me in?"

"I'll listen to you first," replied Tara, taking her sister's hand gently. "I already heard the Scooby's side last night, and I want to hear yours now."

Faith seemed to shrink into the bedclothes, and pulled her hand from her sister's grasp. "Not much to tell, sis. I accidentally staked a guy, who was a bad guy, if you care, I freaked, I turned bad, worked for a psycho mayor, went after B's boytoy, put Red in the hospital, and slept with Xander. Not much more than that. I screwed up, and I got put into a coma for it."

"But why?" persisted Tara, forcefully taking her sister's hand again.

Faith smiled grimly, "I don't know. It seemed to make sense at the time. I was just so angry, Tar, I just wanted to hurt everyone. Especially the Scoobs. They were so nice to me. They didn't even know how much of a slut or a whore or a druggie I was. B had everything- the great best friend, a hunky, if undead, guy, everything I never had. All I had was you and Gram, and I screwed that up when Kakistos killed Gwen." She stared at the wall, "I'd do anything to take it all back, Tara, but I don't know how."

"They're going to give you another chance, you know. I know you, Faith. You're good and kind and strong and smart. Show them the side of you that I know. You can make it up to them, I'm sure." Tara rose from her chair and slid onto the bed beside her sister, pulling the other girl close and slipping an arm around her.

"I'm none of those things. I'm a killer, and a whore and a bitch." Faith let the tears slide down her cheeks, flinching when Tara moved to gently wipe them away.

"No you aren't," said a voice from the doorway. Willow stepped into the room warily, moving to her girlfriend's side quickly. She kissed Tara briefly on the cheek, then stepped to the other side of the bed and sat facing her former enemy. "You made some mistakes, Faith. And after talking with your sister, I realize how quick I was to judge you. You aren't the only one who screwed up. Maybe me and the others pushing you away was too hard, and you snapped. But the Faith I see in front of me isn't my enemy. She's my family."

Faith looked up, incredulous. "How can you, of all people, forgive me? I hurt you so much, I beat you up and slept with the guy you had a crush on, and tried to kill your best friend."

Willow shrugged. "I just can. If you can forgive me for pushing you away, that is."

"Red, you're incredible," replied Faith, shaking. The hacker blushed, and shook her head.

"Look, I've got some stuff to do. I'll be back here in an hour or so, so why don't you two catch up and I'll come to pick Tara up later, okay?" Willow rose, and gently placed her hand on Faith's shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Faith," she said before walking out the door.

Faith stared after her for a moment, "You sure hooked a good one, sis," she said finally. "Now, I want details!"

Tara blushed even darker than her girlfriend had, and started to catch her sister up on eight months of her life.

"So, you're going to be staying with Mr. Giles. My dorm room is a little too small for both of us," she finished.

"Rooming with the G-Man, how cool is that?" said Faith, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I brought a good chunk of your stuff with me out here, so Willow and I are going to fix up his spare room for you this afternoon. And he's really very nice," replied Tara.

"Did you bring my clothes?" Faith asked.

"No, because you wouldn't fit in any of them anymore. I just brought your stereo, and music collection and posters and books and stuff. Gram gave me a lot of her magic equipment before I left, but I keep those things in my room. I can bring over some candles and incense if you want, though."

"Yeah, that'd be great. How is Gram?"

Tara sighed, "She's worried about you. When we get you out of here, we're going to sit down and call her, okay?"

"Sure. Five by five," replied Faith, sorrow creasing her features.

"Hey now, don't look so sad. I didn't even tell her you were hurt, I just said I couldn't find you. I didn't want to worry her too much. Now, we're gonna measure you, because I can't have you walking out of here in a hospital gown. We're gonna go shopping for some basic clothes this afternoon before we go to Mr. Giles." Tara pulled out a tape measure, and was about to start measuring her sister, when Faith spoke up.

"Look, I'm only a few sizes bigger. I'll jot them down for you. None of this damn measuring stuff, okay?" she argued.

"You're so stubborn. Fine, but if the clothes don't fit, don't come complaining to me."

"I won't," grinned Faith, "but don't get me any of those clothes like you wear. I'm not into the hippie outsider scene, you know."

"I am not buying you leather. Jeans and t-shirts okay?" said Tara.

The slayer pouted at the leather ban. "Yeah," she said sullenly. "Get me a UCS sweatshirt, okay? I'm proud my big sis got into college."

Tara smiled. "You're smart. Nothing says you can't get a GED in a couple of months and start going to school with me in the fall. I know high school wasn't your scene, but I think you'd like higher education."

"That would require money we don't have," Faith pointed out.

"I don't have any money either. I got a scholarship. And with what your GED and SAT scores could easily be, they'll be falling all over themselves to give you money. We both know who's the smarter one here," Tara said, smoothing the hair on her sister's brow gently.

"Hey," said a voice from the doorway, "sorry to break up the family reunion, but we've got stuff to do." Willow stepped into the room confidently, and grinned at the siblings. She held something behind her back, and walked up to Faith smiling. "Here, Tara said you'd be bored out of your mind in here alone, so she had me stop and pick up a couple of books for you." The hacker took from behind her a small bag with 'Barnes & Noble' emblazoned on the front.

Faith's eyes started to gleam when she sighted the bag, and Willow could hardly match her old image of the dark slayer with the one that currently greeted her. "Thanks!" exclaimed the brunette, as she took the bag and excitedly glanced inside. "Whoa, you remembered!" she said to Tara, who merely smiled at her sister's glee. She pulled out a copy of her favorite magazine, "The Advocate," plus several books- a couple by Mercedes Lackey, a Star Trek novel, Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown, and a volume of Pablo Neruda poetry. "Thank you, so much, Willow," she said after looking at all the books.

The hacker merely smiled broadly at the use of her name, and shrugged. "You're welcome. Ready, Tara?" she asked her girlfriend.

"Yeah. You gonna be okay now?" Faith nodded, her nose already buried in a book. Tara shook her head, smiling, and let herself be led from the room.

****

Once they arrived at Giles' house, they found that the Watcher had already cleared out the closet and dresser in Faith's new room. He quietly disappeared as soon as they'd come in the door, and both just shrugged. He was probably uncomfortable with the idea of letting someone who'd tried to kill him stay in his house.

Willow snipped the tags from the clothes they'd bought for Faith- blue jeans, tee shirts, a couple of UCS sweatshirts, underwear, socks, pajamas, and sneakers, plus a leather jacket Tara meant to surprise her sister with. She put all but one outfit away in the dresser, and folded the remaining clothes into a neat pile to bring to the hospital later. Tara took the three boxes of personal possessions she'd brought with her cross-country and unpacked them. A few posters came from the boxes. One was of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" crew. Another was for the Indigo Girls, while the last one was a "Bound" movie poster. Then she took out a small stereo system from the boxes, and a mixed collection of tapes and compact discs. One box was all books, and Tara quickly shelved them on the small set of bookshelves Giles had cleared off for Faith. The last few things that Tara unpacked were small personal things. A few framed pictures, a small jewelry box, and a small carved wooden chest, complete with lock, that she set next to the bed.

The pictures she set on the top of the bookshelf, which was at a little below shoulder height. One was a family portrait, with a small Tara and Faith sitting in front of Tara's grandmother and mother. One was of the two half-sisters not too long before Faith became a slayer. Faith was slight, and seemingly frail, while Tara was not too much taller than her sister and just filling out under the influences of puberty. They had their arms around each other and smiled towards the camera. The contrast of Faith's dark hair with Tara's was visually captivating, while their similar expressions marked them as siblings. Another was apparently a copy of a yearbook picture. Faith was in the midst of a small group of teenagers. In the front of the group a very flamboyantly dressed young man held a sign saying "Green Street Middle School Gay/Straight Alliance." The last picture was a snapshot in a cheap plastic frame. Tara debated putting it up, then decided and set it in the center of the small display. She remembered taking the picture. Faith stood, defiant and proud, next to a small, plain woman in the female version of Giles' old tweed ensembles.

Willow stood behind her girlfriend, finished with her part of the job, and slipped her arms around Tara gently. "Is that Gwen?" she asked softly, as Tara stared at the picture.

"Yeah. I took this picture a few weeks after she arrived," replied the blonde quietly. "We both still miss her. She made life seem so... wonderful for a pair of poor Boston orphans. Like we were worth something. Faith was the Slayer, and I was her own expert on the occult. We'd keep each other alive and save the world." She shook her head.

"Which is what you're doing, and have been doing for a long while," Willow said assuredly.

Tara laughed gently. "You are so amazing," she remarked, turning in her girlfriend's embrace. Wrapping her arms around the hacker, she kissed Willow deeply, swallowing the moans the redhead voiced. When she couldn't breathe, she broke the kiss, but rested her forehead against Willow's.

"Whoa," said the hacker, out of breath.

"Yeah," grinned the wiccan. "C'mon, I promised my little sister I'd go visit her later. And before that, missy, I intend to take you out to dinner."

"I think I can handle that," replied Willow, smiling as they twined hands and walked out of the house.

**** Part 4