~ The New World ~
by Hellmouthguy

e-mail: hellmouthadmin@thehellmouthrevisited.com
my story archive can be found at: www.thehellmouthrevisited.com

Disclaimer: See Part 1

"The full moon's kinda funny," Faith said, that night. They stood leaning on the beach wall, looking out at the ocean. They had gone out to eat at a sub place after they left Faith's motel room--which they didn't do until they had kissed for an hour--and after they ate they had wandered around, not heading anywhere in particular. The moon was full, and the sky was perfectly clear, and full of stars. There was a warm, gentle breeze off the water and the air smelled like the sea. Faith thought it was as if someone had created this night just for them...as if it was theirs. But there had been something different about Buffy, when they kissed in the motel room. She'd seemed sad, for some reason. She tried to hide it but Faith knew it was there. Buffy hadn't talked much.

They had eventually ended up at the beach. Buffy realized it was the same beach Angel had taken her to.

They looked up at the moon together.

"Funny how?" Buffy said.

"It's like...it knows stuff about me," Faith said. "Like, the night Becca found me? There was a full moon. Then there was another one the night I became the Slayer. And whenever I look up at a full moon now, I'm always thinkin', like, what's next? What else does it know about me that it's like, waiting for the right time to tell me. What other surprises is it waiting to spring?"

"So what do you think?" Buffy said. "What's the moon got up its sleeve for you this time?"

"I'm thinkin' maybe this moon isn't one of mine," Faith said. "I'm thinkin' it's one of yours. I think it knows something about you."

"Like what?" Buffy said.

"I think it knows why you've been all sad today, maybe," Faith said. "I think it wants you to tell me."

"I'm not sad. I'm fine. Just...in a weird mood. Maybe it's the full moon. I'm just kinda...thinking about stuff today."

Faith turned to her, and took her hand.

"You can talk to me about stuff," Faith said. "Even hard stuff. I'm not gonna judge you, Buffy. We all got stuff that's tough to talk about. And you can talk to me...I mean, you ever wanna talk about whatever? I'm here, y'know?"

Buffy kissed her.

"Thanks," Buffy said. "I'm okay."

"Buffy," Faith said. "I'll shut right up if you want, okay? If I'm prying just tell me it's none of my damn business. But...is it your guy? Something happen with your guy?"

"No," Buffy said. "I told you, I'm fine."

"Okay," Faith said. She knew Buffy was lying.

Buffy was the most complicated person Faith had ever met. Faith was sure Buffy was a lesbian, and she was sure Buffy was in love with Willow, and she was sure Buffy also had a guy running around out there somewhere who she was maybe in love with too. Buffy had told her she'd had sex with him once, and that he was her first, but according to her they hadn't had sex since...and Faith had no idea why. Other than the fact she was sure Buffy was a lesbian.

Buffy was like one of those archaeological digs Faith had seen on the Discovery Channel. The archaeologists would find something in the sand, and they'd have to use little tiny brushes to carefully and methodically and precisely brush away the accumulated sand and sediment, the weight of ages. Eventually the object, the secret, would be revealed, but they knew it was only a tiny piece of the whole, just the beginning of the mystery. Faith felt like an archaeologist, with Buffy. Buffy's sadness today was an ancient object Faith had unearthed. But Faith still had no idea what she had found, or what it meant...

Something had happened. Something had made Buffy sad.

Faith would just have to keep digging.

But carefully...

"You wanna maybe head back to my place and lie down with me for awhile?" Faith said. "I can be all curled up behind you and hugging you and kissing your neck the way you like. You want me to do that, honey?"

"Yeah," Buffy said.

An hour later Faith lay in her bed with Buffy asleep in her arms. She was curled up behind Buffy, and she had kissed the back of Buffy's neck until Buffy had fallen asleep. Buffy liked when Faith kissed her there. They hadn't broken any rules, or even really been tempted to. It had been a different kind of day for them. A soft day, a day for holding hands, and gentle kisses.

Faith held Buffy in her arms in the dark motel room, and breathed in her scent, and thought about things.

She had decided a couple of days before to pay for two more weeks rent instead of one. She knew she wanted to stay with Buffy so she figured she might as well guarantee a roof over her head for as long as she could. Unfortunately it left her with eighteen dollars in her pocket now. And in twelve days she'd have to come up with more money or she'd be bounced onto the street.

She'd decided she would have to start shoplifting; being down to eighteen bucks meant it was time to either beg or steal. One good thing about shoplifting at least was that it meant she could finally have some decent clothes. Sunnydale had a good sized mall and a shopping district downtown with lots of stores and being a Slayer made shoplifting easy. No one could catch her when she ran.

Constantly coming up with the cash to keep up the rent on her motel room from now on would be tougher. Cash meant dealing with people, with security guards. Faith was willing to steal but she wasn't willing to hurt anyone. It was a line she wouldn't cross. Rebecca would be ashamed of her if she hurt someone. Faith wouldn't allow that. She'd go to prison first. She'd starve first.

Faith had no idea what she was going to do...where she was going to go.

The only thing she was certain of, was that she wanted to be with Buffy...

She wondered if Buffy wanted to be with her.

It was a little more than a week later and Faith's money had run out awhile back; she'd been stealing ever since. On the bright side, she had some decent clothes now. But she knew she couldn't keep this up forever. She needed a plan.

One bit of luck was that she'd discovered vampires sometimes had money. So now she mugged them before she dusted them. It had netted her enough cash to pay the room off until the end of the month, but there wasn't much left for food so she stole food too. There were convenience stores and one big supermarket in Sunnydale and even though the security guard at the supermarket was one of those old guys who took pride in his job and was actually alert for shoplifters, he was still an old guy and Faith was the Slayer and she managed to stay off his radar okay. There was an electronic security system at the doors, so instead of smuggling food out Faith just ate it in the store as quick as she could. It didn't leave much time for savoring her food and she wasn't able to eat much without risking getting caught, so she picked food with a lot of protein and calories. Cold cuts were good. Faith could wolf down a one-pound package of Oscar Mayer bologna in about a minute and it gave her more than fourteen-hundred calories.

She laid all her clothes out on the bed in her motel room, and stood in her underwear in front of them, trying to find something pretty to wear. Buffy was coming over and she wanted to look pretty.

Faith had slept over Buffy's house again, the weekend before. This time she had stayed the entire weekend; Buffy had come to her motel room Friday right after school and told Faith she wanted her to stay until Monday morning. Joyce had tried to talk to her a lot while she was there. Faith was still uncomfortable around Joyce, but it was getting a little easier.

Whenever Joyce was distracted or out of the house Buffy had wanted Faith to curl up in bed with her. They kissed, like they always did, but they hadn't broken any rules. They just curled up together in the bed whenever they had a chance, and Buffy pulled Faith's arms around her, and Faith kissed her neck.

Buffy had given Faith a foot massage this time. It was a long, slow, sensuous foot massage, and Buffy had knelt down in front of Faith and looked her in the eyes when she did it, and she had taken her time. "Do you like this, baby?" Buffy had whispered. "Do you like me like this?"

By the end of the foot massage Faith's pussy had been drenched and she felt like a cat in heat and she had told Buffy how much, and in what specific ways, she wanted to have sex with her, and she had used very colorful phrasing to illustrate certain key points. Buffy had just laughed, and kissed her.

It had been a strange weekend. Sometimes Buffy seemed almost deliriously happy, and she would laugh and snuggle up to Faith in the bed, or do Faith's hair, or paint her nails, or massage her back, or kiss her...and other times, especially at night, she would suddenly become sad...

When they went out slaying at night, Buffy always seemed sad, now...or angry. Once, when Buffy had caught a certain scent, she had insisted on going to handle it herself, and told Faith to wait for her. Faith knew the scent was a vampire's scent, and she had no idea why Buffy didn't want her to come with her. Buffy was gone for fifteen minutes, and she had come back with her eyes puffy and red, as if she'd been crying. And then she had torn into every vampire they encountered for the rest of the night, brutally beating them, not giving them the release of the stake until she'd had her fill of hearing them shriek...

There were yellow roses in a vase on Buffy's bureau, when Faith arrived that Friday. But the roses were dying. When Faith asked about them Buffy said her mother had brought home flowers from some flower show she had gone to.

Buffy was an archaeological dig. She was the lost city of Atlantis. She was all six Indiana Jones movies. Faith would just have to keep digging.

Faith thought about things, and tried not to giggle at the ridiculousness of it all. She knew Buffy had a guy. Faith had Evan. She knew Buffy was a lesbian. Faith was...well, Faith thought the jury was still out on what she was. She knew Buffy was in love with Willow. Faith was in love with Evan. But she couldn't see Evan again. And Faith knew Buffy couldn't have Willow, because she was pretty sure Willow was straight. And maybe Buffy was in love with her guy, whoever he was, too. Meanwhile, she and Buffy had spent about ninety-percent of their time since they'd met each other either naked or kissing or both even though they were each in love with someone else and, in Buffy's case, maybe two someone else's.

Christ, Faith thought. We're like some lame-ass corny soap opera. Pretty soon one of us is gonna have an evil twin, or get amnesia.

Thinking about the weirdness of her relationship with Buffy was making Faith's head hurt. She decided to concentrate on finding an outfit instead.

She had three pairs of jeans, two pairs of leather pants, a couple of blouses, three adorable little tops, a few tee-shirts and a sweater. She had Evan's leather coat and her Docs. The leather pants and the adorable tops she had stolen. The wardrobe was better than before but she still didn't exactly have limitless options. Buffy would be there soon, and she wanted to look pretty for her.

"What am I doing?" Faith said.

She had no idea. To the naked eye, it would have appeared that she was dating a girl. Even though she already had a guy. And the girl had a guy too.

Sometimes, Faith was a complete mystery to herself.

She stood in her underwear looking down at her clothes. The leather pants, she decided. And the little pink top. No bra. The pink top was made for going commando and Faith knew her boobs were too. She took her bra off.

"Am I dating a girl?" Faith said, to the empty room.

She looked at the clock. It was almost three. Buffy would be there any minute. Faith ran back into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. She fussed with her hair. She wished she had some decent makeup. All she had was the nail polish and lipstick she'd shoplifted from the drugstore down the street. She had one lipstick. Red. If you're going to have just one, that's the one. She put some on. She liked kissing Buffy with lipstick on. It was more girly.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

"What am I doing?" Faith said, again.

If the mirror knew, it wasn't telling.

There was a knock at the door. Faith tuned in to her nose. It was Buffy.

Faith decided to give Buffy a treat. Faith knew she had the best rack in the world. And she knew Buffy appreciated it.

Faith answered the door in nothing but her panties.

"What's up, girlfriend!" Faith said, throwing Buffy her sexiest smile. And she knew it was even sexier with the lipstick.

"Um, breaking rule number one," Buffy said, and breezed by her into the room, giggling, as Faith quickly shut the door. Faith wanted to give Buffy a show, not the whole neighborhood. The local winos were already a little too chatty with her. Buffy was wearing a tight miniskirt and a skimpy little top and platform boots. And makeup, very skillfully applied. Faith thought she looked beautiful. But then she always thought that.

"You broke it first when you peeked at my lil' kitty when you left me that note," Faith said, and sat on the bed with her legs crossed, bouncing her foot up and down over her knee. "Bad girl. Figured I owed you one."

"Yeah, guilty as charged," Buffy said, and sat next to her. "I throw myself on the mercy of the court. Um...you have pretty boobs. Like, super pretty. Like, I think they might be the best boobs ever."

"Hey, thanks girlfriend," Faith said, and kissed her. Then Faith leaned back on her elbows, and opened her legs a little. She wasn't sure what she was doing, or why. But Faith was used to that. She liked going by feel. Letting things play out. Seeing where she ended up. All she knew for sure was that she was enjoying herself...

"Um...but okay, you got me back for breaking the rule, so maybe you should get dressed," Buffy said. "Unless you just wanna go out naked."

"I liked that foot massage," Faith said, twirling her foot around now.

"Thanks," Buffy said. She was blushing a little. "I liked giving it to you. I like making you feel good."

Buffy looked down at the floor.

Faith had been about to ask Buffy to give her breasts a little kiss. She was going to make a game out of it: she was going to refuse to put her clothes on unless Buffy gave her breasts a quick little kiss.

But it felt wrong, now. It felt like taking advantage. Faith could tell Buffy was still sad. It was still there, whatever it was...the thing that had hurt her...

"Okay, honey," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's cheek, and got up and put her clothes on. "So what did you say you wanted to do today? Hit the mall?"

Buffy nodded. She was still looking down at the floor.

Faith knelt down in front of her.

"How do I look?" Faith said. "C'mon hon, you didn't even check out the fab outfit. Got leather pants and everything here. And isn't this top just the cutest little thing?"

"You look awesome, baby," Buffy said, and smiled a little.

"Hmmm. Got like, maybe a third of a smile there," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's knee. "Didn't wanna have to do this B, but I'm gonna have to bring out the big guns now." She moved her hands to Buffy's waist.

"What are you doing?" Buffy said. "What weirdness are you doing now?"

"I know a certain pretty girl who's real ticklish right here," Faith said, and smiled. "Right around her waist. I think she might be about to get tickled."

"I don't think she's about to get tickled," Buffy said, smiling now.

"I think she's definitely about to get tickled," Faith said, and started tickling Buffy's stomach and sides. Buffy screamed with laughter and tried to pull away, and Faith jumped on top of her on the bed and tickled her some more.

"Stop!" Buffy shouted, rolling around and laughing. "Stop, stop. I'll be good. Stop being a goofy pervo."

Faith stopped tickling her, and kissed her.

"I love that smile, honey," Faith said. "Just needed to see that smile."

Buffy nodded, and smiled.

"Is it possible for shoes to be too fabulous?" Buffy said. She was sitting beside Faith two hours later on a leather couch in Nordstrom's. It was a shoe store in the Sunnydale mall that Faith thought looked a lot like the shoe stores she always went to with Rebecca; chic and sleek, sort of art deco, lots of mirrors and open space. Pretty salesgirls who were just the tiniest bit arrogant, but in a darling little way. The floors were white and spotless and gleaming. For some reason there was a girl at a baby grand piano in the corner playing show tunes. Everyone was fabulous. Every toe was pedicured. Everyone carried kickass handbags. No one was a poor homeless girl from Boston.

There weren't too many actual pairs of shoes cluttering up the place, but Faith knew the deal was quality, not quantity, in these kinds of stores and when she and Rebecca shopped in places like this they always came home with something. Within six months after meeting Rebecca Faith had gone from one pair of boots to sixteen pairs of shoes. But those days were gone now and Faith knew she wouldn't be coming home with a new pair of fabulous kicks today. She was down to twenty-one dollars and she was back to the one pair of boots.

"They look nice, B," Faith said, looking down at Buffy's feet as Buffy stretched out in a pair of rather ostentatious gold slingbacks. "You're fab enough to pull 'em off."

"I think I might already have a pair like this though," Buffy said. "It's hard to keep track. So what about you? You haven't tried anything on."

"Think I'm more of a boot girl," Faith said. She looked at the baby grand piano. She looked at the salesgirls. She didn't look at the shoes. No reason to look if she couldn't have a pair. She wanted to get out of there. She wanted to go home. But she didn't have a home...she didn't have anywhere to go.

If she went back to Boston she wouldn't be able to stop herself from seeing Evan, and she couldn't put him in danger again. And she was needed here. If ever there was a place the Slayer needed to be, it was the Hellmouth. But what would she do here? How would she live? She'd had more than two weeks to think about it since they killed Kakistos and she still hadn't come up with an answer... mostly because she'd spent the time thinking about Buffy.

"They have boots," Buffy said. "I don't think they have Docs, but they have some pretty boots. Let me help you pick a pair out."

"That's okay," Faith said. "I'll just, uh, shop vicariously through you." A woman with stylishly long gray hair wearing a business suit and horn-rimmed glasses walked by them, talking into a cell phone. "The problem is script," the woman was saying. "I'm almost through act two and I don't believe Carrie's inner struggle. She's too perfect. I know the writer loves her but I think we cut her and bring in our guy for a polish. Now talk to me about product placement." The woman carried a Louis Vuitton handbag and she held a hardcover book under her arm called War and the Liberal Conscience. The problem with the Hellmouth was that it was in California. Faith was pretty sure she wanted to blow up California.

"But that's no fun," Buffy said with a big, beautiful smile, and put her hand on Faith's shoulder. "I wanna dress you up. I wanna make you my Faith doll. Let me pick out shoes for you. I know you're always wearing boots but you'd look great in heels. Please, baby?"

Buffy seemed happy again now. Faith liked it when Buffy was happy. If being Buffy's Faith doll would keep the streak going...

"Uh...okay," Faith said.

It was like saying abra-kadabra. Suddenly it was raining shoes. It was a shoe monsoon. Buffy streaked through the store like the Tasmanian Devil picking out fabulous shoes for her and within minutes Faith was practically buried. After awhile Buffy finally sat back down next to her on the couch. There were more than a dozen pairs of shoes spread out around them. Faith took off her boots and socks and looked down at her feet, next to Buffy's. Buffy's feet were pretty.

"My feet are ugly," Faith said.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy said. "You have pretty feet. I wouldn't massage ugly feet. And I think we're the same size. You could use a pedicure though. We should go for pedicures together sometime."

"Yeah," Faith said. She couldn't afford a pedicure. She couldn't afford the shoes. She didn't know what the hell she was doing there. She didn't know what she was doing...she didn't have a plan.

"Well? Let's get to it, Cinderella," Buffy said.

Fifteen minutes later Faith had tried on all the shoes and wanted all the shoes and couldn't have any of the shoes and she made herself smile anyway.

"I think you're totally adorable in the open-toe pumps," Buffy said. "Personally if I'm you I'm buying the open-toe pumps. But we can't just ignore these slingbacks. That would be a grave tactical error. And then there's the purple strappy stilettos if you wanna go for the ultra-fab look. And yeah, we both want the Givenchys but my Mom would get annoyed if I mortgaged the house without telling her. Life is hard. We can't have a pony either."

"Those Givenchys kinda rocked my world," Faith said, looking over at them. They were the most exquisite shoes she'd ever seen. She really did feel like Cinderella when she tried them on. They looked like shoes Rebecca would have worn. But she couldn't have them. So she put them out of her mind.

"We need to stop thinking about the Givenchys," Buffy said, and put the Givenchys back in their box. "Thinking about them will only bring us pain."

Faith couldn't afford any of the shoes. The cheapest were fifty dollars.

"So what's it gonna be?" Buffy said.

Faith had prepared a lie.

"Kinda tempted to buy all of 'em," Faith said. "But okay, I'm gonna level with you, Buffy. Kakistos burned my house down back in Boston, so I had to buy new clothes in a hurry, plus a bus ticket out here, plus I'm paying for that motel now. I have like about three-thousand bucks left, but I need to budget it. I mean, I'd feel real awesome if I bought all these shoes right now, but I need to kinda figure out what I'm gonna do out here first, y'know? I'd better come up with a plan before I spend money on this kind of stuff."

She watched Buffy to gauge her reaction. Buffy smiled.

"Yeah, I get that," Buffy said. "Sorry, I didn't even think of that. But three-thousand won't last long, Faith. We're gonna need to come up with a plan."

"Yeah," Faith said.

"I want to buy you a pair," Buffy said. "I'll buy you a pair."

"B, that's awesome of you, but seriously, don't worry about it," Faith said. "You never know, I might not be able to resist and I might just come back here and buy a few pairs myself tomorrow. Once I figure out my money, maybe get a job or whatever, I promise, we'll go shopping then and you can watch me buy myself a whole bunch of new kicks."

"So let me buy you shoes now and you can pay me back if you want," Buffy said. "Whenever we come up with a plan and get your money situation together or whatever. You can pay me back for them then if you really want to."

"You're a great friend, B," Faith said. "I'm lucky to have you. And I'm cool, okay? You don't have to feel like this is weird for me or whatever, 'cuz it isn't. I'm having fun, I love being here with you. I'm not buying anything right this second, but I will. I'm, y'know, scoping out the place. I'm doing like, shoe recon. So don't worry about me. Just keep making me smile. That's all I want."

"Okay, baby," Buffy said, and kissed her.

Sunnydale had a Bloomingdale's too. Faith stood in front of the mirror by the changing rooms with Buffy. Faith was wearing a long red leather coat, and Buffy stood behind her with her hands on her shoulders, and played with her hair.

"Faith, you look beautiful, baby," Buffy said. "Please buy this. Please?"

When Buffy called her beautiful, Faith felt warm.

"Damn tempting," Faith said. And it was. Faith considered coming back some other time to shoplift it.

"You should totally buy it," Buffy said. "You should buy it right now. It's like the ultimate Faith doll accessory. No Faith doll should be without it. Plus the beach house. But not Ken."

"Maybe I'll come back and buy it some time," Faith said.

The slaying hadn't been going so well. They did great when they were just hanging out. But the slaying...

"I'm telling you, we need a plan!" Faith said.

"What is your problem?" Buffy said. "We've been through this like twenty times! Okay, yeah, there's maybe a dozen or so of them. But we're two Slayers, we can take these guys!"

They'd had dinner at Buffy's house. Pork chops. It was good. Joyce was nice. Everything had gone smoothly all day. Shopping was as fun as it could be without Faith being able to actually afford anything, and Buffy had believed her lie about how she had three grand stashed and was just kinda sorta budgeting it. They'd tried on clothes and Buffy had called her beautiful and made her whole day. Everything was great in the mall and great at dinner with Buffy's Mom after. Joyce seemed to really like her and Faith did her best not to let her see how uncomfortable she was around her. Faith was getting better around Joyce but Joyce still made her a little uncomfortable. Faith wasn't sure why, but she thought it might have something to do with Rebecca.

Still, everything had gone great all day, nice and smooth, no bumps...

But the slaying...

During the days they were great together. But when they hung out at night, especially when they went out slaying, Buffy's mood changed...she was sad, sometimes, and then sometimes she would get angry...angry at the vampires. Faith hunted vampires but she was never really angry at them. They were prey. On the rare occasions when Faith actually gave it any thought, she saw her relationship to the average vampire as something akin to a lion's relationship with a gazelle. The lion didn't kill the gazelles because she hated them; the lion killed them because that's just the way things were supposed to work.

Buffy's anger was becoming a problem. She was taking risks sometimes now, when they went out slaying; she wasn't thinking tactically. She was hurting vampires, even torturing some of them, before she killed them. Faith didn't mind getting her kicks and she loved a good scrap, and she even liked to rub it in a little when she had a vampire down, but when the hunt was over it was over and it was time for the stake. Buffy was passing over opportunities to dust vampires just to drag out the fight sometimes. It wasn't like her. It made her look ugly.

They were crouched behind a tree, watching a crypt in the Fairlawn Cemetery. It was a little before midnight, and a sliver of moon rode high in the sky, flitting between the clouds. The Fairlawn Cemetery was a big cemetery, and it was a dump. The grass grew in brown, weedy patches. There were dense thickets of gnarled old trees, and here and there among them there were chairs and couches set up around the remains of old campfires strewn with joints and whiskey bottles. The crypt they were watching had graffiti all over it. There were beer cans on the lawn all around it, and loud music playing inside.

"Yeah, I know we can take 'em, but c'mon B, use your head!" Faith said. "That crypt's all closed in, if we just run in there they have the advantage!"

Faith noticed Buffy was becoming annoyed. She had the same look on her face as she'd had that night they first met...like she was building to something, and trying to head it off. Buffy took a deep breath.

"Look, they're probably all wasted in there," Buffy said. "This cemetery is non-stop vamp parties, always has been. We go in and take them by surprise, we can stake half of them before they even know we're there."

"Maybe," Faith said. "If they're wasted. "If not it's like fourteen on two in a little tiny space the size of my motel room. I just wish we had a better plan than 'Run in and hope we don't get our butts kicked.'"

"We have a plan," Buffy said. "We take them by surprise. That's the plan! And it would be a great plan if you'd stop bitching and just let us do it!"

"When I was with Becca, we picked our targets. We were careful. We--"

"Rebecca's not here!" Buffy snapped.

Faith looked straight ahead, at the crypt.

"Yeah," Faith said.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said. "I didn't...I didn't mean it like that. It's just, look, this is my town, okay? I've been doing this awhile, I know how everything works here. I know this is the right plan. You just have to trust me."

Faith nodded, still looking straight ahead.

Buffy put her hand on her shoulder.

"Faith, I'm sorry, baby, okay?" Buffy said. "Baby? I'm sorry."

"It's okay, B," Faith said. "Forget it."

The next night, Buffy was giggling. Faith had been making her giggle all day long. Faith always made her giggle. She said the goofiest things...

They were sitting together in Crestview Cemetery now, under a big willow tree, waiting for vampires to happen by. But no vampires were happening by, so Buffy had been listening to Faith's goofy stories instead, and their giggles echoed among the tombstones.

"Yeah, so wherever these guys played, people went missing, right?" Faith said. "It was like, part of their rep, y'know? Like they joked about it. They were like, 'Yeah, Ozzie maybe bit the head off a chicken, but you come to one of our shows, who knows what craziness can go down.' Cops never pinned anything on them, no witnesses. So I'm talkin' to these metal chicks at The Roxy and I'm like, 'But wait, who the hell listens to hair bands anymore?' And they're like, 'Well, the lead guitar guy, he's cute. He totally gets busy with the metal groupie gals.'"

"I didn't think there were any metal groupie gals anymore," Buffy said.

"Me neither, but y'know, my spider-sense was tingling, I just had a feeling, so I'm all, 'Hook me up backstage, girlfriends, sneak me in.' So I hit the vintage clothes stores and find some tramp outfit, y'know, bandana, ripped jeans, like that, couple of fake rub-on tats, and I'm hangin' out around the tour bus that night waiting for the show to end, and I'm rockin' that bandana and the ripped jeans and the suede boots and the Levis jacket with the Kiss patch. So next thing I know, bang, I catch the scent, there's a vamp headin' my way. A minute later out they come, and yup, the guitarist's a vamp, and a fox too. I'm like, okay, groupie gals' got a point. So I bat my lashes at him--he already had like three chicks on his arm--and he's like 'Sure babe, join the party', and we head into the bus. Nice bus too. Rugs, big TV sets, stocked bar, pool tables, waterbeds, the works. Thing is, the guy had his heart set on this real hot blonde, he wanted to get to her first..."

"A real hot blonde, huh?" Buffy said.

"Yeah baby," Faith whispered in her ear, and giggled. She put her arm around Buffy, and pulled her close, and positioned her hand just above Buffy's breasts. "A real hot blonde. I do love the hot blondes."

"Pervo," Buffy said, and laughed. But she didn't try to remove Faith's hand. So Faith kept it there, and moved it down so it rested lightly on top of Buffy's breasts. Buffy blushed.

"So yeah, dude had his heart set on the blonde, and I'm all like, 'C'mon coach, call my number," and he's like, 'Sorry hon, gotta wait your turn.' Thing is there were security guys on the bus with guns, there were a bunch of gals, there were the other band guys, and the bus was fab but it was long not wide, there wasn't like room to maneuver really. All those people, if things went all Die Hard in there people could get hurt. I needed to play it slick, all like undercover. I needed to get into that bedroom with him before he got the girl in there alone. Meanwhile the security guys are eyein' me. I had to think quick."

"So what did you do?" Buffy said.

Faith caressed Buffy's breasts. Buffy blushed again, but she still didn't remove Faith's hand.

"Is this okay, honey?" Faith said, and kissed her.

"Yeah," Buffy said.

"Okay," Faith said. "Well anyway I took my shirt and bra off, showed him my bodacious ta-ta's."

Buffy started giggling again. Faith kissed her. She moved her hand under Buffy's shirt as she kissed her, and slipped it under Buffy's bra, and caressed her breasts again. Buffy moaned, and Faith felt Buffy's nipples hardening under her fingers, as she gently stroked them.

"Your bodacious ta-ta's?" Buffy said, blushing like a fire engine.

"Hell yeah, girlfriend," Faith said. "And I'm all like, 'Dude, you really think you can resist this package? 'Cuz it's first come first served and if you don't step up the cute blondie lead singer guy over there's gonna be gettin' busy with these and you're missin' out.' Blondie lead singer guy's like 'Hell yeah gimme some o' that,' and guitar guy's like 'Shit girl, steer those titties over here.'"

"Bodacious ta-ta's," Buffy said, and giggled again.

"You don't think they're bodacious?" Faith said, and lifted Buffy's shirt, and unhooked her bra, and gave each of her breasts a single, gentle kiss. "C'mon honey, I know you love my ta-ta's."

Buffy kept blushing.

"You're cute when you blush," Faith said. "Plus all the other times."

"Finish the story, ta-ta girl," Buffy said, and put her arm around Faith, and brought her to her breasts. Faith started kissing them.

For a moment Evan came into Faith's head. But he seemed a million miles away, now...an abstraction. The concept of a person, rather than a person. Memories that didn't add up to flesh and blood anymore.

"Yeah, so I'm at the top of the class once he takes a gander at what I'm packin', and into the fab little bedroom we go," Faith said, and caressed Buffy's breasts again, and started kissing her neck now, as Buffy moaned. "He offers me some coke, I politely decline, he jumps on the waterbed and strips and we're off to the races. And I gotta say, guy was hot. I mean, I coulda staked him right that second but the more he took off, the more I wanted to see. So he's like, 'C'mon hon, I show you mine, you show me yours' and I figure what the hell, he's gonna be dead in a minute, might as well give the dude some eye candy first..."

"Oh my God," Buffy said, and giggled into her hand.

"Don't be jealous honey," Faith said, and licked Buffy's neck, from her shoulder to her ear. "You know you're my favorite. So yeah, I'm gettin' naked, I'm sittin' there on the bed in my panties and my socks, my stake's over on the floor in my boot. And then the guy pulls down his boxers and he whips out, I swear to God, the biggest dick in the history of the world."

"Oh my God!" Buffy screamed, her voice bouncing around the cemetery, and started laughing. "Oh my God that's so gross!"

"Didn't look too gross to me," Faith said, and put her hand on Buffy's knee. "Looked kinda good. Painful though. I'm like, 'Dude! What the fuck is that thing? You born with a third leg or what? Keep that damn thing away from me.'"

Buffy leaned back against the tree and started laughing hysterically. Her laughter took flight, in that grim place; it bounded around and kicked up a ruckus among the old rotting tombstones, and rustled through the trees, and finally hung in the black night air like a rainbow after a thunderstorm. It took a long time for the echoes of that laugh to fade away...they lingered, as if the night wanted to hold onto them for awhile.

Faith took Buffy in her arms, and kissed her.

"I love how you laugh," Faith finally said, as she held Buffy in her arms. "It's really pretty, honey. I could listen to that laugh all night."

"You gonna finish this gross story or what, pervo?" Buffy said, still giggling.

Faith kissed Buffy's nose, and smiled.

"Tickles," Buffy said, and giggled again, and wrinkled up her nose, and scratched it.

"Okay," Faith said. "So, big finish, the guy whips out his giant damn baseball bat of a dick, right? And I'm like 'whoa'. And he just laughs and he's all expectin'...y'know...what guys always expect. But even if I wanted to get busy with a damn vamp that frigging thing woulda broke my jaw. So I'm like, 'Hey guess what? Mine's bigger.' And I pull out my stake. Thing is though? Mine wasn't bigger. But it sure was pointier and that's all that mattered. The end."

"Grossest story ever," Buffy said, laughing again. "Big huge gross vampire penis? Gross."

"I don't know...the frigging thing woulda split me in half but it wasn't bad to look at," Faith said. "Dude made me all horny. But I like looking at you better."

"Yeah?" Buffy said.

"Yeah, honey," Faith said, and kissed her again.

It was Saturday night, and Buffy and Faith lay on the bed together in Buffy's room, in only their panties, and kissed.

Joyce was at her book club meeting, and they'd had the house to themselves for awhile. At first they had wondered if they should patrol. But then Faith had laid Buffy down on the bed, and started massaging her shoulders, and kissing her neck...

Faith had slept over again. Buffy had come to her motel room right after school the day before, and told Faith she wanted her to stay for the whole weekend again. When Faith had asked if Joyce had a problem with these sleepovers--between sleeping over on weekends and the dinners at least a couple of days a week, Faith was beginning to feel like maybe she should be paying Joyce rent--Buffy had said, "Nope. My Mom loves when you come over."

So Faith had shrugged her shoulders and packed her bag, like she'd done each of the two previous weekends. Joyce's cooking sure did beat scrounging cold cuts at the supermarket, and hanging with Buffy wasn't so bad either...

Especially right now.

Buffy kissed her way down Faith's body, from her neck, to her breasts, to her stomach, and stopped at her panties. She kissed Faith's pussy, over her panties, and smiled up at her.

They both kept their panties on, because neither of them was ready to go all the way yet.

But they liked coming close...

Buffy lifted Faith's legs over her shoulders, and mounted her like she was about to fuck her. Faith was curled up into a little ball now. Buffy looked her in the eyes, and smiled.

"Flexible," Buffy said.

"Damn, I wish you had a dick right now," Faith said.

They laughed.

They kissed.

Faith caressed Buffy's arms, as Buffy lay atop her. The muscles in Buffy's shoulders and triceps were flexed. Faith knew those arms were strong.

There was a game they liked to play. Faith had come up with it the night before. They weren't ready to go all the way yet and Faith had found a way to turn that negative into a positive...

"Fuck me," Faith said, and smiled.

"No," Buffy said, and smiled back, and started grinding against her. They were both dripping wet, now. Faith grabbed Buffy's ass, and pulled her toward her, matching Buffy's rhythm as she thrusted.

"Please?" Faith said.

"No," Buffy said. "You've been bad, baby. Bad girls can't get fucked. You know that."

"But I'll be good from now on. I'll be a good girl."

"You're gonna have to prove it, baby. If you can prove you can be good, maybe I'll fuck you. Are you gonna prove it for me? Are you gonna be a good girl and do something good for me?"

"Yeah," Faith said.

This was the point of the game. Faith had to come up with something new to do every time, some new way to prove she could be good. But it was tricky, because neither of them wanted to go all the way...

When they had played the game for the first time the night before, Faith had proved she could be good by giving Buffy a full-body massage with scented oil. It was fun because it was risky: they'd done it in Buffy's bedroom while Joyce was home and they could have been caught. Buffy was naked, but the room was dark and Faith couldn't really get a good look, so rule number one wasn't completely broken. It was around midnight when they did it, and Joyce was asleep in her bedroom just down the hall. Faith massaged Buffy's entire body, and she took her time, really working the oil into every single part of her; the massage took an hour, and for every second of that hour they were in danger of being caught. The risk made the game even better. Faith's pussy was dripping the whole time. For her part, Buffy was serene, lying on the bed and purring, as Faith's strong hands found all the little knots of tension and gently undid them, making every part of her tingle. Buffy was so calm, as Faith worked every drop of tension out of her, that Faith almost thought Buffy wanted Joyce to catch her...

This morning, when Joyce had gone to the gallery for a few hours, Faith had proven she could be a good girl by covering Buffy's feet with kisses.

Buffy smiled down at Faith now, thrusting faster. Faith began to moan, and her breathing sped up. Buffy wasn't sure if she could make Faith come just by doing this, but she was willing to give it a try...

"So what are you gonna do for me, baby?" Buffy said. "How are you gonna be my good girl?"

"I'll...make you...a sandwich," Faith whispered, between moans.

Buffy stopped thrusting. "Seriously?" she said.

They looked at each other, and they both suddenly started giggling.

"Yeah," Faith said. "I'm gonna make you a sandwich, come up here and serve it to you with a nice cold drink. Then I'm gonna kneel down in front of you with my head in your lap and smile up at you while you're eating it."

"That's if I let you up," Buffy said, and kissed Faith's ankle, and started gently thrusting again. "I like you like this. I wish I had a dick too right now."

Buffy leaned down and put her mouth to Faith's ear.

"I'd fuck you 'til you couldn't walk straight, baby," Buffy whispered, and kissed Faith's neck.

"Promises, promises. If you don't wanna let me be a good girl you can always spank me for being a bad girl," Faith whispered back.

Buffy remembered what Giles had said, about Faith's mother. She remembered how Faith had cried, when they were practicing wrist locks in the cemetery and Buffy had screwed up the move and Faith had punched her in the face and thought she'd hurt her. She remembered how it took Faith awhile to stop crying...how she had to hold Faith in her arms, and kiss her, and calm her down...

Buffy knew she had to be careful, with Faith.

"I guess I'll let you be a good girl for me," Buffy said, and rolled off of Faith, and let her up.

"Shit," Faith said, and giggled. "I was hoping for the spanking."

"Maybe if you play your cards right," Buffy said. "Roast beef and Swiss with lettuce and mayo and pickles. Now go make me my sandwich, woman."

"Yes, dear," Faith said, and stood up, and walked out of the room.

Sauntering into the dining room on the way to the kitchen wearing nothing but her panties, Faith found herself wondering what the protocol was if Joyce suddenly walked through the door. This isn't what it looks like, Joyce. Seriously. I'm not getting horizontal with your daughter. I'm just, y'know, making her a sandwich. In my panties.

On her way through the dining room, Faith noticed a pile of college brochures on an end table.

She stopped and looked through the pile. They were all out-of-state colleges. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Columbia.

Suddenly, Faith didn't feel like playing the game anymore.

Faith sucked it up and got back to the game. Her heart wasn't really in it, but she made the sandwich and got Buffy's drink and got her game face back on and walked up the stairs. As she climbed the stairs she heard Buffy talking on the phone in her bedroom, speaking low.

"They could have been red," Faith heard Buffy say. "Okay, fine. I look pretty in yellow. Yeah. I loved the yellow roses, baby. I loved how you braided them in my hair."

Faith froze. She felt like she was collapsing in on herself.

She felt the cold thing, in her stomach.

It had been awhile, since she'd felt it. She had almost forgotten it, during these weeks with Buffy.

Buffy was silent for a moment, and then Faith heard her say, "Yeah. I had a great time. I told you it was a perfect night."

Faith realized Buffy couldn't lock onto her scent. Buffy's body was covered with Faith's scent and Faith's scent was all over her bedroom too. Buffy hadn't realized Faith was on the way back up, hadn't detected her yet.

Faith listened.

"I've just...I've been busy. I'm sorry."

Silence.

"She's okay."

Silence.

"Yeah, okay. I'll meet you and we'll get the thing. You always take me to such wonderful places. Okay, gotta go. 'Bye."

She heard Buffy hang up the phone. Faith got her game face back on, and hummed the way she imagined devoted wives probably hummed, as she climbed the rest of the way up the stairs and walked down the hall toward Buffy's room. She entered the room with her biggest, sexiest smile on her face.

"I've brought you a sandwich, dear, and your drink," Faith said.

Buffy was sitting on the bed, smiling. Faith thought it was a hell of a smile. But Faith knew it was just as fake as the one she was wearing right now.

"That's awesome, baby," Buffy said, and took the sandwich and the drink from Faith, as Faith knelt down in front of her, and rested her head in her lap, just like she had said she would.

Faith looked up at Buffy, and smiled. Buffy took a quick bite of the sandwich and a sip of the orange juice, and then set them aside.

"I'm sorry baby, but...I have to go out for a few hours," Buffy said, and kissed her.

"Yeah?" Faith said, trying to look surprised and a little disappointed, too... but not suspicious.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Remember the tip from my bartender? Well I just got off the phone with him and he promises it's gonna pan out tonight. There's some magic doohickey and there's a guy he knows coming into town with info on where to find it. The doohickey's dangerous and I need to retrieve it and get it to Willow so she can figure out what to do with it."

Faith was pretty sure Buffy wouldn't have liked letting someone she had called "a greasy little sleazebag" braid flowers in her hair, so she assumed it was a lie. But she kept right on smiling.

"Okay, so how about I tag along, watch your back?" Faith said, because it was what Buffy would have expected her to say, and also because she was curious to hear how Buffy would get out of it.

"Well...the guy I'm supposed to meet, he's not dangerous," Buffy said. "He's not a vamp or a demon, he's just like...this professor guy who knows a lot about weird old magic doohickeys? But my bartender says he's really like, suspicious and stuff. The guy knows to expect me but I'm supposed to meet him alone. If anyone else shows up he might get spooked and take off, and I can't risk that, I really need the info on this magic doohickey, because there are plenty of bad guys out there who'd love to get their hands on it."

Not bad, Faith thought. The girl's good at lying.

"Okay," Faith said. "I'll like, crank up the VCR while you're gone. You'll just be gone a few hours?"

"Yeah, baby," Buffy said, and kissed her. "Then I'll come back and we can cuddle, okay? Um, if my Mom gets back before me, just like, tell her I'm doing a quick errand for Giles and that it's like, completely not dangerous?"

"Sure," Faith said.

Buffy showered, before she left, even though she had already showered that afternoon. Faith got her clothes back on while Buffy was in the shower, then went downstairs to the living room and turned on the television.

Buffy came downstairs a little later, and apologized and kissed her goodbye, and said she'd be back as soon as she could. Faith said she understood. Buffy walked out the door.

Faith waited thirty seconds after Buffy left, watching her from the window and noting the direction she was heading in. Then she ran up to Buffy's bedroom, put on a pair of Buffy's sneakers, and climbed out her bedroom window.

Following Buffy wasn't as difficult as it could have been because Buffy wasn't expecting to be followed. Faith kept to the rooftops, staying upwind and a good distance back.

Buffy wasn't looking around at all, wasn't really noting her surroundings. She was walking straight down the street. Faith thought she seemed distracted.

Still, Faith knew it would be foolish to underestimate her. In addition to being faster, Faith was pretty sure Buffy was also a better tracker; Buffy had managed to nearly sneak up on her a few times when they were hunting together and she was usually the first one to catch a scent.

After about five minutes, Buffy stopped at the corner at the end of her street by the traffic light. She leaned against the traffic light, and waited.

Faith stayed as far back as she could while still keeping her in sight, but it backfired on her when a black convertible suddenly pulled up to the curb and a man got out of it. The wind had shifted by then and Faith was too far away to catch his scent, or to get much of an idea of what he looked like, either: he was tall, with dark hair, wearing a black trenchcoat, and that was all Faith could see.

And then something strange happened. The man suddenly looked in Faith's direction for a second. She ducked behind a chimney before his eyes scanned the rooftops, and a second later he was looking at Buffy again. It had to be a coincidence, Faith thought. The man hadn't really known she was there, he just happened to look in her direction at that moment. Only a vampire could have known she was there, caught her scent from that distance...

The man talked with Buffy for a minute; they leaned on the hood of his car together. He held her hand.

Faith saw Buffy kiss him.

And they got in the car, and drove away...

Faith sat on the roof, watching the car until it disappeared.

Then she climbed down from the roof, and walked back to Buffy's house, in the dark.

"The Glove of Mini-golf?" Buffy said. They were in Angel's car, driving toward a cemetery across town. The car's top was down, and she'd found the hip-hop station again, and his arm was around her and she had taken off her shoes and she was hanging her feet out the window, and the wind was in her hair...

But it was different, this time.

He hadn't put his arm around her. Buffy had leaned on his shoulder, and taken his arm and put it around her.

Buffy had initiated the kiss as they stood by the car; Angel hadn't really returned it.

And Buffy felt like she was cheating, again.

She just didn't know who she was cheating on...

"Myneghon," Angel said. "Shoots lightning. And a demon's looking for it. Demons annoy me enough already. If he gets that glove and starts shooting lightning, I'm gonna get pissed."

"Tell me about the demon," Buffy said.

"Lagos," Angel said. "Big guy, tough, and he uses weapons. Supposedly an expert with swords. One of the reasons I brought you with me, it'll be good to have the Slayer for backup."

"A Slayer," Buffy said. "Faith's a Slayer too. In fact she's probably the Slayer, since Giles says the line's supposed to go through her now."

Buffy didn't have Faith's scent on her, now. But she smelled like soap. Angel knew she had showered just before she met him.

And he could've sworn he'd caught Faith's scent, when he and Buffy were standing by the car...

"How's Faith doing?" Angel said.

"She's fine," Buffy said.

"Are you two getting along? I remember there was some tension, with you and Kendra."

"Two Slayers together. Probably not supposed to happen. But Faith and I are doing okay."

They were driving down the back roads now, in nearly absolute darkness. There were no streetlights to see by, and when Buffy looked up at the sky even the moon was a waning sliver now, almost gone. She could see tall, dark, looming trees whizzing past on either side of her, and nothing else. The trees looked black. The car's headlights revealed a little of the gray, featureless road ahead of them, and then were swallowed up by the darkness before they could penetrate very far. The air was cold. Buffy brought her feet back into the car, and put her shoes on.

"Is she staying here?" Angel said.

"Yeah," Buffy said, and turned down the radio. "What are the other reasons you brought me with you?"

"This glove is powerful, the bad guys are gonna keep coming after it," Angel said. "It needs to be destroyed. A specific spell is needed to destroy it, the spell is in The Book of Eibon. Giles should have a copy, if not I'll lend you mine. I'd destroy the glove myself but the spell needs a witch. I need you to get this glove to Willow."

"No other reasons, huh?"

"I like being with you."

Buffy smiled.

"Okay," Buffy said. "So first the Klingons, then this Glove of Mini-golf. You're sure keeping busy lately."

"I've wasted a lot of time," Angel said. "So I'm keeping my nose to the ground now. Getting back in the game. Trying to do some good while I'm here."

"Good to have you back," Buffy said.

"How's Willow?" Angel said. "Is she...okay?"

Buffy's smile disappeared.

"Better than she was," Buffy said.

"The bigger they are, yadda yadda yadda," Buffy said. "Also, in this case, the uglier they are."

They were standing in a little crypt in a cemetery on the outskirts of town. It wasn't really a proper cemetery; it was a small lot in a clearing at the end of a little dirt path off the back roads leading into the woods and it had taken them a couple of tries to find it. It seemed to exist solely to house the crypt; there were no tombstones. There wasn't even a gate or any kind of a proper entrance. Just the dirt path off the road, not marked by any sign. The clearing was overgrown with weeds as tall as Buffy's head.

The crypt itself was unremarkable. Buffy had seen a lot of crypts and although the first couple were a little exciting because of the creaky old stone doors and the sarcophagi and the general dark musty eerieness, they'd gotten boring pretty quickly; now they all just looked like stone boxes to Buffy. Big boxes, little boxes...they were all pretty much the same, and this one was no exception. It was on the smaller side, dark and musty; the air was stale. It apparently hadn't been entered in a very long time. It contained four sarcophagi, a big stone crucifix, an unlit torch in a wall sconce, two urns, a tattered old Bible, the Glove of Myneghon, and Lagos, who was lying dead on the floor in front of Buffy because Angel had cut off his head with a battle-axe.

Lagos was tall and thin, with a face like a skull, brown, mottled skin, purple eyes, black lips, long fangs, and horns like a ram. He wore a long purple cape, a look which Buffy didn't think he was pulling off very well. He had come at Buffy with a sword, and he was good with the sword; but Buffy was too fast for him and she dodged him until he was in the perfect position for Angel to behead him with one swing of his battle-axe.

They still had the old moves, Buffy thought, as she looked down at what was left of Lagos. She and Angel still moved around each other in perfect harmony as they fought, anticipating each other's moves without speaking or even having to think about it, watching each other's backs, setting Lagos up, and then knocking him down. When she was with Angel, Buffy felt invincible.

"He didn't smell too good either," Angel said. "Anyway, we got the glove." He brought the glove over to Buffy, and she took it from him, and looked at it. It was a long metal gauntlet with sharp spikes shaped like stylized lightning bolts sticking out from the sides and at each knuckle.

"Don't put it on," Angel said, as he wiped yellow blood off his battle-axe, using Lagos' cape. "Once you put it on it can't be taken off."

"I don't have a single thing in my wardrobe that goes with it anyway," Buffy said, and gave it back to him. "That's a hell of a battle-axe. It's even bigger and shinier than your other battle-axe."

"I'm fond of it," Angel said, as they walked out of the crypt.

They didn't talk much, on the drive back. Buffy had turned the radio on, and looked straight out at the road.

Buffy knew he didn't want to be with her anymore. He hadn't said it, but she knew he'd decided it.

Maybe he was right.

As they got close to her house, Buffy had him stop at the end of the street.

"You want me to drop you here?" Angel said.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Faith's over the house."

He nodded. He looked at her...she looked out at the street.

"Do I get a kiss goodnight at least?" Buffy said.

"Yeah," Angel said.

They kissed.

His kisses used to crackle through her. She used to get wet, when she kissed him. She didn't, this time. It wasn't just that he was holding back a little.

Buffy wasn't sure what it was. It was strange.

"Good night," Angel said.

"Good night," Buffy said.

She didn't get out of the car. She looked straight ahead, at the deserted street. It had gotten cold. She shivered, a little.

He put his arm around her.

"It was a perfect night, wasn't it?" Buffy said.

"Yeah," Angel said. "It was."

She looked at him.

"Kiss me once more before I go," Buffy said. "Make it a great one."

He kissed her.

It didn't crackle through her.

It was strange...

She looked at him. He looked beautiful...he always did. But Buffy thought Faith was even more beautiful.

And then, for the first time in her life, Buffy understood herself.

When Buffy got home Faith was in her nightgown in the living room watching TV.

"How'd it go?" Faith said.

Buffy held up the Glove of Myneghon.

"Got what I was looking for," Buffy said.

"The hell is that thing?" Faith said.

"The Glove of Mini-golf."

"The Glove of Mini-golf?"

"Mini something. I forget. I'll bring it to Giles and Willow tomorrow and they can destroy it."

"Let me see?"

Buffy tossed the glove to her.

"Don't put it on," Buffy said. "Once you put it on it can't come off."

"What's it do?" Faith said.

"Shoots lightning."

"Whoa."

"My Mom's not home," Buffy said, and sat on the couch with her.

"Called an hour ago, said she'd be back late. Sounded a little tipsy. I think more goes on at that book club than Joyce is letting on."

"They all drink wine and get wasted."

"They talk about books at all?"

"For like the first hour," Buffy said, and ran her fingers through Faith's hair. "Then they start talking about how men suck and they all get wasted. They did the club here one week, I saw the whole grisly spectacle."

Buffy knelt down in front of her, and rested her head in her lap.

Buffy had a tear in her eye now.

"Hey," Faith said, and took her in her arms. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just...in a weird mood, baby," Buffy said.

Faith didn't really know what to do. She was angry with Buffy...Buffy had lied to her tonight, and she wondered how many other lies there had been. She felt like Buffy had betrayed her. Cheated on her. She'd been thinking about what she should do, how she should be, when Buffy got home. She hadn't been able to decide. But that tear in Buffy's eye decided for her.

Faith held her in her arms.

"Tell me what's wrong, honey," Faith whispered. "Let me make it better."

"Just...kiss me, baby?" Buffy said. "Kiss me, and make it a great one."

Faith kissed her.

Buffy felt it crackling through her...

Faith was a little distant, the rest of that night, and the next day: whenever Buffy wanted to lie down with her, she seemed to find excuses not to. When they started kissing, Faith was always the one who stopped first. Buffy didn't understand it...

She sat at the table Sunday night, and ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwich Joyce had made for her because dinner had been meat loaf and Buffy hadn't eaten much of it. Faith was in the bathroom.

"You didn't have to make this for me," Buffy said.

"I'm your mother," Joyce said. "Of course I did."

Buffy smiled.

"I don't hate your meat loaf," Buffy said.

"Yes, you do," Joyce said, and smiled.

"Faith likes it."

"How is she?"

"She's good. Are you sure I'm not adopted and Faith's not like, your actual long-lost daughter?"

Joyce kissed Buffy's cheek.

"You're my daughter," Joyce said. "No one else could annoy me the way you do."

"I practice," Buffy said. "I come up with like, little routines. Can I ask you something huge and like, you're probably gonna be freaked out but I need to ask you anyway?"

"Sure. You can't get a tattoo and you can't skip your first year of college to find yourself."

"Can I have a pony?"

"No."

"Faith's...living in that motel," Buffy said, looking down at the table. "And she doesn't have a job and...she's got money? Like, enough to keep her afloat there for a few months, but..."

"Do you want her to live here?" Joyce said.

"Could she?" Buffy said.

"Yes," Joyce said.

"Well that was easy. How come that was so easy? That was totally easier than all the times I ask you if I can get a tattoo."

"You can't ever get a tattoo. I like Faith. And I don't like her living in that cheap motel, in that lousy neighborhood. And someone should eat my meat loaf."

Buffy got up out of her chair, and hugged her.

"I love you, Mom," Buffy said.

"I know, Buffy," Joyce said. "I love you too. So when are you going to ask her?"

"She's not in trouble yet, she's got money to last awhile. And Faith's... complicated. She's proud. I have to do this just right. She can't feel like..."

Buffy let her senses reach out. Faith was still upstairs.

"She can't feel like it's charity," Buffy said. "If she feels like we're just feeling bad for her she'll bail."

"You should ask her soon," Joyce said. "I don't like her in that motel."

"How come you like her so much?" Buffy said. "I mean...I don't mean that like, you shouldn't like her, I'm psyched that you like her, but...I'm just curious, I guess."

"You know, that's a good question," Joyce said. "I guess...she just seems like a sister for you. Maybe because you're both Slayers, maybe you two have a connection that I can kind of sense. I always wanted you to have a sister, you know. And that's the way she feels to me. Like a little sister for you."

"I always wanted a little sister too. How come I never got one?"

"I don't know. Your father wasn't as far up the ladder at work then as he would be later, and I was staying at home raising you before I went in on the art gallery. We only had your father's income. And I guess...life just...got in the way. By the time we were comfortable enough financially, by the time we'd bought the house in Los Angeles and the art gallery was successful, things between your father and I...well...we had problems."

"You always raised me. I always felt loved, always felt like I wasn't missing anything. Even after he left, I never felt like I was missing anything. You're an awesome Mom. You're the best Mom in the world."

"Thank you. Did you lose another pair of my earrings? Are you preemptively laying the groundwork for another earring confession?"

"No," Buffy said, and giggled. "But I was thinking about asking if I could get a tattoo again."

"Absolutely not," Joyce said.

"Just a little one. A little one on my ankle. It wouldn't even be bad. It would be like, a flower, or maybe some Chinese thing."

"It would just be a little one?" Joyce said. "And you promise it wouldn't be obnoxious?"

Buffy's eyes lit up. "You totally have my word," she said. "Cross my heart, hope to die. It would be the smallest, nicest little thing and you would never even notice it."

Joyce smiled.

"Hmm. Well let me think about that...no," Joyce said.

Buffy looked like someone had put coal in her Christmas stocking. Joyce started laughing, and hugged her.

"I'm sorry honey, I just couldn't resist," Joyce said. "The look on your face was priceless."

"I'm adopted," Buffy said. "I just totally know I'm adopted."

"I'm your real mother, Buffy," Joyce said. "No one else could annoy you the way I do."

"Don't wanna freak you out but we got a little problem here," Faith said.

She was walking through the mall with Buffy two days later. They had just come out of Bloomingdale's and they had been all smiles: Buffy had a big Bloomingdale's bag full of thirty-percent off swag and Faith had managed to swipe a gorgeous little top; she put it on under her sweater. She'd been slick about it too; she'd stolen one of those devices they use to remove the magnetic tags a week before; it was like having the Keys to the City. She figured she was good to go and she felt footloose and fancy free...

But then a security guy followed them out of the store, talking on his walkie-talkie, and Faith noticed two more security guys at the other end of the mall heading in their direction, and Faith knew she had a situation. She couldn't hit them. She couldn't ever hurt an innocent person.

Rebecca would be ashamed of her if she did...

She'd rather get caught and spend time in jail for shoplifting than make Rebecca ashamed of her.

Still, the best plan was to not make Rebecca ashamed of her and to not spend time in jail. So she tried to locate the nearest exit in the few seconds she had before it all went south.

"What? What's wrong? Vamps?" Buffy said, and looked around.

"Not vamps," Faith said. The mall was crowded: it was Saturday afternoon and it was packed with giggling teenagers. Up ahead of them at the intersection there was a big crowd gathered around a couple of sweet Porsches. There was some kind of prize drawing going on; a guy in a bad suit holding a microphone in his hand was talking about twenty lucky winners who would get keys and have a chance to see if their keys started the cars, and there were hundreds of people there, all whooping and hollering and clapping and excited. Faith remembered there was an exit around the corner from the cars, down the hallway on the right. She looked around, casually. There were four security guys now, two behind and two in front. They'd reach her in about twenty seconds. "Okay, confession time," Faith said. "I shoplifted a top and four mall security guys are following us, two in front and two behind."

"What?" Buffy hissed. "Why?"

"How about we talk it out later and right now we get the hell out of here," Faith said. She had to give Buffy credit. Buffy was still walking casually, not turning around, playing it cool.

"I don't frigging believe this," Buffy muttered, her face red. "You got a plan?"

"Yeah. There's an exit around the corner to the right of the cars, at the end of that hall. We run. Ready?"

"Whatever," Buffy said, and they started running.

"Okay, that's far enough," Faith said.

They stopped running. They were at the far end of a softball park and the mall was four blocks back. There was no sign of the security guys. Faith bet they had probably given up before they even made it out of the parking lot. Arresting people was one thing; having to chase them down was another and mall security guys didn't make the kind of money that inspired them to go the extra mile.

"Feel like telling me what the hell you were thinking?" Buffy said.

"I don't know," Faith said. "I just...kinda liked the top."

"Yeah? Well I don't like feeling like a fucking thief!" Buffy screamed. "For all I know they've got me on tape there now, for all I know I can't shop anymore there now! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"They...they don't have you on tape," Faith said. "I made sure not to change in the changing room or anywhere near cameras. And even if there was a camera I missed, I made sure you weren't with me when I put the top on. Worst case they got me on tape, but not you."

"Great," Buffy said, as they started walking. It was after sunset now, and they were due at her house for dinner. "So you're a thief."

"Yeah," Faith said, and just looked straight in front of her, into the gathering darkness, her face red. "Guess I am. Guess I'm a lot of stuff."

They walked on in silence for a moment.

"You're not a thief," Buffy eventually said.

"Wearing the evidence," Faith said. "Under my sweater."

"Okay, you screwed up, okay?" Buffy said. "And...I blew up at you and I'm sorry. You're not a thief. You just made a dumb move."

"Look, I'm gonna...I'm gonna head back to my motel, okay?" Faith said. "I'm...kinda beat. Tell Joyce...I don't know. I'll catch her next time."

"No," Buffy said.

"No? No what?" Faith said.

"I...don't want you to skip out on dinner," Buffy said. "I want you to have dinner with us. Yeah okay, I blew up at you and embarrassed you and I'm sorry. I guess you're a little pissed at me and I know I'm a little pissed at you. But that's all it is. It's something we'll both forget about by tomorrow. I want you to have dinner with me and my Mom. I don't want you back in that motel tonight. I don't like you in there. I want you having dinner with me and then I want us to patrol afterwards like we planned."

"Look, that's nice and all but--" Faith said.

"Okay, I'm getting deja vu here," Buffy said. "Remember our first night? We were both a little pig-headed. How about we skip that part and cut to us both just chilling out and being reasonable this time."

Buffy took her hand.

"Faith," she said. "I'm sorry, okay? I was just pissed, I didn't mean it. I want you to have dinner with me, I don't like you in that motel all alone. Please?"

"Buffy..." Faith said. She couldn't look at her. "I need to be apologizing, not you. I...embarrassed you and almost got you in trouble and I'm sorry."

Buffy gently turned Faith toward her, so she could look at her, and smiled.

"Then make it up to me," she said. "Have dinner with me."

Dinner had been going well. Faith was still a little uncomfortable around Joyce but she was making strides with it and she was pretty sure Joyce hadn't noticed. Things had started out quiet because of what happened at the mall but Buffy had been slowly chipping away at Faith's mood and Faith had allowed it, letting her guard down as the night went on. Dinner was chicken and Joyce made a good chicken, and then they had all laughed when Buffy told the story of Xander and the giant praying mantis lady, and Faith had even gotten Joyce to blush when she mentioned that she thought Giles was cute. Joyce looked like Buffy when she blushed. Faith found herself having a good time.

And then on the way out of the bathroom Faith overheard Joyce talking to Buffy about how Buffy could take off for college out of state after graduation, and Faith could hang around Sunnydale and take over as the Slayer.

"You're going to fill out all those college applications, right?" Faith heard Joyce say.

"Yeah, I'll fill them all out this week," Faith heard Buffy say.

"I think you'll like going away to school, and being somewhere new," Faith heard Joyce say. "It'll be like an adventure. And with Faith here, Sunnydale will be okay."

"Yeah," Faith heard Buffy say.

As Faith stood at the top of the stairs, listening, she knew she really couldn't blame Joyce. It's not like Faith had anything better to do; Buffy had a future and she didn't. That's just the way it was. Buffy was smart and she wasn't. Buffy had a Mom who loved her and she didn't. No reason for Buffy to spend her life shoveling shit against the Hellmouth tide when there was a dumb girl who couldn't do anything but fight and shoplift just hanging around...

"You were quiet tonight," Buffy said.

They were patrolling through a cemetery on the east side of town; Faith didn't remember its name. It looked like all the rest anyway. Still, Faith knew she should probably pay attention. This was going to be her life, after Buffy left her.

There was no moon. The sky was black. The weather was turning cold.

"Dinner was good. Joyce is nice," Faith said. She thought she should probably reach out with her senses, tune into her nose. But she didn't really see a reason to bother. If there were vampires, they'd find her and come at her. And then they'd die or she would. Same as every other day. And then one day one of them would kill her, and then there'd be some other girl, some other Watcher...

"You're still pissed at me," Buffy said.

"I'm not pissed at you," Faith said.

"Then what is it?"

"I'm just...feelin' kinda quiet I guess. Joyce didn't think I was rude, did she? I mean, it's nice of her, having me over. She's a great Mom."

"No. She just thought you were a little shy tonight, that's all."

They stopped in front of a crypt, and sat on two big marble urns.

"Faith, I don't know how many times you want me to say it," Buffy said. "I'm sorry I called you a thief, I just...I lost my temper. I didn't mean it. I don't know what to do to get you to believe me."

"Already told you, I'm not pissed at you," Faith said.

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing. Look...you've shown me around all the cemeteries pretty good, I can take it from here."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean y'know, patrolling. You don't have to hold my hand anymore. I can take it from here. Figure from now on, if you wanna patrol or whatever, we can coordinate, like, you do one section of town, I do the other. Kind of a waste of resources, us always being together all the time. I mean, there are probably vamps we could bag that we're missing, people we could save that we're missing by not separating. We'd cover more ground separate."

"What is this?" Buffy said, and stood up. "You don't...you don't want to be with me anymore?"

"I just mean...it's...more efficient," Faith said. "We split up, cover more ground, save more lives maybe."

"Yeah. You know what? I've been saying I'm sorry all frigging day and I'm tired of it," Buffy said, looking away from her, her face red. "I'm not the one who stole that top, I'm not the one who got us into this. So you wanna be pissed at me forever about this? You don't...don't wanna be with me anymore over some little bullshit thing like this? Fine."

"Buffy...c'mon, that's not..." Faith called out, as Buffy stormed away.

"I guess you never really...never really liked me in the first place then," Buffy said, her voice shaky, and walked away.

A moment later Buffy marched right back at her.

"This isn't fair!" Buffy shouted. "It isn't fair how you're...how you're totally holding this over my head like this! I said I was sorry like a hundred times and you won't even talk to me! Why did you even shoplift that stupid fucking thing in the first place?! You've got three-thousand dollars! Why did...?"

Buffy suddenly stopped talking. She looked down at the ground.

Then she walked away from Faith, and sat back down.

"You don't have three-thousand dollars," Buffy said. "Whenever we've gone out to eat lately you've been ordering the cheapest stuff, dollar menu stuff. Every time. I could tell you were hungrier than that. Whenever my Mom's cooked lately you've been eating as much food as my Mom could heap on your plate. Because you're hungry, aren't you? Budgeting your money's one thing, but there's no way you'd let yourself go without eating just to save a few bucks. Your money ran out awhile back, didn't it? I'm an idiot. I should've seen it."

Faith looked out at the cemetery. She saw her life there, stretching out in front of her. She wondered if she'd beat the odds...if she'd make it past nineteen. What was the point anyway?

Always more vampires. Always another girl.

"How much money do you have left?" Buffy said.

"I got money," Faith said.

"Great," Buffy said. "So now you're lying to me too."

"You mean lying on top of stealing?" Faith said.

"And it comes up yet again. There should be a drinking game maybe."

They looked out at the cemetery.

"I took you to all those great fabulous stores and you could never afford to buy a single thing and you kept smiling through it," Buffy said.

"You made me smile," Faith said.

"How much money do you have left?" Buffy said.

"Look, don't worry about me, okay?" Faith said. "I gotta go. From now on we should...we should split up our patrols, take different sections of town. It's just more efficient. We'll save more people."

Faith stood up. She didn't look at Buffy.

"I mean, that's the job, right? That's why we're out here," Faith said. "So y'know, let's do the job. I need to get a feel for the town myself now, you've showed me around enough. I got any questions I'll ask. Look, I'm gonna take off, okay? Nothin' doin' out here tonight. Take it easy, I'll catch ya later."

And Faith walked away...and left Buffy alone, looking out at the cemetery...at her life, stretching out in front of her...

It was Friday afternoon and Willow had dragged Faith out of her motel room and insisted they hang out at the Starbucks and drink coffee together. Willow had been trying to hang out with her a lot lately, and she didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. Faith had blown her off a couple of times but today it had just seemed simpler to give in.

Faith liked Willow. But she knew Willow was only doing this because she felt bad for her...she must have heard about her fight with Buffy, and she felt bad. Just like the time she'd taken Faith on a tour of Sunnydale. Willow felt bad.

She sat on a couch in the Starbucks with Willow, and looked around at the paintings on the walls that were cooler than they had any right to be, hanging in a Starbucks. She watched the college kids sitting around on couches drinking coffee and gazing lovingly into their laptops, and the old people reading newspapers and eating pastries at the little tables. Willow had brought her to the Starbucks a couple of times before; it was sort of their place now. Some kind of adult contemporary pseudo-alternative music was being piped in; it was a step above elevator music but in its blandness and its effort to blend into the background and not draw any attention to itself it stood out from the other noises, the conversations and the little computer sounds and the sounds of spoons and coffee mugs, and grated on Faith's nerves.

Willow drank her extra-large super mocha cappuccino with lots of sugar and cocoa sprinkles, and she had her laptop with her, as always. Faith drank her medium hot cocoa and she had six dollars in her pocket.

She didn't have the slightest idea what she was doing there. Maybe Willow wanted to make her watch her do homework.

"How you been, sweetie?" Willow said. "I miss hanging with you. It's hard like, prying you away from Buffy long enough to hang. You puttin' the fear into all the Big Bads?"

Willow always initiated the conversations. It wasn't that Faith didn't like her. She just never had any idea what to say to her. She was dumb and Willow was smart. What do you say to a smart girl? How's math been treating you?

"Yeah, y'know, I'm showin' all the bad guys the pimp hand, best I can," Faith said. Faith tried to keep her responses as varied and interesting as she could. She didn't want Willow to think she was bored. She liked Willow. She liked her strawberry scent. She liked how Willow's voice was goofy and soothing at the same time, and how she laughed too loud. She liked the weird sweaters she wore, and the funky hats. She had blown her off before but now she felt guilty about it.

"How are you and Buffy doing?" Willow said.

Faith hadn't seen or heard from Buffy in three days.

"B and me, we're cool," Faith said. "We do our thing."

It was probably better this way, Faith thought. Probably better that Buffy had given up on her.

The next morning there was a knock at the door. Faith stretched and yawned, and squinted at the window; she didn't have a clock but it looked early. She tuned into her nose. She smelled Buffy. And chicken?

She plodded to the door. She'd been out until three in the morning, slaying and stealing. She'd swiped some clothes from the mall, but unfortunately none of the vampires she'd mugged had any cash on them. She was down to three dollars.

When she opened the door a blast of cold air hit her. The look on Buffy's face wasn't doing anything to warm it up. Buffy brushed by her into the room and Faith quickly shut the door behind her. Buffy was wearing a sweater and tight jeans that fit perfectly and the usual expertly applied makeup. She was carrying a big plate of chicken with tinfoil on it. She set the plate on the bureau.

"What's goin' on?" Faith said, yawning.

"I brought you some food," Buffy said. "Chicken. You liked my Mom's chicken last time."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want you to not have food."

"I got food."

"I got an idea," Buffy said, and sat on the bed and took off her coat. Faith thought it was a hell of a coat; it was a red hooded angora coat that fit Buffy perfectly and went nicely with her long blonde hair and Buffy looked great in it. "How about you stop lying to me. Makes things simpler."

"Thanks for the food but...I'm okay, Buffy," Faith said. "I don't need it."

"My Mom wants you over for dinner again," Buffy said, looking away from her. "I know you hate me now but she wanted me to invite you, she wants to know why you haven't been over all week."

"What?" Faith said. "What the hell makes you think I hate you? Where the hell did you get that idea?"

Buffy still wouldn't look at her.

"Will you come over for dinner?" Buffy said. "My Mom wants you to come over tonight, if you're not busy. You don't have to hang out with me. You can just eat and leave if you want."

"I...can't make it tonight, Faith said. "Raincheck, okay?"

Buffy didn't look at her. She looked at the painting on the wall.

"That thing will make you dizzy," Faith said.

Faith sat next to her on the bed.

"Buffy," Faith said, and took her hand. "I don't know where you're getting this from, okay? I don't hate you."

Buffy pulled her hand away.

"Will you eat the chicken?" Buffy said.

"I don't need it," Faith said.

Buffy sat motionless on the bed, looking away from her.

Faith's plan was to ignore Buffy, to make it easier to lose her when she graduated from school. Faith was realizing she couldn't stick to that plan.

She knew Buffy had lied to her. She knew Buffy was planning on leaving her. Faith guessed maybe she was Buffy's fling before college. She thought the guy she saw Buffy kissing was the one-time guy, the guy Buffy had talked about...and that Buffy still loved him, and always would, and that was that.

But Faith still couldn't stick to her plan.

"You want to eat it with me?" Faith said. "We can eat together."

"Okay," Buffy said.

"How about I come over for dinner tomorrow night?" Faith said. "Is Joyce good with tomorrow night?"

"Okay," Buffy said. And finally looked at her. Faith thought she looked tired. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping. But she was still beautiful.

It would be hard from now on, Faith knew; a balancing act. She had hurt Buffy, by pulling away. Faith knew she'd have to let Buffy in again, at least a little...no matter how much it would hurt when Buffy eventually left her after graduation, she had to let her back in. She couldn't let Buffy think she hated her.

Faith brought the plate of chicken back to the bed, and brought the last two Cokes in from the bathroom, and they ate together in silence.

A week later it was Saturday night and it was Halloween, and Faith sat with Buffy and Willow and Xander in the Bronze, and tried to be part of the group. According to Buffy, vampires took Halloween off so there was no reason to bother patrolling. Vampires apparently considered going out on Halloween tacky. Xander was dressed as James Bond. "Just in case," he had said. Willow was wearing a catsuit. "And I look so much better than Cordelia in it," she had said. Faith had to agree. She'd met Cordelia after they had killed Kakistos, and Cordelia was hot enough, but as far as Faith was concerned Willow was rocking that catsuit.

Fuck, Faith thought.

Buffy wore jeans and a sweater. Faith wore jeans and a blouse.

"Yeah, so there I am, wearing, no lie, a bikini and flip-flops, and I'm chasing this vampire for like six miles through Boston, into Cambridge and Watertown," Faith said, chuckling. "And it's summer, right? It's summer and it's a Saturday night and people are out on the streets pointing at me, drunk guys are like 'take it off, honey!' and 'do I get fries with that shake?' and I remember thinking to myself as I'm chasing this vamp for six miles in a frigging bikini, God damn it, does that girl in California ever have to deal with shit like this?"

They laughed. "No," Buffy said. "But you'd be surprised at what I do have to deal with." Faith smiled. She liked when she could make Buffy laugh.

"Um...where'd you keep your stake?" Willow said. "I mean, you were wearing a bikini."

Buffy ignored the image that came into her head just then. She knew she couldn't have Faith that way again...Faith didn't want her that way anymore. So she tried not to think about her that way. But Faith was so beautiful...and it was hard, sometimes...

"Had a little handbag thing with me," Faith said.

"Faith has the coolest stories ever," Xander said. "Why doesn't Buffy have stories like that?"

"You want me to wear a bikini when I go on patrols?" Buffy said.

"Is there any answer that doesn't get me in trouble?" Xander said.

"Nope," Willow said. "Trust me, Xander, it's a trap. Like that time she asked you if she looked fat."

"I have no comment at this time," Xander said.

Faith thought the Bronze was still a dump. But Faith had nothing against dumps: The Roxy wasn't winning any awards either. And the dance floor was still serviceable. Crazy, laughing kids in Halloween costumes were dancing to Monster Mash now. The music tonight was a snooze; a bunch of corny Halloween songs that you couldn't really dance to was being piped through the speakers. It didn't stop the Sunnydale kids from dancing though. Those kids could dance to anything. Folk music, corny Halloween music...Faith just didn't get these people. Faith wanted a DJ spinning good, fast tunes. One DJ in particular.

But he was gone, now.

So she sat on the plush couch with Buffy and Willow and Xander, and tried to be part of the group...and tried not to think of Evan...and tried not to think of Buffy, leaving her.

Buffy didn't sit next to her. Willow sat next to her. Buffy sat at the opposite end of the couch, next to Xander.

"So how do you like Sunnydale, Faith?" Willow said, as the conversation hit a wall. Faith only had so many stories to tell. Willow was always the one who tried to keep the conversation going, who tried to keep Faith involved. Faith knew part of it was gratitude; she'd saved the girl's life, after all, so Willow kept trying, despite their differences. Faith had been in Sunnydale a little more than a month now, and she had come to realize there were a lot of differences. Willow was sweet, and kind, and most of all, smart. Honor roll every semester, all kinds of options waiting after graduation. Harvard had already accepted her, Oxford had recruited her. Faith had dropped out of school after ninth grade, she lived in a motel that might as well have been a brothel and she knew the closest she'd ever get to college was that time she broke into UC Sunnydale and stole a sword. Willow was smart. Faith was dumb. And Willow felt bad for her.

Willow had made a real effort to talk to her, to try to get to know her. She had been coming by Faith's motel all week, asking to come along when she patrolled, inviting her to the Starbucks, and asking her about Boston and Rebecca and what it was like to be a Slayer. Willow kept pretending to like her, kept trying to include her. Faith had decided it would be easier to just play along until Willow got bored. She blew her off when she could get away with it and hung out with her when she couldn't come up with an excuse not to. Faith was a dumb girl with no money, no friends and no family, so she knew for now she was Willow's charity project. Adopt a Slayer. She figured Willow would give up eventually. She and Buffy would be graduating next year, they had college coming up, plans to make...lives to get ready for. Faith figured they'd try to hang out with her off and on until graduation, then they'd leave, move away, and they'd all lose touch, and Faith would be the Slayer guarding the Hellmouth, maybe with Giles as her Watcher, and Buffy would be gone...

Faith knew Willow was just hanging with her because she felt bad, but trying to figure Buffy out gave Faith a headache. She knew Buffy was leaving after graduation and instead of banging her head against a wall she'd finally decided to just try to enjoy the time they had left. But Xander was easy to figure, at least. He wanted her around so he could try to get into her pants; what else could it be? That's all guys ever thought she was good for anyway. She'd caught him checking her out a few times, though he was being slick about it. And there was no other good explanation for why a guy would want to hang with her. He still hadn't asked her out. She wondered when he would.

Faith didn't fit with Buffy and Willow and Xander, with their families and their nice houses; with homework and hanging out at the mall and planning for college. She knew she didn't fit.

Faith took a sip of the Coke she'd been nursing all night because she only had enough money for one. It was down to watery ice cubes now.

"You've had a month to get used to it now...if anyone ever does," Willow continued, sipping her ever-present mocha cappuccino. "Is Buffy showing you all the coolest old crypts? She's not hogging all the A-list Big Bads, is she?"

"You haven't had the entire Sunnydale experience until you've met your first giant snake," Xander said.

"I'm all set with giant snakes, thanks," Willow said. "Too many snakes."

"Never saw a giant snake you liked, huh?" Xander said. Buffy smiled.

"Maybe not a giant snake," Willow said. "There was this medium-sized snake that wasn't so bad."

"Sunnydale's a trip," Faith said. "I'm acclimating."

"Don't worry, you never know when we'll get another giant snake," Buffy said. "You'll get the full ride eventually. Things don't really heat up around here until spring anyway. For some reason, around April and May is when the Hellmouth always decides to really get jiggy with it."

"So Faith, we know where Willow stands on giant snakes," Xander said. "What's your official position?" He grinned. "Ow," he added, as Willow did something to him under the table.

Faith had to give Xander points for trying. "Wanna know what I think about big, long snakey things, huh?" she said, and grinned back at him.

"She loves them," Buffy said. "And so do I. We both love big, long, hard snakey things. They're just the greatest."

Faith laughed. "Hell, longer the better, right, B?" she said.

"Absolutely," Buffy said. "But hey, I hear medium's great too," she added, smiling at Xander.

"So Faith, what's Boston like?" Willow said, blushing a little, and quickly changing the subject. It was about the fifth time one of them had asked her. It was the kind of question you asked a stranger, when you didn't know what else to say.

"Cold. Different. Less weird," Faith said.

"Baked beans too," Buffy said.

"Do they all talk like you?" Xander said.

"Like me?" Faith said. "Like me how?"

"Your accent," Buffy said. "You're like the lost Kennedy. You're all, 'I, ah, would like to, ah, propose that we pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd, and, ah, furthermawh, ich bin ein Berlinah!'," Buffy said, as Willow and Xander laughed.

"Shit, I really talk like that?" Faith said.

"There's this letter," Xander said. "It comes between 'Q' and 'S'. You should try it out sometime, see how you like it."

"Shit," Faith said, and chuckled into her glass.

It was a good little run, but then the conversation hit another wall.

"Uh, yeah, so uh, I should take off," Faith said.

"Really? But...it's early," Willow said.

"Yeah I know, but I'm sorta learning my way around," Faith said. "Introducing myself to the vamps. Y'know, like, 'Hey, vamps and vampettes, name's Faith, I'll be your Slayer for this evening.'"

"Want me to tag along?" Buffy said. She knew what the answer would be.

"I got it, B," Faith said. "You guys take it easy, I'll check you later."

And then she was gone.

"She doesn't like us," Xander said.

"What?" Willow said. "What do you mean she doesn't like us? She likes us. Of course she likes us. Who wouldn't like us?"

"Will, whenever she's with us she says about six words and takes off early," Xander said. "Either she doesn't like us or I really need to change my deodorant, and no, we will not be making 'Xander is smelly' jokes now."

Buffy thought back to the day she and Faith first met. They had started at each other's throats, almost coming to blows; they had ended in bed together, having sex so passionately that for much of the act, neither of them was quite sure if they were fucking or fighting. All in a day.

She thought about how Faith always made her laugh.

"Maybe she's just shy," Willow said. "She's been through some stuff, with her Watcher and everything, and now she's all the way on the other side of the country. Maybe she just needs time to get used to us."

"You wanna weigh in on this, Buff?" Xander said.

"It's not you guys," Buffy said. "She likes you guys. It's me. She doesn't want to be here with me. I think...she might leave. Maybe she needs to leave, find her own place, her own territory."

"What? Leave?" Willow said. "You want her to leave?"

Buffy thought about it. She thought about what her life was like, before she met Faith...how much simpler it was.

But she had laughed less, too.

"No," Buffy said.

"How have you been honey?," Joyce said, as she served them dinner. Beef stew. "I hear Buffy and Xander have been making fun of your accent."

It was Thursday. Dinner at Buffy's house had turned into a regular thing again, and Faith was expected to show up, at least twice a week. Faith hadn't been able to come up with an excuse to get out of it tonight, so she sat at the kitchen table with Buffy, and smiled politely at Joyce. She'd blown Buffy's friends off as often as she could get away with, but there were some lines she knew she couldn't cross with Buffy; being rude to Joyce was one of them. On days she didn't come over for dinner, Faith always found a homemade meal waiting for her in her motel room. Faith usually slept with the window open, so Buffy came in through the window in the mornings before Faith woke up, and left a plate of food.

"People from Boston talk like the Mayor on the Simpsons," Buffy said. "Someone needs to make fun of them."

"Your accent is charming, Faith," Joyce said, and patted Faith's hand. "Don't you ever lose it."

"Don't you mean 'chaaahming'?" Buffy said.

"Y'know, you guys got accents too," Faith said.

"Yeah, correct ones," Buffy said. "But it's cool, it's like hanging with a foreign exchange student. Um, but one who isn't really a Mummy."

"You fought a Mummy?" Faith said.

"Buffy, remember our rule," Joyce said.

"Oh yeah," Buffy said. "Mom doesn't like Slayer talk at the table."

"It's just that it seems to be all you ever talk about," Joyce said. "It's good to have a little time every day when you don't."

"So to wrap up the Mummy story real quick, weird foreign exchange girl lived with us for a week, turned out to be an Incan Mummy, dated Xander, tried to kill us all, I kicked her butt," Buffy said.

"Xander dated a Mummy?" Faith said.

"She was pretty enough before she decided to kill everyone," Buffy said. "Xander was always a weird girl magnet. Demon girls, Mummy girls, giant praying mantis girls, yup, they all wanted to get busy with Xander."

When they were finished eating, before Faith could come up with a reason to take off, Buffy said, "Mom, Faith and I are gonna go up to my room and hang out." Faith noticed something strange in the look Buffy and Joyce exchanged.

"Sure, honey," Joyce said. "There's ice cream in the fridge if you both want dessert later."

"Come on, Faith," Buffy said, as they excused themselves and Faith thanked Joyce for the dinner. "I'll show you my Brad Pitt scrapbook."

When they got to her room Buffy closed the door and said, "Relax, Faith. I'm not gonna try to kiss you, okay?"

"Okay," Faith said, and sat on the bed. Buffy sat next to her.

"Faith...I want to talk to you," Buffy said.

"Shoot," Faith said. She wondered what it was going to be now. It seemed like every other day there was another left turn in her life. Losing Rebecca and Evan. Coming to Sunnydale. Killing Kakistos. Having sex with Buffy. Kissing Buffy, going on dates with her. Realizing she liked girls. Realizing she thought Willow was hot too. Trying to figure out if she was gay now. Wondering what the hell to do about Buffy...wondering how she would live without her.

She knew she would have to, eventually. She knew Buffy was leaving her to go away to school next year. And then she would be alone again.

"I don't want you to leave," Buffy said.

"What makes you think I'm leaving?" Faith said.

"I'm not stupid, Faith. I can see how uptight you are...how awkward this all is for you. I get that. And okay, I get that you don't want us to be...whatever. It's fine. I'll deal. But you're staying in that motel and it's...look, I want you to stay here with me. I talked to my Mom about it, we've got the extra bedroom that we've never done anything with, and we want you to stay here. This isn't like, I'm saying things have to go back to how they were between us. You don't want that and I get it. It's just...we've got the room here and...

Faith would have loved to stay there, in that big house with her own bedroom on the sunny, tree-lined street. It would be like having a sister.

But the offer was charity. Just like whenever Willow asked her to come hang out with her...Faith knew it was charity.

And she didn't think she could stand to be in that house with Buffy, and know she couldn't really have her...she thought it might kill her, after awhile.

"Hey, uh...thanks, but..." Faith started to say, getting up.

"Faith, listen," Buffy interrupted, and stood up with her. Faith could tell Buffy had rehearsed this; she'd been ready for Faith to turn her down and she wasn't done with the hard sell yet. Faith braced herself for it. "You save people's lives and you're in that lousy little motel room and it's not right, you deserve better than that. God knows how you're even supporting yourself, and..." "God knows? Why, what do you think I'm doing to support myself? Think I'm hooking or something?"

Faith had no idea why she said that. But it was out there and she knew she couldn't take it back now.

She thought about the alley, where Rebecca had found her. She still remembered how it smelled. Old coffee grounds and rotten meat and bananas.

"What?!" Buffy shouted. "Of course not! How could you even think that? I was just saying that you--"

"That I'm poor, right?" Faith said. "That you feel bad for me. Like those little kids on TV. For just thirty cents a day we'll make sure this poor, hungry Boston girl can get a good meal."

Buffy's face went crimson. She'd offended Faith, and she felt bad about it. At the same time she wanted to kick her through a wall.

"I don't need your charity, Buffy," Faith said, and headed for the door.

"Hold it!" Buffy shouted, and grabbed Faith and spun her around.

"You don't get to do that!" Buffy screamed, jabbing her finger in Faith's face. "You don't get to take this and...and throw it back in my face like this! You don't get to throw this back in my Mom's face! She asked you into her home! Because she likes you! Yeah, okay, we want to help you out! What's so frigging wrong with that? You think I care that you don't have money? That it makes me think less of you? I don't have money either! My Mom has money! You and I are seventeen! We don't get to decide who are parents are or how much money they have! So okay, fine! Your family didn't have money! So what?"

"You done?" Faith said.

Buffy caught her breath. She wondered what her mother must be thinking downstairs.

"You know what, Faith?" Buffy said. "I've tried. Willow's tried, Xander's tried, Giles has tried. We're trying to include you, trying to help you out. And yeah, sure, part of it's that we feel bad for you. You're a Slayer and you don't have anywhere decent to live and you lost your Watcher and your mother used to hurt you, and it's not fair."

It was Faith's turn to blush now.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I know about your mother, about what she did. The Watchers knew about it, so Giles knew. You always wondered why I wouldn't spank that little ass of yours, right? You remember, back before you got bored with me and decided to move on? Now you know."

"Fuck this," Faith said, her voice unsteady, on the verge of tears. She marched to the door.

Buffy beat her to it, and slammed the door shut as Faith opened it.

"Faith," Buffy said, her voice very steady. "Unless you want to fight me for real, right here and right now, you're gonna stand there and listen to what I have to say. You're not walking out that door until I'm done. And if you try I swear to God I'll kick your ass from one end of this fucking town to the other and you'll find out once and for all which one of us is tougher."

"Might be good for us to find that out," Faith said, looking back at her, and not giving an inch. "Once and for all."

"You won't like the answer," Buffy said. "Now shut up and listen."

"All right, B. Have your say."

Buffy walked away from her. "We've tried," she said. "Yeah, okay, partly because we feel bad. But that's not all it is. I was wrong about you that first night in the cemetery, but only partly wrong. You're not stupid. But you're arrogant. You're so wrapped up in yourself you can't fucking see straight."

Buffy turned to her. But Buffy was looking at her in a way Faith had never seen before. Like she was letting her go.

"You think we're trying and trying, and putting up with your shit, with your moods and your constantly blowing us off, because we feel bad for you?" Buffy said. "Willow and Xander, you think they invite you out because they feel bad for you? Like they look for people less fortunate than themselves to hang around with? They've got better things to do. Me? Giles? I'm the Slayer and he's my Watcher. We save lives. We've got better things to do than feel bad for you. Do you really think we spend all day worrying about you and whether or not you're depressed this week? Okay, yeah, you're a Slayer. That and a buck buys you a mocha cappuccino in this town. But there's just gonna be another one after you, so if you go south, we'll get over it. News flash: you're not on our minds all day. We don't spend our days thinking up creative new ways to be nice to you. Because you're just not that important. So if you want to live in that motel and steal to get by, or whatever it is you're doing now? Fine. Go ahead. At least you'll have your pride, right? Your pride, and no friends."

Buffy turned away from her, and looked out the window.

"You know why we all kept trying to include you?" Buffy said. "The real reason why? My Mom, Willow, all of us? Not because we're all scrambling around trying to fix your life. It's because we were stupid enough to like you, and to think you liked us back. That's it. No big conspiracy. I thought...I thought you liked me. But you obviously don't. You never want to be with us, you never want to be with me anymore. You've got better things to do too, I guess. So hey, congratulations, Faith. We get the message. We give up."

She turned and looked at Faith, and if Faith could have taken back everything she had said, she would have, when she saw that look in Buffy's eyes...when she saw the hurt she knew she had caused.

"If you don't want to be here then maybe you should go back to Boston, Faith," Buffy said.

She turned back to the window, and didn't look at Faith again.

"I thought Faith was supposed to be with you?" Giles said, the next day, when he answered the door and saw Buffy standing there.

"So did I," Buffy said, following him into the house. She walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "Didn't work out that way."

"I see," Giles said. "Would you like something to eat? I have some more of those tea cookies I know you don't like."

"That's okay," Buffy said.

Giles went into the kitchen and came back with a pot of tea and three cups on a tray. He poured tea for himself and Buffy.

"I made the kind you like," Giles said. "With a dash of honey."

"Thanks," Buffy said, as he handed her a cup. "Why three cups?"

"Perhaps Faith will arrive after all. Terribly unfair to begrudge her some of my excellent tea."

"Terribly," Buffy said, and sipped her tea. "But something tells me she won't be coming, Giles."

"What happened between you two?"

"Faith happened. What else is new? She just doesn't want to be here, Giles. She doesn't want to be with me. Maybe Boston's really the best place for her. Maybe...two Slayers together..."

"This town isn't big enough for the both of you, hmm? You really are distressingly American at times."

"You've tried to talk to her, you know how she is. Don't tell me she's not a pain in your ass too." "Oh yes, very much so. In fact she reminds me of another Slayer I know. I met her a little over a year and a half ago, as I recall...an appallingly disrespectful girl. Called me 'a textbook with arms', I believe."

Buffy smiled.

"And whenever I politely broached the subject of perhaps doing a bit of training or reading up in the Watchers Chronicles she always told me she had better things to do," he continued, sipping his tea, his blue eyes twinkling as he regarded her over the cup.

"She sounds like a real lost cause," Buffy said. "If I were you I would've told her to hit the bricks."

"I won't say I wasn't tempted," Giles said. "I tried my best with her, but when I offered her my counsel, the benefit of my years of experience..."

"Your years and years and years of experience..." Buffy said.

"She rebuffed me, every time," Giles said. "She wanted to do everything alone, much like Faith. Wouldn't even let me come on patrol with her. I actually had to follow her when she was on patrol, trying to stay hidden lest she cut me out of her life altogether. Yes, that one was definitely a pain in my arse."

"I saw you, you can't hide from a Slayer," Buffy said, and grinned. "I thought it was cute that you were following me, so I let you. This old English guy, huffing and puffing behind me..."

"I beg your pardon?" Giles said.

"This not so old, still very young and vigorous, English guy huffing and puffing behind me, trying to keep up with me...it was cute. So I let you. And we got it together, right? I even do training stuff now...sometimes."

"Oh yes, you're the ideal Slayer now," Giles said, rolling his eyes.

"We met each other halfway, right?" Buffy said.

"Yes, Buffy. Yes, we did."

"Faith won't, Giles."

"Buffy, I don't know what happened between you and Faith, and I'm certain you're not going to tell me. But I've found, in all my years and years and years on this Earth...that sometimes, people can surprise you."

The doorbell rang.

"It's not her," Buffy said, looking back at the door. "It's probably Xander. He hates when I do Slayer stuff without clueing him in."

Buffy tuned in to her nose.

It was Faith.

"Remember what I told you the cardinal rule of being a Slayer is," Giles said, and got up and opened the door.

"Hey," Faith said. "Sorry I'm late."

"Your Watcher is always right," Buffy muttered.

"Well, if it isn't the prodigal Slayer," Giles said. "Come in."

"Bite your tongue, G-Man," Faith said. "I never went away." She followed him to the living room, looking past him, at Buffy. Buffy's face was red.

Faith looked toward the leather recliner. Giles beat her to it and sat down.

"Have a seat on the couch, Faith," Giles said. "It's big enough for the both of you." Buffy glared at him, and moved to the opposite end of the couch as Faith sat down.

"I made tea," Giles said, and poured Faith a cup.

"Uh...okay, thanks," Faith said, and took it.

"I have some tea cookies too, if you'd like," Giles said. "They're really quite dreadful."

"Uh...that's okay," Faith said, and sipped her tea. She stole a quick glance at Buffy. Buffy was looking straight ahead, straight at Giles.

"How have you been, Faith?" Giles said.

"Can't complain," Faith said, avoiding his eyes.

"Can't you?" Giles said.

Usually people didn't say anything after you said 'can't complain'. Faith didn't have a comeback ready. "Uh...no," Faith said. "Everything's good."

"We're going to have to talk about that, Faith. About your plans, and what you see yourself doing. But not tonight. Tonight, I have a mission for the two of you. I was very impressed by the way you worked together to defeat Kakistos and his men, especially now that I've done more research and I know how formidable he was. You may not want to admit it," Giles said, looking at Buffy, "but you two make an excellent team. You'll need to work as a team again tonight."

"Uh-huh," Faith said.

Buffy didn't say anything.

"Zombies," Faith said, as she walked through the cemetery that night with Buffy, each of them carrying a katana. It was a small cemetery, about the size of a schoolyard, with a broken gate, only two crypts, both in disrepair, and a few dozen tombstones. The lawn was weed-grown, and there were beer bottles and cigarette butts scattered around. "Never did zombies before."

Buffy walked ahead of her, not looking at her, not responding to her.

"You gonna give me the silent treatment forever or what?" Faith said.

Buffy finally stopped, and looked at her. "What's there to talk about?" she said. "We said everything there is to say."

"B..." Faith said, and sat on a tombstone, and looked down at the weeds. "You were right. You were trying to help me out and I threw it in your face. I'm sorry. You want me out of your town? Say the word, I'll leave in the morning."

Buffy looked at her, sitting there, alone.

It would be so much easier just to let her go...

Buffy sat on the tombstone next to her.

"My Mom told me you apologized to her on your way out last night," Buffy said.

"It was nice of her...always having me over, offering to let me stay," Faith said. "She's a nice lady."

"Yeah, she is," Buffy said. "In an always worrying kind of way. Like Carol Brady on speed."

"I just...don't know if I fit, B. I don't know if there's anywhere I fit. I had this good thing in Boston, with Becca, y'know? I had it real good, and then it all fell apart. I...I fucked it all up," Faith said, looking down at the weeds again. "I couldn't stop Kakistos and Becca died and it all fell apart. I fucked it all up."

"Faith," Buffy said. "First rule of being a Slayer. It's not 'Your Watcher is always right', which is what Giles will try to tell you it is. That's maybe the second rule. The first rule is, don't die."

The connection was there again. Buffy could feel it, again.

"You did the right thing, Faith," Buffy said. "You didn't die."

"Doesn't feel like the right thing," Faith said. "There should be a rule that says, 'Don't let your Watcher die.'"

"Faith, it wasn't your fault," Buffy said.

Faith looked down at the weeds.

A corpse suddenly shambled out of one of the crypts, moving toward them, but very slowly. Another followed after it, and then two more.

"So those are zombies, huh?" Faith said.

"Yup," Buffy said. "Thar be zombies."

"Anything you can tell me before we jump in?"

"They're pretty much like in the movies. Beheading them works. Although Giles says the ones in the movies should be called ghouls, since real zombies don't actually eat people and they don't spread like an infection like in the movies. Real zombies are either living people or reanimated corpses that are being controlled by someone else and don't have minds of their own. Like cheerleaders. But not as bitchy."

The zombies still hadn't reached them yet. Buffy and Faith watched them, and waited.

"These look like the corpse variety," Faith said. "They're pretty damn slow. How come Giles thinks this is gonna take two of us?"

"Because zombies are tough and they don't feel pain," Buffy said. "Kick them all day and they'll just stand there and giggle. And they hit you once and trust me, you'll feel it. The only way to stop them is beheading. Plus they work as a team, ganging up, trying to surround you. Think of them as all one mind, the mind of whoever's controlling them. And they're like roaches too. Where there's one, there's a hundred. Those crypts are probably crawling with them."

"And on top of that, we gotta find the doohickey Giles said was controlling them," Faith said. "The Enchanted Pendant of Whatever."

"And who knows where that's gonna be," Buffy said. "Somewhere gross and icky, probably."

"And the guy controlling the zombies is actually the ghost of some thousand year old wizard who's trapped in a hell dimension. Which is really weird, but hey, whatever, I'm dealing."

"Remember what Giles said, the Pendant thingy's his link to this dimension. We destroy it, the zombies all go poof and the wizard can't bother anyone again."

The zombies were ten feet away now. Buffy and Faith stood up, and held their swords ready.

"Zombies. Enchanted bling. Thousand-year old wizards," Faith said. "I remember when I used to think vamps were weird."

"Welcome to Sunnydale," Buffy said.

"That mean you want me to stay?" Faith said.

"Sure," Buffy said, beheading the nearest zombie. "I like fighting."

That night, Faith sat in one of the rickety chairs in her motel room, and read Rebecca's letter again.

Giles had given it to her, after she and Buffy had killed Kakistos. It was the only thing Faith had left of Rebecca now.

Faith is a constant surprise to me, and a treasure, Rebecca had written, on her own fancy stationery with her name at the top that Faith had seen her use sometimes, in her elegant, flowing longhand.

...As a Slayer she has surpassed my every expectation, but it is as a young woman that she is truly special. Faith has lived a hard life, as you know from the Watchers Council records, but she has a generous, noble spirit...

...I won't lie to you, Mr. Giles; Faith is very important to me. I have grown extremely fond of her; I have come to see her as a daughter. And I protect her, as any mother would. Do you know I still go out with her on every patrol? Faith certainly doesn't need me out there hovering over her; she's absolutely lethal. But I just can't bear to let her go out there alone. I worry. It's terrible, I'm like some ridiculous old mother hen...

Faith smiled, like she always did, when she got to that part.

...I have found myself reluctant until now to bring Faith to Sunnydale, with its Hellmouth and its myriad dangers. But Faith is very curious about Buffy, and she has mentioned to me on more than one occasion that she wants to meet her. And I have found that it is impossible for me to refuse Faith, when she wants something. Therefore, when it's convenient for you and Buffy, I'd like to bring Faith to Sunnydale for an extended visit. Faith likes to see new places, and I've already mentioned to her that I believe it's time that she and Buffy start coordinating their efforts...

...And from what you've told me about Buffy, I believe she and Faith will become fast friends...

Faith carefully re-folded the letter, and put it back in the drawer.

You did the right thing, Faith. You didn't die.

Afterwards, lying awake in bed, Faith remembered Buffy's words, but she wasn't sure if Buffy was right. She thought maybe she had died after all, somewhere back in Boston...that the fall from the Prudential building really had killed her...that she had died with Rebecca.

She had been driven from her territory and she could never go back. Even with Kakistos gone, she was convinced now that the burden of being a Slayer couldn't be shared with anyone else. She knew if she went back to Boston she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going to see Evan...and she couldn't risk him ever being endangered again.

She lied a lot; she lied to Giles when he asked her questions about herself, and she made up excuses to get out of hanging with Buffy and Willow and Xander, and she never talked about Rebecca, or Evan.

Buffy had it pretty good, with her Mom and her nice house and her Watcher and her friends. Faith knew she didn't fit...

She knew Buffy would be leaving her soon.

She stole to get by, and she had started swearing again, and she ate fast food, and she didn't take piano lessons or go to museums or read books.

She didn't have territory anymore. No matter how many vampires Faith killed in Sunnydale, nothing would change the fact that Sunnydale was Buffy's territory. Faith wasn't the Slayer. Buffy was.

She looked over at the bureau. There was a plate of ham there. Buffy had snuck into the room and left it sometime that morning, while Faith slept. When Faith woke up it was there waiting for her. There were cookies too, in a folded-up napkin; Buffy knew Faith liked her Mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies, so Buffy always tried to include some, when she brought Faith food.

Faith got up and brought the plate of ham and mashed potatoes and corn and the napkin full of chocolate chip cookies to her bed.

Buffy knew Faith didn't like it when the mashed potatoes and the corn and the meat all got mixed together, so she carefully kept them separate whenever she made up a plate for Faith. The ham and the mashed potatoes and the corn were neatly segregated in their separate areas of the big plate.

Faith had supper.

The days passed, and Faith sat in her motel room, and looked out the window, and watched the little television, and ate the food Buffy brought her.

And Faith wondered if she had died after all...

...Or if she was just now waking up, and her life with Rebecca had been only a dream.

The Sunnydale High cafeteria was a cacophony of sound: more than a hundred students sat at long tables in the big, sunny room, unwinding after four interminable periods of rote memorization and math they would never in their lives have occasion to use, all under the watchful, suspicious eye of the Lunch Lady, who was fat, mannish-looking and surly and glowered at them behind her cash register at the end of the lunch line from within a protective cloud of cigarette smoke. It was Friday, and the room was filled with the kind of shrieking laughter that comes from trying to fit as much fun as possible into fifty minutes, and fantasizing about two blissful days of sleeping in.

For something that sounded like a bag full of cats in heat the cafeteria was nevertheless as regimented and orderly in its way as a military barracks. Jocks and cheerleaders sit at the Cool Table, here. Non-jocks and non-cheerleaders who are nevertheless hotties and therefore given a pass get to sit there, directly adjacent to but not at the Cool Table, on a probationary basis. Band geeks over there, computer nerds and assorted pimply brainiacs next to them. Goths at their own table, preferably away from the fine china. The cool kids laughed, and the nerds and brains and goths and just plain ugly kids laughed too, but not as loud or as long, and not at the same things (them). Everyone had their table, everyone had their place in the pecking order, and unfortunately, everyone also had their greasy microwave pizza slices and their congealed potato puffs.

Buffy, Willow and Xander had their own table, in the no man's land at the other end of the cafeteria. It was located under the tattered old Go Razorbacks! sign, goth-adjacent and very, very far from the cool kids. The table was too big for three people, but Willow was still hopeful they'd get a visitor someday.

Cordelia sat at the head of the Cool Table, watching them. Not for the first time, she thought how strange a combination they were. Anyone could see that Buffy was a born cheerleader, with her perky blonde good looks, and Willow--a little too shy, a little too goofy, with shockingly limited fashion sense, a red Raggedy Ann mop that screamed "ten-dollar mall cut" and brainiac-level smarts--was also very obviously a computer nerd. Xander wasn't purebred like her; more of a general loser. Not having pimples was about all he had going for him. Cheerleader, computer nerd, loser. Which of these three things doesn't belong? But Buffy had her chance...

Cordelia shook her head, powered-up her smile, and went back to taking compliments on her new hairstyle and trying to repress the image of Xander Harris' naked ass that had taken up residence in her head for the past month.

"So, Buffy...how's Faith?" Willow said. "Are you gonna ask her to stay at your place again?"

"I don't know," Buffy said. "And shouldn't I be asking you how she is? You've been hanging with her."

"She's all mopey," Willow said. "It used to be, when we hung out? That like, I'd do ninety-percent of the talking. It's up to like, ninety-eight percent now. But I'm hanging in."

"You're awesome, Will," Buffy said, and squeezed Willow's hand, and smiled. "I don't tell you that enough. I'm glad you're hanging in with Faith."

"I like her," Willow said. "She makes me laugh. She's like a big goof. She's uncomfortable because she's broke a lot and it's tough because I know she'd never let me treat her? So I have to always kinda pretend like I don't notice that she orders like, one little coffee over three hours. Because I know if I ever was like, 'Hey, let me buy you another coffee' she'd get all uncomfortable. But even though she blows me off sometimes? I'm chipping away. I'm like one of those big ice-breaker boats. I'm breaking the ice."

"How about you, Buff? You still a little angry with her?" Xander said.

"Yeah, there's that...there's always that, actually," Buffy said. "Faith and I spend about two-thirds of our time being pissed at each other these days. It was going great for awhile but...I don't know. Then something happened. It got weird. Anyway I don't think Faith wants me to ask her to stay with me again. It would embarrass her."

"She's been a little better around me since your fight," Willow said. "She hasn't blown me off at all this week. And she's mopey but...it's almost like...she's paying a little more attention now, when we go out. Like a lot of times when I used to talk to her, I mean, she'd always be polite, and try to act interested because she didn't want me to think she doesn't like me? But she'd be all closed off. But now she actually kinda seems like she wants to be there, a little. Like she's a little more open. I think that almighty ass-kicking you laid on her might have done her some good. But Buffy, she can't just stay in that motel forever."

"I don't think Faith's big on long-term planning," Buffy said. "I think she gets about as far as lunch."

"Will's right though, Buff," Xander said. "We can't keep it like this with Faith forever."

"Well, I think it'll work out with Faith. I asked the Goddess to help her out," Willow said, and grinned. "The Goddess and I are pretty tight these days."

"In my never-ending quest to try to manage a solid five minutes a day of not obsessing over Faith, how about we change the subject to you guys," Buffy said. "How's the most adorable couple ever?"

"I'm on an exercise regimen," Xander said. "Ow," he added, as Willow did something to him under the table.

"We're good," Willow said, and took Xander's hand. "Our six-week anniversary just passed."

"Oh God, that is the most adorable thing ever!" Buffy said. "Oh God, you guys are gonna make me cry now. I'm gonna get all goofy now and cry goofy friend tears."

Willow took Buffy's hand. "Happy tears, Buffy," she said. "We're happy. So you better be happy too, young lady," Willow added, giving Buffy the scowly face for emphasis.

"You know how long I've been hoping for this?" Buffy said. "This is like, my perfect fantasy. If you guys ever break up I swear I'll kick both your butts. So did you celebrate the anniversary? What did you do?"

"Well, Willow finally let me ow," Xander said, as Willow did something to him under the table again.

"We went out to eat in this really nice French restaurant I've had my eye on for awhile," Willow said. "And Xander gave me roses."

Buffy paused. A strange look passed her eyes. Willow thought she looked almost sad, for a second. Then Buffy smiled...or made herself smile.

"Sounds like a perfect night," Buffy said.

Giles suddenly appeared at their table looking flustered.

"Oh good," Buffy said. "The world's about to end again."

Giles wiped his glasses at them. "Well actually, you might be--" he began, but Buffy held up her hand.

"Shush," Buffy said. "Before you start telling me how we're all doomed you have to congratulate Willow and Xander on their six-week anniversary." "Their six-week...?" Giles said, confused. Then he smiled down at them. "Oh! Are you two dating now?"

"Yuppers," Willow said. "Since September twenty-seventh."

"That's wonderful, Willow," Giles said, with that little winsome smile that showed off his dimples, and kissed Willow's cheek. "Congratulations."

"Aren't they the most adorable couple ever?" Buffy said. "They're the most adorable couple ever."

"Yes, Buffy, they're quite wonderfully adorable," Giles said.

"They're adorable," Buffy said, and smiled.

Giles held out his hand to Xander. "Congratulations old chap," he said, again with the smile and the dimples. "Quite a nice catch."

"Didn't think I had it in me, did you?" Xander said, and shook his hand.

"Actually, no," Giles said, and laughed. "I really didn't."

"Okay, I guess you can tell me about how the world's about to end now," Buffy said. "Is the world about to end?"

"If we don't act very quickly, yes, I'm afraid so," Giles said.

"Just so you know? I'm only gonna save the world this time because Will and Xander are the most adorable couple ever," Buffy said. "Everything else in the world is annoying except them. If it weren't for Will and Xander being so damned adorable I'd just take this apocalypse off and stay home and watch Melrose Place and eat ice cream."

"Yes, you know how I love your quirky sense of humor, Buffy," Giles said. "Especially at completely inappropriate times."

"Can you believe Lexi put Amanda out of business on Melrose?" Willow said. "That bitch!"

"Amanda will win in the end," Buffy said. "Amanda always wins."

"I'm all about Dawson's Creek now anyway," Willow said.

"You're so into James Van Der Beek," Buffy said. "You're like his stalker."

"And I'm like Katie Holmes' stalker," Xander said. "Will and I are the perfect couple."

"Excuse me?" Giles said, and smiled and held up his hand and waved at them all. "Hello? Watcher here? World ending? Hello?"

Sunnydale High had a marvelous library. Spacious, two-storied, with tall windows that let in a lot of light, it was a warm, welcoming place, with a vast selection of books for readers of all tastes; a place where one could spend a pleasant afternoon transported to any one of a thousand different worlds of the imagination. Of course, no one at Sunnydale High would be caught dead there.

Almost no one. Giles, Buffy, Willow and Xander were there, as they were most days. And, as on most days, Buffy, Willow and Xander were moderately-to-mostly snarky and Giles was anxious. He was fidgeting around in the stacks, wiping his glasses, which he did when he was anxious or they got fogged up, looking for a particular book among the hundreds of rare and potentially quite dangerous volumes that were inexplicably not locked away in a vault but displayed openly, or perhaps not so inexplicably if one remembers that no one would be caught dead there, while Xander was talking about Star Wars.

"Han has to shoot first," Xander said.

"Remember how you promised you'd stop talking about this?" Buffy said.

"But it ruins the whole scene if he doesn't shoot first!" Xander said. "You can't just go and make half-ass changes to one of the greatest movies of all--"

"Sweetie? You actually raised your right hand and swore on a Bible," Willow said. "Raised your right hand. And swore. On a Bible."

"I took that oath under duress," Xander said, looking accusingly at Buffy. "And my wrist still hurts, thank you very much."

"If I go to George Lucas' house and beat him up, will you stop talking about this?" Buffy said.

Giles came out of the stacks with a book, hurried over to them, and placed the book on the table. It was called Cultes des Goules, and it was turned to an illustration of four skeletons riding horses. It was also bound in human skin, but that wasn't anything new.

"Another day, another human skin book," Buffy said.

"Okay, these guys are giving me a serious wiggins," Xander said.

"'Equestre Quadriiugis'?" Buffy said, puzzling over the illustration's caption.

"It means 'Four Horsemen'," Willow said, suddenly frightened.

"Okay, can everyone stop being scared, please? Because it's scaring me," Xander said.

"Six-thousand years ago, a great flood covered the world. Perhaps you've heard of it," Giles said.

"The flood? With Noah's Ark?" Willow said.

"The Bible embellishes it," Giles said. "The bit with the Ark never happened. But essentially, yes. Many people think the Flood itself was a myth, but it did really happen. What I always thought was a myth...was the presence of the Four Horsemen."

"What are they?" Buffy said.

"Death, War, Pestilence, Famine," Giles said. "Personifications of suffering. In the ancient myths they arrive during the end times, to destroy mankind."

"And now you're about to tell me that they're coming back?" Buffy said.

"If we can't prevent it, yes," Giles said. "And these aren't just run of the mill demons, Buffy. The Horsemen are forces of nature. Instruments of the divine. If they arrive they'll be unstoppable, they'll destroy everything in their path. Our job...your job, Buffy...is to make sure they never get here."

"Yup. It's Friday the thirteenth," Buffy said. "Friday the thirteenth on a Hellmouth. Other people are all like, I hope I don't spill coffee on myself today or fail my Spanish quiz. Not Buffy."

"I hate Friday the thirteenth," Willow said.

"Was it the demon robot that did it or the giant snake?" Buffy said.

"There were the evil leprechauns that time," Xander said.

"They weren't leprechauns," Buffy said. "I refuse to believe in leprechauns. They were...I don't know. Like dwarves maybe."

"They had Irish accents," Xander said.

"Xander, I keep telling you. There's no such thing as leprechauns," Giles said. "Now can we perhaps get back to the world possibly ending?"

"Again," Willow said.

"Y'know, kinda wishing now that I didn't have Willow destroy the Glove of Mini-golf," Buffy said. "Being able to shoot lightning might have been useful with this Four Horsemen thing."

"The problem with the glove being, y'know, having to wear it forever and ever," Willow said.

"Trust me, Buffy, the world is better off without it," Giles said.

"Well, it wasn't very fabulous," Buffy said. "If I'm gonna have to wear something every second for the rest of my life it should at least be fabulous. Find me an adorable little Gucci purse that shoots lightning? Now we're talking."

"Lightning wouldn't be much help against the Horsemen anyway," Giles said. "They're completely impervious to harm, as far as I can tell."

"Well let's all look on the bright side. No giant snake this time," Xander said. He looked up at Giles. "Uh, these Horsemen guys aren't gonna have a giant snake with them, right?"

"No," Giles said with a sigh. "They won't be bringing a giant snake with them. They're merely invincible and unstoppable and will extinguish all life on this planet if they get here."

"But hey, no giant snake," Buffy said.

"What about Faith?" Xander said. "I mean, this sounds pretty major, and two Slayers are better than one, right?"

Giles looked at Buffy. "I've been trying to reach her," he said. "I'll keep trying. And Buffy should try too."

"I'll stop by her place, see how much she hates me this week," Buffy said.

"She doesn't hate you, Buffy," Willow said.

Buffy nodded, and looked down at the table.

"So if these guys are so tough, then who stopped them six-thousand years ago?" Xander said.

Giles turned to a different page in the book. The page was an illustration of a stone artifact. "According to legend, six-thousand years ago, when hope was almost lost, a Sumerian priest performed some sort of prayer ritual, begging the gods for forgiveness," he said. "And an angel appeared with this Key."

"It looks like a rock," Buffy said.

"It's a magic rock," Giles said.

"Oh. Nifty," Willow said.

"It seems the Key opens a dimensional gate, and the Horsemen have been trapped there ever since," Giles said. "The Key was lost..."

"Well, good," Buffy said.

"Unfortunately not," Giles said. "The Council has informed me that the Key was recently excavated in an archaeological dig, and it was stolen from a museum in London a few weeks ago. They believe it's coming here."

He wiped his glasses...and this time, they definitely weren't fogged up.

"Buffy...someone is trying to free the Four Horsemen," Giles said.

King's Park Cemetery was a pretty place, or it would have been during the day; the rambling old cemetery with its gentle, rolling hills was well tended, with rose bushes here and there, and groves of tall sycamore trees casting cool, pleasant shadows in the hot California sun. But it was night now, and the shadows under the sycamore trees loomed vast and threatening, and the moss-grown crypts and the rows of decaying old tombstones looked cold and strangely unreal as Buffy, Faith, Willow and Xander wandered through the cemetery, watching for vampires by the light of the waning moon.

They were working, so Buffy was dressed practically: cargo pants, sweater, a wool coat, and comfy shoes with heels that were excellent for kicking and didn't impede her ability to run. But Faith was armed and fabulous, sporting a hot little ensemble she'd "borrowed" from the mall: nicely butt-hugging AG jeans, an adorable little red top she saw at The Gap and just had to have and a shiny, brand new pair of steel-toed Docs, excellent for vamp-stomping in style. Best of all, the weather was cold enough to wear Evan's leather coat.

Rebecca wouldn't have liked it that Faith had shoplifted the clothes. Faith acknowledged the thought, and then set it aside. She was working.

"These guys are gonna show up at some point, right?" Xander said.

"Willy said the exchange is happening here," Buffy said. "And he's usually reliable after I've hit him a few times. They have to show eventually. Thank God my Mom's out of town for a couple of weeks. I have a feeling trying the 'But Mom, I had to stay out all night hanging around a cemetery because the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse might be coming and the whole world might end' excuse wouldn't have gone over real well."

"Young lady, you're grounded," Willow said.

"So very grounded," Buffy said.

Nine vampires suddenly appeared from out of a grove of trees a ways ahead of them. Buffy grabbed Xander, Faith grabbed Willow, and they all ran behind a rose bush. Buffy and Faith peeked out.

"Show time," Faith said.

"Well, if we weren't sure they were vamps that Bon Jovi tee shirt is a dead giveaway," Buffy said.

"But are these the guys with the Key or the guys paying for it?" Faith said.

"We have to wait for the meet," Buffy said. "Could be the guys they're meeting up with have the Key and if we jump these guys that'll tip them off to us and they'll get away."

"Already nine of them," Faith said. "Once they join up with whoever they're meeting that'll be even more to deal with."

"Can't be helped," Buffy said.

As Buffy and Faith watched, the vampires shuffled along toward an open crypt in the distance, laughing and jostling each other. A few of them were drinking from open whiskey bottles. The one with the Bon Jovi tee-shirt grabbed a bottle away from a fat vampire with muttonchop sideburns and a pompadour walking by his side and drank. Pompadour growled at Bon Jovi and tried to swipe the bottle back. Bon Jovi laughed and threw it over his head to a vampire wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Hawaiian Shirt laughed as Pompadour ran at him and made a grab for the bottle, tossing it to a vampire with a mohawk wearing a biker jacket.

"They're headed for that crypt down there," Buffy said. "We need to move closer so we can check it out."

"And then pull a plan out of our ass," Faith said.

"That too," Buffy said.

"Trees at nine o'clock," Faith said, pointing to their left. "They go all the way down past the crypt. Gets us right up close with good cover and a good view. We make for the trees and circle around."

Buffy nodded, and they all ran along the line of trees, keeping low.

Pompadour eventually managed to snatch his bottle back. "Asshole," he said to Mohawk, and finished the bottle and tossed it away, as the vampires resumed shuffling toward the crypt. Pompadour was actually stumbling toward a tree in the opposite direction from the crypt, but Bon Jovi grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around.

"Those vamps in there look a little different?" Faith said. They were watching the crypt from behind a stand of dense trees a hundred yards away.

"They look tougher," Buffy said. "And there are a lot of them too, looks like at least twenty vamps. We can't just walk in there. Wait a minute...Faith, you see those four old guys? Are those...priests?"

"Yeah," Faith said, squinting toward the crypt. "Looks like four old priest guys to me. What the hell's up with that? Christ, I hate this town."

"We'll sort it out later," Buffy said. "Right now we gotta pull a plan out of our asses." Buffy looked at her. "We gonna fight on this?"

"World on the line, not the time for dissension in the ranks," Faith said.

"No," Buffy said. "It isn't."

Faith took her hand.

"It's your show, girlfriend," Faith said. Buffy smiled.

"Okay, well, we can't just run in there, there are way too many of them," Buffy said. "They'll have too big an advantage in there."

"I pulled up a layout of this cemetery off the internet last year. The crypts here are all connected by tunnels. There could be a lot more vampires waiting underground too," Willow said.

"We can't get trapped in there," Buffy said. "We have to draw them out."

"But if they make the exchange and disappear into those tunnels with the Key we're screwed," Faith said. "If the choice is between grabbing the Key now while we know what we're up against or waiting 'til it disappears underground and we gotta go fight through who knows how many vamps to go looking for it maybe we're better off taking our chances up here."

"She's got a point, Buffy," Xander said. "If those vamps get their hands on the Key there's no guarantee we'll ever be able to find it again."

"B's right though," Faith said. "If we get bogged down in a fight in there we're in deep shit. There's no room to move in there, the vamps will be swarming all over us. We gotta draw them out, before they make the exchange."

"I think one of them just opened a briefcase," Xander said. "If that's the payoff then we've only got until he's done counting."

"B, we don't figure a way to draw those guys out right now you and me gotta go in there," Faith said. "We gotta go in or we lose the Key."

"I know," Buffy said. "We need a plan. Now."

"Nope," Willow said, and smiled, as they all looked back at her. "You need a witch."

"I'm sure you'll find it's all there," one of the priests said, as Bon Jovi bent over an ancient sarcophagus in the dusty old crypt, a briefcase full of cash open on top of it, and counted. The priest looked like a kindly white-haired old man, with a crewcut and a slight paunch. His voice was deep and soothing. He was dressed in a priest's traditional attire, with a single exception: around his neck he wore a golden pendant in the shape of a wand. Standing in the shadows behind him, eyeing Bon Jovi and his friends suspiciously, the other three old priests also wore golden pendants about their necks: a sword, a cup, a pentacle.

The crypt was small and cramped, holding just a handful of sarcophagi on the floor and in compartments built into the stone walls, and it was dark, lit only by a torch in a wall sconce near the door. The old dried blood stains that marred the stone floor looked brown in the torchlight.

"Sure," Bon Jovi said, grinning. "A priest wouldn't lie to me, right?"

The vampires with Bon Jovi chuckled. The vampires who stood beside the four priests growled back at them. Bon Jovi and his friends had never seen their like before. Their features were far less human in appearance than those of normal vampires; they looked bestial, savage. They had red eyes and pointed ears and canine snouts for noses; they looked like wolves. Their clothing was an afterthought: torn, dirty rags. They stood crouched slightly, with their arms held in front of them, like wolves standing on their hind legs. And each of them had the same tattoo on his right hand: a serpent devouring its tail.

The Priest of Wands looked at Bon Jovi with blue eyes that could cut glass, and smiled, appreciating the joke.

"Of course not, my son," he said, in his deep, soothing voice. "Though I will certainly kill you, very slowly and painfully, if you don't have my Key."

"Lotta money for a hunk of rock," Mohawk said. "Why's it so important to you anyway?"

"Shut up," the Priest of Swords said. He was of a very different sort than the Priest of Wands. He was tall and thin, and he looked younger, with iron-gray hair in a widow's peak, a mouth full of sharp little teeth and a nose like a hawk. "Show us the Key. Or I'll have our vampires rip your miserable throat out to stop your babbling." His voice was terse and clipped; it sounded like gears grinding. Behind him, the wolves growled again.

"Dude, chill," Pompadour said.

The Priest of Swords looked at him. The look in his hard, calculating eyes communicated the fact that he was considering killing Pompadour and all his friends. The look in his eyes communicated that fact quite clearly. Pompadour looked away.

"Almost done counting. Everyone just relax and...huh...?" Bon Jovi said, as the entire crypt suddenly filled with thick, billowing black smoke.

All four priests started coughing as the smoke insinuated itself into their lungs. The vampires didn't need to breathe, but none of them could see, and they stumbled around, growling and slashing at the air.

"What...? What is...?" the Priest of Wands said.

"Under...attack..." the Priest of Swords said.

"The Key! Wait! Give us..." the Priest of Wands said, choking, as Bon Jovi grabbed the briefcase and ran out of the crypt with his pals. The four priests stumbled out after them, along with the strange wolf-faced vampires, but the smoke stayed with them; it blinded them, and snatched the air from their lungs.

"The Key!" the Priest of Swords shouted, spotting Bon Jovi through the smoke and grabbing him by the collar. "Give us the Key!"

"Hey!" Bon Jovi said, and smacked the Priest of Swords away. "I don't even know if the money's all here!"

The wolves sprang at Bon Jovi and his friends; in seconds all the vampires were at each other's throats, snarling and screaming, clawing and biting at each other. But the wolves all tried to get to Bon Jovi, and the Key...

"Get off me!" Bon Jovi screamed, as three of the wolves tackled him, snarling and snapping and biting at him, tearing into his flesh. He lost hold of the briefcase, and it bounced out of his hands and flew open, the money inside scattering through the cemetery.

"The money!" Bon Jovi screamed, as the wolves howled and slashed at him, trying to get the Key. With a snarl of triumph, one of them came up with it...

"Yoink," a voice said, and someone snatched the key from the wolf's hand. "B! I got it!"

"Let's go!" another voice said. The priests all looked around wildly; the vampires slashed at empty air. The smoke was everywhere; they couldn't see a thing. And no matter where they moved, the smoke remained with them...

Buffy and Faith sprinted back toward the trees.

"Might've been nice to stake a few of 'em," Faith said.

"And maybe get killed, and then maybe the world would've ended?" Buffy said.

"Yeah but...I'm just all frustrated now," Faith said.

"I know, baby," Buffy said. "So am I."

"Too bad we couldn't snag that briefcase too."

"Major shoe shopping."

"Hell yeah."

They reached Willow and crouched down beside her behind the trees. "Do you have it? Did it work?" Willow said.

"Yup," Buffy said. "You're the best witch ever. It was even like the smoke knew to stay away from us, and just stick to the bad guys."

"It did," Willow said. "It only blinds the people I want it to blind."

"You kick ass, girlfriend!" Faith said, and rubbed Willow's shoulder. "How much longer will it last?"

"That's the downside to this spell," Willow said, checking her watch. "Short duration. We've only got seconds of smoke left now and I can't recast it for at least a month. Apate doesn't like being bothered too often."

"Apate?" Faith said

"Greek Goddess of Deception," Willow said. She peered out at the vampires. The smoke was clearing. "Um, looks like our time's up."

"Guess it's up to the wheel man now," Buffy said.

"Go Speed Racer, go," Faith said.

They peered out at the vampires and the priests. A few of the wolves were sniffing the ground, trying to catch their scent. The rest of them were foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs, snarling and growling and snapping at Bon Jovi and his pals, not allowing them to move. Bon Jovi and his pals apparently knew when they were overmatched. They stayed very still. "This is bullshit, man," Buffy and Faith heard Bon Jovi whining. The priests were busy scooping up the money that had scattered around the cemetery. The smoke was gone now; with the wolves and Bon Jovi's group, Buffy and Faith counted twenty-one vampires.

"We can maybe take these guys," Faith said. "We got room to move out here. If they head this way we gotta go at 'em, lead 'em away from Will."

"They're already coming," Buffy said, and pointed. Three of the wolves were moving on all fours, sniffing the ground and heading in their direction.

"They got a bead on us," Faith said. "We gotta take a run at 'em."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "We'll head left, opposite direction from where the car's gonna be. Will, you run right toward the entrance and meet Xander."

"But...I don't want to leave you guys out there alone," Willow said.

"Not up for debate, Will," Buffy said, and turned and looked at her. Willow knew what that look meant.

Faith handed Willow the Key. "Will, the Key is what matters," she said. "B and me, we're expendable. But we're countin' on you to get this Key back to Giles. If you and Xan Man gotta take off without us, that's what you do, got it?"

Buffy looked at Willow again.

"Got it?" Buffy said.

Willow nodded.

Buffy looked back at the vampires. "Those ugly ones, the ones that look kinda..." she said.

"Like animals, sorta," Faith said. "Wolves."

"Are you sure they're not...werewolves, maybe?" Willow said. "That's what I always thought a werewolf would look like, except they're not hairy."

"They're vamps," Faith said. "Maybe they look like wolves but they smell like vamps."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "The nose knows. And they're tougher than the others. Wherever they come from they're tougher than regular vamps."

"We should go straight at the wolves first, take out as many of them as we can," Faith said. "Gives us our best chance. Looks like they're the ones who want the Key anyway. Those other guys, I think they just want their money. Don't look like they're up for a scuffle."

"Ever fight this many?" Buffy said.

"Dusted thirteen of K's goons," Faith said. "But they were regular vamps. I don't know what the hell's up with these wolf vamp guys."

The three wolves were coming closer, still sniffing the ground, and now three more had joined them, crawling in the dirt on all fours and growling. Bon Jovi and his pals were arguing with the priests, while the other six wolves stood by the priests, watching Bon Jovi and snarling.

"Here's our chance," Faith said. "They're divided. We run at these six, take them by surprise, dust as many as we can and head left. Once the rest of them come at us Will heads right." She turned and looked at Willow. "Got that, Will? Wait 'til all the vamps are on me and B. Then you run for it and keep low."

"And you don't look back," Buffy said. "Okay?"

"But...okay," Willow said.

Buffy and Faith looked at each other. They felt the connection. They both felt warm.

"On three," Buffy said.

"Three," Faith said, and grinned, and started running.

Buffy giggled, and ran after her.

"I hate this car," Xander said, holding a tire iron across his lap and wrestling with the clutch in Giles' Citroen DS and shoving the car into gear. The car lumbered and lurched along the dirt road outside the cemetery in fits and starts like a crotchety old man on his way to the toilet.

"You better not friggin' stall out on me, froggie," Xander said, as he gingerly maneuvered the car into the cemetery, trying his best to steer around the obstacle course of old tombstones that presented itself while trying to maintain speed. "Sure, I know you hate us, and we definitely hate you, but do you really want us all to die? Wait, don't answer that."

"Xander!" Xander heard, as Willow suddenly appeared out of the darkness to his left and ran up to the passenger side door. He screeched to a stop and Willow flung the door open and jumped in.

"Drive!" Willow screamed.

Buffy and Faith had managed to stake four of the wolves, but now the other eight had them surrounded, growling and snapping and slashing at them with their long claws. Bon Jovi and his pals were there too, standing with the priests. Buffy and Faith stood back to back, trying to hold the wolves off as the wolves snarled at them, looking for openings.

"If they don't have my Key you are in a world of trouble you cannot possibly imagine," the Priest of Wands said to Bon Jovi, as he eyed Buffy and Faith with contempt. "Women," he muttered. "They ruin everything...corrupt every single thing they touch."

"Dude, you got issues," Bon Jovi said.

A wolf sprang at Faith, going for her throat; Faith punched it in the face and sent it to the ground and kicked it away. There was no time to bend down and stake it; she had to keep her guard up. She knew if she let even one of these vampires get in under her guard she'd be in trouble. And she knew Buffy was counting on her to watch her back. The best she could do was hold them off. The only way to protect Buffy was to hold them off, and wait for Xander...

Buffy spun and kicked a wolf that came too close. He went flying backwards and hit the ground, but he got right back up again, snarling.

"These fuckers are pissin' me off," Faith said. Faith was growling, a little; Buffy could hear it, a low rumble coming up from the pit of Faith's stomach. Buffy knew Faith wanted to leap at the vampires like a lion, that she wanted to tear into them and feel their bones crack in her hands. She knew because she wanted the same thing: Buffy heard herself growling now, too. These strange, bestial new vampires were quicker and stronger than the ordinary variety. And they were like a wolf pack: individually they were no match for a Slayer, but in a group this large they posed a dire threat. And it was offensive for Buffy and Faith, to find themselves in this position: held at bay by these lesser predators, these worthless scavengers. Buffy snarled, and showed them her teeth. Their scent raised her hackles. Their scent made her want to spring at them, and rip their throats out. They were in her territory. They didn't belong.

But it wasn't the smart play. The smart play was waiting for Xander...

Xander saw Buffy and Faith up ahead, surrounded by vampires.

"Get your seatbelt on, Will," he said.

Willow put her seatbelt on. "What are we gonna do?" she said.

"Kick ass and chew bubblegum," Xander said. "And we're all out of bubblegum." He stomped on the gas...

And he plowed into the wolves surrounding Buffy and Faith, running over four of them; they slammed into the car's fender and bounced up and over the roof. The Citroen was a tub but it was an old tub made of good sturdy metal and it could take punishment. Xander kept straight on, forcing the car to keep steady and running over some of Bon Jovi's pals next. Buffy and Faith had hit the dirt and rolled the moment the car had appeared and Bon Jovi and the priests had scattered out of the way. Xander spun the car around without stopping and floored it again and rammed into two more of the wolves who were about to spring at the car. Buffy and Faith were up now, running for the car. Xander hit the brakes and Willow threw the doors open.

"Hurry!" Xander shouted. Buffy dove into the back seat. Faith was right behind her...

Until two of the wolves tackled Faith from behind and brought her down.

"FAITH!" Buffy screamed.

Faith punched one of the wolves in the face, and he went flying, but now the rest were on her...she covered up and kicked out with her legs, trying to dislodge them, as they punched her in the face over and over again...

She heard something that sounded like an aluminum bat hitting a baseball and a vampire crouching above her was suddenly knocked to the ground. She looked up, and caught a glimpse of Xander swinging a tire iron. And then vampires were suddenly flying everywhere, and Faith saw Buffy standing above her, tossing vampires through the air like leaves in a hurricane...

"Xander, get back to the car!" Buffy shouted, and helped Faith up. Xander ran back to the car as Buffy and Faith stood in front of it and formed a line. But they both knew this was the wrong play. They needed to get out of there, but without buying themselves some time there was no way to even get back into the car; if they turned their backs on these vampires for even a second they knew they'd be eviscerated, and then Willow and Xander would be next. Bon Jovi and his friends had taken off, at least, but the wolves that Xander had run over were already back up; all eight surrounded Buffy and Faith now.

"We can take these guys!" Faith snarled, as she spun and kicked a vampire in the face and sent it flying.

"Maybe, maybe not," Buffy said, elbowing a vampire in the head and punching it in the face. "But we have to get the Key the hell out of...oh, my God."

Buffy and Faith suddenly saw more vampires running out of the crypt toward them, all wolves...there were dozens, scores of them...

"Holy shit," Faith said.

"Xander! Get out of here!" Buffy shouted. "Now! DRIVE!"

A wolf leaped at Buffy...

And it stopped in mid-air, three feet away, and fell to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Faith said. A wolf tried to slash at her with its claws, but they stopped three feet away; they stopped as if there was an invisible wall blocking them. "What the...? What's goin' on?"

The rest of the vampires had reached them now; there were more than a hundred in front of them, slashing and clawing, growling and screaming and trying to get to them. But something stopped them...

"Energy shield," Willow said from behind them. Buffy and Faith turned and looked at her. She was sitting in the car, holding her arm out the window, aiming her hand in the direction of the vampires. Her hand was shaking, and the air seemed to distort around it...seemed to ripple, like waves. Willow's face was contorted as if she were in pain, and her nose was bleeding. "See? Just...need...a witch," she said, in a labored whisper.

Buffy and Faith leaped into the backseat of the car, as the vampires pounded at the energy shield, howling and shrieking and slavering like dogs, trying to claw their way through. Xander floored it, and they drove away.

"Holy shit," Faith said. "Are we really gonna make it out of this? Thought I was done for sure."

"Will," Buffy said. "You don't...you don't look too good."

"Concen...tration..." Willow said, her eyes squeezed shut, her whole body shaking now. Her voice was tight, constricted. "Holding...holding it..."

"We've got some distance," Xander said, looking in the rearview mirror. No way they catch us now. Unless this piece of shit fucking car stalls and oh my God why did I say that am I the stupidest person in the world yup I think I am."

As if in answer, the dashboard oil light blinked on.

"No, no no," Xander said. "No no no you piece of fucking shit you're not stalling on me! Do you fucking hear me you stupid fucking car?!"

The oil light turned off. The car kept up its speed.

"Think you scared it," Faith said.

"It's French," Xander said. "It surrendered."

"Will," Buffy said, and took Willow's hand. "We're safe. You can stop."

A little scream suddenly escaped Willow's lips; she sounded like she had just put down a heavy weight that she had been carrying for a long time. She leaned back against the seat, and a shudder went through her, and she stopped shaking. She was sweating, and gasping. Her breathing slowly returned to normal, as Buffy held her hand.

"You okay, baby?" Xander said, and wiped the blood away from Willow's nose, and caressed her cheek. Willow nodded, and leaned her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.

Xander checked the rearview mirror again. The vampires were running after them, but they were too far away. The car was at the entrance now. Before he turned back onto the road, Xander leaned out the window and looked back at the vampires, and grinned.

"Hey assholes!" he shouted, and gave them all the finger, and giggled at them. "Fuck you too!"

Faith held up her hand. Xander gave her a high five.

Xander got the car back onto the road. "Well, that was invigorating," he said. "Who's up for pizza?"

"Likin' your style, Xan Man," Faith said.

"I come off the bench, I like to put points on the board," Xander said. He looked down at Willow. "How you doin' Will?"

"Sleepy," Willow muttered, dozing on his shoulder.

Xander kissed the top of her head.

"Hey, uh...are you two dating?" Faith said.

"Duh," Willow said, and turned to Faith and smiled a sleepy little smile. "Where have you been?"

The four priests stood before the crypt, a throng of more than two-hundred vampires gathered about them.

"Scores of you. Scores!" the Priest of Wands shouted. "And you couldn't stop them?"

The vampires glared at him, but they remained still and silent, waiting on his words. The Priest of Pentacles, a frail-looking old man with white hair and glasses, moved his wrinkled, shaking hands slowly through the air in front of him.

"There was powerful magic here. I can still feel it," he said, in his faint, rasping voice.

"Willow Rosenberg," the Priest of Wands muttered darkly.

"The Watchers Council is aware of us," the Priest of Swords said. "They've alerted their Slayers."

The Priest of Cups, a short, bald, barrel-chested old man, practically snarled. "If we could only kill that little bitch Rosenberg..." he said, spitting out the name like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Impossible," the Priest of Pentacles said. "The Powers That Be are protecting her now...no force we could bring could kill her."

"Aw," a voice said. "So now you're just gonna give up? Where's that get up and go spirit? That good old-fashioned stick-to-itiveness?"

It was Buffy's voice...

And the priests turned...and saw Buffy walking out of the crypt.

Instantly, all of them, the priests and the vampires alike, knelt in front of her. Buffy smiled.

"You look good there. But it takes more than a few romantic gestures to win a girl's heart," she said, looking down at them. "So things get hard and you just give up? Did everyone suddenly wake up French today?"

"We haven't given up, most holy one," the Priest of Wands said, his eyes cast down to the dirt. "We..."

"You can look at me," Buffy said. "But keep up the kneeling. It's cute."

"Most high, the Powers have begun protecting the chosen one's life," the Priest of Pentacles said. "We only just today uncovered her name, but we were too late. The stars have aligned, and the Powers prevent her death now, until she performs the ritual."

"Powers, shmowers," Buffy said. "Earth to old guys? I'm the First. The original power. I'm like, totally more powerful than the Powers. And I'll overlook your lack of faith, and just this once not eat your eyeballs with a spoon. 'Cuz, well, eating eyeballs? Kinda gross...but I could eat your eyeballs. I could totally eat your eyeballs if you guys go all lame on me. And hey, entrails? I can do stuff with entrails you wouldn't believe. It's a whole big entrails thing."

"Yes, your worship," the Priest of Wands said. "We'll kill Rosenberg for you. We will find a way..."

"That's sweet," Buffy said. "But you can't get past the Powers alone, you're all just a bunch of tiny little insignificant mostly undead evolved monkeys. But I can guide you past them. There's a ceremony...a prayer. And it's a prayer to me, which makes it even cooler. Bring the witch to my shrine. And bring snacks too, the ceremony's a long one. Once it's complete my power will be manifest on this plane long enough for the Powers' hold to be broken. Then gut the bitch, and we can all experience that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with the extermination of the world's last hope. And then we party! Can you say jello shots?"

"We are unfamiliar with this prayer, my lord," the Priest of Swords said. "Will you teach it to us?"

"Do I have to do everything for you guys? I mean, hello, all-powerful evil here. Do I look like I want to do homework? It's in the back of one of Pentacle Boy's magic books. My Bringers can help with the translation. Just find the damn prayer, okay? I got places I could be."

"Your grace," the Priest of Wands said. "The Key...we...don't have it. The Slayers took it..."

"All-knowing, remember?" Buffy said. "But hey, guess what? I just got back from spending some quality time with your supplier and it turns out that Key was a fake. It's just a brick with a glamour on top of it. I swear, dealing with evil people is such a pain in the ass. Double crossing weasels. But it throws the Slayers off our scent for awhile. While they have a fake Key you guys can quietly take the real one. Your supplier didn't get his money, so he'll be in touch. But watch him. He isn't always sure where he stands. Guy's totally pussy-whipped. But kind of a hottie though. In a gross, vampire sort of way."

"Thank you, your holiness," the Priest of Wands said. "We are truly blessed to be--"

"Yeah, yeah, keep it in your pants, Matlock," Buffy said. "Wanna make me happy? Get the Key, gut the fucking wicca whore and bring on the night. Then you can whisper sweet nothings in my ear all you want."

She walked back to the crypt, then turned at the entrance, and looked at them again. They were still kneeling.

"Hey," Buffy said. "Does this skirt look inappropriate to you?"

"Absolutely not, your grace," the Priest of Swords said. "You are the image of perfection."

"Knew it," Buffy said, and grinned.

On their way back from the cemetery they stopped at a pizza place that was open late. There were amateurish murals of the canals of Venice covering the walls and little jukeboxes on all the tables, and someone's cat had managed to sneak in; she was a chocolate brown and white Siamese with big blue eyes and a collar with a little silver bell on it, and she padded from table to table, purring and begging for scraps. Faith and Buffy both gave her some pepperoni, and she licked their fingers and moved on to the next booth. Willow and Xander sat next to each other holding hands in the booth. Buffy and Faith sat across from them. Willow had put a quarter in the jukebox and they were all listening to an English lady Faith had never heard of.

"Miss Thang's got a pretty good racket goin'," Faith said, watching the cat moving among the booths and purring at all the customers. "Look at her, goin' on with her bad self."

"Could be Mister Thang," Xander said. "Hard to tell from here."

"She's a girl cat," Faith said. "Girl cats smell different than boy cats."

"Seriously?" Xander said.

"The nose knows," Buffy said.

They ate their pepperoni pizza and drank their Cokes, and Faith didn't feel as uncomfortable around Willow and Xander as she usually did. She knew part of it was that she had money now: she had smashed into a Coke machine the night before and come away with almost two-hundred dollars, fifty-four cans of Coke and thirty-one cans of Sprite. And even though they hadn't talked very much, the silence didn't feel so awkward this time.

Faith watched Willow and Xander. Willow still looked tired; that energy shield had apparently taken a hell of a lot out of her. Her eyes were closed, and her head swayed back and forth slightly as she listened to the strange English lady singing. Xander looked at Faith and grinned.

"She'll be okay," he said. "Some of her spells kinda throw her for a loop and she gets all tired and trancey. She just needs some food, then some rest."

"And her goofy British music," Buffy said.

"Don't make fun of PJ," Willow said.

"So. Energy shields, huh?" Buffy said. "Didn't know you could do energy shields."

Willow opened her eyes.

"I've been practicing combat spells," Willow said. "Since...last month. No one's ever gonna do that to me again."

"Will," Buffy said. "I get that? I totally do, but...I worry about you. I worry about you out there."

"I want to do it," Willow said. "I like helping."

"And aren't we allowed to worry about you too, Buff?" Xander said. "Friendship works both ways."

"I thought you said offensive and defensive spells were really super hard?" Buffy said. "Just a couple of months ago you said you thought you were a long ways away from something like an energy shield."

"It's easier now," Willow said. "I figured out what I was doing wrong."

"What's that?" Buffy said.

"I wasn't letting myself get angry," Willow said. "Before I was all, y'know, looking at it like a math problem. But magic's about feeling, and real powerful combat spells like energy shields, or fireballs or whatever, are all about willpower, and letting yourself feel things, even bad things. Anger, and fear, and hate. You have to let yourself feel that stuff, then move past it. I was always afraid to let myself feel that stuff, to really get down inside it."

"Now you're not?" Faith said.

"If you want to be a witch you can't be afraid of power," Willow said. "Having it, using it. That energy shield was built from my will."

"Kinda right there in your name," Faith said. "Will."

"Y'know, it's weird?" Willow said. "I never really thought of my name like that before. I don't think it ever even really occurred to me. I always thought, y'know, Willow...pretty Willow tree. Willow the Wisp. Weeping Willow."

"Willpower's the first thing I thought of when you told me your name," Faith said.

Willow smiled.

"Okay, well...just take it slow for me, Will?" Buffy said. "Just...be careful for me? This stuff puts a lot of wear and tear on you and I worry. And there's a big difference between doing spells for me long-range from the library or Giles' house and doing spells with a hundred vampires like five feet away from you."

"Willow doesn't put up that shield, you and me are dead in that cemetery, B," Faith said. "No ifs, ands or buts. Maybe you don't want Will taking point but that doesn't mean you don't need her out there, y'know?"

"Can't PJ write something we can dance to?" Buffy said.

"She's sensitive," Willow said, and closed her eyes again, as if she was about to fall asleep. "She doesn't dance. Whoa. Okay, need mocha cappuccino."

"We'll hit a Starbucks, hon," Xander said. "You eat up first, okay?"

"Little fish big fish," Willow murmured, with her eyes closed, and took a bite of her pizza, and swayed.

"Besides, I'm not sure English people can dance," Xander said.

"They can dance," Faith said.

"Yeah, actually, Giles is pretty good," Buffy said.

"You danced with Giles?" Willow murmured.

"Junior prom," Buffy said. "Remember? He was chaperoning."

"Aw, that's cute," Willow said. "You're like his little girl."

"Um...I don't know," Buffy said. "It was just a dance."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, B," Faith said. "It's pretty obvious the G-Man really cares about you. You're his girl, y'know?"

"Yeah?" Buffy said, and smiled. "You really think so?"

"Yup," Willow said.

"He's all proper and British about it," Xander said. "But yeah. I think his favorite part is looking at you disapprovingly and frowning when you screw up."

"Yup, he's got that part totally down," Buffy said. "It's because I'm so intractable."

"So hey, how long have you two kids been together?" Faith said.

"A little over six weeks," Xander said. "Actually, we got together for the first time the day we all met you."

"Hey, you," Willow said, and suddenly opened her eyes, and smiled, and took Faith's hand. "I see you lookin' at me. You're my pal now, so you gotta, y'know, deal with all my trancey weirdness."

"And her completely non-danceable British music," Buffy said.

"It's cool, Will," Faith said, and smiled. "I'm dealin'."

After Buffy dropped Xander and Willow off, she let the car idle in front of Xander's house, and looked out at the dark street, avoiding Faith's eyes.

"Uh, so we headin' out?" Faith said.

"Faith. The offer's still open," Buffy said.

"Hey, that's...that's really nice of you, B, but..."

Buffy nodded, put the car in gear, and drove.

Buffy didn't look at Faith on the way to the motel. She didn't say anything. They drove in silence for a minute, and then Buffy put the radio on.

When they got to the motel, Faith got out of the car, and smiled at Buffy. But Buffy still wouldn't look at her.

"Thanks for the ride," Faith said. "Some crazy night, huh?"

"Yeah. Whatever," Buffy said, and drove away, leaving Faith standing alone in the parking lot.

"It's me," Buffy said into the phone. She plopped down on the couch in the living room, kicked off her shoes, and put her feet up on the coffee table. The house felt different, without her mother there. It was strange, coming home late without her mother rushing downstairs in her nightgown to greet her, trying to pretend Buffy had just woken her up when it was obvious she'd been up all night worrying, and asking where Buffy had been and if she was okay, and if she wanted her to make some cocoa.

Buffy looked around. The house felt too big.

"Yup, got the Key," Buffy said. "We're okay, bumps and bruises. But there were these new vamps I've never seen before, and even worse, there were like more than a hundred of them. No, Willow put up an energy shield and we were able to get the hell outta dodge. And if it wasn't for Willow you would have been making tea for the next girl, because Faith and I would have been dead. Anyway, I'm tired, I'm just gonna sack out tonight, but I'll bring your car back tomorrow and you can look at the Key and we can hit research mode. Giles, these vamps...they're different. They worry me."

"Well...they look kinda like wolves...yeah. They have like, red eyes and pointy ears and these long noses like snouts...no, they're not werewolves, stop getting all excited. They're definitely vamps. They smell like vamps, and besides, Faith and I managed to stake some of them and stakes work just fine. But they're a lot tougher than regular vamps, faster and stronger. If they're planning on hanging around I need to know everything there is to know about them and I need to know it yesterday. Oh, and they all had these tattoos on their right hand. Looked like a snake like, in a circle? And it was eating its own tail...Will said it was...wait, I know this...an ooga-booga? Maybe an ooga-booga?"

"Oh, yeah, right, that's it, an ouroboros. Nope, sorry, there's nothing else. They look like wolves, they're strong and fast, ooga-booga tattoos, that's about it. Oh, and they're not snappy dressers. Their clothes are all like, ripped up and dirty and smelly? I think maybe K-Mart has a special outlet store where these guys are from. Can you believe one of them was actually wearing overalls with--"

"Faith? No. She's not with me."

Buffy lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, and trying to sleep. It wasn't going well.

There were little glow-in-the-dark stars covering the ceiling; Buffy had gone through an amateur scientist geek girl phase when she was eight and the little glow-in-the-dark stars always brought those days back to her. Her Dad had bought her a little telescope, and a chemistry set, and some books on dinosaurs, and the little glow-in-the-dark stars, and she and her Dad had spent an afternoon putting the stars up, in their house in L.A., getting the constellations just right...a long time ago. Before the Slayer...before he left.

When she and her Mom moved to Sunnydale, just after the divorce, Buffy had taken the glow-in-the-dark stars with her, and put them up in her new room, painstakingly getting all the constellations just right...

The stars were stupid, little-girly things. Every time Buffy looked at them she decided they needed to be taken down, and she wondered why she had never gotten around to it before. She thought about taking them down now.

She decided it could wait until tomorrow. She was tired.

She looked at the alarm clock. It was a little past one in the morning. She looked at the window. Moonlight was shining in.

Angelus had come in through that window once, when he was stalking her; he came into her house at night, and Willow's, before Willow found a way to magically revoke his invitations. He came into their houses, and sat by their beds, and drew pictures of them as they slept…

Angelus sat by Buffy's bed one clear, cold night much like this one, and watched her sleep, and drew her picture. Buffy knew he was there.

Buffy was the Slayer: a vampire couldn't enter her room without her knowing. Instantly, his scent had awakened her. But she kept her eyes closed, she didn't stir...and he drew her picture. She listened to herself breathe, and she heard the scratch of the pencil on the paper, and the wind rustling the curtains...

She had just lain there, breathing in his scent. It was a vampire's scent... and, even before he had lost his soul, it always had the same effect on her. At first, for a second, it would raise her hackles. Her first instinct was always to kill him. The Slayer in her wanted to kill him, every time she saw him. Then that instinct would go away, and the Slayer would reluctantly retreat back to her lair, grumbling and snarling...and Buffy would emerge, and know Angel for who and what he was. The man she loved. And then he became Angelus...

She had wondered why she was doing it, that night, even as she did it: why she was just lying there for Angelus, like some helpless, wounded prey...why she was leaving herself vulnerable to him, giving him a chance to kill her.

But when it was finally over...when Angelus was gone, banished to a hell dimension, and Buffy was alone, with the photos in the shoebox...then she knew.

Before Angelus left her, he caressed her cheek. His hands were cold.

But then, his hands had always been cold...whether he was Angelus or Angel, he was a vampire, and his hands were always cold.

Buffy looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars. She decided she definitely needed to take them down. She would definitely take them down tomorrow.

She couldn't sleep. She looked at the glow-in-the-dark stars.

A few hours later, she got up, showered, and dressed.

She put on sexy lingerie. She knew she was being ridiculous.

She went out, got in Giles' car, and drove to Faith's motel.

Buffy sat in the parking lot, looking at Faith's door. 2-B.

"What am I doing?" Buffy said.

The night was cold, and there were a lot of stars. The car was cold; the heater never had been reliable. The windshield was frosting up. Buffy drew a heart on it, with an arrow through it...or was it a stake?

She wrote Buffy and inside the heart...then she wiped the heart away.

The moon, a thin yellow crescent, hung low in the sky. Buffy looked at it. It looked like a cat's eye.

"What am I doing?" Buffy said, again.

If the moon knew, it wasn't telling.

Buffy got out of the car, and knocked on Faith's door. There was no answer. She knocked again, loud. There was still no answer.

She tried the window. It was closed. It was too cold for even Faith to sleep with the window open. Buffy peeked in. A couple of the slats on the cheap blinds had broken off and through the gap they left she could see the room was empty. Faith wasn't lying in the unmade bed. She wasn't sitting in either of the rickety chairs. The bathroom light was off. For some reason there were about eighty cans of Coke and Sprite in a giant, carefully constructed pyramid in the corner, but Buffy wasn't particularly fazed by that. Faith was just goofy; she always said and did goofy things Buffy didn't understand. It was as if Faith existed at right angles to the world. Buffy had already made her peace with it.

Buffy stomped back to the car, flung the door open, got in and slammed the door behind her as hard as she dared. The car was this little French thing and a Slayer could dent it by looking at it the wrong way. And it had saved their lives tonight. She felt slightly less malice toward it than usual.

She couldn't say the same for Faith.

Life would have been so much easier without her...

"Pain in my ass even when she's not here," Buffy grumbled, and decided to go home. She started the car up, got it in gear, and shut the car off.

"Fuck," Buffy said, and reclined the seat back, and waited in the cold.

"Hey," someone said.

Buffy opened her eyes. The sun was in them. She squinted, and saw Faith sitting next to her in her long leather coat.

Faith put her hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" Faith said.

"What's that smell?" Buffy said.

"Egg mcmuffins," Faith said, and held up a big McDonald's bag. "What are you doing out here in the car? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I just...wanted to talk to you. You weren't home."

"Uh-huh," Faith said, and looked at her. Faith hadn't taken her hand off her shoulder.

Buffy shrugged out from under it.

"How long have you been here?" Faith said.

"Just got here a few minutes ago," Buffy said. "Guess I'm just tired."

"Uh-huh," Faith said. She took her coat off, and draped it over Buffy.

"What are you doing?" Buffy said.

"It's cold. You're shivering," Faith said. She felt Buffy's forehead. "Well you're not sick at least," she said. She wrapped Evan's coat tightly around Buffy, like a blanket.

"How'd you get in?" Buffy said, not looking back at her.

"Door was unlocked. Tell me you don't have the Key with you. Tell me you didn't bring it out with you and then fall asleep in some unlocked car."

"I told you, I was only here a few minutes," Buffy said. "And the Key's at my place. I gotta go." She started up the car, and started to take Evan's coat off.

"Thought you wanted to talk," Faith said.

"Forget it," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Faith said, and touched Buffy's arm. "You wanna maybe...hang out a little? I got a whole mess of these mcmuffins...you hungry? We could...have breakfast together...y'know, if you want. If you don't mind hanging out with me."

"I never minded hanging out with you, Faith," Buffy said, finally looking at her. "Why do you always do that? Why do you think it's some kind of fucking chore for us all to be around you? So of course you blow us all off. Christ."

"Sorry," Faith said. "I'm just...I don't know."

"How many did you buy?" Buffy said.

"What? Mcmuffins? Eleven," Faith said.

"Eleven?"

"The Mickey D's has a special going on, they're only ninety-nine cents."

"Why eleven? Why not ten, or a dozen? Why eleven?"

"Why not? Got Coke and Sprite in the room too."

"You just like doing goofy stuff to annoy me, don't you?"

"A little," Faith said, and smiled.

Buffy didn't smile. But she didn't frown as much as she had been either.

"I saw the big Coke pyramid through the window," Buffy said. "Are you gonna bury a tiny little Egyptian inside there?"

"Damn, B, you're on to me. I killed a two-inch tall Egyptian guy and I'm hidin' the body. Just don't tell the cops."

"Knew it."

"It's cold out here, Buffy. Come on, why don't you come inside with me."

Buffy sat, looking straight ahead, straight into the sun.

"Please?" Faith said.

Buffy nodded, and shut the motor off.

"What time is it, anyway?" Buffy said, standing in the middle of Faith's room and yawning, as Faith walked in with a bucket of ice. Buffy still had Faith's coat wrapped around her. The coat smelled like Faith, but there was another scent on it too, that Buffy didn't recognize. But she knew it was a man's scent.

"Got me. Still real early though, the sun just came up maybe an hour ago," Faith said, and dumped the ice out in the bathroom sink. She came back into the room, carefully pulled two cans of Coke and two cans of Sprite from the pyramid, and put them in the ice to chill. "Don't have a clock, remember?"

"Or a maid," Buffy said, looking at the bed.

"Sheets are just gonna get all messy again anyway," Faith said. "I like not having to make the bed. Becca used to get on my ass about keeping my room clean. It's nice, just kickin' back with the messiness." She looked around the room. "Okay, actually, it's pretty lame. But, y'know, if it doesn't involve just a little bit of ass-kickin'? I'm a lazy kitty."

Faith took Buffy's hands and started rubbing them between her own.

"What weirdness are you doing to me now?" Buffy said.

"You're still cold, honey," Faith said. She blew on Buffy's hands, and rubbed them until they were warm again. "Okay, that's better."

"Thanks...for the coat," Buffy said, and took Evan's coat off. "I'm warm enough now. Where's this go?" She looked around the room.

"I don't know, chair, floor, wherever," Faith said.

Buffy shook her head, found the closet, and hung up Evan's coat. Then she started making Faith's bed.

"What are you doing?" Faith said.

"Addressing a joint session of Congress," Buffy said.

"You'd make a hell of a maid, B. We could maybe get you one of those sexy French maid outfits."

"You wish."

Buffy finished making the bed. Faith stood beside her, pulled a quarter from her pocket, and threw it at the bed. The quarter rolled around a little, and lay flat on the blanket.

"Didn't bounce," Faith said. "Think you better make it again."

"I'm gonna bounce you in a minute," Buffy said, and smiled.

"There it is," Faith said, and grinned back at her. "Been lookin' all over for that smile."

Buffy and Faith sat on the bed, and ate egg mcmuffins and drank Sprites.

"These things are greasy and evil," Buffy said. "But damn if they're not tasty. There's a party in my mouth."

Faith raised her eyebrow at her.

"Um, I want that remark stricken from the record," Buffy said.

"Stuff that's bad for you tastes good," Faith said. "It's like a rule. You hear how Will's doin'? She okay?"

"Haven't talked to her since I dropped her off last night, but she should be fine. Will's tough. She's a tough undanceable British music-liking girl."

"Then how come you don't want her backin' you up?"

"I never said I don't want her."

"Don't have to say it, it's all over your face. Xan Man sees it too. And I'm thinkin' he's not real happy about you feeling that way either."

"I just...worry. It's my job...okay, our job to do this stuff, not theirs. I'm supposed to protect my friends, not get them in deeper."

"Yeah? And what if we want to protect you too?" Faith said, and squeezed Buffy's hand.

"Giles wants to see us today," Buffy said. "He's planning on getting researchy and British about those vamps and the Key. Even though we have the Key we still have like a hundred of those new wolf vamp guys to worry about. I don't think we're out of the woods on this yet."

"Some big damn woods. I got no idea how we're supposed to go at those guys. There's just too many. Unless we can figure a way to pick 'em off a few at a time I don't know what the hell we can do."

"Giles will figure something out. He always does. He'll need to read a lot of old books made out of human skin and frown and bitch about computers and Americans and drink a certain amount of tea first. Plus he'll wipe his glasses at us a lot. But he'll come up with something we can use eventually."

"Yeah, the G-Man's pretty cool."

"You still have that goofy crush on him?"

"Wasn't a crush. Just thought, y'know, he's cute."

"Maybe I'll tell him. Just to see how British he gets about it. I wonder if like, his head would explode."

"You better not tell him."

"I'm so gonna tell him. I'm gonna be all, 'Hey Giles, Faith wants to get busy with you. She wants to be your strumpet. She wants to do totally improper things with you and completely be tarty.' He'll be all like, wiping his glasses..." "You so better not tell him."

"I'm totally telling him. I'm gonna tell him you wanna be his Spice Girl."

"You tell him and it's on like Donkey Kong."

"What does that mean and why does everyone keep saying it?" Buffy said.

"No idea," Faith said.

"Giles is pretty cool," Buffy said. "I just never let him know that though."

"I bet you think he's cute too," Faith said. "You're acting all innocent about it but..."

"Okay, gross," Buffy said, and giggled. "I can't think of Giles that way. He's like...he's Giles. He's all...I can't think of him that way."

"Kinda like a Dad."

"I guess...yeah. It's...weird and embarrassing but...I mean, ever since my Dad took off...I just...like having Giles around. I guess...he is kinda like a Dad to me. He's there. The thing about a Dad is...they're supposed to be there. They're supposed to hang in. They're not supposed to quit."

"Yeah," Faith said, and wondered who her father was. She had never even met him.

"Tell Giles I said any of this and it's on like Donkey Kong," Buffy said.

"It's cool, B. I get it. I had the same kinda thing with Becca. We were real close, Becca and me, y'know? She was like my Mom. She was the best Mom any girl could ever ask for."

"What was she like?"

"She was a little over forty, British, tall and blonde and pretty, with pretty blue eyes. She kinda always reminded me of Princess Di for some reason. She had kind of a...it was how she carried herself, I think. Strong, but like, not looking down on people. She found me and took me in when I was a potential, and I was with her almost a year after that. I was living on the street when she found me...I, uh, took off from my Mom's place when I was fifteen."

Buffy rubbed Faith's shoulder. Faith smiled.

"Becca saved my life, that first day," Faith said. "Saved me from four vamps."

"Wow. She took on four vamps?" "Hell yeah, B. Becca was hardcore. Fifth degree aikido black belt, remember? She took me in, trained me--weights, running, aikido, boxing, street fighting, weapons. Every day, serious workouts. But we hung out too. We were in this cool townhouse in the rich part of Boston, and it was just me and her in this big old house. So we hung out. And I could talk to her about stuff. She was funny, and smart as hell, and she sure didn't take any crap either. She said jump and I'd be like, 'Hey, sure Becca, and how high would you like me to jump today?'"

"You're like Giles' fantasy of the perfect Slayer," Buffy said, and laughed. "Giles would kill to have you. Kill to have you."

"Nah, you're his girl, B, not me. So like, you don't train at all?"

"I do, sometimes, but...I guess I just like making his life difficult. So just how British was Rebecca anyway? Was she Giles-level British? Was she British with a side-order of British and don't skimp on the British?"

"Yeah, but she had a different vibe than the G-Man. G-Man's all...know what it is? It's like the difference between Moms and Dads I think. Giles treats you the way a Dad treats his daughter. Becca treated me like, the way a Mom treats her daughter, y'know? Like, Giles lets you slide on stuff sometimes, but..."

"Yeah, I get that. Moms are stricter with girls than Dads are. Moms don't take crap from girls. My Mom sure doesn't anyway. If I was a guy Giles would probably be all kickin' my ass. He'd be all, 'Get back here and drop and give me twenty young man. And where's your tweed suit? Get that damn tweed suit on.'"

"Yeah, right? And Becca definitely didn't take shit from me. But I never dealt her much shit either. I liked her. We talked a lot...about history and stuff... about life, really. About whatever I wanted. She told me stories about Slayers and stuff...even told me about you."

"Wait, she knew about me?"

"Sure. When I was a potential she told me all about Slayers. I never really thought I'd end up being one, but...so yeah, she told me about you."

"What'd she say?"

"She said you were a resourceful fighter."

"Resourceful. That's it?"

"And you saved the world. She compared you to George Washington rallying the troops during the American Revolution once."

"Hey, really?" Buffy said, looking pleased with herself. "Cool. Maybe I can go ride around on a horse and be all, four score and seven years ago, when I kicked ass on all these vampires..."

"Washington didn't say that," Faith said. "It was Lincoln. Gettysburg Address. And hey, Becca calling you resourceful? Trust me B, that's high praise. Becca calls you resourceful, take it to the bank, baby. She never blew smoke. She gave a compliment, you knew you earned it. So yeah, anyway, like, we'd hang out. I liked her, I liked being around her. She took me places, movies and museums and ball games and stuff. She taught me about history and art and philosophy, got me into reading books, even gave me piano lessons. And she used to love going to ball games. We'd go to Celts games? And she'd be like, 'Yes! Capital slam dunk, Mr. Bias! In your face, Michael Jordan!'" Faith did a very good impression of Rebecca's English accent as she said that. They both laughed, and took another egg mcmuffin each. There were three left now.

"I always suspected you were secretly British," Buffy said. "I knew there had to be some reason you're all weirdly into Giles. I bet you like crumpets. I bet if McDonald's had like, ninety-nine cent crumpets you'd buy eleven of them."

"Scones," Faith said. "I dig scones."

"What's a scone? Giles mentions them sometimes. He says you can't find good ones in California."

"Biscuity kinda thing with a filling. Sunday mornings Becca and I drove out to a bakery she knew that was run by this old Scottish guy. I never understood a word he said but he could cook his butt off. We'd get scones and brownies and donuts and stuff. We did just a real quick workout on Sundays and then we'd rent movies after and eat pastry and just kinda pig out all day in front of the VCR."

Rebecca sounds like a really great lady."

"Yeah. Becca always...she always knew just what to say, just what to do, in every situation, y'know?" Faith said. "She was one of those people...one of those people who's just calm and in charge all the time, and you follow them, because you want to. You just always know everything's gonna be okay when you're with them."

"I'm sorry I won't get to meet her."

"Yeah. She was real special."

"And then one day you became the Slayer. I bet she was just like, the proudest Mom in the world."

"Actually...that was a weird night. I came home, y'know, once I found out I was all super-strong..."

"How'd that happen? How'd you find out?"

"Tossed some asshole over the bar at this club I was at."

"That works."

"Yeah so, I come home, it's like past midnight, Becca's asleep, and I run into her room and wake her up screaming about how I'm the Slayer. You know, she's chillin', catchin' some winks and suddenly this crazy girl is all in her face jumping up and down like, I'm the Slayer! I'm the Slayer! I bet she was probably all thinking, 'Damn, girl, can't you see I'm relaxin' here? What is it with you crazy American chicks?'"

"Yeah," Buffy said, and laughed. "I get that vibe from Giles about every thirty seconds."

"But y'know, Becca's all cool and British about it, upper lip all stiff, and we go up to the gym and bang, I'm benching like eight-hundred pounds. So Becca's like, damn, yup, okay, guess you're the Slayer. Becca poured us some champagne after that, and we drank a little, had a toast. Anyway, fast-forward a couple hours, I'm in bed, I'm asleep, and suddenly I hear a scream. I run upstairs...and I see Becca crying."

"Crying?"

"She was worried about me. Turns out she didn't want me to be the Slayer...because Slayers don't live so long. She told me she just...wanted me to grow up and be happy. She didn't want me to have to deal with all the stuff you and me gotta deal with. She was crying because she didn't want me to ever die."

"Rebecca was frigging awesome," Buffy said.

Faith nodded. Buffy could see Faith had tears in her eyes now. She took Faith's hand.

"Yeah," Faith said, and smiled, and wiped her tears away. "I really lucked out, running into her. From what Becca told me about the Watchers, they're not all on the ball, y'know?"

"Giles says that too. He says there are a lot of berks in the Watchers."

"What's a berk?"

"British word for dumbass. Of course they can't just say 'dumbass'. That would be too easy. They have to British everything up."

"Shit. How many crazy-ass expressions do British people have anyway? Becca always said crazy stuff like that too. Becca's all like 'Bob's your uncle'. I'm like, 'He is? Who's this Bob guy?'"

"Yeah," Buffy said, laughing. "Giles said that to me once. I made him promise never to say it again. I think British people keep making up new crazy stuff to say just to annoy Americans. I wonder if Rebecca would have liked me. You think she would have liked me?"

"I think it would have been fun to watch you trying to get out of training. She'd be like, okay, time for aikido and you'd be like..."

"Sorry, heading out to the Bronze, don't wait up!" Buffy said, and giggled. "Bob's my uncle!"

"Yeah," Faith said, and laughed. "Like, immovable object? Meet irresistible force."

"Which one am I?"

"Immovable object. But I'm thinkin' Becca would have moved you. I mean like, you give her too much shit? And then bang, here comes the tone."

"The tone?"

"When she wanted to make sure I knew it was her way or the highway? Her voice got this tone. She never had to use it on me much, but whenever she did I was just all standing at attention, baby," Faith said, and smiled. "Would've been fun to watch, you and her."

"I can be pretty immovable, you know," Buffy said. "I can be Stonehenge immovable when I wanna be."

"Yeah, I've been pickin' up on that."

"She really taught you how to play piano? Seriously?"

"Well, I'm not too good, but yeah. I let her give me piano lessons."

"I would never in a billion years let Giles give me piano lessons."

"Becca just...I mean she wouldn't nag or anything, y'know? It's just...she always gave me the feeling like she knew I could do so much stuff...stuff I never thought I could do. But she always just knew I could do it, like there was never a doubt in her mind. She always told me I was smart when I thought I was dumb. The only time she ever got pissed at me was this one time I said I was dumb."

"You're not dumb, baby," Buffy said.

"And like, books and museums, art and philosophy and stuff," Faith said. "Even piano lessons...it's like she just knew I could be a lot more than I was. She told me once I could do anything I wanted to do. She just..."

Faith's face crumpled up; tears started running down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey..." Buffy said, and hugged her. "Faith? It's okay."

"Would she have..." Faith said, and sniffled, and tried to wipe her tears away. 'Would she have liked...liked you? Yeah...yeah. She would've...she would've liked you. She would've liked you a lot better than me. You wouldn't have let her die. You wouldn't have..." Faith started crying. "You wouldn't have."

"It wasn't your fault," Buffy said. "You know that. It wasn't. It wasn't."

Faith's shoulders started heaving. Buffy brought her closer. "You wouldn't have let her die, Buffy," Faith said. "You wouldn't have screwed up like I did! You wouldn't have let her die!"

"Faith...it wasn't your fault, baby," Buffy said, and stroked her hair. "There were...how many vamps did Kakistos have with him?"

"Him and Trick got there with eighteen," Faith said. "I wasn't there. I was, was a little angry with Becca 'cuz...there was this vamp the night before that Becca took me out to dust? A girl vamp, had, had a boyfriend who was a vamp too. Dusted the guy and, and then the girl came out and we fought and...she was... she was so sad when I killed her boyfriend. I didn't know vamps could be sad, y'know?" Faith said, and sniffled some more, and tried to wipe her tears away. "I didn't know vamps could like, love someone. I dusted the vamp...her name was Emily. I felt kinda bad about it and...Becca wanted me to come with her to the restaurant the next day but I didn't, I wouldn't go...I went out with Evan instead and Becca and her boyfriend were up against Kakistos and Trick and eighteen vamps by themselves. By the time I got there thirteen vamps were left, and everyone in the restaurant was dead and Becca...Becca was..."

Faith started to tremble. She breathed in quick little gasps, and she made a little wailing sound every time she exhaled.

"It's okay, baby..." Buffy said, and brought Faith's head to her bosom.

"I showed up, 'cuz I felt bad, I didn't like feeling angry with Becca but I wasn't in time," Faith said. "I wasn't there and he...I wasn't there, y'know? I wasn't there when they started and...Becca was naked on the floor...she was naked on the floor. Kakistos had her naked on the floor and he..."

And then Buffy knew. She finally knew what really happened that night... what happened to Rebecca.

Buffy felt a tear run down her cheek.

Faith's wailing got louder. Her nose began to run, and she was shaking all over now, like little earthquakes were going off inside her.

"Kakistos...he was too strong," Faith said. "I managed to, to, take out his guys but...but when I tried to stake him, he just shrugged it off, and...he kicked me out the window and...I ran back up but...Becca was..."

Faith was curled up into a little ball now, and she clutched at Buffy, held onto her with all the strength she had, strength enough to break bones. Buffy held her to her bosom, and rocked her. Tears ran down Faith's cheeks, and made Buffy's shirt damp. Faith's nose ran down over her lips and off her chin, and stuck to Buffy's hair. Buffy caressed her cheek.

"Kakistos, he, he had her naked and he, um...he...he..." Faith said...

Buffy was crying now, too.

"He raped her," Faith said, her voice breaking. "He raped her and he killed her."

Faith screamed.

Faith took in big, rasping lungfuls of air now, and screamed every time she exhaled...she screamed as Buffy held her to her bosom and rocked her.

"I'm sorry, baby," Buffy said, as she cried. "I'm so sorry, baby..."

"I loved her, Buffy," Faith said. "I loved her and she's dead because I wasn't good enough! She's dead because I wasn't good enough and it's all my fault!"

"No, baby. No," Buffy said, and held her tighter. "It's not your fault."

"It's my fault, my fault, she's gone and it's my fault..." Faith said, shaking her head back and forth as she repeated it.

"No, baby," Buffy said.

"I loved her, Buffy."

"I know, baby. I know you loved her."

"I'm always cold now. I'm always, I'm always out in the cold...it came in Buffy, it came in, it came in, and it won't leave! I'm alone in the cold, all the time...I'm all alone..."

"You're not alone. I'm right here for you, baby," Buffy said. "I'll always be right here."

"I'm cold," Faith whispered, as she wailed, and cried, and trembled...as she desperately clutched at Buffy, afraid to let go...afraid of the cold. Afraid she would always be cold.

"I'm gonna keep you warm, baby," Buffy said.

And Buffy held Faith tight as she cried, and kept her warm...

"Six bucks for a large?" Faith mumbled.

Buffy opened her eyes. She was lying in bed. But it wasn't her bed. She was confused for a moment. The bed, the whole room, smelled like Faith.

Then she remembered. She was in Faith's motel room. She looked around. The sun was shining in; she wondered what time it was. She looked to her right, and saw the goofy giant pyramid of Coke and Sprite cans. She looked up, and saw the appalling orange and black painting on the wall. She looked to her left, and saw the photo of Gwendolyn on the nightstand.

She looked down, and saw Faith curled up asleep in a little ball against her, curled up in her arms with her head resting against her bosom.

Buffy ran her fingers through Faith's hair.

"Bring my own damn food in," Faith mumbled, into Buffy's blouse.

"What?" Buffy said.

Faith didn't answer. She was snoring very softly.

"You're asleep, aren't you?" Buffy said.

"Peanut M&M's," Faith mumbled.

Buffy smiled. Faith was just goofy; she always said and did goofy things Buffy didn't understand. It was as if Faith existed at right angles to the world.

Buffy had already made her peace with it.

She went back to sleep.

When Buffy woke up again, Faith was looking into her eyes.

"You got egg mcmuffin breath," Faith said.

"Like you don't?" Buffy said. "What time is it?"

"Remember about how I don't have a clock? But judging from the sun out there it's still early."

Buffy yawned. "Still tired," she said.

"Yeah, me too," Faith said, and yawned. "Need more sackin' out time. How come when one person yawns it makes you wanna yawn?"

"I don't know about everyone else in the world but I think you're doing it 'cuz you wanna be just like me 'cuz I'm great," Buffy said.

"Gotta be it," Faith said. "I need to get outta these clothes. Hard to sleep wearing this stuff." She sat up, and took off her clothes, stripping down to her underwear and socks. She got back into bed, back under the covers. But she kept her distance from Buffy; she didn't curl up against her. "This weird for you? Want me to throw on a nightgown?"

"It's okay. Seen it anyway."

"You flirting with me, girlfriend? Gonna maybe try to kiss me?"

"You wish."

"You wanna kiss me," Faith said. "You so wanna kiss me. You'd pay a million bucks to kiss me. You'd kick Brad Pitt's ass to the curb to kiss me."

"Shut up," Buffy said, and giggled.

"B...thanks for...thanks for being here," Faith said.

"You're my friend, Faith. It's what friends do," Buffy said.

They lay together on the bed, on their backs, separate from each other.

"Can you get to sleep like that?" Buffy said.

"Nope," Faith said.

"Do you want me to be Buffy the pillow?" Buffy said.

"Yeah," Faith said.

"C'mere, baby," Buffy said.

Buffy took Faith's hand, and brought her head to her bosom. She put her arms around her, and stroked her hair, and Faith snuggled up against her.

"Could you...maybe, uh...take your top off?" Faith said. "It's just...the pillows are better without a pillowcase."

"Sure," Buffy said, and smiled, and sat up and took off her blouse. "Might as well take the rest off too, easier to sleep without all this stuff on. Just don't get any ideas, pervo."

"No guarantees," Faith said.

Buffy took off her skirt and kicked off her shoes, and sat up in the bed, in her bra and panties, and looked down at Faith. Buffy thought she should feel awkward about being with Faith like this, after everything that had happened recently...but she didn't. She felt just right.

"Sexy," Faith said. Faith's eyes were on Buffy, from the top of Buffy's head all the way down to her toes, as Buffy looked back at her...

Faith wanted to kiss her. She made herself think about Evan. But he seemed so far away now...like he didn't exist anymore.

"Can you undo my bra in back?" Buffy said.

Faith unhooked Buffy's bra. It was black and frilly and semi-transparent, with little lace roses; it was a sexy, slinky little trifle. Buffy looked good in it.

Buffy slid the bra off, and Faith suddenly jumped off the bed, and knelt down in front of her.

Faith was kneeling between Buffy's legs, kneeling at her feet.

You look good there, Faith remembered Buffy saying to Trick.

Faith hadn't meant to jump off the bed. She knew the Slayer had done it...that the Slayer wanted to get out. She was like a lion in a cage and she was pacing back and forth and growling behind the bars inside Faith's head now. Faith tried to keep her locked in. She tried to think about Evan.

Faith looked up at Buffy. Buffy looked down at her.

Do I look good here? Faith wanted to say.

Buffy's scent was sweet. Faith made herself think about Evan's scent instead. She liked Evan's scent...she just didn't like it as much as Buffy's.

"Um," Buffy said. "Remember the rules? Remember rule number two?"

"Curious about the lingerie," Faith said. "Wanted a closer look." Buffy's panties were the same frilly, black, semi-transparent stuff as the bra. Faith could see the shadowy hint of Buffy's pubic hair. "How come you wore this stuff?"

Buffy had bought the lingerie the month before...to wear for Faith. She had never gotten a chance to.

"I don't know...first thing I pulled out of the drawer, I guess," Buffy said.

"Looks real pretty," Faith said.

"Thanks," Buffy said.

Faith knew she should be getting back on the bed. She didn't move.

Buffy was a little nervous...Faith could smell it.

Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, with her legs spread slightly apart.

Buffy opened her legs a little more.

Faith knew it was up to her, now. She knew Buffy was leaving it up to her.

Faith wanted to...

"Who's Evan?" Buffy said.

Saved by the bell, Faith thought. She climbed back onto the bed. They got back under the covers, and Buffy brought Faith's head back to her breasts, and put her arms around her. Faith snuggled up against her.

"How's that, baby?" Buffy said.

"Perfect, lover," Faith said.

"So you gonna tell me about this Evan guy?"

"My guy in Boston. He was the only guy who...the only guy who ever really talked to me. The only one who treated me like I wasn't just two holes. He DJ'ed at this dance club I liked. He made me laugh, and he was nice to me. Plus he was a complete fox too."

"Always an admirable trait in a guy."

"Yeah. He was about 6'1", longish dark hair, kinda neat, good dresser. Real like, pretty face? Big brown eyes. Good lean body."

"Butt?"

"To die for."

"Another admirable trait."

"God I could just...mmmm, I could just squeeze that thing all damn day."

They laughed.

"Did you guys ever...y'know...I mean...how far did you go?" Buffy said.

"We were just friends for a long time," Faith said. "I liked it that way. Been burned a lot by guys, y'know? And then the day we both knew we wanted to take it to the next level also just happened to be the day Kakistos decided to send his guys to be all chasin' us around and shooting at us. So, we didn't get to do anything...never even went on a date. But we told each other we love each other. We kissed. Then...I left."

"Sorry. That's really rough."

"Yeah. K was onto me, I knew Ev would be dead if I stayed with him. But K's guys didn't get a good look at Ev, so I figured he'd be safe as long as I took off. So I came out here to warn you and lead K away from Boston."

"You gonna go back to Evan?"

"No."

"But Kakistos and Trick are dead. Why not go see Evan? I mean...if you love him...if you...don't want to stay with...stay in Sunnydale."

"I wanna see him, but...we're Slayers, B. It's too dangerous. Like, what you said about Will? That's how I am about Ev. I can't...I can't let him be a part of this. I can't ever risk him being hurt."

"Does he know about you? About how you're a Slayer?"

"Yeah, I told him when I took off. Figured he had a right to know."

"He believe you?"

"Yeah. He knows I wouldn't lie to him."

"You're the one who told me I worry too much about Will and Xander."

"They're different, they know the score. And hey, in case you weren't paying attention? Will's stronger than the both of us put together. She ever went bad, you really think there's jack shit we could do against energy shields and lightning bolts? And Xan Man, okay, he's basically a civilian but he's logged a lot of hours, he doesn't freak out about all this stuff. You ever taught him how to fight he'd be better off, but still. But Evan...I just couldn't ever risk it."

"Yeah, I get where you're coming from. So like, are you in the market for a new guy or what?"

"No. I don't want any other guys."

"But you said you weren't seeing him again."

"I know."

"So what, you're gonna become a nun?"

"I don't know. I don't know...what I'm gonna do. I'll just...take it as it comes I guess. Figure it out as I go."

"Can I help? Will you let me be your friend and help?"

"Yeah. I'd like that. Will and Xander too."

"You're warm, Faith," Buffy said, and caressed her cheek. "You're not cold, baby. You're warm."

"When I'm with you," Faith said.

They fell asleep again.

The phone rang. Faith woke up.

She was lying curled up against Buffy's breasts. Buffy was asleep. Faith felt Buffy's heart beating, strong and steady beneath her.

She grabbed the phone from the nightstand before it could ring again.

"Hello?" Faith said, softly. She wondered what time it was. She looked at the window. The sun was low.

"Hey, Will...yeah, I'm good. How you doin'? Still feelin' all...?"

"Nah, you're fun when you're high. Bet you'd be a real trip if you ever smoked some weed. Okay, you're shitting me. No way. No way! Damn. You're just full of surprises, girl. No, actually...I never did. Go figure, huh?"

"Don't need to worry," Faith said, and looked down at Buffy, and touched her cheek. She watched Buffy's breasts moving, as she breathed. Her breasts were a little smaller than Faith's, but they were nicely shaped, and they were the perfect size, Faith knew, for cupping in her hands. Buffy's nipples and areolas were small too, and very light pink in color. Her torso was short; Buffy's height came from her long legs instead. Her stomach was flat as a board and her skin was soft and very pale, the color of cream. She had a mole near her belly button, and there was a fine layer of tiny, almost imperceptible blonde hairs dotting her lower abdomen. Faith couldn't see them right now, but she knew they were there; she'd had plenty of close-up views before. Buffy's nipples were erect now, for some reason; they were long when they were erect, like erasers. Buffy turned over on her side in her sleep, toward Faith. Faith put her arm around her, and brought Buffy's head down to rest on her breasts, and pulled the blanket over her. "She's here with me. Yeah, she's fine, she's just, uh, taking a nap right now. She was real beat when she got here. Yeah, car's here too, you can tell G-Man to chill. You guys tell him about the big-ass dents in the fender yet?"

"Yeah," Faith said, and laughed softly. "Might be a good idea to let Buffy break the news. She's his favorite. But hey, the thing still drives. Not like it was winning any style awards anyway."

"Okay, yeah, we'll meet you at G-Man's place. The Bronze? Sure, sounds like a party. Yup. See ya."

Buffy threw her arms around Faith, and cuddled up tighter against her. Faith held her, and just looked at her...just watched her sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, Faith woke her up.

"Hey, beautiful," Faith said, and kissed her cheek. "Rise and shine."

"Mmmm...whuzzz...wha...?" Buffy said, and rolled over.

"Time to wake up, honey," Faith whispered in her ear.

Buffy shook her head.

"C'mon honey, be a good girl for me," Faith said.

Buffy opened her eyes, and rolled over again, and looked up at Faith.

"I dreamt...someone called me beautiful," Buffy said.

"Uh...cool dream," Faith said, only just realizing what she had said. "Was he hot?"

"Mmm...not sure?" Buffy said, and leaned her head against Faith's breasts again. "Think so. Mmm. Pillows. I like pillows too, y'know. Take this thing off," she murmured, and clumsily unhooked Faith's bra. "Want pillows."

"But we gotta wake up, honey."

"Pillows."

"Okay, a little longer," Faith said, and took her bra off.

Buffy kissed each of Faith's nipples, and rested her head on her breasts, and went back to sleep.

"Okay, honey, now we really gotta wake up," Buffy heard Faith saying.

Buffy opened her eyes.

"You have bigger pillows than me," Buffy said, looking down at Faith's breasts under her cheek.

"Just a little bigger," Faith said. "Yours are just as nice."

"So why we gotta wake up?'

"Will called, G-Man wants us at his place. Y'know, like planning and research and stuff. And Will and Xander want us to go to the Bronze afterwards."

"We can do all that later," Buffy said, and pulled Faith toward her and snuggled up against her breasts again like a lazy cat. She ran her feet up and down Faith's ankles under the covers.

"It is later, honey," Faith said. "We're runnin' late."

Buffy rolled over and looked at the window. The sun was very low; it would be setting soon. "When did that happen?" she said.

"We've been sackin' out a long time. Will called awhile ago. We're supposed to be at G-Man's place around now."

"They tell him about the car?"

"Leavin' that to you."

"Figures."

"Hey. Uh...so what did you want to talk to me about anyway?"

"What?" Buffy said, and kissed Faith's nipples.

"What are you doing?" Faith said, and smiled. You bein' some kinda pervo?"

"Doesn't count," Buffy said. "Boob kissing doesn't count."

"It doesn't?" Faith said. "Sure feels like it counts."

"Only sucking on them counts. If there's no tongue action I'm not being a pervo. And I'm like only a quarter awake so for all I know I'm dreaming all this. Leave me alone."

"Uh-huh," Faith said, and kissed her.

"What was that for?" Buffy said.

"What was what for?"

"Hello? You just kissed me."

"Me? No I didn't. You dreamed it."

"Sure, pervo," Buffy said, giggling, and sat up, and stretched, and yawned.

"Hey," Faith said, and took her hand, and brought her back down to her. "Wait up. So what did you want to talk about? Y'know, when I found you in the car? You said you wanted to talk to me."

Buffy stopped smiling.

"Yeah...I just...forget it," Buffy said.

"C'mon B, you can tell me," Faith said. "What's up?"

"I just..." Buffy said, and rolled over on the bed, and looked away from her. "I was gonna ask you to stay with me again. To come move into my place. My Mom still wants you to, and...but you're just gonna say no and I don't want to fight so how about we just drop it, okay?"

"How long were you waiting in the car before I found you?"

"What? Why?"

"Just curious."

"Ten minutes maybe."

Faith turned Buffy over, so she could look at her.

"You're a lousy liar, B," Faith said.

"Fine. You want to embarrass me? Is that what this is about? I was there since 4:30 in the morning, okay?" Buffy said, and sat up. "I sat in the cold for like three hours waiting for you. Okay? Are you fucking happy now?"

"Hey," Faith said, and pulled her back down toward her again. But Buffy wouldn't look at her.

"How come you won't look at me, honey?" Faith said.

Buffy shook her head, and looked away.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you. You're just...important to me, Buffy, that's all," Faith said. "I really...care about you a lot, y'know? I guess...I don't know, maybe I just wanted to know that...you care about me. If you...care about me like how I care about you? Does that make any--"

"You think I don't care?" Buffy shouted, and sat back up, and looked right at her. "How can you even say that?! How can you say I don't, I don't care about you when...when you're in this place and..."

Buffy's lips started trembling, and there were tears in her eyes.

"And...and all I do is worry?!" Buffy shouted. "How can you say I don't care when all I do is worry about you?! You're in this stupid shitty place and I think about you all the time and, and I don't know if..."

Buffy started to cry. Faith pulled her back down toward her again, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm afraid of what might happen to you and, and I don't know if you even have enough money to stay here! Or for food! And, and..." Buffy said...

Faith kissed her.

And, before Buffy could say anything else, Faith kissed her again...

She moved on top of Buffy, and kissed her a third time, and caressed her hair...and then she kissed Buffy's tears, kissed each one as it came, until they were gone.

"What are you doing now?" Buffy said, and sniffled, and managed a smile. "What weirdness are you doing to me now?"

"Got more kisses than you got tears," Faith said.

"There was tongue action."

"I'll stay with you. Okay?"

"You will? You mean it? You'll stay?"

"Yeah. Look, I don't know how we're gonna work it and there might be some rough patches or whatever but...yeah. I'll stay with you. When do you want me to move in?"

"Tonight?"

"Okay."

"There's a lot of leftover meat loaf. I just...needed someone to eat all the meat loaf, that's all. This was all just a big meat loaf thing."

"I'll eat the meat loaf."

Faith lay on top of her, and caressed her hair, and they looked in each other's eyes. Their breasts were touching. They felt their hearts beating together.

"I was just...I was worried about you," Buffy said. "I know we had that big fight last time I asked but...I've been worried. I don't want you here. I just want to know you've got food and...you're someplace warm and...you're not all alone. I don't want you to be alone. I'll just feel better if you're with me."

"Yeah. I get that now," Faith said. "It's just...I guess...I got a lot of pride, y'know? And it's hard getting past it sometimes. My pride kept me alive, back when I was on the street. And back on the street it always seemed like, no one does for you without you doin' for them. And...I don't like pity. I don't like feeling like people are pitying me. There's a difference between caring about someone and pitying them, B. One I want from you. The other I don't."

"I care about you," Buffy said.

"Yeah," Faith said, and hugged her. "You keep me warm."

"I'm sorry, Faith," Buffy said. "About before. The fight in the mall, when I called you a thief. I didn't mean that."

"I know. Ancient history. I was never angry at you about that anyway, that was all my fault."

"Do you still want to...patrol separately from me? I don't...I don't think that's a good idea. I think we should stay together."

Faith sat up.

"Buffy...I'm sorry about that too," Faith said. "I didn't want to shut you out. It's just...with you leaving...I guess I was trying to make it easier on myself."

"Leaving?" Buffy said. "What are you talking about?"

"How you're goin' away to school out of state and...y'know...I guess... how I'll be taking over as the Slayer here. It's okay, Buffy. I get it...you got a big future ahead of you. You get good grades, you're graduating soon, college is coming up...I understand, y'know? I'll be okay with it."

"Oh, my God," Buffy said, and sat up, and looked at her. "That's what it was. That's why...that's why you acted like..."

Buffy caressed her cheek.

"You thought I was leaving," Buffy said. "You saw those stupid fucking college brochures, didn't you?"

Faith nodded.

"Oh, God...!" Buffy said, and took Faith in her arms, and hugged her. "Oh God, I almost lost you over...over a misunderstanding! Thanks, Mom." Buffy started to giggle. "Faith, you total goofball! Why didn't you tell me? Why couldn't you just talk to me?!"

"What...what do you mean?" Faith said.

"I'm not leaving!" Buffy shouted, laughing now, and kissing Faith over and over, covering her whole face with kisses. "I was never leaving! I'm not going to school out of state, I'm staying right here after graduation!"

"You're...staying...?" Faith said.

"Baby, I only filled those applications out for all those schools to get my Mom off my back. I never intended to go to any of those places. I decided awhile back that I'm going to UC Sunnydale. I'm staying here, with you."

"But...your Mom...I heard her saying that...you could go away to school, and maybe I could stay in Sunnydale and like, be the Slayer here."

"Heard that, huh? And I bet you heard me sounding like I was agreeing with her too, right? That time you were over for dinner and my Mom and I were talking about it."

Faith nodded again.

Buffy put her hands on Faith's shoulders, and looked her in the eyes, and smiled. "Oh God, baby...look," Buffy said. "My Mom, she worries about me, okay? She wants me to be career girl. She's my Mom, y'know? So I like, humor her sometimes because it's easier than having her nagging me about stuff forever. I always knew she and I would have to have the talk about how she thinks I should be going to like, Columbia or whatever and how UC Sunnydale isn't a good enough school, but I kinda wanted to put that talk off for as long as possible, so I just went along with what she was saying and filled out the applications for those schools but I already knew I'm going to be staying here."

"Maybe you shouldn't," Faith said. "I mean...I'd love it if you were here with me but Joyce is right. You're smart, Buffy, you've got your whole future ahead. You should go to one of those schools, you belong in one of those schools. If you stayed here for me, I'd feel like...I was holding you back."

"Decision's already made, baby," Buffy said, and kissed her. "I'm staying. But don't feel bad, it isn't just for you. I would've stayed in Sunnydale even if you weren't here."

"Because of the Hellmouth?" Faith said.

"I'm the Slayer. I need to be here. And yeah, maybe I could've worked it out so I like, went to school out of state and came back for vacations or for emergencies, but y'know, ivy league schools? They're hard. There's a lot of work. I mean, I'll probably end up being waitlisted at all those schools anyway, I don't think my grades are really good enough to get in, and I know for a fact Harvard and Yale would never happen, those are pipedreams. But going to any one of those schools, the workload would just be too much, with having to be the Slayer at the same time. Being the Slayer has to come first. And if I'm saving the world I refuse to have too much homework."

They laughed.

"UC Sunnydale's a great school," Buffy said. "It's nationally recognized for a few different things, it's got a good rep. And it allows you to design your own curriculum, and the workload's a little lighter. It's the perfect school for me. And most of all, it's here...where I need to be. Where I want to be."

Buffy kissed her.

"I'm not leaving, baby," Buffy said. "I'm gonna be right here, doing the Slayer thing. I'm not gonna take off and leave you to handle everything alone. We'll handle it together, okay? From now on, anything life throws at us? We'll handle it together."

A tear rolled down Faith's cheek.

"You're not...gonna leave me?" Faith said.

"Nope," Buffy said, and smiled, and kissed her again. "I'm gonna hang around to annoy you forever."

"Okay," Faith said, and giggled, and hugged her.

They kissed.

The kissing became passionate...

Faith pulled away.

"There's one more thing, Buffy," Faith said. "We gotta play a game. It's a game I just now came up with, and it's called Confessions. The way it goes is, I confess some secret stuff to you, then you confess some secret stuff to me. The stuff I gotta confess...it's gonna piss you off. But it's gotta be done. If we're gonna go forward this stuff can't be between us. Are you ready?"

"Um...okay."

"The day I noticed those college brochures, it was when we were playing that other game I came up with...the one where I do stuff to prove I can be good?"

"Currently my favorite game. Though I really want a turn at being the bad girl next time."

"Don't like, try to get me all off track by seducing me, pervo. This is serious stuff. You're about to be pissed at me."

"Okay."

"So anyway I was downstairs making you a sandwich and I come back up and I hear you talking on the phone about someone giving you roses. So I hang out in the hall and listen. Getting pissed yet?"

Buffy looked down at the bed.

"At me, not you," Buffy said. "I know where this is going."

"Not all of it," Faith said. "Let me finish, honey. So I hear you talking about how there's something you gotta go pick up and how you liked the roses and how he braided them in your hair. The thing is? Those brochures...they threw me. They got me thinking you had been planning on leaving all along and that I was like maybe...I don't know, like a fling to you, maybe. So I listened to your conversation, even though it wasn't right to do that. And when I came into the room you said you'd been talking to your bartender and I knew you were lying, that guy's not braiding flowers in your hair."

"It was...my guy. I was talking to my guy."

"Yeah, I figured that...after I followed you."

"You followed me?"

"Pissed at me yet? I followed you and I was on a roof watching when you kissed him and got in his black convertible."

"I wouldn't say I'm pissed at you. Maybe a little annoyed. I'm the one who lied to your face...who gave you a reason not to trust me. You followed me because I lied to you."

"Yeah. And the thing is...first the brochures, then the guy...it felt like it was all falling into place...I was sure I was just like, maybe your thing on the side or whatever before you went off to school. But then you get back a few hours later and you're all sad...I'd been planning on like, giving you the cold shoulder but...I couldn't leave you like that. I couldn't leave you like, feeling sad."

Buffy took her hand, and kissed it.

"So I hung in," Faith said. "But then..."

"The shoplifting thing," Buffy said.

"That was uncomfortable, but it didn't make me pissed at you. You thought I was pissed at you about that, but I wasn't. I was pissed at me about that. No, the next thing that happened was, that's when I overheard Joyce talking about you taking off out of state for school and how I could maybe stay here and be the Slayer. And it was too much...I felt like, it would be too hard, seeing you. So I sorta tried to stay away. That was why I was all about patrolling separately and stuff. That was why I refused to stay at your place when you offered that first time...I just thought it would be too hard, seeing you every day. But...I just can't stay away from you, honey."

Faith hugged her.

"I can't," Faith whispered.

"I can't either," Buffy whispered.

Faith broke the embrace.

"But I need to know it's me and you," Faith said. "It can't be me and you and your guy. I won't share you with him."

"It's me and you," Buffy said. "My guy..."

"What's his name?" Faith said.

"It's...Angel," Buffy said.

"Pretty name."

"Yeah. He and I...we're not together, Faith, we haven't been for awhile. The kiss was just...look, I don't want to lie to you again. I love him and I always will. He was my first love and he's still important to me but he's out of the picture like, romantically. We only had sex once, and that was like, almost a year ago. We've kissed and stuff since then, but...we both know it's over. The thing with the roses...he took me out on a date a month ago. I think he wanted to give me one last, perfect night...it was his way of saying goodbye to me. And yeah, we kissed after that, the night you saw us, but it was just almost like...a goodbye kiss. We both knew it was over. He had info on the Glove of Mini-golf, that's really why we went out that night. And I kissed him but...it's over now, and I haven't kissed him since that night. And I'm not going to. I only wanna kiss you, baby."

"Okay," Faith said.

They kissed.

"I'm sorry, baby," Buffy said, and started to cry. "I'm sorry I lied."

"Sshhh, it's okay, honey, it's okay," Faith said, and hugged her. "We're good now, okay, honey? We're good."

"Okay," Buffy said, and smiled, as Faith wiped her tears away.

"But now it's your turn, honey," Faith said, and held her. "You got a confession to make. And I know what it is, but you gotta say it."

Faith looked her in the eyes.

"I know you're scared of it, Buffy," Faith said. "But you need to say it. You need to say the words, get them out there. I'm not gonna have a problem with it, I've known for awhile. But I want you to be my strong girl now, and say it. Can you do that for me? Even more important, can you do it for you?"

Buffy leaned her head on Faith's shoulder.

"I'm gay," Buffy whispered.

"See, honey?" Faith said, and kissed her. "That wasn't so bad, right?"

Buffy nodded. There were tears in her eyes again, but she smiled.

"I've...always sort of known, I guess," Buffy said. "I mean...I always thought girls were pretty. But I liked guys too, so I wasn't really sure...I didn't really get sure until the Glove of Mini-golf night. I just felt it then, when I was with Angel. It felt sorta like, 'Okay, I can't pretend anymore.' But...I don't want to be gay." Buffy started to cry again, and shook her head. "I don't want to."

"Why not, honey?" Faith said, and kissed her. "Why don't you want to be what you are?"

"I just...wanna be normal," Buffy said, sniffling, as Faith kissed her tears away. "All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl. And I was for awhile. In high school? I was popular and on the cheerleading squad and stuff. I was happy then. And then one day I'm the stupid fucking Slayer and my life is blown to hell. But I dealt with it, did my best to fit my life in around it. And now...and now this."

"You don't wanna be the Slayer?" Faith said, and kissed her hand.

"No. I never did."

"I like being the Slayer. It's a cool gig. Savin' lives, dustin' vamps, plus y'know, when I'm real restless? Goin' on a hunt does me just right. Gives me that perfect feeling, y'know? That feeling in my stomach like the whole town, the whole world is my jungle and I'm the lion and all the vamps, they're the prey. And I know you get that feeling too Buffy, I've seen it in your eyes, I've smelled it on you, I've tasted it on you. I know you want it just like I do."

"When I'm on a hunt, sure...it's cool then. But...being the Slayer...it screws everything up. I mean, how can you have a relationship with someone when they're all threatened and freaked out by how strong you are? Or you have to worry about them because your enemies might come after them? Do you know how many times Xander and Willow have gotten kidnapped? Do you know how often I worry about them, just lay awake and worry?"

"Well Xander and Willow, they're in this because they love you, Buffy," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's hand again. "Yeah, maybe they get in trouble but they do their best, they try because they don't want you out there alone. They'd rather risk dying out there trying to have your back than dying a little at a time having to stay home and not be able to be there for you."

Buffy shrugged.

"Buffy, maybe you shouldn't think so much about how you think you got a raw deal, and start thinking about the good stuff," Faith said. "You got friends who care about you, who risk their asses for you. How many people can really say that? Plus you're pretty hot. You're a hot fabulous super-chick."

"Yeah," Buffy said, and laughed.

"As for the other thing...finding someone you can have a relationship with?" Faith said, and smiled. "That's a toughie. Let's see, first you'd need someone who you don't have to worry about having to protect all the time, so they'd need to be real strong..."

"And they'd have to be understanding about how I'm the Slayer and the weird hours I keep and like saving the world and stuff," Buffy said, and smiled.

"That's two," Faith said, counting off on her fingers. "Number three is, you're a hottie, so you need to be with another hottie."

"A total hottie," Buffy said, and giggled, and played with Faith's hair.

"Four, it's gotta be a girl," Faith said, and hugged her. "Right, honey?"

Buffy nodded.

"Do you...like girls?" Buffy said.

"Know for sure I like one girl at least," Faith said, and kissed her. "I'm thinkin' maybe I'm Slayersexual."

Buffy laughed.

"Slayersexual," Buffy said. "That's what you are. You're totally Slayersexual."

"Maybe I'm Buffysexual," Faith said.

"I want to be your girl, Faith," Buffy said. "I want to be your girl."

"Okay," Faith said. "But we got one more round of Confessions first."

"We do?" "Yeah. First me, then you. I've been a dick to Will and Xander. They've been non-stop nice to me, Will spent a lot of time hangin' with me and stuff, and I thought the worst of them. Xander, I thought he was just interested in getting into my pants...

"I still can't believe you never noticed they were dating. I mean, hello? They're like, making moony eyes at each other like, all the time. They're the most adorable couple ever."

"Know what it is? When you called me out and kicked my ass a little at your place, when I didn't wanna move in? You said I was so wrapped up in myself I can't see straight. You had me pegged, Buffy. You were right. Without Becca around to kick my ass I've been falling into some bad habits. I've been feeling bad for myself. If she was here she'd have the tone, I know she would. So I expected the worst from everyone and it's all I saw. And then, Will...I thought she was hanging with me just because she felt bad for me. I mean, she's real smart, y'know? Scary smart. I couldn't figure what she saw in me."

"If you're about to call yourself dumb again I'm gonna kick your ass."

"Nah, I'm done with that. I'm standin' up again now. I want Becca to be proud of me again. I know she's disappointed in me right now and I gotta change that. So anyway, Will...I always thought it was her feeling bad for me but then, last night, when we were in the pizza place, it just hit me...she likes me. That's all it was. She just likes me and she wanted to hang."

"Yeah, baby," Buffy said, and smiled, and kissed her. "We all like you."

"Okay. Now it's your turn," Faith said.

"Um...not sure what you want me to confess. I used to have a crush on Corey Haim when I was seven."

"This is gonna be hard, honey. But I need to know."

"Know...what?"

Faith looked her in the eyes.

"How long have you been in love with Willow?" Faith said.

Buffy's eyes filled with tears again.

"Forever," she said.

She looked down at the bed.

"But I can't ever have her, that way," Buffy said.

"Yeah, Will's straight," Faith said. "She and Xander are good together."

"It's like you know everything," Buffy said, and smiled now. "Like you're Johnny Carson with that joke he does, reading the envelopes and wearing the turban. Am I that obvious?"

"Well you did kind of come right out and say it, when we were on our way to kill Kakistos," Faith said. "In the car, when you asked me if the vamps in the alley hurt Willow? And you cried when I told you, and you said you loved her. I know you probably thought I'd assume like, friend love, and maybe I would've, but you asked me why my scent had been on her the night before. You were jealous, honey. You were jealous of me maybe being with Willow."

"Yeah."

"It's why we got off to such a bad start. In the cemetery. Not because of the two professor vamp guys. Because of Willow."

"Yeah."

"And I see how you look at her, Buffy. It's in your eyes, honey. It's in your eyes that you love her."

Buffy nodded.

"But Faith...it's not like, you're my second choice, okay?" Buffy said. "I realized a long time ago I can't have Will and I'm okay with it. Especially since Will's with Xander now. Some things are just meant to be, and some aren't. Will is meant to be with Xander, not me. Do you think...she knows?"

"Well she hasn't said anything to me, but she's perceptive," Faith said. "She might know. But I figure even if she does, she's cool with it. She loves you, Buffy. Not like that but she still loves you. She's taken a lot of hits for you."

"It's funny," Buffy said. "Will and me...if like, Will was gay? Like, if Willow suddenly woke up gay one day and I could have her? I bet it wouldn't work. I mean...we get along almost too well, y'know? Friendship and love don't always mix right."

"Yeah," Faith said, and thought about Evan.

And, finally, let him go.

"There's gotta be tension, there's gotta be a spark," Buffy said. "And, you and me...?"

Buffy kissed her. She caressed Faith's tongue with hers.

"We spark, baby," Buffy whispered in her ear. "We spark."

"I need you, honey," Faith whispered, and touched Buffy's breasts. "I need you."

"Were you the one who called me beautiful before when we were in the bed, or did I dream it?" Buffy said.

"It was me," Faith said.

Buffy kissed Faith's knees.

"You're beautiful too," Buffy said. "You're the most beautiful girl in the world. You're my beautiful girl."

"I'm not beautiful," Faith said.

"Yeah, baby, you are," Buffy said, and trailed her lips behind Faith's ear, and along her neck, and inhaled her scent. "You smell like...you're mine. I don't know why...why I always feel like this around you...why I always feel so warm around you...but...every single thing about you is like you were made for me, how you feel, how you smell. It's like you belong to me."

"Maybe I do," Faith said.

"Do I...feel like that to you? Do I smell like that to you?"

"Yeah, honey. Just like that."

"It...scares me."

"Maybe...it's how we know we're alive."

They kissed.

"No more rules," Faith said.

"We're outlaws from now on, baby," Buffy said, and smiled, and laid Faith back on the bed.

"Sorry we're late," Buffy said, when Giles answered the door two hours later. "Um...how late are we?"

"You're extremely late," Giles said, frowning down at Buffy with his arms folded across his chest. "Come in."

"What time is it? Faith said, as she and Buffy walked into the living room. Willow and Xander were sitting on the couch drinking tea and reading.

"Um...past six," Willow said, looking up from The Necronomicon. "We... sorta thought you'd be here around four."

"We called, but there was no answer," Xander said. "What happened?"

"Uh...vamps," Faith said, and sat on the couch next to Willow.

"Vamps?" Xander said.

"We...um...found a few hiding out in this building near Faith's motel," Buffy said, sitting next to Faith. "Don't worry, they weren't the new wolf guys. Just your basic vamps."

"It took you two hours to dispatch a few vampires?" Giles said, and went into the kitchen.

"Uh, took a look around the whole, uh, area after that. Figured there might be a big group of 'em hidin' somewhere around there," Faith said, as Giles came back into the living room with a pot of tea and two cups on a tray. He sat on the recliner across from them and poured them each a cup.

"And there like, totally was," Buffy said, as Giles handed them both cups of tea. "A group, I mean. There was totally a group. A big group."

"Yup, real big group," Faith said, sipping her tea. "Whole bunch of vamps. Had to take our time like, doing recon on 'em? Y'know, figuring out how to go at them. Kinda took us awhile."

"So...yeah," Buffy said. "But anyway we're here now. So what's the sitch?"

"How'd you go at them?" Xander said.

"Huh?" Faith said.

"The vampires," Willow said. "What did you end up doing? How many were there?"

"Uh...like..." Faith looked at Buffy. "Maybe ten or so? Say about a dozen?" Faith said.

"Eleven," Buffy said, and smiled. "There were exactly eleven. I counted."

"Yeah," Faith said, and grinned. "Eleven sounds just right."

"They were weird, goofy vampires," Buffy said.

"They weren't that goofy," Faith said.

"They were totally goofy," Buffy said.

"Uh...okay," Xander said. "Goofy. Check. So what did you do? Eleven's kind of a lot."

Willow noticed how close Faith and Buffy were sitting to each other. Their legs were touching, and Faith was leaning on Buffy's shoulder a little. Buffy's arm was up over the top of the couch, behind Faith's neck. They were both wearing skirts. Willow had never seen Faith wearing a skirt before...and she could have sworn it was one of Buffy's.

"Uh...fire," Faith said.

"Fire?" Willow said.

"We...um...burned 'em out," Buffy said.

"You burned a building down?" Giles said. "Buffy, that's extraordinarily dangerous, especially in that area. The buildings around there are practically nothing more than old shacks. A good fire could take half the neighborhood."

"This was like...uh...a concrete building," Faith said.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "It was like, this totally non-flammable concrete, um, like, factory type building. And there was this flaming barrel they were warming their hands over? Like, how homeless guys sometimes set a barrel on fire and sit around it? It was totally like that."

"Knocked the barrel over on top of 'em," Faith said. "Bob's your uncle."

Buffy and Faith looked at each other, and they both started giggling like little girls.

"Fanny's your aunt," Buffy said.

"Those vamps were total berks!" Faith said, and she and Buffy both started laughing hysterically.

"Berks," Buffy said, and fell against Faith's shoulder, laughing so hard she could hardly breathe. "Complete berks."

"So we quite fancied setting them on fire," Faith said.

"Should've seen the looks on their faces," Buffy said, catching her breath. "They were totally gormless. They were gormless berks."

"What's that one mean again?" Faith said.

"Clueless," Buffy said.

"Anyway we put paid to those guys," Faith said.

"Totally put paid to them," Buffy said. "I'm feeling right knackered now."

"Uh...okay," Xander said. "Ladies and gentlemen, the comedy stylings of Miss Buffy Summers and Miss Faith Lehane. It's the Slayer variety hour, kids."

"Yes, it's quite enthralling listening to you both poke fun at my culture," Giles said. "Could we please get on with this now?"

Buffy and Faith caught their breath, and made themselves stop laughing.

"Sorry," Faith said. "We'll be good."

"No need to get shirty," Buffy muttered, and she and Faith immediately started laughing hysterically again.

Faith looked down at Buffy's legs.

Faith looked back up at Buffy, and raised her eyebrow.

Buffy giggled.

"Oh, crap!" Faith exclaimed suddenly, as if an airplane was about to crash into the house.

"What?" Buffy overacted.

"Uh, is everything okay?" Xander said.

"I left that thing in the car," Faith said, and got up, and looked at Buffy. "Remember? You know, uh...that thing?" "Oh, wow, really?" Buffy said, and stood up. "But you can't...do all that stuff without the thing."

"What?" Giles said.

"There's this thing I left in the car?" Faith said. "And I gotta uh...go look for it."

"Hey, I have an idea," Buffy said, as casually as a suicide bomber at a church bake sale. "How about I help you look for it? It'll be faster that way."

"Hey, thanks, that's a really good idea, B," Faith said, nodding her head and marveling at what a perfectly wonderful idea it was.

"What?" Xander said, as if a Kabuki performance had suddenly materialized in front of him. Buffy and Faith walked to the door.

Willow smiled and closed her eyes and tried very hard not to laugh.

"We'll be right back," Buffy said, looking at Giles, Willow and Xander very solemnly, as if she was about to undertake a secret mission that could affect national security, and possibly the fate of the free world.

"God save the Queen," Faith said, as they walked out the door.

Giggling laughter echoed down the hallway.

"Okay, what just happened?" Xander said.

"They have to...y'know, um...find that thing in the car," Willow said.

"I can't believe we're mmmph," Buffy murmured, giggling and trying to stretch out in the very cramped backseat of the Citroen DS as Faith lay on top of her and smothered her lips with kisses whenever she tried to speak. One of Buffy's legs was up over the seat and the other one was balanced over Faith's shoulder and she felt like she was either back at cheerleader practice doing a split or lying on the examining table at a gynecologist's office. "You're crazy! How long do you think we can mmmph...before they wonder what we're mmmph?"

"Long enough to get you off, honey," Faith said, and caressed Buffy's legs. "I know just how to pet your pretty kitty."

Buffy grabbed Faith's ass and brought her closer, sliding her hands underneath Faith's skirt and pulling her panties down. Faith had a perfect little bubble butt and Buffy couldn't get enough of it; at the same time it made her insanely jealous.

"Aw, don't be jealous, baby," Faith said, and giggled, and kissed her.

"It's just for me," Buffy said. "If this ass can't be on my body then I'm the only one who gets to play with it. No one else can have this ass but me."

Buffy ran her fingers over Faith's soft skin down there, and began kissing Faith's neck, just below her ear.

Faith unbuttoned Buffy's blouse and kissed her breasts and her stomach, and then she shimmied her way down between Buffy's legs. She lifted Buffy's skirt. Buffy's legs were spread too wide for Faith to pull her panties down, so Faith tore them in two. Buffy gasped, and laughed.

"You realize I have to sit around Giles' house in a skirt without panties now?" Buffy said.

"I'll make it worth your while," Faith said. "Just keep your legs crossed."

Buffy's legs were spread wide and the long, thick thigh muscles were flexed. Faith ran her hands over Buffy's thighs, and around her calves, down to her ankles and her feet. She felt the silky skin against her fingers, and let her senses reach out. She experienced every millimeter of Buffy's warm, supple flesh; the tiny goosebumps, the peaks and valleys of muscle, its scent. She could feel the blood flowing beneath Buffy's skin. She kissed her way down Buffy's muscular legs, and all the way back up again, back up between them. Buffy was wet...and Faith gave her a little kiss there, and looked up at her. Buffy's nipples were sticking up under her bra like soldiers at attention. Buffy's face was flushed.

"We...don't have time, baby," Buffy moaned, and caressed Faith's lips with her finger. "We can't stay out here forever."

"Three minutes," Faith said. "I just need three minutes."

"You can't finish me off in three minutes!" Buffy said, and giggled.

"Wanna bet?" Faith said, and started licking her. Buffy looked down, and saw Faith's raised eyebrow looking back up at her from between her legs.

Buffy checked her watch.

"You're on, pervo," she said.

And she leaned back, and smiled, and closed her eyes...

"Okay, I owe you five bucks," Buffy said, as they rang Giles' bell again. "But I'm getting you back later. Two minutes forty seconds this time."

"Talk's cheap, honey," Faith said.

"What are we gonna say about the broken window?"

"That you always kick out your legs when I make you come? And what's the thing we were supposed to be looking for?"

"How should I know? It was your lame-o cover story."

"Holy grail? Rabbit's foot? A shiny nickel?"

"Mr. Goodbar," Buffy said, as Willow opened the door. Willow grinned, and closed the door behind her, and took their hands.

"Giles is trying to find those dry, crumbly tea cookies, y'know, the ones we all hate, including him? And Xander's in the bathroom," Willow said. "So come out to the car with me for a minute."

Willow turned Buffy and Faith around and walked them back to the car. "I'll help you find that thing," she said.

"Uh...we...already found the..." Faith started to say.

"Sshhh," Willow said, and looked back at the house. "Gimme the keys."

"But..." Buffy said.

"Keys," Willow said, and did the scowly face. Buffy handed her the keys because she knew the scowly face always meant business and Willow unlocked the front and back doors.

"You two get in back," Willow said. "Time for some girl talk."

"Um...okay," Buffy said, and looked at Faith.

"Got nothin'," Faith said, shrugging her shoulders as she got in back with Buffy. Willow got in front and shut the doors.

"How did that window break?" Willow said.

"It broke in the cemetery last night," Buffy said, at the same time as Faith said, "Those vamps at the motel."

Willow giggled. "You guys are like a Saturday Night Live skit," she said. "I think it's called, 'The Two Most Obvious Lesbians Ever'."

"Uh..." Faith said.

"Um..." Buffy said.

"Look, sweeties," Willow said, and took their hands, and smiled. "I love you both, I think you're both awesome? And I'm happy for you. You're my friends and I'm happy you're both happy, it's obvious just looking at you. And if you wanna tell everyone you're a couple, hey, that's great too. But if you wanna, y'know, keep it a secret? And I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying, y'know, if that's what you want right now? Then, um, maybe you're gonna need to be just a tiny little bit less blatantly, incredibly, totally utterly obvious."

Buffy and Faith's faces were the color of perfectly ripe apples.

"But...no, we...were just...looking for that thing!" Buffy said.

"Yeah! We...came out to find the thing!" Faith said.

Willow giggled. "Please, please stop with the lame denials because I'm gonna burst out laughing if you keep it up and I laugh really loud and then Xander will come out here to see what the funny's about and we won't have time to talk, okay?" she said. "You're both my friends no matter what, I don't care if you like girls, all I care about is that you're both happy. I won't tell anyone, I promise. And let me just enter into evidence the following items. One," Willow said, and glanced at the seat cushions. Buffy and Faith followed her eyes. Buffy's panties were stuck there. "Someone's panties. And unless Giles has a spicy British trollop on the side I'm thinking they belong to one of you. Two, this car? Doesn't exactly smell like a car that two girls haven't had sex in, if you know what I mean."

Faith started giggling. Buffy's face got even redder, but she eventually joined her.

"Oh my God," Buffy said, and held her head in her hands.

"Good," Willow said. "We're past the denial phase now."

"The window's...kinda airing it out though," Buffy said. "Um...right?"

"Sure, sweetie," Willow said, and gave Buffy's hand a reassuring pat. "The car hardly smells like wild crazy hot girl sex at all. Wild crazy hot girl sex? Nope, uh-uh, none of that here."

"Shut up," Buffy said, still holding her head in her hands and giggling.

"So look, your secret, if you want it to be a secret? Totally safe with me," Willow said. "I'm just really happy for you guys, that's all. I'm happy. Okay?"

"Thanks, Will," Buffy said.

"Yeah. You're a cool friend," Faith said.

"Does...Xander or Giles know...?" Buffy said.

"Xander? Love him to death, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed," Willow said. "And Giles is probably too British to think about that stuff. But if you guys aren't a little more subtle they'll find out. I mean, hey, you guys? Slayers? All, like, super kick-butt amazons? Cool, but...not so much with the acting ability. And I'm now going to bring up the awkward fact that someone who, um, isn't me? Needs to get those panties out of the car."

"Oh my God," Buffy said, and stuffed the panties in her purse.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, Buffy. So what if you're just a big pervert," Willow said. Faith started giggling again.

"Shut up!" Buffy said, and giggled.

"Aw, it's okay sweetie. You don't even wanna know the stuff Xander and I have done," Willow said. "In the car, at the Bronze, at the movies, on a canoe..."

"You did it in a canoe?" Faith said.

"Where did you do it at the Bronze?" Buffy said.

"Ladies room," Willow said. "Remember how Xander was carrying that big shopping bag around?"

"How'd you do it in a canoe?" Faith said.

"Very, very carefully," Willow said.

"Oh my God," Buffy said. "We're all perverts. All three of us are evil perverts."

"Yup," Faith said. "Especially you."

"I'm happy for you guys," Willow said, and kissed both their cheeks. "Now come on, we better be getting back now that we found our canary feather."

"Canary feather?" Faith said.

"That's why you guys came out here, right?" Willow said, as they got out of the car. She pulled a feather from her purse. "To find this canary feather we need for the spell we're gonna do. It was under the seat."

"Oh, so that's where it was," Faith said. "I was, uh, lookin' all over for it."

"Okay, so these new vamps," Buffy said to Giles as she sat on the couch again next to Faith, Willow and Xander. "Tell me you've got something I can use. Like napalm."

Willow had just finished pretending to do a spell which involved waving the canary feather over all their heads and mumbling something in Latin. "Blessing spell," she had said, when she was done. "Protects against otherworldly manifestations zeroing in on any of our auras. Buffy told me she had a weird dream about leprechauns last night and I thought better safe than sorry. Um, not that we like, believe in leprechauns or anything? It's just, y'know, Buffy said they were the same little guys with the Irish accents as last time, so...um, anyway we should be leprechaun-free for at least a week." They were all drinking tea now.

"Those vampires were the Vigil of Saint Vigeous," Giles said, sitting in the squeaky leather recliner across from them, looking down at a musty old book in his lap and pretending to believe Willow's lie. Though he did think the canary feather was a nice touch.

"The Vigil of Sid Vicious?" Buffy said.

"Saint Vigeous," Giles said. "Vigeous was a vampire who lived during the third century and tried to bring about the end of the world."

"And they made him a saint?" Xander said. "Now that's just wacky."

"He wasn't a saint, vampires call him that because Vigeous led a crusade through the Middle East. He massacred thousands, and became an inspirational figure to many vampires. It's said that vampires are more powerful on Vigeous' feast night, which is October 4th. The carnage Vigeous wreaked was so epic that his massacres have been commemorated by the more traditionalist vampire sects, including the Order of Aurelius, which you encountered last year, Buffy."

"The Master," Faith said.

"Yes, Faith," Giles said, and smiled. "The Master was the head of the Order of Aurelius, until Buffy destroyed him. I see Rebecca kept you informed."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Once I became the Slayer Becca gave me like, a crash course on all the major vamp players, the ones B came up against plus all the rest. Y'know, like the Master, Kakistos, Dracula, Darla and Angelus, Spike and Drusilla. Actually Becca was planning on taking me out here eventually anyway. The Hellmouth's where the action is and she talked about how she wanted to start coordinating me and Buffy a little, at least when big stuff came down."

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look. Faith didn't know what was going on there but they both suddenly seemed tense.

"You...know about all those guys?" Willow said.

"Sure," Faith said. "Becca was always on the ball. Gotta give you props, B," she added, and turned to Buffy, and squeezed her hand. "You've taken down some major bad guys. Stuff I hear about Angelus alone, he was..."

"Yeah," Buffy said, interrupting her. Faith could see she was even more uncomfortable now, and now Xander seemed tense too. What the hell? Faith thought. She looked back at Giles. He wasn't smiling anymore. Faith decided to take one more shot and then clam up for the night.

"You got a hell of a Slayer here, G-Man," Faith said, and smiled at Buffy. "Stories Becca told me? The bad guys B's taken down? I'm thinkin' you got maybe the best Slayer there ever was. You should be proud." Faith noticed Willow and Xander smiling out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you trying to make me blush?" Buffy said, and smiled at Faith. "And you're not so bad yourself, Faith."

"Me? Make you blush?" Faith said. "Never happen."

"Am I impressive?" Buffy said. "Giles, call me impressive. Come on. Just this once."

"Yes, Faith, she is a hell of a Slayer," Giles said. "And yes, Buffy, you're very impressive."

"But perky. And intractable," Buffy said. "Okay, you can all stop making me blush now."

"Even me?" Faith said. Buffy smiled again.

"Yes, well...moving on," Giles said. Watching over one Slayer was difficult enough; having two to look after definitely wasn't covered in the Watcher's Handbook and there was no established protocol. Giles hadn't read the Handbook from front to back but he was also fairly certain that there was no established protocol for looking after two Slayers who were engaged in a passionate lesbian affair either, and he wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was. He decided to wipe his glasses. "As I was saying, the traditional vampire sects, such as the Order of Aurelius, venerate Vigeous, but they aren't part of his cult," he said, wiping his glasses until they sparkled. He placed his book on the coffee table, facing them; the pages were brown, crumbling parchment. It was turned to an illustration of a vampire with a tattoo on his right hand.

"That's the right tat," Faith said. "But the rest is wrong. Our guys have pointy ears, snouts and red eyes. That just looks like a regular vamp."

"Over the years a cult grew up around Vigeous," Giles said. "That illustration depicts one of the original members. The vampires you fought would be descendants of that original cult; the tattoos alone prove that. But you must remember that this cult, which now calls itself the Vigil of Saint Vigeous, has existed for at least fifteen hundred years. The original members are all long-dead, but many of the surviving members of the Vigil are very old, even ancient."

"And if the Master and Kakistos can change over time..." Faith said.

"These vampires have as well," Giles said. "But their age doesn't explain it all; the uniformity of their mutations makes no sense. Every vampire mutates differently as it ages. These wolf characteristics have to be the result of some kind of ongoing, conscious effort."

"Maybe some magic helped them along?" Willow said.

"That's what I was thinking, though there's no clue what sort, beyond vague references to sacrifices made to Fenrir," Giles said.

"Fenrir?" Xander said.

"Norse wolf god," Willow said.

"Yes, and there's a good argument to be made that the serpent depicted in the tattoos, though ostensibly an ouroboros, is actually an image of Jormungand. And Vigeous himself was of northern European ancestry."

"Jormungand, Fenrir...maybe there really is a Norse gods connection here," Willow said. "Wow. That's really fascinating."

"It is?" Faith said.

"Okay, I haven't understood anything anyone's said for the past minute," Xander said.

"I can't think of any funny words to confuse 'Jormungand' with," Buffy said. "So I'm gonna just sit here and wait for Willow to explain it all."

"Okay, we're getting off track, but Jormungand and Fenrir are creatures of Norse mythology," Willow said. "You know, the Norse gods? Thor, Odin?"

"No," Buffy said. "Have I run into them at a party before?"

"The Norse gods are a pantheon sorta like the Greek gods...you know, Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena," Willow said. "Except the Norse gods are the gods that the Vikings believed in. Anyway their version of, sorta the devil was this guy named Loki, and he had three kids. Jormungand and Fenrir were two of them. Fenrir was--"

"I know this! The wolf god," Buffy said. "See? I was paying attention."

"You never pay half as much attention when I'm pointlessly lecturing you about long-forgotten ancient deities," Giles muttered.

"Willow gives me a gold star," Buffy said. "And sometimes a cookie."

"Okay, so basically Fenrir was the wolf god and Jormungand was a huge sea serpent," Willow said. "So big and huge that he encircles the whole world."

"Like in the tat," Faith said.

"Yeah," Willow said. "At the end of the world Jormungand is supposed to rise up out of the oceans and poison the sky, and everything becomes darkness. But then Thor kills him."

"Thor rocks," Xander said. "I don't care what anyone says, he can totally kick Superman's butt. Thor has magic. Superman's vulnerable to magic."

"Sure, sweetie," Willow said, and rubbed Xander's shoulder. "Anyway Thor's the god of thunder and lightning and he carries a big hammer, so, yeah. He rocks, in a big, like, smiting his enemies with a big hammer way. I prayed to him once. He was pretty cool. Big burly guy, red beard, and, y'know, big hammer."

"Wait, Thor's blonde," Xander said. "And he doesn't have a beard."

"That's comic book Thor, sweetie," Willow said. "So anyway, okay, I prayed to Thor and we hung out a little. We went fishing on his boat and talked about Bjork."

"Wait, like, you met him?" Faith said. "Seriously?"

"Not physically," Willow said. "I was meditating and my mind reached out to the astral plane and he was there, so I prayed to him for help with this thing? So he took me on his boat and we hung out. You know, um, astrally."

"What thing?" Xander said. "Wait a minute, Thor took you on his boat?"

"Yeah, he took me sailing in this Viking longship carved like a dragon," Willow said. "He introduced me to a frost giant and a few goblins, it was cool."

"You met a frost giant?" Xander said. "Wait, what's a frost giant?"

Buffy was smiling.

"Just these big ugly giant ice guys," Willow said. "Thor just wanted to show off for me. He was all, 'Hey want me to, y'know, kick this frost giant's butt for you Willow?' So he kicks the frost giant's butt and then he's all like, 'Hey Willow check this out', and he's like, lifting up a mountain and stuff. So yeah, we hung out, it was fun."

"You...hung out...? With...Thor," Giles said. "Hung out. With Thor."

"Well...um...there was this test I wanted more time to study for so I asked Thor to make it snow," Willow said. "Everyone thinks he just does lightning and thunder. But he likes a good snowstorm too. He's a weather god. He was really psyched that I wasn't just asking him for lightning like everyone else does."

"Are you telling me that you asked Thor, the Norse god of thunder, to make it snow so you could get out of a test?" Giles said.

"Sure," Willow said. "Thor doesn't really get the whole concept of school. He told me he'd destroy the high school with a big ol' lightning bolt if I wanted him to. I think he likes me. It's probably the red hair. Plus we both like Bjork."

"He likes Bjork?" Faith said.

"Well, she's from Iceland, and Thor likes Iceland. Used to be a lot of Vikings there. He says he's glad, um, that a nice girl from Iceland's all famous now and getting a lot of attention..." Willow looked at Buffy, who was holding her head in her hands and giggling now. Willow started giggling too. "Anyway, then Thor asked me on a date," Willow managed to say. "He was like, 'C'mon, Willow, I'll take you to Newfoundland. Newfoundland's awesome.' And I was like, 'Okay Thor, but I gotta be home by eleven 'cuz I got this test' and Thor's like, 'Hello? Totally doing that snowstorm for you tomorrow, remember? Not gonna be a test', and I was like, 'Oh yeah, cool.' So anyway we sailed out to Newfoundland that night and we were like holding hands on his boat. We drank mead. It was all really romantic."

"You held hands with Thor?" Xander said.

"It was last year," Willow said. "You and I weren't a couple then. And yeah, okay, Thor and I kissed? But it was only one kiss and there wasn't any... well, there wasn't much...I mean, Thor's a pretty good-looking guy...but, um, y'know...I mean it was only our first date."

"You kissed Thor?!" Xander shouted. "What else did you do with Thor?"

"You...asked Thor...Thor...to...create a snowstorm to get you out of a test?" Giles said, bewildered. "That's...absolutely...and he actually did...?"

"She'd kidding, Giles, you sad, sad, British man," Buffy said, laughing.

Willow burst out laughing too. "But I had them going!" she said, and pointed at Giles, Xander and Faith. "Look at their faces!"

"Shit," Faith said, and started laughing.

"You shouldn't have said anything Buffy, I was gonna talk all about our second date next. Y'know, just Thor and me and his big hammer," Willow added, looking devilishly at Xander.

"Okay, here's what's gonna happen to you later tonight," Xander said, and whispered something in Willow's ear. Willow gasped and started giggling.

"Yes, well that was a pleasant diversion," Giles said, and wiped his glasses at everyone. "Perhaps we can return to the world ending now."

"Okay Will, you got me fair and square, but I'm just gonna say in my defense? You like, prayed to some Greek goddess to do that smoke spell yesterday. Plus you did kinda throw a lightning bolt last month," Faith said. "Who knows, maybe Thor digs you after all."

"He's not my type," Willow said. "Now Apollo, he can call me anytime."

"Okay, that does it!" Xander said, and grabbed Willow around the waist and started tickling her.

"I'll be good, I'll be good!" Willow screamed, laughing. Xander relented.

Giles sighed, and continued wiping his glasses.

"Okay, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask for order in the court now," Buffy said. "Mostly because I want to get to the Bronze, but also because Giles just hit heavy glasses-wiping mode. I can hear the things squeaking."

"Can I just say how it's weird and scary that like, every single god anyone ever believed in, ever, really seems to exist?" Xander said.

"That's the point," Willow said. "They exist because we believe."

"Okay, so what's Fenrir do?" Xander said. "And if I don't believe in him will he go away?"

"He helps destroy the world during Ragnarok," Willow said. "And enough Vikings believed in him way back when that he's not going away anytime soon."

"Wait, why would some big wolf god wanna destroy the world during Fraggle Rock?" Buffy said. "Is it even still on the air?"

"Ragnarok, sweetie," Willow said. "Norse term for the end of the world. But we're getting off-track here."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Doesn't matter much how these vamps got all bad ass, we need to know how to fight them. They got any weaknesses?"

"They have the standard weaknesses," Giles said. "Stakes, beheading and sunlight are all effective. But these vampires are faster and stronger than what you're used to. Now a Slayer is stronger than any normal vampire, and you're both stronger than these vampires as well. But not by nearly as much, and from what I've read their speed, at least, is a match for yours."

"Great," Faith said, as Giles got up and walked to the rocking chair. A crate sat on top of it. He opened it up and pulled out two swords in scabbards.

"So you'll need to change tactics," Giles said, and handed the swords to Buffy and Faith. They pulled them from their scabbards and turned them over in their hands. They looked like the katanas they had used before, only shorter. But no less deadly. "Not only are these vampires stronger and faster than you're used to but there are simply too many of them to fight hand-to-hand; you need weapons. These are wakizashi. They're one-handed blades the Japanese used specifically for beheading defeated opponents. Your best tactic is the wakizashi in one hand and your stake in the other, and that's what I expect you to do."

"Swords are cool but they won't be much help against a hundred of those wolf vamps," Faith said. "They come at us in force and it's game over."

"And we have other problems," Xander said. "There were those four old priest guys, plus those regular vampires who delivered the Key in the first place. We've got three groups of bad guys here at least."

"About the priests, I haven't been able to find anything whatsoever," Giles said. "For all we know they may actually be priests--defrocked priests, one would hope--or they may simply dress the part. As for those vampires who delivered the Key, I would think our usual sources would be of more use than my books." "Looks like I'm paying a visit to Willy," Buffy said. "It's been awhile since I beat him up anyway. He's probably feeling all lonely and neglected."

"Can't have that," Faith said.

"When you two go out tonight, I want you to take these swords with you," Giles said. "In fact, from this moment on I want you to carry them on your person at all times. You encountered over a hundred of those vampires last night and for all we know there could be many more."

"Wear the swords all the time?" Faith said. "How do we do that? I mean, without getting arrested?"

"Find a way," Giles said. "Wear it under your coat. Think of something."

"Cops around here have never been too on the ball anyway," Xander said.

"Got anything smaller?" Buffy said.

"No," Giles said. "I chose these specifically because they're the smallest weapons in my arsenal that can be used effectively for beheading."

"How about we wear 'em just at night?" Faith said.

"If you're planning on staying home and watching television during the day, certainly," Giles said. "If you step one foot outside you'll be wearing one of these swords, day or night, and that's the end of it."

Hot damn, Faith thought. Giles has a tone. But it still didn't make her sit up straight like Rebecca's did.

"What about the Horsemen?" Buffy said. "I know we have the Key now, but...what if there's some other way to free them?"

"There isn't, thankfully," Giles said. "And as for the Horsemen themselves, there really isn't much in the literature. Just hints and rumors, and fragments of legend. Though I was able to find out more about the Key. It seems that merely possessing it isn't enough. There's a ritual that has to be performed..."

"There's always a ritual," Buffy said. "Can't they just say abra-kadabra for once? I mean, hello, Slayer here. Do I look like I want to do homework?" "What kind of ritual?" Willow said, perking up at the idea.

A summoning ritual," Giles said. "Though there's no clue what sort. It could be extremely elaborate, or as simple as saying a few words. But it must be performed above a Hellmouth, at sunset, on the last day of the waning moon."

"The last day of the waning moon?" Buffy said. "When's that?"

"It's the last day that part of the moon is visible before the new moon," Giles said. "When the moon is in the new phase its illuminated half faces directly toward the sun and away from us; from the Earth the new moon is invisible. The last day of the waning moon would be the seventeenth, three days from now."

"The question is, now that we have the Key, what move will they make?" Buffy said. "Are they gonna hang around and try to get it back? There's gonna be another day before the new moon every month forever. Can we destroy the Key?"

"No," Giles said. "The Key can't be damaged by any physical means. My sources are all quite clear on that."

"Bullcookies," Buffy said.

"We hide it," Faith said. "The thing's a little rock. We get it out of town, lock it up somewhere. Hell, dump it in a rock quarry, or the middle of the ocean. They'd never find it again."

"Unless they can find a way to track it magically," Willow said.

"Is there a way?" Buffy said. "Can they track it to my house somehow?"

"Maybe," Willow said. "The Key is magical, it should leave vibrations, an energy trail. Whether the bad guys can pick that trail up...I don't know."

"If there's a way for them to find the Key our only other choice is take these Vigil guys out," Faith said. "If we can't keep the Key away from them we gotta keep them away from the Key."

"Back to square one," Xander said. "Us versus a hundred super-vamps."

"For now let's not do anything reckless," Giles said. "I'll keep digging, and I'll see if the Council knows anything that might help. There's a book the Council archives has just acquired that may shed some light on some of this; they're sending it to me now. You two will wear those swords at all times, and--"

"Never was much for swords," Buffy said, getting up. "Clashes with my outfit anyway. I mean, what, I'm gonna wear a scabbard on my skirt? Tell you what, I'll bring it with me if we ever decide to go back to that crypt in the--"

"You'll wear it!" Giles shouted, leaping out of his chair.

The room went silent. Buffy and Giles faced each other.

"Why...are you...?" Buffy said, quietly.

Then she turned, and looked at Faith, Willow, and Xander.

"Can you guys...give us a minute?" she said.

"We'll be...um...out at the car," Willow said. She took Xander's hand. "Come on, Faith," she said.

"Yeah...okay," Faith said, and took her sword, and rubbed Buffy's shoulder, and followed them out.

A few seconds later, Buffy and Giles were alone. Giles walked away from her, and looked at the hat rack.

"Tell me what's wrong," Buffy said.

He turned, and looked at her.

"I don't want to make tea for the next girl," he said.

Twenty minutes later, Buffy came out to the car, carrying her sword. Faith opened the door, and Buffy climbed into the backseat next to her.

"You okay?" Faith said.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Giles was right and I was wrong. Faith, you and I are gonna carry these swords from now on, okay? Whenever we leave the house, day or night, we're gonna have these with us. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Faith said, holding up her sword and looking at it. "Kind of a pain in the ass, but...I guess it'll go all right under my leather coat."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "We'll make it work."

"So where to?" Xander said.

"Since I can't smack Giles I guess I'll have to settle for Willy," Buffy said. Xander chuckled, started up the car, and pulled away.

"Buffy...Giles just cares about you, that's all," Willow said, turning around in the front seat and taking Buffy's hand. "He doesn't want to see you hurt. None of us do. If you kept on being all, y'know, stubborn about wearing the sword? I was ready to go all scowly," she said, and did her scowly face.

"Father knows best, B," Faith said. "You're his girl."

"Yeah," Buffy said, and smiled. "I know."

"I thought we were going to visit Willy?" Xander said, as he pulled up in front of the Bronze.

"I've got it," Buffy said. "I'll swing by the bar, kill a few demons, beat on him a little and be back to meet you here in an hour. No reason for all of us to have to deal with the stench."

"Works for me," Xander said, and got out of the car with Willow and handed Buffy the keys. "Because, demons? Smelly." Buffy got in the front seat and took the wheel. Faith opened the passenger side door and got in beside her, but Buffy shook her head.

"I got this, Faith," Buffy said. "With everything going on, I don't want Will and Xander out alone. Can you just hang with them until I get back? I'll feel a lot better if I know you're with them."

Faith noticed Willow and Xander looking at her hopefully, but guardedly. She'd done nothing but ignore them and blow them off, since she arrived... nothing but think the worst of them, when all they had ever done was try to be her friends...because they liked her.

There are good people out there too.

Faith still wasn't sure why they liked her. She wasn't sure why anyone would like her.

You don't want that to be your life? Then don't let it be your life.

She wasn't sure why Rebecca did.

When I saw you in that alley I didn't see a scared girl sitting on the ground; I saw a brave girl trying her best to stand up. So stand up.

Faith got out of the car, and stood up.

"Okay," Faith said, and smiled, and put her arms around Willow and Xander. "Sounds like a party. I'll try to keep these crazy kids outta trouble. That Fenrir dude shows up I'll tell him to get lost."

Willow giggled. "Yeah," she said. "But if Thor shows up, be nice to him. He's kinda cute. Plus, y'know, with the hammer."

The Bronze still wasn't very impressive. It still didn't have a hot DJ spinning fast tunes, and tonight the music was even worse: instead of being merely boring the band was actively annoying and very, very loud. The incessant, crunching whine of their guitars pounded Faith's ears like a mallet. The bands that played the Bronze were usually alternative trending toward folky; the guys with the dreadlocks onstage obviously hadn't gotten the memo. Faith missed that band with the four skanky girls, and the British lead singer with the attitude problem.

Faith sat on a couch with Willow and Xander, drinking a Coke while Xander was finishing off a beer and Willow had her ever-present mocha cappuccino, and as she tuned out the music and listened to Willow and Xander giggling about something Cordelia did when they were all in grammar school, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, and got the lay of the land.

The place was still definitely a dump, but it was still the only game in town too and it was packed. The dance floor was getting a workout now as kids tried, unsuccessfully, to dance to the thrash metal, or whatever it was, that kept booming through the room. Faith could only assume they were all very drunk. But there was a good number of cute guys among them, and Faith watched the cute guys dance and carefully noted which ones knew how to shake their butts, and for just a moment, out of habit, she started thinking about which ones she'd dance at first, if the band ever played one single even remotely danceable song.

But then she knew that she didn't want to dance at them. The guys still looked good to her...but she wanted to dance with Buffy.

"So then Cordy goes, 'As if! I'm so much more fabulous than you, I'm the damn Mayor of Fabulous Town, bitch!' Willow screamed, and laughed into Faith's shoulder. Xander laughed so hard beer shot out his nose.

"Yeah, Cordy was just so cute in fourth grade," Xander said, after he cleaned himself up.

"Shit," Faith said, giggling. "Maybe I really should've staked her. Want me to stake her, Will? I'll stake her if you want me to."

"Nah," Willow said. "Cordy's evil, but she's the devil we know. It would be weird, if she went away. It's kinda like how the world got all weird when the Soviet Union almost collapsed a couple years ago. It's good that it didn't, it's just weirdly comforting to have it around. Cordy's our Soviet Union. She maintains the balance of power and without her there'd be a bunch of breakaway evil republics we'd have to chase around. Besides...I always thought she could maybe be nice someday...if she ever, y'know, got in with a different crowd, maybe?"

"Yeah," Xander said. "I always thought she'd be a cool addition to our little gang."

"Seriously?" Willow said. "You mean like, with us, fighting vampires? What would she do?"

"I don't know," Xander said. "What do I do?"

"You kick butt, Xan Man," Faith said. "Good wheel man, too."

"Thanks, but...come on," Xander said. "We all know I'm just here for moral support and to fetch donuts. You, Buffy, Will and Giles...you're the gang. I'm like...the gang's mascot."

"I'm in the gang?" Faith said.

"Of course you are," Willow said, and put her hand on Faith's shoulder. "You're totally in our gang."

Faith smiled.

"But, okay, um...Cordy? Not so much," Willow said. "I mean, unless we fought some demon whose secret weakness is getting bitched out? I'm thinking Cordy's a useless, fabulous appendage. Maybe there's some alternate universe out there where Cordy's part of the gang. But it's probably a weird, bad universe."

"I bet she has a crush on me in that universe," Xander said. "Seriously, not kidding? I swear I've caught her checking me out before."

"You can dream, baby," Willow said.

"Seriously!" Xander said. "Cordy was checking out my package when I joined the swim team last year to spy on the lizard guys."

"Sure, sweetie," Willow said, and rubbed his shoulder. "There's a universe out there where Cordy's your girlfriend. There's a universe out there where you kiss Cordy all the time."

"I like this one better," Xander said, and kissed her.

"Aw, you guys are so damn cute," Faith said.

"Well anyway, getting back to Cordy, yeah, sure, she's a useless appendage, but I'm a useless appendage too," Xander said. "And I don't even have fabulousness to work with."

"Stop saying that!" Willow said, and pinched Xander's leg. "You do a lot of stuff! There are a lot of good things about you that--"

"Name one," Xander said.

"Balls," Faith said.

Willow and Xander both looked at her.

"You want the real 411, Xan Man?" Faith said. "You want me to say what I really think? I'm a Slayer, I'm out there in the trenches, I'm a professional damn ass-kicker. So you wanna know what a Slayer thinks about you? About how useful you really are in the field? Not blowin' smoke and not tryin' to save your feelings like Buffy would? You want the honest truth? Yes or no. One-time deal."

Willow looked a little nervous. But Xander looked deadly serious.

"Yeah," Xander said. "The honest truth, Faith. Because yeah, I know Buffy won't tell me. And I need to know. All of it."

"Xander, you're--" Willow started to say, but Xander held up his hand.

"You can't fight and you need to learn," Faith said. "That's a problem, but one you can fix. Get serious about fighting, have Buffy or me teach you? We'll have you up to speed in six months. You're in decent shape, you'd need to get in a little better shape but you're not fat or nothin', you got a good body. And sure, you'll never be super-strong but you'll be able to handle yourself. You'll need to learn a weapon. A sword or an axe, something for beheading. I can teach you weapons, Becca and I did a lot of weapon stuff. You were good with that tire iron last night. But until you learn how to fight you're gonna be a liability in the field."

"Yeah," Xander said. "What else?"

"B doesn't like you in the field because she loves you like a brother and it would kill her if anything ever happened to you," Faith said. "And she's right, Xander. You can't fight and one of these days it's gonna get you killed out there. But you can learn. I can teach you, Buffy can teach you. You wanna have her back? Wanna do your part to protect B, and protect Will too? Learn to fight."

"Will you teach me?"

"Yeah," Faith said. "But I'm tellin' you up front baby, it'll be tough. I don't screw around. I'll teach you the way Becca taught me and you quit on me even once? I'm serious Xan Man, we're done. And it won't just be fighting. You need to get stronger first. Running, weights. And I mean it, don't test me. If you can't stick to this don't even waste my time."

"I'll stick to it," Xander said.

"Good," Faith said, and put her hand on his shoulder. "And you know what? You already got the most important thing down, you already got the one thing that separates you out from ninety-nine percent of the people in the world."

"What's that?" Xander said.

"Balls," Faith said. "Nice, big ones. I've watched you, I've seen how you got our backs. Strength and endurance and skill can be trained. But balls can't."

"I think this is gonna be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Xander said, and took Faith's hand.

"We'll see if you think that after your first workout," Faith said. "Becca used to kick my ass all the time, it'll be fun to kick someone else's ass. I'm gonna be all Officer and a Gentleman on your ass, Xan Man. I'm gonna have you doin' pushups in the mud. I'll be all Louis Gossett Junior on your ass. It's gonna be, 'Drop and give me twenty, Mayo-nnaise! I want your D.O.R.!'"

Xander and Willow both giggled. "You make him Richard Gere and I'm not complaining," Willow said. "I'd watch Richard Gere do pushups anytime. Um...what's a 'D.O.R.'?"

"Military thing," Faith said. "Means 'drop on request'. When you can't get through basic training 'cuz it's too hard and you just say screw it and quit. Louis Gossett Junior was all on Richard Gere's ass about how he was gonna train him so hard that he was gonna get Gere's D.O.R." "Yeah, that's right, I remember now," Willow said. "But Richard Gere was entirely too gorgeous and built and sexy and awesome to let Louis Gossett Junior make him quit."

"With all this Four Horsemen stuff happening--and okay, we got a reprieve, we got the Key, but still--I've just been thinking a lot lately about what I can do to...sort of earn my keep around here," Xander said. "So, Faith? Thanks. It means a lot, you taking the time to help me out like this."

"Sure," Faith said, and grinned. "Mayo-nnaise."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are onstage playing right now," Willow said.

The Alibi Room was a dive bar indistinguishable from a thousand other dive bars with the exception that it had more demons among its patrons than most, and was perhaps slightly grimier. It was a dark, cramped little place with a jukebox that played country music, a bathroom best left to the imagination and dart tournaments on Saturday nights, and it served blood in eleven different flavors. It also had a plate glass window out front that said We Got You Covered in big, festive letters, and a demon crashing through that window at that exact moment and landing dead on the sidewalk in a puddle of yellow blood.

A pleasant evening of darts and arguing over whether Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard wrote the most poignant songs had ended abruptly for the demons in The Alibi Room when Buffy walked through the door. The demons had made a stand, but Buffy killed a good number of them and the rest had sat back down and decided on a wait-and-see strategy. Buffy stood in front of the exit and smiled, showing the demons her teeth. She felt like a lion in a rabbit cage and if she could she'd bottle the feeling and drink some every single day for the rest of her life.

And she had stopped at her house on the way to the bar and put on some underwear. So she was feeling pretty good about that too.

"Yahtzee," Buffy said, and held up her sword. "I win again."

Buffy liked the sword. It was great for beheading surly, drunk smelly demons and it was covered with demon blood in five different colors now.

"So is anybody gonna talk to me or am I gonna have to kill you all?" she said. "Because in case you haven't noticed? I'm good with this thing. Plus, I'm the Slayer. I mean, hello? Kinda rude not to cower at least a little. Geez."

Nobody answered her. Their eyes answered for her. The demons were afraid; Buffy saw it in their eyes, she smelled it on them. She liked it.

"That's better," Buffy said. "Mmm, smell that fear. Now we're making progress. So how about you guys--uh, things, Demonic Americans, whatever--tell me a little about those new vamps and I'll be on my way. 'Cuz, seriously? Haven't even broken a sweat yet. I can keep this up all night, folks. Oh, and by the way? If you guys don't talk pretty soon I'm gonna smash open that jukebox and take all your Johnny Cash records. Not even kidding. I will. I'll take 'em all."

Buffy noticed a very large demon sitting alone at a table in the back who didn't seem afraid. And she knew that if there was any more trouble, he'd be the one to make it.

Willy, the proprietor of The Alibi Room, cowered behind the bar, waiting for the inevitable. Buffy would hit him. It would hurt. He was a short, scrawny, pasty, scruffy, non-super-powered, non-immortal, completely regular human being with a low pain threshold and he knew his limitations.

The very large demon at the table in the back finished his drink (virgin blood, spritz of lime, rocks), and glowered at Buffy like she was a very small bug that he meant to step on, and step on good.

"That was my little brother you just tossed through that window, Earth scum," the demon rumbled, as he stood up...and up...and up.

"Okay," Buffy said. "You're...a big one."

The demon was more than seven feet tall, and he had the muscle to go with it. The demon also had a scaly brown hide, two large yellow horns, a snout, and beady red eyes that looked upset right now.

He swaggered up to Buffy, looked her up and down, and sniffed at her.

"Have you met my sword?" Buffy said. "It totally wants to make your acquaintance."

The demon snarled at her. Somewhere in the back of the room, someone said, "Get her, Mike!"

"'Mike'? What kind of name is 'Mike' for a demon?" Buffy said.

The demon roared in her face. It sounded like a freight train and smelled like a wino's pants. His rancid breath whipped Buffy's hair around like she was standing in a wind tunnel.

"Mike! Tic tacs!" Buffy shouted. "Ever hear of tic-tacs?!"

"Coke?" the bartender said. "Sure you wouldn't like something a little stronger, hon? How about a martini. I do a great martini. On the house."

"On the house?" Faith said, sitting at the bar and smiling. The bartender was cute. Buffy was cuter, but still...

"It's my policy," he said. "Pretty girls get their first drink free."

"You think I'm pretty?" Faith said. The bartender was Latino, and he had a great smile, and big blue eyes. Faith noticed his forearms were very muscular. All that pouring must be good exercise. He had good, wide shoulders too.

"Come on, like you don't know how gorgeous you are?" he said, and smiled the smile again.

"Nice to hear it anyway. But, uh...no booze. Coke's good."

"Too bad, I was all ready to show off a little. I can do that Tom Cruise thing where he juggles the bottles..."

"Hey," Xander said, coming up behind her.

"What's up?" Faith said.

"I'm all set," Xander said, and held up a beer and a mocha cappuccino.

"This your boyfriend?" the bartender said. Faith had to give him credit; his smile didn't miss a beat. Smooth.

Faith wasn't flirting with the bartender. In the old days she would've, he was a cutie. But now she didn't want to...

And then, suddenly, everything was clear.

Faith knew she was in love with Buffy.

"We're just friends," Xander said, and grinned at Faith. "I'm not interrupting something here, am I?"

"I was trying to make this pretty girl a martini but all she wants is a Coke. Won't even let me show off. Okay, one Coke, coming right up. And not even any rum in it," the bartender said, and smiled, his eyes crinkling up when he smiled in a perfectly cute way. Faith really hoped Buffy appreciated the sacrifices she made for her.

But then the bartender's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my God," he said, in a small, scared voice, at the same moment as Faith's nose was suddenly telling her that something was very, very wrong....

Faith turned around, and her stake was in her hand, as screams erupted from all over the room. She saw twenty vampires slashing through the crowd...

They were all heading in Willow's direction...

"Yeah, that's right, Slayer! You wanted a fight, you're gonna get one!" a demon sitting way in the back, where Buffy couldn't see his face, said.

"Yeah! Fuck you, Slayer!" another demon sitting way in the back said.

"You're not taking our Johnny Cash records either," a third demon sitting way in the back said.

Willy shook his head, and sighed. He knew Mike was going to die, and Mike was one of his best customers. He always paid his bar tab...

Buffy smiled politely.

With a roar, Mike lunged at Buffy and tried to grab her by the throat as the crowd hollered and applauded...

Buffy ducked under Mike's outstretched arms, spun around behind his back, and beheaded him. It took her one second.

"Yahtzee," Buffy said.

Mike's head bounced around on the floor and rolled away. Mike's body smashed into the floor like a tree someone had just cut down.

"Well, that was bracing," Buffy said, and giggled. "I love this sword. I think I might marry it. I think we have a long, bright future ahead of us."

"You...you killed Mike," a demon sitting way in the back, where Buffy couldn't see him, whined. "But...you can't kill Mike."

"I so killed Mike," Buffy said, and smashed her fist through the jukebox. "And Johnny Cash? Mine."

It was chaos at the Bronze as the vampires slashed and trampled their way through a sea of screaming people. At the back of the room, Willow stood on a chair to try to find out what was causing all the commotion. This being Sunnydale, she had a pretty good idea, but she wanted to be sure. Through the tangled mass of running bodies, she could see vampires...all wolves like the ones they had encountered in the cemetery the night before. She pulled her stake from her purse, and looked for Xander. She couldn't find him in the crowd.

She saw dozens of screaming people trying to cram through the front door. There was a fire exit on the other side of the room, but apparently they hadn't noticed. Being chased by vampires made a person tend to forget little details like that. Glass shattered as a table smashed through the front window, and the crowd raced through it like water through a sluice. She felt herself becoming afraid, felt panic rising within her. She had always been afraid, when she went with Buffy on patrols or tried to help her against the latest Big Bad they were up against, but she never told anyone. She wanted Buffy to be able to count on her...

As the crowd thinned, she noticed that all of the vampires seemed to be running in her direction.

And then Willow knew she was the one they were after...

"Faith's here," she whispered to herself, as she felt herself starting to tremble, and tried not to scream...

The vampires were seconds away from her. Willow racked her brain for a spell, but there was no time and there were too many people around and she couldn't think...she didn't know where Faith was and even if she could conjure an energy barrier in the seconds she had, Faith would be on the wrong side of it...she couldn't pray to Apate to aid her with her blinding smoke for another month...she had been trying ever since the fight with Kakistos to learn to conjure a fireball but she hadn't managed it yet. All the other spells she knew would put Faith at as much of a disadvantage as the vampires in these close quarters, or take too long to prepare...she took her stake out of her purse, and braced herself...

And then she saw a lion.

With a roar, the lion leaped at the vampires from behind and beheaded two of them with her sword before they even knew she was there, her hands moving faster than Willow's eyes could follow. The wolves turned to confront this new predator, but the Bronze was emptying out and the lion had room to move now, and she took a running start, leaped onto a table, sprang fifteen feet over the wolves' heads, somersaulted through the air and came up in front of Willow, her sword and her stake ready, snarling at the wolves, and showing them her teeth.

"Hey Will," Faith said. "Get behind me, okay, hon?"

"Um, okay," Willow said, and stepped down from the table and stood behind Faith.

"These assholes bothering you?"

"A little, yeah."

Faith could feel Willow trembling behind her. She took Willow's hand.

"I'm here now, Will," Faith said. "No one's gonna hurt you when I'm around. You see Xander?"

"I...can't see..." Willow said, looking for Xander. The crowd was almost gone but she still couldn't see him. The vampires, eighteen left now, stood in a pack surrounding Faith and Willow, growling.

"Got a bead on him," Faith said, sniffing the air. She'd picked up Xander's scent; he was coming out from behind the bar with a big knife in one hand and his stake in the other, slowly making his way toward Faith and Willow's position.

"Listen," Faith said. "Don't use any magic 'till you run it by me first, okay? We got a real situation here and one wrong move could backfire on us."

"Okay," Willow said. Willow was trying to sound strong, but Faith could smell the fear on her. But she was shaking less now, as Faith held her hand. "Xander," Willow said. "We gotta get to Xander. If...those vampires..."

"I know," Faith said.

A Slayer always thinks tactically.

Faith let her senses reach out...and considered her options.

One of the wolves stepped forward. When he moved, he hunched forward like an animal on its hind legs.

"Give us the witch and we'll let you live, Slayer," the wolf said.

"Go fuck yourself," the lion roared back.

The wolves leaped at her...

"So y'know, I was talking with someone today, Willy, and I had...I guess you could call it a moment of clarity," Buffy said, looking around the cluttered, dusty little room behind the bar that Willy used as an office. Buffy thought the little room looked absolutely nothing like the sort of cool room Sam used as an office on Cheers and looked a lot like Xander's deadbeat alcoholic uncle Rory's crappy little basement apartment that she and Willow had been forced to spend a nightmarish two hours in the year before. It even had a moose head on the wall like the one at Rory's place. And a smell.

"Yeah, that all sounds really fascinatin', kid," Willy said. "And you know I love it when you act all tough, but I already told ya I don't know nothin' and those lushes out there are probably drinkin' all my best stuff. And hey, how about givin' me those Johnny Cash records back. You don't need 'em, you kids don't listen to country music."

"What, these?" Buffy said, and put her sword down on Willy's desk and picked up the stack of Johnny Cash records that she had left balanced on the arm of the old smelly green chair with the white stain on the cushion. She knew what the white stain was; she could smell it.

"You do things in this chair I don't wanna know about, don't you?" Buffy said, and turned and looked at him. "Really like, gross things."

"No I don't," Willy said, and looked away from her.

"Willy plays with his little willy," Buffy said, and laughed, and crushed the stack of records between her hands like an accordion. The records crumbled into tiny pieces and fell to the floor. "You pathetic piece of shit."

"Hey!" Willy screamed. "For chrissake, those were collectors items! Do you know how expensive they are?!"

"Shut the fuck up," Buffy said, and punched him in the face. He went flying across the office and slammed into the wall, bounced off it and fell to the floor. He looked up at her, his nose bleeding.

"So yeah, moment of clarity," Buffy said. "I talked to a very smart, cool British man and had a moment of clarity and I realized some stuff. One of the big things I realized? I realized it's time I grew up. We have a problem here, Willy."

"What...why'd you...you never...hit me like that before," Willy said, looking up at her like a mouse looking up at a cat.

"Here's the problem," Buffy said. "You've never been scared of me. But hey, don't worry. It's not gonna be a problem for us much longer."

Buffy walked away from him, and grabbed the little wooden chair from behind the little old desk covered with racing forms and lottery tickets and old coffee stains. She set it down in front of him.

"Sit," Buffy said.

Hesitantly, Willy sat in the chair, wiping his bloody nose on his sleeve and looking at the floor. Buffy leaned against the desk, and looked down at him. "I'm not blaming you, Willy," Buffy said. "It's not your fault you're not afraid of me. It's mine. I'm all perky and sarcastic and pretty and clever, and plus there's that little rule I have about not killing humans. You're a little rat who's sold me out before but I figure you just barely qualify. So yeah, I'll never kill you. But I can do all kinds of other stuff. Give me your hand."

"What are you...why...do you want my hand?" Willy whimpered.

"Give me your hand. I'm not gonna ask you again."

He held out his hand. It was shaking. Buffy took it gently in hers, and stroked it.

"This is what you think I am, right?" Buffy said. "Nice. Non-threatening. All dew drops and daffodils. A cute, sassy gal you can bring home to Mom. Thing is, Willy...I wish I was. You wouldn't believe sometimes how much I wish I was. But, nope. 'Fraid not. We don't get what we wish for in this world."

Willy screamed, as Buffy crushed his hand in hers. He tried to pull away but he couldn't; her grip was like a bear trap. She looked at him without any emotion at all as she slowly increased the pressure, as his hand crumpled in hers like styrofoam and his bones popped and cracked. She looked bored.

"This is what I am," Buffy said. "I didn't ask for it. But there it is. There's a monster in me. And I've spent almost two years now fighting her, holding her back, denying her, wishing she was gone. Not anymore."

"S-stop..." Willy whispered.

"Say please," Buffy said.

"Please!" Willy screamed.

Buffy released his hand.

"Gonna need a doctor for that," Buffy said. "When we're done talking."

"Why are you...doing this?!" Willy said, crying now.

Because a hundred vampires almost killed three people I love last night," Buffy said.

"Told you I...don't know...about..." Willy whimpered.

"Yeah, I believe you," Buffy said. "But there were also those four priest guys, plus the vamps who delivered the package. Your regulars didn't know anything about any of them, but I'm pretty sure you know something."

"One of the guys...the vamps who delivered the package. I know where he stays...holes up in this old abandoned warehouse down by the docks. Old building, has a sign on it that says 'Pacific Fisheries'."

"Name?"

"Bobby. Don't know the last name."

Willy still looked down at the floor, crying.

"Stop your frigging crying. It was fun for a minute but I'm bored now," Buffy said. "Look at me."

He looked up at her, and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"From now on, our relationship's gonna be different," Buffy said. "From now on you're working for me. And if you say anything at all to me but, 'Yes, ma'am' when I'm through laying all the details out for you then I'll cut the heads off your regulars, burn this shithole to the ground and put you in traction for the rest of your life. You won't even be able to jerk your little willy off anymore. Plus? Totally going after the Merle Haggard albums next."

She kicked the chair out from under him. It broke apart and he fell sprawling to the floor.

"I'm the Slayer," Buffy said. "And maybe you like, for some reason probably having to do with you not really being too bright, never really got this? But, what I am? Kind of all right there in the name. I kill things like your customers, just for the fun of it. It gives me a nice, warm feeling inside when I feel their necks cracking in my hands. And okay, I won't ever kill you. But I sure will hurt you if you cross me. Your hand? That was a kiss on the cheek. We've gone around in circles, you and me, for more than a year now. We've done our routine where I beat you up a little but I never really hurt you and we both pretend we're in an old private eye movie and sure, we had some laughs, but then my boyfriend went bad and killed a lot of people. I have their pictures in a shoebox in my closet. He sent them to me. So I would know that it was my fault that all those little...all those people were dead. It changes your perspective."

"Don't know...what's this...got to do with me?" Willy said.

"Willy," Buffy said. "One of the ways our relationship is gonna change is I want to listen to as little of your whining as possible from now on. So no interrupting, and you'll only talk to me when I tell you to talk. If you interrupt again I'll hurt you. Do you understand?"

Willy nodded.

"Y'know, it's funny," Buffy said. "I'm pretty sure if I added up all the time I've wasted playing through this bullshit routine with you, sitting around this little office with your disgusting fucking cum stains on the chair, it'd probably turn out that at least a few innocent people that I could've saved if I'd had the time are dead because of it. And then of course you decided to make some extra pocket change by selling Angel to Spike last year. Remember that? And because Spike and Dru got their claws in him Dru was able to use Angel's blood to get nice and healthy again. Which gave her the strength to kill Kendra. Because of you a Slayer is dead. And plus maybe if I'd thought of this last year and forced you to look harder for info about Spike and Dru I would've been able to find them sooner and Angel wouldn't have had a chance to kill all those...maybe I could've stopped him. So yeah, I figure it's time I grew up. Not like they're ever gonna have a chance to."

She got up and stood over him.

"I took off for awhile after that, got my head together over the summer," Buffy said. "You probably noticed. Your regulars were all struttin' around town all pleased with themselves for awhile, 'till I came back and laid the smack down again. And I tried, Willy, I tried to pretend things could be the same. I've been trying to pretend for awhile now. Pretend I'm not the Slayer. Pretend I'm not a monster. But I am. I'm a monster put here to kill monsters and I didn't ask for it. But I'm the worst monster of them all and damn if I don't enjoy my work."

Buffy grabbed a pen and a piece of scrap paper from the desk and wrote down a phone number.

"So here's how it's gonna be," Buffy said. "From now on, whenever you hear anything at all that I might be interested in, you'll dial this number and tell the nice British man who answers all about it. And once in awhile I'll pay you a visit and we'll run through our old routine where I hurt you just enough so you've still got cred with your regulars, just to keep up appearances. No one will know you're working for me. But you will be. You'll be actively looking for the inside scoop on anything that might interest me and you're gonna give me good info on a regular basis. If you don't agree to do all this then I'm gonna hurt you so bad that you'll never walk again, and then I'm gonna go right back out there and kill all those idiots--well, not Clem, I like him for some reason--and then I'm gonna burn this place down. Because if I'm not getting info I've got no use for this place. If your regulars aren't blabbing secrets which you pass on to me, I've got no use for your regulars. And if you're not working for me I've got no use for you. And because, you dirty piece of shit, Kendra's DEAD because of you."

She looked down at him.

"Now," Buffy said. "Let's hear the magic words."

"Yes, ma'am," Willy muttered, looking down at the floor.

"Look at me when you say it," Buffy said.

He looked up at her. A lion looked down at him.

"Yes, ma'am," he said again.

"Good boy," Buffy said, and picked up her sword.

"What...happened to you?" Willy said.

"People died," Buffy said.

She walked out the door.

Moving with incredible speed, Faith threw her stake straight through the heart of one of the vampires as it sprang at her, batted another out of the air with her wakizashi, spun, grabbed the stake out of Willow's hand, ducked another vampire and staked him as he passed over her head. She backed Willow up, kept her behind her, as she swung her wakizashi, trying to hold the vampires off. But fighting the vampires and protecting Willow at the same time was putting her at a disadvantage. The vampires growled and snapped at her like a pack of wolves, looking for an opening as Faith barely held them at bay with her sword. She didn't have any room to maneuver.

Ultimately it would be untenable. If she didn't change the rules of this fight she knew it would be over very soon.

It was November fourteenth...Faith's birthday. She was eighteen.

She wondered if she would survive it.

To Be Continued in The Queen of Hearts

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