Switcheroony

by Alicorn

Copyright © 2006

alicorn7@hotmail.com

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They're not mine, I wish they were, but I know there not and nobody gets anything for writing or posting, except Wiffy goodness.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: Oh, pretty please. I live and die by the feedback I get.
Spoilers: None.
Author's Notes: After a brief relationship with Willow, Tara dropped out of college and went back to her family, so Willow is out to the Scoobies. Buffy & Willow sharing a College Dorm room. Giles & Anya (ex-demon & Xander's girlfriend) run the Magic Box. Faith is post coma!
Dedication: Much Thanks to Lilly a beta treasure beyond my mortal imaginings.
Pairing: Willow/Buffy

Part 26    Part 27    Part 28    Part 29    Part 30    Part 31    Part 32    Part 33    Part 34    Part 35    Part 36

"Well I never thought I'd have to use this again. But I'm glad we kept it handy," Buffy commented as she returned Oz's old tranquilizer gun to her handy carry-all weapons bag, patting it in silent praise as she closed the shoulder bag. Turning, she found Willow roughly dragging the now unconscious Faith towards some very familiar chains. A chill ran over her as she remembered her own experience in those very chains, and thought 'things really do come full circle, don't they?'

But her mental wanderings stopped as she saw the expression on Willow's face. Gone was her loving friend. Instead Buffy saw the rage of a slayer, simmering not far below the self-control and gritted jaw. The new Slayer's eyes held a murderous glare that sent a chill down Buffy's spine. As she harshly clamped the irons around Faith's wrists, a satisfied smile crossed Willow's face, and for a moment Buffy thought she saw something darker.

"Willow?" Buffy questioned apprehensively. "Are you okay?"

The voice of her beloved drew the new Slayer back from her thoughts of revenge. Turning, she saw her own concerned features and reality crashed into her fast and hard. 'Oh my god I was going to…What's wrong with me? How could I even think of…' Willow shook her head as if trying to shake away the anger and rage she still felt. 'How could I let myself give in to…that's just what she would have done,' she thought as she looked down at the unconscious dark slayer. 'I'm better than that…aren't I? I knew she was hurting Buffy and I…I just wanted to…she needed to know that pain…no…I needed to hurt…' The contradiction between her natural need for measured justification of her actions battled with the need to protect Buffy and punish Faith. 'Punish? Why would I feel I have the right to punish her?'

"Willow?" Buffy called to her again, even more concerned than before.

"Buffy, I…I just wanted to hurt her. I could have…I saw her hurting you and I…Oh God! Buffy, how do you do it?" Willow asked with sheer desperation in her eyes. "How do you hold it in…all I could think about…so much…anger."

"I don't always manage to keep it in. You're stronger than you realize. That's why I lo…one of the…things I love about you," Buffy stumbled in her eagerness to console Willow. She looked away in embarrassment as she realized what she had nearly said.

"Right. Because I was so in control back there. Everything Giles taught me just disappeared…flew right out of my head," Willow responded sadly, momentarily missing what Buffy had said. Then delayed realization of Buffy's statement suddenly hit Willow and she felt warmth wash over her.

"You held it in. You know you did. That's why you're so wigged. Trust me, I know," Buffy stated, ashamed to admit that she had not always succeeded in keeping the rage at bay.

"Th…Thanks," Willow replied, her voice suddenly small and awkward.

"Yes, I did fill her up. Yes, she has oil and water," Giles quietly growled between clenched teeth, as he glared into the handset of the payphone. "As I said, the starter motor appears to have given up the ghost."

He was a grown man of above average intelligence, with a lifetime of experience and yet these young adults, supposedly under his care, treated him as if he was a bumbling old fool, lost in the dark ages.

"Xander!" He barked, before regaining his external composure. "Whilst I appreciate your attempts at clairvoyant mechanics, what I actually require is a lift to the bus station."

Giles recalled how his own father had always treated him like a child, commenting on his every action with long drawn out pauses of tired desperation at his choices and decisions. Each sigh would make his heart sink and his inner self rail at the fact that this man just didn't have a clue who he was or what he was capable of.

"Thank you for your assistance, Xander."

Giles replaced the handset and sighed with a sense of regret. Why did everything have to be so uncomfortable, so difficult? It galled him beyond belief.

Stomping back to his car, he took several deep breaths. "It seems old chap, that you are destined to be misunderstood and underappreciated in your own lifetime," he stated aloud to himself, "Well if it was good enough for William Blake, then who am I to complain?"

Opening his car door, he settled down to wait for Xander. Returning to the serious matter at hand, his mind raced ahead to the many things he needed to know and the hundreds of variables he just couldn't seem to pin down.

"How long is she going to be out?" Willow asked impatiently.

"Not too long, I guess. I mean those darts used to knock Oz out for a good hour or more but she is a Slayer," Buffy commented, immediately wishing she hadn't mentioned Oz.

"Right," Willow agreed, her nerves taking over. Buffy was standing a good ten feet from her and yet she felt as if the walls were crowding in on her. "The gun was a good idea."

"Couldn't think of any other way to take her down," Buffy said, shrugging her shoulders as she knelt to check the restraints that Willow had placed around Faith's wrists. Somehow this whole 'full circle' thing had her fearing that she might later find out that Faith wasn't chained up at all and it was just some elaborate plan to fool her into letting her guard down.

"Good thinking. I mean, I don't think I could have b…" Willow hesitated, realizing that she was about to admit that Faith would have beaten her. Faith would have beaten her and then there would have been no one to protect Buffy. She had lost it! She had attacked Faith…given into a moment's anger…forgetting their plan and putting Buffy in danger. If Faith had knocked her out, there would have been no way that Buffy could have…

"That's why we plan ahead," Buffy stated, oblivious to Willow's internal mental self- recriminations.

Willow nodded, unable to drag her eyes from the stone floor, wishing it would just open up and swallow her. "So what are we going to do with her when she comes around?" she asked, passing the decision-making baton to the one woman she trusted with her life.

"I guess we should get hold of Giles. He's going to want to question her," Buffy responded, standing and turning to face Willow. "Do you want me to go out and try to find a payphone?"

A thousand possible dangers filled Willow's head and she almost yelled "No! I'll go." Realizing her eagerness sounded strange, she added "I'm not sure that I can trust myself around her when she wakes up unless we're together. It's probably better if I go."

"Will, you didn't do anything wrong," Buffy affirmed, needing to remove that look of failure from her beloved's eyes. "You gave me the opening I needed."

"Yeah, sure. That's me, stick-to-the-plan girl," Willow sarcastically replied.

"Some things…Will," Buffy responded, her voice gentle and whimsical as she attempted to smile reassuringly at her dearest friend. "Some thing's you just can't plan for."

The newbie Slayer was momentarily lost in the eyes that fixed hers and led to a soul she knew too well. Realizing that she was staring, Willow gulped, shyly smiling briefly in reply as she added, "I guess so."

Cordelia stared out of the bus window into pitch-blackness, waiting for the occasional pair of headlights that would break into the darkness. Knowing that she was heading back to Sunnydale, to a place she had promised herself she would only return to in glory as the well-established movie star or TV actress, she mused at how her life had changed. Had they been right? 'You can take the girl out of Sunnydale, but you can never take Sunnydale out of the girl.'

She felt a slight knot forming in her stomach as she realized that not only was she returning to Sunnydale, but to a group of people that she had more history with than she cared to admit and whose lifestyle she appeared to have now chosen. Her father would have had a fit if he'd known…or if he'd cared. She'd wanted to be so independent, to make it so no one could ever take her happiness away again but instead she lived a life where her happiness was completely dependent on the success of other people's lives.

A smile, uncalled for, spread itself across her face closely followed by a small laugh of self-derision. Turning her head back to stare between the seats in front of her, she met a pair of interested, dark brown eyes peering at her from the well-tanned handsome male face of the passenger seated a couple of rows in front of her. Years of watching men, of knowing how they thought, what they wanted, how they often reacted to her looks, told her that his body would be tight, fit and well groomed. His conversation would be obvious in its intent, confident and full of flattery and promise. Yet all she considered at that moment was that she didn't have time for this, added to her sure knowledge that his mind and morals would be as shallow as the smallest kiddie pool in Sunnydale.

The man smiled, an inviting smile filled with the white teeth and the arrogant overconfidence of a man who never found it hard to attract a woman. He could have been just her type, not that long ago. But now --- she turned away, breaking eye contact, while allowing her peripheral vision to confirm that he had accepted her refusal to engage and turned back into his seat.

As it dawned on her what she had just done, Cordelia threw her eyes to the ceiling. 'Great, now I'm returning to Sunnydale a born-again virgin. Would it have been so hard to just flirt with the guy?' she thought, shaking her head. 'Okay, so I'm a little out of practice, but he was reasonably cute. What am I looking for? A saint with a degree in demonology? And a great wardrobe? Like they're all lining up to date vision-girl.' It kind of bothered and confused her that she didn't care about him and what he thought about her. All she cared about was getting to Sunnydale, the Scoobies…and of course, having a long talk with Faith.

Buffy stared at the woman chained before her. They had so much history - too much. Maybe things would have been different if their relationship hadn't begun with so many expectations, and then ended with so much disappointment. Was that why Faith hated her? Had she, somehow, failed to live up to Faith's expectations? Maybe she hadn't understood what this younger slayer needed from her? She'd felt a connection to Kendra even though they had been so different, from such different cultures - they had shared the same view of what being a slayer meant. But no matter how much she had tried, all her attempts to connect with Faith had ended badly. Why? How had it all gone so wrong between them?

Now here she was making sure that the chains securely held the supposedly reformed Slayer. She found her mind wandering from distrust to the vain hope that maybe, just maybe Faith was trying to help. 'Giles, I just hope you're right.' After all, Faith had been the catalyst. Without the dark slayer's actions, she would never have known what it was like to kiss Willow, let alone make love to her. 'Oh right and that's going so well,' she thought, as negativity quickly swept over her. 'Well I'm not falling for it. All I'm going to be left with are painful memories of something I can never have again.'

She moved closer to take in the features of the woman who had become the source of so much guilt, pain, hatred and anger. Faith just wouldn't, couldn't seem to leave her alone. Even unconscious she continued to torment Buffy.

"I tried Giles at his apartment. I was wondering if you'd heard from him," Willow explained to Anya.

"Yes," Anya responded in clipped tones. Unwilling to engage in anything but the briefest of conversations with Willow, as she unconsciously massaged her injured ribs.

"Do you know where he was calling from when you spoke to him?" Willow questioned with more patience than she was feeling.

"I didn't speak to him," Anya replied unhelpfully.

"Anya, I need to get hold of him. We've captured Faith," Willow said slowly. "Do you know where he is?"

"No. He called asking Xander to pick him up. His junk heap broke down and he needed a lift. So, of course, Xander has left me alone to help him," the ex-demon stated, her dissatisfaction at events more than a little apparent. "He should be here with me," she complained adding, as an afterthought, "resting."

"Well, when they get back, could you tell him to come to Angel's old mansion?" Willow asked. "That's where we have Faith."

"He should be resting," Anya repeated.

"Anya! I mean Giles, not Xander. Will you please tell Giles?" Willow asked again, beginning to lose her patience.

"Okay. But I don't think they're coming back here. Xander said something about someone arriving from LA. I don't know why Angel couldn't drive himself. Xander should be resting and looking after me," Anya declared yet again.

"Okay, thanks," Willow responded placing the handset back onto its cradle. "Angel?" She asked the world in general. "Just the one we need! Angel! Can this get any more complicated?"

It was so dark…it felt so heavy…something holding her down…holding her in…keeping her safe from the world. She could feel the sleepy fingers that had invaded her blood stream…her muscles…her head, dragging her mind into dark hidden corners, stopping her from reaching for the faint glimmer that she hoped was daylight.

But she could feel something welling from below…its heat rising towards her…calling to the calm chill within her mind…trying to reach her.

How had she come here? Should she stay? Should she leave? How could she leave? Would the sleepy, heavy fingers let her? She could feel the heat from below becoming tangible…she could almost sense movement, pressure, surging action coming towards her dark corner.

Then a surge of action caused noise…only a slight distant noise…no, a voice…washing over her mind with its familiar tone and sound. Faith strained her mind towards it…reaching to grab all of the sounds…all of the depth and tone…all of the…words.

"You really should have left us alone. Now everything's changed and we can't go back," Buffy mumbled from the stone table where she now sat crossed legged, glaring at the cause of her pain and heart-felt dilemma. She wanted to sing of her love to the world. But she also wanted to protect her beloved because she knew that if her enemies, who were always coming after her, looking for a way of hurting her or stopping her from carrying out her responsibilities ... her duty to protect the world…ever found out about her beloved…She didn't want to think of the danger her love would be in. How could she risk putting Willow in harm's way? How could she risk ever losing her?

Faith struggled to pull together the sounds…to understand the words. BUFFY! 'I'm listening to Buffy,' Faith's mind screamed as she strained towards the waking world with little or no ceremony, each step closer a rude awakening from the dark corner she had hidden in ... No, the darkness that she had been forced into.

"I can't believe you had the nerve to turn up here again. What do I have to do to you to get you to leave us alone? A knife in your gut wasn't enough?" Buffy questioned, her mind swinging from anger to left-over guilt, with the dexterity of a card shark dealing a winning hand. "We were fine the way we were. Why did you have to interfere?"

She couldn't conceive of never holding Willow again, never feeling her arms, her lips, never tasting her honeyed center again. She could almost feel Willow within her…even now…body switch or not. How could she just deny the longing…the need?

Faith strained against the sleepy fingers…the remaining darkness. She could almost feel them against her flesh, cold and intractable.

Buffy could not pull her eyes from Faith's unmoving form. There was so much anger…so much regret about what could have been. She knew that they could have made such a great team in the fight against evil…she had eventually warmed to the idea of having someone with her, protecting the world. Instead they had spent their time fighting each other. She had been so happy when she knew that she was not alone in her life as a slayer. Granted she knew that she had her mother, Giles, Xander…and, of course, Willow. But to have been able to have Faith, the only person who knew…really knew…what it was like to be the slayer. She thought that she hated Faith most for ruining that.

But she also knew, deep down in her soul, that she had some responsibility for the fact that what it could have been…had been lost. It should have been a strong friendship and collaboration, beneficial to both Faith and herself, as well as to everyone else, but she had allowed it to somehow go horribly, terribly wrong.

Shaking her head from the pointless land of 'what if', Buffy acknowledged that she didn't need that anymore. Willow now knew. Her dearest now knew and understood the one aspect of her life that she had not been fully able to fathom before. Even though obtaining that knowledge had been accidental and had put her beloved in danger…NO, Faith had put her in danger. It always went back to Faith.

"What do you want from us? Don't you think if I had the choice I'd go back and change things?" Buffy yelled at the still unconscious woman before her. "But you and I both know that it would all still have ended up the same. You and I are like the ingredients for TNT or worse."

Giles sat beside Xander in stony silence. He had finally managed to quiet Xander down by telling him just who they were picking up. Giles would be lying if he didn't admit how much he was enjoying Xander's stunned silence and goofy expression at the news that he was about to see Cordelia. 'Ahhh, life's small pleasures.'

Xander's mind was full of questions. The predominant one being 'Why me? All of my failures seemed to be coming home to haunt me. Have I made a wish? No. Have I picked up an amulet? Nope. So what gives?' The idea of seeing Cordelia again after all this time caused him to feel a certain heady anticipation…followed immediately by the 'I'm in a relationship' guilt and associated fear. 'Oh boy! Anya's so not going to like this when she finds out.' She had had a major wig-out when she had found out about his encounters with Faith. The fact that he had slipped up and admitted that the dark-hair Slayer, another ex, had already visited their apartment had not helped matters at all. Anya had become certain that he had invited the Faith to meet him. Why else would she have been at the dorm room at the same time as he had been? It had taken him a good hour to calm her down. Thankfully Giles had rescued him from the payback lecture that the so-called calmer and more accepting Anya had been about to deliver.

'How do people do it? How do they deal with ex-es when they just keep turning up in your life? It drove Buffy nuts whenever Angel reappeared. Why can't your ex just go and stay gone?' Xander wondered as he headed around the park towards the bus station. 'What did I ever do to deserve this?'

Giles was still aglow with his small victory over Xander's prattle as they turned into Park Drive. Absently watching the world go by, a small figure caught his eye. The familiar form took a moment to register – 'Buffy…no…no…Willow'. "Xander stop the car," Giles ordered.

"What?" Xander asked, still lost in his own thoughts.

"Stop the car!" Giles repeated forcefully. "Now would be good."

"Okay, okay," Xander responded, somewhat hurt by his tone. "No need to get all repeato on me. I heard y…Willow?" He blurted out as he too recognized the familiar figure standing by a payphone, looking more than a little lost. As she turned in response to the sound of his breaks, he clearly saw her Buffy-face and…her EYE!

"I mean, it's not like I actually believed Angel when he said that you had changed. You had to know that. So why would you come back here? Why would you believe that I would ever trust you? I almost killed you. It just doesn't make sense," Buffy puzzled, staring at the top of Faith's head.

"Honey, you and me - we never made sense. Even 'Dead Boy' got that," Faith whispered, her head still hanging down, as she began to regain her mental equilibrium.

Shocked to have her question answered, Buffy's legs dropped to the floor. Even though Faith's apparently disembodied voice had given her a major freak out, her first concern was just how much of what she'd just said Faith had heard.

"What the hell did you hit me with? An elephant tranquilizer?" Faith asked quietly as she tried to lift her arms.

"Nope, I think it was a cow tranquilizer - for the interfering kind," Buffy stated.

"Sure kicked ass, whatever it was," Faith said, trying to shake the heaviness that held her limbs like lead weights.

"If you're expecting an apology, you'll be waiting a very long time," Buffy declared as she stood and slowly moved around to get a better look at her.

"Five by five," Faith acknowledged. Suddenly realizing they were alone she became defensive and asked, "So why'd you send Red away?" instinctively knowing that Willow wouldn't have left unless Buffy had told her to go. "If you were after some one on one time with me, you could have just asked. 'Course you're not really my type."

"Thanks," Buffy retorted, holding back her natural instinct to reach forward and slug her. "That's one group I won't cry about being excluded from."

Faith couldn't keep herself from laughing out loud at the futility of their conversation. The idea that she and Buffy could have a civilized conversation just wasn't a possibility in this dimension. They were like fire and oil, the only thing they were good for was creating a blaze.

Buffy was thrown by the sound of Faith laughing, "And just what's so funny?" she demanded in annoyance.

"We are…it's always the same," Faith commented, "I just can't seem to help myself trying to knock you off your All-American Slayer pedestal. Then you throw a holier than thou one-liner back down on me. Then I retort and vice versa until either the fists fly or something breaks us up," Faith explained.

"Still kinda missing why that's so funny," Buffy responded, a little unnerved by Faith's rather accurate description of just about every encounter they had ever had since the Mayor had come into their lives.

"Its funny cuz I know, and you know, I'm not going anywhere. Plus getting physical - that other way - just isn't gonna to happen between us. So sorry to be the party pooper," she added facetiously. "But you're not really up to kicking my ass right now and we both know it. But we still follow the script anyway. Bitching funny, if you ask me."

"And just why would I ask you anything," Buffy snapped, now irritated and annoyed at Faith's quiet resignation and acceptance. She had expected more of a fight from her. She really had wanted an excuse…a reason…something to justify her need to beat living hell out of this other slayer.

"Oh, I think you have a lot of things you want to ask me. But you're not gonna, are you?" Faith asked. "You'll leave that for someone else. It would fuck with your head to have to ask me for anything, wouldn't it?" Faith continued "Too bad. But I guess some things never change"

"You should know," Buffy spat.

"Give it up, B. You're up to your neck in learning to live with how you really feel and what that really means. Buffy, the all-action-hero, is just plain scared…of how she really feels," Faith challenged.

Buffy stared at her momentarily thrown off by Faith's clear understanding of the situation and her fears. "Right this is me quaking in my really expensive boots."

"Passport to 'denial' much. You know I'm right. The thought of talking to me about Willow just freaks you out," Faith observed. "Seems red isn't just the color of your true love's hair; it's the color you go whenever someone asks about her."

"You just leave Willow out of this," Buffy yelled, wishing she could just knock her out again.

"Glad you know who I'm talking about B," She smirked, "But as this is all about the two of you, leaving her out of it - not really an option. Mind if I skip past the 'your dad never loved you' and 'Red's mom never loved her' part and get right to it? So what's the big problemo?" Faith asked, finally managing to lift her arms, reaching up and brushing back her hair, as a thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me she was bad in bed…or maybe you…"

"Ma'am, would you like a hand with your bags?" a young pimply-faced man asked.

Cordelia looked at him with an icy stare. 'Ma'am! When the hell did I become a Ma'am?' Glancing at her reflection in the bus station doors, she noted her tied up hair, still slightly lopsided from leaning against the bus window. Add to that her makeup free features as her eyes traveled down to her overnight bus trip brown 'Eddie Bauer' quilted coat and 'Prada' purple scarf. Glaring again at the young man, she sharply advised him "No, I'm fine."

'Good god, I can't return to Sunnydale looking like some quilt stitching, tree hugging fruit loop ecsapee from the softer side of Sears.' Why did that sound familiar? 'How did this happen?' she asked, puzzled that two of her pricier purchases could, when combined, produce such a bad fashion visual. Heading for the restroom, Cordelia missed the obvious attention her arrival had attracted as she pulled her overflowing bag behind her, thankful that she had packed more than one ensemble in the rush to make her bus.

The dark haired man standing by the payphones, watched her intently, glancing occasionally at the small black and white photo nestled into the palm of his hand. Nodding his head, he turned and made his call. "She's here," he stated, glancing at her receding form. "No one that I can see," he affirmed, as he saw her enter the ladies' restroom. "Affirmative. No contact. Just surveillance."

"Chill, B. It was just a question. It's not like I'm after details," Faith assured the now somewhat red-faced Slayer. "…unless you'd like to share…" she quickly added with a smirk. 'I really shouldn't be enjoying Buffy's discomfort so much but I just can't help myself.'

"Like you give a damn about us," Buffy shouted. "This is all just some sicko and twisted way to get payback. Some lame brain scheme you've cooked up to get what you've always considered your right - Sunnydale and yourself as its one true Slayer. Add in the bonus jollies you must be getting from taking away my power, embarrassing Willow, forcing us to…You're sick, do you know that? Can you even guess how sick…using Xander, messing with Giles…Why did you think I would fall for your 'I'm here to help you guys' act? That's all you've ever been - an act. Pretending to be the Slayer…pretending to be our friend…pretending to help us defeat the Mayor…pretending you've changed…pretending you care…" Buffy's accusing torrent was halted by the look she'd caught, if only briefly, as she glared into Faith's eyes. Sorrow, remorse and, no, it couldn't have been…regret…apology?

"You really do have your panties in a twist about this. You know someone once told me that I worry too much for a girl for my age. I'd hate to check your blood pressure right now," Faith commented, attempting to hide her pain at the truth in Buffy's accusations and at the pain she heard in her sister slayer's accusations. "It's so right in-your-face obvious. You need help, B. You're in a tailspin over Red and if you don't get a handle on your ass soon - Hello dirt!"

"Buffy what?" Xander exclaimed, fighting the urge to laugh.

"It wasn't her fault. Faith ducked," Willow explained, gently touching the puffiness below her eye. "Is it really obvious?"

"Uh huh. Will, you have a real shiner there," Xander chuckled, his face full of the amusement.

"Ohhhhh," Willow wailed. 'I marked Buffy…no Buffy marked…well her fist…but Buffy had been in control of…my fist…my eye…no Buffy's eye. Ohhhh, body-switching headache stuff again!'

"I wouldn't worry. In three or maybe four hours, it should be gone. Slayer healing, you know," Giles reminded her, "Regrettably it also means instead of it taking hours for an eye to go black…But as I said it will be gone, for all intents and purposes, before morning," Giles assured her, realizing that despite Willow being an eager student, she was not a Slayer. It took years of training, experience and honed instinct to anticipate a situation and avoid…Oh my. He couldn't hold it in - a small smile spread, first, across his eyes and then his face as his mind surrendered to the comedy of the sight before him.

"Giles!" Willow accused, as she saw his smile begin. "Oh great, I'm so pleased that you both find my eye…her eye…so amusing. But can we get back to the issue at hand?" Willow asked, her disapproval of their reaction to her injury very self-evident.

"Yes, yes, of course. (cough) Faith," Giles stated, trying regaining his control.

"Right. Faith," Willow affirmed. "Well, we followed her to Angel's old mansion and Buffy eventually knocked her out with the tranquilizer gun. We chained her up and Buffy sent me to call you," Willow informed them, confident that this knowledge would prompt some action other than laughter.

As expected, her news had a sobering effect on both men, as they both turned to gaze wide eyed at each other before turning back to Willow. "You mean that you left them together? Alone?"

Buffy turned and walked away from Faith, as far as she dared. The anger continued to build inside her, momentarily tempered by the knowledge that she didn't have the strength it would take to knock Faith around as she really wanted. 'Where does she get off telling me how I feel? She wouldn't know an emotion if it walked up and slapped her in the face,' Buffy fumed, trying to ignore the momentary sadness she had seen in the chained Slayer's face.

'Tailspin? I am so not in a tailspin. That's what a pilot does when she loses any idea which way is up. I know exactly which way is up. Don't I? I love my Willow. What's so tricky about that?' Buffy affirmed 'Nothing. Except that I'll probably end up flying solo.'

Faith watched her, seeing no need to add to what she had said. She had obviously given Buffy a lot to think about. But somehow she felt she was still missing something. She'd seen the way they were together from the moment she had met them when she first arrived in Sunnydale. Faith had noticed the searching glances, nervous body language and the continual unconditional support - something she used to be so jealous of. 'Where's the jealousy gone?' She asked herself fleetingly, before acknowledging what she now knew to be true. 'Cordelia…I need to have a long sit down talk with that woman. Not now, though.' She reminded herself, bringing her thoughts back to the matter at hand. Something had been missing when she'd watched them, something she had expected to see. Willow had been too careful…'Oh damn it! I don't believe it - they're both scared!' "Buffy you need to listen to me."

Buffy paused as her doubt almost took over, but it was quickly replaced by her permanently targeted anger. "You're so full of the good advice, aren't you? Remind me when was the last time you gave me good advice?" she asked, turning to glare at Faith. "Mmmm, let me think. Oh wait! That would be the time we skipped school and you almost got me arrested. So pardon me if I don't fall for you as cupid's little helper," Buffy smiled. "Maybe you should take your own advice…get rid of your non-working lesbian radar and stop getting in your own tailspin about something that you can't…you don't know anything about and that has absolutely nothing to do with YOU!"

"B, don't shoot the messenger. Remember…this wasn't my message," Faith reminded her. "Cordelia saw you two being…" Faith stopped suddenly, realizing that why Cordelia had sent her wasn't really the issue so much as…"Okay so maybe that's not really the point either…"

"Do you have one?" Buffy asked sarcastically, tilting her head to one side.

"Chill B, I'm getting to the point. The fact remains that you two have a destiny. Anyone can see it. So, maybe two nights of doing the horizontal lambada with Red didn't shake your passion trees. And then again maybe they did. Maybe you just couldn't take it…couldn't accept it for some reason?" Faith queried, just as she caught a movement with the corner of her eye. "I mean, last I recall you were so big in love with the look-but-can't-touch dead guy," Faith paused. "Hey, maybe that's what you're into! Maybe you like wanting what you can't have, can't touch. Maybe you enjoy the 'will we…won't we…we could but we can't'…Never took you as being into that kinda kink."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Buffy stated dismissively, despite having a pretty good idea exactly where Faith was heading.

"Well, if this is your kink, having an itch you know you can never scratch must turn you on. Umm, ring a bell?" Faith asked. "Angel seemed to be into the same thing. If you ask me, you two made quite a match."

"No one asked you. Angel and I are over," Buffy stated emphatically. "As if his taking you in didn't help to end it, the fact is, unlike you, I grew up."

"Right. Little Miss I'm-the-center-of-the-Slayer-Universe grew up. I don't think so. How, exactly, did you two end up under Dracula's thrall?" Faith retorted. "Was that your mature Slayer head taking the lead or your injured pride ignoring the warning signs. Let's face it, having a big ole flame for Red…that was cool. It rang your bells - can't say, can't do, can't touch, forbidden fruit - which we now know you dig. Plus she was all straight and boyfriend attached…so she was unavailable."

Buffy clenched her teeth and moved towards Faith. "So is this the moment, you know, when we have a big old heart to heart? Gee, thought we'd already done that. You decided to leave as I recall."

Ignoring Buffy, Faith continued "But then what does Red go and do? She up and jumped the fence, didn't she? Bet that threw you for a loop. I mean, how can you safely be having those juicy naughty forbidden thoughts that you shouldn't be having and getting your jollies off if your secret flame is now having the same naughty thoughts? Kinda bettin' that was one hell of cold shower for you, wasn't it?" Faith smirked.

Willow stood frozen, with her two companions equally immobile. 'What did Faith just say? No. She couldn't have…oh! OH! Why? Why did she…how did she…? Swallow me up! Why doesn't the earth just swallow me up? Or…' But nothing else came to mind that could help her escape, as her mouth opened and no noise came out.

"I remember you two as so mega with the sharing and supporting each other that it made me sick but then the moment you find out that Red's also got a little secret she's been keeping…It spoiled the whole thing, didn't it? Why can't you two just talk? Just be honest with each other for a change. What are you afraid she'll say?"

Giles couldn't move. It was like walking into a church just as the priest asked that all-important question. He felt compelled to stay still…compelled to await the answer…afraid to break the moment…afraid his mere movements, a slight noise would prevent Buffy from responding. His nerves ran within him as he waited for her to speak, honestly unsure what she would say, if she would say anything at all.

Buffy smiled as she walked past Faith towards the stone table where her weapons bag still rested. "So this is when I share how I feel? When I'm supposed to open up and spill my deepest secrets to you," she smirked as she withdrew the tranquilizer gun and raised it to point at the no longer smiling Faith. "I don't think so."

"She's in love with you," Faith stated firmly. "And you…you must know how you feel about her. What are you going to do about it?"

Buffy froze, her face emotionless, staring at Faith. For what seemed like an eon she considered answering the question but then she recalled why she was here…why Faith was in chains…why they were all in danger. As she slowly raised the gun, she smiled.

Willow had never felt so mortified, so small, so naked. 'Buffy's not saying anything. Why isn't she saying anything? Goddess, what is she doing?'

Xander's mind was screaming, 'Say it, you fool. Say it!' As he almost willed himself into Buffy's mind. Glancing to his side, he caught a movement – Willow. She was shaking. Turning slightly, he noticed the paleness of Buffy's…no Willow's…'Oh hell, she was terrified.' His heart reached out to her, wishing he could hurry time, wishing he could make her deaf, wishing any wish that would lessen the pain for her.

Willow could almost feel herself shrinking, her self-confidence ebbing away with each excruciating second, each breath, each blink ... each millisecond of Buffy's silence. 'Why doesn't she say…something?'

Giles could hold himself back no longer. "Buffy!?"

Looking up, Buffy saw the huddled group by the patio doors. Willow. 'Oh goddess, she heard. What did she hear? What did I say?' Faith momentarily forgotten as Buffy saw the pained and pallid face of her beloved.

Part 27

Cordelia stared at her reflection, wondering when the slight darkness under her eyes had begun. No one had said anything to her about her looks in so long that she'd almost forgotten about them. She merely assumed that, as always, they were simply there. She examined her face with the self-realization of a woman. Somehow, she had gotten older. So here she stood wishing for the skin tone and youthfulness that she remembered. Pulling at her skin and leaning closer to the mirror to scrutinize her face at a level no one else ever would.

When had she become a woman? When had she stopped being a girl on the verge of womanhood? With everything that had happened to her over the years, she seemed to have missed the transition.

She recalled how essential it had been for her to look healthy and toned. She remembered how clothes had loved to hang off her tight pert body compared to the careful shopping it now took to accentuate her maturing figure. Life had slowly caught up with her. The visions and the pain that accompanied them, the fighting, the irregular eating and sleeping patterns had all taken their toll on her.

Yet Faith still looked as she had back then. Probably Buffy did too. Damn slayer genes! She smirked at herself. Then sighing, Cordelia began to carefully re-apply her makeup, as she wondered why there was such a heady excitement at seeing Faith. She could almost feel butterflies building in her now hungry stomach. What was it about the ex-Slayer that had so gotten under her skin?

Okay, so she missed her baking, their late night chats and shared comfortable silences. But what she was really missing was just having someone there, wasn't it? Or was it truly Faith that she missed?

Shaking her head to free herself of these thoughts, she brought her mind back to the mission she had sent Faith on. And that mission was to bring two women together; two women so in love and yet so blind to their love. She always knew those two "best friends" weren't as smart as everyone thought they were.

She had been viewing it as any other mission, any other puzzle that the Powers That Be asked her to solve. Just another vision. But it had become so much more. It had touched those she now realized she cared about personally. You can take the girl out of Sunnydale, but you can never take Sunnydale out of the girl.

And the fact that bringing these two women together had become so important for Faith, so important that she'd almost leapt at the opportunity, had led Cordelia to believe that the dark-haired slayer had indeed changed and grown. And this was why she, herself, had backed Faith in her insistence that she should be the one to go on this mission. The seer could have gone herself; things might have been simpler if she had. But she had seen such determination and need in Faith's eyes that she had been unable to take this opportunity away from her.

"I really think that tranquilizing Faith once should be enough fun for today," Giles commented as lightly as he could, stepping forward placing himself protectively between Willow and Buffy. He had caught the look of pain in Willow's face and realized that she needed a moment to collect herself without Buffy staring at her. "Please put the gun away," he requested, and seeing the equally anguished look on Buffy's face, he resisted the urge to take her to one side and give her a piece of his mind.

Buffy automatically followed his instructions, as her mind raced trying to recall what Willow could have overheard. 'Why is this happening? What have I ever done to the world except save it? Why is this happening to me?' she mentally screamed to the Powers That Be. 'If I'd known she was listening I would have…I could have…' She smiled sadly at her sheer cowardice. 'You wouldn't have said a damn thing, you big coward. But the way she looked…she was so hurt. Why? Why? What did I say? What did Faith say that could have hurt her so much?' she asked herself. Drawing a blank, she stuffed the gun back into the carry-all and stood staring at the bag in total confusion.

"Hi guys," Faith smiled half-heartedly. "So, who needs saving today?" Faith asked, avoiding all eye contact with Red. She didn't need to look at the Wiccan to know that, right at this moment, the woman was in pain. Buffy had avoided her question. She had been so sure that she could provoke some kind of admission, some acknowledgement from the other "real" slayer of her feelings for Willow but instead she'd only made things worse.

Giles smirked slightly at the bravado of the chained ex-slayer before him. "It would seem that at this moment my dear, you are the one most in need of saving," he stated inclining his head towards Buffy.

"Trust me, Watcher man. I'm exactly where I should be…where I need to be," Faith affirmed with a sadness that surprised him.

Meanwhile, Xander placed his arm gently around the small shoulders of his body-switched oldest and closest pal and guided her out of the mansion to the stone seat in the courtyard. He could still feel slight trembling from her and, glancing at Buffy, he felt the urge to go over and knock some sense into his other dear friend. And, truth be told, knowing that right now he probably could do so certainly didn't help him to resist the urge. 'How can two people so much in love cause each other so much pain?'

Angel slowly slumped into his favorite 'brooding chair' as Cordelia would often call it. He had missed its comforting support and solitude these last few weeks. As he gazed into the dark shadows of his home, he allowed his mind to wander over recent events.

Akvan had been a challenging foe, with sharp fangs, horns, claw-like toenails and deadly tail; he had been quite a sight roaming the Central Cascades of Washington State. Reports of the "monster" by hikers from Seattle and forest rangers had not been at all exaggerated. Unlike with Angel, daylight hadn't prevented his travels and capturing him had proved a lengthy and somewhat difficult job. God, Angel hated the great outdoors.

It had taken Wesley quite some time to uncover that the Persian divinity really only had one weakness. According to the epic poem Shah-Nameh, which he had insisted on reading at length to Angel, Akvan's unique characteristic was that he always did the opposite of what was asked of him.

However, this trait had been quite difficult to use, as word games were not really something that Angel had ever had to consider during a battle and so his first few attempts had proved to be somewhat embarrassing. But he'd finally got the hang of it and now Akvan was chained and being prepared for his journey back to the appropriate era of Persian history, courtesy of a powerful coven in Ventura.

Wesley had finally got them home and left him alone. Angel had his first truly sweet taste of solitude in weeks. So here he sat, staring into the darkness, wishing his mind was blank. But, still there in a corner of his mind, remained his initial reaction to the news that Cordelia had gone to Sunnydale, to help Faith. He'd felt disappointed. He'd expected her to be here when he returned. He wouldn't admit it out loud but Angel missed her.

He'd missed her no-nonsense approach to him. She wasn't scared of him. Wesley still had a kind of awe/competition thing going on where Angel was concerned. But Cordelia just saw him for what he was. He enjoyed her continual attempts to drag him into the modern world, just as Buffy had. According to Cordy, he was a semi-human being in transit, and Cordy's own personal project. During his battle, he had also thought of Faith, and her apparent need to disobey orders and go against the grain. Angel resigned himself to the fact that Cordelia had a new project.

And so also thinking fondly of the sweet and loyal Willow, he realized that tonight all the women he loved, respected and cared for were in Sunnydale. He felt truly alone and for once it wasn't as comfortable as he had expected.

Giles crouched down and ran his eyes over Faith, checking for injuries. Apart from a few slight bruises, he saw nothing to greatly concern him. What he did see was a serious young woman, a tired young woman, not at all the same delinquent girl that had left Sunnydale not that long ago. He couldn't get her to make eye contact with him at this close range and he thought he could almost feel her trying to calm herself in response to his invasion of her space. Acknowledging her discomfort at having him so close, he stood again and moved away. "It would seem that you'll live," he stated, passing his judgment on her condition to the room in general as well.

"Figures," Faith responded, still avoiding any eye contact.

'What is this girl trying to do?' he wondered. He had been struck by the absence of any sign that she considered the events they had just witnessed as a victory. The Faith he recalled would have been crowing at having almost made Buffy lose it. 'There's far more to going on here than meets the eye,' he thought, turning his head to stare at the arched back of his disabled charge. 'Much more.'

Stepping toward Buffy's unmoving form, he took a deep breath. Swallowing his earlier desire to reprimand her for her actions, he simply called to her. "Buffy?" He detected a faint twitch. 'Well, at least she heard me.' "Buffy?" he tried again just a little louder. This time the slight raising of her head acknowledged his call. "Are you all right?"

Buffy slowly turned to face him, unsure what to say, how to respond. She had never felt so lost, so confused, so vulnerable. Mostly because she knew that this situation was somehow mostly her own fault but she couldn't figure out how to fix it. Glancing into Giles' sympathetic eyes, she felt the urge to do something she had very rarely if ever done – she wanted to run into his arms and find the safety, the refuge that she hadn't felt since her father had left. That childish belief that your parent or guardian could make it all better, make the pain go away, with a hug or a kiss, sorely tempted her. She wanted to be small and carefree, to have none of these heart wrenching concerns and fears, none of the responsibilities. But she held back, as she always did, stifling her self-serving desire and need for comfort and solace. Instead she smiled at him weakly before nodding in response to his inquiry.

Xander tried to calm Willow by offering her a hug but, resolutely, she twisted away from him and stood up from the stone bench. Holding her hand up, Willow effectively prevented him from either speaking or attempting to hug her again. His stomach clenched in knots. 'My brave little Willow, why are you being so guarded and unresponsive?' he wondered, so sure that after hearing what she had just heard she would now finally let it all out and ask for his help.

But Willow stood staring into the mansion at the shadowed figures of Faith, Giles and Buffy, trying to make sense in her mind of what she had heard. What everyone had heard and why Buffy had said nothing? She was sure, as she thought about it, that Faith had been trying to bait Buffy. 'Why else would she say all that? Faith has no way of knowing how I feel and she probably cares even less. Hell, even I'm not sure what to do with how I feel, I mean I know I love her but what does that mean? Loving someone doesn't make them love you. Xander taught me that. What was I expecting Buffy to say? But Faith saying it out loud. Why? What's Faith after? What's she got to gain?' She pushed aside the pain of having her feelings made public as she fought to use her logic rather than her emotions. Emotions would not help her at all right now. Although the urge to vanish into Xander's offered hug was tempting, both she and Buffy needed her to figure out what was going on. She could not afford to allow herself to wallow in some teen angst moment fueled by unrequited love and low self-esteem.

As Xander watched her begin to pace around the courtyard, from the corner of his eye, he saw Buffy approaching. His natural instincts led him to stand and prepare to stop her from disturbing Willow. But as his eyes met hers, he saw such confusion, pain and such an earnest silent plea to leave them alone that he backed down. Nodding, he passed her and re-entered the mansion, mentally crossing every finger and toe he possessed.

"Will," Buffy called out hesitantly as she moved towards the pacing figure of the woman who owned her heart, unsure what exactly she was going to say.

Willow froze. She had been in mid-analysis, lost in her own thoughts and feelings. She had just about managed to convince herself that what she had seen was about Buffy and Faith, even though the topic had been her and Buffy. She understood that her pain was simply the result of the knowledge that this was all going to end soon. What she still couldn't figure out was what Faith had been fishing for.

"Will, I'm sorry," Buffy sincerely offered, not at all sure exactly what she was apologizing for but clever enough to know that an apology was needed. She only wished any of her former boyfriends had learned this simple rule.

"Its okay," Willow replied, remaining with her back to her beloved, not sure that she could hold her emotions together, not sure that the sight of Buffy's soul wouldn't cause her momentary clarity and logic to crumble. And then she was so afraid that all of her pain would come tumbling out.

"Will, you have to believe me! I would never do anything to hurt you or put you in harm's way. You know that, right?" Buffy asked, seeking the reassurance that she hadn't just made everything worse. At the same time she re-affirmed her promise to herself that she would always keep Willow as safe as she possibly could. She cared too much to ever let how she felt or what she wanted cause her beloved injury or put her at risk.

"Yeah, I know," Willow assured her, feeling that part of her was lying. She believed that Buffy had to know that she was breaking her heart. Surely the woman she loved couldn't be that blind? How could she not know that what Faith had said was true?

"You're forgiven. Okay?" Willow stated, part of her just wanting Buffy to leave her alone to figure everything out. But part of her knowing that everything she was going through was Faith's fault, not Buffy's. "Look, I know for a fact that talking to Faith is like being in an alternate reality," she offered.

"Tell me about it," Buffy agreed. But she was still concerned that Willow wouldn't turn around to face her, and so quietly she gave in to the need to explain her own confusion. "This whole thing has me…What we shared…was so much more than I…I mean, we know so much about each other now…and it scares me, Will. I don't want things to change. I can't risk losing you."

Willow's heart ached at the emotion in Buffy's voice and she involuntarily turned to gaze into the soul of her best friend. She realized immediately that she'd made a mistake as soon as she saw the raw desperation in Buffy's eyes.

Buffy was lost for a moment as she tried to readjust herself to the sight of Willow's soul in her own eyes. Nothing about this body-switch was getting easier. She wanted to reach out and take Willow into her arms, whisper promises into her ear and kiss all the pain she had caused away, removing her guilty feelings. But she shook her selfish needs aside and she pushed on. "With all this weirdness I'm constantly worried that I'm going to say or do something that will convince you that being my best friend just isn't worth it," she explained weakly. "I need you to trust me, Will. I'm scared that one day you're just going to realize we have nothing in common and that I'm not worth your time and trouble, then you'll decide to get on with your life and leave me," Buffy babbled almost Willow-like.

"That will never happen. You're m…this is my life," Willow assured her, with no doubt in her heart that she meant it. She would be beside this woman for the rest of her life, no matter how this situation ended. "I don't want to lose you either," Willow said momentarily pulling her eyes away.

Buffy smiled shyly. "Gee, this mushy stuff is kinda awkward." Then she gave into her feelings, reaching out to gently take Willow's hand in hers and squeezing it. "Why is this so difficult?"

"What?" Willow asked, not sure what Buffy was referring to and unnerved by the unexpected physical contact. Buffy's skin so warm against her own. She felt so good. Buffy wasn't normally a touchy feely person, especially lately, so that even brief moments of friendly contact had become precious to Willow.

"Saying what I mean ..." Buffy remarked, before quickly clarifying her words, "It's always been so easy for us to talk about anything. But now…being able to talk to you about, how all of this is making us feel is…just so hard."

"Unfamiliar territory I guess," Willow commented, throwing a slight grin at her dear friend and squeezing her hand in an attempt to offer comfort. "I mean we've had to cope with…what's…happened," she began to gulp, refusing to expand on what she had started to say. "And all that's being thrown at us…what people will think…what people will say. And as much as we may want to think it doesn't make and won't make our friendship any different…" She paused, gathering her courage before quietly adding "the fact remains, Buffy – that it has, it does and it will."

Nodding in quiet acceptance of Willow's wise words, Buffy sighed "Guess we were a bit dumb to think it wouldn't."

"Yeah. Pretty dumb," Willow agreed smirking. "So as right now I'm the natural blond, what's your excuse?"

Seeing smiles followed by shy laughter, Giles was lost for a moment in relief. Taking a deep breath, however, he returned to the business at hand and turning towards Xander, he saw fit to remind the young man that he need to be elsewhere, "I believe you still have someone to pick up."

Xander looked at him momentarily confused before recalling that they had been on their way to pick up Cordelia. "Oh yeah. Right," he muttered looking around the mansion in the vain hope that something might rescue him from his fate but nothing materialized to save him from his 'you will re-live your failures with all your ex-es now' destiny. Sighing, he nodded towards Giles and glancing only briefly at Faith, he allowed himself one last look at his two favorite people in the courtyard before heading sheepishly towards them.

As he reached the doorway, he tried to think of something appropriate to say. Thankfully where these two women were concerned, his instinct for self-preservation took over and he reached the conclusion that had escaped many a man over the years – the best option was to say nothing at all.

So he passed them, resisting the urge to stare; instead allowing his mind to wander into the realm of utter fear that filled him when he thought about seeing Cordy again after all this time.

Buffy laughed out loud as she gazed at her dearest friend and suddenly found herself smiling broadly. Just being this close to Willow, just holding her hand made Buffy feeling like a giddy school girl, full of anticipation, nervousness, her heart a-flutter. It felt wonderful, exhilarating, so sweet and intoxicating. Dear Goddess, how could she give this up? How could she ever think that just having Willow as a friend would ever be enough again? But, how could she put Willow in the danger she knew would come from letting her mean that much to her…from letting others know how she felt?

Willow giggled and sighed, both relieved that her attempt to lighten the moment had worked so well and yet saddened that she couldn't give into the urge to lean forward, to pull this woman that she loved so much into her arms and kiss her. She would have given anything to let her know that Faith had been right on the mark, but fear of rejection held her back as it always seemed to.

As their laughter subsided, neither one seemed ready to separate and Buffy found her eyes drawn to their joined hands. As she gazed down she couldn't help thinking that letting go of Willow's hand would mean accepting that they had to part, and she just couldn't give in to the loss and dull ache that she knew would follow. She absently allowed her thumb to gently move over Willow's skin.

Giles coughed loudly before stepping out onto the courtyard, holding his glasses before him as if some offending smudge was preventing him from putting them back on his face. "Umm…I apologize for interrupting but I felt I should let you know that Cordelia will be here shortly. It would be prudent to try and get a few things cleared up before she arrives."

"Cordelia?" both women questioned, letting their hands fall apart, as Giles' news had the effect of throwing cold water on their gentle moment together.

The silence was deafening as Cordelia sat next to Xander. Their brief reunion chat had lasted to the parking lot, coming to a complete stop as Xander pulled onto the highway. Each so lost in the sheer awkwardness of being in each other's company that they didn't notice the black sedan carefully following them at a safe distance.

"So Anya…a demon?" Cordelia asked, eager to talk about anything that would break the tension, even Xander's latest ill-fated romance.

"Ex-demon," Xander stated before he could help himself, only to hear what he thought was a slight laugh from Cordelia. "I'll have you know that some demons are considered valued members of society," he added, suddenly feeling as if Anya was actually in the car too and he had to defend her.

"Preaching to the choir here," Cordelia stated, recalling her reaction to the revelation that Doyle was a demon. She'd been so angered at his secrecy and his unspoken belief that she would never accept him, that it had taken her quite some time to forgive him for dying on her, let alone giving her his visions.

Xander's eyes grew wide as he realized that Cordy had just agreed with him.

"I just can't figure out how on earth you got a street-smart man-hating vengeance demon to put up with you. I mean, considering your well-known obsession with Buffy and Willow, I'm surprised you haven't been flayed alive yet," she commented unable to resist teasing him. "Maybe I should have a word with her."

Xander mentally shrank at the thought of Anya and Cordelia meeting to discuss him. 'It's like some twilight zone episode – A man walks down a street…it's a strange…Oh my god, I'm gonna die. They're gonna kill me.' He found himself in a full-blown panic as he realized that the women he was bringing together – Anya, Cordelia, Faith, Buffy and Willow; combined they knew more about him than he could really face. Needing to get the upper hand here, he said to his dark-haired passenger "Then again maybe I should ask Faith to help Anya with her tan? I understand she's become quite an expert in that area, hasn't she?"

"I'll tell you what you've done. You've taken away my strength, my abilities. You're keeping me from doing my job," Buffy angrily informed her chained counterpart. "You've put everyone, the whole world at risk, especially Willow, with this damned switch. But then again, maybe you're trying to finish what you started when you threatened to kill her."

"That was in the past, B. Let it go. You're so not interested that I'm sorry, so let's move past it," Faith sighed, "You have to believe me, B, when I tell you that I'm here to help."

"Oh, so now you want to be friends, to help" Buffy laughed bitterly. "I tried to be your friend. I welcomed you into my life, into my home. Then you turned on me…on us," Buffy spat accusingly. "But I kept trying, even after you tried to frame me for a murder you committed. The others, they all thought I was crazy to keep trying. Cuz each and every time I tried, you kicked me in the face. You tried to kill me. You tried to take over the world with the Mayor and you even tried to hurt Willow. You tried to kill her and now you've put her in danger again," she stated, clenching her jaw and her fists. "And you want me to trust you?"

Faith turned to look at Red, winking at her before replying to Buffy "Seems to me that Red here's been taking pretty good care of herself as your sidekick. She's been doing it for years, B. Plus now she has insider Slayer know-how and, ooowwweee, let's not forget the Wiccan-fiddling and computer smarts. B, you really should have more confidence in Red."

"You don't understand the danger you're putting her…us in. Let's face it, you probably don't care," Buffy shot at her, more than a little unnerved by Faith's apparent praising of Willow. "This isn't about doing us a favor. This is about something else entirely and we both know it." She glared before turning her back on Faith and stepping away from the woman who always managed to get under her skin.

"Remember when you said I helped you end it with Angel?" Faith asked, desperately searching for a way of getting through to Buffy. "Well, it turns out I did both of you…hell, all three of you a favor. Only you're running so scared you can't or won't see it. I get it, B. I understand; honest, I do."

Buffy turned to glare at Faith, "You don't understand anything about me. You never did."

"I may understand you better than Red or, even, you do," Faith commented. "B, don't you see what not admitting your true feelings is doing to her…and to you?"

Keeping his car back far enough so that he could the safely watch the dark-haired couple ahead of him, the mysterious stalker felt that their meeting hadn't been as he had expected. He had presumed from the amount of time the woman had taken in the ladies' room that she was meeting someone special but from the minute the guy from the slayer's dorm had arrived, they had really done nothing but keep a very awkward distance…other than…well…he could only describe it as bickering.

He could see their heads moving in high animation as they drove towards the less populated area of Sunnydale north of the park. He wondered where they were going since the Slayer's home was to the south of the park and the magic shop to the east.

All this watching was giving him a headache. His limbs ached for some action, some payback for the large bruise on his right cheek and his mind screamed for something to keep his first visit to the Hellmouth from being a complete failure.

"You know, for the longest time I was angry with you," Faith commented in response to Buffy's accusations that this was all about revenge. "It started out as something small, like most things do. Sunnyhell was supposed to be my town, with my demons, my Watcher, my time to shine. The whole thing should've been mine, maybe even my own Scoobies. Except the resident Slayer wasn't dead like she was supposed to be. Nope. Saint Buffy, mistress of all she surveyed, had beaten death and I was just supposed to join the fawning masses. Not my usual style but I gave it a try. I was just warming up to Sunnydale, to being number two of the Chosen Two, to the synchronized slaying. But I was having trouble dealing, I was bummed out always having to step aside and play second fiddle to you, to Red and the Scoobies. And then I…I accidentally killed the Mayor's assistant," she said quickly and quietly. "And it all fell apart. I really and truly screwed everything up, didn't I?" she laughed sadly, glancing at Buffy. "Everything just got so messed up, so wrong. And then you, little Miss Perfect Slayer, you stabbed me. Turns out Saint Buffy had a pair of cajones after all. Who would've 'thunk' it…hmm? I still can't believe you really stabbed me," Faith commented, losing her train of thought momentarily. She smiled sadly and shook her head as she recalled that fateful day.

Buffy found she couldn't drag her eyes from Faith, her eyes drawn, by the resignation in the other slayer's voice, to the chained woman's abdomen where she remembered that damn blade just sticking out. It had seemed so unreal, as if a dream. But it hadn't been. Like Faith, she still couldn't believe that she had actually stabbed the other slayer either.

Willow stared at her beloved, willing her to say something but all Buffy seemed to be able to do was to stare at Faith. "You were trying to kill Angel," Willow offered in Buffy's moral defense, stepping closer to the Slayer to add her physical support.

A noise caught Giles' attention and turning his head, he saw Xander and Cordelia quietly entering from the courtyard. Catching their eyes, he motioned them to stay where they were. Xander put a hand on Cordelia's arm as his eyes begged her to stay still.

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have messed with Dead Boy. But by that time I was doin' whatever the Mayor wanted. I thought he was making me part of something important," she admitted, almost childishly embarrassed. "You know, from the moment I met you I've always wondered if you had the same dark trigger inside you that, if pushed, would make you kill someone. And you did…didn't you, B? I sure found it. Seems slaying isn't all we shared," Faith sighed, her eyes dropping as she recalled how she used to love letting the darkness overtake her. "We all know I'm no hairy-armpit, tree-hugging feminist, so when I say that I have only ever met four women with the kind of courage you have or used to have, you'll know I mean it," she stated, as her mind drifted briefly back to LA.

"That was meant to be a compliment, right?" Buffy asked, subconsciously wondering who the other four women were.

"Yes and no," Faith smirked, tilting her head. "Cuz now, you've been knocked down a peg. But maybe not just a peg though, hmmm…? You've pretty much had your safe little world pulled right out from under you and instead of sucking it up and doing what you know is right, you're just letting yourself fall all the way into Achy-Breaky-Heart-Hell, like some dumb-ass starry-eyed school girl. Damn it, B," Faith accused "You know better. How can you two be such cowards? You let this happen and the scar won't ever heal. Red, you're the brains of the outfit. Work it out!" she demanded of Willow. "I can't believe you're both being so dumb. If you let this slip through your fingers, it'll stay with you forever, like a great big ugly tear in your soul. We all get what we deserve, B. YOU let this go wrong and you're gonna be paying forever. You'll always be trying to put it right, never knowing if you can and always wondering what your life would have been like if you had. And what's worse – you won't be the only one who'll be paying the price forever."

"So you're here to save me from myself? How sweet," Buffy stated, trying to inject disbelief and annoyance into her words. But somehow she couldn't quite manage it. Something about what Faith had said, the way she had said it, had hit where she lived, where she loved. Buffy found herself checking where Willow was, wondering what she was making of all this. Somehow knowing that there was a clock ticking out there, that with each moment of hesitation it was crawling towards her midnight…towards 'too late', the thought made her waver. But as she stared at Faith, she couldn't get past her instinctual distrust. "Picturing you as the hopeless romantic best friend to the lovelorn, as our own personal cupid is almost as weird as watching you bake cookies for Cordy. Where's all this coming from Faith? What's this really about?"

"You may not be able to believe it, but I'm here to save you from something far worse than just yourselves, from someone who could hurt you in a way I never could. Trust me, you don't want to end up the way everybody said I would," Faith stated quietly, "Alone, a loser, dead. Maybe it's too late for me, B. God knows I deserve it. But that's no reason for you two to be so scared. You can do this. You still have a chance. You still have choices. You still have a way out."

Cordelia's heart ached for the chained dark-haired woman. She longed to move forward and make her presence known; fulfilling the need she felt to let Faith know she was there for her, that she wasn't alone in this. But she could see that Faith was getting through to them. So as difficult as it was, she held herself back.

"I have to say that I, for one, am a little uncertain how a curse which appears to have only one way out, can be seen as a choice?" Giles absently questioned, immediately regretting speaking aloud and breaking into their conversation.

"Yeah. What's with the curse?" Willow demanded, jumping into the fray. "The body-switch! Why push this whole thing on us? What made you think that we…how could Angel know…how could they think…that I feel…that Buffy could feel…that we…feelings for each other…like that? Where did that come from…what? Why?" Willow babbled, immediately wishing she hadn't started as she caught Buffy's sharp intake of breath.

"Honey, anyone visiting the planet of 'Buffy and Willow' feels like they've been watching Brokeback Mountain meets Beaches. It's like watching a train wreck for God's sake. What you two need is to sit down for a truth or dare with Dr Ruth," Faith gibed, relieved that Willow was finally talking to her. "You're stuck in a rut, ankle- deep and safe. Both of you are so afraid to change anything, risk anything. You've gotten too comfortable. And friendly advice from your favorite Queen C and delivered by yours truly, the slayer you love to hate, just wasn't going to do it," she stated, unsure that even now she was getting anywhere. "You're not that big on the listening to your Watcher. So what chance did we have?" Faith commented nodding slightly towards Giles, who swallowed and looked away. "Let's see, if talking isn't enough to get you two lust bunnies together – then I don't know what is. Oh wait. But I do – what about making you two repressed Ellens walk in each other's sexually bottled-up hot little bods for a bit and watch the fireworks?"

"You watched?" Willow screeched, before she could stop herself, unable to believe what she had just heard, her mind a red haze of fury and embarrassment. Willow stepped towards Faith, yelling at the chained and obviously amused slayer, as she felt the heat beginning to rise both in her cheeks and, more frighteningly, in her current slayer blood. "How could you…that's sick…SICK!! When did you…even…? Even Xander wouldn't…okay – he'd think about it, but he wouldn't dare do it…PRIVATE!! Sooooo not for watching. There was…there were…circumstances. We were…it was about…" She paused trying vainly to remember what those two wonderful nights had been about. 'OH, yeah'. "Trying to break the curse…circumstances. Private!! And did I say – NOT FOR WATCHING." she finished, now almost within punching distance.

Cordelia just couldn't hold her laughter in and she howled as five pairs of eyes flew to her.

The mysterious stalker had watched Cordelia and Xander enter the mansion, somewhat bemused to discover their destination. The last place he had expected the pair that he had followed from the bus station to end up had been at some run down mansion, which looked like it had been left over from the Rocky Horror Show.

He had carefully followed them around to the back of the manor and into the courtyard. Glancing in, he could hardly believe his luck. They were all there, the entire group from Sunnydale, in a nicely deserted part of town. But then he saw Faith chained to the fireplace and he beat a hasty retreat back to the street.

Glancing around, he recalled that as he'd driven down the road earlier he'd noticed a payphone. Rushing towards it, he lifted the receiver and dialed, dropping his coins into the slot. "Sir, I have their final location. But we may have a bigger problem."

Cordelia strode forward, throwing a quick reassuring smile at Faith as she turned to Giles. "Are those really necessary?" she asked, gesturing towards Faith's chains.

"For the present, I would have to say yes," Giles concluded, glancing at Buffy. "Thank you for coming. Maybe now we can get a few things cleared up."

"I'm sure that's exactly what you'd like," Cordelia said, raising her hand to him. "But I want some time alone with Faith first," she stated, meeting Giles' questioning look with one of sheer determination. "I need to talk to her. Now."

He sighed, considering his options. It was probably a good idea to give Buffy and Willow a break, some time to think. Maybe some of what Faith had said would finally sink in. He had been quite impressed and had felt a sort of pride at the observations Faith had made, but her use of a curse to bring them together still bothered him greatly. Maybe Cordelia was the person she would talk to; explain why she had used the curse, where it had come from and why. Going on instinct, he nodded his agreement before turning to the all too-quiet duo and gesturing that they should move towards the back of the mansion.

Buffy gave him a questioning look of protest but the sight of Willow quietly doing as Giles had requested broke her objection before it began and she followed the woman she was far more concerned about.

"You'll excuse me if I don't go far," Giles commented, but Cordelia ignored him as she moved towards her chained friend.

Xander stood awkwardly, not quite sure where he should go. He really wanted to give Buffy and Willow some space but aside from hiding in the courtyard he couldn't think where he could go. Giles, seeing Xander's predicament, gestured for him to follow and headed towards the old entrance hall of the mansion's large living area. The Watcher was positive that in doing so they would be giving both pairs of women more than enough privacy without letting the dark Slayer out of their view. The sight of the door to his left and the memory of all that had happened to him in the room beyond caused a chill to run down the watcher's back, making him question his choice of relocation.

As they reached the back of the living area, Buffy reached for Willow and turning her, she placed her hand gently under the slightly red-faced chin of her beloved. Lifting Willow's slightly red face she smiled into her eyes. "We'll be fine," she reassured her before doing something she had been longing to do. Buffy pulled her beloved into a warm and tender embrace, closing her eyes and allowing herself to feel the warmth of their bodies.

Willow gave into the need for Buffy's warmth, her closeness, her breathing and, gasping in relief, she threw her arms tightly around the woman she loved so much that it was beginning to hurt. Everything had been brought up to the surface. She had seen what she thought was pity in Faith's eyes. She pitied them. The idea that anyone, especially Faith, could feel like that about them had thrown her. And then she'd gone and opened her mouth and asked or tried to ask the one question she had promised herself she wouldn't ask. The answer had been…too…she couldn't deal with what it might mean. But, if they'd been watched…Cordelia's laughter had washed over her like ice, numbing her mind.

Anya glared at the mansion, somehow believing that just the right thought, just the right phrase would make it crumble around its current inconsiderate occupants, leaving them standing in the ruins and knowing exactly how pissed off she was with them. Where did they get off treating her like she was a nobody? She missed the respect and recognition her powers had once brought her. People had sought her advice. She had often been admired and envied by lesser demons. But Xander's little group – the Scoobies. Bah! They treated her as an annoyance. Even Giles who, okay, had a little more class than most, often dismissed her very helpful insights.

They had allowed Willow to injure her and then, having promised to care for her, they had left her alone. Giles had taken Xander away from her. She'd sat stewing at first but Willow's telephone call had just pushed her over the edge. 'What am I – his answer machine? I don't think so. I have rights. Xander had explained about rights during Planet of the Apes. If guys dressed in really bad fur coats can have them so can I' she had decided before storming out of their apartment and heading across a part of town she would normally have avoided. Her anger was so evident in her striding form that those who had noticed her had given her a wide berth.

Taking a deep breath, she scrunched up her lips and squinted at the mansion in anticipation that she was about to let off some major steam and make them realize that she was a real person…that her needs were just as important as Buffy's or Willow's. Xander had stopped seeing to her needs because of Buffy and Willow, and the ex-demon was starting to get pretty irritable. Anya squared her shoulders and strode forward, her eyes so fixed on the heavy front door that she didn't notice the agile black shapes of men moving swiftly from both her right and left.

"What is it with you guys and bondage?" Cordelia quipped, shaking her head in mock shock as she locked relieved eyes with Faith.

"Wicked thrills, C. You should try it some time," Faith responded breaking into a beaming smile, unable to hide the sheer joy at seeing Cordelia.

"Yeah, that and letting someone drop hot wax on me are so not on my list of things to do before I die," Cordelia responded, feeling a slight warmth beginning in her cheeks at some of the thoughts that had momentarily nudged at the edges of her mind as she kneeled down in front of Faith. "So is this part of your cunning plan then?" she asked reaching forward and touching the manacles clamped around Faith's wrists.

"Not so much. But it has its upside. As long as I'm like this, they have to listen to me. I think I'm kinda getting through as long as B doesn't tranq me again," she noted.

"Tranq you?" Cordelia questioned, raising a confused eyebrow.

"There was a whole 'let's use a tranquilizer gun on Faith' episode. Kinda clever really…the downside being a totally fuzzed-up head and just getting the feeling back in my toes." Then seeing the concerned look on Cordy's face, she added "I'm five by five."

"Sure," Cordelia commented, giving Faith a look that said 'who do you think you're fooling'. "So exactly how far along are we?"

"Ooooh, still pretty much a three-ring circus but they're definitely not in the stands anymore…I can't think why they thought it was about sex, not my fault – honest," she grinned. "Well, let's just say that it all opened an unexpected door. They've played the pelvic duet, if you know what I mean," Faith said winking at Cordelia suggestively. "But damn it, C, that bitching denial fest of theirs is still in play – Go figure," Faith sighed. "You'd think that finally sleeping together would have set off some bells and whistles for the dumb duo. You know, a couple of orgasmic moments of clarity. I mean, I always had Red figured as kinda a closet sex kitten. With all that bottled up reserve and shyness, I was sure that she would be wild in bed. But hell, maybe it is B and her damn 'I can't do anything simple; everything has to be difficult' way of doing things."

"Okay, I think I know what you're saying. That is, I hope I do and I'm afraid to ask about the rest," Cordelia sighed in mock school teacher mode. "It seems that there's something wrong with the curse."

"You think?" Faith responded laughing.

"No, Faith. I really mean it", the Seer added more seriously. "Giles thinks there's something wrong with it. That's why he called and asked me to come."

"Giles called you?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, he seems to think there's more to the curse than we think," she stated, hating herself for holding back what little she knew and for doubting that Faith wasn't being completely honest with her.

"Like what?" Faith asked deeply concerned, her light-hearted tone gone.

"I don't know. Where was it you said you got it?" Cordelia asked as nonchalantly as she dared.

"The guy came highly recommended," Faith responded defensively, suddenly feeling as if Cordelia was quizzing her. "Why?"

"By who?" Cordelia fished.

Faith sighed before breaking eye contact and almost whispering "You're so not gonna like it."

"Faith!" Cordy pleaded, willing her to tell her the truth. She needed to know that Faith would tell her the truth. She needed to know that they could trust each other; that the friendship she had felt building over the past month wasn't just a fake, like so many before had been.

"A lawyer, the guy who…the guy who worked on…aah…the Mayor's estate," Faith whispered, cringing in anticipation of the screaming she was sure was coming.

Cordelia took a deep breath and held her temper. Now was not the time to go ballistic. She'd have to save that for later. "Would that be the same lawyer who tried to get you to kill Angel?" she asked, much too quietly for Faith's liking.

Faith nodded, dropping her head even further and scrunching her face up in anticipation of the blow-up.

"And why would you think that a recommendation from…That Firm would be a good thing. Just what part of your 'I wannabe blond brain' were you using to make that leap?" she spat. unable to hold her anger back.

"Hey…" Faith retaliated, in automatic indignation. "I used them to get what we needed. No one else had a contact who could help. I made sure. I watched that backwoods hick. He only cursed them to swap bodies for a month or until they confessed their love for each other. I read the wording…I checked. I was in control of the situation. That's all there was."

"Oh, so now you're a Lit major with a minor in Curses. Faith, he messed around with the wording. You read what he wanted you to read," Cordelia explained in exasperation. Then seeing the confusion in Faith's eyes, she gently added "Honey, they played you."

There has to have been a time when Buffy didn't look at Willow like that but Xander couldn't recall when it was. He remembered the sheer panic in Buffy's face when the Mayor and Faith had taken Willow or the look of loss he'd seen when Tara had come into their lives. But, exactly when he'd figured it out escaped him.

Listening to Cordy and Faith, (mainly because he couldn't help himself) he was less shocked than he thought he would be at Faith's observations regarding his two best friends. And a lot of what she was saying kinda made sense. Damn it. Cordelia's acceptance of it all was a real eye opener for him, though, and he was more than a little suspicious of the way she was talking to Faith, and the way they were looking at each other as well. He'd expected Cordy to throw around some sarcastic put down about his friends, some lame play on words but she'd actually seemed concerned for them. It all gave him the heebie-jeebies.

But, what really bothered him was why – if they'd all had these suspicions, why had no one had ever raised the subject. Maybe just like him, they had doubted what they thought they were seeing or like him they'd put it down to hormone fueled fantasies. But why would Cordy be…No. He shook his head to rid himself of that fleeting thought. It must have happened so gradually that the realization had been mostly subconscious – that had to be the 'why'. He had to face it – even he had needed the curse and Faith to open his eyes to his subconscious suspicions.

Glancing over at Willow and Buffy, his heart sighed to see them hugging. Lately they tended to keep such a respectable distance from each other, much more than usual, currently all big on the no personal space invasion. But things were changing and he liked it. And Xander couldn't help allowing a moment's concern to surface – that this would somehow change their relationship with him.

Recognizing a brief moment of jealousy, he grinned only to have his thoughts interrupted by the sound of loud knocking and a familiar voice yelling his name.

"Xander! I know you're in there. Xander!!" Anya yelled from the other side of the mansion's front door, long ago sealed shut.

Giles stared at him in amusement, annoyance and expectation.

"Xander, answer me. Let me in," Anya called, her voice raising an octave. If he could have seen through the door, he would have seen that she was stamping her foot in irritation.

"I can't. It's sealed shut," he replied, annoyed that she had tracked him down. What did she think he was up to?

"Well unseal it. Now! I need you to come home. You left me," she stated plaintively, causing Xander to sigh in resignation.

"Okay, okay. Go left and 'round to the back, there's a lane that leads to some stone steps," he explained, unwilling to leave and give up his ringside seat.

"Why can't you just come out?" she asked, aggravated that he wasn't rushing to her side

"Anya, just come around back, and I'll explain everything," he responded, certain he'd heard her huff in frustration.

"Okay, but it better be good. You should be at home resting and looking after me," she reminded him as she moved from the front door.

Giles smirked, not an expression that often ran across his controlled features. But watching Anya and Xander often made him more than grateful he was still single.

Buffy couldn't let go. She didn't want to ever let go. They had been holding each other for what seemed like an eternity but an awkward stillness had come over them and the warmth of the embrace had gone.

"This feels a little strange," Willow confessed, suddenly feeling very shy and uncomfortable.

Buffy sighed and gave Willow a quick squeeze, her mind overflowing with all that Faith had said. "I know. But ever since…I mean with all that's happened…all we've experienced…I've thought about…us…so much that…it's begun to feel real to me, Will. More real than I ever dreamed…"

"It has?" Willow asked, finally pulling herself from their embrace as she babbled to herself 'she's thought of me? Dreamed of me? How has she thought of me? What has she dreamed? Ever since we…Oh!!…THAT made her think of me!' She mentally blushed and continued to babble unable to comprehend why this information made her even more nervous and shy. "Really?"

"Really," Buffy assured her, trying to ignore the empty feeling in her arms. Lifting her head, she smiled to find Willow also gazing at her with eyes as big as saucers. "Do you know," she asked tilting her head, to gaze at Willow's face "that you look totally petrified in my face?"

Willow rolled her eyes, wishing she wasn't so transparent. "Yeah, I guess I am," she acknowledged.

"Me too," Buffy stated laughing nervously. "Downright terrified," she explained gulping as, despite all her misgivings, she stumbled towards what she knew she wanted to say…what she needed to say. All the while screaming at herself to 'take it slow, don't scare her off. You can do this.'

Willow raised her head, touched by the sheer sincerity in Buffy's voice. She allowed relief to flood over her.

"This isn't about Faith. I need you to know that, Will," Buffy began, uncertain why talking to Willow was suddenly more frightening than any fangy night crawler she'd ever met. "This isn't about the damn curse or the end of the world, Will. Hell, I don't know…maybe all that's happened has helped me get here sooner than…I would have. But you repeat that to Faith or Cordy and I'll throw you into a bucket of tadpoles," she threatened smirking.

"Okay," Willow responded, unsure where Buffy was going with this. "I think I've got it. Not about the curse, the end of the world or Faith. Never breathe a word, especially to Cordy or Faith," Willow repeated. "No tadpoles, please," she pleaded in a vain attempt at light relief, her voice almost breaking as her stomach began Olympic somersaults. Her mind had finally pulled the conversation together and what Buffy was talking about suddenly became scarily and wonderfully obvious! She didn't dare wish for what she thought Buffy was going to say. She just waited for Buffy to continue.

Buffy took a deep breath and began "I would really like the chance to…for us to…for me to get to…being so close to you…I mean, what we've shared…I think maybe there's a possibility that we could…I'd really like to…Not in that way! I mean that way was nice…" Buffy blushed and coughed. "More than nice…Mind blowing." Buffy gulped again, wondering if she'd ever get it out. She couldn't believe that now that she had finally decided what to do, finally decided to be honest – that she couldn't find the words.

Willow stood stony still, afraid to move. She'd considered not breathing but air had become an issue.

"What I mean is…I never thought that I would stand a chance…I mean you're so clever and smart, so beautiful, so brave…and if you don't want to…I'll understand…I'm probably not your type…but I…I'd like to get to know you better…that is…not in a friends' way but in a…Not that we're not friends…because we are…and always will be best friends", Buffy continued her Willow-like babble. "But in that…well, in this way," she said and giving up on words for a moment she reached forward to gently stroke Willow's cheek with the back of her hand, before leaning in and quietly adding "You know…like da…Dating?"

"Dating?" Willow whispered awkwardly, unable to stop herself from nervously laughing at Buffy's choice of words, as soft flames burned her caressed cheek, only to see her own face blanch in an all too familiar way. Willow's hand instinctively went to her beloved's, cupping it gently against her face. "You want to…date me?" Willow asked, her tone as bewildered as she. All she could do was blink, her mind in total disbelief. It did not compute. Those weren't exactly the words she had been hoping for, but heck…not bad…no, not bad at all…

"Yeah. Is that the wrong word or something? Is there some special word or terminology that I'm supposed to be using?" Buffy asked, her face now completely red. She tried to recall if Willow had ever used another word to describe the relationship she had had with Tara. She had never felt so like a fish out of water. Why wasn't there a book or a class? Yes, she could have taken a class – 'Lesbian speak for the clueless', something idiot-proof.

"No," Willow assured her, smiling as her heart seemed ready to burst at the meaning behind Buffy's words. "Dating is just fine. I just can't believe I'm…that you're asking…I mean you are asking, right?…You want to date me?"

"Yes, please," Buffy replied in a very small voice.

Willow's heart soared at the look she saw in the eyes of the woman she loved, and then the world seemed to explode before her, a blinding white light that screamed at her. Then she heard the explosion, so loud, so deafening, that throwing her hands up to her ears she closed her eyes. The pain was so sharp and falling to the floor she thought that her slayer-sensitive eardrums might shatter.

Part 28

Faith could still hear and feel the ringing in her ears as the explosion assaulted her senses. She'd caught sight of a figure dressed in black by the courtyard doors mere seconds before the world had been drowned out by a blinding white light and deafening sound. Straining at the chains, her slayer instincts told her that bad stuff was about to hit the fan and she needed to get free.

Deep male voices broke into her mind as the slayer healing allowed her to recover from the traumatic effects of the blast. "She's at the back" Faith heard one of them say and then the sound of many feet on the mansion's stone floor.

Feeling Cordelia's hand tighten around her wrist, she suddenly recalled that she wasn't alone. "C, you okay?" Hearing a grunt, she added "They're after B. Where is she?"

"What?" Cordelia yelled, trying to regain her hearing.

"Where's B…and Red?" Faith shouted back.

"At the back…I think," Cordelia replied shaking her head in the hope of removing the pain in her ears and the camera-flash effect that was fogging her eyesight.

Faith saw more dark shapes passing by her, moving towards the rear of the mansion. She strained at her chains, the need to do something overwhelming her. This was her party and she hadn't invited anyone else. "Buffy!" she called out, somehow feeling that by yelling out her counterpart's name she could at least warn her and help matters. "Someone, get me out of these fucking chains!!" she screamed in frustration, just as she noticed someone moving in front of her. Throwing out her leg, she heard that satisfying sound of him falling.

Xander had closed his eyes in frustration at Anya's behavior just as the flash and bang had hit. Having been deafened, instinct had kept his eyes closed until he heard the sound of running feet. Realizing something was terribly wrong, he pushed himself forward, only to be grabbed by a strong pair of hands and thrown backwards. Glancing up, he saw the familiar black uniform of his earlier attackers. 'Where had they come from? The courtyard…oh god, Anya?' but just as he was about to anxiously search for his girlfriend, he heard Faith call out, in what sounded like fear, to Buffy. A cold chill ran over him as, turning towards the fireplace, he saw Cordy crumpled in front of Faith, still holding her ears and vainly shaking her head.

For some strange reason he'd expected to see the dark Slayer gazing down at Cordelia but Faith was pulling and struggling with her chains, eyes fixed firmly on the back of the mansion. Turning to follow her gaze, he saw three big men moving towards Buffy and Willow.

Although Buffy was on her knees, he was reassured when he saw her lift her head, as they came towards her. But then Xander saw the expression of sheer confusion and panic on her face. 'Oh God, NOooooo' his mind screamed as he remembered that he was actually looking at Willow.

Willow gazed straight ahead, trying frantically to comprehend what had just happened. One minute Buffy was asking her out and the next she had been blinded and deafened. As her eyes cleared, she saw three men heading towards her. Fear overtook her, as she heard Faith's desperate voice calling out to Buffy. She glanced to her side to see the crouching form of Buffy and her intense need to protect what she had only just found overpowered her fears.

Buffy's world had been turned inside out. Her nervous anticipation of Willow's response to her request for a date had been shattered as she was first blinded and then deafened. Instinct made her drop to the ground, all romantic thoughts driven from her mind, as her senses were assaulted. As she'd buckled, her knees had hit the ground with such force that she was certain there would be yet more bruising. 'How does Willow cope? WILLOW!!'

Ignoring the searing pain in her ears and her temporary blindness, she tried to reach out and find Willow as her hands fumbled in search of her beloved. "Willow!" Shaking her head she tried to clear her vision before attempting to open her eyes. She needed to know what was going on, where Willow was, that she was safe.

Faith saw that the guys moving towards Buffy and Red were splitting up as another three positioned themselves around the room to secure their retreat.

Glancing towards the old hallway, she saw Xander turning his head towards Buffy and Willow but what caught her attention was the sudden look of concern and intensity that crossed his features. Knowing that he was about to throw himself into the fray with little or no hope of winning, she was filled with both jealousy at her inability to do the same and concern for him. And somewhere inside, she was unable to stop herself from resenting the fact that no one had ever done that for her.

A slight moan caught her attention and she looked down to see Cordy beginning to raise herself up from her partly fetal position.

What followed was chaos, as Faith watched Willow trying to regain her feet as two of the three men launched themselves at Buffy. Hearing a scream, the dark-haired slayer glanced to her right to see Xander being thrown to the ground.

She saw Giles was still huddled on the floor as Xander tried to get up again. A body flew past her and, turning back, she saw Willow, having dispatched one of her assailants, turning on the two men now trying to manhandle Buffy to her feet. "Go, Red!!"

Although both Slayers had the intense desire and almost physical need to fight these intruders and protect the others, each ached at her inability to do so. And so Faith physically prevented by her chains and Buffy magically removed from their usual Slayer strength by the curse, found themselves in the same uncomfortable position. Their eyes met in silent but mutual understanding across the room. This sucked big time. But neither one was going down without a fight!

Faith's jaw dropped with guilt as she saw Buffy giving her all as she tried to fight them off even though she no longer had her slayer abilities. Her attempts were nothing but an annoyance to the men. The dark-haired slayer yanked at her chains again as Willow grabbed one attacker by the scruff of his neck and simply pulled him off her best friend, kicking out at his partner's knees. She then launched into them with the same ferocity Faith had recently experienced herself. There was no technique, no style, just brute force. She could almost taste the raw anger in Willow.

Cordelia slowly stood up and glanced to her left, checking on Faith and having done so she took in the scene. Instinctively evaluating how best to help, she realized that they needed to get Faith unchained. Glancing back towards Giles, she made the assumption that the Watcher would have the keys and she launched herself towards him. However an arm appeared from nowhere and yanked her back by the neck of her blouse. Clutching her throat, she fell to the ground.

Xander saw Cordy being thrown to the floor and his male instinct to protect took over as he stood and yelled at the curled-up Watcher. "GILES! Get up damn it!" Ducking beneath the fists he knew were heading his way, he stepped forward dropping his head to barrel into his attacker.

Faith noticed Cordelia starting to regain her breathing when a thought occurred to her. "Cordy," she called out. "Get Buffy's weapons bag."

Cordelia glanced at her in confusion. "What?"

"The bag on the table. Get it to Buffy!" she instructed, nodding her head vigorously towards the stone table on her left.

Finally understanding, Cordelia slipped slightly as she regained her footing and she half-crawled and half-walked towards the table, still trying to recover her breath and stay out of their attackers' way.

Xander watched Cordelia's progress, and realizing where she was heading, he swerved to his right, just missing an upper cut intended for his chin. He embraced the first positive thought he had had since the attack had started – 'The tranquilizer gun.'

Buffy was furious and still a little dazed as she watched the battle before her. Willow was busy pounding the stuffing out of two black ops guys but through their arms and legs she saw two more men heading towards her Willow. Instinct took over and she moved behind Willow, momentarily forgetting her powerless situation. Finally past her initial attackers and closer to her weapons bag, she screamed "Here Cordy, to me."

Cordy shot a glance to her left as she reached the table and summoning her remaining energy she grabbed the bag and not having time to gauge its weight, she threw it towards Buffy. It fell short, twisting around as it skidded across the ground.

Xander realized he could probably reach it so he launched himself towards it. Sliding across the floor on his side and reaching out, he pulled the bag towards him. Glancing up, he realized he was now facing Willow and her attackers. He began to open the bag and, plunging his hand in, grabbed the stock of the gun pulling it out barrel first.

Buffy was almost there when she saw Xander slide to the bag. He didn't seem to see her as he glanced past her towards Willow. She fell to her still sore knees and reached for the gun, sliding her left hand into the trigger guard as Xander continued to raise the barrel. The next sound she heard was the whoosh of air as something shot past her left ear.

Buffy and Xander's eyes met in surprise as they realized what they had done and both looked back towards Willow just in time to see her freeze, stare back at them in shock and then fall to the floor. "Willow!!" they both screamed.

"No!" Faith exclaimed, seeing what had occurred. She gave a final, mighty yank at her chains but she only succeeded in causing her wrists to bleed.

Their attackers took a moment to realize what had happened but upon seeing that their only serious opposition had been taken out, they went right back to their mission. Turning towards Buffy, they moved in. Xander tried to get up but a kick to his gut came out of nowhere.

"Get off her, you limp mothers," Faith screamed as she saw them shove Buffy to her feet before placing a chloroform-soaked rag over her mouth. Then she saw Cordy launch herself at the man holding Buffy's right arm, only to be swatted aside by him with an elbow to her face.

"Cordy!" Faith screamed, hating how helpless she felt in the midst of the chaos and the injuries her friends [yes, friends] were sustaining.

Giles suddenly appeared out of nowhere, slamming his fist into the side of one attacker's face. 'Way to go,' thought Faith, as Xander positioned himself at the feet of the same man and threw his weight at him. "Knock his lights out," Faith yelled as she saw him fall over Xander. But when she saw the assailant careening towards her, she thought 'Oh hell.'

Buffy couldn't get free. Her only thought was that she needed to get to Willow but no matter how she hard she fought, she couldn't seem to get away from the strong hands holding her. She could hear voices yelling and she knew she was in a fight that she probably couldn't win but for once in her life she didn't care. Then a hand covered her mouth and the strange sweet and yet bitter smell brought the darkness.

She had seen a flash of light and heard a loud bang as she reached the top of the stone steps. Not sure what was going on, as well as hesitant and nervous, Anya cautiously made her way down the steps. Looking around for a weapon, she cursed herself for not bringing something with her. 'This is Sunnydale for goodness sake. I should always carry around an arsenal.'

Clutching her still sore ribs, she moved around the back of the courtyard to get a better look. Anya could hear yelling and shouting coming from inside. But decades of watching mankind and their petty squabbles, as well as her own current uncomfortable mortality, had taught her that charging in when you didn't know what was going on usually resulted in pain, and she'd had just about enough of that – thank you very much. Why everyone always had to refuse to run away when the odds were against them escaped her. Still, even she usually followed the crowd – most of the time unless no one was looking – like now. Although she did so love it when Xander looked sweaty, bruised and manly – she was pretty damn sure that this look was a macho thing, not at all an appealing unisex characteristic.

Anya stared at the two men before her. They were dressed in black from head to toe, loaded down with weaponry and watching events unfolding inside just as she was, perhaps about to join their accomplices. They were dressed just like Xander had last month when they'd enjoyed his new game – 'how ever can I thank you for saving me, Sergeant'.

She caught sight of Xander sliding across the floor and fear filled her as she spotted the three men surrounding Willow. Xander and Buffy seemed to be fighting over something…'What the…? Oh hell!!! They've shot Willow!'

Anya's open-mouthed amazement was tempered with more than a little bit of satisfaction as she saw the shocked expression on Willow's face. 'See, that's what it feels like,' Anya couldn't stop herself from thinking before Willow crumpled to the floor.

Despite the obstacles in her way, she saw Xander move towards 'his Willow' and Anya again felt jealous, wondering if he'd ever really told her the whole truth about his relationship with his childhood friend. He'd slept once with Faith and snuck around with Cordelia. He had always had the 'hots' for Buffy, with whom he spent most of his time getting sweaty and bruised in some battle or another. Now Willow was getting all sweaty and bruised. 'I have bruises. He should be at home finding me sexy', she reasoned.

But her thinking about fairness, truthfulness and what constituted sexy was rudely interrupted when she saw the men pile on Buffy and kick her Xander! Unable to restrain herself, but slowed down by her aching ribs, she forced herself to move towards the doorway. "HEY! Leave him alone," she yelled at the attackers, not one of whom turned to look at her.

Then Anya made a split second decision. Her physical presence wasn't going to prevent a bunch of muscle bound men from leaving the mansion, and in her present condition, there was no way she would be able to help get Buffy away from them. 'But, what if I follow them?'

Her decision made, Anya threw Xander an apologetic glance before stepping back into the courtyard and making her way towards the stone steps. Behind her, she could still hear the fighting inside. 'I should have time,' she decided. Anya headed for Xander's car, shuffling as fast as she dared, holding her ribs at every step, and glad that she had brought her car keys.

Giles shook his head, trying desperately to clear the effects of the attack from his mind and body. He watched as Xander lifted Buffy's…no…Willow's head gently and raised her into his lap, rocking her like a small child and calling her name. "Willow? Willow? Oh god!"

"She'll be unconscious for a while," Giles stated unnecessarily. Still reeling from the attack and having trouble focusing on the fact that they had just lost Buffy, he sat motionless staring at Willow, lying limp and unconscious in Buffy's body. His mind ran through every possible 'could have, should have' scenario. 'I should have sent them home. No. I should have kept Buffy with me. No. I should have released Faith as soon as Cordelia arrived. I should have been expecting something like this. The attack at the cemetery. The attack at Buffy and Willow's dorm room. How stupid could I be?' He was supposed to be the adult, their Watcher. He was supposed to prevent them from making mistakes, help them plan…Giles felt like a fraud, he felt so guilty. He'd been so wrapped up in solving this damn curse that he had ignored the very real threat posed by the unknown men in black, who had repeatedly appeared to them.

Cordelia groaned as she rolled onto her back, feeling like a train had run her over. "Okay, did someone get the number of the truck that hit me?" But when no one answered, she was forced to look around her. What she saw filled her with dread. Willow lay unconscious on Xander's lap. Faith was barely conscious and still chained. And Buffy was gone. They'd taken the Slayer. "Faith?" she asked fearfully.

"She kicked like a mule! Are you sure she wasn't the Slayer?" Slim asked holding and rubbing his injured leg. Payback hadn't gone completely as expected, but they got who they'd come for. So even if the score was Sunnydale 2, because of that damn dark-haired Slayer, Black Ops 1, they had ended up with the prize.

" No, she was just filling in for this one," the driver assured him.

"She doesn't look like much to me," he observed, looking back at the unconscious Buffy.

"Fully charged up, she'd eat us for breakfast," the driver stated. "If you'd ever been on the receiving end of a real Slayer you wouldn't be making stupid comments like that."

"Are you sure you tied her up properly?" the guy to his left asked.

"She's trussed up like a turkey. She's not going anywhere – especially in her condition," he responded, smiling in satisfaction at the hog-tied form that was curled up against the vehicle's rear.

Listening to their chatter, the driver responded "I'll call it in when we get back to base." A feeling of relief washed over him, 'about time I got to deliver a positive report.' He had the distinct impression that one more failure to separate the Slayer from the Witch, would have led to his taking quite a fall. Wolfram & Hart didn't really understand or tolerate continued failure from any of their employees; too many screw-ups and you were retired, permanently just as his predecessor had been.

Giles had unchained Faith at Cordelia's insistence. His hesitation lasted only a moment as he recalled the way she had baited Buffy and Willow, but also how intent she had been trying to get loose to help them. Although his instincts were telling him she was on their side, he was doubtful that his cognitive abilities had recovered completely from the battle and so he kept a watchful eye on Faith as Cordelia helped her to stand. Faith had been knocked out again. This time by the man who had landed heavily on her during his and Xander's vain attempts to protect Buffy. He could tell that having been rendered unconscious again had done nothing to improve Faith's disposition.

"Christ. Next time can you guys just let Buffy use the tranq gun?" Faith asked as her head continued to spin and her bones ached. She was feeling far more unsteady on her feet than she really wanted to admit and uncharacteristically she was letting Cordy take a good part of her weight as she moved away from the fireplace and those damn chains.

Cordelia smiled at her comments but noticing Faith's tendency to sag slightly at her knees, she realized that the dark Slayer was still trying to recuperate. Helping her towards the stone table where Buffy's weapons bag had been, Cordy helped her to sit. Assuring herself that Faith was not going to just lean forward and fall off, she let go of her and reached down to take a look at her bruised and bloodied wrists.

Ignoring Cordelia's interest in her wrists, Faith swallowed her feelings of failure at having been unable to help them keep Buffy and Willow safe. Glancing at Xander and his unconscious childhood friend, she asked "How's Red?" When no one responded she added, "C, I'm five by five. See to Red."

"There's nothing I can do for her until the tranquilizer wears off," Cordelia stated, glancing at Xander and Willow. The affectionate sight before her seemed to open old wounds and she quickly returned her attention to Faith's injured wrists.

Anya stayed as far back as she dared. She had seen this done on TV. She knew that every time the rookie cop followed too close – a high-speed chase resulted. Anya didn't do high speeds anymore. She'd promised Xander after that very rude traffic cop had explained that the sign reading 110 she'd seen when getting onto the highway wasn't a speed limit.

The van had shot off at first and she'd almost lost it twice. But now that they'd left downtown Sunnydale and were headed towards the docks she'd found it much easier to follow. Her side still ached and all this concentrating was starting to make her head hurt as well. Anya wasn't exactly sure where she was but what she was sure about was that she needed to do this. She hadn't been able to fight but she could think. She was an intelligent ex-demon and it was about time they realized how useful she could be. She'd show them all that her way was best. Anya smiled to herself in the certain knowledge that Xander would be pleased she had helped rescue his Buffy.

'There will be lots of celebratory sex,' she assured herself.

Cordelia was right. Damn her! As frustrating as it was, there was nothing that Xander could do but wait for Willow to come out of it in her own time. But that just left him even more time to feel totally guilty. 'How the hell did they get passed us?' he wondered. 'We used to be a pretty tight team. And I'm a main member of the team. Okay, I was more GI Joe than Action Man but, hey, I kill vamps…well, I help kill vamps. Hey, Willow and I staked four last month.' His mind went into meltdown as he realized that he wasn't going to find a good reason for believing he could have stopped those guys. And, worst of all, that by shooting Willow with the tranquilizer gun, he'd actually helped them take Buffy.

He glanced around him and saw the same mortified look on Giles' face. As their eyes locked, each acknowledged their mutual pain and what was now required – action. Glancing at his body-switched best friend, Xander sighed and released his last self-indulgent thought before slowly removing her head from his lap and gently laying it onto the hastily improvised pillow that Giles had placed below her head. Looking up at Giles, he nodded "Okay G-man, what do we do first?"

Giles stared at him, momentarily at a loss. He knew that something needed doing and for a split second when Xander had looked at him he'd known what it was. But looking at his Slayer…no…his temporary Willow-slayer, he was drawn back to his failures.

"I'd say getting Willow the hell out of here before they come back for another round of 'please whup my ass' would be tops on the list," Faith chimed in.

"Agreed," Giles responded before he could help himself. Faith was a Slayer, her instincts seemed good and her thinking seemed a little clearer than his. Maybe if they…'What the hell am I doing? She's not my Slayer – Buffy's my Slayer. Faith is at least one of the reasons we're all in this mess,' he reprimanded himself. Fighting the sudden urge to take out his frustration at the recent events on the dark Slayer, he internally shook himself. "I mean…it would seem that relocating would be the best option. We will need to regroup, gather what we need and let Willow recover before we can do anything else. Cordelia, I need you to get Angel to find out where the devil those guys may have taken Bu…Buffy. I suggest we move Willow to…" But he couldn't think of where to move everyone.

Xander stared at Giles and his rather unnerving goldfish impersonation, as the Watcher unsuccessfully open and closed his mouth but remained uncharacteristically wordless, before jumping in. "Back to my place," the young man suggested. "So far, they've visited the dorm, cornered Giles on his way to the magic shop and now attacked us here. They must know where Buffy lives, so it's either my place or over to Willow's mom," he explained in response to their puzzled looks.

"Yours it is," Cordelia decided, a cold shiver running down her spine as she recalled her one and only meeting with Mrs. Rosenberg during that weird MOO incident.

"You had better let Anya know…" Giles mumbled, before recalling that Anya had been in the area and Xander had been speaking to her when all hell had broken out. "Anya?"

"Anya!!" Xander roared as he shot to his feet and launched himself at full speed towards the courtyard, afraid of what he might find.

Willow couldn't get the heaviness to lift from her mind and body. She felt as if she was being dragged down into the depths. Something was disabling her sense of up and down, left and right. She couldn't open her eyes. She didn't seem to be able to get her mind under control, let alone her senses. But one single image was burned into her brain – the pained and apologetic eyes of…herself?…no…her beloved.

Why had Buffy looked at her that way? What had she done? How had she…? No. Maybe it wasn't that she'd done anything. Had Buffy said something? Something important…something…bright…blinding…black? Her thoughts became jumbled as she tried to catch hold of the answer but it seemed to fly around her, just out of reach, as hands reached out for her…pulling at her.

Xander stood at the front of the mansion, his heart pounding and his breath sharp. He'd looked everywhere but there was no sign of Anya. Staring up and down the road he ran through everywhere he'd looked, checking each place off in his mind. 'Oh god, she's gonna kill me,' he thought as he pictured her lying somewhere hurt, bleeding, calling for him. 'They've taken her too! No. Wait. Why would they want Anya? But where is she?'

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. Turning towards – 'where the hell is my car?' Xander glanced back up the street in case he hadn't parked where he'd remembered parking but nope. His car was gone. Why would my car – 'Anya? She's taken my car. She's run away. But why would she need my…car! OH!! Oh my god! Anya, you clever little bunny.' He stood staring at the now vacant spot where his car had been, a stupid smirk of satisfaction and pride plastered across his face.

Buffy opened her eyes – at least she thought she had but all she could see was the same blackness as before and the distant murmur of voices and machinery. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to stretch only to find herself bound. Taking in her situation – her thirst and the strange taste in her mouth, she realized that she'd been drugged…no chloroformed. They'd used chloroform.

Her attempts to move had been in vain and she realized that her arms were tied wrist to elbow behind her back. She'd felt a mutual and very uncomfortable pulling when she'd tried to move. From her straining, she deduced that her ankles although tied together were somehow connected to her arms. 'Looks like they want me to stay around,' she thought angrily.

They had her hog-tied and blindfolded, and she had no idea where she was. 'Just your average, everyday gig in the life of a slayer. Only I'm not the Slayer…well not really, not right now anyway. I've been neutered. Willow's the Slayer now…Oh God, Willow! Did they get her too?' She dragged her mind back trying to recall what had happened just before – oh Goddess – Willow had fallen. She had seen her go down. She had shot her!

"NO," Buffy screamed. "Where is she? What have you done with her? If you harm just one hair on her head I'm going to introduce you to a world of pain. You're going to beg me to kill you," she screamed as a thousand horrifying images filled her mind. Could Willow be bleeding in a dark cell like this one…alone…tied and bound? 'OH Goddess!'

Willow could hear noises…no…voices. But what were they saying? She strained through the fog that filled her head. Giles…that was Giles. What was he saying? He sounded so far away.

"Anya must have seen them come in," Giles reasoned.

"I didn't see her," Faith commented, recalling that she'd glanced at the courtyard more than once to check on the two guys keeping their exit covered. "What was she doing hiding?"

"Knowing Anya, I'm not sure that she wasn't doing just that. Willow broke two of her ribs the other day and I somehow doubt she would have been much use in a fight nor in the mood to throw herself in harm's way again," Giles explained, partly understanding and yet partly resenting Anya for probably just watching.

"Can't say I blame her," Xander stated. "None of us were injured before and look how much use we were," he said, sharing his dismal opinion of their performance.

"So she's taken your car, which you believe means she's trying to follow them?" Giles queried doubtfully, not sure that Anya would be that clear thinking in a crisis.

Faith stared at Xander as if he was crazy. She'd been watching them all for a while now and there was nothing she'd seen that could make her believe that Xander's new squeeze was someone to have around in a fight. All she had concluded was that the ex-demon liked money and sex – not that she could really fault her logic on either score, but that didn't really give you a basis for believing the woman had the balls to follow the guys who had just creamed them all. But she kept her thoughts to herself and her mind open.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow in the direction of Giles before changing the subject. "So let me get this straight. We've lost Buffy, Xander's wheels are – elsewhere, Faith's running on fumes and Willow's still unconscious after getting 'tranqed' by Buffy and Xander. And our best hope is that Xander's ex-demon girlfriend is following the bad guys," she summed up for everyone before turning back to Giles and asking "Okay, so where did you park?"

Giles grimaced, thinking of his poor Citroen.

Buffy wallowed in her misery. She had shouted herself hoarse, and now found herself with the time to wonder how she could have been so close to what she had dreamt about and hoped for only to have it all taken away. The attack had prevented her from hearing Willow's response to her request for a date; indeed, it had been a request for a new future. It was like a sick joke was being played on her, on them both. She'd seen the surprise and what she had thought and hoped was joy in her best friend's eyes. And then all hell had broken loose. Sometimes she just wished for a dull, normal life; where nothing unexpected ever happened and no one ever got hurt because of her.

She'd had that life once or so she'd thought. Her parents had still been happily married, she was popular, she was one of the star cheerleaders and she was a girl whom all the people she had believed were the best and right people wanted to be with. Her life was full of achievement, praise, enjoyment, and everything had seemed to come so easily to her. But then he had arrived…her first watcher, turning everything in her life upside down. And no matter how hard she tried to keep it all together, everything had fallen apart. Somehow she had become one of those people that others talked about in hushed voices, nudging each other as she went past and never daring to meet her gaze. Then they'd just ignored her, something that hurt her more than she cared to admit.

Her mother had moved them after the divorce and her expulsion from Hemery High School, which had resulted due to the fact that she couldn't explain that she'd only burned down the school gym because it housed a large nest of vampires. She'd held out hope that here, well away from her past she could start again with a normal life. But the first day at her new school proved that Sunnydale would be worse than Los Angeles had ever been – her mother had moved them to the Hellmouth.

When she'd met Willow, she found someone she understood and who understood her, someone who deserved more, someone kind and intelligent. Heck, Willow was the resident genius. Willow was someone so special that it constantly amazed her that the girl seemed to be willing to be around her, let alone help her.

Over the years she'd come to think of herself as lucky to have had the experience she'd had of falling from grace in Los Angeles before moving to Sunnydale. Otherwise she would have just slid into the elite world of the popular and overlooked Willow, just as so many others had.

Willow had filled her world with magic and yet with a kind of stability, making what she had to do worthwhile and even enjoyable. She would have given up or been killed long ago if it had not been for her best friend. Willow had stayed when she could have gone. Colleges from all over this and many other countries were falling over themselves to offer Willow admission. She could have moved on with her life, gone to a safer place and left Buffy behind. But she'd chosen to stay, to help her 'with the good fight'. That decision had produced the one moment when Buffy came the closest she'd ever gotten to telling Willow how much she meant to her by blurting out 'I kinda love you' in a moment of relief and exuberance that had been easily misunderstood as a declaration of true friendship.

And then finally, after all that Faith had put them through or maybe because of it, she'd found the courage she had always lacked. She'd overcome her fears, her nightmares. Maybe her eyes had been opened by the body-switch, maybe the sweet taste of heaven in Willow's embrace had pushed her there.

Damn it! How could she be expected to give that up, the feelings, the knowledge of how they could be? Hadn't she given enough up already?

She felt helpless and weak – two things she hated feeling. The last time she'd felt like this – the damned Council had forced Giles to help inflict that sick Cruciamentum test on her. And she and her mother had almost died because of it. But they hadn't died. And she'd learned that being a slayer was about more than her strength, more than her healing powers, more than her training. It was a calling and obligation. 'Oh hell, now I'm starting to sound like Giles.'

But today despite her so-called slayer inner strength, she'd been captured and brought here against her will; wherever the hell here was. And she still didn't have any answers. She still didn't know what was really going on and all she could think of was Willow. What had they done to her? Would she ever see her best friend…her true love again? Why hadn't she been more forceful, straightforward? 'Damn it! Why didn't I just tell her I'm hopelessly in love with her, and always have been?'

Anya turned off her lights and engine as she coasted to a stop by the beginning of the wire fence. Glancing to her left, she could just see them. They were struggling with something – 'Oh god that's Buffy.'

She glanced around looking for a sign, anything that might give her a clue as to where the she'd ended up. Then she saw it. The faded blue lettering – 'Aries Holdings' – okay, that's a start. But now she needed a street name or something. What was it with the docks, poor lighting and no street signs? A movement caught her eye and she realized that one of the men was heading towards the gate, towards her. Her heart jumped into her throat and she dropped down behind the steering wheel. 'Why the hell am I doing this? I never had to go through any of this crap with D'Hoffran. He knew I was special.'

She heard the sound of steel wheels moving across concrete and sighed. 'He's just closing the gate.' Slowly she lifted her head, to make sure that she was right, peeking through the upper arch of the steering wheel. Relief washed over her as she saw him padlock the now closed gate and turn back to the warehouse. "Okay, now where the hell am I? I am so making Xander buy a 'sat nav'."

Giles paid the cabdriver as Xander carried Willow up the stairs to his apartment. The journey had been somewhat stressful and agitating. Giles had been quite forceful with the semi-conscious Willow, who had wanted to head out to look for Buffy there and then. He'd noted that Faith had almost smiled to see her own usual reaction at having to wait in someone else – in Willow.

Cordelia stood by the cab, still supporting Faith as they glanced at each other, both unsure what was coming next. But now that they had arrived at Xander's, they both knew that some serious discussions were about to happen.

"Shall we?" Giles encouraged, his instincts still kicking in where Faith was concerned.

Cordelia turned to Faith and smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, it'll be okay."

"Sure," Faith muttered without much confidence as they made their way towards the stairs.

"Listen. Trust me. Xander may think he's a major player now but even he's not dumb enough to get on the wrong side of the two of us. We know too much," Cordelia pointed out.

"Yeah. Cool," Faith responded, a small grin spreading across her face. She nodded behind them towards Giles, "If granddad gets out of line, I'll take his left leg, you take his right," she suggested raising a wicked eyebrow. "Pretty soon he won't have a leg to stand on."

Giles was slightly disconcerted by Cordelia's sudden laughter and the backward glance of amusement she threw over her shoulder at him. But what had really caught his eye was the way that Cordelia, a woman he'd always known to be more interested in her own reflection than anyone else, appeared to be going out of her way to look after Faith. Hearing her defend the dark slayer was one thing but watching her offer comfort and support was quite another.

There was more to these two than met the eye and Giles wondered if he could really trust Cordelia's loyalty to them to override her apparent loyalty to Faith. Things could get tricky if he was going to have to watch both of them.

"Yes sir. We have her secured at the agreed location," the leader of the attack squad assured his boss.

"Good. It's about time. I was beginning to wonder if you were up to the job." the lawyer commented, not trying to conceal his threat at all. He had never felt that praise worked as an incentive with these damn Rambo types. He wanted to make sure that they didn't slacken off and relax. The last thing he needed right now was to lose the advantage he had worked so hard to achieve. "Check in every eight hours and be prepared for anything."

"Sir, our exit was 'text book'. They have no idea where we are," he was assured.

"Trust me when I say that not knowing where you are will not last for long. Do not underestimate this group. They are resourceful. We only have tonight and tomorrow to get through. Tomorrow night the lunar eclipse takes place. Remember all you need to do is keep her away from the Witch. Keeping them apart until sunrise – that's your job," he stated, laughing to himself because he knew that if everything went according to plan there would be no sunrise.

"I'm aware of my orders sir," he almost snapped. God, he hated sucking up to the suits. He'd like to get them all out on just one of his training gigs and see how they coped.

"I'm sure you are. But be assured that should you lose control of the situation again, I will have to carefully reconsider your future with the firm," the lawyer threatened one last time, just for fun as he began to feel success approaching. This had taken a lot of planning, and at first it had almost seemed improbable that it would succeed. But then the dark slayer had fallen into his lap. His standing with the senior partners would be assured, as long as everything went according to plan. And for that, he needed his men motivated.

"Yes sir," the attack leader responded, feeling the beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead as he tried to recall if he had set up the sentries.

Cordelia had settled Faith on the wrap-around sofa and made her call to LA. Giles had tried to listen to what she'd said but Willow had been pretty much ranting for action through most of it. Only when Xander stepped in to remind her that if the attackers had wanted Buffy dead they'd have just killed her back at the mansion, did Willow finally relent long enough for the Watcher to catch Cordelia's parting instructions.

"Okay. Well, get back to me as soon as you can," she directed. "No, no. We'll call if we need you." Hanging up the phone, she stared at it, deep in thought for a moment before turning to Giles and seeing his concerned expression, offered him assurance. "We should hear something soon."

"Right then. Well, in the meantime and without interruptions," he stated glancing meaningfully at Willow, "I think it would be useful if Cordelia and Faith ran us through the events that led to the body-swap."

Cordelia looked at him with concern and throwing a very slight glance towards Willow she asked him "All the events?"

"Buffy's been captured. I really think the time for keeping certain things to ourselves, not matter what the reason, has passed," Giles stated firmly.

"Keeping what things?" Willow asked, before realizing what he was referring to. "OH!" she muttered, no longer sure that she wanted to find out in detail what the future events were that Cordelia had seen.

Anya slowly made her way back to town; at least she thought she was heading towards town. She could make out some very bright lights ahead of her. Turning left, she almost plowed into a parked construction crane before slamming on her breaks. "Where on earth did that come from?"

Getting back into downtown Sunnydale was not going to be as easy as she had thought. Cursing herself for going against her instincts and trying to be helpful, she reversed the car back into the road she had just left, and this time she went to the right. "Ma Jun, where are you when I need you?" She fondly recalled her time in the three kingdoms of China. "Those were the days; honored and feared, not forced to go on senseless, dangerous missions to ensure sex." Ma Lun had offered her all of his nephew's inventions to prevent her from exacting the terrible revenge his wife had called for – "A south pointing chariot that's what I need. No, no, that's not what they call it now. A compass, that's it! People navigate using a compass. I could learn how to…but I don't have a…" She glanced up at the darkening sky. "Where the hell am I?" she yelled, pulling the car to a stop.

Then she heard it. An engine and music! Glancing in her rearview mirror, she was almost blinded by two bright headlights and what appeared to be a halo of blue lights in the shape of cow horns. As the eighteen-wheeler whooshed its air brakes and pulled along side, she glanced up to find a large hairy-armed man staring down at her. "Well hello darling," he greeted her with a Texan twang. Anya was struck by how much like Olaf he looked – large, dim and easily distracted by a friendly female. Anya smiled, 'Thank goodness men are so stupid.'

Faith hadn't been able to look at Willow as Cordelia had recounted her vision. She knew the pain that she would see in Willow's eyes; the kind of pain she had often brought people in what she fervently hoped was and would remain her prior life. She shrank into herself, recalling how she'd once captured Willow, how badly she had treated her. Only now did she realize the kind of pain Buffy must have experienced not knowing, having to decide what to risk to get her back.

"I'll kill him," Xander exclaimed, unable to drown out the boiling anger that welled within him as his mind visualized all that Cordelia had described.

Giles, however, merely nodded before adding "I see. Well, that certainly explains your somewhat eager and unorthodox approach to bringing Willow and Buffy together." He had long since removed his glasses and now he found himself staring at them blankly.

"You think?" Cordelia responded. "We couldn't risk letting that happen. Okay, maybe our plan was somewhat extreme," Cordelia noted, glancing at Faith, "But the general feeling was that only drastic action would drag these two out of their respective closets."

"Not in a closet," Willow grumbled, her brain scattered into fragments. It was one thing to suspect what Cordelia had seen. It was quite another to know exactly what the powers that be had shown her. She found herself numbed and enraged, swinging from disbelief to anger to guilt.

Cordelia ignored her comment; pretty sure that it didn't need a response. "The switch was meant to end at the lunar eclipse and Faith came here to keep the vamps at bay in the meantime."

"I thought by now…something would have…happened', Faith commented.

Giles looked towards Willow whose face was frozen. "I believe that something did," he stated. "However, it appears that events have overtaken your wishes on this subject." He glanced outside into the dark night, 'where had the day gone?' "We now have only one day in which to find Buffy."

"One day?" Cordelia questioned.

"The lunar eclipse will occur tomorrow night and our understanding of the subtext within the curse is that unless we find Buffy, and she and Willow deal with the curse before then, the sun will not rise again," Giles explained.

"We'll find her," Willow declared, raising her chin in grim determination.

Xander sighed, "It's not just finding her though, is it? Will, you need to tell her."

Willow glanced into his concerned face and bit her lip, "I know. I almost did. She…she asked me…Before we were attacked Buffy asked me…for a date."

"Buffy did the asking?" Cordelia jumped in, almost unable to believe that the straight-laced blonde had found the guts to ask.

"Oh Will! That's great, that's wonderful. Then you two…Hold on if you two had…You're still Willow right…" Xander rambled before turning to Giles in confusion and asking, "Why didn't they swap?"

"I didn't get a chance to say…Yes," Willow explained, her head dropping in sheer embarrassment and guilt. If only she'd spoken…if only she hadn't made that silly quip about Buffy's choice of words.

"Have you checked on her yet?" the attack leader asked, his memory of the lawyer's threat still fresh.

"Like she's going anywhere soon," Slim cracked in amusement.

"Just do as you're told. Check on her now," he growled in frustration.

"Okay, okay, no problem," the other replied in an annoyed fashion, before trudging off.

Picking up his radio, he hit the ALL button and ordered, "Guys I need you to keep focused. We cannot afford to underestimate this group. Hell, we've already had our butts handed to us twice by one of them. Keep it together," he ordered.

Turning the radio off, he sighed. 'It shouldn't be this hard."

Willow had made her way onto the balcony in need of some night air. Everyone was talking as if she wasn't there anyway.

The room was hemming her in and all she wanted to do was go, search and find her beloved. And tell her YES. Tell Buffy that she'd been waiting most of her life in the vain hope that she would one day want her, need her, care for her. To let her know that she would happily spend the rest of her life loving her, supporting her, keeping her safe…'Oh, and you did such a bang up job of that, didn't you?' she berated herself.

'I'm a joke as a slayer. I'm all book learning, research and no experience. I'm surprised Giles let me out at all. I could've got us all killed. Who the hell did I think I was – Sylvia Stallone? I should have stuck to what I know – Magic.' "MAGIC, why the hell didn't I think of that before?" she shouted to the world in general before gathering her thoughts.

'There has to be a way to combine them.' Giles once explained how magics had been used to create the slayer. Therefore, she reasoned some residual magic must exist within the line. Maybe that was what laid dormant in potentials?

Part 29

Giles recalled watching the sun setting as they had waited for the cab to take them to Xander's apartment. Despite being sure that a slayer would be of better use out there, he hadn't wanted to let Faith out of his sight just yet. However, merely an hour later, sitting here debating how to approach their problem and waiting for Wesley to call back, Giles found that he was now questioning his very own motives.

Cordelia's description of the vision and Faith's recollection of the man that had sold her the curse matched everything they had seen in their joined visions or had subsequently surmised. Nothing remained to make him doubt that Cordelia and Faith's motives were honest and well meaning, although they may have been a little extreme in their actions

"Whilst I can understand your hesitation at asking Angel for help, we do have Faith; and another slayer could prove to be beneficial in the long run. I know that you've had some training, Willow. But your powers are borrowed. A fully-trained and experienced slayer may be just what we need to get Buffy back safely," he explained, responding to Willow's insistence that they wouldn't need any help from LA.

"Count me in," Faith responded quickly, before turning to Willow and adding a little more quietly, "If that's okay with Red?"

Willow ignored her offer and turned to Giles. "I've been thinking about that. I know I'm not a…a real slayer but I am a real witch. There must be some way of using my other abilities. I mean…wasn't the original Slayer brought about by the use of magics?"

"Yes. There was an element of magic involved but I don't see how…Oh, you mean that within the slayer powers there may be reside enough residual magic ability to allow you to channel a spell! Interesting. Although I'm not sure if this far down the line…Well, it's certainly worth investigating," Giles concluded, clearly impressed by Willow's theory.

The folder was titled Special Projects Division but try as he might, Wesley couldn't get the file to open. He'd tried every hacking code Willow had ever passed on to Cordy. In desperation he had tried typing in Wolf, Ram & Hart in Hebrew, Latin and even ancient Babylonian to no avail. "Damn it." He tried to download the file unopened but it just wouldn't copy.

"Wesley! We need to be leaving," Angel pointed out, glancing through the crack in the door. Breaking in had been just a little too easy and he couldn't shake the nagging feeling they were being watched.

"I know, but there's something good here. I just can't seem get to at it," the former watcher whined in frustration.

"We'll take what we've got. It's time to go," Angel declared as he saw a guard once again turn into their corridor, check a couple of doors and then turn back long before reaching theirs. He knew there was a stairwell at the end of this corridor and that it just didn't make sense to only check the first few doors. Something stank and he wanted out. "Now!" he insisted, watching the guard turn left and out of his sight.

"Okay, okay," Wesley replied, his hand catching the floppy disk as it ejected and placing it into his inner jacket pocket. "I'm done."

Anya pushed open the apartment door with bravado and made her entrance in anticipation of the guilt from Xander and the others, and many hours of sex that she was sure her news would bring. As every head turned her way she smiled. Attention was good. She'd missed it. But the silence she encountered was irritating. "Does no one wish to hear how I have saved the day and praise me for yet another valuable contribution to this dysfunctional romance?" she asked.

"Anya!" Xander exclaimed moving towards her. "Are you okay?"

"Like you care," she spat. "You let me walk into a slaughter. Okay, not a real slaughter. Nobody does slaughter properly any more. Besides you're still alive and there were no dead babies sitting on spikes," Anya commented. Then her pitch rising as she recalled his behavior, she continued "But there you were risking your already wounded body, for her – again," she said throwing Willow an accusing glare. "For both of them."

Xander ignored the glare, knowing he didn't want to open that can of worms again. "Okay, kinda losing me on the dead babies front, but I get it. Anya, I get it," he assured her, realizing that he had scared her again. "I went looking for you, but you'd already taken the car," he explained.

"I followed them to their poorly lit, badly sign-posted place of hiding and then I asked a truck driver for directions…"

"A truck driver?" Xander interrupted, raising an eyebrow in concern. "You followed a bunch of mercenaries, not knowing where they were going or if they'd seen you. And then you ask a complete stranger…" Xander ran out of words.

"He was very helpful," Anya quietly explained, soothed by Xander's concern.

"I'm sure he was but, Anya, he could have been working for them. How did you know he wasn't part of the gang? He could have dragged you off and…Okay; we are so recapping the 'not talking to strangers' lesson."

Irritated, Anya replied, "I have a brain you know. I can completely lie to the health inspector when I have to," she said looking at Giles for support before turning back to Xander. "I distracted the truck driver with the untrue possibility I might provide him with sex. He was very accommodating. He seemed to have no problem realizing that I shouldn't be left all alone," she pointed out; hurt that Xander didn't trust her judgment.

Watching Anya begin to throw back her shoulders and extend her chin, Giles interrupted, eager to prevent bloodshed. "Xander, I'm sure Anya was very careful and Anya, I'm sure we are all very thankful to you for putting yourself in such danger," he stated, knowing that the ex-demon had probably just been very lucky. Throwing Xander a look that said 'shut up, you're only making it worse' he proceeded "So where did they take her?"

"To a dingy old warehouse just off Lanning Street…near the docks," Anya replied satisfied that someone realized how selfless her actions had been. "The sign said Aries Holdings but I don't know how much use that will be. It looked disused to me. There was no night watchman and the framework seemed in serious need of repair. There were many holes and patched-up areas. I saw four more men greet them, but I have no idea how many more were inside."

"Thank you Anya," Giles said, feeling that maybe he had underestimated the ex-demon after all.

"My pleasure. Oh, I told Hank I was staying with my elderly uncle," Anya absently advised Giles. "Please let him down gently when he calls. He said I was priceless."

"And that you are," Xander agreed, wide-eyed and not at all sure if or how Anya was still as naïve as she appeared.

Giles glared at her and, refusing to honor her comment regarding his age with a response, he changed the subject back their present concern. "It would appear that they are going to hold onto Buffy until after the lunar eclipse tomorrow night," Giles pointed out. "We appear to be running out of time."

Buffy couldn't believe that she was crying. She wasn't even sure why but she had felt the welling and then the thin stream of tears as they began to run down her cheeks. Thankful that no one could see her, she let the tears fall. Visions of Willow hurt, scared and injured filled her mind. Was this the end? Was what they had, what they had shared all they would ever have? Was Willow now lost to her forever?

She recalled the sweet tenderness with which they had made love…oh and it had been making love. Of that she was now sure. Parker had shown her what just having sex was. And Willow had been nothing like him. There hadn't been any false protestations or promises from Willow. Instead every touch and gesture had been genuine, gentle and full of honest emotion. She sighed as she recalled how safe and cared for Willow had made her feel.

'Was that how it had been between Willow and Tara,' Buffy wondered. What had she been so afraid of? She hadn't felt unnatural or awkward, not with Willow. She couldn't imagine being with anyone else and feeling so right. Did Willow now know? Had she said enough? Would she now realize that Buffy had been making love to her?

Cordelia smiled at Xander in amusement as Anya, still irritated by his earlier behavior, sat at the dining room table pointedly avoiding him and awaiting his overtures of apology. "She's gonna eat him alive," Cordy commented to Faith, as she gently smoothed a healing ointment onto her companion's right wrist.

"Yep," Faith agreed. "He's whipped and loving it. Never figured he'd take that from anyone but Buffy and Willow," she continued, as they both, without any subtlety whatsoever, observed and enjoyed the domestic bliss that was Xander and Anya.

"Anya? Honey? You know I wanted to be at home with you," he offered, slowly edging towards her, knowing from past experience that she needed reassurance.

"Oh, and that's why you went off bruise-hunting with Giles. It seems to me you just like putting your life in danger, Xander. I've seen some horrible things in my time…I've been the cause of many of them actually…" she stated, smiling in fond remembrance. Shaking her old self off, she continued, "I just don't understand why?"

"Anya, it's not like I knew we were going to be attacked," Xander complained.

"But you were attacked and I saw you. You always get attacked. You put your life in danger for them and they don't even sleep with you! Sometimes I'm not even sure they like you all that much – so they probably never will sleep with you. But you still risk your life. It's like you're some Lesbo groupie. I mean, look," she said gesturing towards Faith and Cordelia. "Now we have two more."

"WHAT??!" Cordelia exclaimed, dropping Faith's hand like a hot potato. "Who the hell do you think you're calling a…a…"

Faith's jaw dropped and then she laughed. "Lady, you got a lotta brass."

"Anya, they're not lesbians. At least I don't think…I mean they're friends. Cordelia's just tending to Faith's wounds like any bosom buddy would…like Willow would tend to Bu…" Xander flailed, stopped by the mental picture now forming in his mind, his expression rapidly becoming vacant.

"HEY!" Cordelia snapped, recognizing that Xander was about to formulate one of his infamous little fantasies. She stood and marched towards him. "Perv!" she exclaimed as she planted a well aimed slap on the back of his head.

"Oww!" Xander yelped, drawn out of his thoughts by the blow. Glaring at Cordy, he reminded her "You never minded before."

"You lost the right to do that when you had illicit smoochies with her," she said, gesturing towards Willow before turning away from him completely. 'Blast, I thought I'd gotten over that,' she realized unhappily.

"Damn stud, is there anybody you haven't played 'one-on-one bind me and grind me' with for at least, oh I don't know, seven minutes?" Faith remarked, throwing Xander a knowing smile and a wink.

"I'll have you know that Xander is a Viking in the sack," Anya replied instinctively defending him. "He has many talents, which I'm certain none of you taught him and I have over a thousand years of experience," she boasted. "The manacles you can buy these days are far more accommodating."

"What?" Cordelia shrieked. "The next thing you're gonna tell me is that you don't mind him having sexual fantasies about every woman in this room."

Willow, who had been listening quietly, now glared at Xander and raised her eyebrow "Really?"

Looking at Willow in shock, Xander exclaimed "I wouldn't…I didn't…I haven't had…about…," he began, only to have his eye distracted by Cordelia's steely gaze. "Okay, look there was that one time…But hey Will, you're playing on my 'Team'; you know, my side of the fence now."

"Your side of the fence? Team? What team? Hey, it's not like there's a club, you know. I haven't joined a cult," Willow declared.

"This isn't about you," Anya exclaimed, feeling that Willow really should keep out of this – before adding defensively "So don't even think about hitting me again."

Seeing the hurt expression on Willow's face, Xander jumped to her defense. "Anya, you know she didn't mean to hurt you," Xander offered. "I thought we'd talked about this?"

"Oh yes, you talked about it. I was just waiting for the orgasms," Anya replied. "You're always defending them. You never defend me!" she accused, building up quite a head of steam now that she had an audience.

"Gee that's new," Cordelia piped up sarcastically.

Xander glanced at Cordelia, smirking, "You were always perfectly capable of defending yourself," he pointed out.

Cordelia tilted her head to one side before retorting, "Thank you so much for sidestepping the issue, but that's not the point. You always took their side; never mine. Seems nothing's changed."

"That's not true," Willow stated firmly.

Turning to face Willow, Cordelia responded "How would you know?" throwing a raised eyebrow at her one-time nemesis.

"Well, he managed to keep you a secret," Willow replied, suddenly a little unsure about her ground.

"A bit late for excuses now, isn't it?" Cordelia smirked.

"And to think I believed him when he said you were different with him," Willow spat back at Cordelia. "What did you ever see in her?" she asked turning on her oldest friend.

Xander squirmed, switching from one foot to another and raising his hand to scratch his head as he watched the train wreck coming his way. The turning of Cordelia's head in his direction sent chills down his spine.

Giles stood in the kitchen both enjoying the show and yet wishing he was elsewhere. The sight of Xander floundering under the microscope of four women who it appeared knew all his biggest secrets, was almost unbearable. His masculine pride urged him to help out a fellow male, the only other of his kind in this apparently emotionally unbalanced group, but his instinct for self-preservation told him to stay out of it before the blood-letting began.

Faith stared at the angry women before her. She could tell that the wonderful Cordelia that she knew was only a few steps from full Queen C mode, while Anya was a seething ex-demon about to spit fire, a fearful Xander was looking for somewhere to hide and an uncomfortable Giles was questioning his manhood. But what really unsettled her was the fact that one of them looked and sounded like Buffy yet was so Willow-like in her words and actions, that a chill ran down her spine. Had this been any other time, any other place, she would have been happy to sit back and watch the fireworks. But seeing the body of her sister Slayer without her essence before her reminded her exactly why they were all here. And that what she was seeing was just some all too familiar misplaced anger.

"LADIES!" Faith yelled, winking at Xander. "Much as I'm enjoying this bitch fest, and believe me when I say that I am, have you all gone freakoid on me or what? Shaking up a cocktail of bitchy jealousies over him when there's important things to do?" She shook her head in disbelief, throwing Xander a dismissive glance.

"Hey," Xander responded automatically, despite the sudden guilt that overwhelmed him.

"You deaf, action man? I said shut the hell up already and get over it. All of you!" Faith almost shouted, glaring at them all and adding, "Jeeze, what is this? A rehearsal for Days Of Our Lives? We should be talking about how to rescue B, not firing your guilt crap at each other. Those guys took her, we lost her, we didn't protect her. So suck it up and let's figure out what we can do to get her back. Right, G-man?"

Willow, Xander and Anya stared open mouthed, unable to believe that Faith had just brought them all down a peg or two…and justifiably so. Cordelia, although stunned at Faith's outburst, slowly began to smile as pride filled her. They all looked at Giles, knowing that if he replied, then they really had heard correctly and had just been told off by Faith.

"Ahhhm, well, yes indeed…" Giles managed as he picked his proverbial jaw up off the floor, amazed that Faith had just done what he should have been doing – getting everyone focused on the mission to rescue Buffy.

Now at the headquarters of Angel Investigations, Wesley trawled through the files he'd managed to download so quickly; wishing he'd had more time. The picture before him was scattered and fragmented. He could see that Wolfram & Hart wasn't really that particular about their client list, but that alone wasn't what had him worried. It was the frequent occult and mystical references he had found that caused concern.

Doubtful that he could make anything of the data before him, he went on-line. Surfing around their company name, he found himself amazed at the lack of information available. It was almost as if they didn't exist. He had never heard of a large law firm with such a low public profile.

Then he found it – a blog. Some guy in South America; ranting about how the firm had sold his daughter, over six years ago, in a pan-dimensional auction; claiming that Wolfram & Hart, were trying to bring about the end of the world. He further maintained that the firm was run by demons!

Retrying his search, but this time focusing on blogs, he almost jumped as over six hundred results came back. "Well," he exclaimed, as he started to read.

Almost half an hour later he sat back, his mind a melee of disbelief and concern. "Angel!" Wesley called out. "I think that we may have a bigger problem than either we or the Sunnydale group expected."

"Willow, I really think we need to wait. If we go now they'll be expecting us and they will be prepared for us. I believe Faith is correct. We need to let the waiting get on their nerves. We must let their tiredness work for us, wait until they're already seeing us in the shadows," Giles advised her, each point coated in understanding and sympathy.

Faith watched shocked as for the second time she could ever recall Giles stood up for her. It felt good, if a little belated. But just when she thought they were getting through to a very 'wanna do it now' Red-in-blonde-hair, the face before her became pale and her eyes seemed to roll into the back of her head. Instinctively, Faith moved forward. She'd seen this with Cordy – Red was about to zonk out on them!

Willow felt herself falling to the floor overwhelmed by so many emotions, but instead of the harsh landing she had expected a pair of strong arms suddenly caught her, lowering her gently. She could feel tears welling from somewhere and a rasping breath, but they weren't hers! Then she felt something on her face, moist, no wet. Tears? But she wasn't crying – 'what the heck is…Who…no, No, NO – Oh Buffy don't cry…'

"Bring her over here," Cordelia instructed, as she watched the pain filling Willow's face. Faith gently picked Willow up and placed her on the couch as Cordy had directed. The Seer had never really paid that much attention to what a vision looked like but that was before she'd been 'blessed' with them. So without shame she stared, fascinated by the way Willow's eyebrows seemed to draw together in anger and pain. 'Do I look like that? Do I look like I'm dying inside?'

Buffy didn't know where the voice had come from. 'Maybe I'm dreaming,' she reasoned. The voice had been so soft, so endearing, so warm…so scared? It had drawn her back into that last warm night, those soft and tender arms, those lingering lips – Willow.

She could have sworn she had actually heard her. Was she going crazy? Did the crazy hear the voices of those they longed for? Was that true madness? To be taunted by your memories and tortured by the voice of someone you long for?

Her laughter was hollow as it echoed around her enclosed space, filling her ears with its fragile tones. 'Oh great, now the wheels come off the wagon! This can't be happening – a cracked slayer. Like hell! I am so not losing it! They're just messing with me,' she decided as she tried to persuade herself that she'd only heard Willow's voice because she was scared and she wasn't used to being scared…not like this anyhow.

"Look, we're pretty banged up. Gotta say we could all do with some zzz's. That's sleep to you, G-man," Xander said.

"Well, I guess since this is your place, you get to make the sleeping arrangements," Cordelia noted, turning to glance at Willow. "But I don't think we should move her just yet."

"Xander sleeps with me," Anya pointed out unequivocally, still somewhat unsure about the new two additions to their group.

Cordelia held in the smile she could feel creeping up on her.

Deciding that Cordelia appeared to have regained control of her tongue, Xander glanced about the apartment as if counting. "Well, I guess if Anya and I stick with our room, you and Faith could take the spare," he offered, hiding a slight smile as he imagined the two of them on the cozy little bed he had removed from Willow and Buffy's dorm room when he had secretly gifted them with the queen-sized bed and a rose. No chance for rose on this bed tonight, he thought.

Shaking his head clear, he continued "And that leaves Giles out here with Willow," as he glanced at Giles for approval.

"That would seem sensible. I have no idea what just happened, although I gather you believe it was a vision," he responded glancing at Faith.

"Looked just like what C goes through," she replied glancing at the Seer and then back at Willow. "I'm guessing Red's gonna need a couple of pain pills when she comes to."

"They give you a headache?" Xander asked, impressed that Cordelia would regularly go through anything like what he had just seen Willow experience, and its aftermath.

"Headache doesn't really begin to cover it," Cordelia replied, somewhat embarrassed by the look of admiration she saw on Xander's face.

"Hey G-man," Faith interrupted, "I think she's coming to."

Ignoring the fact that everyone seemed to be referring to him by that damn silly nickname, Giles eagerly made his way to Willow's side as Faith stepped back to allow him complete access to the woman she'd been standing guard over for the last half hour.

"Willow?" Giles called softly as he took her small hand in his; briefly forgetting that he was being watched. Concern etched across his face, he leaned a little closer. "Willow, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

"Bu…Buuuu…Buffffyyyy," she whispered as her eyelids fluttered.

Giles found himself blushing but pushing his embarrassment aside he responded "Willow, what did you see?"

"Hea…heard…no felt," Willow mumbled as her eyelids lifted and she tried to focus on the worried faces gathered around her. "Buffy. I felt her."

Giles brought his head back to look at her oddly.

"Felt her…fear. Giles, she's so scared," Willow declared, her eyes wide.

Holland Manners had a forbidding presence from yards away, but right up close he was terrifying, and scared the shit out of nearly every single one of his employees. Smiling, he glanced to his left at the limp body of the man he had until five minutes ago been interviewing. Dropping his eyes towards the small bloodstains on the once cream-colored carpet, he casually said "What a pity. You can't get that out of a carpet. Believe me, we've tried." Glancing up at Hyatt Ramu, without changing either his tone or facial expression, he asked "Are you afraid?"

Hyatt nodded slightly as he tried in vain to ignore the beads of sweat he could feel beginning to form as they usually did within minutes of entering into the presence of the Vice President of Special Projects.

"Well that's understandable. You've really stuck your neck out on this one. Rather egregious behavior for you. Did you actually believe I wouldn't learn everything? That I don't prepare for everything?"

"I…" Hyatt stumbled, glancing towards the blood stains.

"You lied to us – more importantly to me," Holland noted threateningly, his eyes steely and clear. "This is a delicate moment, son. Do you admit to your ambition and lies or do you try to deny what you now know that I already know?"

Hyatt found that he was staring at his feet and so he slowly lifted his chin to meet the gaze of the one man that he truly both admired and feared. "I didn't betray the firm, Sir. I was only thinking of what was best for us all. Either 'True Night' will fall or the 'Amulet' will eventually reach its intended target. I assure you there will be no downside to this."

"Really? You decided to pre-empt matters that had been set in play by the Senior Partners decades ago; events of which you have only a very limited understanding. And yet you feel that you can assure me? My, we have become brave, haven't we?"

"Brave?" Hyatt asked as his mouth dried up. That would have inferred that he was taking a chance, that he was gambling. And he didn't gamble.

"Indeed. Well, you're in a crisis, son; A crisis of faith. Very few men make their own destinies. Those that do have the courage of their convictions and they know how to behave in a crisis. I wonder if you do," he stated, his eyes questioning.

"Like now?" Hyatt replied, realizing that he was being judged.

"Like now. Unless I'm mistaken, and I very rarely am, you may be proved to have everything it takes to go all the way here – drive, ambition and, depending on the outcome of the events you have set in motion, it would appear excellence. But I don't think you know what you're really asking for nor getting into, and until you do – I guess we will both have to wait and see. Won't we?"

Faith stood by the door of the spare bedroom, staring at the single bed before her, more than a little surprised at how nervous and unsure she felt at having to share it with Cordelia. She hadn't shared a bed, for the purposes of sleeping, since her early days in the orphanage. Even her one-night stands didn't stay until morning.

"Okay. It's gonna be a tight fit. So you want the left or right? Or do we top and tail?" Cordelia asked grinning, bravado taking over as she fought the butterflies in her stomach. 'I've been sharing my apartment with her for over a month. Why am I so spooked now?' she wondered.

Taking her lead from Cordelia, Faith responded "Not really loving the idea of you kicking me in the head all night," she winked "so I'll take the right side." Moving towards the far side of the bed, she quipped "You don't snore, do ya?"

"Nobody's ever complained," responded Cordy. 'Where the hell did that come from? There hasn't been anybody to complain in a long time. What the hell am I trying to prove?' she wondered as she sat on the left side of the bed and removed her shoes.

"Good to know," Faith smirked as a strange almost jealous feeling washed over her. 'What's it to me that she's got exes? What was I expecting her to be – a nun?'

Cordelia pulled off her slacks and, throwing them onto her bag, she found herself staring at the door wondering why Xander had put them both in here.

As Faith bent down to pull off her shoes a sharp pain shot down the side of her head and she caught her breath. "Jeeze," she gasped. Sitting back up, she grimaced in annoyance at the tranquilizer residue that still seemed to be flowing through her veins.

"You okay?" Cordy asked anxiously, leaning across the bed to touch Faith's shoulder.

"Yeah. Just got a playback from the tranq cocktail they hit me with," Faith stated, feeling the warmth of Cordelia's hand on her shoulder. It was strange but real nice to have someone concerned about her. "May have to sleep with my boots on."

"Damn it, why did you let them…" Cordelia questioned, jumping from her side of the bed and coming around to Faith's.

"Oh yeah, like they asked permission," Faith muttered. But before she could think of a defensive quip her breathing was cut off by the sight of Cordelia in what appeared to be only a shirt, her long legs fully exposed as she approached the Slayer to kneel at her feet and remove her boots. 'Get a grip! You've seen her naked before. What's the big? Damn, she looks good in that. Oh boy, is this going to be a long night!'

Holland Manner's reviewed the video of Angel's visit. "You're certain that's all they took."

"Yes, Sir. Just as you anticipated," the security guard confirmed, gulping and praying that he hadn't somehow slipped up.

"Good. Very good," Manners muttered mostly to himself, "It would seem we're somewhat ahead of schedule. Interesting."

"Sir?" The security guard questioned before he could help himself.

"These are interesting times young man, very interesting times," Holland Manners replied. "Do you play the stock market?" he asked rising and walking towards the videotape machine.

"No Sir."

"Not a gambler. I like that. Well young man, the stock market isn't about buying the right shares. It's about information. The value of information; what you know, when you know it and how you use it," he stated ejecting the tape. Turning to smile at the now very nervous security officer, he continued "Did your father ever teach you the value of keeping information to yourself?"

Gulping, the officer nodded before replying, "Yes, Sir."

"Well young man, let us see if your father taught you well," he stated before opening the door and leaving with a parting nod to the now perspiring young man.

"How long have I been out?" Willow asked as she gazed at the smiling but obviously concerned face of Giles.

"About four hours," he replied. Glancing outside he added, "It's nearly three am."

"Crikey. Where is everyone?" she asked glancing around.

"Recharging and letting their wounds heal," Giles explained. "Catching a few zzz's, as Xander calls it, seemed a good idea."

"Yeah, guess that's true," Willow commented but as she started to sit up, a little dizziness hit her. "Woooah?"

"According to Cordelia and Faith, you had a vision," Giles explained. "Do you remember it?" he asked apprehensively.

"Yeah. I remember it. Oh Giles…She's hurting so much, so scared," Willow said her eyes wide with pain.

"I know. But we'll get her back. I promise you," Giles assured her.

As Willow attempted to swing her legs around she recalled that she had fallen. "Thanks for catching me."

"I wish I could take credit but that was Faith. She realized what was happening long before the rest of us. She caught you and made you comfortable…" he stated nodding towards the couch, "she stayed with you until you started to come around," Giles recalled, his features pensive yet showing a trace of obvious admiration for the behavior he was describing.

"Oh," Willow responded, a little unnerved that Faith had been the one to catch her and not sure what she should say now that she knew. "Can I have a glass of water?" she asked, choosing to deal with her thirst rather than the confusion that now filled her.

Standing, Giles turned and walked towards the kitchen area. "I know you have little or no reason to believe…I mean with all that's happened, why would you? In the present circumstances…I feel certain that asking you to trust Faith would be pointless. But the fact remains that we are going to need her," Giles stated with certainty.

Willow stared at his back and, although the thought of trusting Faith made her insides twist, she also noted that much of what Faith had done had saved their asses. Okay, she's been the one to put said asses in a sling. But there seemed to be so many things to consider. What the ex-slayer had said to Buffy had been closer to the truth than she cared to admit. Oh Goddess, why is nothing ever simple?

"For one thing we have no idea of their numbers. Faith is the best person to help us determine that accurately," Giles continued, knowing that what he really meant was 'she's the only one I dare risk because she could probably fight her way free if she was captured.'

Willow nodded to herself as she acknowledged what Giles had omitted from saying. "Okay, so we need her. That doesn't mean I have to like her, you know."

"I understand," Giles acknowledged. "But you may have to work with her."

"Huh?"

Turning towards her as he filled the glass with water, Giles smiled in partial apology. "I've been thinking about your idea to use slayer residual magic." Turning off the faucet, he moved towards her. "After all, it was the residual slayer magic that allowed the vision rod to work as well as it did. However, at the same time I'm somewhat uncertain how much you could reasonably extract and use from one slayer's body, especially your borrowed slayer's body. But I'm fairly certain that the bodies of two slayers would contain, even allowing for a diminution over time, a sufficient quantity of magic to greatly improve our chance of success," he finished, passing Willow her water.

"Two slayers?" Willow contemplated, considering the increased options that would give her. "That might just work. But I'll need to gauge what level of magic I'm working with. Maybe do a test run."

Slim scratched his ear again. The damn itch just wouldn't go away. He'd been sitting here for almost six hours now; staring out at the darkness, watching shadows, watching dust, watching shapes. He was getting tired, grungy and damned itchy. The warehouse was full of dust and who knew what else. He could feel his skin reacting to all of it. He could hardly complain about the filth because the guys would rib him until next century.

He glanced at the box, wondering how dirty and uncomfortable it was in there. 'Well at least she's stopped yelling out and screaming.' He'd checked her ropes and given her some water about two hours ago. She'd been pretty mouthy and he'd barely been able to stop himself from hitting her…that is, until he had seen the tear stains down her cheeks. He never could cope with a woman crying.

Suddenly he saw it! A movement…Yes, it was a movement…just behind that junction box. Lining up the sights of his weapon, he tried to relax his breathing. Loosening his arms, he flexed his fingers around the trigger. Then he saw it. Damn it – a cat.

'Where the fuck are they? If they're coming, why don't they just come? What the hell are they waiting for? Maybe the Boss was wrong. What the hell are we worried about? What could a bunch of kids do, anyway?

Giles had awakened everyone around four, stating rather cryptically that some things needed doing before dawn. Cordelia was somewhat put out at how quickly Faith had managed to reemerge from her sleep.

The Seer now stood in the shower letting the water pour over her skin in a vain attempt to wash off the feeling of confusion that had bothered her all morning. She'd awakened after only a couple of hours sleep, not having been that tired in the first place. Turning to gaze at Faith who was still very much in a deep sleep, she'd continued looking at her new friend – yes, they were friends. Not questioning that she hadn't simply gotten up and left Faith sleeping, she now wondered why she hadn't. Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander back.

She'd laid there, at first just listening to her Slayer's breathing, subconsciously setting her own breathing to the same rhythm. Then she'd turned her head to one side taking in the profile of a woman she was growing to admire more and more everyday. The chestnut hair splayed out over her pillow, a strong yet feminine jaw framing a face filled with both tenderness and strength. 'Why am I only just now seeing it?' Cordelia wondered as she focused on the dark lashes and oh-so-tempting lips.

At first she'd considered Faith just one raging female hormone, never really taking in or caring what was underneath all that brash armor. But the woman sleeping beside her was another member of the walking wounded, left to try and pull their lives back together once the 'dark side' had marched over them with its huge boots.

Just before Giles had knocked on their door, she'd observed the underlying tan on Faith's skin and recalled that afternoon when she had let Faith help her with the 'I'm not giving up on a tan just because I work nights' problem. She'd remembered wondering at that time where Faith's honey-coated tinge came from. She'd thought that maybe somewhere in her gene pool was an Indian or Italian heritage. She also recalled the slight tingle of excitement that had filled her as she'd stood completely naked before the dark slayer, knowing that she was being assessed by those chestnut brown eyes. And now the longer Cordelia stared, the more she felt the urge to reach out and check if that glowing skin was as warm and soft as it looked.

"I know what you're doing in there," Anya yelled, as she helped Giles rouse the troops.

Cordelia's eyes shot open and had anyone seen her face, they would have seen blushing guilt and embarrassment. 'Oh my God!'

"You will not get out of making your bed," she yelled. "It doesn't work for Xander and it certainly won't work for you."

Faith stood on the balcony staring out at Sunnydale, recalling waking up next to Cordelia. It had taken her longer than she'd expected to fall asleep. The sound of Cordelia's gentle breathing so close to her had stirred feelings of affection and excitement that she hadn't been expecting. How could someone she had only really gotten to know so recently come to mean so much to her?

The connection between them, which was at first so comfortable, so familiar and safe, had changed. She didn't know what their relationship was changing into, but whatever it was it filled her with a heady excitement, anticipation and eagerness. She hadn't felt so alive in longer than she cared to admit. But she knew that all of this, whatever this was, could crumble away if she didn't help to fix the mess around her.

Her mind awash with hopes, plans and worries. And she mentally yelled at the moon. 'I'm gonna rip those guys a whole new world of pain,' she promised herself. Maybe then she could let out the anger and guilt she had been keeping at bay. Glancing at her wrists, she recalled the helplessness she had felt when they had taken B…the pain she had seen in Willow's eyes. She would fix this. She had to. The sound of the door opening broke her train of thought and drew her attention as she turned.

"Hi," Willow offered warily as she moved slowly out onto the balcony, her head and heart both full of conflicting emotions as she approached the one person she truly blamed for all that had happened…both good and bad.

"Red?" Faith responded in acknowledgement and surprise, as her muscles involuntarily tightened in anticipation of a verbal attack. "You feeling any better?"

Nodding, Willow said "A little. I heard you kept it from being any worse."

Faith shrugged "Got plenty of experience with Cordy."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Look, we both know where we stand," Willow stated, unable to meet Faith's gaze.

"So I won't wait for the Christmas card," Faith replied, desperate to inject some light humor and avoid any serious discussion on the subject of Willow's opinion of her.

"But Giles is right. We're going to have to work together to rescue Buffy," Willow added, raising her eyes to meet Faith's. "So I guess we need to talk."

Faith stared at the face before her, reminding herself that although she was seeing Buffy – this was Willow. "Okay."

"I've been working on a way of using the Magic residual within the slayer line to help us when we try to get Buffy back," Willow explained, rushing on to a topic she could control, her fear that Faith would have a go at her as she had with Buffy, pushing her to find safe ground. "Giles believes that any spell would have a much better chance of succeeding with the magic of two slayers. I'll need to draw the magic from you."

"So you need my blood or what?" Faith asked without hesitation.

"No, no. It's not connected to blood. At least I don't think so," Willow rushed on, "I mean blood is vital and a powerful force for both good and bad. But no, I hadn't considered blood. That's not what I need. Although it would be interesting to try to determine if it is the slayer blood that is responsible for traits such as increased slayer strength and healing. In which case, a study of Buffy and your blood would be really interesting. Maybe another time; right now that's not what I need. At least I don't think so. When I cast the spell we will need to be touching so that I can draw from you," she finished without taking a breath.

"Kinda like a transfusion?" Faith asked, desperately trying to cut through Willow's babble to understand what exactly Willow was asking of her. 'How does Buffy deal with Red's babble all the time? She doesn't even seem to need to breathe' the brunette wondered somewhat amazed.

"Yes, like a transfusion but without the needles. And since we don't know if it could leave you weakened or dizzy for a while, Giles felt we should have a run-through," Willow explained, not sure why the thought of linking herself, or rather Buffy's body to Faith's was setting off so many different alarm bells.

"Sure, whatever it takes…whatever you need," Faith said rolling up her sleeve and presenting her arm to Willow.

"That won't be necessary," Willow said, smiling slightly at Faith's eagerness. "All we need to do it is just hold…umm…hold hands," she blushed.

Encouraged by Willow's slight relaxation and embarrassment, Faith winked. "Trust me, I won't tell…if you don't."

As Xander watched Willow (still in Buffy's body, of course) and Faith, he was a little unnerved by the fact that they were holding hands. It was an image he was having more than a little difficulty processing and he therefore missed Giles calling to him.

"Xander?" Giles called again in frustration. 'How can he spend so much waking time daydreaming and still have survived this long in Sunnydale?' he wondered, standing and walking over to place a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Whaaa?" Xander exclaimed almost jumping out of his skin.

"Nice of you to join us," Giles commented, before stepping back. "I need you to transport me to the magic shop. We're going to need supplies. Then when Willow and Faith have finished, I want you to take her to the warehouse."

"What?" Xander exclaimed. "Are you nuts? She'll get killed."

"Faith. Not Willow," Giles explained, only to be met by a completely different look of disbelief. "She is not going to try and rescue Buffy by herself. We simply need an idea of numbers and the general layout."

"Can't Will get that from the city plans? You know Willow and her back-door on-line thingy?" Xander asked, surprised that Giles was apparently going to trust information provided by Faith – Information that could prove to be vital in rescuing Buffy.

"We've already got those. But they don't tell us where the men are positioned or how many there are," Giles explained, a little exasperated at Xander's overly questioning attitude. "I'm sending you because Faith appears to me to be taking this all rather personally and I'm concerned that she may forsake her present logical position if she finds herself faced with an opportunity to rescue Buffy."

"So with babysitter – me – in tow, it's 'Hey Faith, you can look, but no punchy on the bad guys'. Man, I don't know if even I could do that," Xander honestly replied.

"You'll have to. We'll only get one opportunity at this and if an impromptu attempt fails, someone may get injured reducing our numbers or they may move Buffy or we may lose them…or…they could kill her. I can't risk any of that happening," Giles explained, feeling that all-too-familiar parental urge to strangle or shout at his brood 'Can't you just do as you're told.'

"Okay. Now I'm going to try and create a blinding flash of light followed by complete loss of light," Willow explained, nervously glancing at an extremely intent and attentive Faith. 'Why is she looking at me as if she's taking me seriously? She never takes me seriously. Well she never has before. I mean, she said some nice things at the mansion but that was just to get to Buffy, wasn't it? Let's face it – Faith's just being nice to make sure she's in on the fight. I'd be a fool to trust her. Nope, not falling for the 'trust me' thing,' Willow mentally babbled, more than a little concerned by Faith's apparent complete acceptance of her plan. "Don't be upset if it doesn't work at first."

"Got it. Kinda like our own flash bang," Faith commented.

"Yeah, you could say that," Willow replied unable to hold back a smile. "I'm just not too sure how much magic we have to work with. So scale may be an issue. I mean, I'm aiming for the block but we could end up with just a few street lights," Willow replied, a little nervous at attempting magic with a woman she didn't like let alone trust. 'This is for Buffy. What does it matter how I get her back?' she reminded herself.

"So do I have to concentrate or say anything…you know…latinish or something?" Faith asked, feeling completely out of her depth.

"Nope. Just stand there…quietly," Willow explained.

"Got it. Translation – shut up Faith," the dark Slayer grinned.

Willow stared at her, unable to believe she had just heard Faith make herself the butt of a joke. "Well…ummm…It's just…a little hard to concen…concentrate when someone's tal…talking, that's all," Willow finally replied

"Red, whatever you need, whatever it takes. Honestly, all I wanted to do was to help you two. I never meant for this all to go so…freakin' wrong," Faith explained apologetically. "So whatever I gotta do to get you two back together and so you can maybe take up where you left off," she smirked. "Trust me – it's gonna get done."

Willow went from embarrassment to anger to disbelief. "You're asking me to trust you?" Willow asked incredulously before reverting to sarcasm. "I'm supposed to…what? Believe that this is just Faith on an uncharacteristic, altruistic quest and nothing more – so I can completely trust you? You have to know that's not going to happen," she stated. "You probably thought Buffy would freak at the idea of…that you'd break up…our friendship," Willow accused.

Faith smiled sadly at her, realizing that Willow was still full of unchanneled anger. So she changed tack and lowering her head slightly as she almost whispered "This isn't about what you think of me. This is about what you know in your heart to be true. And you do know it, Red. I can tell. And unless I've missed my guess, you've just about given up on running away from it," Faith stated, tilting her head slightly.

"Wha…thi…how can you…Okay there was…concern…But there has been no running. Certain considerations, well thought out consequences…there was thought, a decision making process, the feelings of others…," Willow babbled, flabbergasted by Faith's apparent insight into her life.

"Oh yeah, sure. Others. They so have nothing to do with finding a future, with finding a way to make up for all those lost years," Faith replied. "Look Red, let's just drop it…at least for now. Okay? We gotta work together to get her back and then deal with this whole apocalypse thing. Whatever you two think I've got coming after that – I'll deal. I won't run."

Xander stared anxiously at the array of weapons they had gathered; the collection before him somehow seemed disappointingly non-menacing. After a moment of thought, he realized why they looked so ineffectual. A slayer's armory was designed for fighting demons, not a fully armed bunch of Rambo wannabe's. They were blunt and savage, designed for wounding, maiming or a guaranteed close-up kill. When placed up against an AK47, they might as well have been clubs and rocks. "We'll need to get in close," he commented.

Giles picked up a crossbow and a cold shiver ran down his spine. He'd used most of this weaponry more times than he could recall but it had never been against living humans. When had the lines blurred? When had everything shifted? Glancing at Xander, he saw a pensiveness and concern that mirrored his own. "This could prove problematic," he muttered.

"What we'll really need is a diversion. Something to allow us to penetrate deep into their defenses before they can react," Xander said thinking out loud. "That's what Willow's fixing to give us. Right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what she's trying to do. But I'd be happier if we had a back-up plan, just in case," Giles stated, knowing that to rely on magic alone would be far too dangerous.

Glancing out into the night, Xander asked quietly "How do you think its going?"

Giles found himself also drawn to look out into the darkness, "I'll just be happy if we return to find they're both still in one piece."

Willow sat down with a thud. The light had been so bright and the darkness that followed had swallowed almost eighteen city blocks. She was both exhausted and elated.

"That was wicked fun!" Faith exclaimed as she leaned against the rail, catching her breath. She hadn't felt this tired and drained in a long time. It was kind of peaceful to have so much nervous energy taken away.

"So much…there was so much. I can hardly believe how much…oh…Oh my!" Willow muttered as the residual static energy of the spell caught her, sending goosebumps up and down her skin. "I don't understand how Giles didn't know…I mean, the Watchers would have tested…I mean, they had to know," the witch paused to breathe. "What a waste!"

"Hey!" Faith retorted.

"Sorry," Willow responded to her protest. "I didn't mean to say that it was wasted on a slayer. I just meant with all that…why didn't they arm you with magic too?"

Faith recalled her training, and the many fights and disagreements she'd had with her Watcher. She remembered all the times she'd thrown a fit or just plain run out on her Watcher, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop her. "Guess they figured playing with fire was bad enough, why add dynamite? Let's face it; a bunch of book types – no offense – dealing with a teenage hormonal girl who can kick major ass and take numbers; and you think they're gonna show these girls how to throw fireballs from their eye sockets too? Yeah, right."

"But it would have made them so powerful…Oh, I see what you mean. They might be able to manage a teenage super strong girl. But how could they hope to control a super strong teenage witch?" Willow spat.

"Kinda stinks doesn't it," Faith commented, managing to push herself back from the railing to sit down by Willow.

"Yes, it really does," Willow agreed, wondering at the years she had missed. Years where she and Buffy could have had something in common, something only they could share, something where they were on equal terms. But she would certainly explore it further when she got her Buffy back.

As if reading her mind, Faith asked "Is this the way it always feels whenever you do your mojo thing?"

Considering the question, Willow replied "Sometimes, depending on the spell. Usually…not so much. There have been nosebleeds. Must've been tapping into the slayer magic along with remaining witch magic."

Grinning, the brunette Slayer said "B is gonna love doing the magics with you when she gets back."

Leaning against the wall of her new steal cage, Buffy shut her eyes in shock as the blindfold was ripped from her. She didn't know how many hours of blindfolded existence she'd endured, but the sudden jolt of neon light was blinding. The sound of a bolt being shut and a lock being turned let her know that she had simply exchanged one cell for another. She couldn't understand why they would bother to lock her up again if they were just going to kill her. In fact, she didn't quite understand why they hadn't killed her already. It didn't make sense!

She'd been terrified when her cell door was opened to then have multiple hands grabbing at her, dragging her out, pulling at the ropes that bound her, shouting orders at each other. She'd thought that it was the end; that the inevitable end of her life had arrived. It just hadn't been as she had expected. She had always pictured it happening in the darkness and shadows, in the heat of battle; a warrior's death. Not bound and gagged like lump of meat being taken to slaughter.

Buffy had looked back on her life; something about that damned 'flashing before your eyes' thing. But all she had found was mostly regret and disappointment. There was so much she should have done by now. She had told herself certain things could wait or that they really didn't matter all that much. What a fool she'd been! Over the last few years she had done what she had always said she would never do – – she 'd let slaying take over her life.

Her mind flew to earlier days and she found herself smiling at how she'd needed to fight tooth and nail for a life, desperate not to let this damned slayer gig take her over completely. Even Giles had eventually agreed that there had to be more for her, that a slayer needed a connection to the world, a reason to fight for it. Without that connection she would have been killed by now like many a slayer before her and she knew it.

She'd seen the wonder in Kendra's eyes at the life she'd seen Buffy leading and at what was missing from her own strict regiment. But Faith had pushed in the opposite direction, living for only the moment, treating slaying like part of the fun. Buffy had always thought of herself as balanced but the more she looked back the less she saw herself having a life that didn't involve slaying. Her social group had narrowed, her outside activities tailored to the bare essentials of attending college.

And she had managed to drag her loved ones with her. Sure, Giles was her Watcher and her mom was…well…her mom and she tried to keep her out of slayer stuff. But Xander and Willow…Her young male best friend was like the brother she'd never had. He was always there when she needed him; ready to face anything by her side. He had saved her life…no…he had brought her back. He spent so much of his time helping her in her fight. And it was probably her fault that he had ended up with an ex-demon for a girlfriend.

And Willow. She was so smart, so kind, so beautiful. She could be doing anything, anywhere. She could be somewhere safe. But she had stayed in Sunnydale always helping her whether it was with research, surfing her computer, magic, fighting by her side or treating her wounds. Or just talking, being together. 'I don't know where I'd be without her…'

Where the hell was her fun? Where the hell was her life going? That is, if she would have a life after all this was over.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. A Barder ball thingy freezes time…unless you're wearing one of those stinky things. No offense," Xander stated smiling at Willow apologetically.

"I didn't have any rosemary. The sulfur can be very overpowering without…," Willow began with a shy smile.

Giles interrupted Willow. "A Bardus Ball slows time for all unless you happen to be wearing a Munimen abusque veneficium talisman," the Watcher explained, his tone tinged with boredom and irritation since he had already explained this twice now.

"So why don't we have…M…talismans," Anya stated, unable to pronounce its Latin name and not much liking the idea of having time slow down around her.

Willow sighed before adding "I need time to create an entrance and then follow our search pattern."

"The Bardus Ball will only slow them down for about half an hour. We only had the ingredients for two. Plus the more you divert the Bardus Ball, the weaker it becomes," Giles explained. "We've been over this."

"Yeah well, I'm just a little nervous about all this magic. Why did we go and get all those weapons if we're not going to use them?" Xander complained, feeling somewhat troubled that they would be relying on magic as much as it appeared they would. "No offense Will, but it doesn't feel that long ago I had to buy you an ice cream to calm you down because your floating pencil…floated completely away."

"That was four years ago," Willow stated, annoyed and unable to believe he still remembered that.

"Look toy boy, I've seen what Red can do. She's up for this and personally I'd rather take on a truck loada armed mercs with Willow's magic than that pile of highlander leftovers. They won't go far against a semi automatic," Faith stated, a little ticked that Xander was being such a downer.

Willow couldn't believe that Faith not only stood up for her but had actually used her name. She stared at her open-mouthed and mumbled "Thanks."

Angel was pacing! Wesley found it unnerving and the longer it went on – the greater his desire to leave grew. He knew that the news had been bad in parts and a bit sketchy elsewhere, but he had delivered worse. Why was Angel in such a state?

Glancing back at his notes, he tried to recall what he had been saying when Angel had suddenly jumped to his feet and started in on his pacing. 'I explained about the Wolfram & Hart theory, Mr. Manners, Ramu and that slimy Maclay bloke. Damn it, Faith! How could you be so reckless? Then I went into the prophecy…Oh, hell."

This time when he looked up at the living dead man before him, he saw it – the fear, the questions, the doubts, the hope. 'What on earth should I say to him? This is more than a 'good luck, old chap' thing. I mean he could…there's every possibility…but then again if we're wrong…'

Angel suddenly stopped his pacing and, turning to Wesley, he stated, "I need to speak to Willow."

"Willow?" Wesley questioned. Angel always spoke to Giles or Buffy, if he spoke to anyone at all.

"I think I know what this is really all about," he stated.

Part 30

Willow stood at Xander's kitchen counter, her mind completely overloaded by the dozens of different tasks – matters such as where should she balance her center during the entrance spell? Had she put enough mustard seed in her and Faith's charms? Would Xander be able to pull off the diversion? Could she trust Faith with something this important?

Glancing over at Faith, Xander and Giles as they narrowed down which weapons to take with them, a more disturbing train of thought overtook her. How far was she prepared to go? Would they need to kill someone? Could she? Would Buffy understand if she accidentally did? Neither of them had forgiven Faith – if she was to believe that Faith's actions had been unintentional or even forgivable.

Anya was on the far side of the apartment watching the three would-be warriors with a puzzled but slightly amused expression. Willow could swear she was checking to be sure that Xander was still there. She wondered whether that was what it was like to be in a real relationship – to be in constant fear of losing what you had. Her brief time with Tara had been so new, almost childlike in its innocent acceptance of their relationship. Neither one of them quite sure what a relationship between two women was meant to be like.

But now as she looked back over her early relationship with Oz, she saw so many similarities. For the first time she began to wonder if there was any difference. Wasn't a relationship between any two people much the same? Attraction, dependence, loyalty, support, love…she paused mid-thought, unsure if she actually knew what made up a relationship, let alone love.

But she knew that she had loved them both, and still did. Yet the love, the feelings, the closeness, everything she felt with Buffy was so intense. It seemed to speak to the very core of her heart.

Was it quantifiable? Could it be measured, observed, categorized? What she felt for Buffy didn't appear the same thing she had observed between her own parents. Then realizing that in her experience they and Xander's parents were the only couples she knew who had been together for longer than ten years, her heart sank. Her melancholy was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the telephone. Instinctively she reached for it.

Giles turned his head at the sound of the telephone, drawing his attention away from weapons sorting, which he was finding anything but mentally challenging. The look he saw on Willow's face immediately filled him with concern. Then he heard her say "Angel" and he immediately understood her troubled expression.

Nodding towards her, he left Xander and Faith to continue the sorting. He gestured to take the phone but Willow shook her head.

Giles frowned, giving Willow a look of obvious concern. Angel had been such a large and important part of Buffy's life. Both the Slayer's Watcher and her best friend had watched her heart break when Angel had turned into Angelus; when she'd had to kill him; and, then again, when he had decided to leave (after his return from the Hell dimension to which she had sent him). Unable, at that time, to say that he thought that it was all for the best, Giles tried to imagine how speaking to Angel must be affecting Willow after recent events.

He had not seen a future in Buffy's relationship with the vampire and the return of Angelus had only seemed to prove him right. But Willow, he now knew, had buried her own feelings and done everything she could to bring back Buffy's vampire lover despite their extreme misgivings because it was what Buffy had wanted. And now Willow was dealing with Buffy's "ex-" on a level she'd never had to before – as his potential replacement!

Willow's silence somewhat disconcerted Angel. "Are you okay?" he asked awkwardly. This quiet, nervous woman was the person he was now trusting with his Buffy's heart and life? He had always admired her quiet strength but right now he needed her to talk to him.

"Yes, yes. I just wasn't expecting…Has something happened?" she asked. Willow tried to listen to what Angel was about to say but knowing that the person on the other end of the phone loved Buffy just as much as she did wasn't letting her think straight.

"We've learned some more about Wolfram & Hart, the law firm you asked about. I'll let Wesley explain. Then I need to talk to you," Angel advised her. "Willow?"

"Oh, yes…yes. Okay," she agreed, acknowledging his instructions and desperately trying to collect her thoughts. She knew that she had to concentrate.

She could hear the handset being passed and then her name being spoken, closely followed by the very familiar British tones of Wesley. "Hello?"

"Hi," Willow offered in greeting. "What did you find out?" she asked, trying to sound interested as she forced herself to listen intently despite the desire to run that was building within her.

"As Angel may have intimated, we have managed to collect some rather disturbing information regarding the lawyer's firm in question. I have to say that what we have learned was disturbing, although it does not represent an exhaustive view of the firm nor, in my opinion, the events we are trying to interpret," Wesley explained.

Willow found it easier to concentrate as Wesley proceeded to explain what he had found, his doubts, concerns and the hypothesis he had hesitantly reached. "Really?" Willow asked, her eyebrows rising pronouncedly. "Oh my…but that could mean that Angel…OH! That would mean…I mean that would mean that if he…he could…" Willow babbled, falling into stunned silence as she considered the ramifications of this information. Her silence lasted for quite some time before she spoke again. "Are you sure it's about Angel?" she asked, kicking herself for asking and secretly hoping that the answer was – no.

"As I said, I am working on third and sometimes fourth hand accounts here. But I feel that to ignore these references, when taken in conjunction with the character, history and reputation of the parties concerned, could be incredibly irresponsible," Wesley affirmed. "If there is any chance that…any opportunity…maybe we should…if there is a chance that…"

Willow interrupted Wesley's ifs and maybes to ask "But how does this connect to us?"

"Can't you see? They're trying to bring about The Apocalypse before Angel becomes aware of his part in the prophecy and they are using you two to do it," Wesley stated, somewhat surprised that Willow hadn't considered that this wasn't actually about her or Buffy. "What I can't determine is how they knew about Cordelia's vision. Regardless of that, ideally certain things need to be resolved before tomorrow's sunrise."

Giles found himself wishing he had a slayer's enhanced hearing. Being able to listen to only one side of the conversation was incredibly frustrating. It left him with so many unanswered questions. In addition he was finding it extremely difficult to read the nuances of the looks on Willow's Buffy-face.

As if suddenly remembering she was being watched, Willow turned her face away from Giles but she wasn't quick enough to hide the flash of sudden fear and dread. "I see. Yes, well we'd come to that conclusion too. But I don't see how that relates to the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" Giles asked, his irritation and concern now very apparent.

Willow gestured for him to be patient as she reflected on the logic of Wesley's hypothesis, desperate to find a hole, a flaw, something to make her worst fear disappear. 'If Wesley is right…if that could happen…she would be bound to. Oh Goddess, I'm going to lose her after all…No, No! This can't be happening. Why? It's a mistake…it has to be.' Stricken by the fear and the inevitable failure she could see before her, Willow let the handset drop from her ear.

Seeing the look of despair on Willow's face, Giles decided he had had enough and reached forward to take the handset from Willow's drooping hand and raised it to his own ear. "Angel?"

"Giles?" Wesley acknowledged, puzzled.

Giles glanced at Willow, surprised that he hadn't realized she'd stopped talking to Angel. "Wesley…could I trouble you to please repeat exactly what you just told Willow?"

Ignoring the fact that Giles had just taken the hand set from her, Willow stood unable to stop one terrifying thought from running over and over in her mind. 'Angel could become human again. Buffy's Angel could become mortal! The man she couldn't have, the future they couldn't have…everything she had ever wanted. Oh Goddess, what am I going to do??!!'

Eoin Maclay stood and smiled at the book before him. He had thought that this day would never come. All those years of working carefully towards his goal, of bending his knee to men he would normally have had nothing to do with. Every sacrifice now seemed worthwhile.

At first he'd resented having to leave his mountain community, forced out into the harsh world because of his unpopular fascination with the powers of the Maclay women. Realizing that his thirst for magic went against everything that his father and brothers believed in, he had long ago broken all connection with his family. Although for quite some time he'd tried to make secret contact with his grandma.

It had been her stories that had fired his imagination as a small boy. Most of the town just considered her a crazy harmless old lady, her body riddled with arthritis. They only saw her as a baby-sitter. He'd loved visiting her and he'd sought her out long after becoming old enough to watch out for himself.

She had continued her stories, extending them and exploring their meanings with him until one day his grandfather had overheard them, hitting the roof…and grandma. Little had his grandma known the envy he'd felt as he'd listened to her tales, knowing that only the women of his line could tap into the magics she spoke of. Silently he had understood why the men of his clan had decided to prevent them from using their talents.

Now after eight, or was it nine years, of working for Wolfram and Hart he was almost at the end of his quest. Only one more thing remained to be done and he would be the first Maclay males to tap into real personal magic.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Giles reiterated into the telephone, glancing sideways and catching Willow's distant expression.

"Giles, it has to be her decision," Angel explained, his insides gnawing at him. He knew that, despite his instinctual need to run to Buffy's aid and Wesley's loud protestations, he had to defer to Willow. She was the one he had passed Buffy's care to and she needed to know that. Besides he knew that Faith and Cordelia were there to give her any help that she might need.

"Very well, but I still have reservations." Removing the phone from his ear, he turned to fully look at Willow, who raised her head to stare blankly at him. "Angel would like to speak to you."

"Me?" she questioned.

Giles nodded, offering her the handset.

Willow stepped forward as if in a dream, fear filling her heart as she reached out to take the telephone back from Giles. "Angel?" she muttered apprehensively.

"Willow, I know it's been a lot to take in and that you have some very understandable concerns," he began. "It was my choice to try to bring you two together," he advised her, having heard the apprehension in her voice. "And I don't regret that decision for a minute."

Willow was mute, her own expectations and fears, making it difficult to fully take in what he was saying. It was as if he was whispering. She couldn't be hearing right. Why would he be saying that? "W…Why?"

"You were meant for her. I never was," Angel stated, unsure how to make it any clearer.

"I…I…" Willow stuttered, wanting to acknowledge what he had just said but unsure just how to do that. How do you thank your beloved's "ex-" for giving her up?

"I know that you know how I feel. So trust me when I say that I know how you feel. If you want my help, I'll be there," he assured her. "But if you want to do this yourself, I'll understand that too," he added. "The choice is yours."

Willow took the handset away from her ear and stared at it in shock. Angel was asking her permission. No, he was asking her to choose, to decide. But what if she failed without him? What if she only succeeded because of him? Oh Goddess, what should she do?

"What is it?" Giles asked Willow, obviously concerned.

Returning the receiver to her ear, she swallowed forcing the words from her mouth. "I…understand. Thank you Angel but I need to do this…"

His heart sank but he nodded, accepting her decision. "I guess I'd better speak to Giles. Good luck, Willow."

She needed to sleep but she didn't want to miss anything. What if Willow was brought past her and she missed it? What if the opportunity to escape appeared while she was asleep? Buffy forced herself to stay awake despite the exhaustion she felt, keeping her eyes wide. The salty tears of fatigue fell down her face but she ignored them.

Last night she'd been in Willow's arms. They had made love. It hadn't been a dream. It hadn't been a wish. It had been real she assured herself. Okay, she wasn't in her body and Willow was – but hell, it didn't matter. They had been together. She hadn't needed to see Willow. She had felt her, sensed her soul.

She wouldn't, couldn't let the memory fade. But she couldn't let it entice her to close her eyes, to fall back into that sensory memory – the tastes, smells, feelings. She had to stay awake.

'The guys will be coming for us,' Buffy told herself, still believing that Willow had also been taken. 'Giles will have a plan. They'll be here soon, my love.'

Cordelia stared at Faith in amazement as the dark Slayer moved towards the Wiccan. 'Damn, she's gonna try to talk to Willow now! Has she got a suicide wish?'

Willow had just punched the stuffings out of the once pretty Moroccan cushions littering the couch. While Xander and Anya had mutually chosen to ignore the destruction of their property, having recognized Willow's almost animal-like frenzy, Faith had simply edged forward waiting for the storm to subside.

Her admiration for Willow was growing in leaps and bounds as she realized that Willow had vented her anger and rage at an inanimate object rather than a person.

As Xander stared at the destruction, recalling the amount of repair work he'd had to do at the Summers' house and over at Giles' in the last year, he pondered 'Maybe we should consider having a secret base – something that could take being continually trashed.'

Cordelia found herself moving forward protectively, not sure if there would actually be anything she could do if these two went all ballistic on each other or her. But she was damned certain she'd try to stop it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something Angel said had upset Willow. 'That big lug. Wait till I get hold of him.'

Faith stood her ground, waiting for Willow to acknowledge her presence with a glance. She recognized the look of despair, frustration, anger and resignation in the Wiccan's eyes. 'Damn it! She's giving up.' Instinctively she edged forward. She would do whatever she had to in order to help Willow get through this – 'hold it together Red, you're not falling apart on my watch.'

Willow caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and shot a look of challenge at the dark Slayer, but to her surprise all she got back was a look of concern and understanding.

Slim poured out the stale coffee, needing its boost more than he needed its taste. He'd finally finished his shift. The half hour rest break had been a long time coming. Dawn was taking its time arriving and he knew he was getting ratty. He'd almost bitten Dorgan's head off when he'd asked for the last check in. What the hell was the guy expecting? If anything had happened did he seriously think the guys would be keeping it to themselves? Dumb schmuck!

He pulled out his smokes and, sitting down, he'd taken great pleasure in lighting his first of the day. Stretching he reached for the coffee and, downing half the cup, he wondered what the hell they were doing here. He hated these "do as your told and don't ask questions" gigs. He'd rather be on a search-and-destroy. This "we know what we're doing – just follow the orders" stuff drove him crazy.

Scratching the same spot on his neck that had now been bugging him for almost six hours, he threw the last of the coffee down his throat in frustration. The sound of footsteps outside caught his ear and he instinctively reached for his piece.

"You know what really sucks?" Faith asked quietly as she sat down next to Willow. Not waiting for a reply from her silent companion on the couch, she answered her own question. "Soft scoop ice cream; You know it says scoop from frozen but you still leave it out on the side for like 15 minutes, not because it asks you to, not because it'll make a difference, but 'cause inside you have this internal 'get real' bullshit detector and you know you're just delaying the inevitable. So you leave it to stand, you know – ignore it for a while and the problem will just go away. 'Cause you know, you just know – it's gonna do a Uri Geller on any spoon that goes near it," she stated. "The hard shit's always hard. It always bends you outta shape, no matter how long you leave it."

Willow stared at the carpet in front of her, letting Faith's quiet words wash over her.

Faith continued as if reading Willow's mind, "I know how it feels to have all that slayer strength boiling up inside you – not being able to run out and do what you want; You know, not to be able to like rush out and get her back. To know what you can do but know that you shouldn't – that you can't just use the power exactly when and how you want. I don't think anyone gets how hard it is for us to have to wait before getting into the action. It's so much easier to strike out before thinking things completely through. Believe me I should know – I've done it enough. It's hard to hold back the anger and the rage; so much easier to strike out blindly."

Willow lowered her head and said, "It's like everything goes into a red haze. I can feel the hot blood rising." She explained sadly "And it feels like the only thing that will work is violence. I can't even think of researching or talking or anything other than using my fists and feet."

Faith smiled a little "I know. It's an incredible feeling, isn't it?"

Willow shook her head and declared, "It's terrifying. How do you control it? How do you handle the rage?"

Faith sadly admitted, "Honey, most of the time I didn't. I'm doing better at that now. And I was 'Chosen' and trained. So you're doing pretty well all things considered. But B…she's always been able to handle it."

Willow responded so softly that Faith had to use her slayer hearing "I got so mad. Look what I did to their pillows."

Faith grinned, "Better the pillows than one of us. Don't worry about it – they'll understand."

Willow responded angrily "Understand what? That I lost it."

Not really wanting to let Willow fixate on her loss of control, Faith decided to change the subject. "Look, we all know that you were on the phone with Angel. What did he say to upset you so much?"

Willow looked despondent as she replied, "He said that it had been his choice to bring Buffy and me together…that I was meant for her"

Faith declared, "Dead boy sure likes taking the credit doesn't he? I think that Cordy and I had more than a little to do with that. But he's right about you being meant for her. And she's meant for you. I think we've all known it for some time. Maybe we didn't all realize or accept it but we all knew. And Angel…hell…I think he always knew it too…deep down."

Willow whimpered plaintively, "But she loved him so much. She probably still does."

Faith looked sadly at Willow and felt her pain. She asked, "Did you love Oz? Tara?"

Willow replied, "Yes."

Faith then added thoughtfully, "I think that Angel was a part of B's life just like Oz and Tara were a part of yours. Maybe they were meant to prepare you for each other somehow. Fact is they weren't the ones."

Ignoring Faith's observation, Willow whispered "He said it was up to me…if he came to help us rescue Buffy."

Reading the insecurity in her face, Faith realized what Willow was thinking and so she forcefully responded. "I hope you told him that everything was under control here. Because it is, you know."

Willow shakily asked, "Is it? Am I risking Buffy's life because I don't want him to come and help…because I want to…I feel that I have to do this myself?"

Faith responded with confidence "You can do it. And I…we…all of us…we got your back. There is no way you've come this far only to let it all go wrong now. This is your show. And you're going to get her back – safe and sound," she asserted. "Then you two are going to take care of the body switcheroony thing."

Willow plaintively asked "And then what? What do I do when I get her back? When we sort our bodies out? If Wesley's right…it's not just about us. There are others involved."

Faith, stunned for a moment, answered instinctively "Others don't matter. You two are what matters. And in case you haven't noticed – all of your friends are here and are in your corner…just waiting to back you up."

Willow glanced at Faith before quietly muttering "It's not just them…us. There's…others…"

Glancing at the young woman – daughter, student and witch before her; Faith suddenly had an unfamiliar moment of clarity. "Look I get it. Mothers have expectations, mainly to do with the 'white dress and grandkids' scenario. But honey, I've heard about this nifty turkey baster trick" she added, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Willow didn't respond, more than a little unnerved by Faith's apparent mind reading.

"Are you really that upset about letting your mother down? Kinda thought you'd gotten over that with the whole 'out and proud Mary' thing?" Faith asked seriously.

"This isn't about my mother," Willow assured Faith, wondering how the heck their conversation had ended up with them talking about her mother. She never talked about her mother.

"It's always about somebody's mother," Faith commented dryly, staring at the woman before her. She'd always assumed that Willow'd had the whole package – mommy and daddy. Okay, maybe the absent, mainly 'forgetting you're there' kind. The sorta hippie parents most kids prayed for. Yet Faith had gotten the distinct vibe that Willow would have swapped them both for just one parent who had taken an interest in her failures, problems and concerns, rather than just her successes.

Willow took in the truth of the statement with a wry smile, before making it clear. "Well it's not about mine."

"Not your mother? I'm guessing not your father. So whose?" Faith asked wondering how someone so strong and so in control had emerged from what she knew of Willow's earlier life. So much for adversity creating strength – Willow had lived on the edge of the Brady thing and yet looking at her Faith could see so many things she recognized in herself. She had often considered the possibility that if she'd had a mother who'd stuck around then maybe she'd have ended up a little more normal – whatever the hell that was. Suddenly it became crystal clear as the image of her ideal mother figure took shape. "Ahhhh. Yeah, right. Diggin' it. Mmmm. Joyce. B's mom does kinda make you set your bar real high, doesn't she?"

Willow whimpered again "She is so going to hate me for doing this to Buffy."

"In case you've forgotten, the switch was my idea," Faith reminded her. "All I wanted you to do was a more intense kind of 'walking in each other's shoes' since things here in good ole' Sunnydale are always so intense. I figured that knowing each other like this would be the wake-up call you two finally needed." Continuing quietly she added, "I never meant to hurt either of you. Not again."

Willow smiled at Faith. "I know," she replied sincerely.

Faith felt a weight lifting, one she never thought would. " So what's new? Mrs. S. can hate me again," she declared more forcefully

"That's not it. Mrs. Summers has always been so nice to all of us…to me. She's going to think that I've made Buffy gay." Willow almost sobbed.

"Red, Mrs. S. thinks of you like another daughter already," Faith went on trying hard not to laugh. "Plus she's cool. And I think what she really cares about – is B being happy. And you make her happy. She knows you'd never hurt B; that you'd do anything for her. It may take a little time, there may be a little freakin' out and getting used to it – but I think she'll be OK. She loves you both."

Willow looked at the dark Slayer hopefully. "Do you really believe that?"

"I don't just believe it. I know it," Faith strongly asserted. "And I know that B is gonna be ready for you once we…you get her back. She's gonna run into your arms – major gushy and mushy stuff – I may barf," she quipped. "And you know, I'm gonna get a major raggin' – right?"

Willow really smiled for the first time in quite a while and reached out to put a hand on Faith's arm. "Thank you, Faith," she said rather emotionally.

Faith slightly embarrassed replied "Yeah. You know…whatever."

After a slight pause, Faith recovered herself and declared "So Red, wha'd'ya say we get this plan of ours in gear and go get B? I know I can't wait for another chance at the mojo we did before. Then I can get down to kicking some serious butt-kicking."

There was little or nothing Giles could do since it wasn't his decision. He had tried to persuade Angel that he should reconsider but the man seemed hell-bent on supporting Willow. Irritated by the admiration he had for Angel's decision, when he considered the strong feelings the vampire had for Buffy, he was also exasperated at having such a powerful potential team member removed from his arsenal. He would have preferred to have everything available on hand and a partner with Angel's skill and experience could have proved invaluable.

His greatest fear was that their plan would flounder and Willow would be left regretting her decision not to take Angel up on his offer of help. Glancing at Willow who was again in deep conversation with Faith, he mentally crossed his fingers that she was capable of doing what she planned to do.

Anya's presentation of lunch had been an eye opener. He'd never really seen her in a domestic role before. Giles was still unsure if the nervous feeling in his belly was the result of Anya's exceedingly spicy meatball concoction or because if this all went wrong…Well, he didn't want to think about that possibility.

Today had been somewhat disjointed and as evening approached he found himself considering the reactions and actions of their small band. Willow had spent quite a bit of time with Faith and he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Xander and Anya had just seemed to get on with whatever needed doing; he had found the familiar sound of their infantile and distracting banter unusually comforting. There was still so little he understood about their relationship and even less he really wanted to. But he drew surprising comfort from the unchangeable quality of the mismatched pair. Xander had never really stopped watching over Willow, despite Cordelia's contention that it was Faith she needed to talk to and Anya's apparent annoyance at his concern. Giles had caught his frequent darting looks at the talking women.

At first Cordelia had seemed to want to reign over the group, quietly nudging everyone away from Faith and Willow. He had feared Queen C had returned. However she had then become encouraging and constructive as she talked with a depth of knowledge and experience about fight preparations which Giles found quite astoundingly out of character. But he'd watched her take somewhat insulting simplistic instruction from Anya on the laying out of the lunch table, without a sharp word or acid retort. He'd severely misjudged her and he knew it.

The time for action was almost upon them. Turning to the young man beside him he sighed with the resignation and determination of a man who had, despite his inner instincts and inclinations, fought in one too many wars.

"Xander, let's start getting the weapons into your car."

Faith was sitting on the counter, staring out at what could be the last few minutes of daylight they would ever see. It was a beautiful sunset. Seeing Willow moving towards her, she smiled in acknowledgement.

Willow returned her smile and said quietly so that no one else could hear "Before we go, can I ask you something?"

Lowering herself from the counter, Faith replied "Sure. Anything."

Willow continued softly and sincerely "When we met…from the beginning…you…never liked me. You…hated me. Why?"

Faith closed her eyes. She'd been expecting this particular conversation ever since she'd arrived back in Sunnydale but she'd hoped it wouldn't happen until they'd gotten Buffy back, so that she would only have to respond to the question once.

Willow saw looks of embarrassment, resignation and shame cross the other young woman's face.

Opening her eyes, Faith looked at Willow sadly and responded just as quietly "I never hated you. I…I was jealous…okay?"

Willow's jaw dropped. "You were…what? You…You're a Vampire Slayer…with your slayer powers…and the stories…and the sexy. You were jealous of me?"

"Sexy? Didn't think you'd noticed," Faith winked, before becoming serious again. "And yes. I've always been jealous of you. Guess my bad was partially because of that."

Almost speechless, Willow finally managed "I…I…I don't understand."

Faith closed her eyes again for a moment to try to gather herself. 'C'mon girl – time to suck it up.' And, then taking a deep breath, she continued, "You're brilliant, brave and beautiful – and you've always had Buffy's heart. It didn't take me that long to figure out that what you two had was more than best friendship."

Willow gawked, still very much disturbed by the fact that it seemed everyone knew how she felt about Buffy…well almost.

Faith smiled wryly "And so damn humble that you still don't see it. OK. I've got slayer strength, speed, hearing and a 'bite me' body – but it's all just physical. And until recently I wasn't using any of it all that well. But you…you can make computers do anything. You research as good as or better than Giles. You have book and school smarts. The street smarts – kinda naïve but they're there. You help B in the field not just behind the scenes. And you're…nice."

Willow could feel a slight blush building. Glancing at the ground she was grateful the guys were still loading up the car and that no one else could hear what Faith was saying. Raising her head she instinctively opened her mouth to dispute Faith's assertions.

But before Willow could say anything, Faith plowed on "And then – then there's the brave part. How many times have you gone up against vamps and demons at her side?" Pausing slightly and sighing Faith went on "Even that time in the Mayor's office – You knew I was Slayer strong – what I was capable of. I had a knife and you knew I wanted to hurt you. But you stood up to me…hell, you told me off. Now I know that what you said was true. But back then it was too late…I was in so deep with the Mayor. I had gone over the edge with you guys too many times."

Willow took in the sorrow in her face and nodding slightly she accepted Faith's assessment of their past.

Looking directly at Willow, she admitted, "I thought I'd finally found somewhere I belonged, someone I could share this Slayer thing with. You could even say…I had a crush on B. I think I had it before I got here. I knew her rep – great slayer, beat death, killed the Master. Hell, she even stood up to the Council. This was someone I could learn to share things with. I thought I'd finally found a family."

Willow wondered how she had not seen the insecurity before.

"But it was always you guys first – her Scoobies – her Willow. I couldn't compete. After that first week patrolling with her – I knew I was the outsider. The way she would light up when she talked about you guys – you were family." Faith sighed. "Do you know what it's like to watch families from the outside? Terrified because you might really start to care…because you know that only someone you want to care for you can really hurt you," she stated her voice shaking slightly. "All they have to do is make it very clear that they'll only let you get so close and that anything more is out of your reach. She was everything to me," Faith continued in an unusually quiet voice. "And then I hated her for not knowing that…I'd wanted her…she was meant to get it…to understand…to know…what I wanted…what I needed…how I felt…I wanted a…"

Willow's mind swam in fear. 'She can't mean…she's in love with Buffy too…'

Angel made his way towards the address Wesley had given him. This was supposed to be the location of a Shaman that Wolfram and Hart's records had listed in connection with Buffy and Willow. Sunset had seemed to take it's own sweet time arriving and his thoughts had flown back to Buffy and where he'd really rather be as he had awaited the arrival of nightfall.

The idea of deliberately seeking out someone involved the magics, especially someone apparently not too shy about using the dark stuff, really gave Wesley a bad feeling. A magical curse was what had brought Angel to this point in his life, with all its heartache, pain and unresolved guilt. Now that he thought about it, maybe Faith and Cordelia's solution of cursing Buffy and Willow to swap bodies hadn't been such a great idea after all.

Turning the corner, Angel caught sight of a small figure running. "There," he called out to Wesley, indicating the shape as it ducked into an alleyway. Hitting the breaks, he shifted gears and turned into the next access running parallel to the alley.

Wesley reached into his carry-all and retrieved his crossbow, anticipating that a show of force would be required. He ignored the absolute knowledge that any show of force would probably come from Angel. He needed to feel of use and he certainly wasn't about to question holding a weapon gave him that feeling.

Angel accelerated through the access, sending rubbish and small animals scurrying, before he came to a sudden stop and hanging a left, he blocked the exit to the alleyway just as a the figure had almost emerged from the shadows and into the brief doorway and the street light at the end of the alley.

The small figure froze and Angel heard him mutter "Not enough warning. Not nearly enough."

"I wanted a…sister. But she already had one," Faith declared glancing at Willow, but missing the relief that washed over the witch. "She'd puff up with pride when she talked about – her Willow. Willow – her best friend, sister, confidante…true love – even if she couldn't see it yet. There just didn't seem to be room for me; No matter how hard I tried, how hard I pushed. It took a while for that to get though to me."

The disappointment in her voice made Willow wonder if she'd ever really known this woman.

"I grew to resent you…the Scoobies, Giles, Joyce. You all seemed to belong. It was like you'd let me visit, but I just couldn't stay. It was just like every other foster family I'd ever known. So I did I did what I've always done. I struck out…I hit first…I hurt you before I could be hurt," she admitted glancing at the floor rather than meeting the look of pity she knew she'd see in Willow's eyes.

Willow could feel her heart reaching out to the woman before her, who suddenly seemed so childlike and vulnerable.

Faith summoned her courage and looked back at the Witch. "I know it's only words and they don't mean much." She paused. "I hope…If you…" She shook her head. 'Jeez, this stuff's harder than it looks' she admitted to herself and tried again. "Willow…I really and truly do regret the pain that I've caused you…and Buffy".

Willow's jaw dropped in surprise as she realized that Faith had just used their given names, giving her words a depth of meaning she couldn't doubt.

"I know that you'll probably never be able to forgive, let alone trust me, so I won't even ask," Faith stated, before looking directly into the other girl's eyes and promising, "But know this –- if you ever need anything from me, y'know…need me to do anything or if I find out that you need my kinda help – I'll be there for you. I won't let you down. I owe you – no strings."

Willow had never heard Faith talk for so long and so seriously about anything. She didn't have a clue what to say.

Faith hoped she hadn't made a big mistake by being so honest just before they went out to get her sister Slayer. Willow's well-known "resolve" face took over Buffy's features and the hazel, rather than green, eyes bore into her own as though they were peering into her very soul. Although it was uncomfortably difficult, the dark Slayer never looked away from Willow's intense gaze, hoping that she could convey her sincerity.

Suddenly the Witch smiled mischievously, realizing that they both needed some light relief, and she sexily asked, "Do you really think I'm…beautiful?"

Faith was so surprised by the question, which seemed to come out of left field, and the change in Willow's demeanor, especially after everything the Slayer had just revealed, that all she could do was stammer "I…Huh…I…ahh…Wh…What?"

Amused by Faith's sudden inability to string a sentence together, Willow continued, "You said that I was brilliant, brave and beautiful. You kinda talked about the brilliant and the brave. What about the beautiful part?"

Faith blinked, but catching the twinkle in Willow's eye, she finally smiled. "Goes without saying…you got that 'I may look shy and nice but I love to be naughty' thing going; kinda like a hidden surprise in a Cracker Jacks box – a surprising little sin thing"

"Sin?" Willow exclaimed with concern.

"Honey, you know how I love a little sin – I'd have been quite happy to let you lead me astray," Faith advised her, winking suggestively. "But you always had B in your sights. You two belong together. Beautiful witch who now has inside slayer know-how and a beautiful slayer about to find out she's got untapped mojo. Damn, you two are gonna give the bad guys apoplexy," she smirked. "Okay so I'm a hopeless romantic. Shocker, ain't it? I've seen some real nasty stuff in my life, hell I've done some of it, but you guys always reminded me of what really mattered. Getting you two together – seeing something so right actually work out – despite all the crap that surrounds us – I kinda need that too."

"Awww, Faith." Willow exclaimed and threw her arms around a stunned Slayer who stiffened in surprise as the Witch pulled her into a tight hug. "Welcome to the family."

Faith's heart burst with an unfamiliar happiness and she wrapped Willow's slender frame in her own arms, returning the hug for all she was worth.

"Well would you look at that?" Xander exclaimed, as he walked back into the apartment to see the two women hugging.

"That is certainly a sight that I never thought I'd see," Giles commented.

Anya glanced over her shoulder at Cordelia's wide eyes and threw Xander an 'I told you so' look.

"If Buffy doesn't get her arms off…" Cordelia scowled and growled

A grinning Xander interrupted, "Cordy, that's Willow."

"I know that!" Cordelia yelled at him. "Has that little b…witch forgotten that her beloved Buffy is still in the hands of those mercenaries? I just think that's…quite enough of that."

Xander laughed heartily and stage whispered to Anya. "Well honey, I guess you were right again. We'd better keep an eye on our two LA friends."

Anya, still smiling, said "You should all learn to listen to me more often."

Giles simply shook his head, as confused by their exchange as he was by the sight before him.

"Excuse me! Buffy is still out there needing us to rescue her," Cordelia spat as she marched up to the still embracing women.

But neither one seemed to hear her.

"Willow, are you ok?" Xander asked as he too stepped towards them.

Willow looked up smiling at Faith, as she moved out of their embrace before responding "Yeah, Xander. I'm fine. Now. Thanks to Faith." Then grinning at Giles, she added, "I think we're ready to get Buffy. I'm pretty sure our spell and any other magic we try will be much stronger and more powerful now."

As Cordelia moved closer to Faith, Giles inquired "Indeed?"

Willow smiled at Faith as she replied "There's trust between us now, not just the magic."

"Are you alright?" Cordelia asked Faith.

Faith offered her loyal friend a quiet and sincere smile. "Five by five…Totally," she stated before reaching out to give Cordelia a big hug. 'This mushy stuff's not so bad,' she decided, as she drew a stunned and confused Seer into her heart-felt embrace, filling it with all the thanks she felt because this wonderful woman was her friend.

Angel stood his ground since there was no point moving forward until the guy decided if he was going to fight or flee. Years of experience had taught him that these two animal instincts were universal. But the man wasn't moving. He was just standing there waiting. 'What the hell's he waiting for – an invitation? Do something! Run already.'

Maclay sighed 'This is taking longer than I expected. Why doesn't he just attack?'

Wesley stood feeling somewhat like he was missing something as he took in the two men before him; it was like some weird cowboy standoff. He could almost here the spaghetti western music. Each was staring at the other, seemingly waiting for the other to move.

"You don't seem too surprised to see me. Why is that?" Angel finally asked.

"I guess you prefer to be a surprise," Maclay responded.

"We all like a little mystery in our lives," Angel acknowledged.

Maclay just smiled. 'Come closer,' he thought as he reached into his pants pocket as casually as he could.

Angel smiled. "I should have realized they'd warn you. It seems our little visit to your employers didn't exactly go undetected," he added moving forward. "But what could you know that would warrant giving you the heads up, I wonder?"

"Ahh, so that's what you're after," he responded glancing at the rising moon. "You're a little late for a fact-finding mission, aren't you?"

"You wouldn't be trying to make a run for it if I was out of time," Angel stated, getting closer to the man. 'Why doesn't he run? He must know what I am.'

"Oh, I'm not running. I'm exactly where I need to be," Maclay stated stepping forward with bravado.

His response caused Angel to stop and glance around the alley. Seeing nothing untoward, he continued towards the man. "Can't say I'm impressed by your choice of venue – but to each to his own. I'd have gone for something more GH myself."

'That's it – closer,' Maclay silently urged, wrapping his fist around the Amulet.

"Angel," Wesley warned. "Be careful." There was something about this he didn't like. The fellow was too relaxed. It was almost as if he wanted Angel to…Oh my god! "Angel!" he yelled as a bright blue aura surrounded them both.

Maclay had reached out and touched Angel before muttering something under his breath. The flash of blue light had been almost blinding. It had seemed to freeze Angel in mid-step and then the bubble of light had withdrawn to surround them.

As Wesley moved forward, he took in the strange sight before him. It was as if a large ten-foot blue light bulb had suddenly taken up residence in the middle of the alley. Inside the bulb he could just about make out the figures of Angel and the other man. But as he approached, it became harder to move, harder to lift his legs, impossible to move forward. It felt like he was trying to walk through tar.

The power coursing through his veins, pouring into him was overwhelming. Maclay could almost feel each of his organs as they soaked in the essence of the Amulet. He had used Angel to unlock it. He had used himself as the conduit and he had used what he had needed from the book to block the transfer to the vampire. He was now a living breathing battery, storing and holding the power of the amulet.

The swelling living pure magic intended to stop an apocalypse was now his.

Part 31

Hyatt Ramu recalled watching with fear as Maclay had walked towards Holland Manners. His stomach already in knots, he wondered why he had thought following his boss was a good idea. His grandmother had always said that those who eavesdrop never hear well of themselves.

His natural distrust and curiosity had taken over when he'd seen the senior partner come out of "Recent Acquisitions". Years of training, years of knowing what not to see, what not to acknowledge as a junior had fallen away in response to the trepidation, self-preservation and doubt his boss had recently instilled into him. He'd been so confident of his success, so certain that his careful planning would bear fruit. But Holland's calm, matter-of-fact statements, knowledge and questions had shaken his world. All thoughts of becoming a partner by carefully moving up the ladder via detailed planning and eventually taking Holland's post seemed to drift from his mind, replaced by the opportunity to gaze into the world and mind of the senior partner.

Maclay was a small weasel of a man whose company he had found less than appealing. Carrying himself with an overwhelming sense of his own importance, the man had reacted to Hyatt's job offer with the air of one being inconvenienced. The junior associate was used to people falling all over themselves to be of use to the firm. But he had finally found the mage's price and that had changed his manner quickly enough. Everyone has his price. It had just been a matter of finding it.

But he was worried. What had the senior partner been up to – meeting a non-player like Maclay? Was Holland following up on his project? Had he made a mistake?

When he saw Manners reach into his jacket and pause, he had hoped the action would prove harmful to the loathsome little man. He suddenly had unrealistic hopes that he was about to see the senior partner kill someone by his own hand. Maclay had appeared perturbed and impatient. Finally Holland passed him a small envelope, holding onto it despite Maclay's eager hands. He had leaned towards the weasel of a man and, smiling as he did so, said something…no…he had asked a question and only released his hold on the envelope once Maclay had nodded.

Now sitting at his desk eight hours later, Hyatt tried to piece together all that had happened with everything else he had recently learned about Holland Manners and Angel. But he couldn't believe what he thought it meant. 'The senior partner would never ... Why would he do something so opposed to the policy of the firm?'

Hyatt reached out for the telephone, not at all sure if what he was about to do was such a good idea. But he shook his doubts aside. He'd been the one to bring this project to near completion with no support, no guiding hand but his own. Hadn't he earned a little autonomy?

"Are you sure you wanna try this?" Xander asked, his concern obvious.

"I have to. I need to know she's okay," Willow explained, "And she needs to know we're coming." She could feel something close to desperation building within her. She needed to reach out and feel her beloved. It was as if her heart was hungry for any small part of Buffy it could have.

Taking a look at her face Xander sighed. "Okay, Will. I get where you're coming from," he replied before voicing in his own fears. "But what if it doesn't work? What if she can't answer to let you know she's okay, that she heard you? You're gonna get wigged. Your head will be full of doubt. The last thing we need is our Wiccan Slayer with a mind full of holes. Stuff falls through them. Not a good thing while you're trying to control new magics, especially with the new temporary magic partner you have. General Swiss Cheese at the Little Big Horn – not an appealing image."

"I will not. I know what I have to do," Willow declared, annoyed by her oldest friend's negativity. She knew she could do this. And so should he! "I can control how I feel. I've been doing that for years," she reminded him. "When we get this rescue going, there will be no holes in my cheese," she stated with such determination that her choice of words took a moment to sink in.

Xander bit the inside of his lip, determined not to give into the mental picture of Willow's body with a big lump of Swiss cheese as her head and a confederate hat set at a rakish tilt.

Wesley wallowed in mounting frustration. He was unable to do anything but watch as Angel was held securely inside the globe of blue light. It was so bright that he could only just make out the two figures within it.

Why hadn't he stopped Angel from getting so close to a man versed in the dark magics? 'I should have warned him. As if he would have listened,' he thought to himself, well aware that Angel's eyes normally glazed over whenever he tried to explain the results and hypotheses gleaned from his research or ex-watcher based instincts.

And so he stood feeling useless and ineffectual as his anger rose and his patience waned. 'Surely it has to collapse soon. This can't be how the man intends to escape.' But just as he was about to scream in frustration at the world, the glow seemed to shift from blue to a pale green.

Buffy could hear the faint sounds of raised voices. But without her slayer hearing she had little hope of making out what her captors were arguing about.

This whole "you're a normal girl" thing was really starting to tick her off. Okay maybe she had once…okay, more than once…wished she was just a normal girl. But that thought had long ago been replaced with the internal promise she had made to stop people from dying at the hands of vampires and demons. Then she'd had to tell her mother. Somehow that had made it more permanent and real than it had been before. She no longer fostered the illusion of growing old. She just didn't think about it. Most of the time she didn't think more than one month ahead; she had become the poster girl for – "one day at a time".

But now there was Willow. Her dear sweet, sexy, loyal Willow. And she had, indeed, begun to think ahead, planning, worrying and doubting their future. She had now been considering a future, not alone, but with someone. The last time she'd done that Angel had left and shattered her fragile dreams.

Smiling, she realized that she didn't need to worry that Willow would ever leave her. They might end up forever friends, with an awkward moment in their past that they didn't talk about. But Willow would always be there for her – that she knew for sure. This knowledge filled her with strength and amusement. She'd always known who she would spend her life with. She just hadn't realized the circumstances. Maybe Faith hadn't been that far off the mark.

Reviewing the details of the prophecy, Hyatt's mind went into meltdown. 'What the hell is he up to?' he asked himself, almost missing the next part of Kelly's impromptu history of the Amulet that Holland Manners had removed from "Recent Acquisitions".

"Fine. They're linking this thing to Angel just as we predicted they would," he stated impatiently, only to have Kelly hesitate and extrapolate rather than simply confirm his statement. He hated theories and the indecision they produced. He wanted cold hard facts, something he could rely on, not the interpretations of some tealeaf reader covering his or her own back. But Kelly wasn't any more willing to put her head on the proverbial chopping block than the historians had obviously been.

"Okay, okay. He's the odds-on favorite. No one else appears to fit the prophecy now that I've knocked the bleached blond vampire out of the game," he stated. But something gnawed at him, the sudden feeling that all his plans were being undermined coursing through his veins. His whole plan B was focused on Angel getting this Amulet and then being forced to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop the apocalypse. But Holland Manners had just taken the Amulet and given it away. If this ruined his back-up plan, then keeping the sun from rising and causing the apocalypse would depend completely on the Witch and the Slayer not being able to break the spell in time.

Something Kelly said caught his attention. "What?"

"As I said, there has been a new development. When the group gathered to review Vijay's findings, they…well they interpreted the final part of the prophecy somewhat differently," she stated, pausing before delivering what she obviously viewed as bad news. "They now think that if the one described in the prophecy succeeds in using the Amulet to stop the apocalypse he wouldn't die. Instead he could become mortal again and walk in the sunlight," Kelly informed him, her voice trailing off.

"What???" Hyatt exclaimed, as he mentally let his jaw drop.

Willow began to focus her mind on the woman that now fully occupied the center of her heart. She needed to know that Buffy was okay. But most of all, she needed to know that she was still alive. Even though she hoped and believed that she would instinctively know if anything ever happened to Buffy, self-doubt still forced her to accept the possibility that this might not be the case. She, therefore, had to remove all doubt before starting the rescue attempt.

She had locked herself in the bathroom in the hope of having some peace and quiet. But she could still hear the rest of the gang moving around the apartment and talking. Certain that she was the main topic of their conversation she fought the urge to retreat into her shell and block out all that meant. Over the last few days she had been the center of attention in a way that she wasn't at all that comfortable with. She could feel her old demons – low esteem, uncertainty, self-doubt, panic and paranoia rearing their ugly heads. She had thought those were gone forever; Buffy had helped her get through them. She wasn't designed to have everyone peeking into her life and second-guessing her every move. How on earth did Buffy cope?

Sorrow filled her as she realized that the one person she wanted to talk to and share all of this with was the one person not here. Gulping, she refused to let either the anger or the fear grab hold of her. 'Concentrate,' she ordered herself and closing her eyes she began to focus herself.

Drawing just enough mystical energy together into a core around her heart, she mentally lifted it towards the location of her third eye, allowing only one word to enter her mind – 'Buffy.'

Holland Manners gazed at the entrance to Remal's vault. He really hated this place. Even though he knew he was still in the firm's building, he always felt as if he was about to use a portal and jump dimensions. Laughing at himself, he reached out and pushed open the door.

The room before him was dimly lit by candles and its hanging fabrics created large shadowy nooks and corners like something from a poorly lit black and white desert movie. But the man that came from the shadows was no Rudolph Valentino. He was a fully grown demon of the second order.

"Holland? So soon?" Remal queried, his pitch black eyebrow rising and his sharpened horns glinting in the candle light.

"Remal, you look well rested," Holland stated, forcing a friendly smile.

"Thank you. Yes, I am," the demon replied and gesturing towards a pile of scattered cushions, he beckoned the senior partner into his abode. "How may I be of assistance?"

Moving towards the cushions, Manners felt the door close behind him. Glancing at the cushions he located one he thought he'd be able to rise from after their discussion had ended. Lowering himself he began, "Events have unfolded much as you said they would. Please pass my thanks on to your sister. Her foresight has proved invaluable."

"I am glad we could be of help. Our exchanges have benefited us well over the years, have they not?" Remal questioned.

Recognizing his question as nothing more than the need to ratify the contract he had signed so many decades ago, Holland smiled, "Indeed they have."

Remal nodded and, taking a cushion himself, he smiled – his shark like teeth almost glowing in the candlelight. "His Sire's remains have been relocated and soon the death killer will be tempted to break the bonds of her creators. Has the Amulet been dealt with?"

"Yes and it will soon be destroyed," Holland affirmed, unable to help the small shiver of uncertainty from crossing his mind.

"You have reservations?" the demon asked, staring questioningly at the senior partner. Sometimes these humans amused him. "Do you wish my sister had not told you of what was to come, of your own demise at the hands of his Sire?" he asked unable to keep the frustration from his voice.

"No reservations! Just the caution of mortality. As an immortal, caution may mean nothing to you but, then again, had I been immortal you would have killed me at birth," Holland stated in a matter of fact tone showing no resentment.

Remal simply nodded.

Her eyelids were so heavy. Maybe if she just closed them for a moment. 'No!' She had to be ready…ready for what? While trying to reposition herself, she had managed to loosen the rope around her wrists but in doing so she had simply tightened the ropes around her ankles to the point where she began to wonder if she would be able to walk.

A buzzing noise seemed to invade her aching temples and she shook her head, momentarily closing her eyes against the sound. 'No! I gotta stay awake.' But the noise came back and this time louder, pounding against her forehead. She allowed her head to drop, screwing her eyes up and wishing she was able to cover her ears.

Slowly she began to imagine the buzzing was familiar, that it made sense somehow. Were there words hidden in it? Straining her tired mind, she tried to filter out the buzzing sound.

[B – –'re co––o ge- –o. Can –o–ear me]

'There, that was…what?'

[Bu – we'––oming –o ge-–ou. Ar- –o –ay…]

'Concentrate, it's almost…Willow?'

[Buff- can –o –ear m-?]

'Willow? Yes, yes I can hear you,' she almost screamed with her mind as her heart nearly exploded and fresh tears, this time of joy, began to form in her eyes. 'Oh Willow, are you okay? Where are they holding you?'

[Buffy can you hear me? We're coming to get you. Are you okay?]

'Willow?'

[Buffy can you hear me?]

"WILLOW!" Buffy screamed out loud, as she realized that although she could hear her true love, she could not reply. Her momentary joy fell to earth, crashing about her.

[Buffy, if you can hear me – the answer is–YES.]

"How's she doing?" Cordelia asked sitting down next to Faith.

"She'll cope. There are issues," Faith laughed, "like that's news! But she's got it under control. Red's tougher than she looks."

"Good," Cordelia affirmed quickly setting that aside before she added, "And you?"

"I'm five by five," Faith assured her.

"Oh yeah. The infamous 'five by five' mega cool Faith statement. And who the hell is ever gonna ask you what it means? Oh duh – that would be me," Cordelia declared sending Faith her best blinding smile, eyes wide open in expectation.

The Dark Slayer was speechless for a moment; entranced by the sheer power of the smile she was being offered. 'Damn, has she got any idea how stunning that thing is?' Leaning back as casually as she could manage, she laughed before recovering from her silence and offering Cordy what she hoped was a smile of mystery. "But honey, I thought you liked a little mystery?"

"I get enough of that day to day. Seriously, what does five by five mean? Aside from like how to make a square," the Seer asked grinning.

"See, first I lose my mystery and now I'm a square. That's why a girl should always keep her mystery," Faith stated, throwing Cordelia a suggestive wink.

"Don't you trust me?" Cordelia asked in all seriousness. "I thought that by now, you know, after all we've been through…all that's about to happen…" she paused remembering that tonight Faith was going to put herself in harm's way.

Thrown by Cordelia's sudden change in mood, Faith found herself staring into the depths of those chestnut brown eyes. She could read the sudden sincere concern filling them directed at her and she could almost feel her heart stop.

"Afraid I'll betray you somehow, huh? I guess you've had some major letdowns on the friend front…but I thought that we'd moved passed that?" Cordelia explained, as her throat began to go dry under the heat of Faith's gaze. She needed to know that she meant something more to Faith than just another acquaintance, just another chapter in her life. She needed to know that the friendship they had built was more than just a passing thing.

"We have. It's not that," Faith assured her. "I do trust you…I mean I want to. I just didn't think it mattered to you if I…"

"It matters. It more than matters, actually," Cordelia interrupted. "Who knows why considering how 'valley girl' you can sometimes be. Hey, it's not like I'm after your fashion secrets," she blurted out brashly, unnerved to find herself stumbling over her words and breaking eye contact. Gathering her thoughts, she made the decision to say what she meant. "I like knowing things about you that no one else does. It's kind of cool. It makes me feel like we…like we have something…you know…a special friendship. I've never had someone who…but it's no big. If you don't want to let me in…I mean, just tell me."

"Hey, you are…special…I mean we do have…at least I thought we…I'd like to think we've…become…friends," Faith finally managed, reaching forward to gently place a reassuring hand on Cordelia's arm. "All this new stuff gets me a bit turned around…you know?" she asked, not really expecting a response. "Five by five – you wanna know what it means? Fine. But it's gonna be a letdown," she warned, knitting her eyebrows together in mock distress.

"You haven't let me down yet," Cordelia stated, throwing her a shy smile. "I like the idea of sharing a secret with you."

Faith couldn't help laughing, "You, me and half the armed forces."

"What?"

"Five by Five is a military radio term. It means that the signal strength and clarity have both scored five out of a possible five; so 'five by five'," Faith paused to take in the disbelieving look on Cordelia's face. "Okay, so the whole cruising navy bars is now out of my system," she assured her before adding, "it's like saying – loud & clear or A-Okay."

Cordelia stared at her. "Seriously? That's all it means?"

"Yep. Kinda square, huh?" she asked, pulling a childish grin across her features. "Guess it loses the cool in translation."

"Yeah!" Cordelia laughed. "Kinda. What were you – a radio ham groupie? Okay, now I get the secret. SO not going tell anyone that I know someone who knows radio geeks. Yeeeck. So NOT cool," she stated in mock horror.

"Happy now?" Faith asked, not sure why it was that this gorgeous person could get her to talk about…well…just about anything.

"Trust me sweetheart, I'm taking that one to the grave," Cordelia assured her placing her hand upon Faith's and squeezing gently before breaking into a similarly childish grin.

Wesley moved forward in anticipation. The glow was definitely changing color. It was almost all green and he thought he could see a faint whisp of yellow now beginning to form at the base of the gleaming globe.

Then he saw Angel's head move as if he was about to fall backwards and concern filled him. He moved closer again, positioning himself behind Angel's attacker. Careful to stay away from the apparent faded edge of the globe, he wondered if it would simply shrink or evaporate. He was pretty sure Angel was going to fall once released but the fall wouldn't hurt the vampire. So he wanted to be ready to take this guy by surprise as soon as the globe allowed him to.

Unexpectedly, the globe began to move quickly towards him. Caught in it, his motions became lethargic and pained. He tried to move backwards to escape its influence to no avail. Before he had the opportunity to see that it had split in two, the short man had simply stepped from it, turning to smile at Wesley's predicament before disappearing. One minute he was there, the next he was gone.

The sound of Angel's body falling to the alley's floor broke Wesley's vacant gaze of surprise as the globe dissipated around them. Pulling himself together and realizing he too had been released, he rushed to Angel's side.

Buffy gulped, her mind reeling from 'now I'm having waking dreams' to 'Jeez, she said Yes!' Her mind exploded with joy and confusion. It had sounded like Willow – but had she wanted it to be Willow? Maybe she was just having a sleep-deprived illusion? 'How could Willow send me a message?…Of course…MAGIC?'

Her mind went blank as her heart felt like it was bursting. The sudden influx of hope and joy was too much for her mind to take. Willow had said Yes. She had actually said yes…and they were coming to save her. 'Hold on! If they're coming to save me and Willow knows…that means she's safe. She wasn't taken. OK, but why wasn't she taken? Why was I taken…Oh Wow – she said yes…YES!' A silly grin spread its childlike happiness across her face.

Had one of her guards looked in at that moment, they would have thought the girl had gone mad because she was smiling, laughing and crying all at the same time.

Giles couldn't help smiling as Anya and Xander attempted to make his toolbox fit into the now completely jammed trunk of his car. They had now tried it at least six different ways but none of these had allowed the trunk to close.

"Move that over there," Xander instructed as he pulled out a sword.

"It won't work. The axe sticks out too far," Anya responded, placing her hands on her hips.

Giles was reminded of the time he watched his two great aunts packing for a long weekend in the Lake District. As had occurred every Easter, he had watched as they attempted to pack every thing including the kitchen sink – Aunty Mary adding more and more, Aunty Maud tut-tutting but making no attempt to stop her. The final task of sitting on the suitcase lid and bouncing, in the often vain hope that his weight would help to close the case, had become a childish sense of joy back then. But right now he was quickly replacing amusement with disbelief. 'Didn't they have a clue when to give up?'

"Well, just wiggle it up and down a bit. We only need a little more room," Xander sighed in exasperation.

"Wiggling won't do any good. The box is too wide," Anya informed him, her tone becoming sharper with each response.

Standing upright Xander glared at the offending box. "Well it has to. We can't leave it behind. I need it to jerry rig the equipment."

Giles couldn't stand it any longer. He stepped forward, reached into the trunk of the car and removed the toolbox. "One can't help but wonder why, if all empirical evidence shows that this won't fit into the trunk, why you haven't considered just placing it on someone's lap?"

Willow stood slowly, shaken and drained by the emotions she had picked up from Buffy. She had used telepathy before. She'd been able to hear Xander and Anya. Why couldn't she hear Buffy? She'd tried refocusing, shifting her center. Nothing seemed to help.

Maybe she'd been foolish to hope that her beloved would be able to respond. She could tell that Buffy's emotional state was pretty stressed and shaky. What if she hadn't allowed Buffy time to acquire the focus that would have been needed? She should have factored that in. She felt frustration building within her. Goddess, how she wanted her skills back and her talents, not these borrowed ones.

Glancing at the mirror at the face of the woman she loved, a feeling of sadness and loss came over her. 'Oh Buffy, I tried.' Buffy's emotions had been so stretched, it was as if she had been refusing to let go, as if something was holding her. 'She's kept herself awake,' Willow realized, 'But why? There was nothing she could do. She had to know we'd come for her.'

Uncertainty flew into her mind, coupled with the terrifying thought that Buffy had doubted her; that she had somehow accepted that she was alone, that no help was coming. What if she'd been staying awake so that she didn't miss an opening, a way out? 'How could she think I wouldn't…that we wouldn't come for her…find her? No way' she rebuked herself, 'Buffy would never leave us and we would never leave her. She knows that.' It was like a Scooby rule or something.

Leaving the bathroom, Willow set her chin allowing her determination to rescue Buffy to become her only focus. The apartment door opened and Giles, Xander and Anya walked in. Glancing first at them and then at Cordelia and Faith, she nodded. "So, are we ready?"

Holland Manners wasn't at all sure if Ramal had accepted the importance of his warning. That was the problem with non-human business associates – differing frames of reference. Absently he wondered if he should schedule a short workshop on interspecies relations.

Glancing at his watch, he smiled. By now Angel would be minus a very powerful tool intended for his use only. Despite what that silly love struck vampire had assumed, he would never be allowed to use it. Angel's use of the Amulet would have eventually caused this branch of the firm to be transferred to the vampire. No matter who used it, there were two things Holland intended to avoid – Angel getting his hands on Wolfram and Hart was one; the other being his own early demise at the hands of Angel's sire, Darla.

By removing the magic from the Amulet and giving it to that little worm Maclay, he had removed the focal point for a whole chain of events. It often amazed him that so many of his junior colleagues still persisted in seeing things in a two-dimensional cause and effect manner. This was multi-dimensional; it involved ripples. Angel's effect on the firm was like a multi-layered cake. And he had just removed the raising agent that would have allowed this to happen.

Xander reviewed the layout he had seen earlier when doing reconnaissance with Faith, trying to recall as many details of the hideout as he could. He was aware that timing would be essential. He just hoped that Willow could keep up with the pace Faith had set when she'd tried a partial dry run against his advice. The area didn't have much cover, and distraction and diversion were going to be their greatest weapons.

He'd given Anya a big hug before guiding her into the back seat with Faith, Cordelia and Willow. Boy, had that been a tight fit. He'd almost made a wisecrack at the sight of Cordelia trying not to end up sitting in Faith's lap while the Dark Slayer just grinned, but had wisely thought better of it.

Giles had been quieter than he'd expected. Not that the watcher was normally a chatterbox but he usually kicked off something like this with one of his 'oh so very British' speeches; like he was channeling that Winston Churchill guy.

Pulling away from the apartment, he couldn't help giving their apartment a quick glance. Whenever they set off on a mission he always wondered if they would all be coming back. Their luck had been just too good so far. He always feared that one day they would run out of luck and it wouldn't be the bad guy who didn't come back – It would be one of them.

While Xander wallowed in the pessimistic world of what might happen, Giles was finding the silence in the car as uncomfortable as the weight of Xander's toolbox that he was holding across his knees.

They made their way towards the docks in silence with only one interruption from Anya to check that everyone had been to the bathroom. She had then informed them that there had been some great battle that Alexander the Great had won only because the opposing troops had poor bladder control.

He had been tempted to go back over the plan but a warning look from Cordelia told him that to do so with bring down her wrath. One look at Willow's determined features had assured him that her mind was on mission. He couldn't be so sure of his own mind however, as his ever-present concern for Buffy flooded back.

Entering the main storage area of the docks, Xander had parked the car a good two blocks away from the warehouse. As everyone unloaded and assembled at the rear of the car, Giles was filled with the need to say something to Willow but nothing came to mind. So he reached over to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Willow spun around at him and for a moment he thought he was about to be attacked. The look on her face was only thinly concealed and he recognized it easily – Slayer Rage! He had seen it before – in Buffy and, especially, in Faith. "Willow?"

"I'm okay," she responded quickly, turning away from him.

"Willow, you need to center yourself. If you let that anger and rage rule you, I am certain that there will be a loss of control, a loss of focus," Giles instructed her, shifting back into his Watcher role with comfortable ease.

"I'll be fine," she assured him, taking a deep breath and becoming more than a little annoyed with herself for letting Giles know just how tightly strung she really was.

"I'm glad you feel confident. One would be even more concerned if you did not but Willow, you really must take some time to focus," he advised, turning to place the toolbox on the roof of the car.

Irritated, Willow snapped, "We don't have time for chanting, crystals and Kumbaya. We need to get Buffy out of there."

"And unless pasty white is going to become next season's new formal black I vote we do just that before sunrise," Cordelia interjected, stepping forward to stand beside Willow. "So let's skip the 'wise old man' speech and get on with it. OK?"

Realizing that Cordelia was right, Xander stepped forward. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that I've had enough of the planning. We all know what we have to do. So let's get on with the doing. Will knows what she needs to do and she'll do it. Now grab that toolbox and follow me."

Buffy closed her eyes and smiled. Somehow the fear of falling asleep was now gone. She was more awake than she'd been in ages. Her mind felt like a night at the bronze; so many conversations, she almost couldn't listen to just the one thought.

'They were coming to get her. How exactly were they planning to do that? Did Faith have anything to do with it?'

Then she froze at the sound of footsteps. 'So soon?' But they passed by her. 'Just a guard.'

'Willow said yes!' They were going to date. But they couldn't date; they were running out of time. But the 'yes' was a good sign. That meant she really cared for her, didn't it? That they had a chance. That she wanted her. That she wanted more that just friendship. 'Didn't it?'

The footsteps were back. 'Seems like I've got my own personal guard. Oh, how sweet.'

As Xander took possession of his toolbox, Giles glanced over at the machinery – a bulldozer, a dump truck, an earth digger. Then he saw it – a wrecking ball. A flood of childhood memories overwhelmed him. He'd watched builders demolish his school's old gymnasium when he should have been paying attention to a series of lectures on post-modern art. And all he had thought was how satisfying it must be to vent all your anger in such an accepted and legal but destructive act.

Turning to Xander, he paused 'I can't ask. What will he think?' Blinking slightly he turned away again.

"Okay, Anya I need you to take this and wait for me by that earth digger. Giles take this and head over to the…"

Giles mentally crossed his fingers.

"Dump truck and wait for me. I'm going to sort out that bulldozer."

Ignoring the disappointment he felt, Giles couldn't help asking, "What about that wrecking ball? Surely that could do a lot of damage?"

"Naah. No good. It takes too long to set up and move into position," Xander advised him, smirking. "We're after speed and surprise here, G-man. So it's big wheels and tonnage."

Wesley cradled the limp figure of Angel in his arms and wondered if he'd be able to drag the vampire to the car by himself. Then again maybe if he just waited long enough, the big guy would come to. It had taken quite sometime for the last of the globe to dissipate and release him. By that time Wesley knew that he had no chance of catching the little worm of a man who had been responsible for all this.

Glancing up and down the alley he realized that he had spent one too many evenings in the back alleys of LA. 'I really need to visit a park or the ocean.' Shrugging aside his internal reflections at the path his life had taken, he looked back down at Angel. 'Oh well.'

Raising his hand he landed a well-placed slap onto his colleague's right cheek. Having braced himself for a reaction, he exhaled when nothing happened. Raising his hand again, he wondered how long this was going to take.

Seven or eight slaps later, he gave up and bent over to grab Angel under his arms. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Uhhhh!" Angel muttered.

"What?" Wesley blurted, as relief washed over him.

"You work with me and you eat garlic?" Angel asked, slowly opening his eyes to throw Wesley an accusing look.

Instinctively searching his memory, Wesley nodded apologetically, "Must have been that pizza last night."

"Ahh…the dangers of fast food," Angel commented looking around. "Okay, why am I still on the ground?"

Standing up Wesley smiled. "Long story," he replied, not sure how to begin.

"I'm guessing it involved that short guy," Angel stated as he tried to turn over.

Wesley nodded, "Mostly."

"So, and I'm just continuing the guessing here, would that also be why I can't seem to move?" Angel asked, his annoyance very evident.

"That would probably be the blue globe thing he threw around the two of you," Wesley advised him.

"Great. Assuming mini-Merlin is long gone, am I staying here until I can walk or did you have a plan?"

Willow followed Faith, her heart thumping so loudly in anticipation that it resounded in her ears. 'We're coming, my darling,' she telepathically shouted, desperate to make contact despite the fact that she would be seeing Buffy very soon. She could feel the power building as she gave her borrowed slayer powers free reign.

"Keep low," Faith instructed her as they reached a low cement bank topped by a wire fence. "There's not much cover from this point on but we can get closer if we're careful. Then it's up to the X-man and his ego-sized toys."

Crouching down low, Willow tried to run but the position was so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that the best she could manage was a loping trot. She could see Faith pulling away from her and disappointment filled her but shaking her head, she refused to allow it to stay. 'Why should I be able to keep up with her? She's a real slayer. I'm just some 'G I Jane Slayer' wannabe without the years of experience she and Buffy have had. I've only been doing this for a week, for goodness sake. I mean, you need years of experience, don't you? Slayers are like the Special Ops of the Hellmouth and all things dark and scary. That's why they do all that one-on-one training, learning how to build a bridge from six egg cartons and a box of matches or how to slay a demon with a cotton ball and four Barbie pins if they had to. I'm just a witch with some borrowed powers and a couple of training sessions. Gotta keep it real. So I can't keep up with Faith – Big Deal!! As Anya would say – I have other skills. Damn it, Giles was right. I need to focus.'

Buffy remained alert while waiting for Willow, the others and her rescue. She tried to relax as much as possible considering the discomfort of the restraints on her hands and feet. If only she had her slayer strength, she could have easily gotten out of them.

'I don't understand how Willow can have my slayer abilities and still be able to use her magical powers to speak to me but I can't do anything. Why can't I use her magic to make her hear me…to help with my rescue? I know I'm nowhere near as smart as she is but…I mean…I used to help her with her spells…at the beginning.' She tried to calm down. She couldn't afford to miss anything.

Then she remembered something. 'Wait a sec. Didn't I already use magic? After Willow and the gang rescued me from Dracula…I am so getting tired of having to be rescued. Faith was there too, even though we didn't see her…she dusted him for us…she…' Closing her eyes, she shook her head trying to clear it so that she could get back to the elusive memory. 'When those three crazy girl vamps attacked us…Willow was down, hurt…they were trying to kill her. Something happened…but what exactly?' She paused for a moment trying to remember.

'They caught fire. Did I…could I have done that? And then…then…Willow was carrying me back to the dorms and taking care of me…like she always does.' She smiled at the thought for a moment, but soon started to think back about that night again. She remembered the heat; it had been inside her. And somehow…somehow she'd let it out – How? The Sirens had burst into flame. She had done it. She knew she had. But how? If she could do that, surely she should be able to answer Willow's call.

She was furious with herself, frustrated that she couldn't remember…that she couldn't make herself heard by Willow.

Xander worked his way across the now dark building site to the dump truck where Giles awaited him. Setting Anya up with the earth digger had taken longer than he'd expected despite his belief that it was the easiest of all the machines to operate. Damn it, why hadn't he moved the machines closer when he'd had the chance? 'Because I'm so not suicidal boy. The guys with guns gave me the scaredy shakes.'

The resigned look on Giles' face confused him for a moment, but then he saw the wistful glance at the wrecking ball and he allowed himself a little smile, amused that the G-man had apparently hoped to get something a bit more…macho. Who would have guessed? Shrugging aside his amusement, he swung his tool kit onto the waist high cab step and removing the pliers and wire cutters, he closed the box and placed it below the cab step. Then he made his way towards the rear of the vehicle.

"Okay, Anya's all set. If you could get yourself into the cab, I'll be up in a minute to give you one-on-one instruction. Should be easy considering the stick shift you're used to."

Slim hated this waiting. It was always the worst part of any job or battle. Nothing prepared you for the strain on your nerves, the temptation of paranoia. And nighttime just intensified these feelings – the seemingly whispering gusts of wind and moving shadows filling your mind with dread, anticipation and false starts.

He'd seen a few guys lose it in Senegal, and one rookie had set off a firefight with a colleague who had repositioned. Waiting was almost as dangerous as fighting because you don't have a focus, a target, something to release all your anticipation and adrenalin at.

Dorgan might be a dork but at least he knew that he gave the guys someone to vent their frustrations at. Slim had been with some commanders who didn't have a clue what their men were going through, let alone care. It was clear that Dorgan fixated on the little things as if knowing that if he did his job well, his men would allow their pent-up frustrations to be directed toward his obsessions. But Slim wasn't about to thank him for his efforts. He had the guys' back and that was enough.

Suddenly he thought he spotted something moving over to the left and…a flash of…skin? His changed his focus and repositioned his night vision goggles in the hope that a small adjustment would somehow help. But he couldn't see anything. The shadow by that loading bay was pitch black and so far from any street light that nothing seemed able to penetrate its depths.

Faith stood on the loading bay, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that she was out in the open. She'd realized during her earlier visit that this bay was in dark shadows and that you'd have to be less than twenty feet from it before you'd be able to make out anything on it.

Glancing behind her, she noticed Willow, who was crouched down at the back of the bay peering out into the night, with the unmistakable anticipation and tingling nerves that Faith knew so well.

"Well, that was the easy part. Now it's up to the diversionary crew," she stated.

"What time is it?" Willow asked.

"I dunno," Faith said glancing at her wrist before remembering that she didn't have a watch. "Why?"

"Because Xander said three o'clock," Willow reminded her.

"I'm kinda guessing that once Xander kicks off we're gonna know about it," the Dark Slayer observed. "It's like a library out here. Someone drops a pin and we're gonna hear it."

Willow smiled and nodded, somewhat strangely amused at having the site of her first real test as a temporary slayer described as a library. Recalling the early years and the many hours they had spent in the school library. Little had she imagined back then that what they had begun in those early days would be the backbone of their current lives.

Standing before her was the woman she had once thought of as a possible new part of the group, then as a mortal enemy and, if she was honest, as the one she viewed as the only real competition for her place in Buffy's affections. And now they were together, trusting each other, needing to work together to save the woman they had once competed for and who was still so important to both of them.

"Faith?" Willow called, not at all certain of what she really wanted to say.

"Yeah," Faith responded, turning back from the intense lookout she had taken up.

Pausing in her scramble for the right words that would sum up how she was feeling, Willow gave up and allowed her scrambled mind free reign. "I'm glad you're here. It seems right somehow that we do this together," she said simply.

Faith dropped her eyes despite the fact that Willow probably couldn't see them and, rather emotionally, was barely able to speak. "Oh hell, Red…Newsflash – I'm not much good at this stuff. And let's face it, most of the time whatever I do want to say only comes out half right or totally wrong. So can we leave it at – Ditto?"

Affected more than she wanted to admit, Willow simply nodded and offered a succinct "Sure."

They both understood.

"Oh you've got to be joking!" Xander exclaimed under his breath, throwing his pliers to the ground and then, bending down to rescue them.

"Excuse me?" Giles questioned, poking his head out from inside the cab.

"What kinda paranoid freak takes the ignition leads home at night?" Xander grumbled, pointing at the engine housing as if Giles could see just what he was talking about. Sighing in exaggerated frustration, he glanced back at Anya and then at Giles. "Okay, okay we improvise. That's what we do. I'm good with the off-the-cuff stuff."

"You are?" Giles muttered before he could help himself.

"Snide quips – Not helping," Xander advised the watcher, who was now getting down from the cab, having realized his vehicle wasn't going anywhere, least of all to war. "Okay. Anya has the earth digger. No way I'm re-educating this 'Rita' now. I'm on the bull – which has a tow bar!" Xander realized. "Brilliant! A little clumsy but brilliant," he asserted before throwing Giles what appeared a slightly insane smile.

Giles stared at the young man in complete confusion. He knew that what he was listening to was pretty much a verbal expression of Xander's thought pattern but, none the less, it reminded him of his first Latin lesson. Totally unintelligible.

It had to have been almost half an hour since they'd left Xander, but they were still sitting here, waiting, stinking of these damn spice bags. Sugar and spice, everything nice – NOT. 'What the hell did she put in here?' Faith wondered as her patience began to wear thin. "How long has it been?" Faith asked irritably, "What's he doing? Building a rocket?"

"Xander will get here. He won't let us down," Willow declared, despite feeling a little less confident than she knew she sounded.

"Yeah, yeah…I know," Faith assured her, kicking at thin air. "I just hate the waiting…you know?"

"Believe me when I say – getting there," Willow agreed with her. Then a soft rumbling came to their ears. "Listen," she exclaimed, pointing out into the darkness and in the general direction of the building site. She could almost make out the movement of the sound…east to west.

Then Faith saw it. "You've gotta be kidding me!" she exclaimed.

Part 32

Buffy could hear movement and sighing. Someone was outside, no – behind her. She was disappointed to realize that it was only her guard and not the person she so longed to see. This forced solitude was really beginning to get on her nerves. It had her totally on edge, mainly because she knew she wasn't truly alone. There was a group of heavily armed men out there determined to keep her company, if at a distance. But she couldn't see or hear them, she didn't know what they were doing, she couldn't do anything help herself or her would-be rescuers. She hadn't felt this powerless since her parents had decided to divorce.

She was somewhat surprised at how much she missed having others around her, especially since she'd spent so much of her life feeling as if she was alone even in a crowd. If it hadn't been for Willow and Xander, she was pretty sure she would have ended up with Cordelia's crowd which would surely have left her on her own once they realized she was different and not quite normal – by their standards. What did she ever do to deserve two such loyal friends? She'd have turned into a real loner, more of a weirdo than she probably seemed to most of the outside world. 'Oh yeah, and my life's so normal now.'

But who was she kidding? She would have been dead long ago if it hadn't been for Willow and Xander. They kept her steady, sane, informed, okay Xander wasn't big with the research she needed, but he'd fought by her side. They both had, they'd been on the front lines with her and helped her to remember that she was a human being, a person, as well as the Slayer. Giles may have simply been her watcher at one time but he now mattered more to her than she'd ever really thought her watcher could or would; although a simple look, would always tell her exactly what he was thinking or expecting from her, it was the absolute faith he had in her intentions that she treasured. And Willow, her dear sweet Willow always gave her a reason to survive, to come back, and to believe in herself.

She had long ago given up worrying about what other people thought of her. At least she thought she had. For years now the only opinions that had mattered to her were those of her small self-made family. And it was their feelings, opinions and safety that now occupied her thoughts as she sat awaiting her rescuers, that very same family with, apparently, a few unexpected additions.

Buffy was more than a little upset that everything that had recently happened between her and Willow had effectively taken place under their eagle eyes. Was she to have nothing that was purely her own? No privacy at all? Plus they seemed to have had their own ideas, for quite some time, about how things were or should be between them. She wasn't sure if the easy acceptance of Xander and Giles pleased or annoyed her. Anya's opinion was pretty much a given; as far as the ex-demon was concerned it was about sex, and nothing about sex was anything but good.

Just as she was starting to focus on her thoughts, she heard the noise of a radio as it burst into life.

"Zero one. Contact on my two," the radio crackled.

"Zero four, affirmative. Contact on my four. Back up requested."

Something was happening. 'Was this it?' Buffy wondered as she shifted her attention to the reports blaring from her guard's radio.

Faith could feel the laughter building inside her at the sight of Xander towing the wrecking ball. That in itself wasn't as funny as the sight of the stoic Englishman sitting…how could she describe it? Yeah, yeah…sitting regally in the cab with his arms crossed in lordly expectation as if he was a king anticipating a crowd of worshipping subjects.

Meanwhile, Anya followed with the kind of lack of patience that the Dark Slayer had come to expect from the ex-demon. It was obvious that she was trying to gun the earth digger, to get some speed going. 'What was it with ex-immortals and the need for speed?' Faith wondered, recalling a discharged Sretka Demon she'd once met at a drag race. She turned her head to share her amusement with Willow, only to be confronted by a look of complete shock.

Hoping that the humorous scene before them might offer some light relief that would help remove the distressed expression from Willow's Buffy-face, she voiced her own amusement. "The Saturday morning Wacky Races 'toons have nothing on this," she blurted out. 'Maybe Will just needs help to see the funny.'

But Willow seemed to simply stare at her as if she was missing something.

Faith turned back to examine the scene before her more closely. Okay, three major boy-toys under the control of a man-child, a grown man with far too much reserve and an ex-demon with far too little. "What?" she exclaimed because she just didn't get what the hell it was that Willow was seeing.

Willow stared at Faith. 'Couldn't she see how ridiculously dangerous this was going to be?'

"Zero one, I have some building machinery heading towards the fence at two o'clock," Slim stated, his trigger finger itching as he awaited instructions. Then he saw the Englishman raise his arm and throw something, which landed on the other side of the fence creating a ripple in the air as it landed.

"Zero six and eight move to back up Zero one," he heard Dorgan instruct but his relief was short-lived as he saw the air ripple expand. It was coming towards him!

"Zero one, they've thrown…something. We're under attack. Permission to respond?" he requested, raising his rifle into his preferred firing position.

"Denied. They have –n't b –r-o-k-e-n o-u-r b-o-u-n-d-a-r-y . c-o-n-t-i–n–u–e t–o r-e–p-o-r–t ."

'What the hell was that?' Slim wondered as Dorgan suddenly sounded like someone playing a recording at half speed.

Willow watched as the ripple moved towards them. It was too late to worry now. The clock was ticking.

"We're on," Faith stated, moving towards the edge of the loading bay. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Willow responded shaking aside her reservations. Stepping forward she locked eyes with Faith and nodded.

"Okay, then. We're heading for that storage trailer, hanging a right to that gas pump, up and over, across the gas pipe and in through the skylight," Faith said, repeating the instructions she knew she had already given but feeling that she needed to push Willow back into the game. "Keep it tight, okay? We have to move fast."

Willow nodded, not sure what lay ahead but certain that everything she had ever wanted in life was waiting for her inside that building.

The Slayers headed off at breakneck speed, launching themselves from the loading bay and shooting from the deep shadows that had hidden them from the eyes of their enemy.

Cordelia sat in the car tapping her hands on the steering wheel. She'd been volunteered by Xander, of all people, to be the get-away driver; much to the very vocal annoyance of Anya, who had been calmed down only after Xander told her how much he needed her to operate one of the construction vehicles.

Giles had helpfully agreed with Xander and pointed out that Cordelia didn't have nearly as many hours battle experience, nor the knowledge of the area. After all, Anya had been the one to discover the site of Buffy's imprisonment.

It had taken all her willpower to hold her tongue but the pleading looks from both Giles and Xander had told her all she'd needed to know. They trusted her. She couldn't quite figure out why they didn't trust Anya with the job but apparently they didn't, and that was enough for her.

So here she sat, listening to the beginnings of the battle. She wondered how far along Faith and Willow had gotten, and if the Barder time ball thingy had worked.

Giles kept himself low as Xander cut through the fence like a sharp knife slicing through butter. Releasing Giles and the wrecking ball, the young man quickly headed to the right as Giles slowly rolled to a halt and Anya came up on his left.

Xander had been very insistent in reminding them that the cabs of these construction vehicles might look impregnable but they were definitely not bulletproof. Anya had, therefore, raised the forked shovel of the earthmover, lifting it level with her cab. However, what concerned Giles was the very real possibility that she'd been driving all the way here with it up.

Throwing aside his momentary musings, he peeked above the rim of the window to take a quick look at his position before ducking back down and reaching for the controls. 'Oh Colin, I wish you were here,' he thought, recalling the childhood chum with whom he'd shared so many construction site misadventures.

He heard a crunch to his right and realized that Xander was already putting his bulldozer to effective use against the walls of the warehouse. Then he heard it. Something whizzed past the door of his vehicle, like a fly on speed. 'They've started shooting.' Revving his controls into gear, he let the already pre-suspended wrecking ball fly. The moment of release was filled with all of his pent-up frustrations at events and his apparent inability to see further than the end of his nose where the love life of his charge, his slayer, his surrogate daughter was concerned.

The long pause followed by a resounding crash made him giddy and he smiled childishly. 'Wanton destruction is greatly underrated,' Giles mused, as he drew the ball back for another swing. 'This is better than conkers.'

"Z—er—o O—n—e R—p—o—r—t," Slim's radio crackled, as another part of the warehouse wall was pushed inwards.

"Oh great, we're being smashed in and Dorgan's gone all slow mo. Figures." He yanked his earpiece from his ear before glaring at it and throwing it to the ground.