The Queen of Hearts by Hellmouth Guy

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Series trademarks, all publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. No money is being made from these works. No copyright infringement is intended.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
The Hellmouth Revisited.
Feedback: Thank you.
Spoilers: None.
Author's Notes: Sequel to The New World.
Pairing: Buffy/Faith

Summary: Secrets are revealed, and loves, both new and old, are tested...while the world hangs in the balance.

"Okay…that's…freaky," Buffy said. "You're…I mean, if you're sure the cards are giving you the right answer? You're…gonna travel through time."

"The cards don't lie to me," Willow said. "I'm the witch. Someday, I'm gonna go around looking for people in the past…to help me fight some kind of big apocalyptic battle."

"Time travel," Buffy said. "How would you even do it? Does Michael J. Fox take you out on a date? Is there some kinda spell you know about?"

"No," Willow said. "I've never even heard a rumor of any kind of magic that can create that effect…or any deity who grants that kind of power. I wouldn't even know how to begin. But someday I'm gonna know."

"I just realized, there's one easy way to figure this out once and for all. I mean, yeah okay, you believe the cards. But…if we go find Tara, assuming she remembers what the witch looked like, we can just ask her if you're her. Just tell her, y'know, picture you with dark hair."

Willow got up, and walked away from the table. She stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking away from Buffy, looking toward the window. The night was black.

"Whatever happens?" Buffy said. "I'll be there to help you, Will. I'll always be there for you. Okay?"

"Before you ask? No idea why…why I'm all, wiggin' out over this," Willow said. "It's just…you're Buffy. I'm supposed to…I'm supposed to help you but…you're the one who's supposed to lead. And this thing Tara talked about, it sounds like I have to do it all alone and…I'm…I don't know, I guess…I'm scared."

"I always thought you should be the leader," Buffy said. "Out of me, you, Xander and Giles? I always thought you'd make the best leader."

"Nope. You're smarter than all of us, and more disciplined. Sometimes I run out and go looking for a fight? But you always see the big picture. Whenever we're in like, crisis mode and I have to rally the troops, you know what I do?"

"I try to relax, take a breath, and then I think to myself, how would Willow handle this? What angles would she be seeing here that I haven't looked at yet? That's what I do. It's what I always do now."

"I love you, Buffy," Willow whispered. "I need you, I can't…stop thinking about you. I keep thinking about us…together…making love. I'm…I'm in love with you."

Buffy looked at her for a moment. She looked down into Willow's green eyes, and caressed her cheek.

Willow rested her head on Buffy's shoulder as Buffy carried her into the dark room, and laid her down on the couch.

Willow's heart was beating like a jackhammer. Buffy could hear it. There were no other sounds. The only light came from a streetlamp outside, stealing in through a gap in the curtains.

Buffy stood in the light, only partly revealed. Her face was a shadowy hint, her eyes two pinpoint gleams focused directly on Willow now. As Buffy looked down at Willow, she cast a long shadow on the wall behind her. The shadow seemed to move of its own accord. Willow couldn't figure out how it was moving; the light from the street lamp was fixed, and Buffy stood perfectly still…Buffy's shadow shouldn't have been moving.

Buffy took off her nightgown, raising her arms above her head as she did; Willow could see the strong muscles in her arms and shoulders flexing. Buffy dropped the nightgown to the floor.

Buffy's voice was a cold wind rustling through leaves at night…it was stealthy footfalls in the tall grass.

Buffy moved closer to Willow, and stood in front of her. The light played across her stomach. Buffy's stomach was hard and flat, but her skin was milky white and Willow knew it was soft. Buffy's face was still a shadow. Her eyes were two diamond points of light now, holding Willow, freezing her in place.

Buffy took off her bra. Willow looked up at her breasts, as Buffy moved closer to her, and the light from the streetlamp flitted across them. Buffy's nipples were hard, sticking straight out like they always did when she was aroused…

Buffy pulled down her panties. Willow watched the long, hard muscles in Buffy's thighs moving as she bent over, and slipped them down her legs, and stepped out of them.

Willow hesitated. Buffy watched her; Buffy's eyes never left Willow's. They held her in place.

She wasn't wearing a bra underneath her pajamas. Her breasts were exposed. She moved her hand to cover them…then moved it away.

Willow's nipples were hard. She slipped her top off her shoulders, and dropped it on the floor.

Willow pulled down her pajama bottoms, and kicked them off. She was naked, except for her panties.

Buffy laid down on the couch next to Willow, and took her in her arms. Willow hugged her. It felt perfectly natural to be doing this…it felt right.

"Do you remember when I did this with Faith?" Buffy said. "The day after we made love?"

"Yeah," Willow said. "You wanted to talk, and she was nervous…and, um, horny. So…you did this."

"It didn't work out so well," Buffy said. "I didn't know her then. I didn't know that she might think I was taking advantage of her…teasing her. I didn't mean to do that…I would never do that. And I would never do that to you, either. I'm not teasing you, Willow. If you want me to make love to you, I will. But first we need to talk."

"I love you, Willow," Buffy said, as she caressed her hair. "But you don't love me. You think you do. But you don't. Not the way I love you."

Willow looked up into Buffy's eyes. She felt warm, lying in Buffy's arms. Buffy's breasts were soft, against her cheek.

"I've been in love with you since the day we first met," Buffy said. "My diary? Every entry up until I met Angel is about you. Whenever you slept over, we'd do each other's hair and hang out and stuff? And you'd talk about Xander, and movie star guys you thought were cute, and I'd play along, and pretend I wasn't in love with you. Do you know how much it hurt me? Do you know how much it's always hurt me, being around you, knowing I can't have you? And then when you slept over you'd go to sleep in the spare room, and I'd go to my bed, alone, and cry. Because I knew you'd never be mine."

"I'm sorry," Willow whispered. "But…I love you now. I love you so much, Buffy. I…I need you. I think about you all the time…about us…like this."

"You've been thinking about me since around eight-thirty," Buffy said. "That's when you got Faith's memories. Yeah, you've lived her life in your head but you've only had her memories for like, eight hours. Before that, you loved me as your best friend. Everything else? Everything else is Faith. These feelings you have are Faith's, not yours. It's not you fault you have them, you didn't know this would happen. But they don't belong to you, Willow. They belong to her."

"I do," Buffy said. "They go black because you've spent your life doing what everyone else wants, living according to other people's expectations. You have a lot of anger all bottled up inside, and it comes out sometimes now, and your eyes go black. You've never made decisions for yourself. All your life, you've let other people decide for you. But, tonight? You're gonna decide. You're gonna decide about us. I love you. You don't love me, but I love you. And you can have me tonight, if that's what you really want. I'll make love to you, if that's what you really want."

"What do you want, Willow?" Buffy said. "If you could have your wish, what would it be? Do you want me to make love to you, the way I did to Faith? Do you want to cheat on Xander? Do you want me to cheat on Faith?"

Willow felt stuck, suspended. She didn't know what to do. She was at the top of the roller coaster, in that one moment when the car teeters on the brink, just before it falls…

"There was a night, that I know you remember," Buffy said. "And I know you think I don't remember it, but I do. It was the night I took Faith…the night she opened her legs for me, and let me inside. The Slayer and I were separate, then. That's why I didn't remember at first. But we aren't separate anymore. I'm the Slayer, Willow. I'm the one who loved you, that night. Who took you over and over again. Who bit you and scratched you and took you from behind and whispered those things in your ear, the things that scared you. I'm the one who took your blood. You want that again? You want that, for real? You want me to take you? I will, if you want."

Willow thought about it. She did want it; it was all she'd been thinking about all night. Opening her legs for Buffy, and feeling Buffy inside…hearing Buffy growling and whispering in her ear…

Willow thought about her life. She saw it, for a second; she saw her whole life, saw all the intricate patterns, the infinite connections, all the paths, and where they led…she saw life, for just a second, for what it really was…

"Our lives are in your hands tonight," Buffy said. "Not just yours and mine. Faith's and Xander's too…and maybe Tara's. Because here's the catch, baby. Rebecca's always right. I'll love you tonight if you want. But I won't lie about it. I'll tell Faith, and if you don't tell Xander I will. Faith will leave me, and maybe end up with Tara. Xander will leave you. Who knows, maybe he'll end up with Cordy. You're right, she's been looking at him in a funny way lately. I think maybe she wants him just because he's like, the one guy she's not able to have."

"It's gonna take time, Willow," Buffy said. "Time to find yourself. You're still in there. I don't know if you can ever go back to the way you were before. But I know you can find a balance…a way to be strong, to adjust to this and still be you. In the meantime? You have to decide what you want. Do you want me, or Xander? Decide, Willow. Decide, for the rest of your life. Decide, for all of us…all of our lives. Now."

It was as if the world had paused. Willow felt like the world was watching her, and waiting.

"You knew this was how it would go," Willow said. "All of this…you were never gonna cheat on Faith. You knew I wouldn't let that happen."

"You're Willow," Buffy said. "You'd never let me hurt Faith. You'd never let yourself hurt Xander."

"It's why you can lead," Buffy said. "You think about other people first. That's why I know, when you have to do all that stuff someday? When you have to go back in time looking for people, for that big war that's coming? I know you'll be fine, baby. I know everything will be okay."

Willow didn't feel nervous about the future anymore. She realized that Buffy was right: she realized she could do it…that whatever the future threw at her, she could deal with it. She could be strong.

"I love you, Willow," Buffy said. "I trust you with my life. Faith is my life. And I knew you wouldn't let me lose her."

"I love you too," Willow said. "I know there's a universe where you and I are together. But…not this one. Some things are meant to be…and some things…

"Faith," Buffy whispered, in Faith's ear. "It's time for your pills. You gotta wake up, baby."

"But…what about our tickets?" Faith muttered, as she opened her eyes, and looked up. "It's the season opener."

Faith looked around. She looked up into Buffy's eyes. Buffy smiled down at her, and kissed her.

"Okay," Buffy said, and held out two morphine pills to Faith. Faith took them, and Buffy reached over to the nightstand and came back with a glass of water. Faith drank the whole glass down.

"Nah, I'm good," Faith said. "Kinda beat but…other than that I'm good." She yawned, and looked at Buffy's eyes.

"Buffy," Faith said, and caressed her cheek with her good hand. "I want you to sleep, honey. Okay?"

Faith curled up against Buffy's breasts. Buffy put her arms around her, and drew the covers over her, and held her tight…and closed her eyes.

She bounded through the clouds. The sun was on her face, and the wind was in her hair, and she was weightless. She leaped into the sky, and flew, and then drifted back down…and leaped back into the sky and flew again…

She opened her eyes. The sun was shining in through the window. The bedroom was bright.

"This a trick question?" Faith said, grinning down at her. Every time she jumped Buffy's body bounced into the air and Faith's head nearly touched the ceiling. Buffy noticed that the bruises on Faith's legs were a faded yellow color now, and much smaller.

"C'mere, kitty cat," Buffy said, and laid her back down on the bed, and kissed her. "How come you're jumping around on a broken ankle? Doctor Buffy didn't say you could jump around."

"Let me see your ankle," Buffy said, and moved down the bed, and gently took Faith's ankle in her hand. "I'm gonna take this bandage off, have a look. I'll give you a new bandage."

"Maybe," Buffy said, and smiled, and gently removed Faith's bandage. "If you're a good kitty-cat and stop disobeying doctor's orders. This hurt?" she said, and ran her fingers over Faith's ankle.

"Okay," Buffy said, and took Faith's hand, and sat her up on the bed. She stood up, and Faith stood up with her.

"No more swelling either. I think it's almost healed up. But do me a favor, don't like, go running around or kicking anything, at least for today, okay?"

"Nothing. I just…you just always take care of me and…I just really love you, Buffy. I love you."

"I love you too, baby," Buffy said, and wiped her tears away. "No more crying now, okay?"
Faith nodded.

"You've been a good kitty-cat," Buffy said, and looked up at her, and smiled. "Good kitty-cats get extra-special kisses from Doctor Buffy."

"Okay, pretty kitty," Buffy said. She looked at the alarm clock. "But first Doctor Buffy says it's time for your pills. Be right back." She picked up the empty glass from the nightstand, walked out of the room, and came back a minute later with a glass of water. She opened the bottle of pills and took out two. "Take these," Buffy said, and handed Faith the pills, and kissed her. "Then you can take me, baby."

Faith took her pills, and set the glass back down on the nightstand. Buffy moved on top of her, and turned around.

Faith smiled. "This is gonna be fun," she said. "Last bunch of times we sixty-nined you always made me be on top."

"Because I love looking at your perfect beautiful bubble butt while I'm licking you," Buffy said. "Once you're better you're going back on top again."

Faith giggled. "So not fair," she said, as Buffy backed up toward her face. "I'm gonna like, file a complaint. Maybe start a petition."

"Xander will sign it if you bring pictures," Buffy said. "Maybe next time you're on top I'll have a special treat for you to make up for it."

"Oh yeah?" Faith said, and began kissing Buffy's pussy. "What's that gonna be, beautiful?"

"You never know," Buffy said, and giggled, and buried her face between Faith's legs.

They were quiet after that; only their quick breathing, and their soft moans, disturbed the stillness. Faith gave Buffy's pussy little kisses, and fucked it with her tongue, and gently stroked Buffy's clit with her left hand. Buffy's pussy was already dripping; her juice was warm and sticky and it had a sweet, tangy taste that Faith loved. Faith licked that nectar up, from the bottom of Buffy's pussy, just below her ass, all the way around to her clit, and then went back to fucking Buffy's pussy with her tongue.

"I like it down here, honey," Faith whispered, between moans. "Everything's easy to reach, got everything I need right here, like, handy. Got my finger on the button."

"You gonna start world war three back there?" Buffy said, and sucked on Faith's clit, and began fucking Faith's face, moving her ass back onto it and thrusting against it, as Faith darted her long tongue in and out of her pussy, and focused on Buffy's scent; it was at its most concentrated there, between her legs. Faith felt her blood pumping through her veins, when she took in Buffy's sweet pussy scent; she felt her energy shooting through her.

"Hell yeah," Faith said. "My girl always comes like a bomb goin' off. Gonna get you to Defcon one soon, honey."

"I love you too," Faith said, and suddenly squealed, as Buffy stuck two fingers into her pussy, and began fucking her. At the same time Buffy began thrusting her ass back into Faith's face even harder, and her own moans got louder, and began coming quicker.

Their bodies moved together now, rocking gently back and forth, causing the bed to creak in time with their moans.

Their scents filled the room. Buffy's pussy juice was all over Faith's lips now. She lapped as much of it out of Buffy's pussy as she could with her tongue, like a cat drinking milk from a saucer, and swallowed it.

Faith began sucking on Buffy's clit; Buffy's clit was small but it was engorged now from Faith's expert stroking, and when Faith took it in her mouth and gently sucked on it, it was hard. Buffy began to tremble. Faith ran her hand up and down Buffy's thick, muscular calves, and she sucked on Buffy's clit, as Buffy's pussy dripped all over her lips, and Buffy fucked her with her fingers.

Buffy began curling her fingers up inside Faith's pussy as she fucked her. Faith's legs began to shake.

"Think…there's…really a G-spot?" Faith said, breathlessly. She knew she'd be coming soon.

"Don't know. All that matters is my baby's spot," Buffy whispered, as she sucked on Faith's clit and fucked her with her fingers. "And I know it's right here. I'm gonna call it the F-spot."

Faith felt a pressure building in her. She caressed Buffy's ass, reveling in the feel of the rock-hard muscles moving underneath it, and then stuck her fingers as far as they would go up Buffy's pussy, and sucked harder on her clit. Buffy screamed, and Faith lifted Buffy's legs and angled them up and away from the wall, just as Buffy kicked back with them. Faith knew Buffy could easily kick through the wall; she'd seen her do it before, when she came. Buffy held onto the bedsheet, shredding it with her fingernails, as her orgasm ripped through her like an earthquake. Faith came next; she wailed and bucked beneath Buffy and nearly threw her off the bed. But Buffy held onto her, as the aftershocks from the earthquake rippled through her own body, and she shook all over…

They laid together like that for a moment, catching their breath. They focused on each other's scents, and their heartbeats; they could hear them.

Buffy reached out and massaged Faith's feet, and Faith ran her fingers over Buffy's ass, and down her thighs.

Buffy turned around, and kissed her way back up Faith's body. When she reached Faith's lips, she hugged her.

"You're my kitten," Buffy whispered, running her fingers through Faith's hair, as Faith ran her left hand up and down Buffy's strong, muscular back.

"Yeah," Faith said. "But I'm gonna be a grown-up cat soon. I'm gonna be a grown-up alley cat. Get up on my lips, honey. I wanna make you purr again."

"You always make me purr, baby," Buffy said, and smiled down at Faith as she sat up and straddled her face. "But…alley cat? I don't want you to be an alley cat. I don't like the way that sounds."

Uh…yeah," Faith said, and brought Buffy's pussy down to her lips, and kissed it. "Just…a regular old grown-up cat then."

"But I'll still always be your kitten, Buffy," Faith whispered, and began licking her.

"Wow," Buffy said, much later. "You're like some kinda prodigy. You're an oral sex prodigy. And I'm not even kidding. If licking me was an Olympic event you'd be like the Dorothy Hamill of licking me."

"I don't think there's a single drop of any kind of moisture left in me," Buffy said. "I feel like the bottom of a slurpee cup."

"You're not so bad yourself, girlfriend," Faith said. "Had me purring. What time is it anyway?"

They were lying naked in bed together. Faith was resting her head on Buffy's breasts and Buffy was rubbing her feet against Faith's. A fine film of sweat covered their bodies, from head to toe. Faith no longer had the bandage on her stomach, and the slash there had scabbed over and already begun to fade to a pinkish color. The bed was rather rumpled. The lamp that had been on the nightstand was on the floor now, in pieces. Buffy looked over at the alarm clock she kept on the nightstand. It was on the floor too, in pieces.

"Um…" Buffy said. "Well judging by the clock I guess it was a little past eleven when you made me come that third time."

"Gonna have to do something about how you always kick out like a mule when I get you off, hon," Faith said. "Maybe like, Buffy-proof your room. Maybe I can start tying you up. Big pervo lesbian like you, bet you'd get off on that."

"Gonna test that theory sometime," Faith said. "Hungry. How about we get cleaned up, then see if Xan Man's been up to anything in the kitchen. Gotta keep that boy around. He can cook his butt off."

"Will's kinda fond of him too. So yeah, guess we can keep him. They're probably out shopping by now, they had some errands to run today."

"Yeah, and thank you very much for that bit of pissing me off, by the way. Like he doesn't almost die enough? Now I gotta worry about you training him and him being all Kung Fu Boy and showing off and getting in over his head and not having the sense to run anymore and maybe getting killed that way? I should kick your ass. If I didn't love that perfect amazing ass of yours so much I'd kick it."

"You're beautiful when you're angry, honey," Faith said, and kissed her. "Plus all the other times."

"We still need to argue about this," Buffy said. "I need to like, be annoyed at you and maybe get pouty and even intractable."

"Pretty damn impertinent of me, telling Xander I'd train him without runnin' it by you, huh?" Faith said.

"Totally impertinent," Buffy said. "I think I'm gonna start being annoyed at you now. Ready? In three…two…one…now."

Faith took Buffy's hand and pulled her from the bed. "You can be annoyed with me in the tub," she said.

"Is this gonna be our first bubblebath together?" Buffy said, as they made sure the coast was clear and scooted naked into the bathroom across the hall.

Buffy wasn't letting herself think about it…but she knew her time was running out. The moment was drawing closer when she would have to tell Faith about Angel…and Faith might leave her. She wanted to make love to Faith again, before then. She wanted to hold her in her arms, and tell her she loved her.

"Is this like, a significant moment in our relationship?" Buffy said, and put the thought aside. She'd deal with it when the time came; for now she was going to enjoy every second. "Should there be candles and Yanni music? Should we mark this date on the calendar?"

"Nah, it's just we're all sweaty and I wanna feel you up, plus, hey, bubbles," Faith said. "Candles optional. No Yanni."

"Works for me," Buffy said. "I can't get over how much better that cut on your stomach looks. You heal faster than me. You're already stronger than me, now you get awesome quick healing too?"

"Plus super strong tongue muscles. But hey, you got stuff. You're faster than me, plus you pick up scents quicker, and you're better at the stealthy stuff too. I mean, I can be slick and everything, sneak up on guys, but you're quiet as a damn ninja. Seriously, when you move even I can't tell you're moving."

"So my power is the power of super quietness? You get to heal up from anything in like two seconds and I just get to be quiet?"

"Except when you're in my bed. Your quietness power kinda skips town right around then."

"Right around the time when your super tongue muscle power gets going. How's your arm?"

"Y'know," Faith said, and felt her right arm with her left, running her left hand across her splint. "I think I might just be able to move it."

"One way to find out. How about we take the splint off and if you still can't move it I'll just make you another one. The way your ankle healed there's a good chance your arm's pretty okay too."

"Yeah, okay," Faith said, and Buffy carefully removed her splint, and untied her sling. Faith slowly, gingerly stretched out her arm.

"My badinage isn't at its best," Buffy said, and started running the bathwater. "You just made me come like fifteen times and I got four hours of sleep. Leave me alone."

Faith started taking off her bandages. "Arm's a little tender, but it's not broke anymore at least. Figure if the arm and the ankle are okay I definitely won't need these bandages either," she said.

"Good," Faith said. "Cuttin' into my sexiness. Hard to be fab when you're all like, purplish."

"Aw, you're still a pretty kitty," Buffy said, and put her arms around Faith's waist, and brought her close to her.

"It's all mine," Buffy said, and gave Faith's butt a little pat, and giggled. She grabbed bubblebath from the medicine cabinet and sprinkled it into the water.

"Big pervo lesbian," Faith said. "Seducing an impressionable young straight girl like me."

"Xander needs to know how to fight, B," Faith said. "You know I'm right on this."

"You gonna give him a hard time on this? Be all on his ass about how you don't want him and Will gettin' in trouble?"

Buffy put her arm around Faith, and they laid beside each other in the tub. Faith took the bar of soap, lathered up her hands, and began running them over Buffy's body. Buffy raised her long legs into the air, first one and then the other, and let Faith wash her. Faith ran her soapy hands down Buffy's legs, caressing them from the top of Buffy's thighs to the soles of her feet.

"No," Buffy said. "You were right. I can't do this alone. I have no right to tell Will and Xander to just stay home after all the times they've stuck their necks out for me. But…I just worry."

"Don't worry about Xan Man," Faith said. "Yeah, I'll train him up, but part of the training's gonna be when to fight, not just how. There are gonna be lots of times when him gettin' the hell out of there is gonna help me and you out a lot more than him gettin' in the thick of it would."

After they got out of the tub, Buffy carried Faith naked back to her bedroom, and laid her on the bed.

"It's a highly effective treatment regimen," Buffy said. "My kisses are what's been healing you up. They're making you all better."

Buffy took Faith's right foot in her hand. She looked closely at it, and touched Faith's big toe. Faith's big toe and the one next to it didn't have toenails. "How does your foot feel here?" Buffy said.

"Feels good," Faith said. "No pain or nothin'. Now if I could just get my damn toenails back."

"They're growing back," Buffy said. "I can see like, the beginning of the new ones." Buffy kissed each of the toes on Faith's foot, and smiled at her. "I told you I'd worship you," Buffy whispered. "Remember? I said I'd kiss your feet."

"I love you too," Buffy said, and kissed Faith's left ankle, and then her right knee. Faith opened her legs.

"I think my baby wants an extra-special kiss somewhere else," Buffy whispered, as she kissed the bruises on Faith's right side, moving up toward her breasts. The bruises were a faded yellow now.

"Maybe," Faith said, and smiled. Faith's nipples were hard. Buffy gave each of them a kiss.

Buffy took Faith's right hand in hers, and kissed her index finger and her thumb. She kissed her way up Faith's right arm. She kissed Faith's collarbone, and licked her neck, and kissed the back of her head. She moved her hand to Faith's pussy lips, and caressed them. Faith closed her eyes, and moaned again.

Buffy gently turned Faith onto her side and kissed her butt, up near her tailbone, where she had a bruise. Faith giggled.

"Yup. Everyone wants an appointment with Doctor Buffy," Buffy whispered. "There's a waiting list a mile long." She laid down beside Faith, and took her in her arms. Faith rested her head on Buffy's breasts, as Buffy gently stroked her pussy.

"I think my baby wants me to take care of her, huh?" Buffy whispered. Faith nodded, and moaned, and ran her feet up and down Buffy's calves.

"How does she want me to take care of her?" Buffy whispered. "Whisper it in my ear, baby. Whisper what you want momma to do."

"We'll have to go slow though, okay, baby?" Buffy whispered. "You're not a hundred percent yet, so we'll have to go nice and slow."

Buffy got up, went to her bureau, and opened her bottom drawer. She fished around beneath a dozen hand-knitted Christmas sweaters and came out with the dildo she'd made love to Faith with the month before.

"I wanna put it on you," Faith said. "I wanna kneel down in front of you and put it on you."

"No," Buffy said. "Your knee's not a hundred percent, I don't want you kneeling. You can sit up and put it on me, okay?"

Faith nodded, and sat on the edge of the bed. Buffy came back to the bed, and gave her the dildo. She stood in front of her, and caressed her hair.

Faith took Buffy's right foot in her hand, and kissed it; she did the same with the left. Then she held out the dildo, and Buffy stepped into it. Faith pulled the panties up, and strapped the dildo in place between Buffy's legs. She kissed the tip of the dildo, and looked up into Buffy's eyes.

Faith nodded, and laid herself down on the bed. Buffy knelt over Faith's face, and rubbed the dildo against Faith's cheek.

Faith kissed the dildo, up and down along its shaft, as Buffy caressed her cheek with it. Then she took it in her mouth, and began sucking on it.

They were quiet. Buffy fucked Faith's mouth, and began caressing her pussy again. Faith spread her legs for Buffy, and looked up into her eyes, and kept her hands down by her sides, in a submissive pose. She didn't touch the dildo, didn't try to control it in any way. Instead she laid on the bed beneath Buffy, with her legs spread, and looked up into Buffy's eyes, as Buffy slowly fucked her mouth, and stroked her pussy.

Faith's pussy was drenched. Buffy ran her long fingers up and down Faith's slick pussy lips, and began massaging her clit. Faith moaned, with the dildo in her mouth. Buffy took it out, and bent down and kissed her, as she went on stroking her clit.

Faith was wet enough that the dildo went straight in; Faith took all of it with a soft moan, and a shudder.

Buffy began fucking Faith, slowly. She looked into her eyes, and kissed her, gently.

They were quiet. The bed creaked beneath them. They breathed together. Faith moaned, as Buffy fucked her. Those were the only sounds.

Faith arched her hips, to take Buffy deeper. Buffy kissed her, and caressed her cheek. Their bodies moved together, in perfect rhythm.

Faith wrapped her legs around Buffy, and ran her feet up and down the backs of her thighs. Buffy kissed Faith's neck, and fucked her, still going slow. She felt Faith's pussy tighten around the dildo, holding it and drawing it in. She took in Faith's peach scent, as she kissed Faith's neck, just below her ear, where her scent was always strong.

Faith's breathing was speeding up; it felt warm on Buffy's cheek. Faith's moans were a sweet, soft whisper in Buffy's ear.

"That's it, baby," Buffy whispered, and kissed her. "That's it. Take it all for me, baby. Take me all the way inside, okay?"

Faith nodded, and hugged Buffy, holding her tight, and caressed her thighs with her feet. Faith's nipples were hard against Buffy's breasts, and Buffy could feel Faith's heart, beating fast beneath her now. Faith's body felt warm. Buffy liked how strong Faith's arms felt around her, as they moved up and down her back now, caressing her from her shoulders all the way down her sides to her ass, and then all the way back up again.

Buffy plunged into her. She went as deep as she was able to, and held Faith in her arms as tightly as she could, as Faith's sweet moans came to her, and her musky peach scent made her blood race. Buffy wanted to become part of Faith, to melt into her.

"Does my baby like it?" Buffy whispered, as their bodies rocked back and forth together. "Does my baby like it when I fuck her with my dick?"

"Yeah…yeah…yeah…" Faith moaned, in time with Buffy's thrusts. "Love you…love you…inside."

After a few more minutes, Buffy began thrusting faster, and Faith matched her speed. Buffy moved up a little, so she could move against Faith's clit. Faith's moans got louder.

Faith's peach scent filled the room. Buffy didn't think she could live without that scent, now.

Their bodies moved together, and they held onto each other, as tight as they could. They both began breathing in quick little gasps, and Faith's moans had become a series of squeals now.

They looked into each other's eyes, as Buffy plunged herself as deep into Faith as she could go, and Faith took all of her inside.

"Do you know…know how much I love you, baby?" Buffy whispered, and her eyes filled with tears. "How, how I'll love you forever? No matter what, baby? No matter what happens?"

"I love you so much, Buffy," Faith said, her voice breaking, as her breathing sped up again, and tears fell down her cheeks. "I love you, I love you. I love you so much…"

Faith began to scream, as Buffy thrust into her. The bed creaked louder beneath them. Their bodies, slick with their sweat now, moved together. Their scents filled the air. Faith's arms and legs were wrapped around Buffy, holding on tight to her. Faith's pussy clamped down on the dildo as it filled her.

When Faith came, bucking underneath Buffy, her whole body trembling, Buffy came with her. Buffy wasn't prepared for it; her orgasm snuck up on her, as if it was in direct response to Faith's. Suddenly, without warning, Buffy had felt like she was caught up in a tidal wave. She screamed as she rode the wave, as it crashed through her; she grabbed the bedsheets, and ripped through them with her fingernails. Faith was crying underneath her, sobbing and wailing, and hugging Buffy as hard as she could.

Buffy held Faith to her breasts, as the tidal wave subsided, and she whispered that it would be okay…she whispered to Faith that she loved her, and would always take care of her, and that it would be okay…

Faith always cried when she came. Buffy always held her, and kissed her, and told her it would be okay.

"So where is everyone again?" Faith said. They were sitting in the kitchen half an hour later, eating waffles and bacon. They'd realized after they finished fucking that they'd had a whole lot of sex since they'd got up that morning but hadn't had a single thing to eat. Being a Slayer meant you were either hunting, horny or hungry at all times and right now it was time to be hungry. They attacked the waffles and bacon like two lions charging a herd of antelope.

"Will and Xander had some errands to do," Buffy said. "They'll be back before sunset. Those wolf vamps are pretty out there but they're still vamps. They won't make a play for Will during the day. And they've got the car anyway, and Giles is with them."

"Yeah. When we get into it we really get into it. Time flies when you're having fun."

"And then comes to a crashing halt when you make me come and I destroy the alarm clock."

"I've been a bad girl," Buffy said. "Anyway you're just gonna have to make do with Buffy's world-famous waffles."

"That stuff you were sayin' about Will," Faith said. "About her eyes goin' all black and stuff, and how she acts kinda different now when she's doin' the spells. What do you think it means?"

"It started with the lightning, right? That was the first time you saw her eyes do that?"

"Yeah. But you stopped it. Another one of the things I owe you that I can never pay back."

Faith took Buffy's hand, and kissed it. "We both owe each other a lot of stuff, B," she said. "Anyway…maybe all this stuff with Will…maybe it's like a phase. Maybe she just needs time to deal with all the crazy shit that's goin' on and eventually she'll settle down."

Some things are just gonna happen, no matter how hard we try to stop them, Buffy saw Willow saying.

Buffy and Faith sat on the couch in the living room after they were through eating, and held hands, and kissed.

"I like it…when it's like this," Faith said. "I mean yeah, gettin' horizontal is great too but…when it's like this…it's just…"

"Whatever comes, we'll deal with it, honey," Faith said. "We'll deal with it, okay? You and me."

Buffy nodded. Faith was wearing one of Buffy's skirts again. Buffy reached under it, and started pulling Faith's panties down.

"Plenty of time to make me purr later, honey," Faith whispered in her ear. She pulled up her panties and smoothed down her skirt.

"Yeah. And, hey, you know what?" Buffy said, and smiled as she got up and walked to the door. "That's probably Giles at the door. Can you run up to my room and grab the Key? It's in one of the drawers of my bureau, I forget which. He'll wanna see it. New ancient evil artifacts always get him excited."

"Sure," Faith said, and walked out of the room. Buffy waited until she heard her going up the stairs, and then opened the door. Willow and Xander and Giles were standing there. Willow had a big shopping bag in her hand, and Xander was carrying a pastry box and a case of Rolling Rock beer. Giles had a leather satchel over his shoulder.

"We swung by Tara's place?" Willow said. "Went by a couple of times, but she wasn't there and her car was gone. Sorry."

"Okay, we tried," Buffy said, and let them in. "We can try calling her later tonight. You guys got all the stuff?"

"Yup," Willow said. "Found the coat for you. It's really nice. I kinda want it for myself. I'm all jealous."

"Yeah, actually when I saw it in the store I kinda thought it would look pretty on me too," Buffy said. "But –"

Willow suddenly put her shopping bag down, and took Buffy's hands in hers, and started quivering with excitement. "But oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God Buffy! You won't believe what I found when I did an internet search on Becca," she said. "Giles had me like, downloading Becca's Watchers diaries from the Council database for Faith? And then I started digging around and I found…oh my God you won't believe it!"

"She's been like this for the past hour," Xander said, and set the pastry box and the case of beer down on the table. "She's been grinning like a lunatic and getting all shaky like she's about to meet James Van Der Beek."

"Yes, well, be that as it may, I just want you to know I refuse to wear one of those party hats," Giles said. "I'm drawing a firm line. No hat. How's Faith?"

"Okay, now everybody put your party hats on," Buffy said. "Quick, before she comes back down."

Willow pulled five party hats from the shopping bag. Xander and Willow and Buffy each put one on. Buffy looked at Giles, with a party hat in her hand.

"You're going to make me wear that, aren't you?" Giles said. "You're going to stand there looking at me like that until I put that bloody thing on."

"I'm a lesbian and Faith and I are dating," Buffy said. "So what's new with you?"

"Yes," Giles said with a sigh, and wiped his glasses at her. "Since I'm not deaf, dumb and blind I was able to figure that out."

"Are you okay with it?" Buffy said. "With me and Faith? Giles, it's…really important to me that you're okay with it."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Good. And hey, I've um, been meaning to ask you something. Do you…would you like to…go to the ice capades with me? It's…in town for a little while longer." She looked down at the floor. "I mean, y'know, if, you're real busy with Watcher stuff, hey, no big, I'll understand…"

He smiled again. "Yes Buffy, I'd love to take you to the ice capades," he said. "And was that how you're planning on telling Joyce about you and Faith?"

"Happy birthday, baby!" Buffy said, and ran up to her with a big smile, and threw her arms around her. "Um, one day late but, y'know, it's not like you actually told us or anything."

"Everybody knows," Buffy said, and put a party hat on Faith's head. "They're all cool with it. They're all cool with how you're a big huge lesbian and you totally seduced me."

"Me first, me first!" Willow squealed, and ran up to Faith and took her hands. "Faith, you are not going to believe this," she said.

"Hey girlfriend, what's up?" Faith said. "You look like someone just sent you a Brad Pitt strip-o-gram."

"This is better than a Brad Pitt strip-o-gram," Willow said. "It might even be better than a James Van Der Beek strip-o-gram."

"Giles was doing some research, Watchers Council stuff, and he needed me to help him access some records online. Faith…Becca's estate…"

"Faith," Willow said, and put her hands on Faith's shoulders. "Becca's family was rich. Becca left you more than a hundred and fifty million dollars."

"My word," Giles said, and wiped his glasses, and put them on, and took them back off, and started wiping them again.

"I triple-checked, and I even put in a call to the law firm handling Becca's estate in England," Willow said. "I talked to one of their solicitors at home. They've been looking for you, Faith. All you have to do is walk into their offices and claim the money. And it's not just money, it's property too, Becca's family had an estate in England. It's yours now, Faith. It's all yours."

"I think she wanted to be with you today, baby," Buffy said. "I think Rebecca wanted to celebrate your birthday with us, and give you a present too, and let you know she loves you."

"So, um, it's kinda hard to compare with a hundred and fifty million dollars," Willow said. "But, um, I got you this." She held out a gift-wrapped box.

Buffy and Willow and Xander sat by Faith on the couch. Giles sat in one of the dark wood chairs on the other side of the coffee table. Hip-hop music boogied out from the sound system, but not too loud; Buffy had said they needed to create "a Giles-safe zone". He had made tea and was doing what he considered to be an admirable job of not outwardly showing his contempt for the hip-hop music. They all sipped the tea, and they each had a slice of the big chocolate birthday cake that sat on the coffee table with eighteen candles on it. The Key, a small, smooth black stone about the size of a deck of cards, sat on the table, next to the cake. Willow looked at it. She'd been having a hard time taking her eyes off it ever since Faith brought it into the room…she didn't know why.

"What, you sayin' you're not all givin' me a hundred and fifty million bucks?" Faith said, and tore the gift-wrap off the box. "Total rip."

Faith opened the box, and pulled out the exquisite Givenchys that she had tried on with Buffy in the shoe store the month before.

"Oh my God!" Buffy said. "Those are the Givenchys! Those are the Givenchys I told you about that Faith and I completely drooled over last month!

"Yup, when you told me how Faith's eyes lit up when she tried them on I knew what I was getting her for her birthday," Willow said.

"They have those…strappy things and…they're all like…really silvery and…the heel's perfect and…oh my God I hate you both forever now," Buffy said.

"Will, these are…these are beautiful," Faith said. "But…you shouldn't have spent so much, I mean…these had to be…"

"Sure," Willow said. "Besides, I have a hook-up at Nordstrom's now. Buffy, you remember Julie Weiss? She was on the cheerleading squad with you, for like, um, that one day you were on the cheerleading squad?"

"Still got the outfit?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow at Buffy, and took a big bite of her chocolate cake.

"Um…anyway," Willow said, noticing Giles wiping his glasses. "She needed help getting ready for finals last year because her mother was in the hospital and she missed a lot of days. Since she was nice to you I tutored her. And she just got a job at Nordstrom's and she said she'll use her employee discount for me whenever I want. Faith, try 'em on! I wanna bask in the fabulousness."

"Nope, she's Dorothy," Willow said. "I'm the Good Witch. I give out shoes. Couldn't find ruby slippers but Givenchys will do in a pinch. I bet if Glinda gave out Givenchys Dorothy would've stayed up in Oz forever."

Faith stood up and walked around in them. She still limped slightly, but not as much as before. "Awesome," Faith said. "I'm just lovin' my new kicks." She gave Willow a hug. "Thanks, Will," she said.

"Sure, hon, you can borrow 'em," Faith said, and sat back down with Buffy and put her arm around her. "If you ask me real nice. So Will, if I click my heels and say 'no place like home' what happens?"

"Although it's endlessly fun listening to gals talk about shoes, how about we get to my present now," Xander said.

"Case of beer?" Faith said. "I'm diggin' that present, especially now that I'm eighteen and Becca's okay with me drinking now."

"Beer's for me," Xander said, and leaned down to the big shopping bag on the floor, and pulled a gift-wrapped bottle out of it. "This is for you."

"At the Bronze you always say how you don't want to drink until you're eighteen, so I figured why not start with something awesome," Xander said.

"Dude, maybe Willow's got the shoe store hook-up but I know you totally spent too much on this," Faith said.

"Saved my girl. Twice. I'd buy you all the champagne in the world if I could," Xander said, and kissed her cheek. "How about we open it up, have a toast to the birthday girl?"

"Sorry Xander," Buffy said, and took the bottle. "No alcohol while Faith's on the morphine."

"It's cool Xan Man, we'll get to it," Faith said, and hugged him. "Thanks. It's an awesome present. You and Will, you're both awesome friends. And I'm not feelin' any pain anymore, so I figure I'll be off the morphine soon."

"Well you should only take it as needed," Giles said. "If you're not feeling pain it's safe to skip your next dose."

"Your next dose is in an hour," Buffy said, and played with Faith's hair. "If you still feel good we'll skip it. Just let me know if any pain comes back."

"If she doesn't take any more she can have some champagne later on tonight," Giles said. "But while we're on the subject, Faith, I'd like to have a look at you, and see how you're healing up."

"You should let him look, Faith," Buffy said. "He's better with medicine stuff than me, he fixes me up all the time. And he's totally not a pervert."

"How about we just get it over with now," Buffy said. "We'll go in the kitchen. I'll be right there with you. Okay?"

Faith sat at the kitchen table. Giles and Buffy sat on either side of her. Buffy had her arm around her, and was running her fingers through her hair.

"Uh…okay," Faith said, and lifted her foot. Giles took her foot in his lap. He gently took Faith's shoe off, and probed her ankle.

"Uh, nope," Faith said. She blushed. "Hasn't hurt since this morning. Still just a little bit gimpy though."

"There's still some bruising, and a bit of swelling. It may not hurt but it's not a hundred percent either," Giles said. "You can walk on this, but if you think you can fight on it, you'd be wrong. It's still weak and you would re-injure it very quickly. Have you been wearing an ice pack?"

"Yeah, I've been putting the ice pack on her for like, half an hour every four hours like you said," Buffy said.

"Keep doing it until tomorrow," Giles said, and let Faith's ankle go. "Put another pressure bandage on too." Faith put her shoe back on. "If you keep using the ice packs and the pressure bandage, then at this rate, by this time tomorrow, it should be completely healed. May I look at your arm, Faith?"

"Okay," Faith said, and held out her right arm. She couldn't quite stretch it out all the way. Giles ran his fingers along the arm, from the elbow to the hand.

"The break is healed but there's obviously still some tendon damage," he said. "It needs another day or two. I want you to wear an ice pack on it."

"Excellent," Giles said. "I believe you do heal faster than Buffy, a good bit faster. Interesting."

"But I'm like, totally more stealthy and quiet than her," Buffy said. "Most of the time," she added, with a smile, as she played with Faith's hair.

"Actually it would be interesting to run some tests on the two of you," Giles said. "I'd like to measure your relative strength and speed some time. May I look at your stomach wound now, Faith? And then we can get back to the party."

"Uh…yeah. Uh, okay," Faith said, blushing again. She rather nervously unbuttoned the bottom three buttons of her blouse.

"I didn't think she needed it anymore," Buffy said. "The wound's all like, pinkish now. I thought it was like, healed."

"It basically is, I just like being safe rather than sorry," Giles said. "I want you to clean it again after the party and put another bandage on it. Just for tonight. Tomorrow, as long as it still looks good, you can stop bandaging it. All right, the exam's over." Giles stood up, and Faith buttoned her blouse.

"I just worry about my Slayers," Giles said, and smiled down at her. "Anyway at this rate you'll be shipshape and Bristol fashion in no time."

"Okay, weird slightly uncomfortable medical exam over, time to party again," Buffy said, as they walked back into the room.

The thought kept pushing at Buffy's mind…that her time was running out. She made herself keep smiling.

Buffy and Faith sat on the couch next to Willow and Xander, and Giles returned to his chair. Buffy reached down into the shopping bag. "Okay, this one's mine," she said, and pulled out a long gift-wrapped box, and handed it to Faith. "Um…I really hope you like it. If you don't I can always take it back."

"Take it back?" Faith said, and ripped off the wrapping paper. "Why would I wanna do that?" Faith opened the box, and pulled out the long, red leather coat she had tried on with Buffy in Bloomingdale's the month before.

"Um…it's just…you only have the one coat," Buffy said. "I thought…maybe you could use another one. And you looked so beautiful in it when you tried it on before. If…you don't like it…"

"I love it, Buffy," Faith said, and smiled, and leaned down and kissed her cheek. "This is gonna be my coat. That other one…it can go in the closet from now on. Okay?"

"Um, and can I just mention that Buffy had me pick it up and I almost stole it for myself?" Willow said. "That thing just radiates fabulousness."

"It's pretty damn fab," Faith said. "My arm's still not all there. Help me put it on, Buffy? I wanna wear it."

"Yeah?" Faith said, as Buffy turned her around in the coat to get a complete view.

"Actually I think you're right, Will," Faith said, holding the coat open and looking inside. "It's a got a nice deep pocket inside here that would be just the perfect spot for my stake."

"Yeah you know, I think we're on to something with this whole long coat look," Xander said. "It's like Brandon Lee in The Crow. You and Buffy should wear long coats all the time when you're out slaying from now on. It's just so film noir. Dark, rainy night, neon signs reflecting in the street puddles…"

"Hey, you have your stake with you?" Xander said. "Let's see you in the coat holding a stake in your hand."

"No need," Giles said, and stood up, and pulled a stake from his coat pocket. "One of my presents to you, Faith," he said. "The stake you were using had a crack in it and it was the wrong weight and size for optimum fighting. It looked like an old piano leg."

"This one isn't," Giles said, and held the stake out to Faith. "At the Council we employ craftsmen who create stakes; it may sound like a trifle but a good stake can make a real difference in a fight. It's perfectly balanced, just the right weight, and in your hands it will be absolutely lethal."

Faith looked at the stake, got a feel for it in her hand. It was very dark brown, smooth and polished. Faith liked the grain of the wood. She liked the way it fit in her hand.

"How come I don't get a super-duper perfectly balanced kick-ass stake?" Buffy said.

"Yours is really no different," Giles said. "It's also ironwood but a different species. Yours is a little lighter in color but no less strong. Both your stake and Faith's will sink in water and are extremely resistant to damage. They'll never break on you in the field."

"Faith, hold up the stake," Willow said. "Vogue for us, sweetie. Strike a pose. Be all, y'know, Slayerish. Um, but first take off the party hat."

Faith took off her hat, spun around while holding the stake by her side, and suddenly held the stake up like she was pulling a gun out of its holster.

"I'm Faith, the Vampire Slayer," she said, with a sexy grin. "All you vamps? Best get to runnin'." She twirled the stake around her fingers like she was twirling a gun and 'holstered' it in her coat pocket.

Buffy took her hand, and brought her down onto the couch beside her, and kissed her.

Giles started wiping his glasses. Willow smiled, and looked away, and took Xander's hand.

"Now we've got a party. Where's my video camera?" Xander said. "Ow," he added, as Willow did something to his leg.

"You're gonna make the G-Man blush, B," Faith said, and threw Giles a frisky smile, and raised her eyebrow at him.

"Giles had a wild, misspent youth," Buffy said. And by the way? I'm so borrowing that coat."

"Hey," Willow said. "Giles…about your um, misspent youth? What were you doing in 1972?"

"There's like…this history project at school," Willow said. "We gotta write, um, reports on the seventies? And I got assigned 1972."

"Well let's see…I would've been seventeen then…I suppose I was smoking dope, rebelling against my father, getting in fights, the usual. Also, telling girls I was a member of Pink Floyd." Giles grinned. "Worked like a charm."

"Seriously?" Faith said, and grinned back, and tried to figure out whether or not she was being kidded.

"Seriously," Buffy said. "I'll tell you some old Giles stories sometime. He might have worn tweed diapers but once he hit the terrible teens he was a witchcraft-practicing, demon-summoning rebel without a cause. Had a way with the ladies from what we've heard, too. C'mon, Giles, tell us about some of those seventies hotties you were always hooking up with. Meet any fabulous witchy chicks in 1972?"

"No, can't say I did," Giles said. "That year I was dating this terribly old-fashioned girl from Bristol, she wouldn't even let me…"

"That is…yes, well, anyway," Giles said, and coughed, and wiped his glasses. "I was in a depressingly monogamous relationship that year. No fabulous witches, or any witches in fact. By then I was knocking about with various troublemakers but none of the magical variety yet. The demon-summoning and so forth didn't start until I dropped out of Oxford a few years later."

"No witches, huh?" Willow said. "When did you meet your first witch, anyway? Or like, see anything magical? When did you first see anything that was like, y'know, weird and spooky?"

"Well my father always told me stories but I didn't encounter anything out of the realm of the ordinary until 1975," Giles said. "I remember it was that year because I was listening to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here at the time; it had just come out a few days before. Brilliant album. Anyway I saw a minor parasite demon lurking about under a bridge one night and we shared a bottle of whisky together. I dropped out of school the next day."

"Nothing weird in your life until 1975, huh?" Buffy said. "No weird stuff in 1972 at all?"

"Yeah," Willow said. "Um…we can do our report on like, any aspect of history for the year we got assigned and I'm focusing on the counter-culture. I thought maybe you'd have some interesting 1972 stories."

"Sorry, afraid not," Giles said. "Other than some petty theft, breaking and entering and getting into fights, my life was rather boring. Though I did drink with Keith Richards once that year. The Stones were touring England that summer. Or a least I think it was Keith Richards. I'd had quite a lot to drink that night. He said he was Keith Richards. But anyway, let's move on from the 1970's, shall we? The less said about the 1970's, the better. I have two other gifts for you, Faith. "First…" He took an envelope from his coat pocket and handed it across to Faith. "Rebecca mentioned in her letter that you like to read."

"I know you didn't bring any books with you here, so I thought this would start you off nicely," Giles said. "Of course, that was before I knew you could buy and sell the lot of us many, many times over…"

"Two-hundred bucks worth of books? Awesome, G-Man, thanks!" Faith said. "Haven't had much time for reading lately, but yeah, I wanna get back to it. I never used to read, Becca got me into it. She wants me to read. Actually I was in the middle of a book when all this went down, so yeah, it'll be good to pick it up again. I really wanna get back to it."

"Not so much," Buffy said. "Once I got over dinosaurs when I was ten it was all about boys and shoes. What book were you in the middle of? Was it about dinosaurs? Was it about shoes? I'll read it with you if it's got dinosaurs or shoes."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Or at least tryin' for it. Anyway, thanks, G-Man. Gonna be awhile 'til I can get out to England to claim that money anyway. I mean, we got all these wolf vamps here to worry about."

"If you want I'll go out with you and handle the details, when you're ready," Giles said. "I'm still officially a practicing solicitor."

"Yes, in England," Giles said. "I can represent you, get you through the red tape. And I can make sure you don't end up losing too much of your money to the bloody tax collectors." He smiled. "No charge, of course."

"Gettin' you a car anyway," Faith said. "You're too much of a hottie to be putt-puttin' around in that little French thing. You need a Porsche, man. Gonna have you toolin' around town in no time."

"Yeah, I think Faith's right, Giles," Xander said. "As much as we all…uh…really love the Citroen? We all actually really hate it even more."

"It's a classic French automobile," Giles and Xander both said at the exact same time. Then they both frowned at each other.

"Hey Will, let me show you something real quick," Buffy said, and took Willow's hand. "Remember that, um, crystal I found? Can you take a quick look at it for me, see if it's all on the up and up? I got it up in my room."

"Well, whoever I'm looking for in England in 1972, I guess it isn't Giles," Willow said, as they walked into Buffy's room.

"Guess not," Buffy said. "We basically asked him as straight-out as we could without actually saying, 'Hey, so did Willow come up to you in 1972 and say you were gonna be part of a big apocalyptic battle in the future?' Actually we came pretty close to saying that."

"We didn't score big on subtlety," Willow said, and sat on Buffy's bed. "But the history report story seemed to work okay."

"Giles thinks we're a bunch of crazy nonsense-talking Americans," Buffy said, and looked out the window. The sun was setting. Her time was almost gone. "He never really expects to understand what we're saying anyway. So…are we keeping it just between us?"

"I don't know. With time travel…I mean…we could end up changing stuff by mistake…like…in all the Star Trek episodes, in all the movies, if you do one little thing wrong? Suddenly it's like, bang, the Nazis won World War Two. I just…want to be careful with this. We can tell Faith and Xander but…Giles would get all…he'd be like, asking a million questions about it and if he put it in his Watcher diary then the Council would find out and who knows what they'd do."

"Yeah. Never really trusted those guys. Plus if there were suddenly Nazis everywhere I'd be annoyed."

"So, this isn't about crystals. Was the 1972 thing what you wanted to talk about?"

"No," Buffy said, and sat next to her on the bed. "There's a couple of things…first, I wanted to just talk to you about…your magic. How your eyes go black sometimes."

"Will, I could never be afraid of you," Buffy said. "Sure, I know you're powerful. But I know you'd never hurt me, or anyone else you care about. I know what's in your heart. I know you're a good person. But…I'm worried about you, Will. About you hurting yourself. This power…coming all at once, so fast…I just…wish you'd slow down a little. Give yourself time."

Willow got up, and walked to the window, and stood beside Buffy. They watched the sunset together.

"I was always afraid, Buffy," Willow said. "Afraid to let myself get angry. I thought I was, y'know, a nerd because I was afraid of other people, just…all doormat Willow. Need Willow to do your homework? No problem. Wanna insult Willow to show off to the cool kids, maybe get in good with Cordy? No problem. Weeping Willow, she'll just stand there and take it. I thought it was because I was afraid of them. Turns out I was afraid of me. I don't know why. But I couldn't…I had problems letting myself get angry. Letting myself feel, y'know, bad stuff."

"This power…I didn't ask for it," Willow said. "Not, y'know, even sure I want it. But…I'm connected to something. I feel like I'm vibrating sometimes, Buffy. Like…I can feel the whole world…creating echoes in me."

She looked at Buffy. Willow's eyes were green, now…but Buffy still remembered how they looked when she sat in the closet…

"And part of the world is dark," Willow said. "I can feel its teeth. And this power…a lot of it comes from my anger. I need to let myself feel it, feel bad stuff…then get past the bad stuff, to the other side of it. There's no way around the bad stuff. The only way past it is going through it."

"I trust you, Will," Buffy said. "Last night, I put my life in your hands, because I trust you. I know you'd never hurt us."

"If things get hard…don't shut me out. Come to me if things get hard, if you start to wig out. Okay? That's it. Just come to me. Just talk to me."

"Guess we're about to find out," Buffy said. "She's gotta be told about Angel before he gets here."

"I like you with Faith," Willow said. "She makes you smile. And y'know, that's important to me. I need, y'know, like, a certain amount of Buffy smiles every day. Wasn't gettin' any for awhile. You were all mopey."

"I like me with Faith too," Buffy said. "She makes me laugh. She's such a goof. She's like, the goofiest Slayer ever."

"Aw baby, I'm so happy for you!" Willow said, and laughed, and hugged her. "I'm so happy for you both. You're both like, my girls. I'm all like, just a big ol' proud auntie."

"Thanks. She…makes me happy. Which is pretty weird considering how much she used to annoy the frigging hell out of me. But I can never be annoyed at her anymore, for some reason. Believe me, I've tried."

"Remember when you first met Angel? He annoyed you. I think you being annoyed by someone is a sign that you wanna, y'know, get all snuggly with 'em."

"I don't know," Willow said, and grinned. "I mean, you totally sexed her up that first day, what's really changed?"

"My two perverted little Slayers," Willow said. "You guys really were ridiculous with your lame lies. Coming to pick us up at Cordy's place wearing other people's clothes and being like, 'Well, um, we got blood on ours.' Plus you didn't have underwear on."

"Even Xander almost didn't believe you that first day, I had to like embellish the lie for you a little and make it better," Willow said. "Plus I found other ways to get him to stop thinking about you guys."

"You sure did," Buffy said. "I'm happy for you guys too. He really loves you. When Xander and I talked last night…he told me how much he loves you."

"I know. We're…I talked to him, we're good now. The thing with you and him…I know that's way over with."

"Yeah," Willow said, and squeezed her hand. "We're good, sweetie. Yesterday was a weird day for me, and Faith's memories…they sort of like, overwhelmed me. But, it's like how they say a good night's sleep changes everything? I woke up this morning feeling like, yeah, I can handle this. I can find my equilibrium. The thing is…these new feelings I have for you? They're always gonna be there, Buffy, but I just need to remember what they really are. They're Faith's. The whole liking girls thing…that's Faith. I mean, okay, sure, after getting all those memories I think I'm probably more open-minded about girls now? But…well…I still prefer thinking about Xander. Or James Van Der Beek. But not Xander and James Van Der Beek? Because that would just be gross."

"So like…with you two being big ol' lesbians, are you gonna be all checkin' out my booty all the time?" Willow said.

"Are you and Faith gonna be all like, hey, let's have Willow over for a pajama party, Willow's hot. Let's like, totally sex her up."

"And then maybe you'll both be like, hey, here's an idea, let's have a pillow fight with Willow in our underwear!" Willow said, as Buffy kept laughing. "Because, not even kidding? If the three of us had a pillow-fight in our underwear and we filmed it for Xander he would give us a million dollars. Slow motion? Two million."

"I'm not…I promise I…oh my God…" Buffy said, laughing and trying to talk at the same time. "I promise…I promise I won't check out your booty."

"What do you mean you won't check out my booty?" Willow said. "What's wrong with my booty? It's a perfectly good booty! So, what, you're a lesbian now and you don't wanna check out my booty? What's that about?"

Buffy fell back on the bed, laughing so hard her face was the color of a plum and she had tears in her eyes. She tried to breathe.

"Please…please stop…" Buffy managed to say, between fits of hysterical laughter. "Please stop…? Before…my face explodes…?"

Willow giggled and rubbed Buffy's shoulder until Buffy got her breathing under control.

"I'll check you out a little, but not too much, okay Will?" Buffy finally said, once she could breathe again. "I'll check you out just the right amount."

"Will…" Buffy said, and stopped smiling. "There's one more thing I wanted to talk about. I…need another favor."

"She needs to hear it from someone objective. Someone who…when she hears it, she'll know it's all the truth."

"Will, he did horrible things when he lost his soul but I love him. I can't help loving him…even though I wish I didn't and I want to kill him for what he did to you. I was about to kill him yesterday. If you hadn't stopped me I would've. And he would've let me. I know he would've let me. But we need him. And…I still love him. You don't love him. But you're not biased against him the way Xander is either. Even with what Angelus did to you, you can still be objective. Faith needs to hear this, and she needs to hear it from you."

"Yeah, Will," Buffy said. "I am. I'm gonna have my hands full telling Giles all this stuff anyway, he needs to know."

"Yeah. Gotta be done though. I bet he'll be all like, 'You know what? Hit the bricks, Faith's my girl now.'"

"He'd never say that, Buffy! Yeah, Faith's his Slayer now too, but you'll always be…you'll always be Buffy. You're his girl."

"Yeah, Buffy. I am. A hundred percent. Um…but there's gonna be a lotta grumpiness first. But it'll be proper British grumpiness."

"Will…I want you to tell her everything. Tell her everything and let her decide, let her decide about Angel…about me. Tell her the good and the bad. Tell her about the good stuff he did, but tell her every single thing that happened last summer too…including Los Angeles."

"Yeah, Will. Everything. The photos, and everything else. She needs to know and…I love her. I love her and I can't have any of this be a secret from her. And I need to know she'll believe it, that she won't think I'm leaving stuff out or glossing over stuff because I love him too. I love Angel but…I hate him now. I know it was Angelus, but…I still won't ever forgive him for what he did to you. And Faith's the one I've chosen. And I need her to know. Every single thing that happened, Willow. Tell her every single thing that happened, don't leave a single thing out. Can you…can you do this for me?"

"Yeah. I've kept too much stuff from him and all he's ever done is try to be there for me. No more lies. They just make this whole thing harder…on all of us. I'll tell Giles, and you tell Faith, and we'll let them decide about all this for themselves."

"Yeah, but more than that? Once he calmed down and realized there's no way he'd actually be able to kill Angel? He'd say you and Faith should kill Angel. And if you didn't he'd make you choose, Buffy. Between Angel and him. We need Angel right now for this big thing with the wolf vamps, and Xander understands that? But even so, he'd still make you choose. If Xander finds out about what Angelus did to me you'll lose him for good. And he wouldn't want me anywhere near you either, and then he'd make me choose too…between you and him. We can't ever tell him, Buffy."

"Wouldn't be enough. Unless you killed Angel, Xander wouldn't want us being friends anymore. He'd make me choose. Even if you did kill Angel, Xander still wouldn't want me helping you out anymore after what Angelus did. I think…he'd try to stop me from helping anymore, or a least try to limit it. Like, no more going out in the field. Only doing magic from like, some safe place away from the fighting. If Xander finds out what Angelus did to me, that's the end of us, Buffy. The Scooby Gang, all of it…it would be finished."

"Yeah. Gotta be done. I want to help, Buffy. I want to be part of the fight. And I want Xander too. This is the only way I can have both."

"Will…I want Faith to know about Angel. Everything about him, including how bad he was when he was Angelus. I don't want to ever keep secrets from her again. But I know what he did to you was…a really…personal thing. And…if you don't want Faith to know about it…I get that. I understand that. You can leave that part out, and I won't ever tell her."

"Faith can know. I know everything about her…I know all the hard stuff she went through. So she can know about me too…she can know about my hard stuff. She'll just have to keep the secret from Xander too. Just me, you and Faith will know what Angelus did to me. I don't want anyone else to ever know, Buffy. Not Xander, or Giles or anyone. Just us three girls."

"It's funny. I'm wondering what Faith will think about this, and I'm trying to decide how to answer you if you ask me what I think Faith will do. And now I'm realizing that if anyone knows what Faith will do here, it's you. You know her better than me…better than anyone."

"She'll keep the secret," Willow said. "Even if she decides to go after Angel, she'll still keep the secret. She'll do it for me. We're her family, remember? Faith is committed to us now. She doesn't want her family to break up. She doesn't want to lose any of us. If she has to keep a secret from Xander to keep us together, she will."

"But…Angel's a different story. He's not part of her family. Letting him live is just asking Faith to make a tactical decision. But there are tactical arguments against letting him live too. Yeah, we need Angel for this, but letting him live means Angelus could get loose again someday. Faith might think it's smarter to kill Angel while we have the chance than wait for Angelus to get loose again. And remember my philosophy? Becca's always right?"

"It's Faith's philosophy. And if Becca was here she'd say we should kill Angel. I know that, so Faith knows it. So what if Faith decides the best thing to do is to follow Becca's advice?"

"I'll handle it," Buffy said. "And hey, who knows? Maybe she'll decide the best thing to do is leave me."

"Hey!" Willow said, and hugged her. "Buffy, it's…it's okay, sweetie. It's okay."

"I'm scared, Willow!" Buffy said. "I've, I've been scared all day! My baby's gonna leave! When she finds out about Angel…my baby's gonna leave me…she's gonna leave me."

"Faith's gonna leave me, she's gonna leave me…" Buffy whispered, and cried in Willow's arms…

"Absolutely," Faith said. "How else am I gonna crank up my tunes while you're chaufferin' me around? You and me are gonna be stylin', G."

"Sorry Xander, I gotta borrow her," Buffy said, as she walked into the room. Faith, Giles and Xander were sitting on the couch together, sipping tea and eating cake. Faith was still wearing the red leather coat. She had a box full of papers in her lap. "Actually I gotta borrow Giles in a minute too," Buffy said. "So, um, Xander, remember that TV show you really wanted to watch? Remember how you said you wanted to stay right here and watch the TV show and not come upstairs for any reason until the show's over?"

"That show," Xander said. "Yeah, I remember that show. I think it comes on right around now."

"Giles, I need to talk to you in private, but not right this second. First I need Faith in the kitchen. Just gimme a minute, okay?"

"Is everything all right?" Giles said. He knew his Slayer: something was wrong. It wasn't what she was saying. It was the way she was saying it.

Buffy sat on the arm of the couch, and played with Faith's hair. "In a few minutes you can tell me," she said. "Faith? C'mere, I want to talk to you in the kitchen about something."

"Not my place to say. Buffy has to tell you herself. Giles…you care about Buffy, right?"

"What kind of a bloody stupid question is that?" Giles said. "Of course I care about Buffy. And I'm in no mood for your half-arsed antics tonight. Tell me what's going on."

"I can't, Giles," Xander said. "But…when Buffy talks to you?" Xander put his hand on Giles' shoulder. "Just remember that you care about her. Remember how hard last summer was on her. Remember that everything she's done? She's done because she cares about us…about you. So just…cut her some slack. Okay?"

"What's up, B?" Faith said. Buffy sat down at the kitchen table. Faith sat beside her. Buffy ran her fingers through Faith's hair. Faith smiled.

"What's with the box full of paper?" Buffy said. "Giles finally making good on his threat to give us homework?"

"Nah. It's one of his presents to me," Faith said. "These are Becca's Watcher diaries. G-Man downloaded them from the Council database for me. This is like…everything Becca ever wrote from the day she joined the Watchers. The potentials she trained, everything all the way up through findin' me and training me. G-Man…he's really cool."

"Yeah," Buffy said, as she ran her fingers through Faith's hair, and just looked at her. "He is. I love you, Faith."

"I love you too, Buffy," Faith said, and smiled…but something was wrong. She saw something wrong, in Buffy's eyes. "What's…" She took Buffy's hand. "Hey…what's wrong?"

Buffy shook her head. "I need you to talk to Willow, okay?" she said. "She's waiting for you, upstairs in the room we set up for you."

"You have to…I'm sorry…you just…have to talk to her, okay?" Buffy said. Her voice was shaky. Faith watched as Buffy stood up, and turned away from her.

"Are you…are you…leaving me?" Faith whispered, with tears in her eyes now, and her hands starting to shake.

"No, baby!" Buffy said, and hugged her, and kissed her cheek. "No, no. No. Never. I'll never leave you, baby. I love you."

And she held the kiss, and stroked Faith's hair as she kissed her. Their tongues touched, caressed. Each felt the other's tears on her cheeks, tasted them on her lips. Faith didn't pull away. She returned the kiss, every second of it…

The living room was filled with sunlight. Tara stood above her in the same gypsy skirt and sweater she'd worn the night before.

"I made some of my completely lame pancakes?" Tara said. "Want breakfast? It'll be completely lame."

"How come you think these are completely lame?" Faith said, as she sat at the kitchen table and ate pancakes with lots of butter and syrup. "They're good."

"They're always either too thick or too thin?" Tara said, as she stood at the stove, flipping pancakes. There was a big stack on a plate beside her. Faith kept her eye on the stack. She was going to hunt the stack down. There was nowhere for the stack to run. "And I can never get them to like, be circles. They're completely lame."

Tara came back to the table with the big stack of pancakes, put two on her own plate, and set the rest in between them.

"So you know how we're friends?" Tara said, as she poured syrup on her pancakes.

"Now's the part where you tell me stuff. Feel free to also make it the part where you tell me to shut up and mind my own business if you want, but…"

"You did?" Faith said. The pancakes were gone. Faith liked Tara's pancakes and she had eaten fourteen of them. Tara had eaten two.

"It was in your eyes, sweetie," Tara said. "When you told me how you were a Slayer last night, and you mentioned Buffy…you just…you looked so sad."

Faith looked at her. Usually, Tara flinched when Faith looked in her eyes. This time Tara didn't flinch.

"Look, you told me that you think you're falling in love with Buffy, but you're not a hundred-percent sure?" Tara said. "Not sure you trust her, not sure about a lot of stuff? Like how you said you know Buffy loves Willow, and maybe she still loves the guy she kissed too, and you don't know where that leaves you, plus like, you're not sure how you can fit with her friends anyway? Not to mention you still kind of like guys and Evan's in Boston."

"Yeah," Faith said. She hadn't thought of Evan. She realized she hadn't thought of him when she was at the lighthouse the night before, about to jump. She'd thought about Rebecca, and Buffy.

"Well Buffy has a lot going on, she has this thing for Willow and she has her guy and what does she keep doing in the middle of all of it?" Tara said.

"She brings you food," Tara said. "She's worried that you're hungry. She invited you to live with her yesterday. The Slayer in her came out and you guys had, um, serious mad lovin' for ten hours. Why do all that if she doesn't care?"

"Nope, wrong again," Tara said. "Look, I feel bad for like, people in wheelchairs and stuff? But I don't go to the trouble of bringing hot meals to their houses every single day. Buffy does that stuff because she cares about you, not because she just feels bad. And Buffy, and Willow and Xander too, they keep hanging with you. You think they're gonna waste their time if they don't want to be there?"

"Maybe I'm just Buffy's fling," Faith said. "As for Will, I like her, but she's like, all smart. Can't see why she'd want to hang with me."

"For someone who's really, really, completely not dumb?" Tara said. "You sure can act dumb. I sentence you to help me wash the dishes."

"Do you think that's why you're here with me?" Tara said. "Because I feel bad for you?"

"No," Faith said. "I know you like me. I know you like being with me. You're my friend."

"You said you know for sure Buffy loves her. Maybe it's not that Willow doesn't want to hang with you. Maybe you don't want to hang with her? Because you know Buffy loves her, and it makes you jealous?"

"Yeah, so what does this smart girl do according to your theory?" Tara said. "She decides to hang around with someone she doesn't want to hang around with. Because that's like, a real productive way to spend her time."

"Faith. If this thing we're doing was just about me feeling bad for you? I would've talked you off that ledge last night and drove you to the nearest hospital. Instead I took you home and made you lasagna and we played Super Mario, and now here we are. Because I like you. Yeah, sure, I would've stayed with you in the hospital for awhile to make sure you were all right? But that would've been it. I try to help people, strangers even, but that doesn't mean I let them all sleep over my house. I like you. You're my friend. Willow likes you too."

"I like how you carved your name on the rock, and I like how you're like, tough and goofy at the same time?" Tara said. "I like how you don't think my pancakes are lame and you don't think my trunk has too much junk. I like the way you giggle, and your accent, and how you're strong. How the first thing that went through your head after you told me about vampires last night was to protect me and make sure I stayed safe. You're a hero. You're a total utter wand. Plus, you know…I just like you. Sometimes, people just…like each other. Also? You're very cute when you're high."

"I'm a Slayer," Faith said. "People's scents are important. I remember scents forever, and even though like, intellectually, I know it's not really fair? I judge people by how they smell. Nicest person in the world, they don't smell good? I don't trust 'em. You smell real good to me, Tara."

"Do I smell like completely lame pancakes? Wait, Twinkies. Can I smell like Twinkies? I wanna smell like Twinkies."

"Ginger. Ginger and some other stuff I can't place, all combined. Smells real good. Like, exotic. I like being close to you."

"Yeah. Something about you, y'know? I just trust you when you say stuff. You remind me of Becca. I trust you like I trusted her."

"I never really…had friends before," Tara said. "Growing up in Milwaukee, all the other kids all thought…I was weird."

"Well now you've got me. And maybe you can give Willow credit for being smart enough not to be wasting her time with someone she doesn't want to be with?"

"Then don't try to figure it out. Instead of thinking about what you're supposed to say, just talk. And hey, look, if you don't want to hang with her, if you don't like her, then by all means don't hang with her. But you keep on hanging with her. You talk about how you don't know why she'd want to be with you, and then when she invites you out like every other day you go."

"Yeah, because you're doing your goofy 'I'm not smart enough' thing. If you really didn't want her coming around you'd tell her to stop coming around. You'd tell her your motel room doesn't have her name on it," Tara said, and smiled, and splashed water at Faith.

"You really want to get into a splash fight with a Slayer?" Faith said. "Consider your options carefully here."

They were finished with the dishes. Tara drained the sink, and leaned against it, and looked at Faith.

"I think Buffy's in love with you, Faith," Tara said. "Maybe…she's your queen of cups."

Tara didn't fly away. But when the kiss ended, she hugged Faith, and whispered in her ear.

"Because I'm your friend, and it would be taking advantage," Tara said. "You're in a weird place right now, you've had a weird day and you're really vulnerable. And because I think…I think maybe you're meant to be with Buffy."

"Do me a favor sweetie?" Tara said. "Try to work it out with her. Not just Buffy, but Willow and Xander too. They never gave up on you, so don't give up on them just yet. Give them all one more chance first. And if it doesn't work? If you try, and you decide you don't want them, don't want Buffy, in your life?"

"Buffy says…I need to talk to you," Faith said, as she walked into the room Buffy and Joyce had set up for her.

It was a nice room, not quite as big as Buffy's, but still comfortable, with a nice big bed and a hardwood floor, and a painting on the wall. Joyce ran an art gallery and she had good taste; Faith liked the painting. It was a modern impressionist painting and it reminded her a little of the Monets she had seen in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. There was a desk too, and a good-sized bureau and a full-length mirror, and a big closet. Faith had thought she'd be living in that room…but now everything was different. She could live wherever she wanted to now, go wherever she wanted to go. She could buy a house. She could buy a castle. She probably owned a castle already, in England. But if she couldn't take Buffy with her there didn't seem to be any point to any of it. Without Buffy it didn't matter…all the houses and the castles, they'd just be empty places…wherever she went, if Buffy wasn't with her, she'd just be alone…

"Yeah sweetie, we gotta talk, okay? There's some stuff you gotta know," Willow said. "C'mere, come sit with me."

Faith sat next to her. "Will…what's wrong with Buffy?" she said. "She's scarin' me. Is it…me? Did I do something?"

"No, sweetie," Willow said, and took her hand. "You didn't do anything wrong, it's not you. Buffy loves you."

"You're gonna…be angry with me," Buffy said. "And I'm sorry. I just…I didn't know what to do and…I tried my best but you're gonna think…you're gonna think I didn't care about Jenny but I did. You're gonna think I don't care about you but I do."

"So let's see if I got this straight," Faith said. She was pacing around the room like a lion in a cage. "Angelus, most bad ass of all the bad ass vamps, tears through Europe for a hundred and fifty years with his gal Darla. They kick the shit outta Europe man, they make Europe their bitch. Angelus sires Drusilla, Dru sires Spike. And they're a big happy family and everything until one day our boy kills a gypsy girl and the gypsies, they're pissed. So they curse our boy, give him his soul back. So now he's all feelin' guilty. 'Oh, I'm a terrible person. Shit man, I need a twelve-step program.' He mopes around for a hundred years. Fast-forward to 1997. He meets up with Buffy. For some reason I cannot fucking fathom, she's diggin' his shit. B's all, 'Damn, I gotta get me some o' that."

"Yeah, it's not that, I get that. Angelus. The bad ass vamp with a face like an angel. Becca told me that too, it's part of his rep, it's in all the stories. Evil but hot. Thing is though? B and me, we're Slayers. When you're a Slayer the nose knows. And our noses know that vamps, they're dead things. Everyone's got a scent Will, and a Slayer catalogues them and always remembers them. I know your scent, Xander's scent, Giles – I can pick any of you guys out of a crowd from a hundred feet away and so can Buffy. And vamps, you know what they smell like to a Slayer? Rotten meat. How can Buffy…how could she…be with him?"

"You don't choose who you love, Faith. A couple of months ago, did you ever think you'd be in love with a girl?"

Faith smiled. "Yeah, okay, got a point there," she said. "Anyway. So B and Angelus, who's callin' himself Angel now, they have a big epic romance. And he's on the up and up for awhile, he helps out, fights the bad guys with B, helps save the world even. And then him and B finally get horizontal. Problem was, his curse says he loses his soul again if he's ever perfectly happy, and B, she showed him a hell of a time. He loses his soul, cuts loose, gets together with Spike and Dru who just happen to be in town, kills folks. But you're all a cool bad ass witch, so you find a way to turn the tables. You give him his soul back, and now he's a good guy again. But it's just a little bit too late, 'cuz Angelus, asshole that he was, he opened a portal to hell that's gonna swallow the whole frigging world and the only way to close it is with his blood. So my girl, she shows why she's the baddest of all the bad asses and she stabs Angel through the heart with his own fuckin' sword and sends him to a hell dimension even though he's got his soul back now. My girl, she saved the whole world."

"So anyway now he's back, and he's got his soul," Faith said, and sat next to her again. "No one knows why…but he's back. And no one's really sure if they can trust him and everyone's all tense and freaked out. So am I up to speed now?"

"No, sweetie," Willow said, and rubbed her shoulder. "You've got the backstory. You know who he is. Now…you need to know what he did."

"That's what he did to them," Willow said. "Now I have to tell you what he did to Buffy…and what he did to me."

"How could you…keep this from me?" Giles said, and got up from the bed, and walked away from her.

"Sorry?!" he shouted, whirling around. "SORRY?! He butchered the woman I love and dressed her up in an evening gown and propped her up in my bed for me to find and you're SORRY?!"

"Well of course, that just fixes everything, doesn't it?" he said. "You're sorry. It's bloody brilliant. Giles, I'm sorry I dated a butchering monster who sadistically murdered thousands of people. Giles, I'm sorry he killed the woman you love. Giles, I'm sorry I lied to you about killing him. Of course, Buffy. Everything's all better now."

"I didn't…I didn't lie about killing him," Buffy said. "I thought…he was dead. He came back…I don't know how. He doesn't know how."

"He was dead," Giles said. "He was always dead. He was a dead thing when you were dating him. And you didn't tell me when he came back. You kept it from me. You have no respect for me, as your Watcher or as a person! You…you should have…"

"Don't SAY THAT!" Buffy shouted. "Please don't say that! I always respect you. You're…you're like a…" She looked at the floor. "I respect you. I've always respected you. But I didn't know what to do. He has his, his soul back now, Giles. He has his soul and –"

"And now we can all just what?" Giles shouted, turning back upon her. "Forgive and forget? Angelus is gone now, and everything can go back to normal?"

"I am gonna dust that MOTHERFUCKER!" they suddenly heard Faith shouting, down the hall.

Willow was sitting on the bed. Faith was standing near the desk. Faith's fist was through the wall.

Faith turned back to her. She pulled her fist from the wall, and pulled another chunk of the wall out with it.

"I'm still afraid of closets," Willow said. She felt Faith's eyes on her. She didn't look at them. She looked down at her hands. "I can't hang up my clothes. Xander and I are using Joyce's bedroom? All my clothes are in her bureau."

She needed to be strong…leaders had to be strong. Someday she'd have to gather soldiers throughout time, be the general in a war…so she had to be strong…

"That's why…my clothes look wrinkled a lot," Willow said. "They're never hung up. They're always in drawers."

"Never again," Faith whispered. "No one's ever gonna hurt you again, Will. They try? I'll kill them."

"Remember…when we first met?" Willow whispered, as she held onto Faith, and cried…and felt protected. "You saved me. You always save me."

"One of my Slayer powers," Faith said. "Got the power of super-hugs. I'm gonna kill Angel for what he did to you, honey. I'm gonna shove my stake so far up his ass it's gonna come out his fucking teeth."

"Y'know, right now? Just being with you, and looking at you, and listening to you, at like, this particular second?" Willow said. "I can see exactly, exactly why Buffy loves you so much, sweetie. Why you two are gonna be so great together. I'm just all, a proud auntie."

Faith laughed. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, that's me and B all right. And you guys, you're all my family. So you can be my auntie if you want."

"Okay," Willow said, and wiped her tears away. "First thing auntie says is, you can't kill Angel. I mean it Faith, you can't. He'll be coming over tonight to stay until this stuff with the wolf vamps is over and we need him."

"What he did to me means if anyone in this room gets to kill Angel it's me," Willow said, and looked Faith in the eyes, and didn't flinch. "And I decided not to, last night. I could've burned him alive and I didn't. Buffy was about to kill him, and I stopped her. You're not gonna kill him either."

"Sweetie," Willow said. "I love you. I love how you want to protect me. I love being part of your family. Before you came into our lives, things were bad, we were lost…we were in the dark. But then you came, and everything's better now, for all of us. Buffy, me, Xander…things are better now that you're with us."

"A Slayer always thinks tactically," Willow said. "So think tactically here, sweetie. You know I'm right. The Slayer part of you? The part that's all, comin' up with the plan? That part might not like Angel on general principle but it still knows I'm right. We're looking at a big fight and we need help. We need Angel."

"Yeah. When she found out what Angelus did to me. Before she met you, before she met Angel, Buffy was in love with me. But you already know."

Willow got up, and moved to the window, and looked out at the sky. The night was coming on; it was getting dark. The stars were coming out now, and the moon was rising. But the moon was almost gone, just days from the new.

"He has his soul back. Well isn't that bloody wonderful," Giles said. "You don't understand what a vampire really is. Even after all this time, even after everything I've hammered into your head while you sat there in my house and smirked and made fun of me and counted the moments until you could leave –"

"I never did that," Buffy said. He was standing, looking right down at her. She sat on her bed, looking away from him, at her closet. "I never made fun of you, I never…counted the moments until I could leave. Yeah, I make jokes sometimes. It's how I survive this, okay? If I had to be serious about it all the time? About how like, I'm the Slayer and I have to be the one who saves the world? I'd kill myself. But I always respected you, Giles. And I always needed you. I still do."

"I'm sorry, if…I seemed that way," Buffy said. "That's not how it was for me. That's not how I meant to be."

"Sorry doesn't make it better, Buffy! That doesn't make this go away! You still don't get it, do you? You still don't understand what Angel really is! I tried to tell you. Even when he was helping us, I tried to tell you. You never listened. When someone becomes a vampire, they lose their soul. But the soul is not the whole person. It's one's conscience, yes, one's humanity. But the essence of the person, their intellect and memories, their loves, their innate capacity for good or evil, remains intact."

"Oh good, a lecture," Buffy said, still looking at the closet. "Shoulda brought my notebook."

"Yes, a lecture, because you bloody well need one and you will bloody well listen to me for once!" Giles shouted.

"Vampires need blood to survive. They're like animals, in a way. You don't blame a wolf for killing a deer. It's doing what it has to do to survive. But Angelus didn't kill just to survive. He killed for pleasure. He called it his "art". He didn't merely kill Jenny. He killed her, dressed her in a beautiful evening gown, and put her in my bed. So that when I found her, I would suffer that much more. That's what he does. Not just because he lost his soul. Because that's who he is, who he was when he was Angelus and who he is now when he's Angel. There's a monster in him, Buffy. He can keep it in check when he has his soul. But it will always be there. And he'll always be dangerous."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Willow said. "I didn't mean for it to happen…I don't know how it did. I'm sorry."

Willow stood by the window, and watched Faith, as Faith sat on the bed, and looked down at her hands.

But Willow knew. Willow knew she and Buffy had a long way to go with Faith…a lot of work still to do…

"My life. It's not fair, that you had to…be me," Faith said, softly. "That you had to feel like you were…some skank on the street giving blowjobs."

"It's worse…than what Angelus did to you," Faith whispered. "What I did to you is worse. Having to be me is worse. It's worse."

"I'm…weighing you down," Faith said. "I'm…a burden. That's all I am. A fucking…weight around your neck. I should've…never come into your life. You should've all just…told me to get lost. Buffy should've just…stayed away."

"If you stayed away I'd be dead now," Willow said. "A couple times over, at least. You always save me."

Faith still wouldn't look at her. Willow wiped the tears from Faith's eyes, and smoothed her hair.

"You're not a skank," Willow said. "You're someone people took advantage of. You're not dumb. You dropped out of school. Your Mom made you think no one can love you. But she was wrong, Faith. Becca loved you. Buffy loves you. I think Tara loves you, too. And I love you."

"Missed that before, didn't you?" Willow said. "I told you I love you a few minutes ago and, zoom! Right over your head. You miss stuff sometimes, sweetie. Because Buffy was right about you. You're not dumb. But you get caught up in yourself…you don't see what's around you. I love you, Faith."

"Because I was you," Willow said. "I lived your life, all of it. And I've been thinking about it…about you…ever since last night…ever since I got all those memories. I've been thinking about how you always felt cold, and you didn't think anyone loved you. But, the thing about you? You're tough. You hung in when things looked hopeless. Becca wouldn't have found you, if you weren't able to hang tough for a long time first. You're tougher than me, Faith. But you don't see so well, sometimes…there's stuff you don't notice, because you're kinda in your own head a lot. When I lived your life, I noticed things you didn't."

"People love you," Willow said. "Because you're someone worth loving. The only one who doesn't think so? Is you. Remember what Buffy told you, when the Slayer came out? You don't know how to love yet. You need to learn to love yourself, first. You're part of me now, Faith. And I love that part of me."

"I love you," Willow said. "Because I am you, and I know how to love myself. Because I know you now, better than anyone else…and I know you're someone worth loving. Buffy, Xander, Giles, Tara, me…we're committed to you, sweetie. We're not giving up on you. But you have to meet us halfway. You can't give up on yourself either. You have to learn how to love yourself, Faith."

"But…all the stuff that happened to me…my Mom and…living on the street," Faith said. "I just wish…you didn't have to go through that. I wish…you didn't have to be…burdened with it."

"You're not a burden," Willow said, and smiled. "Living your life? Yeah, it was tough, but it taught me some important things. It wasn't a burden, it set me free. I've known Angel was back from that hell dimension for months now. I've been scared of my closet, scared of my own frigging shadow since he did what he did to me, but I never confronted him. I knew he was back but I never confronted him…until last night."

"The first thing I did, once I got your memories, lived your life?" Willow said. "I found my courage. And I went right out and stood up to Angel…stood up to my fear. A burden? You're not a burden to me. You're a gift, Faith. You showed me I could be strong. You shouldn't be apologizing to me. I should be thanking you."

"Yeah," Willow said, and smiled back. She got up and sat next to Faith on the bed, and put her arm around her.

"Um, but just to clarify some stuff?" Willow said, and grinned. "Um…I don't love you like, in a wanting to get busy kinda way. So get those pervo thoughts out of your head."

"Shit," she said. "I forgot…you must know, right? How like, I think you're hot. Had a little crush on you."

"Yeah," Willow said. "I have to admit it was um, really strange? Having all these memories of meeting myself and wanting to boink me? It's like everyone wants to boink me all of a sudden. You, Buffy, Xander…there should be like, a TV show. They could call it 'Everyone Wants Willow.' Plus, I actually smelled myself. With your Slayer senses, I actually know my own scent now."

"You're the strawberry girl. So…you've got my memories…so…you and…Buffy…uh…I mean you remember you and Buffy…"

"The girl does know her way around the bed," Willow said. "You guys…wow. I'm, y'know, hetero? But…just…wow."

"Yeah, B's pretty wow," Faith said, and grinned. "So, uh…what did she think about all this? I mean, when you told her you got me in your head now…what did she think about…I mean…you know how she feels now. You know…the way Buffy's always felt about you."

"It…was awkward," Willow said. "But I love her too…as my best friend. So we'll get through it. We'll figure it out. But…that brings up something else I gotta tell you now. There's like, one tiny little burdensome thing about having your memories? And it's that sometimes, I sort of get confused…like, I know I'm Willow but, I sort of, um, react to stuff like you would. Like, last night when I told Buffy about how I have your memories now, she noticed I was talking with your accent. Like, even though it feels like I lived your whole life? I've really only had these memories for less than a day. And I'm sorta still figuring out how to handle them…it feels like there are two of me now. And…around Buffy? It's…weird. Sometimes…I think I'm in love with her, because you are."

"And I have to remind myself those are your feelings, not mine," Willow said. "Last night, I thought I was in love with her. Ever since I got your memories in the car? I was…thinking about…being with Buffy. Whenever I looked at her, I wanted her. I'm sorry. I know this is…hard to hear."

"It's okay," Faith said. "It's not your fault, Will. You didn't know this would happen."

"Yeah, and…I mean I knew like, intellectually? That those feelings weren't really mine, but…they were there, I had them," Willow said. "I thought about Buffy all night last night, before she and I finally talked. I thought about…"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Faith. I didn't want to but…I couldn't help myself. I just…wanted her. I felt like I was you, and…I wanted her with me…I wanted her the way you do. I couldn't stop…thinking about the memories…about those times in your motel room. I was…"

"I was fantasizing about her," Willow said. "But…Buffy and I talked it out last night and…I'm okay now. It took me some time but…I found my way back to myself. Buffy helped me. Without Buffy, I don't know if I would've been able to find my way back. Last night, when she talked to me…she helped me get through it. It was hard and…she helped me through it."

"Faith," Willow said. "Remember our philosophy? Becca's always right. So I won't lie to you. Buffy's still in love with me, and I think she always will be. I was her first love. But you're the one she's chosen. It's not like, she's only with you because she can't have me. If she could have me? If I suddenly turned gay? She'd pick you, sweetie. Yeah, I was her first love? But you're her last love. You're her forever love."

"So, uh…have you told Xander?" Faith said "That…y'know…you got me in your head."

"No," Willow said. "Not sure if I'm gonna. I mean…he's a guy and…once he thought about it and realized that having your memories means I remembered like, gettin' busy with Buffy a bunch of times? He's a guy and…y'know."

"Yeah, and…it's…it's apples and oranges. He'd want to know, even if he didn't ask, he'd want to know who I thought was better but…it's…"

"It's…I mean…it's two different things," Willow said. "Him and Buffy, it was like two different kinds of things. I mean, Buffy's a girl, and it was just…different. Anyway…I don't know if I'm gonna tell him."

"Yeah," Faith said, and rubbed Willow's shoulder. She could read Willow pretty well by now…and she heard the truth, underneath Willow's lie. "Guys can be like…they can obsess over stuff like that. They can get all like, y'know, whose dick is bigger, when it's not even like, about that. Plus…Will…they're my memories. They're not really…how you feel. You gotta hold onto that, honey."

"Yeah. So…um…listen…I told Buffy about Tara," Willow said, changing the subject. "Not the kiss? Because that's your business, but…just how Tara's your friend, and you care about her. I told Buffy a few things, not a lot of stuff, but a few things that I thought she needed to hear, because I want you guys to work, and you both almost broke up. And I don't want that to happen again. We both know what almost happened to you when you thought you lost Buffy."

Faith nodded, and looked down at her shoes. Willow gently turned Faith back toward her.

"I didn't tell Buffy about the lighthouse," Willow said. "But, you ever try to pull a stunt like the lighthouse again? I will kick your fucking ass. You ever do anything like that again and my boot's going straight up that ass."

"Somethin' funny, girlfriend?" Willow said, and looked Faith in the eyes. "Look in my eyes. Do I look like I'm fucking kidding here?"

"So that's what I'm like, huh?" Faith said. "Damn. I'm a bad ass. Feels like I just gave myself a real stern talking-to."

"Yeah, pretty much. But, sweetie? Don't ever do anything like the lighthouse again. I couldn't…I couldn't handle something like that again."

"Telling Buffy some stuff about you last night was a one-time thing, Faith. It's your private stuff and I won't ever blab about it again. But there's stuff that could be landmines for you two if it isn't out in the open, and I want you guys to work. So I told her about Tara, because it's not like you're gonna stop seeing Tara, she's still your friend, and I don't want Buffy getting the wrong idea. I told her about Evan too, because Buffy's really nervous about Evan. I told her you still love him but you love her more. We talked about Becca a lot…Buffy's curious about Becca."

"How you can ever be down on yourself when someone like Becca loved you so much, I have no idea, Faith," Willow said. "Do you know how lucky you were, to have her?"

"So are you. Becca never talked just to talk, remember? And she told you she loved you."

"My Mom…she doesn't really love me," Willow said. "I wish…Becca was my Mom."

"It's not like she's mean to me or anything, but…she just…goes through the motions. She does stuff for me because she has to, because it's expected, not because she wants to. I don't think…I was planned. I think I was an accident. I don't think my Mom wanted kids. I always stay over here a lot, because I like Joyce better. I think Joyce cares about me more than my own Mom does."

"Thanks, sweetie," Willow said. "So, anyway…um…let's get back to why we're here. You need to know about the stuff Angel did when he was Angelus. You know what he did to me…now you need to know what he did to Buffy."

"Telling me all this stuff isn't exactly helping your case for why we shouldn't kill him," Faith said.

"Preaching to the choir. But we need him and we both know it. And he wouldn't hurt us when he has his soul…you just have to trust me on that. And one more thing, before I tell you about Angelus? I said I could have killed him yesterday? That's only because he would have let me kill him. Sure, I'm a witch? But I'm not so powerful yet that I could kill Angel if he actually tried to defend himself. Yeah, I created that fireball but Angel could have killed me about fourteen different ways before I had a chance to use it if he wanted to. Instead he just stood there. When I shot the fireball at him, he stood there. When Buffy kicked the crap out of him? He just took it. I think…Angel wants to die."

"Yeah, maybe. Okay, I'm saying we need him? But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Anyway…when Angelus was loose and killing, everything he did was about Buffy. Even what he planned on doing to me, that was about Buffy too. Angelus wasn't like other vampires. Killing wasn't enough for him. What he really wanted was for us to suffer…for Buffy to suffer."

"Angelus, sweetie. As much as I didn't want to think so yesterday, as much as I wanted to kill Angel, even then I knew there's a difference. Anyway, we looked all over but we couldn't find him. Even my locator spell couldn't find him. He got some kind of talismans from this shaman he knew, and he and Spike and Dru all wore them. The talismans hid them from me. It took Buffy weeks to find them. And even then she only managed it because Spike asked for her help."

"Spike's sorta strange. He's evil and annoying and he gets off on killing Slayers, he's already killed two –"

"Yeah. Becca told me that. Killed a Slayer in China about a hundred years back named Xin Rong. Killed Nikki Wood in New York in 1977. I always wanted to meet Spike. Always wanted to test myself against him. It's part of the reason I always wanted to come out here, I figured he'd show up here again sooner or later. Hellmouth attracts all the badness. And Becca knew it too."

"That's why she stalled when you asked her to take you out here," Willow said. "She wanted to protect you. Vampires like Spike, she didn't want you running up against them before you were ready."

"Yeah, Spike's the real deal," Faith said. "Killed two Slayers lickety-split, and Becca was always all about protecting me."

"Yup, Spike's a meanie. But the other thing about him is, he loves Drusilla. Kinda like how Angelus loved Darla, but maybe even moreso. Dru made Spike, and they were a couple for a century. But Angelus made Dru, and when Angel lost his soul he started getting, um, snuggly with Dru. Spike got jealous."

Faith chuckled. "Shit, so Mister Hottie stole Spike's girl, huh?" she said. "Yeah, that figures. What I heard, Angelus was always a player."

"Yup. But…I don't think Drusilla was ever really Spike's. I think…from the memories I have…I think she always wanted to be with Angelus. But he was with Darla, so she settled for Spike. But anyway Spike was all mopey about Angelus and Dru gettin' all busy, and plus, y'know, Angelus was gonna throw the world into a hell dimension, and Spike? Not so much with destroying the world. He likes, um, soccer and the Sex Pistols and beer and stuff? So he offered Buffy a deal. Angelus' location and help taking him down in exchange for him and Dru getting to leave town. Dru had already killed Kendra. Angelus was gonna open the portal to the hell dimension the next day. So Buffy's choices were throw in with Spike or end up having to fight Angelus and Spike and Dru."

"Yeah. And here's where it gets bad, sweetie. It took Buffy weeks to find Angelus and he'd been killing the whole time. Not just to feed. To hurt Buffy. So whenever he killed someone, he took their picture. A picture with them alive, and then another picture after he killed them. And every time he killed someone he sent their pictures to Buffy's house. To let her know it was her fault."

"They were all little girls, Faith," Willow said. Faith looked at her. Willow had tears in her eyes. "None of them were more than eight years old. He killed eighteen of them, before Buffy finally found him. He killed eighteen little girls, and took pictures of them, and sent them to Buffy. She still has the pictures. I told her she shouldn't keep them anymore, but…she still has them. I know she still looks at them sometimes."

"Jesus Christ," Faith said, and got up, and stalked around the room. Willow watched her…and saw the lion she'd seen in the alley two months before. "And I gotta not kill this guy. Somehow, when this motherfucker who butchered eighteen little girls and threw it in Buffy's face swings by tonight I gotta be all, 'Hey pull up a chair dude, crack open a cold one'. How the FUCK do I do that?!"

"I don't know, Faith, but you're gonna have to find a way," Willow said. "I decided not to kill him yesterday and if either of us has the right to kill him for the things he did it's me."

"Yeah, I know that, Will," Faith said, and sat back down. "What he did to you was…I can't even imagine it. But what he did to B? Anything happens to her is like it's happening to me too. I got less of a stake in this than you but I still got a stake in it. I love her and he hurt her."

"No," Willow said. "There's one more thing. One more thing he did to Buffy that you have to know about."

"Look, Giles," Buffy said. "Even though you think I never listen to you, I always do, okay? I'm listening now. But what you're saying doesn't change anything. We still have a hundred, maybe hundreds, plural, of those new vamps out there. They still want Willow. We still need Angel. It's not about how pissed we are at what he did when he lost his soul. I'm sorry about Jenny but it's not about her either. It's about the mission. And I need Angel for the mission."

"Yes it was," Buffy said. "All of it. He lost his soul because of me. Those girls are dead because of me. Jenny's dead because of me. And now…now you don't…you think I don't care about you at all and that's my fault too and I'm sorry. I'm sorry Giles," Buffy said, and started to cry.

"Forget it," Giles said. "I'm sorry I…well, 'overreacted' isn't quite the word I'm looking for, under the circumstances, but…I know you respect me. Those things I said…I didn't mean them. I was just angry."

"I'm not…I know I'm not what you wanted," Buffy said. "As a Slayer. Faith's more like what you want. She's all, like, letting Rebecca train her and stuff and I was always just…I'm sorry."

"Buffy…you're my Slayer. You're the best Slayer any Watcher could ever hope for. Yes, Faith is a marvelous Slayer too. And as much as Rebecca cared about her, I care about you."

"Yes. I'll care about Faith too. Buffy…from now on, can you do me one favor? So we can avoid something like this happening again?"

"Don't keep me out anymore. Don't keep things from me. You could've…you should've told me about Angel the moment he first came back."

"I won't lie and say I wouldn't have been tempted. But I wouldn't have done something like that without talking to you. I would've let you in. And you need to start letting me in, Buffy. It's the only way forward for us. If you can't…"

"I can," Buffy said. "I'm sorry I didn't before." She looked toward the closet. "From now on I will."

"Everyone's been kicking my ass lately," Buffy said. "Will, Xander, you. And…I needed my ass kicked. I've been wrong about stuff. Thinking I can do everything myself. It's time to grow up. So, no more keeping you out. No more lies, and not talking. It just leads to problems. If we're gonna move forward, not just me and you but all of us…we need to start talking. To be honest."

"Buffy left town after she stabbed Angel through the heart," Willow said. "She ran away to L.A. for the summer. Joyce had kicked her out the day before because the police were questioning Buffy about stuff and Buffy didn't have a good explanation? Plus they were expelling her from school, and Joyce wanted her to stay home. And Buffy wouldn't stay in because she had to go stop Angelus. Joyce didn't know Buffy was the Slayer then and 'Sorry Mom, gotta take off, go kill my boyfriend and save the world' wasn't gonna fly."

"Yeah, well…it wasn't just that, it was all the other crazy things that had been piling up. This thing was just the last straw, kinda. Anyway, Buffy left. She didn't want to be found either; she stole one of the talismans from Angelus' place, hoping to hide from me. But that talisman only hides the person who first wears it; it like, imprints on them, and it didn't work for her. So I found her in L.A. a couple days later in this crappy run-down apartment building. Knocked at the door. No answer. And then…I had a bad feeling. I suddenly got really, really scared. Her door was locked, I opened it with a spell. She…"

Faith jumped like she'd been hit with a cattle prod. All the blood drained from her face.

"She was bleeding out," Willow said. "The cuts were really deep. She wanted to make sure she didn't start healing up before she died."

"No," Faith said, shaking her head, with tears in her eyes. "No, Willow. She wouldn't…do that. My girl…wouldn't do that…"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Willow said, and hugged her. "I'm sorry. I got her out of there, tied some towels around her wrists, and called an ambulance. The hospital managed to stabilize her. Ten minutes later and she would've been dead."

"But…why?" Faith said. "Why would she do that to herself? Why, Willow? I don't understand."

"Why would she do that?!" Faith said, crying into Willow's sweater. "Why would she do that? Why would my girl DO THAT?!"

"We didn't give the hospital people her name and Buffy wasn't carrying ID," Willow said. "I made up a story, said I'd only known her a week and I didn't know if she had any family. Next day we snuck out of there. Buffy had a waitressing job at this lame little diner and she could barely afford her rent. She had no food. But she wouldn't come home with me. So I emptied my savings account, called my Mom and told her I was backpacking through Europe for the summer and I stayed with Buffy in that crap little one-room apartment for three months. My Mom's a big like, super-intellectual feminist hippie so me backpacking through Europe sounded just right to her and she didn't even question it. I think she always hoped I'd turn out to be a lesbian too but no such luck. I called Xander and told him Buffy and I were gonna hang in L.A. for awhile but I didn't tell him anything else."

"Does Xander know? Does he know about all this? The pictures and…that Buffy…tried to…" Faith said.

"He knows about what happened to Buffy, she let me invite him out after awhile and we all talked. But…Faith…what Angelus did to me? Xander and Giles don't know about that, and you can never tell them. They know about what Angelus said to me in the car, but they don't know that he forced me to have Dru's memories. And they can never find out. You understand, sweetie? Never."

"Think it through. What do you think Xander does if he finds out? If he finds out, we're done, Faith. All of us. The Scooby Gang? Me, you, Buffy and Xander? It's over. We need Angel for this but Xander would try to kill him and when he couldn't pull it off he'd insist that you and Buffy help him kill him. And if you didn't he'd leave, and take me with him. And I wouldn't want to leave? But he's my guy. So I'd go with him."

"Maybe. But even if he was, and even if we did? Things would still never be the same. Xander would always blame Buffy for what happened to me. And Giles, I don't know what he'd do, but Giles loved Jenny and Angelus killed her. Plus, Giles is a guy, and…he wouldn't understand the way a girl would. I just…don't want him to know. He doesn't need to know about this. I just want us three girls to know and not anybody else."

"It's not B's fault, what happened. She didn't know he'd lose his soul when they got together. It's Angelus' fault."

"Yeah. But Xander would blame Buffy anyway. He'd blame her for allowing me to help her, for putting me in situations where that kind of stuff could happen to me. I think he'd try to make me stop helping. And you guys are gonna need my help. And I like helping. I want to be a part of this…a part of the fight. But I want Xander too. This secret is how I get to have both."

"Okay. So anyway, Buffy invited Xander out to L.A. to talk, and she called Joyce. Xander told us Joyce had been freaking and so Buffy called her and told her she was all right. But she wasn't all right, and she wouldn't tell Joyce where she was and she wouldn't go home. Joyce still doesn't know any of this stuff. Just me, you and Xander know."

"He knows about the eighteen girls…but not about Los Angeles. He knows she ran away there but not that she…tried to kill herself."

"No. Buffy doesn't want any more secrets…after she almost lost you because she lied about Angel, she's done with secrets. She's telling Giles now."

"Why?" Giles said. "Why would you do that to yourself?" He held his head in his hands. Buffy sat next to him, with her sleeves rolled up.

They sat on the bed, looking at the floor together. Buffy noticed Giles had a tear rolling down his cheek. She wiped it away.

"You gonna get all girly and emotional now?" Buffy said. "Totally like, improper and completely not British. Where's the stiff upper lip."

"Yes of course, because inappropriate humor is exactly what we need right now," Giles said.

"Stop making me smile," he said. "I don't want to smile. This is…my fault. I should've been…I should've…been there for you."

"Nope," Buffy said. "My fault. Because I wouldn't let you be there for me. I ran away from everyone who cares about me. Willow came out and found me and wouldn't leave me alone. Like, not for a second. We were in that little one-room apartment and she didn't let me out of her sight. There was no room for a bed or much furniture and I wouldn't let her sleep in a chair or on the floor so I had her sleep with me. We slept together on a pull-out couch every night. She came to work at the diner with me every morning, and she sat in a booth and drank coffee all day and read library books while I waitressed. She came back to the apartment with me every night and we talked. We were broke. We lived on her savings. She wouldn't take a job because she insisted on being with me every second. She got me through it. She saved me. And the thing is? I had tried my best to make sure she couldn't find me, that none of you could. She found me anyway and made me realize what a dope I was. And, yup, not telling you guys about Angel? Big, dopey relapse. I'm sorry. But I'm back on the wagon now, Giles. You're right here with me and we're facing this thing together."

"I can't be in the house when he comes tonight…not tonight," Giles said. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"I want you to talk to someone. A professional. The Watchers employ counselors for situations like this…counselors for Slayers. This isn't the first time a Slayer has felt overwhelmed by her responsibilities. You can talk to someone."

"What, a stranger? Like, lie down on a couch and be all, 'Yeah so you know, my Dad took off and my boyfriend went evil and saving the world? Total bummer. Why is life so cruel? Why can't I have a pony?' Yeah, that'll go well."

"So am I. I talk to Willow. I can't say this stuff to a stranger, to someone I don't care about. And I talk to Xander, and you…and maybe I can talk to Faith."

"If we're still a couple after tonight. I told Willow to tell her all this stuff for me while I talk to you. She's talking to her right now. One thing about Faith, she's a traditionalist. Vampires equal bad. I don't know if…she'll even wanna see me again after tonight."

"I wanna dust that motherfucker. And he's gonna be here soon and I gotta, what? Look at this guy, the guy who almost killed my girl and wanted to torture you and killed eighteen little kids and I gotta, what, be polite? What the fuck?"

"Something else?" Faith said. "Will, I'm holdin' tight here, but I mean it, if that motherfucker did even one more bad thing to B, if he even like, prank called her or told her she looked fat in her skirt? I'm gonna fucking kill him and just deal with the fallout from you and B later. Figure you can't give me the scowly face forever. And B and me are good at making up."

Faith grinned as she said it, but Willow could tell she was nervous. She rubbed Faith's hand.

"It's nothing like that, sweetie," Willow said. "It's about me. Remember that witch Tara told you about, the one who found her?"

"I'm her. Someday…I'm gonna travel through time…and gather soldiers. Someday I'm gonna be her."

"My tarot cards told me, and they never lie. And I dye my hair. I'm really a brunette. Plus I have green eyes, and Buffy says I have cute chipmunk teeth."

"If anyone's gonna be rallying the troops for some big throw-down someday? I'll feel better knowing it's you," Faith said.

Faith's scent came to her. A little fruity, like a peach. With a hint of muskiness underneath.

"If you don't want to be with me anymore? There are…there are some ground rules," Buffy said.

"We have all these new vamps and they're after Willow but…they know you too and for all I know they could come after you," Buffy said "So if…you don't want to be with me you have to…I want you to…"

"I want you to stay here," Buffy said. "So…I can protect you. You can…bring Tara here if you want."

Buffy turned and looked at her. Faith was leaning in the doorway, with her arms folded across her chest. She still wore the coat Buffy had given her.

Faith walked into the room, knelt down in front of her, and took Buffy's hands in hers.

"This whole day," Faith said. "Was it about tryin' to get me to dump you? Was that the plan all along? That what you want?"

"You wanna dump me then?" Faith said. "You not happy with me maybe? Thinkin' twice about our thing? You bailin' on me? Decide, Buffy. Now."

"I want…I want to be with you, baby," Buffy whispered. "But I don't know…if you want to be with me."

"I do, beautiful," Faith said. Buffy's tears were on her. Buffy's scent was on her. "I do. And I don't just want it. I need it too. I'll stay with you as long as you'll have me."

Buffy nodded, and smiled. They kissed again. Faith kissed Buffy's tears, until they were gone. She fixed Buffy's hair, smoothed it out of her eyes.

Faith looked down at Buffy's hands. She rolled up Buffy's sleeves. She looked at her wrists.

The scars were tiny, insubstantial things, now. They were white, and faded. But they were still there. Faith kissed them, and started to cry.

"How come you thought I'd leave?" Faith said. "Told you I love you. Don't you believe me?"

"I just…I thought…you'd think I was…disgusting," Buffy said. "That I wasn't like…what a Slayer should be. That I wasn't…worthy of you."

"Won't lie to ya, it threw me that you dated a vamp. But that's all it did. It threw me. It confused me. But I didn't judge you. I wasn't thinking less of you. I love you just as much now as before Will and me talked. More, maybe. You had it tough and you were brave and strong and you were my girl."

"Okay," Faith said. "Took guts havin' Will tell me that stuff. Took guts, when you didn't know how I'd act after. Outside of Becca you're the strongest person I ever met, Buffy. She would've liked you."

They laughed. Faith caressed Buffy's hair some more, and kissed her wrists again.

"Back in Boston, before Becca found me. I lived on the street, for a couple years, y'know?" Faith said. "My mother used to kick the shit out of me so I took off. I crashed on couches, went to parties, did what I could to get out of the cold, get some food in my belly. I was always shiverin', always all skin and bones. When it got real cold and I couldn't sleep outside anymore, if a guy runnin' a party was cute? I'd make out with him, give him a blowjob. So I could stay. Word got around. I was like the party girl of the neighborhood. I was the skank of the neighborhood. I was a whore. Sure, I didn't stand on a street corner doin' it for money or anything. I only did it with guys I liked, so I could hang out at their place for a few days, get a few free meals, and I never went all the way with them. But I figure it's the same difference though. I figure I was a whore anyway. Am I worthy of you? Do you want to leave me now?"

"I want to stay with you, as long as you'll have me," Buffy said. "I think you're the most beautiful woman in the world and I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

"This coat," Faith said. "I really liked it when I first tried it on in the store. I wanted it pretty bad. I was tempted to shoplift it. Know why I didn't?"

"Because when I was wearing it, in front of the mirror at Bloomingdale's? You called me beautiful. It was the first time you ever called me beautiful. That made this coat special to me. I decided right then that if I wanted it I'd have to find a way to get it honestly."

"Life's crazy sometimes. Doesn't mean it's not good. Doesn't mean there aren't rewards…precious things you find. Beautiful things. I'm the luckiest girl in the world, Buffy. I used to have no self-respect and think the world was all shittin' all over me and I was always feelin' bad for myself. I wanted to die. When Becca found me I was in an alley covered with garbage and four vamps were about to kill me. She saved my life that night. Then she saved me again, every single day after that. It was my birthday, when she found me and saved me. It was my birthday, when you told me you love me and saved me again."

Faith walked to the closet and opened it. It was a big walk-in closet with enough clothes hanging in it to outfit the Philippines. The floor of the closet was shoes stretching out in all directions in a vista of unbroken fabulousness that Imelda Marcos would have called a good, solid foundation.

"Shit girl, you got some serious shoes in here. So borrowin' these," Faith said. "All of 'em. Especially those pretty black boots over there. Mine."

Faith found the shoebox under the blanket, took it down from the shelf, and brought it back to the bed.

"Auntie Will says no," Faith said. "And you don't want me to either. And we need him." She sat next to Buffy on the bed.

"Yeah," Faith said. "She can be my auntie if she wants. No way Xander's my uncle though. He'd goof on me all day. Gotta draw the line somewhere. Givin' you fair warning by the way, I'm planning on being pretty damn impolite to Angel when he gets here. Probably impertinent too."

"Sounds like a plan." Faith opened the shoebox and took out thirty six photographs. She spread them out on the bed.

They were photos of little girls. In eighteen of the photos, the girls were alive. They were playing at the park, and at the beach, and in their front yards…they were alive…they were all smiling.

In the other eighteen photos, the same girls were dead. They were lying on a concrete floor. Each one had her throat torn out. The photos of the dead girls were close-ups; no useful information could be gained about their location. Each photo contained a concrete floor, and a child's dead body, and nothing else.

"He stalked them first," Faith said. "They're all happy in the first pics. How the hell did he get pictures of them in the sun? Telephoto lens maybe, while he was inside somewhere?"

"He always…was meticulous, about stuff," Buffy said. "When he came up with plans…everything was always perfect, right down to the smallest detail."

Faith picked up a photo at random and looked at it. A smiling blonde-haired girl with big blue eyes was playing with a black labrador retriever puppy in her front yard. She was squirting it with a garden hose, and laughing. "Young," Faith said. "This girl couldn't have been more than maybe six."

Faith put the photo down, and picked up another. The girl in the photo had long red hair and freckles. She sat on the beach, making a sandcastle.

Faith looked at the back of the photo. Lisa Cooper, age seven, was written there, in beautiful, flowing script.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "They're never gonna grow up because of me, least I can do is know their names."

"Because of me," Buffy said, and started to cry again. "Because of me, because of me."

"They were…they were just little. They didn't, didn't do anything to anybody…they didn't. Why did he…why did he do that to them? Why did he have to…? Why couldn't he kill me? Why couldn't he? Why couldn't he, just, just kill me…? They're not gonna grow up, Faith. They're never gonna grow up…"

"They were just BABIES!" Buffy screamed, as Faith held her to her bosom. "They're never gonna…gonna go to school or…have their first crush or anything! They're never gonna live, because of me. He should've killed me. He should've killed me. I should be dead, I should be dead, not them. I should be dead."

"So now Faith knows," Xander said. He was on the couch in the living room, drinking a beer. It was one of his secrets for dealing with life as a Slayer's friend. Beer kept the edge off. Willow was sitting beside him, with her head in his lap, staring at the Key on the coffee table. She nodded.

"Freaked a little," Willow said. "Kinda, um, wants to kill Angel, a lot. But she's gonna hang in with Buffy. She loves her."

"Good. And if Faith wants she can join my 'Hey Let's Just Fucking Dust Angel And Get It Over With' club. Dues are reasonable. I'm the president."

"I might wanna be vice-president. Are you gonna make a scene when he gets here? Are you gonna make this harder on everyone?"

"I told her, y'know, me and Buffy kinda don't want her to. I think Faith will hold herself back for us. Don't think she likes it much though."

"What about…the stuff Angelus said to you in the car. Faith knows about that too now?"

"Um…yeah," Willow said. "I mean…I don't…really like to talk about that so…I mean…I didn't go into details. She knows he said stuff…about wanting to kidnap me and kill me. But I didn't like, give her exact quotes."

"He said he was gonna kidnap me and lock me in a closet. He said he'd rape me every day."

"He said he was gonna capture Joyce too, to lure Buffy. Once Buffy got there he was gonna make her give herself to him, make her let him chain her up, in exchange for letting Joyce live. Then he was gonna let Joyce go, so she could have to live with the knowledge that Buffy being captured was her fault."

"Then he was gonna rape Buffy every day, and make me…make me join in. If I didn't he said he would kill Buffy in front of me. Plus I'd still be living in the closet, and he'd still rape me every day too. Eventually he said he was gonna make me a vampire, but only if I said 'please' first. If I didn't say please I'd have to live in the closet for the rest of my life. I was gonna be the new Dru. He said I was gonna be his next masterpiece. He was gonna break me, and turn me. And then, once he turned me, he was gonna…have me be the one who kills Buffy."

"Now you know…what he said. I don't…I don't want to keep secrets from you," Willow said. "But…I want to put all that behind me. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Okay?"

"No. But I won't try to kill him. I told Buffy I wouldn't. And…you're not the only one Angel…Angelus…hurt. He hurt Buffy too, and she's being all about the mission. Guess I can be all about the mission too."

"Yeah. Buffy killing Angel. Kinda like my dream come true. You said she really kicked the shit out of him, huh?"

"I didn't see the whole thing, I was heading back to the car when I heard the chandelier fall. I ran back and the place looked like a hurricane hit it and Angel was just…his whole face was bloody. His nose looked broke. He was just lying there, letting her beat him up. I think…he wants to die."

"Maybe. I said that to him too…but…Angel and Angelus aren't the same, Xander. I mean, what if you or I lost our souls? What kind of people would we become? When his curse –"

"His curse," Xander said. "When we all first met him? Once he proved to Buffy that he was on our side, that he wanted to help? Sure, he eventually told Buffy about his past as Angelus, because he knew Giles would figure it out anyway. And he told her about how those gypsies gave him his soul, because he knew telling her he has a soul made it easier for Buffy to accept him. But he never told Buffy – never told anyone – that a moment of perfect happiness could make him lose his soul. He knew, Willow. He knew it was a risk, being with Buffy, that he could lose his soul. And he didn't care. He didn't tell us. If he had told Buffy about it, maybe they wouldn't have…"

"They would have," Willow said. "Xander…you can't help who you love. Even if she knew the risk, Buffy would have slept with him eventually. Yeah, she would have tried to stay away maybe? But…she loved him. Being smart, and sensible? Thinking like, tactically? When you fall in love all that stuff goes out the window. You just…follow your heart."

"Over a cliff…" Willow said, and smiled, and rested her hand on his crotch. "Down your pants…"

"I've been noticing that whenever we have awkward, uncomfortable conversations you always try to distract me with your feminine wiles."

"It's…behind us. It's…it doesn't matter. If we let it…if we let it interfere with us, if we let it get to us…I don't want it to change things. I don't want it to matter anymore. Xander…it only has power over us if, if we let it."

"On the couch?" Xander said, as Willow caressed him over his boxers. "Risky. If they come back down…"

"I love you, baby," Xander said, and took her in his arms, and kissed her. Willow pulled down his boxers, and took his dick in her hand, and stroked it.

Xander tried to lift Willow's sweater. She shook her head, and gently pushed him back against the couch.

Willow cupped his balls in one hand, and stroked his dick with the other. She kissed his neck, and smiled.

"You've been captured behind enemy lines, Specialist," Willow murmured. "I'm interrogating you."

"I'm…gonna reveal everything I know," Xander said. "All the like…classified…information."

"Not yet," Willow said. "I'm gonna need to torture you for awhile longer first." She went on slowly stroking him, caressing his balls with one hand, and his dick with the other, while she kissed his neck.

"You're a brave soldier. You can hold out for awhile. Until I bring out the soft cushions. Once I start poking you with the soft cushions you're gonna fold right up."

"Something soft?" Willow whispered in his ear, and licked it. "Or something hard?"

"I'm planning on escaping," he said, and kissed her. "I'm gonna overpower the guard."

He held both of her hands in one of his, and unbuttoned her blouse. She made a little show of trying to sit up again, but he had her pinned.

"You're gonna have to…do better than that to overpower this guard," Willow whispered. "I've had…combat training."

She tried harder to get up, but she still couldn't move. He had her blouse unbuttoned. He unsnapped her bra. Her breasts were perfectly round and very pale, with big, light pink areolae and large nipples. Her nipples were hard. Xander began kissing them, and released her hands.

"Don't you gotta…make sure I don't escape?" Willow said. "And maybe…you should give me orders."

"Thought I was the one giving the orders," he said, and unzipped her jeans, and started awkwardly pulling them down with one hand. He wasn't making much headway; they were tight.

"Once you come up here, you can give all the orders," Willow said. She was moaning now.

He knelt over her chest. His dick was fully erect and it stuck straight out, inches from her face. It was dark red; his dick always got that color when it was hard. Willow always thought his dick looked angry. She always wanted to kiss it and make it feel better.

She hadn't told him that she had Faith's memories. She wasn't sure she ever would…it would complicate things. She knew he'd always be comparing himself to Buffy…

"First order is, don't move," he said, and released her hands. "Stay like this." She nodded.

He kicked off his shoes, and took off his jeans and his boxers. He took off Willow's sneakers, and wrestled her out of her jeans. He caressed her pussy, over her panties. A shudder went through her, and she opened her legs.

He slowly pulled her panties down, raising her legs in the air as he did it. By the time he slipped them off her feet, both of her legs were over his shoulders.

Her legs were curvy, and creamy white. Her socks were pink with little white hearts.

Her pussy was soaked now. She closed her eyes. She felt flushed…she felt herself becoming hot, all over…

Xander took Willow's hands in his again, and held her down. He rubbed his dick against her clit. She began moaning, and thrusting her hips forward.

Xander gently rubbed Willow's clit with his dick. But he didn't bring himself inside. Willow's moans got louder, and faster.

"I might…escape," Willow murmured. "You should…you should hold my hair too. Make sure…I don't escape."

"You should…hold it tight, like, yank it a little. Hold me in place," Willow murmured.

"I belong to you," Willow whispered, as Xander went on teasing her clit with his dick, and looked down into her eyes…

And Willow remembered Buffy's eyes…eyes that were hard and bright like diamonds, with a terrible light that scared her…that made her wet.

Willow was thrusting her hips out like she was fucking now, but he hadn't entered her yet; he was still teasing her clit. Her blood pulsed through her.

Xander rubbed her clit harder with his dick as he kissed Willow's neck; he was fucking her clit now. Willow wrapped her legs around him, and began to squeal. She felt like she was shaking all over…

Xander kept fucking her clit…Willow felt like a violin. She knew she was about to…

"I wanna…I wanna blow you," Willow whispered, when her breathing calmed down. "I wanna get on my knees and blow you before we do it."

"But actually I think you're onto something there," Xander said. He got up off of her, and Willow got down on her knees in front of him as he sat back on the couch. She knew he was close to coming too, and since she wanted him to fuck her for a good long time it would be better if she finished him off this way first and then saved the actual fucking for the second round. Xander had some beer in him, and whenever he had some beer in him he lasted almost forever the second time; their record was fifty-seven minutes. She wanted to beat that record today.

"If you don't hold me still I could escape," Willow whispered, and took his hand, and brought it to her hair.

"Do you…want me to make you come?" Willow whispered, and looked up into his eyes…and remembered Buffy's…

Willow had given Xander a good number of blowjobs and she knew what he liked; she caressed his balls, and kept her mouth near the top of his dick. He wasn't very sensitive along the shaft, but he loved her mouth toward the top…

"That's…yeah, Will…yeah…God you're good at that, honey," Xander moaned, as Willow sucked his dick.

It didn't take him long to come. After a minute Willow felt it; his dick began to shudder in her mouth, and she tasted his pre-cum on her tongue. He always tasted salty, and a little bitter.

Willow remembered the way Buffy's pussy had tasted…sweet, and tangy. She tried to put the thought out of her mind…

"Yeah, honey…yeah…" Xander whispered, and his threw his head back, and moaned, and came in her mouth.

She'd just started letting him come in her mouth the week before. It was easier than always having to figure out where to aim it and then having to clean up afterwards. She didn't like the taste, so she always swallowed it quickly. It was like taking medicine. Luckily he never came too much; he came in a series of quick spurts, but it all usually added up to a couple of tablespoons. And it always shot straight down her throat, so she didn't have to taste it much on her tongue.

Faith laid with Buffy on the bed, holding her in her arms, and looking down into her eyes.

"You're my girl," Faith said, and caressed Buffy's cheek. "You'll always be my girl. You understand that?"

"I'm gonna help you with this, Buffy," Faith said. "All this stuff. We're gonna get through it together. Me and you. Okay, beautiful?"

"My girl," Faith whispered, and held Buffy close, and kissed her. "Love my girl."

The exercise regimen she had put him on had worked wonders: his tongue was a lot stronger than it used to be…

"I told you I wouldn't let you escape," Xander said, looking up at her from between her legs with that goofy smile he had…

"We'll see, baby," Willow purred, and smiled, with her legs up over his shoulders…

Willow ran her fingers through Xander's hair, as he sucked on her clit, and alternated that with tonguing her pussy.

Willow came, with a little scream this time; she grit her teeth together, and tried to stifle the scream, tried to hold it back. She didn't want to be too loud. If Buffy heard, and came down to see what the noise was…if she saw…

Xander moved on top of Willow, and held her in his arms, and caressed her hair. Willow looked up into his eyes.

"Ready to follow orders, cowgirl?" Xander whispered, as he caressed her hair. Willow felt him, against her; he was hard again.

"The correct response is, 'yes, sir'," Xander said, and moved his dick against her pussy lips.

"I order you to let me have my evil way with you," Xander said, and smiled his goofy smile.

"I'm…gonna try to escape," Willow murmured, as she felt herself parting for him. "Gonna have to…hold me down. Make sure I don't…get away."

Xander took her hand, but she shook her head. She moved his hand to her hair. He took her by the hair, and held her still.

"This…this whole thing…it's…different," Xander said. "You're different today. You never wanted me to like, pull your hair and stuff before."

"Anything for my cowgirl," Xander said. "Uh…drawing the line at whips and chains though."

He moved himself into her. He went in easily; they'd been making love for a month and a half and they fit like a glove now.

"Yeah…feels…perfect, baby," Willow whispered, as she moved in time with him. She moved down the couch a little underneath him, and moved her knees up to her stomach, so she could take all of him, as far as he could go.

Willow nodded, and moaned, and closed her eyes…and pictured him. His eyes…his smile…

Willow sped up, and Xander matched her speed, thrusting harder now, ramming himself into her.

Willow smiled. "Are you…gonna…call me that forever now?" she murmured, between moans. "Is that…like…my new nickname?"

Xander lifted Willow's legs over his shoulders, and leaned forward as he rammed himself into her.

Willow felt her orgasm building…her arms began to shake. She felt like she was about to burst. She looked up into Xander's eyes again.

"It's…not an epileptic fit," Willow whispered, and brought him back down to her lips, and kissed him.

Willow was breathless, gasping and squealing with every thrust now. She felt hot, like she was about to explode…

"I'm gonna…come…" Willow whispered, as her whole body trembled. Xander was shaking now, too. Willow knew he was almost there…

"Come for me, baby," Xander whispered, and hugged her, and held her close, as he filled her up…

"Buffy…" Willow whispered, as she felt her orgasm explode through her…and her tears ran down her cheeks…

Xander came inside her a few seconds later; Willow barely noticed. He grunted, and his body went rigid on top of her, and she felt a shudder move through him. Then he went limp, and she heard his breathing in her ear; it came in quick shallow gasps.

"Oh, God…oh, God…" Willow whispered, and turned her head away from Xander, and buried it in the burgundy throw pillow beside her.

Faith laid with Buffy on the bed, and held her in her arms. Buffy laid curled up in a little ball, resting her head on Faith's bosom.

"Those pics are heavy," Faith said. "They weigh a lot. They weigh so much, I think they're crushing you."

"You didn't try to kill yourself because you were ready to die," Faith said. "You tried to kill yourself because you thought you deserved to die."

"I did. I do. He lost his soul because of me. Those kids are dead because of me. Because a Slayer fell in love with a vampire. Because a Slayer fell down on the job. You were right before…in that alley, what you said to that vampire. It's disgusting. I'm disgusting." Buffy started to cry.

"You were right to be disgusted by me," Buffy said. "I'm…disgusting. I'm disgusting."

"Listen to me!" Faith yelled, and took Buffy by the shoulders. "I'm not disgusted by you. I never was and I never in a million years could be."

"I love you, honey," Faith said. "All I can ever do is love you. Why won't you believe me?"

"I'm right here," Faith said, and hugged her. "Always gonna be right here. Right here loving you."

"Now you listen to me," Faith said. "That word? 'Disgusting'? I don't wanna ever hear you use it again. Got it? That's not the way I feel about you, I could never feel that way about you. I mean it Buffy, I don't want you to ever fucking say that to me again. I love you and you're my whole world and I can never hear that from you again. You understand me?"

"Honey," Faith whispered, and held her close. "I love you. I love you. I love you. You're my girl."

"I love you," Faith whispered, as she held her. "I love you. I love you. Never gonna stop. Never, ever gonna stop. You're my strong, brave, beautiful girl and I'll love you as long as I live."

"You are," Faith whispered. "You are. Do you believe me when I say I love you? Do you believe me honey?"

"But I don't…I don't know why. I don't know why you love me," Buffy said. "Why you love me when I…"

"Because you're strong," Faith said. "Because you're brave. Because you're beautiful. Because you're so beautiful. Because you're mine."

"You gotta move on from here, Buffy," Faith said. "You and me are gonna have to start talkin' this thing out. Okay?"

"So you're a shrink now?" Buffy said. "Yeah Doctor Faith, so my Dad took off and my boyfriend killed lots of people and saving the world sucks. I always wanted a pony. Why can't I have a frigging pony?"

"I'm serious, Buffy. It's the one rule, the one thing I insist on. I love you unconditionally, but you need to let me in if we're gonna be together. You understand me, beautiful? You shut me out on this and we're done. I'll always love you, Buffy, I can't stop, I'm gonna love you forever. But I'll walk out that door right now unless you promise you'll let me be there for you on this."

"Been there," Faith said. "That apartment in L.A., I figure it was a lot like my alley in Boston. When those vamps were after me I gave up. Sat there right where they tossed me, in that pile of garbage, waiting for them to finish me off. Figured I deserved it. Becca snapped me outta that shit, straightened me right the fuck out. She never, ever let me hate myself. She wouldn't tolerate it. Kicked my ass whenever she saw me actin' like that…like, actin' like I thought I was dumb or whatever. Thing is? It had to be Becca. I couldn't have done it myself, I needed help. You do too. Everyone needs help sometimes, honey. I needed help from Becca, now you need help from me. Even Becca needed help once."

"Rebecca doesn't sound like she ever needed help, not the way you and Will talk about her," Buffy said, and smiled.

"Not when she was with me," Faith said. "But she told me once that something real bad happened to her a long time ago, and someone got her out of it. Everyone needs help sometimes, honey. But the first thing, the hardest thing? Is admitting you need help and taking it. Letting someone who loves you take the weight for you. Becca loved me. I love you. You gonna let me help you, Buffy? Gonna let me be your Becca?"

Buffy moved off the bed, and knelt down in front of her. She touched Faith's knees, and moved her hands under her skirt. She started to pull Faith's panties down. Faith took her hands, and stopped her. She held Buffy's hands, and kissed her.

"Buffy. You're strong. When I said you're the strongest person I ever met outside of Becca I wasn't lyin'. But you need help now. And part of being strong is having the strength to let someone else be strong for you. To let me be strong for you. Not just me. Will and Xander and Giles and Joyce too. Ever since I came out here you've been the momma. You've been keeping me safe, protecting me, taking care of me. And I love you for it, honey. But now you gotta let me be the momma for awhile. Because that's what love really is. It's sharing the weight. Those pics weigh too much for you to carry alone. Let me carry them awhile. I won't throw them away, okay? I'll just hold onto them. If you need to look at them I'll let you. But I'm not gonna tell you where I'm keeping them, and I want you to try not looking at them for awhile. Instead of looking at them I want you to talk to me about them instead. Can you do all that?"

"Okay," Faith said, and kissed her. "Okay, beautiful. Okay." Then she picked her up in her arms, and laid her down on the bed.

"Honey…we're gonna get through this," Faith said, and held her hand tight. "What we have? You and me? It's stronger than those pictures. It's stronger than anything in the world."

"You wanna get undressed for me?" Faith said. "Then when I come back we can maybe break some more stuff? Or hey, there's always your old cheerleader outfit."

"When I come back up, I'm gonna show you how much I love you, beautiful," Faith whispered in her ear. "I'm gonna show you exactly how much I love you. I'm gonna take good care of my girl."

Faith kissed Buffy's hand again, picked up the shoe box, and walked out of the room.

They were dressed again now, and sitting on the couch together. Xander was drinking beer. Empty bottles littered the floor in front of the couch. Willow leaned her head on his shoulder, and held his hand.

Xander hadn't heard her, when she'd whispered Buffy's name. Willow thanked the Goddess for that.

"That's what I love about you, sweetie," Willow said, and smiled, and kissed him. "How brave you are."

"Lemme see this Key thing, see what you're so damn interested in," Xander said, and picked up the Key from the coffee table. "You should be totally letting me feel you up and instead this rock's beating my time."

"I love you, Xander," Willow said. "You…you know that right? That I love you?"

"Sure, cowgirl," he said, and smiled his goofy smile. "Fun to hear anyway. "For the record, I love you too."

"I'm gonna need to recharge awhile longer if that's what you're after," he said. "You insatiable vixen."

"Are you using me for my body?" Xander said. "That's perfectly okay with me, by the way. I was just wondering."

"I like you for more than your body," Willow said. "But the body's a nice little throw-in."

"Big," she said. "Humungous. I'm your cowgirl, right? Well, you're hung like a –"

To Faith, the couch smelled like sex, and lots of it. Faith sat down beside Willow. Willow smelled like sex, too. And lots of it.

"Really?" Willow said, her eyes widening. "That's…oh God, that's so awesome! Finally."

"Yeah," Xander said. "He doesn't want to be here when Angel arrives. Says he'll be back tomorrow sometime."

"Okay. I'm holding onto the pics but I promised B I wouldn't throw them away," Faith said. "So look. B's in a bad place, you both know it. But I need you guys to not act all weird around her, okay? She needs to be strong, it's what keeps her going, it's who she is. You gotta keep letting her be strong for you guys. She's willing to let her guard down for me, but just me. So you guys can't be acting different around her, okay? She's still the leader. She's still in charge."

"I'll make sure I keep screwing stuff up," Xander said. "Make sure I get into jams she can get me out of."

"Cool," Faith said. "And don't think I forgot about your training, Xan Man. That's startin' up the second all this shit with those wolf vamps is over." She raised her eyebrow. "Assuming Will doesn't tire you out too much."

"When we start up the training Will can be my cardio workout," Xander said. "Ow," he added, as Willow did something to his leg.

"You two," Faith said, shaking her head. "I'm not sure I'm old enough to be hanging around with you guys. I'm like, young and impressionable."

"Maybe we can teach you some stuff," Willow said. "Don't even think it," she added, pointing at Xander. "Not Katie Holmes either."

"Don't worry hon, you're got me too tired out to think those evil thoughts right now," Xander said. "So Faith, while we have you here, there's something Will and I want to talk to you about. It's…about Buffy."

"This isn't like, we're, y'know, goin' behind Buffy's back or anything," Willow said. "It's just we kinda wanna feel you out on this before Buffy brings it up. Because Buffy's gonna bring it up soon and it's probably better you hear it from us first and things don't get all…um…tense."

"You said you told me everything, Will," Faith said, sitting up and looking intently at her. "Something you left out?"

"No, nothing like that sweetie," Willow said, and patted her hand. Faith relaxed. "It's just, this situation, with the Key and the new vamps and the fact they attacked us right in the open in the Bronze like that…Buffy's gettin' all…"

"She wants our D.O.R.'s," Xander said. "She says there are gonna be tough decisions coming down and sure, she'll talk with us first but ultimately she's gonna be the one who decides."

"It's always sorta been this way," Willow said. "I mean, y'know, Buffy's all the Slayer and everything, we just try to help out a little here and there…"

"Thanks, but…anyway…y'know, Buffy's usually the one who sorta comes up with the plan?" Willow said. "Or at least, like, approves the plan if someone else came up with it and then she says okay, yeah, that's what we'll do. But now she's like, being all official about it."

"No," Xander said. "She says that but this is really all about Angel." He shook his head. "Like every other frigging thing in our lives."

"Yeah, when she decided she's bringing Angel in to help she knew we wouldn't like it but she says it has to be done," Willow said. "And, y'know, she's right about that. But she says there are gonna be lots more hard decisions coming and she wants us all to, y'know, even if we disagree with her? To, um…"

"Fall in line," Xander said. "Look, I'd follow Buffy into hell, okay? She says we get input, she'll hear us out first before she moves, and that's all I need. But we wanted to be sure you wouldn't…take it the wrong way. Like you said, she's in a bad place. Will and I have known for a long time that Buffy's screwed up. So we figure the last thing she needs is to have to fight with you over this."

"How's this work with the G-Man?" Faith said. "You said B's always been like, kinda sorta in charge. What's G-Man think about that?"

"He doesn't love it but it's just how Buffy is," Willow said. "From the first day, like literally, when we all got together and went after our first vampires? Buffy was all like, 'okay, here's what we're gonna do'. Giles helped, and I helped, and Xander helped, and we all kinda brainstormed and came up with the plan together. But Buffy like, approved the plan. You could tell even then that she wasn't gonna do anything that she didn't agree with and if we couldn't all agree on a plan that she liked then she would just go out and do it all herself."

"G-Man sure is different from Becca," Faith said. "Buffy pulled that shit with Becca? Becca would laugh her ass off. Laugh her ass off. She'd think it's cute. For like a second."

"She'd kick Buffy's little butt," Faith said. "Okay, you guys don't have to worry, I got no problem with B bein' in charge."

"Y'know, it's funny," Faith said. "Back before I became the Slayer, when I was just a potential? Becca told me stories about the Slayer…about all the Slayers who came before. And she told me about Buffy, and Kendra. And I got it in my head that the Slayer equaled Buffy. Like, all those other Slayers from before? Or Kendra, who was around at the same time as B? Yeah, I knew they were Slayers but for some reason whenever the word 'Slayer' went through my head I always thought about Buffy. The stories Becca told me? The stuff Buffy did? Buffy was…" Faith looked at them, and grinned. "And by the way, if either of you guys tell Buffy this I'm gonna kick your butts, just so you know."

"Buffy was always my hero," Faith said. "I always hoped that if I ever became the Slayer? I could be like, maybe half the Slayer she is. That's all I hoped for, all I wanted. To be maybe just half the Slayer…half the woman Buffy Summers is. I thought about her a lot. And now that I know her? Now that I love her? She's still my hero. She's my hero even more now."

"Hey, honey," Faith said, and walked back into Buffy's bedroom, and shut the door behind her.

The room was dark. The curtains were drawn. Only the soft glow from the streetlamp outside, stealing in through a gap in the curtains, gave any light.

Buffy lay on her side, with her head propped up on her hand, and a modest little smile. Her other hand covered her breasts. She held her legs together.

She was the most beautiful thing Faith had ever seen. Faith wanted to kiss her feet. She wanted to worship her.

Faith undressed, in the dark. Buffy watched her, and scratched her toenails up and down the bedsheet.

"Thought I was your cub?" Faith said, and smiled, and sat beside Buffy on the bed.

"You gettin' shy on me, beautiful?" Faith whispered, and began to kiss Buffy, starting with her feet. She worked her way up. She took her time.

"No," Buffy said, and turned over onto her back, and let Faith see all of her, when Faith finally reached her lips.

Faith moved on top of her. Buffy hugged her, and brought her close, so their breasts were touching.

"Me?" Buffy said. "I've decided I'm totally straight. In fact, I am totally…" Buffy kissed Faith, and played with her hair.

"…Grossed out…" Buffy whispered, and ran her tongue along Faith's neck, behind her ear, where Faith's scent was strong.

"…By this whole girl on girl thing," Buffy whispered, and moved her hands over Faith's ass, and caressed it.

"Yeah, I can tell you're real uncomfortable with it," Faith said. "I talked with Will and Xander."

"How you're all like sayin' you're in charge. Will and Xander wanted to just give me a heads-up before you told me, they wanted to make sure everything goes smooth between you and me."

"What I've heard is how you try. How you don't give up. How you saved the world. How you died for your friends. No one better to lead than you. Long as I get to throw my two cents in I'm good. I'll follow you anywhere, beautiful."

"Why? Why am I…why should I be in charge?" Buffy said. "Maybe you should be. Maybe Willow should be."

"Look, if you don't wanna take point on this? I'll step up," Faith said, as Buffy pulled her closer. "I can do it. But I know you can do it too. You wanna hang back, let me take the weight? I will, honey. You just let me know what you wanna do. But if you wanna lead? I'll always follow you."

"Is it just because you love me?" Buffy said. "Are you gonna follow me just because I'm your girl?"

Buffy ran her feet up and down the backs of Faith's thighs. Buffy's nipples were hard. Her pussy was wet, too; Faith could smell it.

"I want to take care of you, honey," Faith whispered. "I wanna keep you warm. That's all I wanna do. I need to take care of my girl tonight."

The window was open a crack; the world smelled like a garden. A little breeze came into the room. It was cool, but not cold; it was just right. It kissed their skin, let them feel their blood flowing.

Buffy moved her hair aside, and turned her head, revealing the left side of her neck…and the old bite wound there.

Faith felt Buffy's breath, warm on her cheek. She took in Buffy's scent. She could hear Buffy's heart now, beating fast; she could feel it, against her breasts.

"Make me bleed for you," Buffy whispered, and wrapped her legs around Faith, and caressed the backs of her thighs with her feet. "I wanna bleed for you, baby. I want you to take me."

"Make me bleed," Buffy whispered, and kissed her. She took hold of Faith's tongue with her lips, and sucked on it.

"I just…want to take care of you," Faith whispered, and took Buffy's hand, and kissed it…and then kissed her wrist, where the wound was. "I want to make love to you tonight, honey. I want us to be soft, tonight. We can do that other stuff…another time, okay? Tonight, I just want to take care of my girl."

"You're a lion, baby," Buffy said, and caressed Faith's hair, and licked her neck. "But you've never shown me. I've never seen her. I want to see her. I want to see my lion tonight."

"Buffy…not tonight," Faith whispered, and kissed the wound again. "Another night, okay, beautiful? I promise."

"Tonight," Buffy whispered, and yanked Faith's hair, hard. Faith gasped. "I need it tonight."

"Buffy…" Faith said, and gently pulled Buffy's hand from her hair. "I just…I don't want…"

"I've been…I've been bad, right?" Buffy said, and smiled. "I'm a bad girl, remember? You gotta…you gotta punish me."

Buffy yanked Faith's hair again. Faith grunted, and showed Buffy her teeth for a second, this time.

"Buffy!" Faith shouted, and grabbed her hand. "What are you doing? Honey…what is this?"

Buffy kissed her. She tore into Faith's mouth, jamming her tongue down her throat. As the kiss ended, Buffy bit down on Faith's lip, and yanked her hair again, harder. Faith snarled, this time.

"Make me," Buffy hissed, and yanked Faith's hair again, as hard as she could without pulling it out of her head.

Faith grabbed Buffy's hands, and roared in Buffy's face. She slammed Buffy's hands back to the bed, pinning them.

She roared in Buffy's face again, even louder, and showed her all her teeth, and looked down into her eyes…

Faith's brown eyes had a light in them now, that Buffy had never seen before. It was a golden light…Faith's eyes were two pinpoints of gold.

Still growling, Faith moved her nose to Buffy's neck, where the wound was, and sniffed at it.

Faith took both of Buffy's hands in one of hers, and pinned them over Buffy's head. She looked down into Buffy's eyes again as she did it, and growled.

Faith grabbed Buffy's long, blonde hair in her other hand, looping it around her fist, like a rope. She held it tight, held Buffy in place.

Faith lunged for Buffy's neck, roaring again. Buffy gasped, and winced, and felt her heart beat faster.

Faith bit down on Buffy's neck…slowly, gently. Buffy wrapped her legs tight around Faith, and moaned.

Buffy whimpered, as Faith's teeth penetrated her like razors, and Faith began taking her blood, and swallowing it. Faith snarled, and held her in place.

Faith began thrusting into Buffy, ramming her body against her, grinding their pussies together. Buffy was drenched. Faith was wet now, too; Buffy smelled it, and she felt it. Faith's pussy was warm and slippery against her.

As Buffy felt her blood, steadily coursing out of her and entering Faith, a warmth suffused her; it was an enervating, numb feeling that spread through her body, and made her want to sleep. Faith's grip on her arms and her hair had softened now, as Buffy didn't struggle. Faith was still snarling, but Buffy thought there was a different quality to it, now. Buffy understood it…she understood what Faith was saying. The snarl had been angry before, when Buffy was fighting her. Now that Buffy had surrendered, and given herself to Faith, the snarl was different. The snarl said Buffy belonged to her. It said Faith would always take care of her, now that Buffy was hers…

Faith was moving faster now, as she rammed into her; Buffy spread her legs as wide as she could, and sped up her own motion to keep time as Faith fucked her. Faith moved up a little higher, and rubbed her pussy against Buffy's clit. Buffy began squealing. She knew she was going to come soon.

Buffy smelled Faith's musky peach scent all around her. The muscles in Faith's legs were hard as steel beneath Buffy's feet, but her skin was soft.

Faith was taking more blood than Buffy had taken. Buffy felt weak. She could feel all her energy, leaving her, entering Faith…

"Punish me," Buffy whispered, and started to cry. "Take it…take it all. Take it all, baby. I need to be punished."

And Faith growled, a satisfied growl, as she took Buffy's blood, and fucked her…

Buffy came. It was a different kind of orgasm; it was a warmth, that filled her up, permeated her…and when Buffy was finally full, when that warmth had finally found every part of her, she felt a shudder move through her, slowly; like a blanket being pulled up over her, like a caress. She screamed, and thrashed around beneath Faith, but Faith held her still…

Buffy cried, and whimpered, and felt her heart beating so fast she thought it would explode out of her chest…

Buffy closed her eyes, held them shut tight, as Faith took her blood…as Buffy felt her life, flowing out of her…and her tears, flowing down her cheeks…

Buffy gasped, and opened her eyes. She tried to get her breathing back under control.

Faith was still holding her hands, pinning her to the bed. Buffy realized her hands hurt, now. She hadn't noticed before. But Faith was caressing her hair.

When Faith had finished, she moved away from Buffy's neck, and released Buffy's hands.

Faith's mouth was covered with blood. Faith's eyes were golden. They stabbed down into Buffy…penetrated her…

Faith's voice sounded different, now. It was softer, but more forceful at the same time; every word hung in the air and lingered. It touched a place deep inside Buffy, when she heard it; she felt herself respond to it instinctively, physically, as if her body was an instrument being played. She thrilled to it. Faith's voice was like a sudden, unexpected caress.

Faith's voice sounded like fire crackling. It sounded like stealthy footfalls in the tall grass.

"I love you," Buffy said, with tears on her cheeks. "I love you so much, Faith. I love you more than anything in the world, baby."

Faith smiled. She showed Buffy her teeth. Her teeth were stained red with Buffy's blood.

"Buffy Summers," Faith said, still laughing. "The great Buffy Summers. My girl. You really do think the whole fucking world revolves around you, don't you? And y'know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe the whole world really does revolve around you, beautiful. Mine does, anyway."

Blood stained Faith's lips, and her chin, and her teeth. She smiled again. Faith's bloody smile was beautiful, and hideous. Buffy wanted to look away, but she couldn't…

"You're the most beautiful girl in the world," Faith said. "The most beautiful girl that's ever walked on God's fucking earth. And you know it, don't you? Yup, you know you're all that…you know you're the great Buffy Summers. Saved the world, a few times now, and did it with style. And, the rest of us? Me, Will, Xander, all of us? We're just part of your life's great play, aren't we? Just supporting actors, on your fucking stage. We're all just part of the epic story of Buffy Summers."

"You talk too much, B," Faith said. "Always makin' with the speeches. Only one that gets to make speeches to me is Becca. You're not her."

Faith kissed her. Buffy tasted her own blood. It was warm, and it had a sweet taste, and it was a little bit salty at the same time.

They kissed, until the blood was gone…they shared it, took it inside themselves.

When Buffy was done, Faith straddled Buffy's chest again, and looked down at her, and smiled.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I love you. I don't…I don't think everything revolves around me."

"Sure you do, girlfriend," Faith said. "And why shouldn't it? You're Buffy. You're beautiful, you're strong, you're smart…well…not that smart. Sometimes you can be a little clueless. Like, for instance? Now."

Faith grabbed Buffy's hair, and yanked it so hard Buffy screamed, and tears came to her eyes.

"You thought you could control this, huh beautiful?" Faith snarled. "The way you control everything else. Thought like, you could be in charge even when you were playin' at not bein' in charge. I mean, you know the world revolves around you, right? So then you figure, why should this be any different? I'm the great Buffy Summers! I'll be on top, even when I'm on the bottom."

"I'm your lion, huh?" Faith snarled, as she looked down into Buffy's eyes, and held her still. "So I guess you figure I'm like…your pet lion. Your lion on a leash. That it? That what I am?"

Buffy's scent changed…she was becoming afraid now. Faith could smell it on her…

"No, baby…I love you, I love you!" Buffy whimpered, and started sobbing. "You're strong, and…and a lion and…so beautiful and…I love you."

Faith let Buffy's hair go, and caressed her cheek. She looked down into her eyes.

"I love you too," Faith said. "You're my girl, Buffy. You always will be. Okay, beautiful?"

They stayed like that, for awhile. Faith kissed Buffy's tears, until they were gone.

"But tonight, I'm gonna hurt you," Faith whispered. "Tonight, for the first time in your life? You're not gonna be in control."

Faith looked down into Buffy's eyes again. Faith's eyes still held Buffy, transfixed.

"I'm pissed at you," Faith said, and caressed Buffy's hair. "Been pissed at you for awhile. That doesn't change anything. It doesn't change how I love you. But there's a lot of stuff…stuff we gotta talk out, before Angel gets here. We're gonna play Confessions again. I know I love you more than anything in the world. But by the time we're done tonight? I'm gonna know how much you love me. I'm gonna fuckin' know, Buffy."

"I love you more than anything in the world," Buffy said. "More than anyone. You're all that's in my heart."

"Will's downstairs, Angel's comin' over tonight. Seems to me your heart's pretty crowded, B. You sure there's enough room in there for me?"

"It's all for you, baby," Buffy said, and reached out, to touch Faith's cheek. "My heart's all for you."

Faith took her hand, and held her arm, straight up in the air. She moved herself closer to Buffy's face, and smiled.

"I meant it when I said there's never been anyone as beautiful as you," Faith said, and took Buffy's other hand, and held it straight up, and smiled down at her. "But, looking at your pretty face now? I think it could use a little something. You wanna look perfect for when your boyfriend gets here, right?"

"I think your face needs to be all sticky," Faith said. "I'm gonna grind my lil' kitty all over your face, and you're gonna make me come, so you can look pretty for when Angel gets here. Okay, honey?"

"When Mr. Hottie gets here he's gonna smell my kitty all over you," Faith said. "Isn't he, honey?"

Faith held Buffy's arms up in the air over her head with one hand. She held her still.

She lowered herself to Buffy's lips, and began fucking her face. She held Buffy's arms like reins, and rode her like a horse.

Faith's pussy was slick and sticky on Buffy's lips, and her taste was strong and sweet. Buffy tried to keep up, as Faith rode her face faster and faster, nearly smothering her. Whenever Buffy had a hard time breathing Faith sat up a little, to allow her to catch her breath, but then a few seconds later her pussy would be right back in Buffy's face, grinding against her…

"Don't close your fucking eyes," Faith growled. "Look up at me while I'm fucking you."

Buffy opened her eyes and looked up at Faith, and ate her pussy as best she could, but Faith was riding her face so hard and so fast now that Buffy couldn't keep up with her…

"Get that fucking tongue up there," Faith growled. "I know you can do better than that."

Buffy stuck her tongue up Faith's pussy as far as it could go. Faith threw her head back, and moaned.

Faith rode Buffy's face, and looked down into her eyes. Buffy didn't look away. She couldn't…

"My kitty's greased lightning, honey," Faith said, and smiled, as she started riding Buffy even harder. "Go greased lightning, go." Faith giggled.

Buffy squirmed underneath her, trying to breathe. Faith's pussy was warm and wet, and its musky peach scent filled Buffy's nostrils. Faith's pussy scent, and her lion's smile, and her dark eyes, with their golden light…those were the only things that existed now; they were Buffy's whole world.

Faith began caressing Buffy's pussy with the index finger of her left hand. Buffy began to moan, the sweet sounds muffled beneath Faith's pussy.

"Shoulda shaved, huh honey?" Faith said, and giggled. "You're gonna get rug burn. From now on I'll keep it all smooth for you down there for when I ride your face. Okay, honey?"

Buffy moaned. She was arching her hips now, as Faith expertly stroked her pussy. Faith could make Buffy come with one finger; she'd done it before. Buffy thought she just did it to show off…

She was doing it now. She stroked Buffy's pussy, and her clit, using only her index finger, as she rode Buffy's face.

Buffy began scratching her toenails up and down the bedsheet, tearing it to shreds. She gasped and squealed and squirmed around beneath Faith's pussy, as Faith rode her…

Buffy nodded, and felt herself beginning to tremble, felt her body becoming hot, all over…felt her nerves tingling, her blood surging through her…

"You're gonna come because you just love my lil' kitty jammed in your face, huh?" Faith said, and smiled, showing Buffy her teeth.

Buffy came; it felt like her whole body exploded. She shrieked, beneath Faith's pussy, and threw her arms forward and kicked her legs out. Faith held on, but she was nearly thrown.

Faith laughed, and bounced up and down on Buffy's face. Her pussy smacked into Buffy's mouth.

"Damn, pardner, I'm thinkin' this filly ain't broken in yet," Faith said, in her best stab at a Western accent. "Reckon we're gonna have to ride her 'round the barn a few more times, boys."

"Go Greased Lightning, you're burning up the quarter mile," Faith sang, thrusting her hips forward and grinding her pussy against Buffy's face in perfect time to the song. "Greased lightning, go Greased Lightning…"

"With new pistons, plugs, and shocks I can get off my rocks…you know that I ain't braggin' she's a real pussy wagon, Greased lightning," Faith sang, and fucked Buffy's face to the words…

"Oh God, honey!" Faith suddenly squealed, and came. She screamed, and her legs shook. She rammed her quivering pussy against Buffy's face as her orgasm quaked through her, and she held it there; Buffy wasn't getting any air now. She squirmed beneath Faith's pussy, and Faith lifted herself up a little, so Buffy could take a breath.

Buffy's face was red, and sticky with Faith's pussy juice. She was breathing hard, dragging in air. So was Faith.

"You do know how to eat pussy, girlfriend," Faith said. "God damn that was good. I just loved dancing all over your pretty face, honey."

Faith leaned down, and kissed her. But she still held Buffy's arms in the air over her head.

"I'm gonna dance on your face again now, okay honey?" Faith said. "Are you gonna be a good girl and make me come again?"

Buffy blushed. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't…Faith's eyes held her…and Faith's voice caressed her…

"You can tell me, honey," Faith said, softly, and kissed her. "Know the answer anyway. Tell me the truth now, don't you lie to me. Because, lyin'? Girls who lie are bad girls. And bad girls get punished. You're gonna find out about that later. But right now, tell me. It got you off, me riding your face. Didn't it?"

"Not just because you love my lil' kitty either," Faith said. "You liked being under me. You liked being held down. You liked not being in control."

"That's good," Faith said, and smiled, and sat up, and lowered her pussy to Buffy's lips again. "Because I'm not done riding that pretty face. Now get that tongue back up there."

Buffy stuck her tongue up Faith's pussy again, as far as it could go, and started fucking her with it.

"Good girl," Faith murmured, and looked down at her, as she began to move her pussy up and down Buffy's lips. "Good girl."

Faith was moving slower, this time; she was gentle. She didn't crush her pussy against Buffy's face. Buffy was able to keep up, and she had room to breathe. She kissed and licked Faith's pussy, and Faith gently rode her, looking down at her with golden eyes that never blinked, never wavered.

"I'm gonna be a good girl," Buffy whispered, and licked Faith's pussy, and luxuriated in Faith's scent.

"I'm gonna make you come too, okay beautiful?" Faith said, and held up her left index finger. "I always take care of my girl."

Buffy nodded, and then immediately started to moan, as Faith began caressing her pussy with her finger.

"That's my girl," Faith whispered, as she looked down into Buffy's eyes, and expertly stroked her pussy, and rode her face, moving slow. "That's my girl."

"Damn," Faith said, a little while later. "Didn't think anything could beat Greased Lightning. But your little pussy wagon came faster, honey."

"It's that frigging finger of yours," Buffy said, and giggled. "I want a rematch."

They laid on the bed together, and Faith held Buffy in her arms, and kissed her, all over her face.

"You don' have to kiss it off," Buffy whispered. "I don't mind. I don't mind…having your scent on me."

"And I don't mind kissing you, beautiful," Faith whispered, as she covered Buffy's face with soft kisses. "Besides, my pussy scent's practically all the way down into your pores now, the way I rode you. I want Angel to smell me on you, but I don't need Will and Xander smelling it. Uh, especially not Xander."

"Greased Lightning," Buffy said, and giggled. "Even when you're making me your bitch you're a goof. I love you, baby."

"And I want you to remember that, keep it right next to your heart tonight, okay?" Faith said. "Remember that I love you. Because tonight's gonna be rough, honey. We got a lot of stuff to sort out, you and me."

"How come…you didn't mention it before?" Buffy said. "That we have stuff to sort out? I thought…we sorted stuff out in the motel room yesterday."

"I was kinda holding some stuff in before. But I'm sick of holding stuff in. Plus, after all the stuff Will just told me…figure today's a good day just to clear the air, start fresh…see where we stand."

"I'm pissed at you, Buffy," Faith said. "But that doesn't mean I don't love you. I still love you just as much as ever. I'll always love you, no matter what…but I'm pissed at you. And I don't like the feeling. So one way or another, we're gonna work this shit out tonight. Okay, beautiful?"

"Okay," Buffy said. "So you…really think that…I think the world revolves around me?"

"Yeah," Faith said. "I don't mean it in a bad way. I'm not saying you're like, full of yourself. Just…being the Slayer kinda screwed you up. I mean, you really are separate from everyone else. You save the world and you got responsibilities regular people can't imagine. Yeah, Will and Xander and Giles are right there with you but at the end of the day it's still really on your shoulders. You never liked it but you accepted it, got used to it eventually. And now it's just kinda who you are. You're Buffy and you save the world and you know it, you know you're really important. And you gotta think about life and death all the time, you gotta think like a general because you're in a war. You gotta lead all the time. It screwed you up. It changed you."

"Worst part was, no one could understand," Faith said. "No one could understand how hard it was, being you. Will and Xander, you talk to them but they still can't really understand. You always felt alone. You were alone out there, like the sun in the sky, honey. So you thought everything revolved around you."

"But you know what, beautiful?" Faith said. "You're not alone anymore. Now you got me. And of all the people in the world? I'm the one who can understand. I know how it feels, that weight you got on your shoulders. I know how heavy it is. How if you screw up someone might die. I know what it's like to feel like you're a hunter, and the world is your jungle. Will and Xander and Giles, they don't see the world the way we do; they can't. They don't understand the world the way we do. You and I are clued in to the big secret but they aren't, they can't ever be. You and I know the world is divided up into predators and prey, and we're the predators. You and I know blood tastes sweet, and fear smells sweet. You and I know life is about strength and weakness, and blood and fucking, and love and hate. Nothing else matters worth a damn."

"I love you too," Faith said. "We're meant to be, Buffy. The world brought us together because we're meant to be together. Yeah, we both have other people we've cared about? But no one else can ever love you the way I do. And no one else can ever love me the way you do."

"I'm gonna love you forever," Buffy said. "So…you said you were pissed at me before. How come?"

Faith grabbed Buffy by the hair, yanking it hard. Buffy whimpered, and tears came into her eyes again.

Faith yanked her hair again. Buffy screamed this time. Faith looked into Buffy's eyes, and brought Buffy to her lips, and kissed her, as tears rolled down Buffy's cheeks.

Buffy crawled off of the bed, as Faith held her hair like a leash. Faith sat on the edge of the bed, and Buffy knelt in front of her.

"You're a perceptive girl, how about you try to guess why I'm pissed at you," Faith said. "While you're kissing my feet."

Buffy took Faith's left foot in her hand, and began kissing it, as Faith looked down into her eyes.

"Because…I was with Angel," Buffy said, and kissed Faith's foot. "Because it was…wrong. He lost his soul, and…"

"Because…I lied. I lied about Angel…went to see him, without telling you. It was cheating. I cheated on you."

"Bingo. So you said you wanted me to hurt you, punish you. How come? Got something else you want to tell me?"

"What did I say before?" Faith whispered. "Remember? That I love you. That you're my girl. That you always will be. Okay, honey?"

"She…sometimes she gets confused, and…thinks she's you," Buffy said, and leaned her head against Faith's shoulder, as Faith stroked her hair. "And…last night…when she told me she got your memories…we were talking in the kitchen about it, and…she got confused. She…thought she was in love with me, the way you are. She…she wanted me. In bed."

"She wanted to tell you," Buffy said. "But I told her I had to be the one to tell you."

"Is it because…you love her more than me?" Faith whispered. "Is that…is that why you kissed her?"

"No," Buffy said. "I loved her first. And I still love her. But I love you more. You're the one I want to spend my life with."

"She was…confused," Buffy said. "She wanted me, the way you do. I knew it was gonna be a problem…a constant problem. I thought…I needed to scare her. I needed to show her that this wasn't her. And I needed to show her that she could hurt us, hurt all of us, if she didn't stop…if she didn't find herself again."

"I carried her into the living room. I got undressed, and I told her to get undressed too. Then I laid down on the couch with her, and hugged her, and talked to her."

"I needed to scare her," Buffy said. "To do that…I had to offer it to her. I couldn't fake it, couldn't pretend. It had to be real. I needed to make her understand that she could destroy everything…her and Xander, you and me…so I told her I'd make love to her, if she wanted me to."

"But I told her I wouldn't lie about it," Buffy said. "That I'd tell you, and you'd…you'd leave me. And if she didn't tell Xander, I said I'd tell him, and he would leave her. I asked her if that's what she wanted, for me to cheat on you, and for her to cheat on Xander. I asked her to decide what she wanted…who she loved. I told her all our lives were in her hands. And they were. Last night, they were."

"Will found her way back," Buffy said. "When I asked who she loved…she said Xander. And she found her way back to herself. The kiss…it was…a way for her to sort of let it all go…to let me go. It was just one kiss…a goodbye kiss."

"Willow told me about Tara," Buffy said. "She sounds nice. Sounds like…someone who wouldn't lie to you, or kiss other girls."

"I'm not leaving you for Tara," Faith said. "I care about her. But you're my girl, not her."

"Because that's how it is," Faith said, and held her tight. "How it's meant to be. Might as well ask why the sun comes up in the morning."

Her eyes were still two golden points of light. They still held Buffy, transfixed.

The room, the whole world, was silent. There was no one else in the world, anymore…Willow, Tara, Angel, they didn't exist. The world, for this moment, was just for them.

Faith kissed Buffy's tears, and took her hands, and kissed the wounds on her wrists. Buffy curled up against Faith's breasts, and held onto her as tight as she could. Faith was warm. Buffy had never felt so warm, before.

They were quiet. They took in each other's scents, and listened to each other breathe…felt each other's hearts beating. Talking didn't seem right, somehow. There weren't any words, for that moment. Words would have changed it, made it less than it was; by defining the moment, by naming it, the words would have stolen its magic away. It was just for them.

They stayed that way, for a long time. Faith held Buffy in her arms, and kissed her. Buffy curled up against Faith's breasts, and Faith rocked her.

"Wouldn't have left even if something did happen with Will," Faith said. "Long as you don't lie to me, I'm staying. I'm staying as long as you'll have me."

"The night you offered to let me stay, and I said no, and we fought? I met Tara that night, and stayed over her house. On the couch. I kissed her the next morning. I thought…you didn't love me. Thought you loved Will, and maybe Angel too. Didn't think there was room for me."

"Tara didn't make the first move. She wasn't like, tryin' to scoop me up. I started it. I wanted it…and if Tara had said yes when I wanted more…maybe you and me wouldn't be here right now. But Tara cares about me. She wants good stuff for me. I told her everything. About Becca, and you, and Will and Xander and Giles…about how I'm a Slayer, everything. And she made me promise to try to get it together with you guys one more time first, because she could tell I love you. So…I tried to stop being…so in my own head all the time. I hung out with Will last week, and it was good. And then came the night with the wolf vamps…and me and you in my motel the next day…and you know the rest."

"Tara sounds awesome. I had Will try to bring her here for the party, but she wasn't home."

"Don't want her here right now. With these new vamps, we've got a target on our backs. She hangs with us right now, she could get hurt. Will and Xander and Giles know the score, but Tara doesn't. I don't want her hurt."

"The night we fought…when I wouldn't stay at your place, and you told me maybe I should go back to Boston," Faith said. "I thought…you didn't love me. I thought we were done. I went up to the top of the lighthouse on Kingman's Bluff. I was gonna jump."

"Tara was there," Faith said. "She saved me…talked me down. Actually she just kinda grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. Girl's got a strong grip. She took me back to her place and we hung out, played video games, smoked a few joints. She cooked for me. I slept on the couch. I hung out with her most of last week."

"Oh God, baby…" Buffy said, as she cried. "Oh, God…what did I do? What did I do?! What did I DO?! To ALL of you?!"

"You tell me," Faith said, and let go of her, and stood up, and walked to the window. "What do you think you did?"

"Oh God, oh no, oh no…" Buffy said, holding her head in her hands, and shaking it back and forth.

"How about I get the ball rollin' for you, like, give you a recap of recent events," Faith said. "Then you can decide what you did. So. Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer…"

"You dated a vampire," Faith said. "Sure, you didn't know he'd go bad, but you sure knew he used to be bad. You knew he killed thousands of people. You knew he raped girls. Didn't stop you from riding his knob though."

Buffy wasn't looking at her. She was looking down at the floor, and holding her head in her hands, and shaking.

"And you showed your boyfriend such a good time that he lost his soul," Faith said. "Ooops. Angelus killed those eighteen little girls. He killed Giles' lady. Did it real sick, too. Then he kidnapped Will, made her remember being raped every day and living in a fucking closet. Will has to live with that now, but not just Will. Xander has to live with it too. Even worse, Xander doesn't know it all, he only thinks Angelus said stuff to Will, he doesn't know Angelus made Dru give her those memories. And we can't ever tell Xander about it because if we do we lose him and Will. So now we all have to fucking lie to Xander like, forever. To top it all off, once Angel got back from the hell dimension, you went behind my back to be with him. And I almost killed myself over it. All caught up now?"

"So we're back to the question," Faith said. "What did you do to us? Look at me."

"I almost got you all killed," Buffy said. "I hurt you all. I betrayed you all. Jenny's dead, and Will…she…was raped and…you…"

"That why you wanted me to punish you tonight?" Faith said. "That why you think you're bad?"

Then she wiped her tears away, and slowly laid herself across Faith's knees. Faith held Buffy's hands behind her back.

Faith spanked her ass, hard. The smack reverberated through the room; it sounded like a firecracker. Buffy gasped.

Smack! Faith spanked Buffy's ass again, harder. Buffy whimpered, this time. Tears fell down her cheeks again.

"Hear that?" Faith said. "Damn, B, the sound of your pretty little ass being spanked sure does carry, huh? They're gonna hear this all the way downstairs."

Smack! Faith spanked Buffy's ass again. Buffy grit her teeth, and whimpered through them.

Buffy's ass was red now; Faith wasn't going easy on her. Faith caressed Buffy's ass, and noticed that Buffy's pussy was wet.

Smack! Buffy screamed, and shuddered, as Faith's hand came down on her ass like a hammer.

"I think you do," Faith said. "I think you want Will to see you like this. I think maybe I'll call her in here. I mean, you like being naked with her, right?"

Buffy shook her head. Her breathing came in quick shallow gasps. She quivered, as Faith caressed her ass, and she waited for the hammer to fall again.

"First you go on a couple of dates with Angel, then you're gettin' naked with Will," Faith said. "Shit, if that's wantin' to be with me, I wonder how the hell you'd act if you didn't want to be with me? What, would you go out and shoot a fucking porno?"

"Sure, you wanted to scare her straight," Faith said. "Kinda literally, right? But you wanted to be naked with her too, didn't you?"

Smack! SMACK! Buffy screamed again, as Faith spanked her ass twice in succession, once for each cheek, even harder than she had before.

"Don't you fucking lie to me," Faith said. "You wanted to be naked with her, didn't you? Yeah, you didn't want to cheat on me, but being able to get naked with Will while telling yourself it was all about helping her…that was just too good an opportunity to pass up, right?"

"Think you better answer me before your ass falls off," Faith said. "You're lookin' like a tomato now."

"I…I…liked it but…I don't…it won't…ever happen again, baby," Buffy whimpered. "Not ever again."

"Been sayin' that a lot," Faith said. "Way I figure it, words don't count for shit. What matters is how we act."

Faith noticed Buffy's pussy was so wet it was dripping down her leg now. She caressed Buffy's ass, as Buffy shook, and cried. Buffy flinched, when Faith's hand touched her ass; she was wondering when the hammer would fall again.

"We can say we love each other," Faith said. "And it's nice. But it doesn't count for shit, Buffy. What counts is proving it."

"And you did," Faith said, and kissed her cheek. "You've been proving you love me for awhile now. I was just too wrapped up in myself to see."

"You never gave up on me," Faith said. "Even when I was all stubborn, and I gave you every reason to. You brought me food, because you loved me…because you couldn't handle thinking about me being hungry. You kept me warm, when I was cold. The night I didn't want to stay here with you, and you got fed up with how I was always blowing you guys off, and you told me maybe I should go back to Boston, the next day you snuck into my motel room and brought me more food anyway. You always take care of me."

"Because I love you baby," Buffy whispered. "I just…want to be with you. I don't want anyone else. I'll always take care of you."

"I know," Faith said. "I know, honey. Now, back to the question. What did you do to us? Wanna know the answer?"

"No, you don't. The answer is, you didn't do anything to us," Faith said. "Angelus did stuff to Will and Giles and Xander. He did stuff to you. Yeah, you went behind my back seeing Angel, but I'm the one who gave up on me that night when I wanted to kill myself, not you."

Faith turned Buffy over in her lap, and kissed her. She lifted her up in her arms, and laid her on the bed, and laid down next to her.

"You're my girl," Faith said. "I say it a lot. But I'll always prove it, too. I'll never leave you, Buffy. As long as you don't lie to me? I won't ever leave you. I'll stay as long as you'll have me. Okay, beautiful?"

"No matter what you do, no matter what happens, you can tell me," Faith said. "You won't lose me. Yeah, maybe I'll get pissed. But you won't lose me. But we have to be honest with each other, Buffy. You can tell me you love me more than you love Willow, and I believe you. But you have to prove it, too."

"I will," Buffy said, and kissed Faith's breasts. "I'm gonna prove it for the rest of my life. I'm your girl. No one else's."

Smack! Faith leaned over and spanked Buffy's ass again. Buffy whimpered, and tears filled her eyes.

She went to the bureau, pulled out a nightgown, threw it on, and walked out of the room.

"Noticed this in your medicine cabinet before," Faith said, and took her nightgown back off. "Says it's good for sore skin."

Faith laid down next to Buffy again, turned her over onto her stomach, and curled up beside her. She kissed Buffy's neck, and squeezed some of the ointment from the bottle into her hand, and began gently massaging it over Buffy's butt.

The ointment felt cool on Buffy's skin; it felt good. Buffy liked the way it smelled, too; it smelled like aloe.

"You liked it, huh?" Faith said. "You liked being spanked. Your pretty little pussy's all wet, honey."

"No," Faith said. "You're my girl. It's all you are. You're not anything else. Okay, beautiful?"

Buffy nodded. Faith squeezed more of the ointment into her hand, and massaged it into Buffy's butt.

"From now on?" Faith said. "I'm gonna spank your bum when you're a bad girl. Okay, honey?"

"Okay," Buffy said, and smiled…and blushed again. She hid her face in the pillow.

Faith kissed her cheek, and turned her onto her side, so she could see her face. She looked down into her eyes.

"I know you liked it," Faith said. "So we'll do it sometimes. But if you ever lie to me again? Then I'll spank you so you don't like it. You understand?"

"Because you were reckless…you were careless…with us," Faith said. "Our thing? It's beautiful, and it's stronger than anything in the world. But at the beginning, it was real fragile, honey. And you were careless with it."

"I'm sorry," Buffy whispered. "I won't…I won't ever do anything like that again."

"Already forgave you in the motel room yesterday. But I was still pissed. You thought you could like, juggle me and Angel, but you almost dropped you and me, honey. You and me, we almost smashed to pieces. Those lies, they had me thinking our thing didn't matter to you."

"It matters," Buffy whispered, and looked up at Faith, with tears in her eyes. "It matters more than anything else, baby. More than anything else."

"No clean slate," Buffy said. "What I did was wrong, and I can't pretend it didn't happen. I can't…can't pretend…"

"You almost…you almost died, baby," Buffy whispered, and cried. "My baby almost died. My baby almost died because of me."

"We got that part down. Now let's concentrate on living for each other, okay, honey?" Faith said.

Faith held Buffy in her arms for awhile, and whispered things in her ear. She whispered that she'd always love her. That she'd never leave her…that she'd always protect her. Buffy nodded, and rested her head against Faith's breasts.

"Kinda gettin' horny again, beautiful," Faith said, after awhile. "I need you again, one more time before he gets here."

"Nah," Faith said, and got up. "This time you're the one who's gonna be takin' a ride."

Faith moved to the bureau, and pulled the dildo out of the bottom drawer, and put it on. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"We were only together like that for one day," Buffy said. "We…had sex, but…I didn't do that."

"It's okay," Buffy said, and smiled. "I'm your girl. So you get to ask about anything you want."

"It's just…I get jealous," Faith said. "Jealous when I think of you with anyone else."

"Because I belong to you. And I'll never be with anyone else again," Buffy said, and kissed the dildo. "Not ever again, baby."

Buffy took the dildo in her mouth, and awkwardly started sucking it. She looked up into Faith's eyes while she did it.

"Um…I give a bad blowjob, don't I?" Buffy said, and grinned. "I like, totally suck at sucking."

"Your technique, uh, leaves a little something to be desired," Faith said. "If I was a guy I'd be all sad right now. Plus I'd probably be like, 'Ow'."

"But I'm not a guy," Faith said, and kissed her. "And my girl? She takes care of my lil' kitty just right."

"I wanna take care of it now," Buffy whispered. "I wanna kiss your pussy again, baby. Do you wanna be on top of me again? We can do it that way if you want. We can do it that way all the time if you want."

"You're my gay girl, huh, honey?" Faith whispered, and kissed Buffy, and began sucking on her tongue.

"I'm gonna be petty again," Faith said. "You didn't blow him, but you had his dick in you, and you liked it. So you're gonna have my dick in you tonight."

"Listen, honey," Faith said, and kissed her. "I know you're nervous. I know you're nervous that like, maybe you won't come for me, when we do this. But it's okay. I know you wanna come for me, and you do come for me honey, you come when I kiss you there, or when my finger's there. So if you can't come when I fuck you this way, it's okay. But don't you try to fake it. Faking it is just a kind of lie. If you try to fake it I'll spank your bum. You understand?"

Buffy opened her legs, and Faith positioned herself against Buffy's pussy lips. They were wet.

Buffy was wet, but she was tight; it took awhile. Faith fucked her slowly at first, only using the tip of the dildo.

Faith kissed Buffy's neck, and held her in her arms, and went slow. Buffy breathed, faster now, in Faith's ear, and ran her hands down Faith's back, and caressed her ass.

Buffy's pussy was gradually adjusting to the thickness of the dildo; Faith was able to move another inch into her. Buffy moaned, and moved her legs back, toward her chest. Faith leaned into her, and took Buffy's legs over her shoulders, and knelt on the bed as she fucked her. She was able to get the dildo in halfway now, and Buffy's moans came faster.

Buffy was scrunched up into a little ball, now, and Faith was able to concentrate on moving against her clit. Buffy held onto Faith's ass as Faith fucked her, and her moans were soft and steady.

"Get it nice and wet, okay beautiful?" Faith whispered. She thrust herself the rest of the way into Buffy now. Buffy closed her eyes, and moaned.

"Good girl," Faith said, and took her finger out of Buffy's mouth. At the same time, she gently pulled out of her.

Buffy got up onto her knees, bent over, and stuck her ass up in the air. Faith entered her from behind. The dildo went right in this time. Buffy's moans got louder.

Faith was pretty sure she could make Buffy come this way, but there was something she wanted to try. She wanted to test a theory.

She caressed Buffy's ass with her index finger, moving it gently back and forth across the tiny opening. The opening was very small, about the size of a penny. It looked like a little pink star.

"Baby…" Buffy whispered, and rammed her ass back hard against the dildo, and against Faith's finger. Faith wasn't moving now, wasn't using her hips at all; Buffy was doing the fucking for both of them.

Faith slipped the tip of her long finger into Buffy's ass. Buffy's moans became screams, and she fucked the dildo, and Faith's finger, even harder.

Faith slipped her finger the rest of the way up Buffy's ass. Her finger was wet from Buffy's mouth, and it went in easily enough; but Faith still went slow, to be sure not to hurt her. Buffy screamed anyway, but Faith knew it wasn't because she was in pain.

Faith gently pulled the dildo out of Buffy's pussy, and fucked Buffy's ass with her finger instead. She held her finger straight out in front of her, and Buffy backed up into it, screaming with every thrust.

"Good girl," Faith said, and began caressing Buffy's clit with her other hand. "That's a good girl. Fuck my finger now. Fuck it like a good girl, and I'll make you come, okay, honey?"

Buffy came less than a minute later, shrieking at the top of her lungs and arching her back like a cat, and digging her fingernails and toenails into the bedsheet, slashing it to ribbons.

"Uh…here's hoping Will and Xander don't run up here to see what the screaming's about," Faith said, as she gently slid her finger out of Buffy, and took the dildo off. "Sort of a compromising position here."

"I think Will…um…understands about how we get," Buffy said, as she caught her breath. "That was…um…I never…did that before."

"Yeah, me neither. But you sure looked like you were having a good time though. Makes me wonder what I've been missing."

Buffy collapsed on her stomach on the bed. Faith laid down beside her, and hugged her.

"I was planning on doing that for you next time we sixty-nined and you totally ruined my surprise," Buffy said, and blushed a little.

"Wherever you went to buy the dildo," Faith whispered, and caressed Buffy's hair. "Do you wanna go there and buy another one…maybe a smaller, thinner one? And then if you're a good girl I can take care of you with it sometimes? You wanna do that, honey? Would my girl like that?"

"Okay," Buffy said. "We can…buy another one. There's this pervo store a few blocks from The Magic Box."

"We'll pick it out together, okay, honey?" Faith said. "And whenever you wanna be a good girl for me I'll take care of you with it, nice and slow, okay?"

Buffy nodded. "Not like, all the time? But…sometimes," she said. "In my old Sex Ed book it said that if you do that like every day it can lead to health problems. So maybe like…once or twice a month."

"I'm not really up on like, other gay gals and what they do when they're feelin' frisky? But I bet if they had girlfriends with pretty little asses like yours they'd wanna do it every damn day. Anyway…Angel's gonna be here soon, we better get dressed."

"What about my rematch, baby?" Buffy said, and smiled. She put her hands around Faith's hips, and lifted Faith up so she was kneeling over her chest. "I wanna race Greased Lightning again."

"Want me to take you for a ride, huh, honey?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow.

Buffy giggled, and nodded. She pulled Faith toward her face, until Faith was kneeling over her lips.

"What if Angel gets here while, uh, the race is still in progress?" Faith said, as Buffy raised her arms up over her head, and Faith took her wrists in her hand, and pinned her.

"He can wait on the porch until we're done," Buffy said. "I need to lick my baby's pussy again."

"Think I should give you a head start?" Faith said, and held up her left index finger, and raised her eyebrow again. "This finger's rocket fuel for your lil' pussy wagon, honey."

Buffy giggled. "No, I want it to be a fair competition," she said. "I think Greased Lightning's gonna be a lot faster this time when it comes across the finish line." She craned her neck up, and stuck her tongue out, and gave Faith's pussy a little lick. "This tongue? Rocket fuel."

"Them's fightin' words, pardner," Faith said. "I think you need to be rode around the barn a few more times."

Buffy looked up at Faith's pussy, and took in her musky peach scent. She felt her blood race.

"I figured out which one of us is the pervert," Buffy whispered, and kissed her there.

Buffy, Faith, Willow and Xander were in the living room, waiting for it. Buffy and Faith had known Angel was coming when he was two blocks away.

They all stood up. Faith stood very close to Buffy. Faith had her red leather coat on. And her stake in her hand.

He wore a long black coat that moved in the breeze like wings. He carried a large leather duffel bag over his shoulder. He held some sort of rectangular carrying case that looked like it was made out of plywood in one hand, and a book in the other: The Scarlet Letter. He looked better; his nose didn't look broken anymore. But the deep gash Buffy had made when she'd scratched his face was still there.

"You're still reading that book," Buffy said. Her arms were folded across her chest and she stood stiff and straight as a board.

Buffy focused in on it. The jasmine smell was coming from his hands. He had been picking jasmine flowers before he arrived.

"Yeah," Angel said. His eyes caught the glare from the porch light, and reflected it back at her, cold and silver. He was a night thing. Those dark eyes never showed the sun. They were never warm, never reflected golden. They were always cold. They always reflected silver. Buffy remembered Faith's golden eyes, when the lion in her had come out.

"Is it like a hundred years old and you bought it for twenty cents in like Transylvania and you've been lugging it around forever since then even though it's all beat up because you're too cheap to just buy the paperback?" Buffy said.

"Bought it for a shilling in Liverpool in 1901. I've never been to Transylvania. Been to Borsa though. It's near Transylvania."

"British currency. Used to be a twentieth of a pound. Probably comes out to about twenty cents today."

His eyes hadn't left hers for a second. He hadn't blinked. She hadn't either. But she could never outstare him and they both knew it.

He looked away. Out of politeness, Buffy knew. She took the opportunity to blink.

She looked away from him, and knew they were over…that they could never go back, now. That she would never be his, and he would never be hers…she admitted it to herself. Accepted it.

She felt cold. Her legs felt weak. She felt like she was in a whirlpool…like she was spinning in every direction, and being dragged down, sucked under. She felt like she was shaking all over, even though she stood perfectly still.

The fear hit her, when she looked at him; it wasn't as bad as it had been before but she still felt it. She saw herself, in the closet.

"Have you been sleeping?" Willow said. She didn't know why she said it. She felt stupid, for saying it.

They faced each other. Willow looked into Angel's eyes…made herself look into them.

"I'll, um, open it for you," Angel said. "Weird nineteenth-century latch thing going on here."

He bent down, and snapped open a series of latches. The plywood case fell open in two sections. Angel removed one section, and then they could all see what was inside.

It was a landscape: a painting of a garden that went on forever under a golden sun in a clear blue sky; a universe of green, dotted with flowers as bright as stars…

No one responded. Finally Willow said, "Drusilla's sister. She used to paint…I saw some of her paintings…last summer. They were beautiful."

"Yeah," Angel said. "They were. I've kept this one…everywhere I've gone, I've taken it with me, kept it safe. It's all that's left of her now."

Angel removed the painting from the case, and peeled a thin layer of translucent wrapping from it.

Willow felt Xander beside her; he was still tense. She knew what he wanted her to say.

Willow looked at the painting again. It was beautiful. The flowers leaped from the canvas; that golden sun lit up the room. When she looked at that painting, Willow was standing in a garden, under a clear blue sky, and the intoxicating scent of a thousand flowers came to her, all mingled together on a gentle breeze. The golden sun warmed her. She felt the breeze, on her skin.

"I can't accept it," Willow said. She made herself look Angel in the eyes again, when she said it.

"Yeah…um…okay," Angel said. "I…understand. I'm…sorry. I guess…it wasn't a good idea."

He looked down at the floor. Then he bent down, and hurriedly put the painting back in its plastic wrapping, and then back into the case.

Buffy watched him. His movements were always economical, swift, precise, with absolutely no wasted motion; now they weren't. He fumbled at the latches on the plywood case.

Willow watched the painting…all that was left of Cassie. She watched it return to the shadows…she watched, as its light was extinguished.

Willow remembered Cassie looking at her. She remembered Cassie's green eyes…she remembered her red hair. It was done up in a chignon bun. It always was…

She remembered sitting in the closet, and thinking about Cassie…holding on to the memory of her, because it was all she had there, in the dark. She remembered thinking about checker tournaments…and laughing in the garden, as Cassie painted her portrait…laughing in the sun, as she laid there in the dark…

Willow remembered the tear rolling down her cheek…she thought she could feel it now.

Buffy watched him. When he straightened up and looked at them again, his eyes were different. He always stared directly at whoever he was talking to, looked them straight in the eye; it was jarring but that's just how he was and she had eventually gotten used to it. Now he wasn't doing that. His eyes were unfocused. He looked into the middle distance.

"Run through with a sword. Hell dimension. Brought back. Don't know how or why," Angel said. "You?"

"Been thinking about killing you a lot," Xander said. "Don't touch my beer. It's in the 'fridge."

Buffy watched Angel's eyes. He had recovered his composure. He was looking straight at Xander now.

"Will said you just stood there when she shot that fireball at you," Xander said. "If I tried to kill you would you stand there and let me?"

"No," Angel said. "You always kinda got on my nerves. But I'd let Buffy or Willow kill me."

"Have you met Faith?" Xander said. "Faith, the Vampire Slayer. Notice how I emphasized 'Vampire Slayer'?"

Angel looked at Faith. She had been looking straight at him from the moment Buffy opened the door.

"Angel," Faith said. Angel noticed she was standing with her legs slightly apart, her weight on the balls of her feet. Ready for a fight.

"So what's the plan, Buffy?" Angel said, still looking at Faith. Faith was still holding Buffy's hand.

"We're all tired," Buffy said. "Let's…get some sleep. Make plans in the morning. You can have the living room. You know where the 'fridge is if you wanna put your blood in there. My Mom's on vacation for a couple weeks."

"And on that note," Xander said, and turned away with his arm around Willow, and walked upstairs with her.

Faith twirled her stake back along her fingers, and holstered it in the inside pocket of her coat. She smiled, and showed Angel her teeth.

"Catch ya later," she said, and put her arm around Buffy, and walked upstairs with her.

A few minutes later, Buffy knelt naked in the dark in front of Faith in her bedroom, with her head in Faith's lap. The room was lit by candlelight. It was a scented candle; the room smelled like cinnamon. Faith sat naked on the edge of the bed, and stroked Buffy's hair.

"I want to be with you too," Buffy said. "Looks like we're a matched set." She looked down at Faith's ankles and feet. "We better get you back into your bandages."

"Just for tonight. Tomorrow, as long as you still look good, we can take all that stuff off, okay?

Buffy smiled up at Faith, and opened Faith's legs. She gave her pussy a little kiss.

"Spank my bum, maybe," Buffy said, and smiled. "But first we'll do some other fun stuff."

"That's a conversation we need to have," Buffy said, and caressed Faith's cheek. "Faith…the stuff your Mom did to you. I just…I don't want you to think…"

"I know," Faith said. "It's not like that, Buffy. If you do that with me, it'll just be, y'know, playin' around. It won't be like…I don't think…you gotta hurt me to love me."

Buffy stood up, and leaned over. She took Faith's head in her hands, and tilted it up, and looked down into her eyes.

"Does my baby wanna be back with momma now?" Buffy whispered. "Does she wanna be my cub again?"

Buffy knelt down in front of Faith, and took her foot in her hand, and kissed it, and held it against her cheek.

"Yeah," Faith said, and caressed her hair. "Not all the time, but…it's been fun, today."

"Not complaining down here," Buffy whispered. "Let's get you back into your bandages, baby. And then you can do whatever you want to me."

Buffy got up and walked to the bureau. Faith watched her move, watched how she bounced on the balls of her feet when she walked; she moved with grace and in absolute silence like a cat. Faith traced Buffy's naked body with her eyes as Buffy glided across the rug, her feet never seeming to touch it: a perfect predator. The muscles in Buffy's legs were thick and strong. They flexed, as Buffy bent a little and opened the top drawer of her bureau, looking for the things Faith needed.

Buffy stretched out and bent all the way over against the top of the bureau, pushing off of it with her arms fully extended. She arched her back and stretched her legs behind her like a cat. She looked over her shoulder at Faith, and smiled.

"I might need another spanking," Buffy said, and took bandages and rubbing alcohol and cotton balls and an icepack out of the top drawer. Then she bent all the way over, sticking her ass out, and opened the bottom drawer.

"You better get that pretty little ass back here," Faith said. "You're a bad girl. Teasing me like this."

Buffy took the dildo out of the bottom drawer, and turned around, and smiled. She held it up, and gave the head of it a little lick.

"This should be the last time with the icepack," Buffy said. "We'll keep the pressure bandage on until morning, and if there's no swelling that's it for the bandage too, okay?

"Yeah," Faith said, looking up at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars were very bright. "Gonna have to jazz up those stars."

"Sure, baby," Buffy said, and put the pressure bandage and the icepack on Faith's ankle. "The kisses are working. My baby's healing right up."

Buffy took Faith's right arm in her hand, and kissed it, from the tips of Faith's fingers all the way up to the shoulder. She wrapped an icepack around the elbow, and taped bandages over that. "How's the arm?" she said.

"Okay, well Giles said there's still some damage and he knows this stuff, so go easy with it for another day."

"You sayin' I shouldn't spank you so hard?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow. "Might get my arm all tired?"

"Mmm-hmm," Buffy said. "Lie back on the bed, baby. I'm gonna clean your stomach."

Faith moved herself back on the bed and laid down. Buffy picked up the rubbing alcohol and the cotton balls, and laid beside her, and kissed her. She kissed Faith's breasts, and then her stomach, and looked at the wound there.

"I'm gonna have to give your pussy a special checkup later, baby," Buffy said. "But first let's clean your tummy."

She opened the bottle of rubbing alcohol, poured some onto the cotton ball, and gently glided it across the gash on Faith's stomach. It was a long, light pink scab now.

Buffy finished cleaning the wound, and then she wrapped a bandage around it and taped it in place.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Sit up on the bed." Faith sat on the edge of the bed again, and Buffy knelt in front of her. She put the dildo on Faith, sliding it up her legs and buckling it in place.

Then she smiled up at Faith, and took it in her mouth, and began sucking on it. Buffy held the dildo in her hand as she sucked it, but Faith took her hand off of it, and Buffy rested her hands on Faith's knees instead.

After awhile, she took Faith's hand, and brought it to her hair. Faith took Buffy's hair in her hand, and controlled her, moving her mouth up and down along the dildo. Faith felt her pussy getting wet, as she watched Buffy with the dildo in her mouth…as she controlled her.

After another moment Buffy wasn't moving her head anymore; Faith was pulling Buffy's head back and forth along the dildo by her hair, and thrusting her hips out to fuck Buffy's mouth. Faith moaned; she realized she could come this way. Thrusting her hips out, and controlling Buffy by her hair, and seeing Buffy with the dildo in her mouth…she realized it could make her come.

"Why…are you doing this, honey?" Faith said, and let Buffy's hair go. "You look…real pretty doing it, but…"

Buffy took the dildo out of her mouth, and licked it all the way up the shaft, and smiled.

"How about…I'm working on my technique," Buffy said, as she licked the dildo up one side and down the other. "You like me on my knees like this, right?"

"Yeah," Faith said. "You look real pretty like this…with it in your mouth. It turns me on, but…you always look pretty to me, honey. And I don't want you doing stuff you don't want to do."

"I want to. I wanna get it all nice and wet for when you fuck me with it, baby," Buffy whispered, and started sucking it again.

"You're throwin' me some brainteasers here, beautiful," Faith said, and took the dildo out of Buffy's mouth, and caressed her cheek. Buffy practically lunged at her, throwing her arms around Faith and kissing her again, and sucking on her tongue.

Faith moaned again, as Buffy sucked on her tongue. Buffy took her time doing it. After awhile Buffy moved her left hand down to the dildo, and started jerking it off.

"Will you come if I give you a handjob, baby?" Buffy whispered, and giggled. "I hope you're not one of those guys who comes too fast. I need it long and hard tonight."

"Believe me, I got plenty of gas in the tank," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's neck, and caressed her breasts.

"So is my technique improving at all?" Buffy said, and got back down on her knees, and kissed the tip of the dildo again.

"Still using your teeth a little," Faith said. "But I like how you're mixing it up with the licking."

"You know, this dildo can like, squirt stuff. It said that on the box. There's some way to like, load it up with whatever liquid you want, and then like, if you squeeze the balls? It squirts."

"Yup," Buffy said, and started jerking the dildo off again. "It's gonna live up to its name in a minute when you fuck me with it."

"Next time we'll load it up," Buffy whispered. "So you can come in my mouth, baby."

Buffy went back to sucking the dildo, and looked up into Faith's eyes, and smiled.

Faith was pretty sure she knew what Buffy was doing. But she knew Buffy needed to do it…so she went along with it.

After another minute with the dildo in her mouth, Buffy got up, and knelt above Faith's lap.

"Yeah," Buffy said, as she closed her eyes, and slowly took it inside her. "It…feels good."

"Slow, honey," Faith whispered, and put her hand around Buffy's waist, and slowed her down as she took the dildo inside her. "Slow. Start from halfway in, okay? Don't hurt yourself."

Buffy nodded, and slowly started moving up and down on the top half of the dildo. She closed her eyes, and began breathing deeply.

"Hurt?" Faith said. She kept her arm around Buffy's waist, making sure she went slow.

"No," Buffy said. "It's like…a pressure. Doesn't hurt exactly. It's just…stretching me out."

"I love you too," Buffy said, and kissed her, and slowly fucked the dildo. After another moment it was all inside her.

"Okay…yeah," Buffy whispered. "Yeah. It feels good now." She started fucking the dildo a little faster, moving all the way up, and all the way down.

"I don't want you to think about coming, okay, honey?" Faith said. "I'm gonna handle that for you. I'm gonna make my girl come, okay? All I want you to do is relax, and enjoy yourself. Sound like a plan?"

"I want you to do what I say," Faith said, and took Buffy's hair in her hand, and looped it around her fist, and held her still. "Are you gonna be a good girl for me? Are you gonna do what I say?"

"I'm gonna be a good girl for you," Buffy whispered in her ear, as Faith put her hand around her waist, and started moving her up and down on the dildo again. "I'm gonna do what you say."

Faith kissed her, as Buffy slowly moved up and down on the dildo, and began to moan.

"Just look in my eyes, beautiful," Faith said. "Look in my eyes, and don't look away."

Buffy moved on the dildo, slowly. She liked the feel of it; the steady pressure against the walls of her pussy, stretching her out. It went deep into her; in this position it went deeper than it had before.

Faith put both of her hands on Buffy's ass now, and pulled her toward her, moving her back and forth on top of the dildo, as Buffy moved up and down along its shaft. Buffy threw her head back, and shuddered.

"Your eyes…are so beautiful, baby," Buffy said, as she looked into Faith's eyes again. "When they reflect the light…they're golden. They've been…golden all night."

"I feel…balanced, sorta," Faith said, and kept moving Buffy back and forth along the dildo, stretching Buffy's pussy out around it and working it against her clit, as Buffy went on fucking it, moving up and down, faster now. "I feel…like I'm me, all of me, for the first time."

After a few minutes they started moving faster. Buffy moaned with every breath now. She looked into Faith's golden eyes, and they held her fast. Faith smiled, and kissed her.

Faith moved Buffy faster across the dildo, and watched the powerful muscles in Buffy's thighs flexing as she took every inch of the dildo inside her. A little stifled scream erupted out of Buffy, and she shut her eyes, and threw her head back. But Faith took her by the hair, and brought her head forward, and looked her in the eyes again.

The dildo didn't hurt Buffy at all now. It felt perfect…it fit her just right. She felt like her pussy was tingling inside. She was so wet she was dripping onto Faith's lap. She held on tight to Faith as Faith fucked her; she ran her fingers over Faith's shoulders, and through her hair.

"Baby…!" Buffy whimpered. She breathed in quick little gasps now, and her lower lip began to quiver.

Buffy started to squeal. Faith moved her even faster across the dildo; the bed was moving back and forth with them now, and creaking so loud Faith was worried it might break.

Buffy started screaming, and her body began to tremble. Faith held her by the hair with one hand and looked into her eyes, while she kept moving her back and forth on the dildo with the other.

Faith felt Buffy's orgasm building; she felt Buffy's body quaking around the dildo. She kissed her. Buffy's eyes filled up with tears.

Buffy threw her head back and shrieked as she came; the sound carried. Faith smiled. Angel was a vampire and Faith knew he could hear everything they were doing anyway, but she liked the fact that Buffy was being loud…she wanted him to know just how loud she could make Buffy scream. She wanted him to know Buffy belonged to her, now.

Buffy hugged Faith as she came, with all her strength. Faith felt Buffy's body shaking, and heard Buffy sobbing in her ear.

Faith turned Buffy toward her, so she could see her face. The dildo was still inside Buffy. Buffy didn't move.

"We've both been inside you now," Faith said. She whispered it. She didn't want Angel to hear this. This moment was just for them. "Me and him. You came for me, honey, just like you came for him. You don't have to prove anything to me, okay? I know you love me. Can you let it go now? Can you stop trying to prove it?"

"I'll always come for you," Buffy whispered. "Only for you. You're the only one who will ever be inside me. I love you."

"I love you too," Faith whispered back. "And I understand you did what you had to do tonight, Buffy. I understand you needed to do this. But from now on? I don't want you doing stuff you don't want to do, okay?"

"I don't want you sucking on the dildo anymore," Faith whispered. "I know you don't want to, so I don't want you doing it. Okay?"

"I don't…I don't hate it or anything," Buffy whispered, and sniffled, as Faith held her, and caressed her hair. "I don't mind it, it's just…I don't know. Guess it's not really my thing."

"But I like…I like being on my knees for you. I like…how it makes me feel all sorta…girly."

"You can be on your knees when you kiss my kitty if you want, honey. I know you like kissing my kitty. I just want you only doing stuff you like to do."

"I like…how, when you wear it? You're kind of…y'know…in control of me. I like that feeling, when I have the dildo in my mouth. I mean, the actual sucking on it is kinda boring but…I like how I feel when I'm looking up at you, with it in my mouth. I like the look in your eyes, when you're looking back down at me, and we both know you're in control. Um…okay, I'm a big huge pervert."

"You're my girl," Faith whispered. "That's all you are. You want to give me a blowjob sometimes, you can, okay, beautiful? But only because you're in the mood to do it, not because like, you just wanna do it for me. You do plenty of stuff I love already. Okay?"

Buffy got up off the dildo. Faith picked her up, and laid her down on the bed. She took the dildo off, and set it aside, and took Buffy in her arms. Buffy curled up against Faith's breasts.

"But I know my baby likes it even more when I'm the momma," Buffy said. "I'm gonna start taking care of my baby again soon."

"We gotta jazz up those stars," Faith said, as she looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, shining bright now in the dark room.

"I spent a lot of time getting them just right. All the stars and stuff, the constellations? They're set up the way you'd see them in the sky at night."

"But…they're perfectly astronomically correct already. If we rearrange them they won't be perfectly astronomically correct anymore."

"I think we should have a discussion about this," Faith said, and moved herself down the bed. "I think we should have like, a reasonable debate, and really examine the issue on its merits," she added, as she moved down between Buffy's legs, and smiled up at her. Buffy giggled.

"Yeah," Faith said, and gave Buffy a kiss between them. "I think we should rearrange those stars and create our own constellations. Cool constellations. And then we could give them all cool names too."

"But…they wouldn't be correct anymore," Buffy said, as Faith began licking her, and her pussy started becoming wet. "They're…supposed to be…correct. They're…perfectly…astronomically…"

"That's your problem, lover," Faith said, and inserted a finger into Buffy's pussy, as Buffy gasped, and began to squirm around on the bed. "You're always worried about being perfectly astronomically correct. You need to learn how to be astronomically incorrect sometimes."

Faith went on licking Buffy's pussy, moving her long tongue up and down, and making sure to pay attention to Buffy's clit. Buffy's little button was hard and red now.

"Mmm-hmm," Faith whispered, and began sucking on Buffy's clit now, as she fucked her with her finger. Buffy moved her hips up and began thrusting against Faith's finger, moaning with every thrust.

"We're gonna make our own stars, honey," Faith whispered. "Our own constellations. Maybe throw in a nebula too."

"I don't watch Star Trek," Faith said, and stuck her tongue in Buffy's pussy, and began stroking her clit.

"Bet…you've seen every episode," Buffy whispered, and smiled. "I bet you're a Trekkie. I bet…you go to the conventions, and like, wear Spock ears."

Faith took Buffy's foot in her hand, and gave her big toe a playful little bite. Buffy yelped, and giggled.

"You're a Trekkie!" Buffy said, still giggling. "You're a total Trekkie. I bet you and Xander have like, secret Star Trek conversations."

"Someone's bum's getting a spanking in a minute," Faith said, and raised her eyebrow, and went back to licking Buffy's pussy.

"Don't make promises you're not gonna keep, baby," Buffy said. "Besides, we can't have nebulas."

"Sure we can. We'll put a bunch of the stars together, call it like, the Pretty Lil' Pussy Nebula."

"Nebulas aren't stars, that's…constellations. Nebulas are like…big huge clouds of…gas and dust."

"So I don't…have glowy stuff…that looks like gas," Buffy murmured, and closed her eyes, as Faith began sucking on her clit again. I just have stars. We…can't have nebulas."

"Sure we can," Faith said, and began fucking Buffy with her finger again. "Already told you. Throw some stars together, call it the Pretty Lil' Pussy Nebula. Maybe the Buffy's Gonna Get Her Bum Spanked Nebula."

"Okay," Buffy murmured, and came. She kicked her legs out over Faith's shoulders, and Faith moved herself on top of her at the same time, making her curl up into a ball. Faith kissed Buffy as she screamed, and held her hands, as she tore through the bedsheets with her fingernails. Faith moved her body against Buffy's, gently fucking her, as Buffy's orgasm crashed through her like a wave; they rode it out together.

Faith smiled down at her, as Buffy remained curled up in a ball, with her legs over Faith's shoulders. Their pussies were jammed together; they were wet. Buffy could smell Faith's pussy scent, and feel her heart beating against her.

"Willow started it. Now everyone says it. Even Angel said it a couple of times." Buffy caressed Faith's ass, and drew her closer. "You wanna boink me with your big dick, baby?" she whispered, and licked Faith's neck. "You wanna fuck me with it, baby? You can fuck me with it whenever you want. Every day if you want."

Buffy's breath was warm against Faith's ear. Her scent was strong: jasmine. Faith felt herself getting wet again.

"You're my gay girl," Faith said. "My gay girl doesn't really want that. I don't want you doing stuff you don't want to do, okay?"

"It's not like I didn't have fun with it just now, y'know," Buffy said. "Um, obviously. I like your finger better but…the dildo might still be fun once in awhile. Maybe when I've been bad." She giggled. "Maybe after a spanking."

"I love you too," Faith said, and kissed her, and rolled off of her. Buffy curled up against Faith's breasts again, and Faith held her in her arms.

"I can see why you like this so much, being all curled up on my boobs," Buffy said. "It's nice. Especially since you have the best boobs in the world."

"We can be this way whenever you want, honey," Faith said, and kissed her forehead.

Buffy rubbed her feet against Faith's, and snuggled up closer against her breasts. "Sleepy," she said. "I'm a sleepy Slayer."

He knew Faith was standing behind him, leaning on the stove. But Angel didn't initiate conversations.

He laid out his cards. Seven stacks, aces up top. Faith smelled fruity, like a peach. With a hint of muskiness underneath. She smelled like Buffy too. Angel had no moves.

He was good at waiting. He had waited almost a century in a hell dimension. Waiting for a few minutes at a kitchen table was peanuts. The fact that he didn't know if the Slayer standing behind him was planning on killing him just made it interesting.

He wondered if Faith would kill him. His back was turned and she was a Slayer. He knew she had her stake with her; he smelled the wood. From what Buffy had told him, Faith was good. A better fighter than Buffy. Aikido. Maybe she was good enough to kill him, even if his back wasn't turned. Angel wondered if he would let Faith kill him.

He frowned. Having to discard deuces was never good. It could mess the whole game up.

He had been playing this game for a hundred and twenty years now and all it ever did was annoy him. He wondered, sometimes, why he played it.

He drew the ten of spades, put it beneath a red jack, and moved the nine of diamonds beneath the ten. It opened a new stack. He flipped the first card. It was the king of spades. The queen of hearts would have worked perfectly with it.

He drew the three of spades, and moved it beneath a red four. He picked up the two of hearts from the discard pile and moved it beneath the three.

He felt Faith, less than two feet away from him now, standing directly behind him. In perfect position to stake him. He wondered if he'd let her.

Only one way to find out, he thought, and drew another card. The eight of hearts. He placed it under a black nine.

Faith sat down across from Angel in her nightgown, put her stake down on the table, and laid out sixteen more dead girls, all facing him.

"Shit," she said. "B said go at you through your hair. Saw right through me, huh? Okay, fine. You got kickass hair. How do you get it to do that?"

"Knew it," Faith said, smiling again. "You probably use mousse. We're good. Me and B, we're good."

"You get right down to it, huh? Maybe none of your damn business, though, ya think?"

"I love her more than anything in the world," Faith said. "I can't live without her."

"That's it?" Faith said. "Take care of her? No, 'she might be with you now but she'll never forget me 'cuz I rocked her damn world'? No, 'yeah you got her now but I hit it first'? Hell kinda guy are you?"

"I'm gettin' that. But you killed those eighteen kids and sent Buffy these pics and you fucked Buffy up good. Makes me wanna kill you." Faith picked up her stake, and twirled it around between her fingers. "Think she'll believe me if I'm all, 'Geez, sorry B, my stake slipped'."

"Yeah," Angel said, and washed it down with a swig of Rolling Rock. "But it's either this or starve. So what do you want?"

"To kill you. But I can't. So maybe…to get a sense of you. B loved you. Still does. You got part of her. Pisses me off, y'know? She's mine and I want all of her."

"I was born in 1727 in Galway," Angel said. "My father was a real God-fearing prick, kicked me out of the house. Can't really say I blame him. I was a drunkard and a womanizer and I never went in for an honest day's work. My father was real big on an honest day's work. Plus I had sex with the maid."

"I think my father always wanted to have sex with the maid. I think he was jealous."

"In 1753 a vampire named Darla turned me. She told me she'd show me the world. She did. She loved me, as much as she could…as much as she was capable of. Darla and I blazed a bloody trail through Europe the likes of which they'd never seen before and haven't seen since. I've killed thirteen-thousand, two-hundred and six people and I remember every single one of their faces. I started with my family."

"You smell a little different from a regular vamp," Faith said. "Not as bad. There's the vamp smell but there's something else too. Can't put my finger on it."

"Picked up on the flower smell already. No, I think it's your soul. Makes you different, right down to the scent. You still stink. Just not as bad."

"Ireland," Angel said. "In 1898 I raped, tortured and killed a gypsy girl. Her tribe cursed me by giving me my soul back."

"Bet that took the fun out of things," Faith said. "You remember all their faces? Seriously? Every one?"

"Willow's fucked up too. You fucked her up too, making her remember being in that fucking closet. Making her remember you raping her."

"She tells him and it's over. Will helpin' me and B…Xander wouldn't allow it anymore. Even if we killed you, he still wouldn't allow it. We'd lose them…we'd lose them both. Will doesn't want that. So Xander doesn't know. Can't ever know either. All he knows is the stuff you said to her in the car, not what you had Dru do to her head. We gotta lie to him now. Thanks a bunch."

"I wandered the world, directionless, suicidal. Took myself out of the fight. I didn't kill people anymore, but I wasn't helping either. I was nothing. Life is about picking a side. Even the wrong side. I did hang with the Rat Pack for awhile in the sixties though. Met Elvis a couple times. That was sorta fun."

"Yeah, in Vegas. How do you know about them? Didn't think kids these days were into that stuff."

"Girls seemed to think so. He was a naive, confused kid who found all the fame coming all at once a little overwhelming. Not too bright either. But he was big-hearted. Bought all his friends Cadillacs. Bought me a Caddy and we only went drinking a few times. Liked eating peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, God only knows why. He always needed a haircut. I thought you were a lesbian?"

"Anyway. Things went south for me after awhile. There's just so long you can fill your life up with empty pleasures…just so long you can sit on the sidelines, not picking a side. I wouldn't let myself drink humans. So I ended up living on the street and eating rats. I'd separated myself so completely from humanity that I had no idea how to live in the twentieth century anymore…how to earn a living. Where to find animal blood. Butcher shops throw pig's blood away by the gallons and I didn't know about it. One night in November of 1996, I was lying in an alley, ready to die, when someone found me."

"This woman who found you…was she white, mid-twenties, brunette, green eyes? Looking back on her now, does she look familiar?"

"No," he finally said. "She was Asian. Black hair, brown eyes. She was sent by the Powers…the Powers That Be."

"Supposedly they're all like these big supernatural guys who fight for good, try to help people like you and Buffy, send people visions, influence events. Looks to me like they're all talk."

"The woman who found me told me about the next Slayer…a girl named Buffy Summers. About how hard her life was gonna be. About how she could use some help. She said I could stay in the alley or get in the game. I made a choice. We drove out to L.A. and I saw Buffy. I was there, in the backseat of a car with blacked-out windows, watching her, when she became the Slayer."

"Best wasn't good enough. Mighta been better if you stayed in that alley. Less people dead."

Angel drank some blood, and washed it down with some beer, and looked at her. She looked back at him.

"Someone found me in an alley once," Faith said. "When I was ready to die. Her name was Becca…Rebecca Greer. She was my Watcher. She took me in, helped me get my shit together, trained me. Took care of me."

"You guys hang out, shoot the shit, maybe go rape and kill some innocent girls? K got off on that. You did too I guess."

"We played cards in a tavern in Warsaw. He cheated so I tried to kill him. He smacked me once and I went flying through a wall. The whole damn place started fighting after that; it was like a barroom brawl in a western, except dubbed in Polish and no one wore those stupid hats. Kakistos was strong as an ox even then. I ended up unconscious and drunk in a ditch, swore bloody revenge on Kakistos and his entire clan, yadda yadda yadda, and forgot about it by the next day. He went back to hunting Slayers after that; I went back to Darla."

"You're an okay guy to talk to, Angel. You're like, charming. Don't wanna say nice, since you've killed thirteen-thousand people. But you're a good listener. And yeah, you got it goin' on, I can see how you got in B's pants, I can see how you've always been a player. The listening's a big part of it. Gals like a guy who listens. You're not what I expected. Don't know why I feel all like, comfortable talkin' to you but I do. Maybe we just click, I don't know. Maybe like, if our lives were different, we woulda been pals. But our lives aren't different. And, just bein' upfront with you? If Will or Buffy ever say it's okay the first thing I'm gonna do eight o'clock day one is find you and kill you. Because I can't ever forgive you for what you did to them…for those eighteen girls, and the closet. I love Buffy and you hurt her, hurt her bad. So maybe you're good again now and you're gonna help us but I'll still kill you if I ever get the chance. All I need is for Will and Buffy to give me the okay. They ever do? Soul or no soul, I swear to God I'm going to fucking dust you. Just so we're clear, GQ."

Faith picked up her stake, collected the photographs from the table, and stood up. She noticed Angel's book.

"The Scarlet Letter," she said. "I was reading that too, before I came out here. You like it?"

"Never liked Puritans much," Angel said. "Hawthorne lays on the metaphor a little thick. Chillingworth reminds me of my father. You?"

"Didn't get too far into it before Kakistos burned my damn house down. Puritans sure were a trip though. Kinda needed to get over themselves a little."

"Buffy's been wearing your 'A' for awhile. It's weighing her down. I'm gonna take it off her. Might take awhile. But I'm gonna get it off her."

"All those girls," Faith said. "All the stuff you did. It's killing her, Angel. You're killing her. Maybe you don't mean to now. But you still are."

"I won't let you kill her, Angel," Faith said. "I'll kill you first. Even though I told Buffy and Will that I won't, if you gotta go so Buffy can survive then I'll kill you."

Buffy dreamed there was an earthquake in Sunnydale and she was running around trying to find shelter but there was nowhere to go and she kept falling down. But the streets were all made of rubber and cotton candy for some reason so whenever she fell it didn't hurt. TLC was singing a few feet away from her, and they kept following her around with pillows, and every time Buffy managed to get back up they hit her with the pillows and knocked her back down again and laughed and sang at her some more and everyone on the street applauded. And it was raining peaches.

She opened her eyes. The room was dark. She heard her TLC disc, playing softly. She looked around.

"Celebrating," Faith said, grinning down at her. Faith held her hand out to her. "C'mon honey, come dance with me. Please?"

"Yeah," Faith said, and put her arms around Buffy's waist, and swayed with her to the music. "I wanna dance with you."

"You understand how I'm naked and it's like whatever time it is in the morning and this is totally goofy?"

"Well if I'm dancing naked so are you," Buffy said, and took Faith's nightgown off, and tossed it away. Then she knelt down in front of her, and smiled, and pulled her panties down.

"You just love my lil' kitty, huh honey?" Faith said. "You can't get enough of her."

"I'm addicted, baby," Buffy whispered, and kissed Faith's pussy again. "I could eat this pretty peach all day long."

"Come up here, beautiful," Faith said, and took Buffy's hands, and stood her up, and kissed her. "Dance with me."

Buffy put her arms around Faith's neck, and they swayed, naked together, in the dark.

"Who cares?" Faith said. "I brought the champagne up that Xan Man bought me. Drink it with me?"

"Well if we're gonna be goofy at whatever in the morning it is and dance on the bed I guess we might as well get drunk on champagne too. You ever get drunk before?"

Faith took Buffy's hand, and spun her around like they were waltzing. Buffy giggled.

"Yeah," Faith said. "In the bad old days. But I stopped drinking when Becca found me, she doesn't want me drinking 'til I'm eighteen. I wanted…I wanted the first time drinking again to be with you. You ever drink?"

"Some wine on, um, special occasions," Buffy said. "I've been a little buzzed a few times, but nothing major."

"Will you drink champagne with me, lover?" Faith said. "Will you help me celebrate?"

"Sure, baby," Buffy said, as she swayed with Faith to the music. "I'll celebrate with you. What are we celebrating?"

"Life," Faith said, and kissed her again. She hopped off the bed, grabbed the Cristal champagne and two glasses from the nightstand, and filled them. She jumped back up onto the bed and handed a glass to Buffy.

Faith held up her glass. "To the Slayer," she said. "To Buffy Summers. To my girl."

"This stuff's great," Faith said, as she threw one arm around Buffy's waist again, and danced with her. "And I've had some pretty high-end stuff."

"Cristal's expensive," Buffy said. "My Dad got it once. It was like three-hundred bucks a bottle."

"C'mon, B, shake that booty," Faith said, and danced at Buffy like she meant business. Buffy danced right back at her.

"Oh my God," Buffy said, and started giggling. "It's like…whatever it is in the morning and I'm drinking champagne and dancing on my bed." Buffy finished her champagne, snapped her fingers, and concentrated on wiggling her butt at Faith.

Without missing a beat, Faith gulped down the rest of her champagne, shimmied her way down to the nightstand, scooped up the Cristal and poured two more glasses.

Buffy gulped down half of her champagne and backed into Faith, grabbing Faith's arms and wrapping them around her waist, as she shook her hips and wiggled her butt into her. Then she spun, and threw her arms around Faith's shoulders, and kissed her.

"Baby?" Buffy said. "This is why I love you so much. Stuff like this. Stuff that only you do. I love you, Faith."

He was looking for a red king. He never had much luck with kings for some reason. Tonight, he hadn't had much luck with queens either.

He listened to the music coming from Buffy's room upstairs. He recognized it: he didn't know the band's name but he knew it was one of Buffy's CD's, one she liked to dance to. She had tried to get him to dance to it once. But you couldn't waltz to that kind of music. Couldn't really foxtrot to it either. He looked at his cards. He had no moves and he was down to the last card in the deck. It would have to be a hell of a card to save his hand now.

"Baby?" he heard Buffy say. "This is why I love you so much. Stuff like this. Stuff that only you do. I love you, Faith."

Angel got up, went to the refrigerator, got a beer, and sat back down. He drank half of it.

He finished his beer, and looked out the window. The night looked black. The streetlights obscured the stars. There were clouds; big, dark gray ones, just barely discernible against the night sky. The clouds were moving quickly, sailing across the sky like galleons, whipped along by the wind.

The wind was loud; it whistled, and hammered at the windows. Somewhere down the street, two cats yowled and growled and purred and chased each other. Angel got up and got himself another beer.

The music had changed; Buffy had programmed her CD-changer with a painstakingly detailed playlist during her third glass of champagne and it had only taken her two tries while Faith had her arms around her and kissed her and tickled her. They were back on the bed now, salsa dancing, spinning around each other and kissing and drinking champagne; the bottle was getting low. They both knew that would be a problem soon because they had both come to realize somewhere between glasses two and three that champagne was the best thing ever.

"You are so drunk," Buffy said, squatting down and shaking her hips in front of Faith, and kissing Faith's stomach. Faith was laughing; she was ticklish there. Buffy got up, took Faith's arm, and spun her around. "So drunk," Buffy said. "Seriously. You're the drunkest Slayer ever. I might have to call you a cab."

Buffy wrapped her arms around Faith's neck, crouched down again, and dipped her. Faith let herself fall as Buffy held her, nearly horizontal. Faith still held the champagne bottle in her hand and she was careful not to let any spill.

"Tell him I wanna be dropped off at my girlfriend's house," Faith said, as Buffy brought her back up. Faith lifted her right leg over Buffy's shoulder.

"Flexible," Buffy said, finishing her fourth glass, and kissing Faith's knee. Faith's bruises were gone. "I bet this girlfriend of yours really loves how flexible you are."

"Saw a movie, watched it a bunch of times. You and me can dance, B. We can shake our booty. Travolta would love to dance with us."

"I'm gonna steal you away from this girlfriend of yours," Buffy said. "After I steal the champagne away from you." The salsa song ended, and a slow song came on next. Buffy let Faith's leg down, put one hand around Faith's neck, took the champagne bottle from her with the other, and appraised it. Buffy kissed Faith's neck, down below her ear, and put her head on Faith's shoulder.

"We should save it for Xan Man and Auntie Will," Faith said, and put her hands on Buffy's hips, and swayed with her.

Buffy laughed. "Auntie Will," she said. "She might, y'know, shoot us with lightning if we don't. And for Christ's sake, she's got fire now too. She's all like, a scary black-eyed wicca lightning girl. What the hell? Doesn't she know we're the Slayers?"

"Yup, better save the rest for auntie," Faith said. "Auntie can kick our asses."

"Uh…so you know how we're like, in your house, right?" Faith said, and squeezed Buffy's butt, and swayed with her.

"And like, how your Mom has a liquor cabinet?" Faith said. "C'mon B, work with me here."

"Shit!" Buffy shouted, and laughed. "You're so drunk you almost made me forget with how like, totally drunk you are. My Mom totally has booze. She totally has so much booze. And she hardly ever drinks it! She's so, like…like…" Buffy started giggling into her hand. "Um…what was I just saying?"

"How Joyce has booze," Faith said, laughing. "Jesus, you're sloshed. Stay here, hon. Practice shakin' that booty for me. I'll grab us some booze and be back in two swishes of a…what's that thing? The thing that swishes?" Faith said, and jumped off the bed like she was storming the beach at Normandy.

"Excuse me, miss naked drunk girl?" Buffy said. Faith turned around. Buffy pointed at her.

"You're naked and drunk," Buffy said. "But especially naked." Buffy had a lot of trouble saying 'especially'. "If Xander sees you running around the house all like that with that pretty little bubble butt he'll cry tears of joy and then give us a million dollars. But he can't see you like that because only I can see you like that. Plus? You're so drunk."

"Shit," Faith said, and looked around for her nightgown and her underwear, and hustled herself into them. It only took her two tries.

"Okay, back in whatever that thing was I said," Faith said, and ran out of the room as if she was absolutely certain that vampires were hiding in the liquor cabinet. She remembered to shut the door behind her, because no one was allowed to see Buffy naked but her.

"Okay," Xander said, yawning, as he walked into the kitchen in his sweatpants and a tee-shirt. Angel was still playing solitaire. There were eleven empty bottles of Rolling Rock beer on the table. The sky outside was gray now; the sun would be up soon. "The world might end and now the vampire is drinking my frigging beer. Awesome. Remember how I said don't drink my beer?"

"I'll buy you another case of piss water," Angel said, and drew a card. The king of clubs. But he didn't have any room to start a new stack. There was nowhere for it to go. He discarded it.

Xander opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. Angel noticed he had a stake in the waistband of his sweatpants, under his tee-shirt.

"Thought you were all about Guinness?" Xander said, and looked down at Angel's solitaire hand, and drank.

"We talk now?" Angel said, not looking up from his cards. "Is that what you and I do?"

"Nope," Xander said, and drank his beer. He didn't leave. He stood there, watching Angel play solitaire.

"I can drink you under the damn table, Harris," Angel said. "I can put this piss water away all night long." He drew the three of spades. He placed it over the two of spades up top. He moved the four of spades over that from one of his stacks, and flipped the card that was underneath the four. It was the ten of hearts. Not a damned thing he could do with it.

"Something you want or are you gonna keep bothering me?" Angel said, still not looking at him.

"Yeah, I didn't really understand that either," Xander said. "Categorize it under me just not liking you generally."

"Yeah. After the fun-filled visit to your place. She also told me she came close to frying your ass. My favorite part of the story."

"No. She should be careful with the magic. I've seen magic swallow people. I've seen it turn them inside out."

He had no red kings. He'd had no luck with kings or queens tonight. He discarded the queen of spades and drew another card.

Angel heard someone rifling through the liquor cabinet in the den. Buffy would have been quieter no matter how drunk she was and Willow wouldn't have done it at all. That left Faith. He sniffed the air. He smelled peaches. And champagne. He heard her run back up the stairs. Back to Buffy.

"Did you mean those things you said to her?" Xander said, and finished his beer, and got another one. "You better buy me another case of piss water."

"You son of a bitch!" Xander shouted, and pulled out his stake, and lunged at Angel.

"Meant them then," Angel said. "Meant them when I said them. I didn't have my soul when I said them. Wouldn't say them now."

"Motherfucker," Xander muttered, and sat down across from him, and drank his beer. Angel still didn't look at him.

Angel got up, went to the refrigerator, and grabbed another beer. He drank the whole beer down, standing with his back turned to Xander in front of the refrigerator. He took out another one. There were four left now. He sat back down at the table and started drinking.

He looked down at his cards. They looked pretty grim. Not many chances to save this hand. He put the odds at about one in three-hundred.

The sun was coming up. Buffy and Faith slow danced naked on the bed together, and drank champagne, and kissed.

"Just…dance with me, okay, baby?" Buffy whispered in her ear. "Just dance with me."

"That light?" Buffy said, opening her eyes and yawning, and wincing toward the bedroom window. The sun was shining in. "Make it stop."

Faith opened her eyes. She was curled up behind Buffy, holding her with her arms around her waist. Her nose was in Buffy's hair. She inhaled Buffy's scent, and kissed her neck.

"No clock," Buffy said, and buried her head in the pillow, and rubbed her feet against Faith's under the covers. "Someone completely broke it yesterday. This is a hangover, isn't it? It sucks."

"Okay, how's this?" Faith said. "Know how we're Slayers and we're all tactical? We need aspirin, figure a hot shower helps too. You got aspirin?"

"I think the best tactic is for us to cuddle, and for you to kiss my neck some more," Buffy said, and continued rubbing her feet against Faith's under the covers.

"Okay, let momma handle everything," Faith said, and tried to get up. But Buffy yanked her back under the covers and shook her head.

"Bad girl," Faith said. Buffy nodded again. Faith kissed her neck. "But I know how to handle bad girls."

Faith started tickling Buffy under the covers. Buffy screamed and laughed and wriggled around like a Mexican jumping bean, and Faith escaped from her clutches, leaped out of the bed, threw on her nightgown and ran to the bathroom.

"Score," Faith said, coming back into the room with a bottle of Excedrin and a glass of water a moment later. "This stuff kicks headaches' asses. Used to use it when I got hung over in the bad old days."

Buffy sat up on the side of the bed. "Ow. Fuck. Fuck!" she said, and giggled. "This headache's completely kicking my ass. And here comes the pukeyness."

Faith sat beside her and popped open the Excedrin bottle. "Take two," she said. "Then a hot shower."

"Bad tactics," Buffy said, as they both took the aspirin. "That's like, totally incorrect tactically. The best tactic is more cuddling and sleepiness until these frigging headaches go away. Plus more neck kisses."

"Lazy bad girl," Faith said, taking off her nightgown and getting back under the covers. Then she put her arms around Buffy, and drew her close to her, and began kissing her neck again.

"So like, are you guys all done being, y'know, totally drunk and naked and dancing yet?" Willow said, knocking on their door.

Buffy and Faith opened their eyes. They were looking directly at each other from an inch away. Their legs were tangled together. Their feet were touching.

"How'd you know we were drunk and naked and dancing?" Faith said, and kissed Buffy again.

"Um, you guys kinda left the door open for awhile there while you were dancing naked on the bed for like four hours," Willow said. "Um…I shut it."

"Please tell me Xander didn't see us naked and then let us never speak of this again," Buffy said, and turned Faith over on her side, and kissed the back of Faith's neck, just below her ear, where her scent was always strong. She ran her fingers up and down Faith's stomach, and started rubbing her belly.

"Xander didn't see you naked," Willow said. "And you guys better have saved me some of that champagne."

"We weren't gonna, but then lightning bolts," Buffy said, and rubbed her feet against Faith's, and kissed her neck.

"Aw, I'd never shoot you guys with lightning bolts, sweetie," Willow said, and giggled. "But seriously, you better have saved me some of that champagne. Doing the scowly face out here."

"Xander keeps on asking me to come up with one too, so I'm looking into it," Willow said. "No luck yet though. Want me to bring you up some aspirin, or ginger ale or something? Want me to be all, Nurse Willow? Um…but I'm not wearing a nurse outfit. Xander would get too excited."

"If we filmed it Xander would give us a million dollars," Willow said. "Put Buffy in her cheerleader outfit and have the three of us pillow fighting? Two million."

"We haven't like, discussed it?" Willow said. "But I think he'd like you in leather."

"See, I'm feeling all like, typecast now," Faith said. "And here I was hoping for a nice dress."

"Xander's imagination can be strangely limited sometimes," Willow said. "I'll see if I can put in a word."

"We're good with aspirin, Will," Buffy said. "Excedrin nuked our headaches. We just need something for the not not nauseous."

"Um…well there's ginger ale, plus Xander's making us some yummy vittles," Willow said. "Food will help. Wanna, y'know, come down for breakfast? Um, wait. Brunch. No. Better call it lunch. Um…maybe dinner actually."

"We've decided to just stay in this bed for the rest of our lives," Buffy said. "My Mom will bring us food and you can like, bring me my homework from school. What time is it?"

"It's three o'clock," Willow said. "I've been knocking on your door like every hour."

"Shit," Buffy said again, as she and Faith dragged their sorry asses into the kitchen twenty minutes later. They were showered and dressed and they felt as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as two skinned rabbits. Their headaches were gone but the nausea was worse, and as Xander stood at the stove cooking meatloaf and bacon and mashed potatoes, the smell sent seismic tremors through their stomachs. They managed to reach the table.

"Aw, my poor sweeties," Willow said, and came over to them with a big smile and a glass of ginger ale in each hand. "Drink up."

"Hung over, huh?" Xander said, and giggled. "Sucks. But you know what they say about champagne. Especially when you drink like, two bottles. And I will never, ever forgive either of you for not filming yourselves last night. I mean, Buffy's Mom's got a camcorder here. Geez. Did you guys think about me at all last night? Did you even consider my needs?"

"Kickin' your butt," Faith said, drinking her ginger ale and looking down at the floor. "Gettin' that D.O.R."

"I thought he didn't know?" Buffy said, frowning at Willow and chugging down her ginger ale. "Is he gonna give us crap about this forever?"

"I didn't see it," Xander said. "To my eternal and everlasting regret. Doesn't mean I don't know about it. I'm the one who heard the music and the giggling first and heard the jumping on the bed and saw the bedroom door open. But because I'm such a wonderful awesome boyfriend I didn't peek. Also because Willow was a few feet behind me. And, giving you crap about this forever? Do you really have to ask?" He giggled again.

Buffy and Faith thought the whole kitchen smelled like meatloaf and bacon. The smell was everywhere. Buffy was pretty sure it was going to end up ingrained in the wallpaper, and maybe the pores of her skin. She and Faith finished their ginger ales and tried to think about all the different things in the world that weren't bacon or meatloaf.

"So Xander, didn't you say you're doing something different with all that leftover meatloaf?" Willow said. "Something really cool and greasy and tasty? Why don't you tell us about it?"

"Well it's something I've wanted to try for awhile, Will," Xander said. "Bacon and meatloaf work good together, but most people just put the bacon on top of the meatloaf and just like bake it that way. And y'know, meatloaf, it goes real well with bacon. So I'm doing something different. I left the meatloaf on the table for awhile, let it hit room temp, then I took it apart, you know, got it down to its core components of gooey greasy meat…

"Aw sweetie, it's better when you're nauseous if, y'know, you puke," Willow said, with a cheery little smile, and patted Faith's hand. "Listen to your auntie Willow."

"Yeah, so I cooked up a whole bunch of bacon and poured the bacon grease into the meatloaf stuff," Xander said, and looked back at Buffy and Faith and grinned. "Plus I threw in a whole bunch of melted cheese too. Stirred it up, cooked it for just a few minutes to get the whole mix all good and gooey. Then I cut the bacon up into like just a little bigger than bacon bits, and crumbled all the bacon in there too, and then I put it all together and now I'm cooking it up. It's the greasiest, fatteningest, cheesiest, gooiest, baconest, awesomest thing ever. Plus mashed pihdaydiz."

"Plus the pihdaydiz got bacon and cheese in them too," Xander said, and giggled. "So whaddaya think? Think I'm gonna call this 'Xander LaVelle Harris' Super-Baconized Meatloaf and Pihdaydiz'. Catchy, huh?"

"Your middle name sucks," Faith said, looking at the floor like she was considering staking it. Buffy giggled, then said, "Oh…" again, and looked sad again and held her hand over her stomach.

Xander giggled again, grabbed a couple of plates from the table and brought them to the stove as Buffy and Faith looked down at the floor.

"Dinner's served," he said, a minute later, and walked back to them holding two plates of Super-Baconized Meatloaf and Pihdaydiz. Faith noticed that he had garnished their plates with sprigs of parsley too, for no good reason.

"Smell that Baconized Meatloaf," Xander whispered, holding the plates directly under their noses.

"Okay, so how much is my ass getting kicked?" Xander said, fifteen minutes later, when Buffy and Faith came back into the kitchen. They looked a little pale, but they were standing up straight and smiling. Xander and Willow sat at the table eating baconized meatloaf and drinking ginger ale. Willow grinned.

"Tell you what Xan Man," Faith said, raising her eyebrow at Xander. "You load me up with some of that meatloaf, I'll leave your butt intact. I know auntie Willow digs it."

"Nothing like puking to make you stop wanting to puke," Faith said, and sat down as Xander loaded up the plate in front of her with meatloaf and potatoes.

"Especially puking three times," Buffy said, and sat next to her. "How greasy and fattening is this stuff?" she added, as Xander set up her plate next.

"I think it's a new frontier of unhealthiness," Xander said. "I think I gained weight cooking it and just inhaling the bacon fumes. So am I forgiven?" he said, grinning at Faith.

"All's forgiven, Xan Man," Faith said, as she and Buffy started eating. "This is some good meat. Bust me out some of that Worcestershire sauce?"

"Yeah, my arteries are very scared right now, but there's a party in my…um…I mean, this is really good," Buffy said.

"There's a party in her mouth," Faith said, as Xander went to the cabinet and came back with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce for her. "Trust me."

"This is some damn tasty meatloaf whatever you wanna call it," Faith said, sprinkling Worcestershire sauce on it. "When I get my money and buy a house around here, you can come stay and be my cook if you want."

"Yeah," Faith said. "Figure the Hellmouth is where I oughta be living anyway. I want you to move in with me. Will you move in with me?"

"Yeah, baby," Buffy said, and kissed her. "But…my Mom will freak if I move out before I graduate. How about just a lot of sleepovers first, then when I graduate in May I'll move in."

"Cool," Faith said. "And Xan Man can be our cook. And Will can be the naughty French maid."

"Do you need a time-out? Don't make auntie give you a time-out," Willow said, and giggled. "Stop wanting to sex me up."

"Haven't seen him," Willow said. "But since it's daytime and he's not anywhere else in the house, process of elimination says the cellar."

"Like real late," Faith said. "I talked with him down here just before I woke you up. He was playing solitaire."

"About how I'll kill him if I ever get the chance, if you and Will ever say it's okay. About how I hate him for the stuff he did. About the Rat Pack, and the Powers That Be, and those girls, and some other stuff. Crazy thing is? And I don't mean to piss you guys off, okay? But…I don't know…I guess I can see why you liked him, B. I'm not talkin' like, how he's hot or anything. I mean…just him. I know he did bad stuff. That's why I told him if I ever get the chance, soul or not? I'm gonna kill him. That I can't ever forgive him for what he did to you guys. But…I went down there to kinda get a bead on him, y'know? Figure out what you saw in him, maybe. And I did. I can see what you saw in him. Told him not to drink your beers too, Xan Man. He only had the one when I was there."

"I saw him around four or so," Xander said. "He had like half the damn case by then. Still playing solitaire."

"It's quiet down here," Angel said, when Buffy went down into the cellar to find him. He was lying on an old cot, looking up at the ceiling. "No windows down here either. Got a cot."

"How much did you hear?" she said, and walked away from him, and looked at a pile of old odds and ends in a shadowy corner. Her cheerleading outfit and pom poms were gathering dust in an old box. There were two sets…two outfits. One from Sunnydale. And one from Los Angeles…from before the Slayer.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I…forgot about your hearing. I'm sorry if it was…hard for you to hear all that stuff. I'm not sorry I said the stuff. I love her. But…I'm sorry you had to listen to it."

"You never told me about what you did to Willow," Buffy said. "You kept it from me. You took me to that restaurant last month and we walked on the beach and kissed and you braided flowers in my hair and just sort of forgot to mention that you forced Willow to remember living in a fucking closet and being raped."

"I…didn't know if…she'd want me to tell you. I thought it was her place to tell you that stuff."

"Maybe. I can't forgive you. I know you didn't have your soul then. I know that. But…"

"Y'know it's funny," she said. "When I first started dating you…when you told me about how you were when you didn't have your soul. I mean, you just said it. You said, 'I killed people. Thousands of people.' But those were just words. And then whenever Giles would go through all the different Watchers diaries from those days, all the histories…he told me too, but…it was just…stories. Giles told me you killed people. That you raped women. That you ate babies. But, somehow…it was still just…stories. It didn't seem real. I couldn't connect to it. I remember one day at school Giles told me how you raped and killed some woman in Paris, and you made her kids watch. And that night, you took me to a movie, and we kissed. And I remember…getting home, and looking in the mirror, and thinking there must be something wrong with me."

"That's when I started to hate myself," Buffy said, softly. "That was the exact moment. And I never stopped, after that. I never stopped hating myself. I still hate myself. I think…I think I always will, now."

"You know, don't you?" Buffy said. "A couple of months ago, when we were at your place doing the tai chi exercises…you saw. You saw my wrists."

They were quiet. The furnace made the old grinding noise it sometimes made. The air was dusty. But Angel didn't breathe.

"You kill us, Angel," Buffy whispered. "Girls fall for you…we fall for you and you kill us. We give you our hearts…and then we die."

"You're not gonna die," Angel said. "You're gonna get past this. You're strong. You're gonna make it past this. Past me."

"The night you killed Darla…she told me, I remember her words exactly…she told me the saddest thing in the world is to love someone who used to love you. She loved you. I didn't really believe she did, then…but now I do. She fell for you too. And you killed her. You kill us all."

"You're not gonna die," he said, and held her hand hard, and looked her in the eyes. "You're strong. You're not always gonna hate yourself. You're gonna live and you're gonna be happy."

"Remember our first date?" Buffy said. "What was the movie we saw that night? Was it Good Will Hunting or Titanic? I forget."

"Titanic," Angel said. "How can you not remember? You made me take you to see it five times."

"It's a Leonardo DiCaprio thing. You wouldn't understand. And that first night…our first date…I wasn't really paying attention to the movie. I only had eyes for you."

Angel remembered the night. He saw it in his mind…remembered all the sounds, and the smells. It was a good night.

He remembered sitting in the dark, hushed theatre with her, watching the strange, flickering images on the huge screen…he had never been to a movie theatre before.

The people on the screen were giants. Their voices were thunderous. The room was dark, and quiet and reverent as a church, and it smelled like popcorn.

"I mean…it's not like…you can't ever talk to me or see me again. Just…you can't be in Sunnydale. It's just…Willow, she…I don't want you around her because, she's still scared, and…"

"Get a good look," she said. "It's the last time I'm gonna cry for you. I'm done crying for you."

They sat together, and Buffy cried. But they were apart…he knew they would always be apart, now.

"So you sit up all night playing solitaire? We got a TV you know. A VCR. Some movies in the entertainment center."

"She's been okay. I think…what happened at your place was good for her in a weird way. She needed to confront you."

"You should stop," he said. "You should move on. Past me. Past those photographs."

"She doesn't bullshit. That's part of it. She's loyal to her friends. And she's a little goofy. She's got a goofy way about her. I like how she's goofy."

"Me too," Buffy said, and smiled. "You realize that goofy Slayer's a better fighter than me and might just be able to do the job and take you down if she ever decides to? That Will and I are all that's holding her back?"

Half an hour later, they all sat in the living room together. Buffy and Faith and Willow and Xander sat together on the couch. Giles had arrived, and he sat in a chair across from them. Angel leaned against the wall in the corner, away from the windows…away from the light. He had a glass of blood in his hand.

"How are you, Faith?" Giles said. He had a tattered old book resting in his lap and he was wiping his glasses.

"Five by five, G-Man," Faith said. She sat very close to Buffy; their legs were touching. "Bruises are all gone, right arm feels good, ankle feels a hundred percent."

Xander drank his last beer. Willow stared down at the Key lying on the table, and was careful not to look in Angel's direction.

"Private Harris reporting for duty, General," Xander said, and finished his beer. "Want me to run some laps?"

"Okay," Buffy said again. "We've got these four priests guys who want to use this Key to destroy the world. We took it away from them. We know nothing about these four priest guys, for all we know they might be priests, or maybe not. We've got the Vigil of Saint Vigeous who are working with them. They're stronger and faster than regular vamps and there were more than a hundred at the cemetery. Faith took out twenty at the Bronze."

"Wolf at the Bronze told me 'We are hundreds'," Faith said. "Don't think he was just blowin' smoke either. So we got a lot more of 'em to deal with."

"The ceremony to release the Horsemen has to be performed at sunset on the last day of the waning moon," Giles said. "Sunset tomorrow."

"But then they've got another shot next month and every month after that forever," Buffy said. "And if they ever manage it…"

"Game over," Angel said. "We can't take on the Horsemen. They're indestructible. If they arrive we're done."

"Not much," Angel said. "They arrive, the world ends. But there's a ceremony…supposedly after they arrive a penitent person can pray to God to give humanity a second chance. From what I've heard, that's what happened the last time they arrived."

"Six-thousand years ago," Giles said. "A Sumerian priest prayed to the gods and the world was spared. Supposedly that's where the Key comes from in the first place."

"Never got that part," Xander said. "So okay, priest guy prays to the gods and an angel or whoever comes down from Heaven and locks up the Horsemen in another dimension. And then this angel leaves the Key here with us? Why? Shouldn't the angel have just kept the Key?"

"Sometimes you're surprisingly insightful, Xander," Giles said. "I asked myself that same question. The Council archives, luckily, just happen to have recently acquired a book that answers that question, and a few others." He held up the book in his lap. "I asked them to send it to me; it just arrived last night."

"What good is a book not bound in human skin or written in blood?" Buffy said. "All the cool books are totally about skin and blood. Then there was that hair book. That was just gross."

"First, we must remember we're dealing with events that happened six-thousand years ago, and the accounts in this book are retellings of folklore that had been transmitted orally for millennia. Details are bound to have been lost," Giles said. "But it seems that the angel who appeared – her name was Rachel, by the way – left the Key specifically because wicked men across the centuries would seek to release the Horsemen again. And she would not interfere with that; she said it was up to humanity, to the generations unborn, to keep the Horsemen in their cages. That it would be our test. According to the accounts in this book, people have tried to release the Horsemen before; this Key changed hands many times before it was finally buried where that archaeological dig found it."

"I also gleaned a bit more about that Sumerian priest who averted the apocalypse back then," Giles said. "He wasn't just some random person. He was chosen; he was born for this task, for the task of pleading with the gods to spare the world, and somehow, he knew it. He was the only one who could have done it; the gods would not have listened to anyone else."

"Wonder if anyone else has been chosen since then," Faith said. "Like Slayers, kinda. There's always a new girl on deck. With the Horsemen maybe about to get free, I wonder if there's someone out there who's meant to head 'em off if they come back."

"There was apparently some sort of test to determine the identity of the individual, but it's not in this book," Giles said. "But Rachel did say that there would always be one person in the world who was chosen…one person in the world whose destiny was to plead on humanity's behalf, if the Horsemen should ever be released. Who that person is now…I have no idea."

"What about the ceremony the priest performed?" Willow said. "To talk to the gods. Do we know what it was?"

"Yes," Giles said. "It's here in the book. According to the introductory text it's some sort of long, complex meditation. But neither I nor our experts at the Council could make head or tails out of the meditation, the language bears no resemblance to anything I've ever seen. But perhaps we're not the ones who are meant to read it. Regardless, it's useless to us without the right person to perform it, and we have no idea who that person is and no way to find out. It could be some little boy living in Belgium for all we know, or Jane Seymour."

"Giles wants it to be Jane Seymour," Buffy said. "Trust me. It's a whole big thing."

"Yes, be that as it may," Giles said, and wiped his glasses. "Unfortunately this information doesn't help us much. We're still left with the same problem."

"The night before last…I was…visited, by something calling itself the First," he said.

"It's…there have been rumors of its existence, but…I always thought it was a legend," Giles said. "It's supposed to be the embodiment of evil. Not an evil creature, not a demon, but…evil itself, in living form." He looked back at Angel. "And it visited you?"

"It appeared to me, in the forms of four different people," Angel said. "Darla, Dru, a girl named Leah Maguire…"

"The thing about the First is, it lies," Angel said. "But not everything it says is a lie. It was screwing with me, trying to get under my skin, trying to throw me off my game. It appeared as Leah at the beginning, and I didn't know what it was. I didn't know if I was hallucinating, or seeing a ghost…but she smelled like Leah, looked like her, talked like her. In every way I could sense, it was her. The same with Darla and Dru; it was exactly like them, in every way. But by the time it appeared as you, Buffy, I was able to put it together…I realized that these were imposters, and that they were all the same being. But it knows things…it knows things that only those people could have known."

"What, did it say I have hairy legs or something?" Buffy said. "Why won't you tell me now?"

"Because I won't," Angel said. "It lies, Buffy. And, uh…okay, so I'm gonna need everyone to touch each other now."

"The First is incorporeal," Angel said. "It can't affect things physically. Until I see you guys can touch stuff, for all I know any of you can be the First."

"Already touching stuff," Willow said. "We're sitting down, we're touching the furniture."

"The First sat down at my place," Angel said. "But when I tried to touch it, my hand always went straight through. I think it can sorta give the illusion of sitting down. But I couldn't touch it, and it couldn't touch me."

Xander put his arm around Willow. Buffy leaned forward, and reached out to Giles, and took his hand.

No one moved toward him. Buffy took Faith's hand, and looked down at the coffee table.

Angel wasn't looking at him. His eyes were unfocused. He was looking at the wall above the couch.

She sat next to Buffy, and put her arm around her waist. Buffy moved closer to her, and held her hand, and they stayed that way.

"Why those four people?" Willow said. "Darla, Dru, Buffy – they were all important in your life. But Leah just sounds like a random victim of yours. What's the connection? I mean…yeah, they're all women, but you knew a lot of women. Why those four? And why Leah?"

"I've been thinking about that," Angel said. "The choices could have been made just to screw with my head. But I killed Leah the night Darla and I first saw Dru, so that's a connection. And they all have something in common with Buffy too. They all died. Leah died in 1860. Darla and Dru were vampires; even though Drusilla is still out there somewhere, being a vampire means she's technically dead. And Buffy died too, last year. Could be that the First can only appear as people who have died."

"Mostly she tried to screw with my head," Angel said. "When she was Leah she told me the only way I could atone for what I've done would be to kill myself…"

"Are we sure this thing's evil?" Xander said. "Maybe we oughta invite it over, hear what it has to say."

"But then when she was Darla she changed tactics," Angel said. "Darla tried to tell me I should run away with her, that the world would be ending soon and that she could protect me from it. She told me I never really loved her, and that I never loved Buffy either."

"It lies," Angel said, and looked at Buffy. But she wouldn't look back at him. "Next came Dru; Dru told me that she was the one I really loved, and that I should kill Buffy."

"Did she remember to mention that I'd rip your fucking head from your spine before you got within ten feet of Buffy?" Faith said, and looked Angel in the eyes, and drew Buffy closer to her. "That part's important. Hope for your sake she didn't leave it out."

"You don't want any part of me, GQ," Faith said. "Fightin' me, your kickass hair would get all messy."

"I'll keep that in mind," Angel said. "Anyway. She said I'd be happier if I lost my soul again and stayed with her."

"That another lie?" Faith said. "Or truth? You said it wasn't all lies. Would you be happier?"

"She told me about you and Faith, even though I already knew. She said I should kill Faith."

"Yeah, but why would she think you'd believe that?" Buffy said. "I mean, if she wanted you to think she was me? Why would she think that you'd believe I could say that?"

"Doesn't matter," Angel said. "What matters is, I saw through her and told her to cut the shit and say what she had to say. And she did."

"She said the world was going to fall," Angel said. "She said she was going to win and we wouldn't be able to stop it. And then she offered me a deal."

"She said she'd give me six-months to choose one-hundred thousand people, and we could have Illinois," Angel said. "She'd allow humanity to live in Illinois and she'd never bother us again as long as the population was never allowed to top ten-million. The rest of the world would be hers, and the rest of humanity would be destroyed."

"She said the state has the natural resources we'd need," Angel said. "Lots of land for farming, livestock, fresh water, moderate climate. Plus we'd get to have Chicago."

"She said she likes me," Angel said. "She said I'm interesting to her. That I've been around a long time and I know how the world works. That if anyone should be allowed to make decisions for humanity, it was me."

"A great big giant evil monster likes you?" Xander said. "You could just knock me over with a feather right now, guy."

"Why's she offering the deal?" Faith said. "If she's so damn evil and unstoppable and all that. Why deal?"

"She said she sometimes finds humans interesting," Angel said. "She wanted me to pick the strongest and the smartest."

"No," Angel said. "And she said it was a one-time offer. We have the Key now but the First isn't going to stop. Those priests, and the Vigil of Saint Vigeous…I think the First is pulling their strings."

"We have to keep the Key out of those vamps' hands," Buffy said. "The problem with that plan being that we have to keep it from them forever, because it can't be destroyed."

"And we probably can't hide it either," Willow said. "Even if they don't know how to track it magically, there's gotta be a way, it's a magical object. If they can't track it they can find someone who can. If I had awhile to think about it I could probably come up with a way to track it myself."

"Is there a way to maybe banish it?" Xander said. "Send it away somewhere, like, I don't know, out of this dimension?"

"Maybe," Willow said. "But all that means is the vampires would have to open a portal and go there and get it. If it can be tracked magically it can be tracked to another dimension. Sending it away just means it will take the Vigil a little longer to get it. But they'll still get it eventually."

"And there are hundreds of them and vamps live forever," Faith said. "They find it ten years from now, or fifty years from now, we still lose. We can't destroy it and we can't hide it from them forever. That leaves us one option."

"Okay," he said. "You got these Vigil guys. There are hundreds of them and they're sure as hell not afraid of us. Not afraid to come after us in public either. They attacked Willow out in the open at the Bronze. That was two days ago. The fact they attacked her there means they can track her. Either by scent, or magically, or they just have people following her. I know a little about these guys; they've been around a long time and I've heard some things. They're supposed to have a better sense of smell than regular vampires. However they're doing it, they should know she's here. They know we have the Key. Yeah, Faith took out twenty of them and let's say for the sake of argument that they know we've got two Slayers here, plus me. And they've seen Willow throw up an energy shield and do that smoke thing. So they know we can fight. But that won't stop them. They should've come at us by now. The smart play was to come at the house."

"They could burn us out at night and then run us down in the street," Faith said. "Angel's right. That's their best move, if they know Will's here. So why haven't they made it?"

"They probably know I'm here," Willow said. "We should assume they know we're all here. Maybe they think we might be hiding the Key somewhere. Maybe instead of fighting us again they're concentrating on figuring out where the Key is first. If they're trying to come up with a way to track it magically it might take them awhile."

"Makes sense," Buffy said. "They've got all the time in the world, always another last day of the waning moon coming. No reason to throw more bodies at us until they know for sure where the Key is. Especially since they know Faith can kick all their asses." She looked at Faith and smiled. "I bet they haven't come after us yet because they're all scared of Faith."

"It could be Willow's right," Angel said, and quickly looked away. "They could be making sure of the Key before they move against us. And they know they have plenty of time. They have to know the Key can't be destroyed. They can always perform the ceremony next month, or next year."

Willow picked up the Key, and held it in her hand. Something about it kept nagging at her.

"Okay, we don't know what these guys are up to and we need to find out," Buffy said. "And this sounds lame? But we can't all stay out of school forever. At some point we need to go back to living our lives. We can't just stay holed up in the house here. We have one lead. Those vamps who delivered the Key, I know where one of them squats. We should check him out, see what he knows."

"Only one of us should go," Angel said. "Until this is over you and Faith and I need to stick close to Willow. Just because they haven't come at the house yet doesn't mean they won't. At least two of us should be with Willow at all times after dark. The sun's down. Give me this guy's address, I'll track him, see what I can shake out of him. He probably won't be home at night but I'll pick up his scent there, that'll start me off."

"He's at an abandoned warehouse by the docks," Buffy said. "Willy said it was an old building with a sign on it that says 'Pacific Fisheries'. The vamp's name is Bobby."

"Okay," Angel said, and moved to the coffee table, and pulled his duffel bag out from underneath it. He opened it up and took a double-bladed battle axe out of it. "Got my axe. My axe and I will have a talk with him."

"Nice axe," Faith said. It was the biggest, meanest axe Faith had ever seen. The blades looked razor sharp and they were so bright and polished she could see her reflection in them.

"Okay," Buffy said. "Anyone got anything else? Is there anything I'm overlooking here?"

"Couple little things I wanted to bring up," Xander said. "First, we should have a car here, gassed up and ready to go at all times. If they come at the house and chase us out a car is what saves our asses. I know your Mom took hers out of town; we need another one."

"I'll keep mine here," Giles said with a sigh. "Lord knows you all drive it more than me anyway."

"Okay, and the second thing is, weapons," Xander said. "Our stockpile is low; other than our swords we're down to the two flamethrowers, and I think I might have one grenade somewhere. Maybe we should do another smash and grab at the army base."

"That's definitely an idea," Buffy said. "But this is a different kind of fight; we'll be taking on lots of guys all at once and they're all super fast. Unless they're all like, lined up together somewhere in an enclosed space a rocket launcher won't help us."

"Flamethrowers will though," Faith said. "We form a line and hold it and fire away. If we had flamethrowers and plenty of fuel for 'em at the cemetery Friday night we might have gotten by those guys without Will."

"Flamethrowers are a tall order," Xander said. "It's just not something the base tends to have a lot of. But I can look. Grenades might be good too. What about guns? Want me to bring back guns?"

"No," Giles said. "Gunfire can injure a vampire but Buffy and Faith would be using their time far more efficiently beheading them with a sword."

"Yeah, guns are never really helpful," Buffy said. "Fun though. Just not helpful. Concentrate on flamethrowers, or at least fuel for the ones we have. Grenades sound good too."

"No," Buffy said. "With those Vigil guys out there Faith or I would have to go with you and we can't spare anyone; Angel's already gonna be tracking that vamp. The only way we could hit that base tonight is if all of us go together, me, you, Faith, Willow, and Giles. Angel's right; out of him, me, and Faith, I want two of us with Will at all times when the sun's down and I'm not letting you and Giles out of my sight for a second at night either."

"Five of us doesn't work," Xander said. "Hard to be all cloak and dagger. Doing it during the day, same problem. The base is really busy during the day."

"We all drive out there tonight, three wait in the car, two hit the base?" Faith said. "Say, you and Xan Man go in, I watch Will and G-Man in the car."

"The base is huge and they have sentries," Buffy said. "We can't just park outside. Last time we hit the place we had to park like a quarter mile away. That puts us too far from each other. If those vamps showed up they could take a run at you guys in the car while I was in the base and I wouldn't even know."

"It's a two-man job," Xander said. "Preferably one of the men is a Slayer who can carry lots of heavy stuff."

"Info on those Vigil guys is more important to us than extra weapons right now anyway," Buffy said. "You can go be military guy tomorrow night and I'll send Faith with you while Angel and I guard the house."

"Or I could send Angel out with you instead of keeping him here," Buffy said. "You guys could be like Starsky and Hutch."

"Faith's good, I never feel like killing her," Xander said. "And the Lakers beat the Celtics last week. I still haven't gotten a chance to gloat at her about it."

"I'm gonna make you do so many pushups when this thing's done with," Faith said.

"Giles. Thanks for…making this go smooth," Buffy said. "I had no right to ask you and you had every right to just explode at him."

"It's about the mission, Buffy," Giles said. "I packed a bag, in case you want me to stay here?"

"Yeah, I do," Buffy said. "I want you here where I can protect you. And I don't think the books at your house are gonna help anymore anyway; we have all the magic info we need. With any luck Angel will bring us something we can use from that vamp, maybe exactly how many of these Vigil guys we're dealing with, or the layout of their place. We know what we need to do; we've got one option. We have to take them down. Right now it's not about books, it's about making battle plans. I want my Watcher here helping me make those battle plans."

"You know the spare room, that my Mom made up for Faith?" Buffy said. "You can take that room."

"Sure G, you can sleep in my room anytime," Faith said, and winked at him. He wiped his glasses, and frowned at her.

"But then where will Faith…oh," Giles said. "Yes. Well then. I'll just…" he said, and picked up his leather satchel, and cleared his throat. "Yes. I'll just…go get settled in then."

"Okay, I'm gonna go upstairs with the Key and get all trancey, talk to the Goddess, try to figure some stuff out," Willow said.

"Thinking Italian," Xander said. "I can do some good meatballs, and Joyce has lasagna stuff. You like lasagna and meatballs?"

"If I cook real good for you can I do less pushups when you start training me?" Xander said.

"Nope," Faith said. "But I'll feel a little bad maybe when I kick your butt though."

"Good to know. And that frigging vampire better get me more beer," Xander said, and went into the kitchen.

"You keep staring at the Key," Buffy said.
"Yeah," Willow said. "There's something about it. I guess it's just all the, y'know, magicness of it."

"Yeah," Willow said. "I can go like half an hour now without being tempted to kill him."

"Okay, I'll see you guys for lasagna," Willow said, and walked up the stairs, still staring at the Key.

"Yeah?" Buffy said. "Didn't feel good. I felt like…I don't know. Like it should've been you. Like…I don't deserve it."

"No one else was feeling that," Faith said, and put her arm around her. Buffy laid her head in her lap.

"Nah. Just for like a second," Faith said. "Once he settled down he was okay. By the end he was onboard with you. Fallin' in line."

"I never should have said that," Buffy said. "'Fall in line'. It was bitchy. But you were hurt and I was freaked out and I got all bitchy. Are you sure I can do this? Are you really sure or are you just saying it because you love me?"

"Everything I do is because I love you," Faith said. "But yeah, I'm sure. You let us all chime in, but you still kept things on track. We came up with a plan and now we're all on the same page. You did what a leader does. You rallied the troops. No one feels left out, like you didn't consider them. Everyone feels like they're part of this. I'm proud of you, Buffy."

"Yeah. Didn't even think about that 'til after I did it. He handled it good though. He's being classy about it. He loves you. Last night…he told me he wants me to take care of you."

They were crowded around the coffee table in the living room that night, drinking cocoa and eating Faith's leftover birthday cake and playing Monopoly. Buffy and Faith were on the couch together in their nightgowns. Faith had her arms around Buffy, and Buffy was curled up against her. Xander was in one of the chairs across from them, in his sweatpants and a Lakers tee-shirt. The two chairs were pushed together; Willow sat next to Xander in the other chair, in her cow pajamas, and held his hand. She picked up her game piece, the iron, and frowned.

"Sorry, hon," Xander said, and stifled a yawn. "My board, my rules. I'm always the race car. So who's turn is it?"

"Mine," Buffy said. "Behold my awesome Monopoly skills and tremble." Buffy rolled the dice, moved her piece, the battleship, and landed on Park Place.

"You guys can come hang in my fabulous Park Place mansion whenever you want," Buffy said, and bought Park Place with a very small portion of her very large stack of money. "I am so completely winning. You should all work for me. I can give you jobs sorting all my properties and my giant money stack."

"You're up Will," Faith said. "Good luck not landing on B's evil fabulous empire."

"It's not that bad," Buffy said. "There's like a fifty percent chance she won't land on anything I own. "Wait, forty percent."

"You know, I've refrained from setting up hotels just because I'm really nice," Buffy said. "I'm a kinder, gentler evil tycoon."

Willow rolled the dice, moved her piece, and landed on Park Place. She looked very sad, when she landed on Park Place.

"We'll wear berets," Faith said. "Be all like in cafes in Paris smoking clove cigarettes and looking hot."

"She's a naughty niece," Willow said, and grudgingly handed Buffy lots of money.

"Yup. And you can, y'know, completely just bite me," Willow said, with a cheery smile, causing Faith to laugh so hard she dribbled cocoa all over her chin.

"Gonna nationalize the hell out of everything. Starting with Park Place," Faith said. "Okay, I'm up." She rolled the dice and moved her piece (the top hat). She landed on Chance, and picked a card.

"You're such a revolutionary, baby," Buffy said. "You're in jail half the time."

"The other half of the time she's on one of your properties rent-free," Xander said. "I think she just poses as a revolutionary. The beret, the clove cigarettes, it's all a front. I think she's a pawn of The Man. She's in The Man's pocket."

"Completely not fair that Faith doesn't have to pay you rent, y'know," Xander said.

Giles came into the room in his pajamas and his bathrobe and his leather slippers and stared down at them all and frowned.

"Sure," Buffy said, and leaned over and opened the pastry box. She cut Giles a slice of birthday cake, making sure to get the little red frosting flowers on top, and made Giles up a plate. "Um, hold on a sec," she said, and got up. "You need a fork."

She ran into the kitchen and came back a moment later with a fork, and handed it to him, along with the cake.

"Sure. Anything for my Watcher," Buffy said. "Want some cocoa? I could make you some cocoa."

Wanna play? Tell me you wanna play. I'm so totally winning. You can contribute to my growing evil fabulous empire. Plus I'm thinking of like, putting in fields? Big fields for like, workers to toil in. You could toil in my fields."

"Actually I'm researching in the Watchers database," Giles said. "Willow got me started in her laptop. I'm trying to see if there's a wrinkle I missed." He smiled again. "But playing Monopoly is also vitally important to our efforts to save the world, I'm sure."

"You're just afraid of my awesome Monopoly skills," Buffy said, and sat down again beside Faith.

"Yes, well…" Giles said, and wiped his glasses, as Faith's smile got bigger. "Yes. I believe I'll be going now."

"Sure you don't wanna play, Giles?" Willow said. "Someone has to topple Buffy's evil fabulous empire."

"You wanna sex Giles up too, don't you?" Buffy said to Faith, once Giles was safely out of earshot.

"G-Man's pretty slick in that bathrobe," Faith said. "Once I get his butt in that Porsche he's gonna have to beat the babes off with a stick."

"Okay, so like, are you guys lesbians or bi or what?" Xander said. "Seriously, 'cuz I got no idea."

"Y'know, it's gettin' pretty late," Faith said, and looked out the window. "Almost midnight. Angel's been out there what, like six or seven hours now?"

"Angel's a vamp," Faith said. "Means he's like a Slayer in one big way, his nose knows. Vamps got a better sense of smell than even Slayers. He's a tracker. He started at that guy's place, he woulda got his scent and taken it from there. If he's been out this long it means the trail's cold. He shoulda had the guy a long time before now."

"Could be he's just being thorough," Buffy said. "Maybe the guy gave him something and he's taking it from there. Angel likes tracking. He likes detective work and stuff, y'know, like following leads and putting pieces together and questioning people, beating information out of bad guys. He's better at it than me. He's scarier than me."

"No you don't," Buffy said. "You've seen Angelus. And yeah, he's scary when he's Angelus. But Angelus is predictable. He's like a dog. He acts on instinct and tries to have fun. He's not as disciplined when he's Angelus, he can't control his impulses. It's how I beat him. But Angel is disciplined. He's patient. If it was Angel I was up against last spring? I'd be dead. Not a doubt in my mind I'd be dead. Get on Angel's bad side? He's scarier than Angelus ever was."

The Whiskey Creek Saloon was a dive, but the demon who ran it, a small, scrawny, blue-eyed, red-haired demon with huge ears and a face like a rat who happened to be tending bar that night and was cowering behind it at that particular moment, had his pride and so the place upheld a certain standard: it was a spacious room, with only a few questionable stains on the floor, and it had oak-paneled walls that made it look charmingly rustic if the lights were turned down low, a couple of pool tables, and a sign over the bar advertising eighteen different kinds of blood. It was a biker bar, but the bikers in question, a gang called "The Hellions" according to their jackets, were demons. Assorted biker paraphernalia decorated the room: pennants, leather coats, and here and there a motorcycle tire or and old photo of Marlon Brando from The Wild Bunch or Peter Fonda from Easy Rider hung on the walls by the signs that said "Ladies Night Every Tuesday" and advertised their new, less fattening pig's blood cocktail. A classic Harley Davidson cycle was displayed on a pedestal in one corner next to the big juke box that featured the complete catalogue of The Rolling Stones, and before today, there hadn't been any unfortunate incidents in more than a week.

The leader of the Hellions, a demon named Razor who had made sure to explain that his name came from the razor-sharp talons that extended from his hands just before he attacked Angel with them and got Angel's battle axe through the top of his head for his trouble, was lying dead on the floor.

That had put a damper on everyone's evening at the Whiskey Creek Saloon, and Angel smiled now at the motley group of scruffy, gray-skinned, tattooed Hellions who were looking up at him in terror. Their most distinguishing physical characteristic was their lack of noses, but they still knew trouble when they smelled it.

"Nice place," Angel said. He walked around the room, carrying his bloody battle axe.

"Cool Harley," he said. "Had one for awhile. But then I fell in love with a sweet Corvette and never looked back. I'm a car guy." A Hellion ran at him from behind. Without turning around Angel grabbed the Hellion's right arm and broke it so quickly that no one even saw his hand move. As the Hellion screamed, Angel spun and kicked him in the face. The Hellion went flying across the room, hit the floor, and didn't get up.

"Brando," Angel said, looking up at the black and white photograph of Marlon Brando on the wall above the Harley. "Brando was pretty cool. I drank with him once. He went a little crazy toward the end. But back then he was a pretty cool guy. So yeah, someone's gonna tell me about a vampire named Bobby who delivered a package to King's Park Cemetery three nights ago. Sooner or later. Later's fine. I've got time."

Two more Hellions ran at Angel. Angel picked up the Harley, spun around, and swung it at them by the handlebars like a baseball bat. The Hellions went flying the length of the room, crashed into the ceiling, ricocheted off a wall like pinballs and slammed into the floor with a loud, wet thud.

He tossed the Harley away. It bounced off a pool table and fell to the floor, and it looked a lot less shiny than it had a minute ago.

"I've had a rough couple days," Angel said. Angel walked to the bar, hopped over it and poured himself a tall glass of blood from the tap as the scrawny rat-faced demon scurried away from him.

"I'm pretty pissed off," Angel said. "Just between us, I'm kinda hoping none of you Hellion guys are willing to talk to me, because that way I get to kill you all slow instead of fast."

He looked up at all the Hellions, and smiled. "You do know I'm gonna kill every one of you, right?" he said. "I mean, it's not talk or I'll kill you. That was never the deal. You're not talking to save your lives. You're talking to save yourselves pain. You guys get that, right?"

"Tasty," Angel said, turning to the rat-faced demon. "Got a little zing to it. What's in this besides pig's blood?"

"Bet it's your left pinky," Angel said. "You're a righty, I saw you pouring with your right." Angel grabbed the demon's left pinky finger, bent it all the way back, and broke it with a snap that echoed through the room.

The demon screamed. The assembled Hellions gasped, appalled at this display of senseless violence. Angel smiled.

"But I don't know anything!" the demon pleaded, tears running down his face now.

"Said I believe you," Angel said, and bent the demon's left thumb all the way back, and broke it. The demon screamed again. The Hellions looked on in horror. Angel's smile got bigger. He looked around the room at the Hellions. None of them could meet his eyes. Angel could smell their fear. He liked it.

"Yeah, so anyway, rough couple days," Angel said, and finished his glass of blood. "My girl left me. Can you believe that? I mean, look at me. I don't wanna blow my own horn here, but come on. Okay, I did do that thing where I went all evil and tried to kill her and all her friends," he said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Okay, I admit it. I was kind of a prick to her. But what about all the good times we had? I mean, I go evil for a month and try to kill her and everyone she loves, plus a whole bunch of innocent little kids and she has to get all emotional on me? I lost my soul. Not like I asked to lose my soul. Said I was sorry. Women."

"You got Guinness, Rat Boy?" Angel said. "The answer that makes me not kill you right this second is 'Yes'."

The demon found Angel a bottle of Guinness, poured him a tall glass, winced in pain a lot, and sat down on a stool.

"I'm gonna call you Rat Boy," Angel said. "Since you've got Guinness and I need you to pour for me, I'm gonna stop breaking your fingers after I'm done with your left hand."

"Want me to do them all at once?" Angel said, and threw his axe across the room at one of the Hellions, who was sneaking toward the front door. The axe sliced straight through the Hellion's leg, hacking it off. The Hellion fell to the floor, screaming.

"I'm gonna want that axe back," Angel said, looking around the room at the assembled Hellions as he quickly broke the remaining three fingers of Gary's left hand in succession. Gary screamed and fell to the floor and crawled away. "Any of you Hellion guys wanna bring it to me?"

"I'll bring it to you, you fucking freak!" one of the Hellions screamed, and picked up Angel's axe and ran at him with it. Angel finished his Guinness, ducked the Hellion's swing as he tried to behead him with his axe, smashed the top of the empty Guinness bottle over the bar and shoved the jagged end all the way through the Hellion's face and out the other side.

"Thanks," Angel said, and grabbed his axe from the Hellion's hand as the Hellion fell to the floor, dead.

Gary got up from the floor, got Angel another bottle of Guinness, and refilled his glass.

The Hellion whose leg Angel had cut off was still screaming. He had managed to tie his belt around the stump of his thigh in an attempt not to bleed to death. Angel didn't think his chances were good. Partly because the Hellion had done a lot of bleeding already. But also because Angel was planning on killing him soon. Angel drank his Guinness.

"So, still waiting to hear about that vamp," he said, and hopped back over the bar and found himself a table. He sat down, finished his Guinness, and shook his empty glass at Gary. Gary brought him another bottle, and refilled his glass.

"On my mother's side," Gary said. "She was half human. Am I gonna survive this?"

"Why doesn't this place have barmaids?" Angel said, and started in on his Guinness. "A bar should have pretty barmaids. They always did in the eighteenth century."

"Guess Doreen's gonna survive," Angel said. "You got any Rolling Rock? I need a case."

In her dream, Faith was little and she and her sister were on the swings at the playground under a bright sun and a clear blue sky that went on forever. They had just finished their picnic lunch, and Rebecca sat smiling on a blanket and watched them.

"I wanna explore!" Buffy said in her dream, as she stood peering into the dark forest. Buffy was a little girl, and she felt strange; it didn't seem correct, somehow. She looked down at her white dress and shoes. They weren't right for exploring in the forest. She looked down at herself again, and saw that she was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt and her old Nike sneakers with a red swoosh now, and she smiled. Then she remembered she had wanted the sneakers with the blue swoosh, but the store was all out. How long ago was that? It felt like years, but it couldn't be, because she was still a little girl. It was all very confusing…

"Blue swoosh," Buffy said, and the red swoosh changed to blue. She giggled, and wondered if maybe she should wish for a million dollars, or a diamond necklace, or a handsome prince. She looked back at the park. The tall, pretty, blonde-haired woman she didn't recognize was very far away now, sitting on the grass, saying something to Faith.

Buffy looked up at the black, menacing forest before her. The line of trees created a boundary between light and dark, between safety and possibility, like a line on a map. The forest hadn't been here a moment ago, when she and Faith were on the swings and the pretty blonde-haired woman was watching them from only a few feet away. Now the blonde-haired woman was much farther away, receding into the distance, melting into the sunlight, and the forest was here, looming up in front of her so deep and vast, like it went on forever and ever…

Buffy was afraid of the forest. She was afraid of the darkness under the trees. But it thrilled her, too…there was a nervous, tingly feeling in her stomach, like that time in the third grade spelling bee when she had to stand up on stage in the auditorium in front of her parents and the whole school and spell "sacrifice".

Buffy took a tentative step into the shadows under the trees, twigs crunching beneath her feet. She looked down at them, and thought it would be better if they were stakes, and then, suddenly, they were stakes. She picked one up, and put it in her pocket.

Faith saw her little sister about to walk into the forest, and she leaped off the swing and sprinted to catch up to her. She made it there in seconds; she was amazed at how fast she could run. Then she remembered she was the Slayer. But it was strange, that she was so young…she looked down at her scrawny little body, and wondered how monsters could ever be afraid of a little girl like her.

"Hey," she said, putting her hand on Buffy's shoulder. "Mom says we shouldn't go in there." Faith had one foot in the park and one foot under the trees; one foot in sunlight, the other in shadow.

"You need to learn to find the fun, big sis," Buffy said. "Isn't that what you're always telling me? Besides…it's always darkest before…"

Faith was still thinking about the difficulty of being the Slayer when she was really only a little girl, when suddenly she was eighteen again, and Buffy had grown up too. But even though Faith wasn't little anymore, the forest scared her…

"Six eighty-two," Buffy said, and turned away from Faith and walked deeper into the forest. Faith looked for Rebecca, but she couldn't see her now…the sun was setting, and the park was immersed in a shimmering, golden haze. She looked into the forest again, as Buffy walked away from her, fading into shadow.

Faith could hear hoofbeats echoing beneath the black trees, far away, but coming closer.

"They'll get you in there!" Faith shouted. "Can't you hear them? They'll take you away with them! The one on the black horse will take you away!"

"Been there," Buffy said, her face almost wholly obscured in shadow. "Done that."

Behind Faith, the sun had nearly set. Faith knew once the sun went down, it would take Rebecca with it…she would melt into the light, and never come back. In front of her, the shadow had almost completely engulfed Buffy.

"Five by five," Buffy said, and walked deeper into the forest, her voice trailing back to Faith, thin and hollow; a ghost's voice.

Faith looked back at the park again. She saw the sun, a sliver of red now like a bloody scythe, about to set. She knew she just had time to make it back to Rebecca before it took her…

She looked into the forest, and caught a glimpse of golden blonde hair, melting into shadow. Once the shadows took her, Buffy would be gone…

Faith heard a voice. It was a whisper on the wind, but it felt like it was right next to her. Then Rebecca's scent came to her, and Faith knew the voice was hers, even though she couldn't see her.

And Faith entered the dark forest, as the sun set behind her, and night covered the world.

And Angel had a very large battle axe in his hand. Bon Jovi thought the battle axe looked annoyed too.

"You're a hard man to find, Bobby," Angel said. "That's a really stupid tee-shirt."

Angel picked him up by the neck and slammed him against the crates again. Bobby saw stars, and winced in pain.

"I killed a whole bunch of demons and severely injured a quarter-Irish bartender to find you," Angel said. "So that was fun. But now I'm all out of demons. So, not much fun anymore. How do you get in touch with those priests?"

"I don't…know what…" Bobby started to say. Angel smacked him across the face, dislodging a tooth. Bobby spit out blood.

"Okay, so I did the whole cool thing where I walk into the bar and torture everyone really slowly and inventively," Angel said. "But it took awhile and I'm on a schedule here, Bobby." He raised his axe.

"Bon Jovi," Bobby said. "He's a…it's a rock band," he added, as Angel's eyes narrowed.

"No one listens to Chopin anymore," Angel said. "I hate this century. This is the part where I cut your head off with this axe unless you start talking about those priests. No inventive torture. Just you being dust. Now."

"I kinda like 'Mandy'," Angel said. "But that's pretty much it for modern stuff. Nice talking to you." He raised his axe again.

"Wait, wait!" Bobby shrieked. "Please! We only talk on the phone, I don't know his name! He's just this guy with an English accent, I don't know anything else, I never even seen him! All I got's a phone number, I swear!"

"Yeah. Please…I'll give you his number? But don't tell him it came from me," Bobby whimpered. "The guy's a psycho. They say he killed two Slayers…"

The trees were thick and deformed, twisted into strange, sinister shapes. It was dark and hot beneath them. The air felt heavy. Buffy stopped and waited for Faith to catch up to her.

As they walked further into the forest, they heard the sound of hoofbeats coming closer.

Buffy marched through the forest. Faith plodded beside her. Buffy could tell she was afraid; she could smell it on her.

"But what do we do when the man on the black horse gets here?" Faith said. "How do we breathe?"

"Priest takes pawn," Faith said, and pointed to a dead body lying in the shadows under a tree.

Buffy stopped, and started shaking. Faith started to walk toward the body, but Buffy pulled her back.

"It's a male," Faith said. "Late teens. Dark hair, medium height, medium build. We need to preserve the crime scene, check for fingerprints, and get statements from witnesses."

"Please don't make me look," Buffy said, reverting to a little girl again. "Please don't make me! Please don't make me!" Buffy screamed, and started to cry, and hugged Faith with her eyes squeezed shut.

They were skeletons in black, hooded robes. They sat astride their horses, jet black, sickly yellow, ashen gray, pure white, and looked down at Buffy and Faith with eyes like stars.

The forest grew deathly cold. Faith could see her breath in the air, white on black, each breath floating up into the sky, making its mark on the world, and then slowly fading away to nothing in the cold, until only the black remained.

Buffy walked away from her. Faith tried to pull her back, but her hands went right through her, as if Buffy were already a ghost…

"Seventeen," Buffy said, and she was seventeen again now. "Seventeen is the average life-expectancy of a Slayer."

"It's nineteen," Faith said, helplessly, as Buffy reached out to the rider on the black horse…

And then his sword was in Faith's hand, filling the forest with light…and Faith leaped, screaming, at the rider on the black horse…

The forest was gone. The Horsemen had disappeared with it. Buffy looked around, and saw that they were back in the park, and the sun was rising. She could see Faith, and the blonde-haired woman. The woman was lying on the grass, covered with blood. Faith was crying beside her, holding her in her arms…

Buffy knelt beside Faith, and they looked down at the blonde-haired woman together. Buffy looked into the woman's blue eyes…deep, dark blue, like the ocean on a summer day. The woman looked back at her, and smiled.

Faith held Rebecca in her arms on the grass, as the sun rose and vanquished the night.

"She isn't me," Rebecca whispered in her ear. "When she comes…don't believe her."

Faith broke down in tears, crying hysterically, and fell on the grass. Buffy hugged her.

"It's okay," Buffy whispered, and started crying. "It's okay, baby, it's okay…I'm here now, baby. I'm here. I'm here…"

She woke up, in the dark, in her bed with Faith…Faith was holding her in her arms. And looking right at her, with tears in her eyes.

They sat in the kitchen and ate leftover lasagna and meatballs. The sky outside the window was gray. The sun would be coming up soon.

"What do we do? Tell everyone? Tell them what? That we both had some weird-ass Alice in Wonderland dream?"

"Well, what have we got? We were sisters. Your Watcher was our mother. I have no idea what that means, except that I love you and you love me, and we're both Slayers. Maybe that's what it means. Then there was a big dark forest…"

"There was supposed to be a witch in the forest. You said you heard there was a witch, and sometimes she's in the forest and sometimes she's in the park."

"Well, Willow's a witch, but I don't know what it means that she's in a forest and a park. And there are lots of other people in the world doing magic."

"There was a dead body in the forest too, but you were afraid to go near it. You wouldn't let me go look at it."

"And then there were the Four Horsemen," Buffy said, not wanting to think about the dead body for some reason. "That part's easy enough."

"There was this one weird thing," Faith said. "You mentioned a number, remember? Six eighty-two?"

"Always darkest before the dawn. Six eighty-two. Sure, that makes perfect sense to me. Kinda like how trigonometry makes perfect sense to me too."

"Okay, well, looking at the parts of the dream that do make sense…sort of, anyway…okay, so we know Slayer dreams can come true. Becca told me they can, plus I've had a couple weird dreams here and there and they sorta like came true in weird ways."

"So you think maybe we haven't stopped the Four Horsemen from coming after all?" Faith said.

"About time," Buffy said, as they both got up from the table and went to answer the door. "Here's hoping he found something we can use."

They opened the door. Angel was standing there holding his axe, a case of Rolling Rock beer and a case of Guinness.

"See?" Faith said. "Told you he'd come back with something. He came back with beer."

They sat in the kitchen together. Buffy and Faith ate meatballs. Angel drank Guinness.

"Spike," Faith said. "How the hell did he get involved in this? How the hell did he find out about the Key?"

"Frigging little British weasel," Angel muttered, and started in on another Guinness. "He must have heard the Key could be valuable to the right people. Spike always looks for opportunities to line his pockets."

"Even if it means destroying the world?" Buffy said. "I thought he didn't want to destroy the world. Y'know, like, there's no more soccer and beer if the world is destroyed."

"Not to mention, what the hell good is money anyway if the world ends," Faith said.

"So now what?" Faith said, and finished her last meatball. She was still hungry. She stole one off Buffy's plate.

"We have the Key, meatball girl," Buffy said. "So we don't have to go into like, desperation mode yet. But we need to get our hands on Spike. If he really brokered this deal he's got info on those vamps and those priests."

"He won't know you, but he'll recognize Buffy's description," Angel said. "He must know Buffy has the Key. He might come at us. Hopefully he will."

Angel finished his Guinness. He went to the refrigerator, pulled two more out of the case, and started in on another one.

"So I can kick the crap out of him," Angel said. "Didn't get a chance to last time he was here."

"And dangerous too," Faith said, as she eyed the rest of Buffy's meatballs. "Becca told me about him. We should be careful. Come up with a plan."

"Yeah," Buffy said. She speared one of her meatballs with her fork, and held it out to Faith. Faith ate it off the fork. "The plan is to find him before he finds us. He's got guys working for him now, and he knows where I live. No idea what he's got up his sleeve, so we have to hit him first. I figure he must be in town somewhere."

"We should start looking for Spike today, while the sun's up," Angel said. "He's just stupid enough to be laying low in one of his old haunts, maybe we can sneak up on him. Plus I have the phone number that vamp gave me just before I cut his head off anyway. So we'll manage to track Spike somehow. Since I'm no good in the sun I'll stay inside until dark, guard the house. I need sleep anyway, I haven't slept since Saturday."

"I got kind of a dilemma here," Faith said. "I wanna be out there with you looking for Spike. He's dangerous, I don't want you out there alone."

"I know, honey," Faith said. "But you're my girl. I wanna be out there protecting you."

"But Will…I don't know if she'll wanna be here with Angel alone," Faith said. "If she's scared to be here alone with him I wanna stay with her, make sure she's okay. So…I got a dilemma here."

"Xander won't like Angel being in the house without us here either," Buffy said.

"Doesn't matter, it'll still make him nervous," Buffy said. "He'll be worried about Willow."

"We've got three options," Faith said. "Buffy goes out alone and I hang back here with Will, Buffy and I go out there together, or we go out there and bring Will with us."

"Dangerous," Angel said. "Okay, yeah, you've come up against Spike and won, Buffy. And yeah, I'd bet on you to beat him again if it came down to it. But he's got people working for him now too. If he corners you somewhere, and you're outnumbered, I don't like the idea of Willow in the middle of it with you."

"Had to hit a demon bar," Angel said. "Killed a few demons, had a few beers. Good times. Taking Willow out with you when you look for Spike is a bad idea. You'll have to worry about protecting her and if you run into Spike she'll just slow you down. You should keep her here."

"She almost roasted your ass," Faith said. "Will can handle herself. And can you blame her for not trusting you? For not wanting to be left alone with you? Hell, I don't trust you either."

"How about…we talk to Will in the morning, see how she wants to play it," Buffy said. She watched Angel. His eyes were unfocused again. He wasn't looking at either of them. The deep gash she had made when she scratched his face was still there; the wound was scabbed over and faded to pink now, but it was still there.

"You were sixteen," Angel said. He still wasn't looking at her. "Didn't feel right, drinking in front of you."

He finished his beer and got up. He went to the refrigerator and pulled out two more.

"Look, I'm gonna go back down to the cellar, get some sleep," he said. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Today. Whatever."

Buffy and Faith went back to Buffy's bedroom, and shut the door behind them. They got into bed, under the covers, and Buffy held Faith in her arms, and kissed her. Faith curled up against her breasts.

Buffy had spent a lot of time looking into Faith's big brown eyes. She knew them by heart, now.

"Guess I feel kinda…I don't know…embarrassed, a little," Faith said, after awhile. "Kinda bad. Like, angry at Angel but angry at me too, at the same time."

"It's just…I don't know," Faith said. "I mean, he did all that bad stuff and I keep hatin' on the guy but…he didn't have his soul then, plus…I don't know, he seems kind of okay to me, y'know? Like, not forgivin' him for what he did to you and Will, but…I just feel…like when I said that stuff about not trustin' him, maybe I kicked him when he was down."

Faith kissed Buffy's breasts over her nightgown. Buffy sat up, and took her nightgown off.

She brought Faith's head back to her breasts, and Faith curled up against them again.

"He'll bounce back," Buffy said. "He'll keep it together, focus on the mission. Angel always does."

"Must be hard on him," Faith said. "I mean, you and me, together in the house, and he can like, hear it all."

"Yeah, you're right," Buffy said. "How about we never have sex again as long as we live, just in case he might hear us. Sound like a plan?"

Faith giggled, and shook her head, and rubbed her feet against Buffy's under the covers.

"No?" Buffy said, and moved her hand down between Faith's legs, and caressed her pussy over her panties. "You don't like that plan?"

Two hours later, she opened her eyes again. The sun was up, but Buffy could tell it was early; the crickets were still chirping, and when she went to the window and peeked through the curtains she saw the lawn was covered with dew and people weren't outside yet.

She opened the window as she peeked through the curtains. The day was brisk and beautiful, and the air smelled like roses. The sky was blue, as far as she could see, in every direction.

Faith was sleeping soundly, naked in the bed. The bed was rather rumpled. She slept curled up on her side, like she always did. Buffy went back to the bed, and sat down beside her, and watched her sleep.

"You're so beautiful, baby," Buffy whispered, and kissed Faith's forehead, and draped the blankets over her.

Then, careful not to disturb Faith's sleep, Buffy put her nightgown and socks back on and walked out of the room, quiet as a cat.

The house was silent as she walked down the hall. She passed her mother's room; Willow and Xander were still asleep. Their scents came to her; she focused in on Willow's sweet strawberry scent as she passed their door.

The old wooden stairs leading down there were thin and treacherous and creaky. But Buffy was sure-footed as she walked down those stairs, and descended into darkness.

The stairs didn't creak. Buffy didn't make a sound. She never made a sound when she didn't want to.

When her eyes adjusted to the light she saw him lying on the cot, looking up at the ceiling.

"My scent woke you up?" Buffy said, and leaned against the wall, and watched him. There were six empty beer bottles littering the floor around him.

"I'll let you go back to sleep in a minute. But first I want to know what the First said when she appeared as me. You said you'd tell me in private if I want."

Something was wrong. Faith suddenly shot back to consciousness, sitting bolt upright in her bed before she knew what had happened.

She looked around. Buffy wasn't in the bed. The room was bright; the curtains were drawn but Faith could tell the sun was shining outside.

She grabbed her stake from the nightstand before she knew she was doing it. She threw the door open…

His eyes caught the light from the window, and reflected silver. They looked like the moon shining on a black sea.

When Faith looked into them, she knew that all the terrible things Angel had ever seen, all the terrible things he'd ever done in more than two centuries, were there, floating just beneath the surface of that icy black sea…

His eyes froze her. For a second, she thought she might drown…sink beneath the waves, down into darkness, her blood stopping in her veins, everything warm inside her turning to ice…

Then Faith thought of Rebecca's beautiful blue eyes; she remembered Rebecca's warmth, and her strength…she knew Rebecca wouldn't be afraid.

"Good morning, Faithy," Angel said. "You done pissing your panties yet?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, so anyway, Buffy and I were talking, and she thought it would be nice if you came and joined us," Angel said. "You know, for a threesome. I gotta tell you, Faith, Buffy sure can fuck? I mean, that girl can go all night! Real flexible too. But the girl just cannot suck dick to save her life. I was hoping you'd give her some pointers. Buffy said you were the blowjob queen of Boston. She told me you suck dick like a real pro."

She looked into Angel's eyes, and she felt the cold thing inside her…the cold thing that had become a part of her when Rebecca died, and had never left…

"How about it, Faithy?" Angel said, and chuckled again. "Wanna have some fun? Buffy's resting right now, I kinda tired her out? But you know she's a bunny in the sack. You and I can get started, then she can join in. Come on, it'll be a good time! Don't try to pretend you don't have the hots for me, I can smell it on you. You'd love it. Once you go vamp, you never go back."

"Geez, no reason to get all emotional about it," Angel said, and frowned. "Buffy says you're a great lay, what more do you want?"

Angel could see in the dark, better than any human. When he looked at Buffy, he saw that her face was red.

She was looking down at the floor, and holding onto the edge of the cot. The cot had a metal frame; Buffy's hands were twisting it out of shape.

"Why would…why would the First say that?" Buffy whispered. "Why would it say Faith did that to me?"

"It lies, Buffy," Angel said. "It tries to screw with our heads, throw us off our game. It tries to separate us, make us doubt each other. Divide and conquer."

"You wanted to know," Angel said. "I told you it doesn't matter. That it was all just another lie."

"Actually it's what clinched it for me," Angel said. "I knew that would never have happened, so I knew I couldn't be talking to you. I didn't know Faith then, but I know you. No one could ever make you a victim."

Angel laughed. "She loves you?" he said. "C'mon Faithy, use your head. I know you haven't had a lot of practice, but give it a try. Do you honestly think Buffy could ever really love you? What do you have to offer? Sure, you're hot, you're good in the sack, and I guess that's what Buffy wants right now during this little experimenting phase she's in. But once she gets tired of you? She'll be back with me. Or, maybe? If you get her hooked on girls? She'll end up with Willow."

"And when the fucking's over, what exactly do you guys do?" Angel said. "Have you been out anywhere? Have you had a conversation? I bet Buffy must find it really intellectually stimulating, having to always remember not to use any big words when she's with you." He chuckled. "Faith, that sweet mouth of yours? It was made for sucking dick, not for scintillating conversation. Wait, right, my bad, used a big word there. 'Scintillating' means clever."

Faith tried to think about Rebecca. About how Rebecca always loved her, and told her she was smart, and brave, and strong…but she couldn't remember Rebecca now. She couldn't see her face…everything was dark. She couldn't look away from Angel's eyes. They held her…the room was bright, but Faith felt like she was under the sea…drowning in the dark…

"Don't you get it?" Angel said. "Buffy's gonna fuck you for awhile, and then when she just can't deal with actually having to pretend she likes you anymore it's over. C'mon Faith, look at it from Buffy's perspective. 'Perspective' means point of view, by the way. Try comparing yourself to me. I've been places. I've done things. I've seen the world. I'm smart, I know how to talk, how to act. You? You've been nowhere, seen nothing, done nothing. You're…well…I know this hurts? But you're dumb. It's not your fault, you were born dumb. But Buffy's smart. Being with someone like you is like slumming for her. Sure, she'll hang in for awhile, because she doesn't want to hurt your feelings and the one thing you've got to offer is a great lay? But eventually Buffy will get bored, and she'll realize that when you guys aren't fucking there really isn't anything there for her. And then she'll understand that she could never love you, and she'll leave. Don't act like this is a big surprise. You always knew you're not her first choice."

"There's a part of me you're always gonna have, Angel," she said. "But Faith is my choice. And yeah, Faith and I have hurt each other? We've made mistakes and screwed things up and almost lost each other? But…I guess…that's just what love is. You hurt each other. The people we love are the people who can really hurt us. Loving someone means you give them that, you give them that power. These scars will never go away. Just like I'll always love you, they'll always be there."

"I'm sorry I…hurt you, at your place," she said. "I know you didn't have your soul then. I know you wouldn't hurt us, Angel."

"I thought we could hang out, maybe reminisce about old times," Angel said, and smiled. "Your closet or mine?"

Faith wasn't crying anymore now. She looked right at Angel, a low growl welling up in her throat.

"For a girl who loves to suck dick you sure are a buzzkill," Angel said, and rolled his eyes, and frowned. "I wasn't gonna hurt her or anything. I was just gonna give her the fucking of her life, that's all."

"Those memories I gave her?" Angel said. "Don't let her whining fool you. She loved it when I put the wood to her. I rode her better than her limpdick boyfriend ever could. Remember the closet, Willow? Remember how I'd let you out to give you a bath, and then I'd fuck you afterwards?"

"I said GET AWAY FROM HER!" Faith screamed. "Get away or so help me I'll fucking KILL YOU RIGHT HERE!"

Everything seemed to slow down. Faith felt very still, and calm. Her rage boiled inside her, but she set it aside, contained it. She concentrated on her senses, and considered her options.

She heard Rebecca's voice in her head; she heard Rebecca saying the words. She remembered Rebecca's scent. She remembered her eyes, and her face.

She held Willow's hand. Willow was shaking less, now, as she leaned against Faith, and Faith gave her strength.

Faith heard Rebecca saying it. And suddenly, she realized it was the truth, knew for a fact it was the truth. She knew it was the truth because she knew, with absolute certainty, that Rebecca would never have lied to her.

"All that stuff you said," Faith said. "You were playing me. You're not Angel. You're the First."

Faith turned, and looked at Willow. "No reason to be afraid, auntie," she said. "First off, I'm here? And no one hurts you while I'm around. Second?"

Faith whirled around and threw her stake straight at Angel's heart. It went right through him, and stuck in the wall behind him.

"Wait, hold on a sec, now I'm confused," Angel said. "I thought you were supposed to be dumb?"

"Nope," Faith said. "But I can act dumb sometimes. I can get stuck in my own head, not seeing what's right in front of me. Buffy wouldn't do that stuff you said. She wouldn't cheat on me. She wouldn't say those things about me. She loves me."

"That's right, baby," Buffy said, walking up the stairs with Angel. "I love you. Don't you ever forget it."

"Well here's something you don't see every day," Xander said, as he walked into the hallway from Joyce's bedroom, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and saw two Angels standing next to each other. "Not without a hell of a lot more beer than I've had, anyway." He put his hand on Willow's shoulder.

"I was talking to Angel," Buffy said. "I wanted to know what the First said when it appeared as me."

Buffy, Faith, Willow and Xander stood together, holding each other, giving each other strength. Angel stood apart from them, watching the First. The First smiled back at them all.

"So this is the First," Giles said, as he came out of the spare room in his robe and slippers.

"You wouldn't know what Jenny says," Giles said. "You have no part of Jenny. She's in a place where you can't touch her."

"Yeah, so this is really fascinating, hanging out with the ultimate evil in the universe and everything?" Xander said. "But since apparently all you can do is talk us to death, I vote we all just go back to bed."

"Yeah, kind of a drag, how I can't just wring all your necks?" the First said. "But never underestimate the power of words, Xander. Not everything I say is a lie, remember? Some of it is true. And Angel was right, as usual: I can only manifest as people who have died. But the cool thing is? Once I do, I know everything they know…"

And suddenly, Angel's form was gone. The First discarded it like a snake shedding its skin…

"And I know all the things they've kept from you," the First said. "All the things Buffy kept from you. Hey, here's one: last spring, Angel made Drusilla give Willow her memories. Her memories, of exactly how Angel broke her. Her memories, of Angel locking her in a closet for a hundred-and thirty-one days, and raping her with his big dick. Raping her every single day. I'm not the only one who lies, Xander."

"And, not even kidding Xander?" the First said, and smiled at Xander, and held out her hands, a good distance apart. "Angel's big. Believe, me, I know. I could barely walk the next day when he took my cherry."

Buffy blushed. She looked away from the First…away from herself. Faith held her closer.

"All those girls he's been with?" the First said. "Angel knows what he's doing in bed all right. But hey, y'know, don't get down on yourself? Like they say, it's not the size of the bat, it's how you swing it. Just keep telling yourself that when you think of Angel raping the love of your life every day with his awesome humongous dick."

"What are you…what are you talking about?" Xander said. "Drusilla…she…what?"

"Xander," Giles said, and put his hand on Xander's shoulder. "The First is a liar. Remember that."

"That was…that was Angelus, who did that," Buffy whispered. "It wasn't Angel."

"Right, my bad," the First said. "But, y'know, Angel, Angelus…never really saw much difference. Angelus' big plan to make Willow his new Dru? That all started when he was Angel. It took Angelus to act on the plan, sure. But Angel was interested in Willow from the start. Hey, can't blame him. She's a cutie. She's my strawberry girl."

"They all did," the First said. "Buffy, Faith, Angel…just about everyone was in on it except you."

"He didn't just make her read Dru's memories, Xander," the First said. "He made her live them, in her mind, as if they all happened to her. As if they were her life. Every sight, every sound, every smell…Willow remembers all of it. Your girlfriend remembers Angel locking her in a closet and raping her every day. She remembers sucking his dick, and licking his balls, and swallowing his cum. She remembers what his cum tastes like. Or hey, you know what? Maybe I'm lying. I'm evil, right? Could be lying. How about it, guys? Who's the liar here? Did I lie to Xander? Or did you?"

"Xander…we…wanted to tell you, but…" Buffy said, looking down at the floor.

"Willow," Xander whispered, and caressed her cheek. Xander's face was turning red, and his hands were shaking. "Is this true? Did he…Angelus…do that to you? Do you remember him…doing that to you? Being in the closet, and…everything else. Do you remember it all as if it happened to you?"

Xander's face turned even redder; it turned red as an apple. He looked around at everyone; met everyone's eyes.

"You guys," the First said, and chuckled, breaking the silence. "Like shooting fish in a barrel. See what happens when we lie, Buffy? Faith should probably give your ass another spanking."

Xander tore himself away from her, and from Willow too. He grabbed Faith's stake from the wall…

"Xander, NO!" Buffy screamed, and grabbed Xander's arm again, yanking him backwards as he lunged at Angel…

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Xander shrieked, and wrenched himself free of her, spinning around and elbowing Buffy in the face. Buffy stumbled backwards, tripped over Giles and fell to the floor.

"Buffy!" Faith shouted, and immediately knelt down beside Buffy and took her hand.

Angel grabbed Xander's hand, and stopped him. The stake slipped from Xander's hand, and dropped to the floor.

Buffy was sprawled on the floor. Faith was helping her up. Giles had fallen against the end table. Willow stood in the middle of the hallway, white as a ghost and trembling all over now, and crying.

Xander tried to punch Angel in the face with his other hand. Angel grabbed that hand too, moving faster than their eyes could follow.

"I wish I could let you, Xander," Angel said, and looked right into Xander's eyes. "Think it's easy for me? Think I wanna be here? Think I wanna have to listen to someone else making love to my girl every night? I don't. But I can't let you kill me now. The world is in trouble and there are people out there who need saving. When this is done? When I've done my part? I'll stand here and let you stake me if you want. But not until it's done. You understand?"

Xander stood there, shaking a little, and looking at Angel. Angel looked back, standing perfectly still, as Xander's spit slid down his face, and off his chin. The First looked away, and shook her head.

"Xander," Faith said. "Don't…don't do this. Don't do this to Buffy. Please? She's your friend, Xander. She needs you right now. I'm your friend too."

"You and I aren't shit," Xander said. "Friends don't lie to each other. Giles, did you know about this too? Were you in on the big Let's Make A Fucking Sap Out Of Xander game too?"

"They wanted to tell you," Willow said. "Buffy didn't find out about this until Saturday night, at Angel's mansion. Faith found out the next day. And they both wanted to tell you. But I told them they had to keep it a secret." She glanced at Giles. "From you and from Giles," Willow said. "I just…I just only wanted the girls to know."

"So if, y'know, you wanna be all, angry at someone? Be angry at me," Willow said.

"Can't ever be angry with you, and yeah, I know I'm bullshitting even as I'm saying it," Xander said. "So let me rephrase. Okay, yeah, I'm angry with you. But I love you, so I'll get over it. But I'm leaving, Willow. I'm not doing this anymore. I can't be a part of this…of putting you in danger anymore."

"This is…this is why," Willow said. "I didn't want you to know because…I knew you'd do this. I knew you'd want us to stop helping."

"I like how you're predictable," Willow said. "But…Buffy needs us. If we leave…"

"If we leave no fucking monsters will have a chance to lock you in a closet and rape you. Willow, did you ever think that maybe all the badness, all the shit that comes into our lives, might be because of her?" Xander said, and pointed at Buffy, without looking at her.

Xander looked down at her. Faith was still sitting with Buffy on the floor, holding her in her arms.

"You weren't here, Faith," Xander said. "You don't know what our lives were like before Buffy. You wanna know what our lives were like? Peaceful. I never even saw a vampire before I met Buffy. I lived in Sunnydale sixteen years without anyone ever trying to kill me. Then I met Buffy Summers. Willow grew up here too. No one ever tried to kill her. No one ever screwed with her head and gave her memories of being locked in a fucking closet and raped every day. Then she met Buffy Summers."

"I thought no one could ever care about me," Faith said. "Then I met Buffy Summers. And you guys too. Walking away is a mistake, Xander. No matter what you think, I am your friend. And I'm telling you, as a friend, that if you walk away?" She looked over at the First. "You're playing right into that thing's hands."

"I know you didn't mean this," Xander said. "I know you never wanted to hurt us…to hurt Willow. But you did. You did hurt us. And hey, you can hurt me all day long? But I can't let you hurt Willow anymore."

"I'm packing my stuff, Willow," Xander said. "You can come with me, or you can stay here. If you stay, we're through. Yeah, I know, kinda harsh? I'm like, completely making a scene? But I love you. I'll always love you. And I can't see you in danger anymore. So you need to decide. Are you coming with me?"

Xander took her hand, and they walked back into Joyce's bedroom together, without another word.

Xander grabbed his things from the closet, and shoved them into his gym bag. Willow took her things from the bureau, and arranged them neatly in her suitcase. They didn't talk. They put their shoes and their coats on.

"Please don't go?" she whispered. "Please? You guys are…you guys are my family."

"Gotta," Xander said. "But…what I said before…about you not meaning anything to me. I was being a dick. I'm sorry. You mean a lot to me, Faith. I care about you."

"Ow," Xander said, and giggled, that goofy giggle he had. "Strong Slayer grip." Faith giggled too.

"I'll always be your auntie," Willow whispered in her ear. "I'll always love you, Faith. Always. And we'll see each other again, okay sweetie? We will. I promise."

"I love you too," Faith whispered, her voice cracking. And she trembled, and cried, and didn't let Willow go…

"He's right," Buffy said. "All I ever did was hurt you. All I ever did was…almost get you killed. I'm sorry, Willow."

"You cared about me. You protected me. That's what you did," Willow said. "That's what you always did, Buffy."

"I just need to collect my things," Giles said. "I'll just be a few minutes. I'll meet you both at the car."

No one said a word, as Willow and Xander walked down the stairs. No one said a word, as they heard the front door open, and close…and then they were gone.

"I lost them," Buffy whispered, as her tears fell down her cheeks, and Faith held her tight. "I lost them."

"Of course not," Giles said. "I would never leave Buffy…I would never leave either of you. And Willow didn't want Xander or me to know about this, and while I don't think that was the right decision on her part, it was still her decision. There was nothing else you could have done."

"I'll take them back to my house, and I'll find a way to convince them to stay with me until this business is finished," he said. "I'll look after them, Buffy."

Angel watched them…watched the three of them together, sitting on the floor, and holding each other. They didn't even seem aware of him anymore.

He knew he didn't belong with them anymore. He wasn't part of what they had…he knew he had no right to it anymore.

"No," Giles said. "You saved the world. You saved your friends. You protected us all, as best you could. No one could have done more, Buffy."

"You believe it, honey," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's cheek. "You listen when your Watcher talks, okay?"

"I'll call later, after they're settled in and I've had a chance to talk to them," Giles said. "Maybe…I can convince him to change his mind."

"It's not easy," Giles said. "I wish I could make it easier for you. I wish I could take some of the burden on myself. But I can't. So you need to hold on. You need to hold on and be strong, all right?"

"Good," Giles said. "All right, I'll call you once I have them settled in." He stood up, and walked back to his room.

"Honey," Faith said. "Come back to bed, okay? I don't want you out here like this anymore. Let me take care of you."

Buffy nodded, and let Faith stand her up. They walked back to their bedroom together, without even glancing at Angel.

He let his senses reach out. He heard Giles packing his things. He heard the furnace making that grinding noise it sometimes made. He heard Faith whisper, "I love you." He heard Buffy whisper back, "I love you so much, baby."

He stood in the hallway, alone. He knew he wasn't part of Buffy's life, anymore. He knew he didn't belong there. He knew he didn't belong anywhere.

He was a reflection. All that he was, he knew, was the effect he'd had on other people. He didn't exist, on his own…he had no identity other than what he created in the people around him. He was a reflection, and Buffy, Faith, Willow, Xander and Giles were his mirrors.

Giles came out of the spare room wearing a coat and carrying his suitcase and his leather satchel. He stopped in front of Angel.

"Yes. But they're young. They'll need our help to come through this. Will you help? Will you keep Buffy safe while I'm gone? And Faith too?"

He heard the front door open and close. A moment after that he heard Giles driving away.

He heard Buffy weeping in her bedroom. He heard Faith whisper, "Sshhh, honey. Sshhh. I love you. I love you. You're my girl."

"Pathetic," she said. "You're better and more important than the lot of them put together. And you let them treat you this way. You let that…that ignorant child spit in your face."

"You're just gonna keep on bothering me, aren't you?" Angel said, and kept walking. "What is it now? More speeches about how big and great and evil you are? Already said no to the deal. What else is there to talk about?"

"When you were with me, and happy?" she said. "You would have sliced that little fool to ribbons and strung him up like a side of beef. By the time you finally allowed him to die he would have been intimately acquainted with the look, smell, taste and texture of his own insides. Instead you stand there, enduring their abuse, wearing your fucking sackcloth, covering yourself in ashes."

"I'll always love you, Buffy," Faith said. "I'll never leave you. You understand that? That I'll always stick with you, no matter what?"

"It wasn't your fault, honey," Faith said. "It was no one's fault. Will told us not to tell, because she knew what would happen."

"I can't do it, baby," Buffy said. "I can't, I can't. I can't…be the leader anymore, and have to make all the decisions, and…be strong all the time. I can't."

"You said that, if…if I didn't want to anymore, you'd step up. That you'd take the weight. Will you? Will you do this for me?"

"I love you," Buffy whispered, an hour or so later, as they laid naked on the bed together, and Faith held her in her arms.

"That's because you're my girl, honey," Faith said. "I always take good care of my girl."

"We look for Spike," Faith said. "It's still real early, I figure we can cover the whole town pretty good in Angel's car."

"Y'know, I never would have thought of that. I was all ready for us to just go out and like, walk everywhere."

"We can cover more ground with a car. Anyway hopefully the thing won't be a shitbox like Giles' car."

"Angel's car is the coolest car ever. It's all like, this big black super-fast convertible? Angel thinks he's Burt Reynolds when he drives it," Buffy said, and sat up. "You're gonna love it."

"Um, as much as I'm always horny for you, baby?" Buffy said. "You do want us to go looking for Spike, right?"

"Well, I don't think he's hiding in this room? So we're gonna need to get out of the bed to look for him."

"So what are you doing exactly? Are you being horny? But you haven't done any pervo stuff to me yet."

"Faith cages are unbreakable," Faith said, and kissed Buffy's cheek, and held her tight. "You can't escape from a Faith cage. You just gotta do your time, finish out your sentence."

"You have to believe things are gonna get better. I'm not letting you out of the cage until you believe that."

"Something you're forgetting. Xander's forgetting too. Those wolf vamps want Willow. It's got nothing to do with Willow being with us, they want her no matter where she is. She's safe with Giles for now because the sun's up. Once it gets dark? We're gonna have to start watching her. Whether Xander likes it or not, he's gonna have to deal with us until this thing is over. So yeah, you'll be seeing Will and Xander again. You'll be seeing them again tonight."

"You have to believe, honey. You have to believe things are gonna get better. You just…you just have to have faith."

Angel laid on the cot in the cellar, looking up at the ceiling, and finishing a Rolling Rock. Xander hadn't taken the case of Rolling Rock with him. So Angel stole one. For old time's sake.

A moment later she walked down the thin old wooden stairs. She was quiet, but the stairs still creaked a little.

"Hey," he said, and looked at her. She was wearing the same red leather coat he'd seen her in when he first arrived at the house, and a wakizashi in a scabbard hooked to her belt.

She approached his cot. Empty beer bottles littered the floor all around it. Angel added the bottle of Rolling Rock to the pile.

"I can drink you under the table, Lehane," Angel said, and went back to looking up at the ceiling.

"Shit," she said, and sat down on the edge of his cot, and blushed, and smiled despite herself.

"Hangin' in. Lately it seems like every day's throwin' me a new curve. I'm still kind of like, acclimating, I guess. Figuring it out as I go."

"When I said I didn't trust you, it felt like a cheap shot," Faith said. "I'm not sayin' like, I trust you a hundred percent? I mean, you did all that stuff. But…when I said it last night…I just said it 'cuz I was pissed off."

"Don't worry about it," Angel said. "You don't know me. Got no reason to trust me. Especially after what I did."

"I was pissed that you said Will would be dead weight in a fight. Will's strong. She can handle this. I didn't like you being all like, she's not important."

"That's not what I think. I know Willow can handle herself…handle the things we face. Just because she can't throw a punch that doesn't mean she isn't strong. I misspoke before. I didn't mean it like…like she should just stay home. I just meant, going up against Spike and maybe a bunch more vampires with him, Willow's better off hanging back. I know she wouldn't panic, I know she'd do her best to protect Buffy. But it's not a good situation for her to be in."

"Buffy said if it was you she was up against instead of Angelus last spring, you would've won."

"If I lose my soul again, you have to kill me," Angel said. "Don't bother trying to re-ensoul me. The only reason that worked last time was I didn't know Willow could do it. I killed Jenny Calendar because she was trying to re-ensoul me. If I had known then that Willow could do it I would've killed her too."

"Angelus isn't a separate person. He's me. If I lose my soul again the first thing I'll do is try to stop Willow. You have to kill me before that happens."

"She might hesitate. You won't. Promise me if I ever lose my soul again, you'll kill me. Willow, Buffy…they might want to try to re-ensoul me again. That'll just buy me time to do more damage. You have to kill me."

"My life is completely fucked in the head," she said. "I'm hanging with a vampire. And our small talk? Are we talkin' ball games? Are we talkin' cars? Nope. We're having a heart-to-heart about how you want me to solemnly swear to kill you sometime. Plus, I'm just gonna say it again? You're a vampire."

"Yeah," Faith said, and laid back on the cot, and looked up at the ceiling. "I remember when vampires were just like, these guys in movies. Like y'know, Freddy and Jason."

"You're old, dude," Faith said, and grinned. "Freddy and Jason are these movie bad guys. Not vampires. Just kinda like…well I don't know, mutant freak guys I guess. Point is they're fake. Always thought vamps were fake too. Now I'm hanging out with one."

"Life's full of surprises," Angel said. "Will you do it? If I lose my soul. Will you promise to kill me, no matter what Buffy or Willow say?"

As Buffy buckled her scabbard on her belt and headed downstairs carrying a duffel bag, Angel was following Faith into the living room.

"You have to be careful when you downshift," Angel was saying. "It's kinda finicky downshifting."

"It's got maybe a quarter tank of gas? If you need to fill it you gotta get premium unleaded. Regular's bad for the engine."

"Didn't say you were gonna crash it," Angel said. "It's just…finicky. You have to treat it right."

"Don't you worry your pretty little head, GQ," Faith said. "We'll bring it back without a scratch. Uh…steering wheel's not over on the right, is it?"

"Yeah, he said he'll ask Will to backtrack Spike's number for us. And I told him to expect us tonight."

"Cool," Faith said, and turned to Angel. "Okay guy, me and Buffy will be back before sunset. We'll call and check in during the day too. When we get home two of us have to head right back out to Giles' place, so we can watch Will for the night. If maybe Xander's calmed down a bit the other one can go with him to pick up some stuff from that military base. You good here 'til we get back?"

"Uh…well…it would be good if one of you…showed me how to work the VCR," Angel mumbled.

"Nope," Buffy said, and grabbed the VCR remote from the coffee table, and stood next to him, pointing out all the buttons. "Okay, look. This button here? Turns on the TV. If you wanna just watch TV these buttons change the channels up and down. If you wanna watch a tape, just put the tape in…um, you know how to put a tape in, right? You just like, slide it in?" Angel nodded. Buffy wasn't sure if he really knew how to put a tape in or if he was just trying to hold onto some of his dignity, but she just kept going. "The VCR turns on when you put a tape in. All you gotta do is press this button here, it switches back and forth between the TV and the VCR, then press the play button here. These two buttons are fast forward and rewind…"

"Fast forward speeds the movie up if you want to skip over a part," Buffy said. "Rewind takes you backwards if you want to see a part again. This button here? Pause? It like, freezes the movie in case you need to take a break and you don't wanna miss anything. Just press it again to make it start playing again."

"Damn B, you tryin' to neuter the guy? There's some Clint Eastwood movies Xander left here," Faith said. "Better not even try to tell me you don't like Clint, Angel. Your coolness is hangin' by a thread here as it is."

Faith sighed and shook her head, and went to the entertainment center and pulled down some videotapes. She looked them over, then pulled one from its box and inserted it into the VCR.

"Cowboy movie, awesome gun fights," Faith said. "It's about honor, and revenge. Doin' right by your friends and never backin' down. Plus sayin' cool shit while you do it. And not for nothin, if you don't like Clint? You're gay."

"You're gonna like Clint eventually, girlfriend," Faith said. "I'm chippin' away, I'm gonna like, mold you. You're gonna be my Eliza Doolittle."

"Man, I've got so much work to do here," Faith said, and shook her head again. "C'mon, my fair lady, I'll explain in the car. While I'm driving."

Willow and Xander sat on Giles' couch, and Giles sat across from them in the squeaky recliner. They drank tea. There was a plate of dry, crumbly tea cookies on the coffee table, that no one had touched.

"Of course," Giles said. "You're always welcome to stay here. Is the room all right?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Xander said. "And it's a big help. I didn't really…uh…think this whole thing through when we left Buffy's. Would've been a bummer having to sneak Will into my room in the basement of my parents' place."

"I'm sorry there isn't a television," Giles said. "There's the television here in the parlor though. And my record player."

Giles watched Willow. She hadn't looked at him, or Xander, since she arrived. She hadn't talked either. She was still looking down at her tea cup.

"Yeah," Willow said. "I just lost two of my friends. Hey, let's, y'know, have a big fucking party."

Xander put his hand arm around her. Willow's body was neither rigid nor yielding. She moved when he pulled her toward him. She stopped moving when he stopped moving her. She was like a rudderless boat, moving with the currents.

"I'm sorry, Giles," Willow said. "I'm not…I'm not angry with you. I'm just…it's been a rough day."

Usually, Willow's voice was lighter than air and bright as sunshine; it would flit around a room like a bumblebee on a summer day, trailing laughter in its wake. Now her voice was leaden; it was grounded. It was low and flat and unvarying, as if it was missing something. As if something had gone out of it.

Giles picked up the plate of cookies, and held it out to her, and smiled that winsome smile he had, the one that showed off his dimples.

"They're all like, crumbly," Willow said. "They're like, these sad crumbly British cookies."

"They don't taste like anything either," Willow said. "How come you get these? How come you don't get like, Oreos? Oreos with double stuff."

"Those vampires are still after me, Xander," Willow said, looking at him for the first time. "Did you think they were just gonna stop because you decided to be mean to Buffy? If we're not staying with Buffy and Faith we're gonna have to stay here. We can't go home, our parents would freak if those vampires showed up, they wouldn't know what to do. They'd call the cops and then the cops would come and get killed too. We have to stay here until this thing is over."

"Maybe now that we're away from Buffy they won't be looking for you anymore," Xander said.

"It has nothing to do with Buffy," Willow said. "You heard what the vampires said, they want me. If it wasn't for Faith I'd be gone and you'd be dead. If it wasn't for Faith I would've been dead in that alley two months ago."

"And don't act like you don't know it," Willow said. "Yeah, I came with you, because I, I can't lose you? But don't you, don't you act like…"

"Don't you act like this is all Buffy's fault," Willow said. "She never like, forced us to help. Remember when we started out? She was always telling us to stay home, always telling us it was too dangerous. But we kept insisting on coming along. Because she was our friend. And now…and now…"

"She did?" Willow said, and snapped her head up like a terrier on a scent, and wiped her tears away.

"And to tell me what Angel found. Willow, would you mind tracing a phone number on your computer for me? It seems that Spike –"

"Fucking figures," Xander muttered. "We've been gone what, like four hours and she's already –"

"Angel tracked down one of the vampires who delivered the Key," Giles said. "The vampire never saw the man he's working for, he only talked to him on the phone. He gave Angel the number. He said the man he works for is a vampire, and he has an English accent, and that he's rumored to have killed two Slayers in his time."

"Well, we have no direct proof, but he's the only person we know of who fits the bill," Giles said. "Supposedly he got hold of the Key and set up the deal to sell it to those priests; the vampires delivering it were his flunkies."

"Yup, that sounds like Spike. He's always looking for a way to make some money."

"Plus Buffy has the Key. If he comes after it…Giles, we need to find Spike before he finds us."

"Just what Buffy and I were thinking. Buffy and Faith are looking for Spike now. Can you trace the number?"

"Not with that old dinosaur of a computer you have," Willow said, and smiled for the first time, and leaped off the couch. "But my handy-dandy laptop can. I'm gonna have to unplug your computer and steal your internet connection for awhile. Aren't you happy I made you get a T1 line now?"

"Yes, Willow, I just want to dance for joy," Giles said. "It's marvelous, having a whole world of ridiculous twaddle at my fingertips."

"Okay, wait a minute," Xander said, and stood up. "Just…slow down, okay? Will, I thought…I thought we decided we were done with this stuff?"

"I didn't decide anything," Willow said. "You decided, remember? You didn't let me be part of the decision. It was either come with you or you were gonna dump me."

"Will…" Xander said, and put his arms around her waist. "I just…don't want you to get hurt."

"Are you worried I'll get carpal tunnel syndrome?" Willow said. She kept her arms straight down at her sides. Her posture was stiff. "'Cuz other than that I don't see how typing on my laptop's gonna hurt me."

"I'm doing this," Willow said, and pulled away from him. "Giles, what's that number?"

"God damn, this thing's a blast to drive!" Faith said, as she whizzed down Sunnydale's back roads in Angel's car at extremely unsafe speeds. She had the top down and her arm around Buffy and a big smile on her face. Buffy had taken her shoes off, and she was hanging her feet out the window and wiggling her hips to the music coming from the hip hop station.

"Yup, Angel knows cars," Buffy said. "And like, I don't know cars? But this one is big and black and shiny and fast and it's a convertible."

"So when am I gonna get to drive, boss?" Buffy said, and ran her fingers up and down Faith's knees.

"When you pry the keys from my cold, dead fingers," Faith said. "Guy owns a car like this can't be all bad."

"Hell yeah. This car makes up for a lot of sins but any guy who doesn't like Clint just ain't a guy. So where we headed next, beautiful?"

"No, seriously. You always call me beautiful and…I don't know, I'm just wondering why."

"Because you're the most beautiful woman in the world, Buffy," Faith said, and took Buffy's hand, and kissed it.

Faith looked down at Buffy, and Buffy stared up into her eyes. The sun was bright in the sky, and Faith's eyes reflected it back at her…Faith's eyes were golden in the sunlight.

"And it's true, too," Faith said. "And Becca, one of the big things about her was, she never talked just to talk. She said something, she meant it, you took it to the bank, y'know? She never blew smoke. So I don't either. I don't talk just to talk. I mean the things I say. And when I say you're the most beautiful woman in the world? I mean it, Buffy. I mean it."

"I love you too, beautiful," Faith whispered back, and leaned her head down, and gently kissed her.

"Just gotta have faith," Faith said. "We're gonna see Will tonight. We'll talk to Xander too, find out if maybe he's calmed down some. But even if he won't budge? Remember what I said, Buffy. Willow's not gonna let him run her whole life. She's too strong for that. We're gonna get her back. Okay, beautiful?"

"So you could be a bad girl and distract me?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow. "Sorry hon, I'm the boss. Boss says we're working right now."

"You're such a mean boss," Buffy said, and kissed Faith over her jeans, in between her legs. "You won't let me have any fun."

"We tried Spike's old crypts, plus the factory he was hiding out at last time he and Dru were here. We'll hit Willy's place next, see if anyone's heard anything. They do this potato and egg sandwich that Spike really likes? He went there for lunch sometimes. Willy's got a sewer access that all the vamps use."

"He's a weird vamp. He likes food, he likes beer, he likes music. He likes parties, hanging out with people."

"I'm gonna drive on the way back from the bar," Buffy said. "I'm so gonna drive."

She leaned down and kissed Buffy again, and sped up; the car shot down the road, and the wind whipped their hair around. Buffy stretched her legs and hung her feet out the window again, and turned up the volume on the radio.

And they moved their hips to the music, and snapped their fingers, and sang together, and laughed together…as the sun shined down above them, and the world rushed by all around them, and they raced toward what awaited them…

"We got somethin' in this territory called the Missourah boat ride," Angel said, with a big grin on his face.

Angel hadn't seen a Western since the time he had watched a John Wayne marathon on an old black and white television set in a woman named Shelly Baker's kitchen in Nevada in 1961, and he hadn't realized how much fun they could be. He'd dismissed the John Wayne movies then as naive, simplistic morality plays with two-dimensional characters moving about in a child's idea of the world. But this movie was different. Angel thought Josey Wales was a cowboy he could get behind.

There had been a dangerous moment when he'd tried to pause the movie so he could get a glass of blood, and he had hit the wrong button and suddenly Telemundo had come on. It had been touch and go for a few seconds after that, but he managed to get the movie back. He'd had to start over from the beginning, as he'd apparently rewound the movie by mistake somehow, but he didn't mind because he had only been ten minutes into it and it had a hell of a good beginning and it was fun watching it again. And it gave him a chance to grab himself a tall, frosty glass of blood and some beers. He was settled in on the couch now, and he had his blood and his beer, and the sound of gunfire was music to his ears.

"You a bounty hunter?" Josey Wales said, standing tall as a redwood in a shadowy corner of the saloon. His voice was a low, raspy rumble, like distant thunder on the plains.

"A man's gotta do somethin' for a livin' these days," the little weasel of a bounty hunter replied, as Josey's cobra stare nailed him in place.

Angel tried to pause the movie. The screen suddenly turned black, and the word "input" was displayed in the upper right corner.

When he opened the door, peeking out from behind it so the sun couldn't reach him, a girl he had never seen before was standing on the porch.

"Um…yeah um…" the girl said, looking down at the porch. "Sorry, um…I was looking for…the S-Summers house? I mean…Buffy Summers."

"This is Buffy's house," Angel said. "She's not here right now, but…uh…are you a friend of hers?"

The girl looked up, and smiled. She had wide, full lips, and a beautiful smile. But she looked away again, the second Angel looked into her big blue eyes.

She ran her hand through her long blonde hair, and fingered the pendant she wore on a silver chain around her neck. The pendant was a perfect white sphere; it looked like a crystal. It shimmered in the sunlight.

The girl reminded Angel of a butterfly. She was a rare, beautiful, fragile thing, but if you made any sudden movements, she might fly away…

"I was wondering if she's s-seen Faith," the girl said. "Faith Lehane? She's a friend of mine and…I know Buffy knows her? And…um…I've been trying to reach Faith but sh-she's not around? Um…do you know Faith?"

"Yeah," Angel said. "She's been staying here. She's out with Buffy right now. They should be back by four or so."

"Oh," the girl said, and looked down at the porch again, and blushed. "Okay. S-sorry to bother you. Can you just…m-m-maybe tell Faith I stopped by?"

"Um…yeah, I'm kinda like a spaz sometimes?" she said. "Sorry. I'm Tara. But you can just like call me Spaz Girl if you want."

A car came up the street, still a couple of blocks away but headed in their direction, and driving slow. It had blacked-out windows.

"You're…? Hey!" Tara said, as Angel grabbed her arm, yanked her into the house and slammed the door.

Angel put his finger to his lips, and dragged Tara away from the door. He marched her into the living room, and shielded her body with his, as he craned his neck to peek through the curtained window while trying to avoid the sunlight. The car had passed the house now, and it was speeding away up the street.

Angel opened both of the living room windows just a crack, so he could catch any scents if vampires came near the house again. He held onto Tara as he did; he couldn't risk her leaving now.

"W-what are you…like s-some kind of psycho or something?" she said. "Because…because I'm friends with Faith, and she can…she's really strong and she can kick your ass if you…if you try to…"

"What do you mean I was followed? Who's following me? Why did you drag me in here? Where's Faith?"

Angel considered his options. The problem was, he didn't know exactly how much Tara knew…if she was Faith's friend, Faith might have told her she was a Slayer…or she might not. Angel didn't know Faith very well yet but one thing he did know, one thing he had sensed about Faith right from the start, was that she didn't have many friends…and he didn't want to cost her this one.

"You're right about Faith being strong," Angel said. "Did she tell you why she's strong? Do you know about this town, and what goes on here? About the things that come out after dark?"

"I know about vampires if that's what you mean," Tara said. "And just so you know? Faith kicks vampires' asses. So…so sh-she can sure as hell kick yours if you try to hurt me."

"I'm not gonna hurt you. I just needed to make sure you knew what the score is here before I tell you what's going on. You were followed by a car with blacked-out windows, I saw it up the street driving slow when we were talking at the door. A car with blacked-out windows means vampires."

"They might have just been watching the house," Angel said. "Faith and Buffy are Slayers. They don't just kick vampires' asses, they save the world too. Right now the world is in trouble. There's a new group of vampires in town, there are hundreds of them and they're stronger than the regular variety. They're trying to end the world and Buffy and Faith took something from them, a magic Key they were gonna use, to stop them from doing it. The vampires want it back. I think they'll move against us soon. That's why I'm here. I'm helping Buffy and Faith. My name's Angel. I'm sorry I scared you. But I need you to stay here until Buffy and Faith get back. If you go out there those vampires might hurt you."

Tara looked up into his eyes, without flinching this time. Her face was still red, and her hands were still shaking, and Angel knew she was still scared, and trying to hide it. He knew it took an effort for Tara to meet his eyes.

Tara looked around the room for the first time. She noticed Angel's glass of blood on the coffee table, and two bottles of beer. She noticed the TV set, with the word "input" on the screen. She noticed the Clint Eastwood videotapes on the coffee table; the box for The Outlaw Josey Wales was on top of the pile.

"Yeah," Angel said. "I'm watching one of his movies right now. Uh, well I'm trying to. I don't, uh, know how to work the VCR too well."

Tara set her shoulder bag down on the coffee table, and picked up The Outlaw Josey Wales. "Box is empty. Are you watching this one now?"

"Yeah. Faith said I'd like it." There were some interesting smells coming from Tara's shoulder bag; it smelled like a bunch of different herbs intermingling together. Angel recognized them. Separately, they were innocuous; cooking herbs. Together, they were magic ingredients. He focused in on the pendant Tara wore around her neck again. It was warmer than the temperature of the room.

"Yeah. I was in the middle of the movie when you rang the bell. I tried to pause it, but, uh…it sorta got away from me. And it was at a really good part too."

"Faith made me watch all Clint Eastwood's movies with her. She would always like, do her Clint impressions while the movies were going? She's kinda like a big goof. So you're sure you're not like some Hannibal Lecter guy who's gonna eat my skin or something gross like that, right?"

Angel had been reading people for more than two centuries. He thought he was a good judge of character. He knew he needed to make a decision now.

He could force Tara to stay until Buffy and Faith came back, but he didn't want to do that. Or he could trust her not to run, but if she did he wouldn't be able to chase her in the sun; Buffy and Faith had his car and Giles' car was gone too. If she ran she could die and he wouldn't be able to prevent it…

"Tara," Angel said. "If you run out that door, those vampires might find you and kill you. And I won't be able to help you if you run…I won't be able to follow you out there. I can only protect you in the house. And if you run out there, and get kidnapped, or killed? Faith will kick my ass. Worse than that, she'll lose a friend. And she doesn't have that many."

The study was crammed full of books and papers and candles and crystals and various magic trinkets that Xander didn't recognize. The room smelled like incense, and it was dark; the only light came from a desk lamp. The lamp was solid silver carved in the shape of a gryphon and it looked right at home.

Xander thought all the room needed was a gypsy looking down into a crystal ball. Instead it had Willow, sitting at Giles' desk and looking down into her laptop. She was sipping tea, and frowning.

Willow could shut out the world; Xander could tell she didn't know he was there. She licked her lips, the way she always did when she concentrated. She stared down at her laptop as if she was trying to bore a hole through it. Her forehead had that little wrinkle it sometimes got between her eyebrows.

"Can't trace a cell phone. I can only trace landlines. I can backtrack a cell number, tell you who the account belongs to, but I can't locate the phone itself."

"Spike doesn't have addresses. The account belongs to a girl who died a month ago. Spike must've killed her and took the phone."

Xander walked into the dark little room, and stood behind Willow. He rested his hands on her shoulders, and started massaging them. She stiffened at his touch. Her shoulders were rigid as a plank of wood.

"I don't know," Willow said. "Isn't that your call? You make all the decisions for us, right? So, y'know, you tell me."

"Sure," Willow said, and took his hands off her shoulders, closed her laptop, picked up her cup of tea, and walked away from him.

She sat on the couch, and looked down at the floor. She fidgeted with her hair, twisting it into little loops.

"A little miffed?" Willow said. She looked up at him. "You think that's what I am? You think I'm a little miffed?"

"So let's talk. We've been here all day and we haven't said a word to each other. I've been watching PBS for God's sake. I've been eating those tea cookies. The most fun I've had is building a new bookcase for Giles."

"You know that carpentry elective I'm taking? I guess I'm getting kinda good at it. Giles bought all the pre-cut wood and the tools and stuff for the bookcase awhile ago but he didn't know how to put it all together. It's easy."

"That's…really cool," Willow said, and smiled a little. "You like it? You like doing carpentry?"

"Yeah. I think that's what I'm gonna do after high school. I don't think I'm gonna go to college. I'm gonna be a carpenter. That cool with you? You can handle being with a guy who's not all down with the book learnin'?"

"I don't know," Willow said. "Carpentry can be dangerous, right? I mean, you use like, saws, and drills and stuff. You could hurt yourself. Cut off a finger."

"Maybe I should tell you never to do carpentry again. Maybe I should tell you that if you ever do it again then you and I are finished."

She wasn't looking at him. He held her hand, but she wasn't holding his. Her hand, her whole body, was rigid, but languid at the same time; lifeless. She sat with him, but she wasn't there.

"Not like I'm gonna have to use my carpentry skills to fight monsters and save the world, Will," Xander said. "Uh…okay, I guess maybe someone could ask me to build an ark? But I'm not so good at measuring in cubits. The metric system's confusing enough. Bottom line is, Buffy isn't gonna be asking me to –"

"This isn't about Buffy," Willow said. She looked at him. She looked right into his eyes. "So stop pretending it is."

Every head turned. Buffy took in the room: there wasn't much of a crowd yet. Three demons sat at the bar, and two vampires, a male and a female, played pool in the back. The place still looked like a cave. Questionable stains still covered the floor. The jukebox was still smashed in from the last time she had visited. Willy was behind the bar.

Faith closed the door, leaned against it, and gave the crowd a quick once-over. She'd never seen a demon before, but they didn't worry her. These demons were bigger and meaner-looking than vampires but their scents told her they were scared. More than that, they were prey. Faith sensed it, she felt it in her stomach, in her bones; their presence raised her hackles. She wanted to wade into all three of them right then, tearing through their flesh with her fingernails and feeling their bones shattering beneath her fists, smelling their blood, laughing and killing and reveling in it; reveling in her power. But she controlled herself.

Killing the demons would have been good. But watching Buffy kill them would be even better. So Faith stood by the door, and watched.

"That's my girlfriend, Faith," Buffy said, and smiled back at her. "She's a Slayer too. She's just gonna watch for now. She's kinda like, auditing the class."

"What the hell do you want, kid?" Willy said. "You just get off on comin' in here and bothering my customers?"

"B," Faith said, and motioned her head toward the back. Buffy nodded. She felt the male vampire approaching her before she turned and saw him.

"Willy," Buffy said. "Why, why are you so stupid? I don't get off on bothering your customers."

The male vampire swaggered up to Buffy. He was big and barrel-chested, with long, silver-white hair and blue eyes that were so wide-set they made him look nearly reptilian. He sneered, revealing his long, canine teeth.

"Well, well, well," he said, in one of those big, bellowing, fake-sounding voices that radio announcers have. "If it isn't the Slay –"

Buffy drew her sword and sliced his head off in one seamless motion that was too quick to be seen, and pulled up a seat at the bar.

"You're like a kid with a new toy with that damn thing," Willy said, as he frowned at the cloud of dust that had left a twenty dollar bar tab in its wake. "Don't be jealous, Willy," Buffy said, and frowned at the demon sitting a couple of stools away from her.

"You look like Mothra," Buffy said to the demon, who looked like a fat turtle. He even had some sort of armor plating on his back that looked like a shell.

"Uh…I'm Brad," the demon said, and held out his hand, which was more like a clawed tentacle.

"Buffy, Slayer," Buffy said, and shook his hand. "So I'm gonna kill everyone in here, including you, unless someone tells me where Spike is."

"Uh…actually the three of us just got in from Boise," Brad said. "Who's Spike?"

"Hold that thought, Brad," Buffy said, and looked toward the pool table in the back. The female vampire was still there, watching her, and growling.

"Gonna make a move, honey?" Buffy said. "Why don't you come over here and buy me a drink."

"You fucking bitch," the vampire snarled, and stalked toward her. "You think I'm afraid of you?"

"Yup," Buffy said. She turned around on her stool, and leaned back with her elbows on the bar, and showed the vampire her teeth.

The vampire stood in front of her now, baring her fangs. She was wearing too much eyeliner, badly applied, along with black eyeshadow, black lipstick, and a lot of powder on her face, and her long, unkempt hair was dyed jet black to go with it. Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were puffy. She looked like a mime who had just lost a bar fight. She had a big gold hoop nose ring that hung down to her lips and looked like it might interfere with biting people, but Buffy knew the girl wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer.

"Okay," Buffy said, as she grabbed the vampire's arm, spun her around and twisted the arm up behind her back. She grabbed the vampire by the hair with her other hand and smashed her face into the bar. The vampire screamed.

"Fuck…you, bitch!" the vampire muttered into the bar, as Buffy held her in place, completely immobilized.

"I bet the vampire girls are a lot nicer in Boise, huh guys?" Buffy said. The vampire thrashed around, trying to get up. Buffy put more pressure on her wrist. The vampire screamed again.

"Actually they're all pretty much like that," Brad said. "We don't see a lot of nose rings in Idaho though."

Buffy reached around and yanked the ring out of the vampire's nose, and looked at it. The vampire screamed again as blood spurted from the hole.

"Shut up, Willy," Buffy said. She shook her head at the nose ring, and tossed it away. "Not even real."

"What was that?" Buffy said, and grabbed the vampire by the hair again with her other hand and smashed her face into the bar, sending a tremor through it that caused all the demons' drinks to spill. "Whoa!" one of the demons said.

"Still not hearing you," Buffy said, and smashed the vampire's face into the bar again. Someone's glass fell to the floor and smashed into pieces. Buffy heard the vampire's nose break. One of the demons chuckled.

The vampire whimpered underneath Buffy's hand, but she didn't say anything else, and she stopped struggling.

Buffy stood up, pulled the vampire up by her hair and flung her to the floor. The vampire was on her knees in front of her. Buffy still held her wrist up over her head in a wrist lock, and she held her hair in her hand like a leash.

The vampire's face was covered with blood, and she had tears in her eyes. She tried slashing at Buffy again with her free hand. Buffy avoided it, and kneed her in the nose. The vampire screamed again, and more blood spurted from it.

The vampire looked dazed now. She swayed in front of Buffy, on her knees, and looked at the floor. Buffy sat back down on the bar stool.

"You all done with your little tantrum, honey?" Buffy said, softly, as she held the vampire by her hair. "I think you're all done."

Faith watched Buffy; she watched her from her head down to her toes. Faith couldn't take her eyes off her.

Buffy released the vampire's arm, and drew her sword again. The vampire whimpered, when she saw it. Buffy gently tapped it against the top of the vampire's head.

Buffy looked at Faith. She didn't smile; she just looked at her, as she held the vampire down on her knees by the hair, and tapped her head with her sword.

One of the demons chuckled again. Buffy glanced at him. He was a fat, diseased-looking blob in a heavy brown overcoat and his gray, mottled skin hung from his face and his hands in strips.

"Sorry," the demon to his left said. This one had bright red skin with short spikes extending from it like a porcupine, and he wore a Dodgers baseball cap. "We, uh, don't want any trouble." Over by the door, Faith snorted.

Buffy looked back down at Raven. She still held her by the hair. Raven was prostrate before her, looking down at the floor.

"I'm Buffy," Buffy said. "Have you seen Spike around? I bet you have. All the vamps around here know each other. Plus you're like, totally his type."

"You're not a very good liar, Raven. Even if you haven't seen him you'd at least know who he is, all the vamps in Sunnydale know who Spike is. He's like a celebrity to you people. Killed two Slayers, right? Gets him a lot of free drinks in places like this. Now you've got me thinking that you've definitely seen him."

"I'll ask just once more," Buffy said. "Then I'm gonna start hurting you. No quick staking. Nope, I got my sword right here, so I'm gonna slice and dice you for awhile first. I think you've seen Spike. So where the fuck is he?"

"I was with him…last week…we…were at this bar, biker place," Raven squealed. Her broken nose made her voice sound muffled. "It's called the Whiskey Creek Saloon. Other than that I haven't seen him, I swear, I swear."

"Yeah. He just…kept talking about this other girl. Someone named Drusilla. He was looking for her. Said…he was sure she's coming here."

"I was a cocktail waitress at a club in San Francisco. There was…there was this big ugly guy, he…he came out of nowhere and jumped me after my shift ended. He was a vampire. He beat me up, and then he drained me and turned me. I woke up at his place. He kept me there, and kicked the shit out of me all the time and fucked me. I think he just…he just turned me because he wanted a girl to beat on and fuck. I eventually got away and came here."

"What you are now?" Buffy said, softly. "You didn't choose it. It's something that was done to you. You've got the memories of your life, but you're dead. You died when that vampire attacked you, and your soul went to a better place. But part of you got left behind. Close your eyes, Andrea. When you open them again, I promise you'll be happier. You'll be in that better place. Okay?"

"Hope not, for your sake," Buffy said. She looked at Faith. She saw a look in Faith's eyes that she recognized. She knew Faith's eyes by heart, and she knew what they were telling her now.

"Guess you guys get a pass this week," Buffy said to the demons at the bar. "Anyone sees Spike? Tell him I'm gonna stick my sword up his ass."

She walked back to Faith, and took her hand, and they walked out the door. The sun was bright, and the day was warm.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Most vampires are just like, interchangeable assholes? But sometimes…sometimes you run into one…"

"Or Spike, even. He loves Drusilla. Vamps are the bad guys but they're still people too. They have feelings. Makes our job harder sometimes. But even with vamps like Andrea, you have to remember that they don't have their souls anymore…that the people they used to be are gone, dead. Killing them is putting them out of their misery."

"They didn't know who Spike was. And the thing is, most of Willy's customers are demons. He gets some vamps in there but it's mostly a demon bar, and his customers are my main source of info whenever some new badness comes to town. If I killed them all, no more info."

Buffy took Faith in her arms, and slowly leaned her back on the hood of the car.

"You're a vampire. Okay, I get it, ha-ha, very funny," Tara said. "Sure, scare the new girl."

Tara was trembling now. Angel knew she wanted to run. She couldn't possibly reach the door before he grabbed her, but he didn't want to do that.

"You're…a vampire…but…you're not gonna hurt me?" Tara said. "But…Faith s-s-said vampires are…th-they hurt people, they…kill people."

"I don't. Long story. Short version is, I have a soul. I'm the only vampire who does. Look…I know this must all seem…strange. Why don't you sit down."

"Strange? You practically kidnap me and then you tell me you're a freaking vampire and I'm supposed to what? Just chill out? What is this? Who are you? How do you know Faith? What the hell is going on?!"

Angel smiled. "It is all kinda ridiculous isn't it? Back when I was human, if someone had told me this would be my life? I would've had a good laugh."

"Well, I guess that explains about how you can't work the VCR. That red stuff you're drinking. It's blood?"

"Yeah. Sorry. But it's not human blood. I don't drink human blood. It's pig's blood. Uh…but I don't like, go around killing pigs or anything. I get pig's blood from the butcher shop."

"No, never. But you're still definitely the weirdest one. You know what? I guess I'll take that Diet Coke now after all."

He'd asked her to trust him…to take a leap of faith. Now he knew she was asking him for the same thing. Until he gave her the opportunity to run, he knew she would never really trust him.

"Okay," Angel said. "But do me a favor. If you run out that door, go right home and don't leave your house. If you have to go out, stay in public places and get home before dark. Don't invite anyone in. Vampires have to be invited in to enter your house. If you see or hear anything suspicious, anything at all, call here, call Buffy or Faith and they'll come running. I don't know if you have the number here? I figure you don't because you came over instead of calling. The number is 682-1114. Will you remember that?"

"Kinda lost me there," Xander said. "I'm not pretending this is about anything. What I'm saying is, it's about you not getting hurt. I can't deal with you getting hurt, cowgirl."

Xander let go of her hand. They sat together on the couch, looking away from each other.

"What do you want from me, Willow?" Xander finally said. "What the hell can I do here?"

Xander looked at her, but she wouldn't look back. Willow sipped her tea, and fidgeted with her hair, and looked down at her lap.

"Don't you understand I'm doing this for us?" Xander said. "And, hey? In all the years I've known you you've never been much for the cussin'. Now all of a sudden you're throwing out F-bombs left and right. Since when do you swear?"

"Since…since…I don't know," Willow said. "I just…do now, okay? Sorry my talking like a grown-up freaks you out."

"Willow, it doesn't…I mean…" Xander said. He sighed. "Look, I don't care, okay? You wanna be all swearing left and right, feel free. I love you no matter how you are. And the way you talk? It's not childish. It's Willow. It's you. I don't…want you to lose that. I don't want you to stop being you."

"Sure," she said. "As long as I quit doing the thing I love doing. Does the stuff you're gonna say go through any kind of editing process before it comes out of your mouth? Do you like, even hear yourself?"

"Will, what I did?" Xander said. He put his arm around her. She didn't move. "Yeah, I know it was extreme. I know it must've seemed like I…maybe bullied you into this a little. It's just…I didn't want to see you hurt anymore."

"Oh , BULLSHIT!" Willow screamed, and tore herself away from him and jumped up. Her tea cup tumbled from her lap and spilled all over the floor.

"This isn't about me being hurt!" Willow screamed. "It isn't about Buffy! It's about me being stronger than you and how you can't fucking deal with it!"

"Damn skippy it fucking is," Willow said. "You don't want me doing magic because you can't handle your girl being tougher than you. Typical guy. End of the day, it all comes down to whose dick is bigger."

Then her face contorted; it changed. Like a sudden storm that comes out of nowhere and blots out the sun, rage darkened it, and made it cold…

It wasn't a light tap; it was very nearly a punch, and it staggered him. It sounded as loud as a cannon in the little room.

Willow stood there, frozen, staring at him. She was taking in big gulps of air. Her hands were shaking.

Tears suddenly poured from her eyes. They seemed to explode out of her, like a dam bursting.

They faced each other, and didn't say a word. Willow cried. Xander looked back at her, her handprint visible on the left side of his face, where she hit him.

He stormed out of the study, he stormed down the little hallway, and he stormed into the living room. He felt shaky and hot. He clomped and stomped around like he was wearing lead boots and he made a beeline for the door like he had wings on his feet. Giles was sitting in the squeaky leather recliner, watching him. Xander stormed right by him.

"Xander, if you're stupid enough to walk out that door I'm going to knock you on your fool arse on general principle," Giles said.

Xander noticed Giles then. Giles was drinking tea, and he had a book in his hand. Xander thought it certainly looked like Giles. But he couldn't reconcile what his eyes were showing him with what his ears had just told him.

"Stay there," Giles said, and got up, and went into the adjoining kitchen. He pulled two bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale from the refrigerator and two pint glasses from the cabinet. He came back into the living room, poured them each a pint, and sat back down in the recliner. Xander was still standing by the door.

"Sit down," Giles said. "Let's have a talk. Just us men and a couple of pints, the way God intended."

"Is this better, baby?" Buffy whispered, as Faith laid naked in her arms in the backseat of Angel's car. Buffy had unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her bra, so she could hold Faith in her arms the way she knew Faith loved to be held.

They were parked by a dense grove of trees along the back roads. The sun was bright, but it was past its zenith now; in a few hours it would be gone.

"Pretty impertinent of you, just throwing me in the back and having your mad way with me like you did," Faith said. "Especially since I'm supposed to be the boss."

"I knew my kitty-cat was back," Buffy said. "I can always tell when she comes back."

"I know, baby," Buffy said, and kissed her forehead. "Kittens like having their tummies rubbed."

Faith nodded again, and curled up closer to Buffy. When Buffy held her in her arms, Faith felt like she was floating…like all her worries, all her fears, had been left behind on the shore. So she let herself float…she let herself drift away.

"You still want me to be the boss?" Faith said, and kissed Buffy's breasts again. "But I'm a kitten now," she added, with a soft little giggle.

They looked up at the sun. Buffy rubbed Faith's belly, and held her close. They were quiet. After a few more minutes Faith yawned, and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, but…I'm the boss, so I gotta think big picture," Faith said. "We should find a pay phone and call the house, check in. We need to hit that bar too. And if we find a lead there we'll need time to run it down. Gotta hit the road."

Faith giggled. "Shit," she said, looking down at herself. "Almost forgot you made me get buck naked here. Lucky no one drove by."

"You just look so damn good naked," Buffy said. She licked Faith's neck. "Especially down on your knees," she whispered in her ear.

Faith curled up in Buffy's lap. "Big pervo lesbian," she said. "Had to go and seduce yourself an innocent young straight girl, didn't you?"

"You're so gay, baby," Buffy said, and kissed Faith's nose. "Don't even try to pretend you're not the gayest girl ever."

"Well, I sure am now, thanks to you." Faith said, and hiked up Buffy's skirt, and kissed Buffy's knees. Buffy didn't have underwear on; her panties were somewhere in the seat cushions. "I wanna be down on my knees for you again."

"Meow," Faith whispered, with a sultry smile. Buffy smiled, and stroked her hair, and brought her closer.

"You sure I'm the boss?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow, as she began kissing the inside of Buffy's thighs, steadily making her way to the sweet treasure held in between them.

"Can it be like this forever, Buffy?" Faith whispered, and took Buffy's hand, and kissed it. "Can our lives be like this forever? Just us being together, just like this? Because…because…"

"Hey, hey…" Buffy said, and pulled Faith up, and hugged her, and wiped her tears away. "Baby? What's wrong? What's wrong, baby?"

"I'm happy, Buffy," Faith said, crying, as Buffy held her against her chest. "For the first time since…since I lost Becca. I'm just…happy, y'know? I just…want it to always be like this because…because I love you. I love you so much, Buffy. Don't…don't ever leave me? Please? Don't ever leave me?"

"I'll never leave you, Faith," Buffy said. "I'll always love you, and I'll never leave you. Okay, baby?"

"I'll love you forever, beautiful," Buffy whispered, and kissed her, as she felt her own tears starting to fall.

When Angel came out with Tara's drink, she was sitting on the couch, and The Outlaw Josey Wales was back on.

"Faith told me how vampires have to be invited in," Tara said, as she fast-forwarded through the movie, and Angel handed her the drink. He sat down on the couch, but not too close to her. "She told me Buffy's a Slayer too. If you got invited into Buffy's house I guess you're okay. Weird, and bad with electronics on a monumental scale only my Dad could ever match, but okay."

"You wanna watch from where you left off?" Tara said. "Got 'dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy' ready to go here."

"Sure," Tara said, and un-paused the movie, and took a sip of her Coke. She picked up Angel's glass of blood, and handed it to him.

Tara looked at him, and grinned. Clint filled the little weasel of a bounty hunter full of lead.

"Don't know her too well, I only just met her a couple of days ago," Angel said. "Buffy and I go back a ways though."

"One way to find out. Tell you what. You tell me your story, and I'll tell you mine. My story's completely fascinating. It's like, an epic adventure."

"I was born in 1727 in Galway. I spent my time drinking and playing cards, and I slept in a different girl's bed every night. I was nothing. I wasted my time, spent every moment in the pursuit of empty pleasures. Then, one day in 1753, I met a woman named Darla."

"All the best stories do. Darla was a vampire. She turned me, made me a vampire like her, and promised she'd show me the world."

"Uh…gimme a sec," Angel said, and got up and grabbed the phone from the end table. "Hello?" he said into it, too loud as always, because he still hadn't gotten used to talking to an inanimate object. He'd been around phones for more than a century now and he had never gotten used to them. Part of him still didn't quite believe in them; it seemed preposterous that people's voices could travel through wires all over the world. Every time he talked to someone on the phone, part of him wondered if maybe it was all a trick, and he really wasn't talking to them at all. And phones had been getting more and more buttons as the decades passed. Angel hated buttons. VCR remotes, computers, phones; Angel thought there were too damned many buttons in the world…

Buffy stood by the payphone in the lot outside the Whiskey Creek Saloon and tried to keep a straight face as Faith kissed her neck, and giggled into her ear.

"Angel?" Buffy said, and suppressed a giggle as Faith ran her fingers around her waist, where she was ticklish. "Just checking in. How's the movie?"

"What button?" Angel said, and looked at the phone. It had a lot of buttons. Angel hated buttons.

"The button that like, hangs up the phone!" Buffy said. When you hang the phone up, it goes on top of the button! Just press –"

"Just frigging press the button!" Buffy shouted, giggling now. Faith leaned her head on Buffy's shoulder and laughed.

Tara took the phone out of Angel's hand. "Buffy?" she said. "Just hold on a sec." She pressed the button. "Um, Summers residence. Hello?"

"Um…I'm Willow," Willow said, and poured herself another cup of tea. What she really wanted was a super mocha cappuccino with lots of sugar and cocoa sprinkles, and Giles was in fact off getting her one at that moment, and he'd also promised to pick up Oreos with double stuff, though he had no idea what double stuff was and Willow had to explain it to him. Xander was in the living room watching television; after a long talk with Giles and a couple of pints of beer, Xander had calmed down a bit, and agreed to stay. But he hadn't said a word to Willow, and so she had spent the past half-hour sitting in Giles' study, sipping tea and reading his English translation of The Necronomicon and feeling sorry for herself, and pissed at Xander.

The Necronomicon was a good book to read at times like this; it was written thirteen-hundred years before by a half-crazed Arab named Abdul Alhazred who firmly believed the human race was cursed, love was a delusion and despair was the natural state of things. Right now, Willow could relate. Alhazred also believed that giant, nightmarish alien entities with names like Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu ruled the universe and that human beings were created by aliens as a joke, but Willow tried her best to ignore those parts.

"And I'm Tara," Tara said. "Though you already seem to know that…um, somehow? Hi."

"Didn't recognize the voice. But at least she isn't Cordy. Whoever she was she took the phone away from Angel before he could hurt himself with it."

"Yeah, we really do. I'd like to tell you sometime, but I can't right this second, the world could end and we're all sort of in lock-down mode."

"Angel said that too…that there's like these new vampire guys trying to end the world? It's all so…freaky. I mean…the world ending. It's like…what?"

"We've…had experience with this stuff? Y'know, like, saving the world? That's why our stories are so long. Are you gonna be staying? I mean, at the house? I think you should, things are dangerous right now. And it'd be cool if I could talk to you? Maybe tell you my really long story? If that's okay."

"Well right now I'm listening to Angel's really long story? But you can tell me yours afterwards if you want. I'm a good listener."

"I know. I mean…you sound like a good listener. Um…I have to go but…can you tell Angel the phone number turned out to be a cell phone and I can't trace it? And, um…yeah, that's it. Actually, could you put him on?"

"Sure, Willow. Hold on. Um…nice to meet you? I mean, in a talking on the phone kind of way. Oh hey, actually, Buffy's on the other line right now. Wanna do a conference call?"

"Oh, really?" Tara said. "Awesome! I just came by because, like, I'm…I'm a f-friend of Faith's and I haven't heard from her in awhile and…I guess I got a little worried. But I'm not a stalker. I promise."

"Hey, girlfriend!" Faith practically squealed. She hadn't realized how much she missed Tara…just hearing her voice made her feel warm.

"Faith!" Tara said, and laughed. "Where you been, sweetie?! I got all worried."

"Sorry, hon," Faith said. "We got some major badness coming down and we're all sort of holed up in the bunker. We kinda got a target on our backs right now, there's bad guys sorta tailing us and I didn't want you getting hurt. But I missed you, girlfriend. You're at the house with Angel?"

"Yeah," Tara said. "I, um, came to see you, actually. When you didn't call…um…sorry, I know this makes me sound all Single White Female…"

Tara pressed some more buttons. "Willow? Faith?" she said. "You guys still there? We're doing a three-way."

"I miss you guys too. I sort of kicked Xander's ass a little and…I think…I think he dumped me."

"Will says she thinks so," Faith said to Buffy. "You wanna come back to the house, honey?" Faith said, into the phone. "You want us to come get you?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course you can come back honey, you're our family. We'll come get you, okay? We'll come get you right now."

"Not…right now," Willow said. "I wanna try to talk to Xander one more time first but…tonight? Can I come tonight?"

"Will," Faith said. "We love you. You get that honey? Buffy and I love you. You don't have to ask if you can stay, you always have a place with us."

"Gimme the phone," Buffy said. Faith handed her the phone. "Will, it's me. Tell me what happened."

"It's a long story but…I told Xander I don't wanna stop doing magic, I don't wanna stop helping and we fought and…I think he's gonna leave me," Willow said. Her voice was shaky. Buffy heard the panic in it.

"No, not yet, Buffy?" Willow said. "I need some time to talk to Xander first, but…tonight? Come get me tonight?"

"I want you with me before sunset though, okay?" Buffy said. "We can't leave you alone at night. Faith and I will be there before sunset."

Willow smiled. "Okay, I gotta…I should go but…listen, that phone number Angel got? It's a cell phone, so I can't trace it. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Buffy said. "We'll see you soon Will, okay? Everything's gonna be okay, I promise."

"Yeah," Tara said. "Sorry, this…all sorta feels like I'm eavesdropping on like, really personal conversations."

"You're my…you're Faith's friend, Tara," Willow said. "So that makes you my friend too."

"Gimme the phone," Faith said. Buffy gave her the phone. "Tara honey? Let me talk to Angel for a minute?"

"Listen good, Angel," Faith said, in a low voice. "You better take good care of Tara. Tara's a deal-breaker, understand? She gets hurt, I'm coming after you. I don't care what Buffy or Will say. You let her get hurt and I'll kill you."

"I won't," Angel said. "But there's something you should know. I saw a car with blacked-out windows coming down the street when she rang the bell. There were vampires inside. Maybe they were following her or maybe they were just watching the house. But either way, they'll know what Tara looks like now, and the car she drives. And they'll have her scent."

"Faith, one more thing," Willow said. "Xander said something about that phone number that got me thinking. It's a cell phone, so I couldn't trace it, but I was able to get an address for the girl who owned it. She died a month ago, Spike probably killed her and took her phone. But he could've decided to use her apartment after he killed her too. It's in Sunnydale, 342 Bleeker Street."

"Hey honey," Faith said. "Listen, Angel gave me the scoop on what happened. Looks like you were followed, probably by the same bad guys we're in a pissing contest with right now. I need you to stay with Angel, okay? You gotta stay at the house and do what he says, he'll keep you safe."

"Okay, 'cuz I'm about to drop a bomb. When we first met and I told you about vampires? I didn't know Angel then. I didn't know about –"

"Yeah. We've been like, bonding over Clint Eastwood movies. He completely can't work the VCR."

Josey Wales had hunted down the last of the Kansas Redlegs, and gotten righteous, bloody vengeance for the murder of his family and his comrades. He'd made peace with the Comanche, and had even forgiven the man who betrayed him. Now he was ready to begin a new life in Texas with the family of cast-off wanderers he had picked up along the way, who had risked their lives to save his.

He liked the idea of a man forging his own path as he traveled to meet his destiny. He liked the idea of a man fighting the good fight, giving justice to the weak and bringing thunder and damnation down on the heads of those who tormented them, and finding friends and a family along the way…

He'd told Tara his story…most of it, at least. The parts he could bring himself to talk about. He was surprised at how much he told her. But Tara was easy to talk to…and it had been so long since he'd had someone he could talk to…

"That was…" Tara said, trying to find the right words for what she had just heard. "That was…intense."

She drank her Diet coke. He still hadn't touched his blood. He drank Guinness instead. He was hungry, but he ignored it.

"You killed…more than thirteen-thousand people," Tara said. She wasn't looking at him. She wasn't looking at anything in the room. She was looking across the centuries…at a pestilence, unleashed upon innocents down through the years, falling upon them out of the darkness and leeching the life and the light from them, sweeping over whole families, decimating entire villages, until nothing remained but ashes…Tara was looking at more than thirteen-thousand dead bodies.

"Uh…I got it…in a fight," he said, looking away from her. "I fight a lot. Kinda what I do. I fight demons, vampires…I try to protect people."

"Why do you do it? Because you want to? Because you're trying to make up for the things you did? Because you like hitting stuff? Why?"

He picked it up, and walked to one of the windows. He didn't open the red velvet curtain; the sun was getting low, but it was still shining. Instead he stood in the shadows, looking at the curtain. There was nothing in its intricate pattern; it was an abstract pattern. But nature abhors a vacuum and Angel knew people's minds abhor a vacuum of meaning; people create meanings, patterns, where there are none, and Angel was no different. He found himself seeing flowers in the curtain's patterning. Blood red roses.

He saw his life that way for a moment; a random pattern of chaos and destruction, without inherent meaning or value. He could try to use his power to help people, he could try to be a hero, but that was just creating meaning where there was none. It was an illusion…a lie…

"I do it so Buffy can be proud of me. So I can be worthy of her," Angel said. "She's the reason I do it…she's always been the reason. I love her. But I'm not worthy of her. And I lost her."

He sat back down on the couch. He sat a little closer to her this time…the way friends would sit. He hoped she wouldn't move away.

"Last year, when I lost my soul again, and came after Buffy and her friends, I did…some horrible things," Angel said.

"Yeah…but there was something else, something even worse. I told you I broke Drusilla's mind, drove her insane and then turned her. But I didn't tell you how I did it. Last year, when I lost my soul again and I had Dru here with me, I kidnapped Willow and forced her to read Drusilla's memories of how I broke her. Not just read them. Dru's a powerful clairvoyant, and Willow wasn't as strong a witch then as she is now. Dru was able to hypnotize Willow, force her memories into Willow's mind…not just as information. As real memories. Everything I did to Drusilla, Willow remembers as if it happened to her."

Angel remembered how Drusilla always leaned against him, when he let her out of the closet…how the first thing she always needed was to feel like she was part of the world again…to touch someone. He remembered the warmth of her touch, and feeling her tears on him, as he held her, and she cried…

"I locked her in a closet for a hundred and thirty-one days while Darla and I tortured and killed her family," Angel said. "I raped her every day. I forced her to kill her own little sister just to keep her out of my hands. It broke Drusilla's mind. Then I killed her, and made her a vampire."

"Willow never told anyone what I did to her. Not until a few nights ago. When she told Buffy, Buffy tried to kill me. Willow stopped her."

"You think…that's the only reason? That's the only reason you should live? To help with this thing?"

"I'll take another Diet Coke, I guess," Tara said. "Maybe some chips or pretzels if you have some. What are you gonna do when this stuff is over?"

"Buffy…wants me to leave. She knew about me, what I am, the kinds of things I did, when we were a couple. But then I lost my soul…and she saw those things up close and personal."

"How did you lose your soul? I mean, you said it was supposed to be a moment of perfect happiness that does it?"

"But when I lost my soul I hurt Willow," Angel said. "Hurting Willow crossed a line. Buffy can't forgive me for it. I've lost her. She's with Faith now."

"Let me get you that drink," Angel said. "Then I can hear your story. I'm pretty tired of my story."

"Can't believe that Whiskey Creek dive was a dead end," Faith said. "All the lowlifes in that joint, and no one knew anything?"

"Well, they knew Spike's in town, they just didn't know where," Buffy said. "We wasted a lot of time there. This is gonna have to be our last stop today."

They were driving to the address Willow gave them. The sun hung low in the sky, and the weather had turned cold. The top was back up on the convertible.

"Any other places you can think of?" Faith said, as Buffy parked the car in front of a little yellow cottage on a wide, tree-lined street. "Maybe we can go back out tomorrow?"

"Nope," Buffy said. "Other than hitting all the cemeteries again or trying some random demon bars I have no idea what to do next."

"We got his number. You said he doesn't wanna like destroy the world, and Angel agreed with you. If Spike really doesn't know what the Key can do, maybe we should just call him and tell him. Maybe he won't try coming after it."

"Points for thinking outside the box. But Spike's just one of our problems. There are still those new vamps too. They're like, a trigonometry-level problem."

They walked into the house, with their stakes drawn. They didn't remember pulling them out; the stakes were just suddenly in their hands. The house was dark and it smelled like beer and pizza and, faintly, vampire.

"Yeah," Faith said. "Vamp smell's kinda weak. Probably took off awhile back. Let's check it out anyway, like, search for clues."

"We could go room to room and turn the whole house inside out but we don't have time. But we can assume Spike wasn't trying to hide shit, right? He crashed here. So how about we just check like, the obvious stuff. See if he left like an address or a phone number we can use. We don't have to like check under the floorboards, we'll just look in all the places people normally leave stuff."

And they did. And after half an hour they found nothing except beer, Weetabix cereal, empty pizza boxes, black nail polish, a book of crossword puzzles, all completed, and one pair of men's white briefs with a hole in it.

"Well that's half an hour of my life I'm never gonna get back," Buffy said, looking down at Spike's underwear on the floor of the bedroom. "I've seen Spike's dirty underwear and gone through his garbage. Looking for clues sucks."

"Looking for clues doesn't suck," Faith said, and pointed down at the underwear. "We don't have a bead on Spike yet but we sure will tonight when Will does a locator spell on those tighty-whities."

"Shit! I didn't even think of that. You're such a smartypants," Buffy said, and gave Faith a kiss. "You sure you don't watch Star Trek? I bet you totally watch Star Trek. Bet you watch like, the History Channel too."

"I have a reputation to uphold, y'know. If it gets out that my girlfriend's a brain I might not get invited to the cool parties anymore."

"I won't wear my nerd glasses in public. C'mon, let's get outta here. Gettin' tired of smellin' this guy. And, uh…one of us has to grab those underoos? Since I'm the boss I'm gonna delegate that responsibility to you."

"And so begins the grossness," Buffy said, and picked up Spike's underwear with a grimace, using just the tips of her fingers and holding the briefs as far away from herself as possible. She opened the closet, pulled out a shopping bag, and dropped the briefs into it like they were a rod of pure uranium and the shopping bag was a radioactive waste container.

"You think Spike paints his nails?" Faith said. "That black nail polish was on the bureau with Spike's stuff."

"Let's go," Buffy said, and sighed. "I can't believe I actually touched Spike's underwear."

"Not for nothin'? But guy vamps never painted their nails in Boston," Faith said, as they headed out the door.

They were sitting on the couch, eating pretzels. Angel had explained to Tara that vampires didn't have much of a taste for food, but she had insisted he try some. To his surprise he found he liked them. He liked their saltiness, and their texture. They went well with beer. They went well with blood too.

He touched it. The pendant was warm, much warmer than the temperature of the room. And it was powerful, too, whatever it was; Angel could feel waves of energy emanating from it, and he saw the air distorting around it. To Angel's heightened senses, the pendant seemed to be throbbing, beating…like a heart.

"It's beautiful," Angel said, and let it go. For some reason, he didn't feel right, touching the pendant…it wasn't for him. "Whoever that witch was, you were important to her."

"You said she was looking for a bunch of people. You think she gave them all one of these?"

He was still watching television. The Dick Van Dyke Show was on. Rob and Laura were arguing. But they always made up by the end of the episode.

Xander was lying on the couch. Willow always liked to jump on top of him whenever he was lying on couches. He'd laugh, and hug her.

"If we're gonna do this?" Xander said, without looking away from the television. "Then let's not bullshit. You're not sorry you slapped me. And you shouldn't be. I deserved the slap. What I said…it was an asshole thing to say."

"I didn't, but I should have known how it could hurt you," Xander said, and sat up on the couch and looked at her. "I'm sorry."

"What I meant was…look, you're like, all acting like you're past that stuff? Like you're over what Angelus did to you. But you're not, Willow. You're just ignoring it, not letting yourself think about it. But it's all still there inside you. You can't just ignore it forever, you can't just pretend it's all better now."

"What you're trying to make me do? Give up magic? Stop helping Buffy? That's pretending. That's pretending that like, all I have to do is stop being a part of the fight and all the monsters will go away. They won't, Xander. We can stop fighting them? But the monsters won't stop coming. All it will mean is that maybe, next time? Buffy will lose. And then she'll be dead, and Faith will be dead, and maybe everyone in the world will be dead too."

"Haven't you done enough? Haven't you helped enough, saved the world enough? Soldiers get tours of duty. When their tour is up they get to go home. When is your tour up? Never?"

"I've got this power for a reason. I don't think I get like, vacations. But you know what? I'm still bullshitting. You know why I really want to help Buffy? Because I like it. I like it, Xander. I like being part of her gang, I like coming up with plans and solving problems. I like using magic. I want to keep doing it. And, okay, yeah, maybe I could stop for you, to keep you in my life? But part of me would hate you for making me do it. And someday, maybe a long time from now but someday, that hate would poison us. We'd lose each other anyway."

"Guess we have something in common, huh?" Tara said. "I lost Faith and you lost Buffy. We even lost them to each other, just to make it even kookier."

"Would you…uh…like another drink?" Angel said. He was no damned good with crying women. He could seduce women, he could make them laugh, he could flatter them. But he could never console them worth a damn.

"Guess I'll take another Coke," Tara said, and wiped her tears away. "How about some rum in it this time?"

Angel and Tara sat on the couch together five minutes later drinking rum and Diet Coke. They sat close to each other, so they wouldn't have to feel alone.

They hadn't talked. They just drank. When Tara finished hers Angel poured them each another.

"Thanks," Tara said. "I think I need to get drunk now. Possibly smashed. There might be staggering involved."

"So take my mind off the debacle that is my love life. Tell me more about this whole world ending dealie."

"Apocalypse is kind of on hold right now. We have the Key. Problem now is what the hell do we do with it. It can't be destroyed. The ceremony to release the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse has to be done at sunset on the last day of the waning moon, but there's one of those every month."

"You can't destroy it, and you probably can't hide it either because it can be mystically detected. Wait. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Really?"

"Yup, I'm definitely getting drunk. I'm getting half in the bag. In fact, damn it, I'm getting all the way in the bag. Can I see the Key?"

He walked into Joyce's room. It still smelled like Joyce, but the smell was faint now. Willow's scent predominated. For some reason Xander's scent didn't seem as strong in the room as Willow's. Angel wondered if he was just focused more on Willow's scent. He had always liked it.

He waited in the room, until Tara was finished crying. It took a few minutes. Then he came back down with the Key. When he walked into the living room, Tara was wiping her eyes. They were puffy and red. She smiled at him again, for his benefit, he knew. The smile might as well have been painted on.

Tara's expression was curious at first, but then it changed; became deadly earnest. She turned the Key over in her hand, looking at it from every angle…

When Angel's big black Plymouth GTX pulled up in the driveway next to Tara's little blue Honda Civic hatchback half an hour later like a barracuda ambushing a guppy Tara was already running out the front door.

"Tara!" Faith shouted, leaping out of the car before Buffy had even come to a stop. Tara was afraid; Faith could smell it. Even if she couldn't smell it, the expression on Tara's face was all she needed to see. "What is it, honey? What's wrong?" Faith thought fast. It couldn't be Angel, if he attacked Tara she would never have made it out of the house…

"Why don't you guys have cell phones?" Tara said, and looked Faith and Buffy in the eyes. "You save the world and you can't have cell phones?"

"Tara…have you…been drinking, honey?" Faith said. She didn't need to ask; she could smell it on Tara's breath.

"Um, Angel's a vampire, world might end, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? That all just screams rum and Coke to me," Tara said.

"Tara, you're shaking," Faith said, and hugged her. "What's wrong? Did…Angel scare you?"

"Tara," Buffy said. "Okay, I know you're a witch and everything? But are you absolutely sure? Are you absolutely sure this isn't the Key?"

"A glamour is an illusion spell," Tara said. "It makes something appear to be something else. The thing about a glamour though is that it doesn't change the object itself, it changes the way we see it. This Key thing here? It's a brick. You're all seeing it as the Key because the glamour is affecting your minds, but I can see through the spell."

"Willow's a witch and she's been looking at this thing since Friday," Buffy said. "Why didn't she see through it?"

"It's like, r-r-really super hard, s-seeing through a glamour?" Tara said. "It takes a lot of practice and I've been d-doing magic since I was thirteen. And okay, we have zero time? So I'm gonna make this quick. I'm gonna undo the glamour."

"How long will that take?" Angel said, as Tara closed her eyes, and waved her hand over the Key.

"Spike must have made this fake so he could sell the Key twice," Angel said. "Double his profits. Little frigging weasel."

"Maybe he made a fake because he doesn't wanna end the world?" Faith said. "Maybe he's keeping the real Key and he won't let the bad guys get it?"

"Or maybe he doesn't know what it can do and he was just trying to double-dip," Buffy said. "The bad guys might already have the real Key now."

"They probably have it," Angel said. "Think about it. They haven't attacked us since Saturday because they didn't need to. If the First found out everything you know once she took your form she would've known we had the Key here and she would've told those vamps. But the vamps never came at the house. They never came at us because they already knew we had a fake. They played us."

"The First Evil," Faith said. "Supposed to be like, the evilest, most bad ass thing in the universe. It's been doggin' us, disguising itself as people we know, tryin' to screw with our heads."

"Great," Tara said. "Because this situation really wouldn't have been complete without the evilest thing in the universe in our faces too."

"It can't touch us," Angel said. "It's incorporeal. And it can only appear as people who have died."

"You?" Tara said. "But, um, you're alive. I mean you…are alive, right? I mean this isn't like some Sixth Sense thing, right?"

"I died last year, got revived after like a minute," Buffy said, and smiled at Tara's consternation. "Long story. Have you guys called Willow?"

"We kept getting a busy signal," Tara said. "I offered to drive over there and go get them all, but, um, Angel wouldn't let me leave the house."

"Angel made the right call, honey," Faith said. "Those vamps know you now, it's too dangerous for you outside. Okay. We gotta find Spike, right now."

Buffy took Angel's rum and Diet Coke, and drank the whole thing down like it was water. Then she poured herself another.

"We're working," Faith said. "Okay, here's the plan. We gotta assume the bad guys have the Key. We have Spike's number, we'll call him. Better if we could find him without tipping him off first because I sure don't trust the bastard, but we're outta time. Maybe Spike can tell us where the ceremony's going down."

Tara felt Buffy looking at her. She didn't look back. Buffy's stare made her uncomfortable.

She ran out of the house, grabbed the shopping bag from the car, and ran back in. She dumped the contents of the shopping bag out on the coffee table.

"Let's cut the chatter now, time's wastin'," Faith said. "Tara, you need anything to do the spell?"

"Okay hon, get to it," Faith said. Tara dumped her shoulder bag out on the floor, and knelt down cross-legged beside three tupperware bowls full of powder and herbs, six candles, a pack of spearmint gum, cheese and crackers, a Walkman, headphones, her leather pouch with her tarot cards inside, a disposable camera, four pens, a pair of tinted sunglasses, a Walter Mosley paperback called White Butterfly, a school notebook with Snoopy doodles on the cover, her beautiful white leatherbound spell book with a silver silk bookmark sewn in and its pages all gilt in silver too, and a yellow plastic lighter.

Buffy suddenly felt strange. She'd told Faith she didn't want to lead anymore…and now she was realizing that she wasn't the leader…

She felt Angel looking at her. She looked back at him, and saw the question in his eyes, and looked away from it.

"Buffy," Faith said. "Remember our talk, honey? One of us has to lead. But it doesn't matter to me which one it is. Want me to step back? Say the word."

Buffy kissed her. Tara looked away, and concentrated intently on arranging her magic powder and her candles.

"Nope," Buffy said, and smiled. "I'll do whatever you say, boss." She ran to the telephone.

"Okay, Angel," Faith said. "B and me are gonna go after Spike once Tara tracks him. If we luck out then maybe he hasn't sold the Key to those priests yet. This thing goes south? You and Tara take Tara's car, scoop up Will and Giles and Xander, get everyone someplace safe and hunker down."

Faith picked up the underwear using just the tips of her fingers, and set it down beside the bowl of magic blue powder. Three candles were set in a triangle pattern in front of Tara, and the bowl of powder was set in between them. Tara lit the candles with the yellow lighter, sprinkled some of the powder on Spike's underwear, and closed her eyes…

Willow and Xander sat on the couch together, drinking coffee and super mocha cappuccino, and eating Oreo cookies with double stuff. Giles was in his study, giving them room, giving them time.

The television was off. Rob and Laura had gotten a happy ending. Willow wasn't at all certain that she and Xander would get a happy ending.

But Willow was determined to try. If she was going to lose him, she would fight for him first.

"That's not what I'm doing," Xander said, and gulped down half of his coffee. Willow sipped her super mocha cappuccino.

"Look, I know you think…I don't know, that I'm like, intimidated by you, by how you're all like this super Wicca goddess now. But I'm…I'm not. I just want you to be safe. And you're not safe with Buffy."

"Yeah. Even though you can do energy shields, and fireballs and stuff. You can still be hurt. You can still be killed. You can still…that thing that happened to you, it could still happen. And I love you, and…okay, I'm being a guy? But for Christ's sake, you're my girlfriend and it's my responsibility to protect you."

"So what you're saying is, for the past couple of years when you were helping us out even though you didn't have any powers at all, and like, you didn't know how to fight at all either, or even use weapons? Then by your reasoning Buffy should've told you to stay home, right?"

"Xander, did you ever think that the real reason Buffy lets you help is because she knows it would break your heart if she didn't? Yeah, you're her friend and she cares about you. Well, she could've cared about you just as much and made you stay home. But she didn't. Because she knew it would hurt you not to be included. She let you help, even though she always had to worry about you, because she cares about you. It would've been so much easier for her to know you were home safe when the Big Bads all came to town, it would've been one less thing for her to worry about. Instead she let you help, and she took on the burden of having to worry about you, because she cares about you more than she cares about making things easier on herself."

Xander chewed on that for awhile. He washed it down with the rest of his coffee.

"I really hate when you get all logical," he finally said. "Xander smash puny logic."

Willow giggled. He could always make her giggle. It was one of the reasons she knew she couldn't live without him.

"Buffy sacrificed a lot for you, Xander," Willow said. "I'm not talking about saving your life. I mean worrying about you. Constantly having it in the back of her mind – is this the night I get Xander killed? I know because she always told me. We'd do our sleepovers and stuff? And, y'know, girl talk? And every time, we'd always eventually talk about you, and she would tell me how afraid she was…afraid you would die. It made her cry sometimes."

"What is it?" Faith said, as she watched Tara meditating cross-legged on the floor. Tara wasn't floating, the way Willow did when she performed a locator spell. But her pendant was glowing.

"Still?" Buffy said. "Tara got a busy signal too. Giles hates the phone. And even if he was using it, or maybe Will and Xander are using it, he's got call waiting."

All three of them looked down at her. Her eyes were still closed. And they seemed to be moving behind her eyelids.

"He's in a…like a crypt, maybe?" Tara said. "I see torches…coffins. He's wearing…a black leather trench coat. He has blonde hair…like, bleached blonde? Short…brushed back. He has the Key."

"There are…men, and…some sort of…" Tara still had her eyes closed, but she looked frightened now. "Some sort of…monsters…?" she whispered.

"I'm right here Tara," Faith said. "No one hurts you when I'm around, okay honey?"

Tara nodded, and smiled, and relaxed. "The monsters…they're guys with…weird foreheads and long teeth…noses like…like…dogs? Pointy ears."

"I'm…going outside the crypt now…looking around," Tara whispered. "I see…a statue of an angel…a female angel…she's holding a sword in her hand…"

"Blue Hills Cemetery," Buffy said. "With the car we can be there in like five minutes."

"Doesn't matter now," Faith said. "I'm betting Spike doesn't know what the Key can do. If we're lucky he helps us out. Worst case, he's in on it? It's not like he can speed the ceremony up. He's gotta wait for the sun. Either way, we get there before the sun goes down and we take out shot."

"Buffy better make the call," Angel said. "If I call he'll give those priests the Key just to spite me. But he kinda likes Buffy."

"Buffy, call him," Faith said. "Tell that prick he's about to blow up the fucking world."

He stood in the shadowy crypt with his hands in the pockets of his long, black leather coat – the coat, he remembered fondly, that he had taken from the dead body of a Slayer he'd killed twenty years before – and felt the hunk of stone in his hand, and smirked at the four old priests and the strange, bestial vampires with the odd tattoos who stood behind them and glared at him.

He was going to make three-hundred thousand dollars today, and then he was going to find Drusilla, who'd had the unmitigated gall to run out on him, and torture her for awhile, until she liked him again. And after that, they'd go to Europe, maybe England, see the old stomping grounds. Perhaps they'd catch a football game; Manchester United was supposed to have a strong team next season. And then he and Dru would laugh and drink champagne and eat people, and she'd tell him she was his girl again and admit she was wrong for snogging Angelus last year, and maybe he'd buy her a nice dress.

Drusilla was his girl: she had made him. If she thought she could just leave him after more than a century, he'd just have to convince her otherwise. Repeatedly, and so it hurt. She liked when he hurt her. He liked it too.

"So substituting that fake wasn't your idea?" the Priest of Wands said, looking at him darkly. But with a smile.

The smile worried Spike a bit. Spike had met a fair number of priests – actually, he had eaten them – and these four didn't seem your normal variety. Especially the one with the golden wand around his neck. He smiled too much. Spike didn't trust him. Priests were supposed to be dour, joyless old men: they never got laid, at least in theory. No, Spike definitely didn't like this one. And he didn't like the four vampires he brought with him either.

Despite all this, Spike's smirk remained intact. He had spent decades practicing his various affectations: the petulance, the ironic detachment, the swagger, the Cockney accent, the bleached blonde hair, the coat and the smirk all worked together to create the exact impression he wanted, one that was quite the opposite of the appallingly sensitive, staggeringly naive poet he used to be, before his black beauty turned him. Spike used to be a ponce. Now he was dangerous. He preferred dangerous, all in all.

"Hard to find good help these days, padre," Spike said, and took the Key from his coat pocket. The Priest of Wands immediately reached out for it; Spike snatched it back. The vampires growled at him.

"Money first," Spike said. "And shut your dogs up before I have to neuter them."

The Priest of Swords stepped forward with a briefcase. Spike thought the Priest of Swords looked just the way a priest should. He wasn't smiling; he looked like he hadn't been laid since the Eisenhower administration. The priest opened the briefcase. Spike's smirk got even wider, as he saw his second favorite color: green, and lots of it.

The first few notes of the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" echoed through the crypt. The priests and the vampires jumped like an air raid siren had gone off.

"Will you shut up and listen to me?! That rock you're trying to sell? It can destroy the world!"

"I am so gonna kick his British ass," Angel muttered darkly, sitting on the couch and drinking a Guinness. Tara sat next to him, drinking another rum and Diet Coke. Maybe Buffy was on the clock, but Tara wasn't used to apocalypses and had come to the conclusion that she really, really didn't like them, and she wanted something to calm her nerves, and preferably knock them unconscious. Faith sat next to her, on the arm of the couch, holding her hand.

"Was I being impertinent?" Faith said, and raised her eyebrow, and smiled back at her.

Tara thought Faith had the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. Just then, it was so beautiful it made her want to cry.

"A little," Tara said. "But you can be impertinent with me whenever you want, sweetie."

"Girlfriend," Spike said to the priests, and smiled. "Pretty thing, but a little daft." He moved away from the priests and kept a wary eye on the vampires as he talked. Usually four against one was a nice, invigorating scrap in Spike's book. But these vampires were different…

"Honey, Daddy's in the middle of something really important right now, so I don't know exactly when I'll be home," Spike said into the cell phone.

"That rock is a key to a dimensional gate," Buffy said. "Those priests want to use it to free the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!"

"If they get their hands on it the world will end! You have to keep the Key out of their hands until after the sun sets! Spike, please!"

"Remember what you said last time? How you don't want the world to end? Manchester United? People walking around like Happy Meals with legs?"

"I'm gonna stick my sword so far up his ass," Buffy said, and slammed the phone down so hard she nearly broke it.

"No fucking idea," Buffy said. "He's the most annoying vampire in the history of the world."

"Got like six bottles of holy water in the duffel bag in the car," Buffy said. "But that's it. The flamethrowers are at Giles' place."

"Thanks, but we got our swords," Faith said. "And I don't wanna leave you without your gear. No time to drive to Giles' place either, so we're gonna have to make do with what we got. Okay, let's go, we're almost outta time." She stood up, and checked her sword and her stake. "Angel, remember the plan. If this thing goes off the rails you'll know real quick. If it does and B and me somehow manage to avoid being vamp-chow we'll contact you when we can. Don't look for us, you and Tara have to go get Will and Xander and Giles. Take them somewhere safe."

"So are a hundred or so of those new wolf vamps," Faith said. "Can't be helped. Let's move out, B."

Tara stood up. "The world survives this? I'm buying you guys cell phones. I'm buying us all cell phones. I'm buying us all ten cell phones each."

"Thanks, girlfriend," Faith said, and kissed Tara's cheek. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Tara hugged her, and as she did, tears came into her eyes. She held the embrace, so she could wipe her tears away before Faith could see.

But when Tara looked up, she saw Buffy looking at her. It wasn't an unfriendly look. Tara wasn't sure what kind of look it was. But she couldn't abide it; she flinched and looked down, and quickly brushed her tears away. Then she touched Faith's cheek, and looked into her big brown eyes.

"No they're not," Faith said, and kissed her forehead, and gently pulled away from her, and walked to the door.

"Um…so…g-good luck, Buffy," Tara mumbled. She flinched, as she met Buffy's eyes. She held out her hand. It was shaking a little.

The hug took Tara by surprise, but as Buffy held her, Tara felt herself relaxing. And she hugged Buffy back.

Buffy watched Angel. He looked calm, centered…serene. He always did. When she was with him, she always thought nothing could touch her…when she was with him, she always knew she could save the world. She always knew there would be a happy ending. But today, she wasn't so sure.

She suddenly felt panic moving through her. It was like a living thing, it was like an animal stalking her; there was intent behind its movements. It started in her legs: Buffy felt it slithering around her ankles, and making its way up her thighs like a snake. Her legs felt shaky. She thought she was going to fall. Then panic leaped up into her stomach, and separated; it became hundreds, thousands, of creeping, crawling things: she felt like bugs were burrowing around in her stomach. She felt nauseous. She wanted to vomit. But then the bugs changed, coalesced into one thing again, became a wolf: the wolf leaped into her throat, clawing at it, cutting off her air, trying to suffocate her…

Buffy wanted Angel to take her in his arms and tell her he'd make everything okay, like he always had before…she wanted to go to him…

She dismissed the snake, and the bugs, and the wolf, and took Faith's hand. It was warm. It was strong.

Buffy was right; he didn't want the world to end. All the Big Bads were always spouting off about their grand plans to end the world. But what was so bloody wrong with the world? There were women and football games and beer and music and poetry slams and people to eat. It was a great old world. And besides, if you slaughter the human race, what's left to eat after that?

"The asking price was three-hundred thousand," Spike said. "Now it's a million. Overhead. You know how it is."

"Had's the word, innit?" Spike said. "We're all evil here, we all know these things happen. If you need more time to get the money together I can meet you back here tonight or tomorrow."

Angel's GTX blazed down the deserted road, as the sun fell from the sky ahead of them, collapsing into orange fire. The wind howled, and the road was a gray blur behind them, and the dense trees to either side were a flash of green, streaking by and melting away around them. Buffy felt like she barely had control of the car. It was moving so fast it seemed like she was riding a rocket that could shoot out from underneath her at any second and just continue on its way without her. She was thankful there weren't any sharp curves on the way to the cemetery. She looked at the speedometer. The car was doing 130 miles an hour.

She almost smiled. It would be funny if the Slayer died in a car accident on her way to save the world…

Her mind wandered, and dwelt on silly things. She wondered what would happen if they ran into a sudden traffic jam. Or if the car attracted the police and the police chased them to the cemetery…

Faith was looking straight ahead at the road. She sat up perfectly straight; her body was rigid. She hadn't said a word.

The vampires clawed at Spike like animals, snapping and growling, trying to get the Key.

As Spike dodged, he could see the four priests standing in the shadows, their eyes closed, their hands clasped in prayer.

"We beseech the First. The one True God. Lightbringer, illuminate the path," the Priest of Cups said.

"We beseech the First. The one True God. Lightbringer, lead us to glory," the Priest of Swords said.

Spike kicked a vampire in the face, and stole a quick glance at the open crypt door behind him. The sun was nearly at the horizon.

They looked at the sun. It would be gone in minutes. And then night would come…and maybe never leave…

They sat on the couch together. She ate Oreos with double stuff, and drank her super mocha cappuccino. He was drinking tea now.

"I don't know," Xander said. "I love you. But…what happened to you…I can't…I don't know if I can deal with it, Willow. I don't know if I can deal with worrying about you…worrying about someone making you a victim again."

"I'm not a victim," she said. "I'm no one's fucking victim. Get it through your head. And don't ever use that fucking word to describe me again."

"You throwin' me brainteasers now, dude?" Willow said. "The hell are you talkin' about?"

"Sometimes…like right now? You…go away. You start acting like…like you're not you. You start acting…different. Talking different."

"Yeah…well…um…I guess this whole thing has me…kinda stressed, okay?" she said, and looked down at her knees, and began fidgeting with her hair, twisting it into little loops. "I mean, y'know, my boyfriend's all like, hey, here's an idea, how about you stop doing what you love to do for like, the rest of your life. I'm just…I'm not having a good day, okay? And you didn't answer my question. Are we gonna make it?"

"That closet happened to me, not you. I'm dealing with it. Why can't you…trust me to deal with it?"

"What do you want me to do, Xander? Should I talk about it all the time? Should I like, hold up a sign saying I was mentally raped by a vampire? You want me to get it tattooed on my arm? Should I find a support group? This thing happened to me and you're making it all about you. You say I'm not over it but what you really mean is you want me to be all, all like…some panicky victim girl so you can be all macho and act like you're protecting me. Because you couldn't protect me before. And you can't deal with it now. You're the one who's not past this. Yeah, okay, I have rough days with it sometimes? But I'm not letting it eat up my whole life. You're the one who wants to let this thing change us, not me."

"Well you can't," Willow said, and looked Xander in the eyes. "Okay? You can't."

They stayed on the couch together, because neither of them wanted to walk away…

"Do either of you know what's wrong with the blasted phone?" Giles said, striding into the room. When Giles started striding it always meant he was angry at technology.

"No, it's still connected to the phone jack in the wall. It was working perfectly yesterday."

Willow walked away from Xander, and Giles followed her into the study. She crouched down and looked underneath the desk, picking up the phone wire and checking its connection. Then she stood up and picked up the phone, and started pressing buttons.

"Okay, this is…weird," Willow said. "There's no dial tone but it's plugged into the jack. It was fine when I called Buffy's house."

"I can…I can be strong," Willow said, as her lips began to tremble. "All this stuff? I'm…I'm a big girl, I can deal. I can deal."

"That stuff? The stuff Angelus did to me? I'm over it," she said, as tears came into her eyes. "I'm over it."

"Oh, sod off!" Spike shouted. The vampires had him on the floor, and he rolled around, trying to cover up as they slashed and bit at him. "Get the fuck off me, you bleedin'…! Fuck!" They clawed at him, searching for the Key…

He wondered how he had gotten into this situation. Instead of making three-hundred thousand dollars he was now apparently trying to save the world. Because a Slayer had asked him to.

"Bugger this!" he shouted, and kicked all four vampires off him, sending them flying, his face changing to vampire form as he did. He leaped up, and roared at everyone in the crypt.

"I really like this coat! This coat's SPECIAL!" he screamed, and punched one of the vampires out of the air as it ran back and leaped at him. The vampire went flying across the crypt and smashed into the far wall. Spike glanced outside. There were only minutes left until sunset. As the vampires came at him again, Spike saw the four priests in a shadowy corner, looking positively blissful.

"We beseech the First. The one True God. Lightbringer, give us the power," the Priest of Pentacles said.

"We beseech the First. The one True God. Lightbringer, open the gate," the Priest of Wands said.

"Beseech my arse!" Spike snarled, and flipped one vampire over his head as it sprang at him, then spun and kicked another that was trying to tackle him from behind. He didn't have a stake and the crypt was too small; if he was going to survive this fight he needed a weapon and he needed room to move.

"After I save the world I swear I'm gonna kill that girl," he muttered, and ran out of the crypt into the waning daylight of the cemetery.

Spike's skin smoked a little, but the sun was almost gone, and there was no direct light. Under the abundant shadows of the trees, it was only a minor irritation. Very minor, he thought, compared to the fact that he was apparently doing Buffy Summers' bidding, for bollocks only knew what reason. He tore a good, sturdy branch from a tree. Now he had a weapon.

The vampires followed him out of the crypt, which he expected. He turned and faced them. All he had to do was keep the Key out of their hands for, at best, five minutes, and then everything would be fine, and he could go home and have a beer and watch Passions and think of ways to kill Buffy.

Unfortunately, at least thirty vampires came streaming out of the three crypts behind him, which is something he hadn't expected…

"I don't believe my life sometimes," Spike muttered, and punched the closest one in the face, and ran…

"It would be the biggest cemetery in the world," Buffy said, as she tore through the cemetery in the GTX, frantically swerving to avoid the tombstones that barred her way like traffic cones on a Drivers Ed course.

"There," Faith said, pointing out a car parked under a stand of trees on the far side of the cemetery. It was a black Desoto, with blacked-out windows. As they drove toward it, Buffy and Faith could hear what sounded like one hell of a big fight going on somewhere…

They sat on the couch together. Tara had stopped drinking because she realized that if her life was about to end, she wanted to be able to at least think straight. To reflect on it.

They hadn't been given much time together. And in the end, she had lost her…but Tara was grateful for her anyway.

"Do you…have any regrets?" Tara said. "Okay, corny question? But…we might be about to die here."

"I've got about a million regrets," Angel said. "Number one on the list right now is that I didn't hand Spike his ass when I had the chance. How about you? You have any regrets?"

Tara touched the crystal pendant she wore. It felt warm between her fingers, like it always did…

You're my special girl, she remembered the witch saying to her when she was just nine years old, looking down at her with piercing green eyes and smiling her beautiful, slightly goofy smile underneath a big, bright, sun and a crystal clear blue sky that went on for a million miles in every direction, like she was the reason it was all there…like she was the pillar holding up the world…

"Fuck!" Spike shouted, staking a vampire with his tree branch and running again. There were too many of them, and there were even more streaming out of the crypts now…

"There are even more where they came from, I'm afraid," the Priest of Wands called out. He was standing in front of the crypt Spike had run out of, and looking at the setting sun. "The crypts in this cemetery are all connected by tunnels, and I have quite a lot of vampires. Why don't you just give us the Key now. We'll even let you keep the money." He smiled. And the three priests standing behind him smiled, too. Even the Priest of Swords, whom Spike was certain hadn't been laid in forty years.

The vampires had Spike completely surrounded now. There were dozens of them, with more coming. But they weren't attacking; they were giving him one last chance to surrender.

The priests stopped smiling then. Although Spike thought he heard the Priest of Pentacles chuckle.

"Bollocks!" Spike shouted, and decided to just pick a direction and try to barrel through. It wasn't a bad plan, as far as it went, he thought, as he headed in the direction his car was parked. It was more thought-out than most of his plans…

When they made it to the other side of the Desoto, they saw Spike in the distance trying to fight off at least fifty vampires.

"Smash and grab. Put the top down. We'll plow through these vamps with the car, have Spike throw the Key to us and drive right the hell out of here. We don't get bogged down, we don't let the vamps swarm the car. In and out."

The plan wasn't working. Spike was forced to consider that perhaps it wasn't very well thought-out after all. He had run straight at the eight vampires to his right and had nearly, but not quite, broken through. And now he was punching and kicking and cursing and waving his tree branch around, and feeling like an idiot. Not because the plan hadn't worked – his plans never really did, he wasn't much of a plan person, that was always Angelus' department – but because he was going to die here trying to do a favor for Buffy Summers, who wasn't just a Slayer, but was in point of fact the most annoying girl he had ever met in his more than a century of unlife. The vampires slashed at him, trying to get to the Key he held in his left hand. There were too many of them…he knew they'd drag him down within seconds…

And then he saw Buffy and Faith smash into the vampires with the blackest, shiniest, fastest, meanest car he had ever laid eyes on. The car – a classic 1967 Plymouth GTX convertible which Spike was absolutely certain had to be Angel's – tore through the vampires like a bomb going off, sending them flying through the air…

"Spike! Throw us the Key!" Buffy shouted, wrestling with the car, trying to keep it straight and trying to keep her speed up, as Faith tried her best to keep the vampires they were running over from ending up in the car beside them, catching them as they flew up over the hood and using their momentum to toss them away.

"What, and then you're just gonna leave me here?!" Spike shouted back, as he ran and dodged and swung his tree branch around like a chicken with its head cut off. The vampires had him surrounded, but they were confused now; some of them were running after the car, and some were trying to get out of its way, and the rest were still chasing him. But there were less of them chasing him now than before, at least…

"I'm gonna kill him," Faith muttered, as she held on as best she could. The car was like riding a bull now; every vampire they ran into knocked them off course a little more and Buffy was just barely able to keep the car straight.

"Just fucking DO IT!" Buffy screamed. "Throw us the Key NOW or THE WORLD'S GONNA END!"

They were passing close to him now…this was their chance…their only chance, they knew.

He dived to the ground as three vampires sprang at him, rolled back up to his feet, saw the car as it passed, and managed to throw the Key in the direction of the car just before four more vampires tackled him from behind…

"Oh…fuck!" Spike screamed, as the vampires pounded on his back and slashed at him with their claws, howling like wolves. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

"PLAN B!" Faith screamed, and grabbed the duffel bag from the back seat as Buffy slammed on the brakes and wrenched the car to a spinning stop, taking out a few more vampires as she did. Buffy leaped out of the car with Faith, and they both drew their swords…

"Where is it?!" Buffy screamed, as the vampires, dozens of them, regrouped and came at them. "WHICH ONE HAS IT?!"

"You're faster than me! I'll hold 'em off, you find the Key! GO!" Faith shouted, and pulled bottles of holy water from the duffel bag and threw them at the vampires as Buffy started sprinting. The vampires shrieked and screamed and burst into flames as the holy water hit them, and Faith started running in the opposite direction from the way Buffy had gone, trying to draw the vampires after her. She knew holy water hurt like a bastard to a vampire and she was hoping they'd stay good and angry at her…

They did. The vampires chased her, howling like wolves and screaming as Faith ducked and dodged and ran and leaped like a jackrabbit, lobbing the last of her holy water bottles at them as she did…

Spike kicked and punched and slashed out with his claws, trying to get back up to his feet, trying to get the vampires off him…

Spike stood up and dusted himself off. The vampires were ignoring him, he realized; they were focusing on Buffy and the other girl she'd brought with her. He looked around and did a quick count. He counted at least one-hundred and twenty vampires now. He saw Faith just barely keeping ahead of a horde of the vampires, occasionally stopping to stake one or behead one with her sword when it got a little ahead of the pack, but then immediately sprinting away before the rest could catch her, never allowing herself to be pinned down. He saw Buffy, looking around wildly, trying to locate the Key and trying to keep herself alive at the same time; nearly all of the vampires were focused on Faith but there were still at least two dozen running after Buffy. She easily kept ahead of them, but she stayed close to the crypts, looking for the Key…

"Right here, Slayer," Spike called out. "And by the way? You and your girlfriend are well and truly buggered, I'd say."

"How the bloody hell should I know where it is?" Spike shouted, throwing up his hands in exasperation as Buffy slashed her wakizashi back and forth, beheading vampires as they sprang at her from all sides, and trying to keep ahead of them. The vampires were ignoring Spike completely now. "I'm evil, remember? You're the bloody Slayer, not me!"

Spike noticed a small group of the vampires, about a dozen or so, making their way back to the priests. About thirty vampires had formed a line in front of the priests, and the vampires heading back to the priests were using their brethren as a screen. Spike knew they must have the Key…the ones attacking Buffy and the other girl, who was obviously a Slayer herself, were just keeping them busy…

"SPIKE!" Buffy screamed, as she slashed her wakizashi around, dodging the vampires as best she could…

Spike knew he had to make a decision. If he tried to get past the thirty or so vampires who were forming a line in front of the priests, he might pull it off…he might actually manage to reach the priests with his skin still attached, if Buffy came with him and ran interference. But even if he did reach them, the sun was about to set; he knew they couldn't have much more than a couple of minutes left now. And getting the Key back might save the world but it wouldn't destroy all those vampires, and Spike had a feeling they'd be pretty peeved at him if he canceled their little apocalypse. Angry enough to kill him. Spike liked a good scrap but three against more than a hundred wasn't a scrap, it was suicide.

"Sorry pet," he said. "You were right, I do like the world. So I'd fancy being able to live in it for awhile longer."

"Nice knowing you, Slayer," Spike said, and waved, as he walked back toward his car. For a moment he considered trying to steal Angel's car but he would have to get past that other Slayer to get near it and he had a feeling she might kill him.

Spike stopped. There was something different in her voice, now…she wasn't pleading anymore. There was no trace of panic left in her tone, now…there was something else.

Buffy was surrounded. At least twenty-five vampires had her pinned down. She had her sword in one hand, and her stake in the other, and she stood in the center of the circle of predators, a lion at bay.

There was a light in Buffy's eyes, as bright and hard as diamonds, that Spike had never seen before.

"We're gonna see each other again," Buffy said, in a voice that was pure steel. "And when we do you're going to die."

The look in Buffy's eyes was something Spike had never seen before…in anyone, in all his years.

Tara sat with Angel on the couch, and held his hand tight. She was afraid: he could hear her heart pounding in her chest, too fast. He could see how pale her face was, he could feel her hand shaking in his. And he could smell it on her, too. There was a time when he loved the way fear smelled on a person. But not now, and not with Tara. Her fear changed her beautiful ginger scent; made it harsh.

"Oh, it won't be long now," Darla said, suddenly sitting in one of the chairs across from them.

"She's the First," Angel said. "But don't worry. She can't touch us. All she can do is make speeches. Boring ones."

"I'm Darla, my dear," Darla said. "I'm the woman who made the beautiful darling boy sitting beside you. Well…I'm the image of her. In all the important ways, all the ways that matter, I'm her. I have Darla's memories, her feelings. And her impeccable sense of style," she added, with a beautiful, wolfish smile. "Angel darling, aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend? I know I didn't raise you to be rude."

"A new recruit for your plucky little band of adventurers?" Darla said. "How precious! But unfortunately you've come in at the end of the story, Tara. All you can do now is die with them."

Buffy looked around. She relaxed. She focused on her senses. She knew she had maybe two minutes left, maybe less. She couldn't see the sun; it was just about gone. The little clearing she was standing in was becoming dark, and cold.

The twenty-five vampires around her weren't attacking her. They were hemming her in…trying to keep her there. They were protecting the Key, Buffy realized…

She could just barely see a throng of vampires standing in front of one of the crypts…

"FAITH!" Buffy screamed. "The priests! They're the ones who have to do the ceremony!"

She picked a direction and ran, trying to break through the circle. The vampires converged on her, springing at her like wolves, but she was too fast: she spun and ducked and dodged, slashing out with her wakizashi, beheading two of them and staking a third and just managing to squeeze out of the circle. She was sprinting toward the mass of vampires blocking the crypt now…

And then she was suddenly flying through the air, as Angel's GTX streaked by and Faith grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her inside. Buffy landed in Faith's lap in the front seat.

"Hey, beautiful," Faith said, as she drove around in circles, trying to pick up some speed without letting the vampires swarm the car. "My girl okay?"

"Some guys are just grabby, y'know?" Faith said. "Bottom of the ninth, honey. Two on, two out. We gotta kill those priests before they can do whatever magic shit they're gonna do."

"Yeah," Buffy said. She looked over at the mass of vampires in front of the crypt. They were bracing themselves. Buffy couldn't see the priests behind them but she knew they were there; she smelled them. Their scents were easy to pick out; they were the only ones that didn't smell like rotten meat.

Okay, and the second thing is, weapons, Buffy remembered Xander saying. Our stockpile is low; other than our swords we're down to the two flamethrowers, and I think I might have one grenade somewhere…

If she had a grenade now Buffy knew she could simply lob it over the vampire's heads and take out all four of the priests at once without having to get through the vampires at all…it would work, and it would save them…it would save the world…

"Here's the plan," Faith said. "I figure we have maybe like a minute or so left here. No way that's enough time to get through all those vamps even with the car. So we're going over them."

"I'm gonna get this car going as fast as I can and then I'm ramming it straight into the vamps," Faith said, as she checked the rearview mirror and kept driving in circles, trying to keep the car from being swarmed. Buffy handled any vampires who got too close, slashing out with her wakizashi. "Just before I do, I want you standing up in your seat, ready to jump. When the car hits the vamps we'll be thrown forward hard, like in a car crash. I want you to jump as far out as you can and as high as you can the second the car hits 'em. We got the top down, with the car's momentum and those sexy Slayer leg muscles I'm betting you can jump clean over all those vamps and take a shot at the priests."

"I think Burt Reynolds came up with this exact plan in one of his car movies," Buffy said.

"Probably," Faith said. "But it's all we've got. If we can just get you near those priests with your sword we have a chance. Not a great chance, but a chance. You ready?"

Faith took a wide turn, pointed the car back at the crypt and floored it. The vampires chasing them tried to catch up, sprinting along after the car on either side, but they weren't fast enough…

"I love you," Faith said, and took Buffy's hand, and kissed it. "You're my girl."

"I love you too, baby," Buffy said, and got up on top of the seat in a crouch…

Faith ducked her head and held her arms up in front of her, preparing to be thrown through the windshield by the collision, as Buffy prepared to jump…

"Don't listen to her, Tara," Angel said. "She lies. She tries to screw with your head. Don't listen."

"I don't always lie," Darla said. "If you stay with these people, you'll be killed, Tara. I promise you that. And it will be a painful death. But if you leave, now? If you get in your car and drive away, and never look back? You'll live. I can promise you that, too. I can see to it you're protected. My voice is whispering in the ear of every vampire in the world right now. They're ready to rise up and choke the life from this world, the moment I give the word. If you leave now, I'll make sure they don't hurt you. You look like an intelligent girl. Use your head. I'm offering you a way out."

Buffy jumped as high as she could when the car smashed into the line of vampires, and she heard Faith scream and smash through the windshield somewhere behind her as she sailed through the air, clear above the heads of the vampires. But she was too high; the car had provided so much momentum that she was in danger of clearing the crypt itself. Buffy aimed herself down in a dive, pointed at the last row of vampires guarding the crypt entrance…

She crash-landed on top of the last row of vampires, taking four of them down with her. She didn't know exactly where the priests were, she couldn't see them and all she could hear was the vampires growling and shrieking, but she knew the priests were close; she smelled them. She got to her feet and started slashing out wildly with her sword and stabbing the air with her stake; she knew Faith wasn't nearby so anything that moved was a target. She knew her only hope was to hit the vampires hard and fast and find the priests before the vampires could bring her down…

She tried to focus on her nose. It was difficult; she was in the middle of a mass of shrieking vampires and their scent was strong. She slashed her wakizashi through the air so fast it became a blur, not even looking at what she was hitting with it, just trying to clear some space so she could move. She had one advantage: there were so many vampires that they were all getting in each other's way. There were more than a hundred vampires there but most of them had no way to reach her. Every time she cut one down another immediately took its place, but they couldn't effectively use their numbers against her.

Faintly, she heard Faith; she was about twenty yards away to her right. But Buffy still wasn't able to get a bead on the priests…

Buffy smiled. Every bad guy she'd ever come up against had the same weakness: they talked too much. If the priest had just kept his mouth shut she might not have found him in time. Now she was able to move in the direction of the voice, cutting her way toward it…

A bright spurt of red erupted like a geyser in front of her, and she realized she had just killed one of the priests without even realizing he was in front of her.

She thought she should feel something. Guilt, shame, something. But she didn't feel anything, or at least she didn't have time to right then, so she kept on slashing the air with her sword, and stabbing out with her stake, spinning around as she moved relentlessly forward, doing her best to clear the space on her flanks and not let any of the vampires tackle her from behind either…

Pieces of the vampires were flying through the air all around her as she hacked her way through them: arms and legs and fingers. Her sword penetrated something hard, like a shovel striking stone as it digs through the dirt, and Buffy saw that she had embedded her sword in a vampire's ribs. It was stuck there; she had to kick the vampire away and pull at the same time to dislodge it. As she did her elbow jerked backwards and she heard someone moan; she turned and saw that she had elbowed one of the priests in the jaw, and he was unconscious on the ground. She stabbed him through the heart with her sword and kept moving forward, slashing it around her in a wide arc. The vampires' blood was raining down on her now as she slashed and hacked and stabbed them. It was like walking through a fountain.

"Hold her off! Hold her off!" Buffy heard another priest shrieking, to her left. She ran toward the voice, and felt her sword cleave one vampire's head right down the middle and felt her stake penetrate a vampire's cheekbone as he leaped at her and she ducked him. She got a glimpse of the remaining two priests; they were standing close together with six vampires who weren't leaving their side. They would be tricky…

Suddenly Buffy saw Faith leap at all six vampires, roaring like a lion ambushing its prey. Faith tackled them, managing to bring four of them to the ground, and Buffy saw her opening. She spun away from one vampire who tried to grab her, ducked under another's slashing claws and staked him, dropped into a crouch and cut the legs out from under a third as it sprang at her, and ran for Faith and the priests. Faith was rolling around under a pile of vampires, stabbing with her sword and her stake and cutting them to ribbons. The two priests saw Buffy and started running. With a roar, Buffy sprang over a vampire who tried to tackle her at the knees and stabbed at the nearer of the two priests with her sword: the sword went straight through the back of the priest's head and out the other side and got stuck there. Buffy had to wrench it back out; as she did it flayed the priest's head like a watermelon, reducing it to bloody chunks.

When Buffy looked up again, she saw the last priest…the one with the golden sword pendant around his neck…

"So what say you?" Darla said. "Will you leave, and enjoy my generous protection? Or stay and die bloody?" Darla licked her lips.

Darla laughed. "Why, I'm positively quaking at the prospect, Tara dear," Darla said. "Angel, be a pet and open the curtains. Let's see the show."

Buffy sensed it: she knew the sun was setting, right now. She knew she was down to seconds. The old priest was running from her, running flat out. Vampires were converging on him from all sides, trying to shield him…

As the sword sped unerringly to its target, the priest raised the Key to the heavens, and closed his eyes…

"AMEN!" the priest screamed, one second before the sword sliced through his back and impaled him through the heart, and he fell over, dead…

And then the bodies of all four priests were suddenly vaporized in eruptions of ghastly green light that exploded out of them, shaking the cemetery like an earthquake had hit it, throwing Buffy and Faith and all the vampires to the ground…

The four beams of light joined, combined into one, stabbed straight up into the sky and tore a hole in it. When Buffy looked up, she saw a blackness, flooding in through that rip in the sky like some giant insect swarm, blotting out the setting sun and turning day into night like a solar eclipse…

Angel and Tara looked out the window, aghast. Where a moment before it had been day, now it was black night. There was no twilight, no gradual darkening of the sky; the sun had set seconds before, but now night covered the world like a funeral shroud.

Angel smelled vampires, scores of them. Faintly, he heard screams, echoing through the streets.

"She's abandoned you," Darla said. "She finally grew tired of you monkeys, and left this world to me. Why do you think the Horsemen were allowed to arrive? Nothing can be done out of Her hand."

"The Horsemen?" Angel said, and looked hard at Darla…looked down into the nothingness in her blue eyes. "They're here now? They've been released?"

"Oh, yes, my angel," Darla said, and smiled, as Tara began to cry. "And not only the Horsemen. My army is marching, everywhere. I've just given the word, whispered it in the ears of every vampire in the world…go forth in my name. Raze this world to the ground. Kill everything."

The earth shook. Buffy covered her ears, trying in vain to block out the terrible, deafening roar as the earth thundered all around her. She tried to stand, but every time she managed to get back up, she was thrown to the ground again. When she looked around her, trying to peer through the near total blackness that had been daylight a moment before, the world seemed to distort, to melt, in front of her eyes. The ground no longer seemed solid; it undulated, flowed away in waves, leaped up to meet the sky. Buffy was thrown around like a leaf in a tornado. She closed her eyes and covered up as best she could; when she peeked out, she couldn't tell where the ground stopped and the sky started anymore…she felt like she was drowning in the dark…

It was as if this dark wasn't just a quality of light but a physical thing in and of itself…something cold and black and thick and a million miles wide and a million more deep and it would creep into your lungs and drag you down…

Eventually, the tremors grew less. The earth thundered, but Buffy wasn't being bounced around the cemetery like a pinball anymore. The tremors were still too strong for her to stand up, but she was able to get her bearings. She heard the vampires; they couldn't stand up either, but they were howling and laughing…celebrating. They weren't attacking her. They weren't bothering anymore.

"Buffy!" Faith shouted again. Buffy could barely hear her voice over the roaring all around her…

Buffy looked around again, and could just make Faith out; she was on her knees on the ground by a marble statue of an angel, hugging it, using it as an anchor. Buffy tried to get up, and fell again as the earth continued heaving around her. So she crawled to Faith instead, making her way to her as fast as she could.

"Buffy!" Faith screamed, with tears running down her cheeks. She let go of the angel, and leaped at Buffy, and threw her arms around her. "It's over! We…we lost!"

Faith was shrieking and wailing now. Buffy held her to her breasts, and rocked her, and kissed her hair.

"It's okay," Buffy said, in her ear. "It's okay, baby, it's okay…I'm here now, baby. I'm here. I'm here…"

Eventually, the world stopped shaking, and the roaring went away. Buffy and Faith held each other, as the angel stood vigilant above them, her beautiful wings outstretched, her sword held high, her keen eyes watching over them. The cemetery became still, and silent.

But the darkness remained…Buffy felt it, on her skin. It was a sleek, cold thing and wherever it touched her she shuddered, and a feeling came over her…

"I'm gonna keep you warm, baby," Buffy whispered back, and kissed her, and held her tight…

And then Buffy felt something else. The earth was vibrating beneath her now. And she heard something…it sounded like cannon fire…

"The sky!" Willow screamed, and ran into the living room, to the nearest window. "What happened to the sky?!" She threw the window open and leaned out, looking up at the black night…

"WILLOW!" Xander shouted, running in from the kitchen as Giles came in from the study. Giles managed to grab onto Willow's right arm and Xander was able to grab her around the waist as they desperately tried to pull her from the vampire's grasp. It was one of the wolf vampires; it growled and slavered and snapped its teeth at them like an animal as it tried to pull Willow away. The vampire couldn't enter the house, couldn't actually break the plane of the window, but he had a good grip on Willow's left arm now, and Xander and Giles together were only just strong enough to keep him from taking Willow outright; they weren't strong enough to pull her back in…

Willow was screaming. The vampire's claws had torn through her sleeve, and dug deep into her flesh, and drawn blood…

Giles punched the vampire in the face. It growled and bit at him, but it didn't move away from the window, or release its grip on Willow.

The cannon fire was getting closer, and louder. The earth was still vibrating. But the earthquake had stopped; Buffy thought she could stand now.

"Baby?" Buffy whispered. "Baby we…we gotta get up, okay? We gotta get up now."

Faith nodded, and let Buffy stand her up. Buffy didn't let go of her. She held onto Faith, as tight as she could, so the darkness couldn't snatch her away.

They could barely see in that dark. The vampires were there, standing away from them and staring in the direction of the noise, and making no move to attack them…the vampires were still howling and laughing…

She felt something, in her heart…like a knife had just stabbed into it, and twisted.

The Horseman galloped straight at them, a skeleton in a black, hooded robe, riding a great black horse, and holding aloft a giant black scythe. The horse was dead; its eyes were two empty sockets. But the earth thundered beneath its hooves…

The Horseman borne upon that great and terrible steed had eyes that burned like stars.

Terror seized Buffy and Faith like some bird of prey swooping down out of the darkness and carrying them off in its talons, when they saw those eyes; they felt an icy wind whipping around them, stealing their breath away, stealing their warmth away, freezing their blood…

They screamed. Their screams welled up inside them from a secret place deep down that they hadn't even known was there, and exploded out of them; but they weren't merely screams of terror. They were screams of revulsion too, and outrage: this Horseman didn't belong in the world. Buffy and Faith knew that he had stabbed his way in from some nightmare place, a place human beings weren't ever meant to see…Buffy and Faith knew, instinctively, that this Horseman was a perversion, a black stain…a sword through the world's heart. They knew the world couldn't abide his coming; he was a burden the world wasn't meant to bear.

The Horseman smelled like a dead thing. His scent touched something inside Buffy and Faith…they screamed again, and this time their screams carried only terror, distilled down to its black essence.

Two more Horsemen suddenly appeared out of the darkness behind the first; they looked like the first rider, skeletons in black, hooded robes, but their horses were different. One rode a horse colored a sickly yellow, and the other rode a thin, bony horse colored a dull, ashen gray. The rider on the sickly yellow horse smelled putrid, like some diseased thing, and he carried a spiked whip that seemed to move in his hand of its own accord, like a snake. The rider on the gray horse carried a huge, bloody axe. They caught up to the first Horseman, and then all three of them bore straight down upon Buffy and Faith, the earth groaning beneath the hooves of their terrible steeds…

Buffy and Faith stood there, frozen, as the vampires whooped and hollered and laughed…

Buffy felt her whole body go numb. Her sword and her stake fell from her shaking hands, and she closed her eyes, and burst into tears…

And then Faith heard a voice. It was a whisper on the wind, but it felt like it was right next to her…

It was Rebecca's voice. It allowed Faith to move again; it broke through the ice that had frozen her blood, and at the very last second Faith tackled Buffy and dragged her out of the way before the Horsemen could ride them down.

And as the Horsemen thundered past, Buffy and Faith cowered in the dirt beneath the statue of the angel, and quivered, and cried, and knew they were lost.

All of the vampires, more than a hundred, were standing in a circle around the statue now, growling.

One of the vampires stepped forward. He lurched toward them almost awkwardly, like a wolf walking on its hind legs. His red eyes looked like two pools of dried-up blood. His lips twisted into something approximating a smile.

Buffy and Faith quailed as they looked up at the vampires…at the hungry pack of wolves surrounding them. They knew they were at their mercy, and soon these wolves would tear their throats out…

The angel met the vampires' eyes, and didn't quail. She held her sword ready. If she thought the fight was hopeless, she kept her own counsel.

Part of Buffy and Faith wanted to fight. Part of them thought they should be lions, and leap at the wolves, snarling and biting and rending them to pieces, feeling the bones of these worthless scavengers shattering beneath their fists…

But they didn't feel like lions anymore. They felt like something had gone out of them, had gone out of the whole world…they weren't sure what it was, but they knew it was precious, and they didn't think they could ever get it back…

Buffy and Faith didn't stand up. They didn't roar at the wolves all around them, didn't defend their territory, didn't spring at the wolves and tear them to pieces. Instead they stayed down in the dirt, kneeling at the angel's feet.

They knew they weren't lions anymore. They weren't anything anymore…they had lost themselves…

Xander ran through the living room with a katana in his hand, nearly tripped over the coffee table, and ran out into the hallway toward the door.

"Xander, hurry!" Giles screamed, as he did his best to hold on to Willow while trying to dodge the vampire's slashing claws. "I can't hold her!"

He had no idea how to use a sword, or even how to properly hold one. All he knew for certain was that he was probably doing it wrong.

You'll need to learn a weapon, he remembered Faith saying. A sword or an axe, something for beheading. I can teach you weapons…

Screaming, Xander ran at the vampire from its right side and awkwardly swung at it with the katana…

The vampire backhanded him in the face before he could land the blow. Xander flew backwards, smashed head-first into a telephone pole, and broke his neck. He slumped to the sidewalk, dead.

"XANDER!" Giles screamed, and punched at the vampire again. The vampire slapped his fist away, and punched him in the face. Giles went flying across the room, smashed into the far wall, fell to the floor, and lay still.

Buffy and Faith knelt in the dirt at the angel's feet, holding each other, and crying. The wind had picked up; it was cold as ice and it lashed at them. It felt like whips on their skin. They looked up at the wolves surrounding them, and the wolves looked back, growling.

"Don't worry, my pretty rabbits!" the leader of the wolves sneered, as his pack laughed. "We want you to live yet awhile. We want you to see the world you helped create. You'll die soon enough, with the other animals."

And with that, the vampires loped away from them and disappeared into the night, howling and cackling…

"Wh-what…do we do?" Tara whispered, as she stood at the window with Angel, and looked out into the darkness.

He tried to see life as a series of moments. And every moment represented an opportunity…to set a new course. To determine the way all the moments that came after would unfold. Every moment was a decision that had to be made.

In the distance, the clouds in the black sky were lit with gold. It made the clouds look beautiful, like the sun had come out at night. But Angel knew the light meant there were fires burning downtown.

There were more screams now. Angel could hear them, coming from every direction…

Buffy and Faith knelt in the dirt together, and held each other, and cried. Above them, the angel stood guard, tall and beautiful and resolute.

The cemetery was silent, now, and cold. The vampires were gone. Buffy and Faith were alone.

In that cold place, that resting place for dead things, they felt powerless. Under that endless black sky, they felt small, and completely alone in the world.

They didn't talk. They held each other close, and leaned against the statue, and shivered, and tried to keep each other warm. The icy wind was relentless. It leeched the warmth from them.

They wondered what they could do, now. Should they just lie down there, in each other's arms, and let death come?

The Horseman galloped straight at them, a skeleton in a black, hooded robe. But his magnificent steed was purest white, and a silver trumpet hung from its bridle, and the rider held aloft a great sword, engraved with strange runes; that sword was as long as a man, and the light they saw emanated from it. The sword shone like a beacon in that black night; for a little space around the rider, the sword turned night to day.

When they looked upon that rider, Buffy and Faith felt the blood moving in their veins again.

He checked his horse a few yards away from them, and regarded them with eyes that burned like stars, and when they looked back into those eyes Buffy and Faith would have sworn they knew that rider…they would have sworn at that moment that they had known him, every day of their lives.

Buffy and Faith immediately stood up. The possibility of not doing what the Horseman told them to do didn't even occur to them.

"Who…who…are you?" Buffy said. Her voice sounded weak and small to her ears, and entirely inconsequential.

"Only ever two choices in this damned world, Faith," the rider said. "Either fight like hell or knuckle under."

It was just barely discernible, but the Horseman's voice seemed to have a trace of a Southern accent.

And then he spurred his horse again, and galloped away, and took his light with him, and Buffy and Faith were alone in the dark.

Two Slayers stood in a cemetery at the end of the world, and looked out into the darkness together.

Faith took Buffy in her arms, and kissed her. There was passion in that kiss, there was fire: it was a moment of warmth in a world gone cold.

"We haven't lost everything," Faith said. "We've got each other. And we've got our friends. We're gonna find them. Tara and Will and Angel and Giles and Xander, we're gonna find them and we're gonna figure this thing out, come up with a plan, okay? Okay, beautiful?"

Faith took Buffy's hand, and kissed it. Then she raised their hands up together, and she held Buffy's hand tight.

"See this right here?" Faith said, and looked Buffy in the eyes. "Nothing is stronger than this. Nothing in the world. Nothing."

"Mom!" Buffy shrieked, as she ran headlong and unheeding into the darkness, with no clear idea even of the direction she was heading in. "I gotta find my Mom! Mom! MOM!"

"BUFFY!" Faith screamed, and sprinted after her, and followed her into the darkness…

A moment later, the darkness swallowed them, and they could no longer be seen. A moment after that, the echoes of their voices died on the wind.

Sunnydale was blacked out; the only light came from the fires burning, everywhere, out of control.

Dead bodies lay in the street. Most had their throats ripped out. Some were suicides.

Melanie Durant sat on her front steps, rocking her daughter, Sarah, in her lap, holding her tight against her chest so she couldn't see.

Sarah was very quiet. She hadn't spoken since it started; since the sun had suddenly disappeared and the sirens and the fires had started and the power had gone out, and then she had seen the scary-looking men scratching at her window, and her mother had told her they had to be quiet, like two little mice…

A few blocks away, a band of marauding vampires was killing an old man. Melanie watched, as they tore him to pieces. She had never seen a vampire before today, and didn't know what they were. The vampires were moving from house to house, now; burning them down, forcing the people inside to come out, where the vampires could kill them…

Melanie had run, at first. She packed Sarah and the dog in the car and just started driving. But the news reports all said the same thing: these creatures were everywhere, all over the country, all over the world; there were rumors that the White House itself had been attacked, no one knew where the President was…

Melanie got as far as Los Angeles, looking for her husband, before she finally gave up. She saw a National Guard unit attacked by a horde of the creatures and ripped to shreds. The soldiers shot them but the creatures kept coming. She saw dozens of people herded into a park by a large group of the creatures and slaughtered like cattle. The people just stood there, waiting to die.

Melanie's husband was lying in the street a few blocks from his office, when she finally found him. He was dead. His throat had been torn out.

Something went out of Melanie, when she saw her husband lying dead there. She felt it, leaving her. She knew it was something precious, and that it would never come back.

And then she drove back home to Sunnydale, and sat on her steps with Sarah and the dog. There was nowhere else to go. And she liked her house, it was her dream house, the place she and her husband saved for, and bought together.

The dog huddled beside them, whimpering. He was a beautiful golden retriever puppy, but loud noises made him nervous, and Melanie could tell he was scared; his tail was down, and he nestled his head in her lap, and shook a little.

"I love you, baby," Melanie whispered to Sarah, and shot her through the temple with the gun she held in her right hand. Sarah's body trembled for a second, and then was still.

The dog ran away; the gunshot was too much for him. Melanie would've shot him too, but she didn't have time to look for him now, the creatures would be there within minutes. He was on his own. Maybe he'd survive for awhile.

Her daughter's blood was on her hands. It was in her lap, and some of it had splashed on her cheek.

Ten hours ago, they had been watching The Lion King on the VCR, and the sun had been shining through the window, and Melanie had been annoyed because they had made ice cream sundaes and Sarah had spilled hot fudge all over the new skirt she had just bought for herself the day before. She looked down at her daughter's blood. In the darkness, it looked like hot fudge.

She thought about her first date with her husband, about how he had been nervous around her, and that goofy smile he had. They had seen an Indiana Jones movie, the third one, with Sean Connery playing Tom Selleck's father. And then they had gone to a pizza place, and made out in his car afterwards.

Journey was on the radio. Dan had worn that horrible Polo cologne his uncle had let him borrow…

The street was quiet, after that. Sirens could be heard, faintly, and screams; but mostly, it was quiet.

The beleaguered town of Sunnydale burned, and its people were coming to accept their fate. God had judged them.

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Meant to Be
The Queen of Hearts

by Hellmouth Guy

Copyright © 2008

hellmouthadmin@thehellmouthrevisited.com

Meant to Be The Queen of Hearts

by Hellmouth Guy

Copyright © 2008

hellmouthadmin@thehellmouthrevisited.com

Meant to Be
The Queen of Hearts