Parallel by LilBit

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All the characters from BUFFY: THE VAMPIRE SLAYER are the property of Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy, Inc.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: Of course. Please!
Spoilers: Post-Chosen.
Author's Notes: This story is a continuation of Alterations with Time – reading that story and its prequel, The Sacrifice, first are recommended.
Pairing: Willow/Kennedy

Out of the black nothingness, the emerging scene of Willow and Kennedy came; like the slow opening of a camera lens, the figures inching their way into focus as the picture filled the frame. The lovers' movements were slow and restrained. They were facing each other, smiling at one another. Their hair floated as if weightless about them. Their bodies were undulating slightly, an almost unnoticeable swaying back and forth that pressed the lovers ever so slightly against one another. "I love you," Willow whispered as air bubbles followed the words from her mouth. Kennedy unhurriedly leaned in to embrace and kiss her witch, her arms pushing through the sea water that surrounded and engulfed them. Willow retracted from the kiss first and motioned her lover to look upward. As they did together both saw the rhythmic motion of the water's surface, the sun's imprint playing off the water's plane, darting and breaking apart with each passing wave. [It's time], Kennedy thought to her witch and they began to kick their legs, the force sending them ever so closer to the world outside of the great comforting sea.

At the instant of breaking the water's surface, the witch and the slayer found themselves on the veranda of an old hotel. They had the smell of the ocean on their dry skin and in their shimmering hair. The only parties to the scene were the two women; an eerie silence surrounded the otherwise deserted landscape. The giant hotel doors were open and the lovers could see inside. The lobby was light and airy; three large windows surrounded the entrance on either side. The terrazzo floor looked worn but still carried the magnificence of the symmetrical pattern of waves adorning its borders. Though the lobby radiated white, the veranda area carried a blue hue in the air caused by the tall neon hotel sign adorning the front of the building. Willow and Kennedy stood speechless and motionless, only their eyes showed appreciation for the style of an era long gone.

They turned only when they heard the music. On the wide sidewalk below them stood three musicians. Each held an instrument in their hands – two guitars and a violin. But the musical objects were not made of wood; they had the skin of a tiger as their material. The strings were the whiskers from the great cat. The couple watched as the trio played; there was no concern or dismay on their faces, only happiness. "It's that song," was all Kennedy said as she turned to look at her witch. The slow soothing music wafted through the air filling their heads and their senses. Willow took her slayer's hand and they both closed their eyes.

They opened them when the music stopped. They were now on grass, the hotel not so distant in the background. The darkness of night was shattered by the full moon throwing moon beams on the couple and the area around them. Again, there were no words between the lovers; it was as if their closeness was all that was needed. They held hands and were about to walk when a flickering object darted past them. It swirled around the witch's and slayer's heads. Both women smiled and began to laugh, following the twisting and turning flight of the twinkling flyer. As it passed Willow again, the witch snatched her hand out, catching the thing softly in her grasp. She opened her fist slowly. Emerald and brown eyes gazed upon the small article in the witch's palm; it was an eye. But not one as would be found on any typical person, not tantalizing chocolate and certainly not beautiful emerald. This particular one had the appearance of something out of an Egyptian museum; the eye as would be seen on a picture of a pharaoh or sphinx. "Well…that's strange," Willow said without intonation as the eye blinked at her. Just as quickly, the tiny thing flew out of the witch's hand and off into the darkness. Kennedy's eyes followed the figure into the blackness and couldn't help but feel that the night wasn't alone; the darkness had company.

When she turned back to Willow, the slayer found her witch surrounded by a wooden picture frame. Within the intricately designed frame, the space around and behind the redhead was of the purest black. It seemed endless, leading to the other side of existence. "Will?…you need to get outta there." It was the first time in the surreal course of events that there was emotion in the slayer's voice. Just then, the flying eye returned, speeding past the witch, blinking as it went. Kennedy tried to swat the thing away but kept missing, her motions labored and weak. As she looked again to her witch, she saw a look of complete worry on her redhead's face. "Kennedy?…Something's wrong…"

Before she could take the few steps to get to her witch, the picture frame burst into flames. Terror filled her eyes as Kennedy watched a frantic Willow scream, unable to move, the fire consuming her. The screams stopped and the flames and Willow were gone. The ground in front of the slayer, where the horrible scene unfolded, was as if nothing had occurred. Kennedy fell to her hands and knees.

When she looked up to see if her eyes had deceived her, she was no longer on the grassy area. She instantly felt the clammy dampness of liquid on her legs and arms. She smelled death. As she struggled to get up, she realized she was entrenched in muddy water and grass. Her only concern was finding Willow and she knew somehow her present location held the answer. As she went to get up, she was forced back down, her face submerged in the foul smelling fluid. She was forced on her back, a boot keeping her body and head under the water. She started to twist and struggle to get to air but the boot kept her down. Kennedy strained to see through the murky, dirt filled water following the boot up the leg and torso to the face of her captor. All she saw was a blackened silhouette, a faceless figure looming over her. Her fight to free herself was failing; no amount of battling got her closer to the life giving air she needed. Kennedy began to get lightheaded; she tried again to recognize her foe. All she could make out was the flickering light of the Egyptian eye floating around the faceless tormentor.

Everything began to fade and just as Kennedy was about to give into the darkness engulfing her, she barely heard, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, the gentle faint voice of her love. "…Kennnnedyyyy…"

Kennedy jolted upright in bed. She was breathing hard and in deep gasps, her heart pounding and head still reeling from the scenes that horrified her. Sweat clung to her face and body; the bed sheets beneath and covering her too were drenched in sweat. For a split second, the brunette didn't know where she was. In the next instant, she thought of Willow and immediately turned her head. She saw her redhead sleeping peacefully beside her in their bed. The slayer put her hands to her temples and let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. She closed her eyes. 'Fuck…What the hell was that?' That question swirled around in the slayer's head. She had never had such a frightful, surreal dream in all her years.

Kennedy then felt a hand gently on her hip. Groggily, "Baby?…you ok?" Willow said as she stirred and turned to her side. Kennedy saw the slightly opened eyes of her witch looking at her. All Kennedy could feel was relief that Willow was there, with her. She reached out and touched the delicate alabaster hand. That contact was enough to soothe the slayer, to make her certain that none of the horror had been real.

"I'm ok, babe…go back to sleep…just a bad dream." Kennedy lay back down and watched as her redhead instantly fell back to calm sleep. 'Just a dream,' she told herself again.

Kennedy sat on the concrete wall; in her peripheral vision to the left she could see the Colony Hotel. She watched as the steady night life of South Beach, Miami, Florida passed before her on that warm May night. All of the party seekers, sun worshippers and vacationers were oblivious to her; she likewise took no interest in them. The brunette's concern, the only item that held her attention was her watch. Kennedy stared at the piece as the seconds ticked away. As she waited, she thought about that slayer dream she'd had the previous December. It was the first she'd ever had. The slayer prayed it would be her last. The brunette played the dream over and over in her mind like she had done a thousand times before. During her analysis, Kennedy kept glancing at her watch, examining the numbers as they changed. "I shoulda put things together sooner…maybe I could have stopped it," she quietly said to herself. 'There's something I'm missing,' she contemplated. And then the insidious voice crept in, '…if not…then she really is gon…'

Kennedy didn't finish her thought because her eyes refocused on the numbers on her watch – '9:50pm'.

She studied the area in front of her, holding her breath, willing for a miracle to occur. The slayer kept her eyes affixed on that location for what seemed like hours. Finally, her concentration spent, she glanced at her watch – '10:08pm.' Kennedy slumped forward and hung her arms by her side – 2005 had not turned out as she had expected.

"Four months and three weeks…since I lost you…" The brunette's words were full of pain, said from a broken heart; from the shell of a woman lost to despair since the vanishing of her love. Kennedy looked at that unchanged spot before her and through cracked voice, "God…I miss you, Willow…"

The pounding of her head was what brought Kennedy out of her sleep. It felt like someone was stomping on her brain with concrete shoes. If that wasn't bad enough, the brunette felt a wave of nausea overcome her when she tried to roll over onto her side. Her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and when she first opened her eyes she winced in pain from the sunlight which illuminated her room. Kennedy lay back down, eyes tightly closed, and let her body adjust. She had become accustomed to her hangovers and knew the routine by heart that would cause the least amount of agony to her recovery.

Within not so long a time, the slayer's body had recuperated to the point that she could sit up in bed without the need to run into the bathroom to spew up the previous night's over indulgence. Kennedy's head was still aching but she was able to open her eyes and look about her room. Her clothes and spikes rested haphazardly about the floor. There was a nearly empty tequila bottle on the dresser next to the television. The only things that didn't seem to have been recklessly thrown were the brunette's watch and the butterfly necklace given to her by Willow almost three years earlier. They both lay perfectly placed on a small rectangular tray on the nightstand to her left.

Kennedy slowly got out of bed and, like a zombie, went into the bathroom to clean from her skin another slip into despair. She undressed, turned on the shower and just before she stepped in, caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. "What are you doing to yourself?" Her self interrogation was aimed at both the punishment she was reaping on her body and the mental anguish that was never far behind. Her unspoken answer to the reflection was that she was doing what she needed to do to cope, to make it through day after day until she found out the truth about Willow's disappearance. Kennedy dropped her stare and stepped inside the shower to ready herself for another painful day without her witch.

The slayer's actions were nothing new. Kennedy had been in Miami for almost three months. She stayed in the same room at the Tides Hotel on South Beach that she and Willow had gotten when they came for their "getaway vacation" in January. The couple was there celebrating Willow's twenty-fifth birthday and the end of a rather grueling semester at college for Kennedy. The brunette's stay now held no speck of happiness, no joy. Now, she was on a mission.

After Willow's vanishing and Kennedy's eventual return to South Beach, the slayer soon got herself into a routine. She existed as best she could during the day doing what she could to help discover the reasons for Willow's disappearance. At night the slayer brutally killed vampires and whatever other demons she could find. Kennedy wouldn't touch a drop of liquor during the day, but after her patrolling was done, she'd hit the busiest bar or nightclub and get shit-faced. When even that didn't subdue the pain in her heart she would drink further still from one of the many bottles of booze she kept in her room. She would keep drinking until her slayer body said 'uncle.' Then she'd pass out in bed hoping that she wouldn't dream of Willow.

The brunette's daily life went on much the same except for every Friday night. In fact, everything she did was filler to get her through to that particular night, that precise time of 9:50pm. For on every Friday evening, Kennedy did the exact same thing. She had dinner at the Colony and then went to the spot where Willow had vanished, where her life had been ripped away from her. On every Friday night, the brunette went to Lummas Park, sat on the stone wall separating it from the beach and waited. She waited for Willow to come back to her out of the thin air the same way her witch had left. After all Willow had taught her about magick and the ways of the universe, Kennedy sensed that her lover's return would be through that exact place at the exact time as her departure.

Every week, Kennedy waited…and every week she left the park despondent and a little less sure that her redhead was still alive somewhere in the great beyond. Every Friday night her patrolling was more ruthless, her drinking more fervent. For almost three months, Kennedy made the weekly pilgrimage to reunite with the woman who had been her world for over three years. And like the first night after Willow's disappearance, Kennedy was still alone, so completely alone.

A bronzed hand turned off the shower and the slayer pushed back the curtain, reaching out and grabbing a towel. She decided, as she was drying herself off, that her body was almost back to normal. 'Made it through another night,' she chided herself. She quickly told herself she would still have to make it through another day. She got out of the tub, walked into the main area and rummaged through the bureau for some clothes. She got dressed, and then put on her watch glancing at the time – 10:41am. As she put on her necklace, Kennedy looked out the window.

The brunette could see the beautiful morning basting the coastline. The white sandy beach was already filling with tourists and locals seeking to soak up the great Florida sunshine. The brunette's mind wandered to her and Willow's last morning on that beach, the memory eliciting a soft smile, and then reluctantly to the tragic event that happened not twelve hours later. Kennedy remembered again.

"It doesn't get better than this." Kennedy was massaging sunscreen on Willow's perfectly freckled back and shoulders as she lay on their blanket on the sand. "This weather is perfect…Can't we stay here forever?"

Even though it was early January, the weather was particularly warm for Miami that time of year. The climate was perfect for the two women who had left the snow and blistering cold of Cleveland, Ohio behind them. They had been in South Beach for five days and were enjoying the sun 'n fun as much as possible.

Willow let out a small laugh. "I don't think Buffy would be too happy…She'd be stuck mentoring all the girls by herself…besides, you've got one more semester to finish…remember?…it starts in two weeks."

"I'll transfer down here…I hear the University of Miami is a good place…I'll study at the beach and you can get a researchy job at Mount Sinai."

The witch chuckled even louder. "Sounds like you've thought this all out…but what happens when it's hotter than Hades and you get kicked outta school for spending too much time at the beach?" Willow turned on her side so she could see her slayer scramble for an answer.

"We'll stay in our nice air conditioned room and have sex all day…I'm rich, what do I really need a college degree for?…" Kennedy grinned at Willow with a look of victory beaming across her face.

The redhead reached up and grabbed her slayer, pulling her down onto her. She gave her a light kiss. "You are hopeless…and you'll be dead if you don't finish college…cuz your dad will personally wring your neck." It was Kennedy's turn to laugh. She sat down at Willow's side.

"Yeah, you're right…he's pissed off enough that I didn't go back to Columbia…Ok, we'll go back to Cleveland…but I swear, we're gonna end up in warm weather one way or another." Kennedy leaned in and gave Willow a chaste kiss. "Now, let me finish your back or you'll end up looking like a lobster…Want me to get you a soda after I'm done here?"

With that question, Willow decided to have fun with her slayer. "You just wanna walk through the topless section of the beach." Kennedy gave a look like she was confused then offended.

"No way…I was just trying to do somethi…" Kennedy realized her witch was playing with her when she saw the "gotcha!" expression on Willow's face. The slayer laughed. "And they say I'm a brat…besides if I wanna see a nice pair, I'll just sneak a peak at yours." As the brunette said that, she straddled her witch who was lying on her stomach again, moved her hands underneath the redhead and gently grasped each breast. She whispered in the witch's ear, "Care to give me a quick look right now?"

"Aahh…" Willow was caught off guard by the action but pleased with the feeling it caused. After a momentary lapse into the sensation, even-minded Willow surfaced. She managed to roll on her side and took both of Kennedy's hands in hers. "As much as I would love to, that kind of display would cause too much commotion for even here…Besides, I think those two guys would have a coronary." Willow pointed to two very pale, very salt of the earth midwesterny men who'd been eyeing them when they weren't dealing with their wives and kids.

"Hey, that's their fault for putting their stuff near the gay section…" Kennedy saw that her request had fallen on deaf ears so she abandoned ship but not the idea. "…Ok, I'll let it go for now…but when we get back to our room…" Kennedy raised an eyebrow and gave a suggestive smile.

The lovers spent a good part of the day sprawled out on their blanket. Kennedy rented a big beach umbrella for Willow so she could shield her delicate skin from the sun while still enjoying the beach with her slayer.

"I still can't get over how you can sit in the sun all day and not get burned," the redhead commented. Kennedy could tell her witch was a bit envious.

With mock bravado, "We Latin types don't burn, the sun just makes our blood run hotter.…" Then with a seductive tone, "…that's why we're so sensual…just trying to cool down."

Willow looked at her girlfriend and gave a contemplative nod. "Oh, so it's a biological thing.…" She smiled and playfully swatted Kennedy on her leg.

"Hey…" Kennedy quipped with fake pain in her voice. "You're the science expert…it should make perfect sense to you." The women both laughed and continued their day of lazy relaxation on the beach.

Later on in the late afternoon, "What time is it?…We're meeting Faith and Miguel at five-thirty, right?" Kennedy had put her watch in Willow's bag and didn't feel like reaching over Willow to find it. Willow understood the question and looked through her beach bag to find a watch. She found her own, the Rolex Kennedy bought her for Chanukah, and looked at it.

"Oh, crap…it's after five now…" The lovers then hurried and put on clothes over their suites and gathered up their belongings. Kennedy put on her watch. Everything else got stuffed into Willow's bag and the two headed for the Colony Hotel to spend a few hours with friends that they knew they didn't get to see nearly enough.

"So what do you think of this place?" Miguel asked from his seat opposite Willow's at the sidewalk table outside the hotel.

"My God, Miguel…this place is just like you said…it's great…we are so glad you convinced us to come here." The Brazilian smiled with pride. He told them that he'd had the opportunity to visit many places during the course of his career as an exporter. Miami, and South Beach in particular, remained one of his favorites.

"You know, when I first came here the place was just at the end of its transition. It had gotten rid of most of the seedy elements…and the international feel was already here…I knew it would only get better."

"You sure you guys can't stay longer?" asked Kennedy. It had been several months since they'd seen the couple and a few hours didn't seem long enough to catch up.

"Sorry K, just here for one of Mickey's big deliveries then we're heading back…there's some problems in Costa Rica we gotta check into…I tagged along on this trip just to say hello."

"That jet-setter life not getting too old is it?…Ever think of settling in one place?" Willow said looking at Faith and then Kennedy. The two had discussed Faith's and Miguel's semi-nomadic life style many times over the course of time since the women's return from Brazil. Even though the two appeared completely happy, they often wondered if Faith and Miguel would ever feel the tug of a more sedate, 'typical' existence, one that would allow more time with their friends in the U.S.

Faith shook her head. "Are you kidding?…I love this…always new places and people…not easy to get bored when you're not anywhere for too long."

Miguel then continued in feigned seriousness. "Besides…I couldn't stand having her around all the time…I get her out of the way so I can do business…" Then earnestly, "…then she comes back to home base…she knows it's always waiting."

"Yeah, well…I'd just like it if your emergency runs happened more often in our neck of the woods." Kennedy said truthfully. She missed her friends.

The group continued talking and catching up on the events in their lives. The got so caught up that they ended up staying at the Colony and having dinner at their sidewalk table. They ate and drank and watched the never ending flow of bodies pass by their view, all making the ceremonial stroll up and down the famous, and infamous, Ocean Drive.

During their visit, a guitar player set up on the porch way of the hotel. He had a digital synthesizer and karaoke type machine that let him sound like a multi piece ensemble instead of a lone musician. While the two couples continued talking, the guitarist played.

At one point in the musician's set, Kennedy found herself humming along to a haunting ballad. Then it hit her. "Will…it's that song." Willow tilted her head and tried to catch the tune. She looked at her slayer.

"You know that Sara McLachlan song…'Answer'…how weird is that?" Kennedy wasn't into the singer but Willow had stumbled upon a song of hers that she told her brunette captured her slayer to a tee. Kennedy silently said the song's words that Willow loved best. 'I will be the answer, at the end of the line…I will be there for you while you take the time…'

Then Kennedy remembered and her eyes widened. "Will…my dream…this is the song."

Kennedy took on a serious look. It had been less than two weeks since her slayer dream. She'd told Willow all about it the morning after it happened when her redhead realized her brunette had had something more than just a "bad dream."

During their vacation, the slayer had commented to Willow how the area had the ocean and old hotels just like her dream; although they hadn't had any experience in their five days there that matched anything in her dream. Now, Kennedy recalled she'd said the exact words in her dream, "It's that song", and she recalled that the song being played by the guitarist was the one from her nightmare. It was déjà vu. The slayer got nervous.

"Ok, what the hell are you guys freaking out about?" Faith saw the change of attitude on her friends. Kennedy then proceeded to tell her sister slayer about the recent events. Faith remained calm. "This doesn't mean anything's gonna happen. I've had a few that didn't amount to much…these fucking things are based on hunches…one thing different…and reality changes."

Kennedy wanted to believe Faith but she knew from her previous conversations with Buffy and even Faith that more often than not the dreams played out. She couldn't bear the thought of her Willow actually facing the fiery demise in her dream.

"You said the trouble starts in a grassy area, right?" Kennedy looked at Faith with those words and nodded. "Ok, then no walking by the beach or in the park…"

Miguel looked at his watch. "It's 9:30 now…I'd hate to break up our little reunion, but under the circumstances…maybe it's better we call it a night and you two just go back to your hotel." After a very short discussion, they all agreed, begrudgingly, said good bye and promised to get together soon.

Willow and Kennedy headed up the street to their hotel. They stayed on the hotel side of the street; the other sidewalk bordered the park which led to the beach. Kennedy clung to Willow as they walked past the people enjoying an evening meal and the temperate night. When they got near the old Beach Patrol Headquarters, Willow saw a shimmer in the park area to the right of the building; she also felt a presence focusing on her.

Calmly and discreetly, "Kenne?…I think our demon is here…I feel it…look but don't be obvious…over to the right of that building across the street." Kennedy did as she was told and saw something lurking. She immediately decided she would put an end to the slayer dream by taking the monster out.

"Stay here…I'm gonna go take care of our unwelcomed friend." With that said, Kennedy blended in with another group of tourists walking and followed them across the street. She quietly went around the back of the building and was about to surprise the demon from behind when she felt a sudden numbness to her body. She couldn't move and fell to the ground.

With the sound of the brunette hitting the grass, the demon turned and started toward her. It made it a few feet when it was hit by a bolt of energy and knocked back. Kennedy looked in the direction from where the bolt came and saw Willow.

"You didn't think I was gonna let you go battle god knows what alone, did you?" Willow was smiling as she moved to her slayer. Half way there, she flinched and brought her hand up quickly to the back of her neck. "Darn mosquitoes…they're the size of birds down here." She kept walking to Kennedy.

The demon had recovered from the blast and was once again on the warpath, except this time it was after Willow.

"Watch out Will!" Kennedy cried, still unable to get up. The witch turned and went to shoot another energy ball. But this time nothing happened. Willow instantly got a perplexed look on her face. She tried again – nothing.

Kennedy looked up and saw Willow, the demon and the blue neon sign of the Colony hotel behind them. The slayer could feel her slayer dream crawling to life. "Will?…you need to get outta there." She struggled to get up; her body felt like it was in quicksand.

Before Willow could move the demon blasted a force field around her. Then it got closer. Kennedy watched as it moved nearer to her witch. It was hideous looking with black scaly skin that covered an elongated torso. Its eyes were fiery red; its skin seemed to sizzle. The creature was almost on the witch when they both heard it grunt something undecipherable as it flung its arms outward toward the witch.

Kennedy saw the terrified look on her girl's face. The harder she tried to move the more restrained she felt. Then she heard those last words from her love; saw the words come out of her mouth as horrified green eyes locked onto her.

The slayer next witnessed the combustion; Willow stood behind flames which were engulfing her. The brunette heard the screaming and tried to lunge after the demon to stop its torment. But she couldn't get there.

As Kennedy scowled at the demon, she heard another voice and then saw Faith jump on the creature, slicing its head clean off its neck with a shiny bolo knife. The head rolled off to the side and the demon's torso slumped to the ground dead. It instantly disappeared. Both Kennedy and Faith quickly looked back at the flames that were still present, still enveloping Willow. In a split second, the flames were gone and so was Willow.

Kennedy jerked herself back to the present, still looking out her hotel room window to the view of the Atlantic Ocean before her. Every minute about that night had become imprinted in her mind. Her slayer dream had come true and because of it she had lost everything…she had lost her way. That moment when Willow disappeared haunted her. She wanted to believe her redhead would come back to her; she needed to believe Willow was out there somewhere.

Willow sat on the grassy ground, the Colony Hotel in her line of sight to the left. The Beach Patrol Headquarters was directly to her right. 'It really does look all art deco-y." She remembered what the guide had said that day her and Kennedy took a walking tour of the area. They had learned a lot about the "art deco" style of South Beach that day. It was little memories like that that were keeping Willow sane during her banishment into the unknown.

The redhead was sitting at the exact spot where she had disappeared four months and three weeks earlier. At least that's what she hoped the time period was. Her Rolex watch told it had been that long, but that assumed that time worked the same way in her present reality as it did in her real world. For the last seven weeks, she came to the spot the same time every week, hoping that her spells and conjures would finally be powerful enough to send her home…return her to Kennedy.

Looking around, "At least I don't have to worry about people bothering me," she half mused. The sight around Willow was eerie. She was in South Beach, the same place from where she had vanished. Every building, palm tree, and street sign was the same. The only thing missing was people, of any sort. Willow was in a ghost land, like an old abandoned wild west town. She had become used to, if not comfortable with, the silence. It was her thoughts about Kennedy, and all the other people she considered her family, that kept her from losing her grip. Although, with the experiences she'd been through since her arrival in the netherland, there had been times when she wasn't so certain she could hold on.

When she realized that her magicks had failed her again and she would continue to be stuck in the world of 'make believe', Willow tried to keep her spirits up. "At least I'm doing better than when I first got here." She recalled that night and the weirdness that followed.

Willow saw the flames in front of her. Through their fiery lashing tongue-like strands, she could also see the terrified look of her slayer. The heat from the fire wasn't burning her, though she could feel the heat. What captured the witch's attention was not being engulfed in flames; they weren't even touching her. The thing that scared the redhead was the feeling of being sucked into a void. As Kennedy looked on, Willow felt herself forcefully pulled into a tunnel of nothingness, like a secret passageway to nowhere. Everything went black as she saw the flames completely overtake her view.

The sensation of pin pricks to her legs was Willow's first conscious thought as the hazy fog of sleep started to whittle away. Eyelids fluttered open to bright light. She winced to keep out the harsh whiteness. After a moment to adjust, eyes opened again. They immediately fixated on the tingling feeling still present on her legs. When Willow finally focused on her limbs, she was startled by the sight of ants, many tiny red ants, crawling on her legs and obviously biting. She quickly sprang to her feet and swatted the little insects off her. Her legs were spotted with tiny red welts that burned and itched. She looked around her. It was early morning, she could tell that from the level of the sun in the sky. She also realized she was in the same spot as she had been when the demon attacked her. As she scanned the area, she saw that Kennedy was no where in sight.

"Great…I mustuv been knocked out.…" Willow then wondered where her brunette was. Worry hit her first. If Kennedy was safe, the witch was certain she'd have been by her side when she awoke. Willow didn't think Kennedy would have just left her, lying on the ground with bugs all over. The redhead got more worried. She glanced around some more.

That's when it struck her. There weren't any people around…not a one. Willow felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. She began to walk around, to the street and past the hotels. Willow saw no one and heard nothing except the rustling of the wind through the trees and birds chirping. The redhead got shivers down her spine and the hairs on her neck stood at attention. "What the hell is going on here?" Willow really didn't know what to make of the situation. She was in South Beach by appearance only.

Willow got very worried and scared. She needed to find Kennedy. She began to run along the sidewalk, calling out for her lover. The further she ran, the more frightened she became, the louder and more urgent her pleas were for Kennedy.

Finally, she came to the News cafe, the place where the designer Versace had had his last coffee before being gunned down on his own front steps. The place was empty and dead silent. The metal racks by the shop were filled with papers; magazines lined the walls of the tiny open store. Willow was totally confused on how everything could exist except people. She went to the rack that held the Miami Herald. She looked at the date on the front page of the newspaper.

"January sixth," she whispered; the day of her demon encounter. She then looked at her watch, the Rolex Kennedy gave her. Green eyes widened at the little boxed date…'Jan 8'.

Willow felt a wave of lightheadedness come over her and she sat down in one of the chairs usually occupied by throngs of visitors. The redhead was completely baffled…and fearful. She looked around. "Where am I?" There was fright in her tone.

At that moment Willow decided that she didn't want to figure out her whereabouts; she wanted to go back to Kennedy. Since something mystical seemed to have put her there, maybe magick would get her out. She first tried sensing Kennedy; she felt nothing. Then she tried to mindspeak to her slayer. [Kenne?…baby?…can you hear me?…are you out there?]. She waited and after no response tried again. Still nothing.

"Fine, let's see if I can just get outta here." Willow then tried to teleport back to Kennedy. She felt blocked, almost like white noise filling her mind.

"Ok…relax…think this thing through…there must be an explanation…" Willow was trying to keep herself from panicking. She had become a very powerful witch who was thorough in her mystical analysis. "This isn't the first time something wonky's happened…you just need to calmly go through the facts."

The witch's scrutiny of her situation didn't have the chance to really get underway, because out of no where Willow heard a grunting sound. She jumped out of her chair and spun around. About fifty feet away from her stood a creature. It was the demon that had placed the fire around her, or at least another one just like it. Willow wasn't sure of anything right now. Before the witch had a chance to consider what to do, the demon starting running at her. Willow reacted instinctively.

She threw an energy ball at the creature. Under normal circumstances, the power radiating from the mass would have been enough to topple a herd of elephants, and certainly enough to disintegrate one demon. However, this time, the ball barely made it to the charging demon and only splattered on his chest like a paint ball. Willow couldn't believe what she saw; she didn't understand how her power had been so reduced. She also knew the demon was getting closer.

"Yikes!…Legs get me outta here!" Willow started running away from the monster. She headed up the street and cut into one of the side roads. As she ran, she prepared herself to try and shoot again at the demon. 'I just really need to focus…' she told herself as she looked for a spot where she'd have the best chance to hit the demon.

The creature was closing the gap and Willow could hear it grunting and shuffling its feet on the concrete as it hunted her. Finally, Willow saw an alley way that had a large metal dumpster at its opening. She ran toward and then turned into the alley. She darted quickly behind the dumpster for cover. As the demon came into her sight at the mouth of the alley, she sprang up and with all her concentration threw her arms outward. A sizzling blue band of electricity rolled off her fingers and formed a large sphere of energy. As quickly as it was formed, the object flew from her hands and blasted into the demon. Almost immediately, the evil creature exploded, its physical presence vanishing in a matter of seconds.

Willow came out from behind the dumpster, breathing hard, eyes wide open. The witch felt completely drained. As she scanned the area, Willow said in a shaky voice, "I don't think I'm gonna like this place." The redhead walked down another empty street; her only thought was that she had to find Kennedy.

When Willow came out of her thoughts about that first day in her bizarre altered dimensional prison, she felt tears on her cheek. She had been so scared that day; all she wanted was to be in her slayer's arms. She never felt so frightened and alone as that day. The witch had been lost in every way. She was alone in a place she didn't understand with an altered reality of her powers for which she had no clue how to fix. Almost five months later, Willow had put many of the pieces of the puzzle together and she was getting closer to an answer to the escape from her exile and return to her real life, the one with Kennedy.

Willow hoped that her slayer had also deciphered the code to her disappearance and was attempting to get to her. It was that thought, that Kennedy was trying just as desperately to reunite with her, that kept Willow returning to that grassy spot every week. It was her complete faith in their love for one another that kept the witch alive through all the horror and despair that had plagued her since her arrival in her present wasteland.

She kept trying to go home because she knew in her heart Kennedy would never give up waiting for her to return.

After failing at her last attempt to return to her true dimension, Willow headed back to the Tides Hotel. The redhead walked through the empty lobby paying no particular attention to the magnificence of the interior decor or ocean wave design on the still beautiful terrazzo floor. She had long ago gotten over the architectural beauty of the place. She headed to her room, the same that she and Kennedy had shared not so many months before. Even though she could have had any room, she automatically took the one on the fourth floor. It made her feel safer and closer to her brunette somehow.

Her room was typical Willow. Everything neatly placed in its designated spot. Books in a row on the floor against the wall; bed perfectly made. Her beach bag with contents inside organized was leaning against the tv bureau. There was a hot plate next to the microwave.

The redhead opened the door to the minibar fridge and took out a diet coke; it was nice and cold.

Willow again marveled at the intricacies of her present reality. Every building and store had electricity but no people inside. No one to run the businesses, yet all stores had unlocked doors. She could walk into any shop and take whatever she needed. Restaurants and convenience stores had food. The witch could take fresh or frozen items to her liking. Of course, she had to be careful with perishable foodstuff; an altered dimension didn't mean she couldn't get food poisoning from food gone bad. She found that out the hard way. Willow's world was like a place that had been a bustling city until everyone was told to evacuate. She often thought how it reminded her of that movie, "Twenty Eight Days Later." The redhead had anything she wanted at her disposal, except contact to people. The phones didn't work and there was no programming for television, radio or the internet. If it dealt with people, it was a null. Turning on the tv only brought snow on the set.

Willow sat down on the bed. She tried to stay upbeat and focused on her mission of figuring out a way home. She'd already deduced so many things about her banishment. But the hours after every failed attempt home were the worst time for the redhead. Willow couldn't help but recall her former life, the happiness she had with Kennedy. The memories of her time with her slayer kept flooding back. She curled up on her side, brought her hands clasped together under her chin and let herself remember some of the good times – when they first came back from Brazil and the enthusiasm they had for their future.

"Willow!…Kennedy!…Over here!" Dawn couldn't hold her excitement. She had to shout their names as soon as she saw them round the corner after their departure from the airport terminal shuttle tram.

The couple peered through the crowd and saw the source of the shout along with Buffy and Xander. They quickly made their way through the people and the next several minutes were spent in group hugging, smiling and kissing. "Welcome to Cleveland…it's no Brazilian tropical paradise, but at least we got the Osborne's on tv…It's great to have you guys back…" Xander said beaming from ear to ear.

Buffy joined in on the sentiment. "God, it is so good to finally have you two back…we missed you so much." It was true; Buffy really had missed Willow and Kennedy. "All your stuff is already at the house. It's stored right now until you figure out what you want to do."

Kennedy looked at her fellow slayer. "All I want to do right now is eat…I'm starving." Buffy nodded. "Me, too."

Willow smiled and laughed while looking at Xander. "Slayers…," she said while shaking her head.

"Well then, we better get these two some food pretty fast or we'll have a slayer revolt on our hands." Xander had seen too often how grumpy a hungry slayer could get. The reunited Scooby gang went and picked up the couple's luggage and then proceeded to find food.

They finally made it to 'slayer central' by late afternoon. Xander helped with the bags and then the friends let Willow and Kennedy settle in to their room on the fourth floor.

"I put you up here because the girls can get pretty rambunctious and noisy on the third floor." Buffy then told them that her room was down the hall and that the second set of stairs was at the end of the hallway.

The couple was quite pleased with the room. It was large and recently renovated. The furniture was pleasing. "Well, this works, don't you think?" Willow wasn't sure what she had expected to see.

Kennedy came up behind and embraced her witch. "It definitely works." Willow turned in her arms.

"You don't mind sharing a house?…with a bunch of teenage slayers?" The redhead knew that Kennedy was at her best when she was unencumbered by multitudes of roommates. Except for when she was at Buffy's, she never shared a house, unless it was with Willow.

Kennedy kissed her witch softly. "We're together…that's all that matters…Besides, we just got here…we'll figure things out. If we feel like a place of our own, we'll get one." A fleeting thought ran through the redhead's mind. It was of her and Kennedy someday living together in a house that they owned, together. The thought gave her a warm feeling.

Willow smiled. "You're right…let's just unpack and we'll let the rest take care of itself."

The next few months went by quickly for everyone. The witch and slayer got settled into their new, if maybe not so permanent, home. The house was perfect for the U.S. branch of the Slayer Network. Being on a hellmouth, Cleveland was very fertile ground for teaching the new slayers the art of being a slayer. As it turned out, Giles had made numerous visits to the facility to help establish the training and other programs the new Watcher's Council had developed for the slayers.

The watcher initially handled the effort along with Robin Wood. Andrew even came over a few times to assist. When the principal and Faith ended their "relationship", for lack of a better term, Robin agreed to stay on and work with the new slayers. However, not being a watcher, and truthfully having no desire to become one, Wood soon got the itch to be on the move. He had spent his whole life trying to avenge the death of his slayer mother. The fact that Spike had been the murderer and was gone, as far as he knew, left him with a void. He realized he would never lose the desire to fight vampires; though not his mother, demons would still be taking the life of someone who was loved. But the need wasn't as urgent, as personal anymore. Wood decided it was time for him to put his life in some kind of order. Much like Buffy and even Faith, he had placed his life on hold or kept people out in the name of vampire slaying. Not too much before Faith went to Brazil to help Kennedy, Wood told Giles he was leaving.

"Where will you go, Robin?" Giles was genuinely concerned. He liked Robin, thought the man brave and an asset to the organization. He didn't want to lose a valuable person in the system.

"Oh, don't worry…I'm not deserting the cause…under the circumstances, it's best if I get a new focus…maybe run a school somewhere near an evil vortex…or in Texas…same difference."

The men parted ways, shaking hands and giving a nod, both knowing they had shared an incredible adventure that only the very few ever survive.

Despite Wood's departure, Giles still however decided to stay in England as CEO of sorts overseeing the entire international slayer conglomerate. Andrew stayed on as his assistant. As a result, he sent over several individuals to be watchers for the girls.

Because of the number of slayers initially, there was no longer a one-on-one watcher/slayer ratio. Three watchers, James Petson, Terri Jones and Walter Hendricks, were responsible for the thirty odd girls originally at the Cleveland house. They oversaw the training, both physical and mental, for the slayers and dictated the patrolling schedule. Life was now good for slayers, as far as slayers went. Patrolling was never done alone anymore; there were always at least two slayers. Girls also got to take time off. They could even go on vacations.

Buffy's job in the situation was one of a mentor. She had actually taken over for Faith when the brunette told everyone she was staying in Brazil. Buffy decided she'd had enough full time slaying and certainly wasn't in a position to be watcher. But she couldn't just turn her back on her legacy. So, she helped train and go on patrols with the girls. But for Buffy, slaying wasn't the all encompassing part of her life it had been. She let others worry about the newest 'big bad' in town. The blonde gladly helped when needed but she knew she'd had her reign as "The Chosen". Buffy wasn't all too unhappy to let it go to others. She was in semi-retirement, trying to do those things in life that Buffy, 'the' vampire slayer, never was able to do, things that the new breed of slayers wouldn't have to forsake.

For Willow and Kennedy, upon their return, they made a list of the things they wanted to get done and the priority of each. Kennedy didn't want to stop patrolling though. "I'm a slayer, Will…no matter where I am…I can't just let the vamps do what they want." So soon after their return, Kennedy started patrolling with the other slayers. She took her place in the rotation and even helped train the girls when asked by the watchers. The brunette did this all while still keeping the other priorities in her life in tow.

Because of the timing, the couple's first course of non-evil fighting action concerned college. Willow wanted to finally get that one semester remaining done. She convinced Kennedy to make that a priority also so that the brunette could keep her promise to her father, and so that the redhead wouldn't have to keep hearing the brunette complain about him nagging her.

They were both able to get a late acceptance to Cleveland State University. Willow found out that her semester there would be able to transfer back to UC Sunnydale. Even though the University went the way of the city itself, the California State University System was still allowing former students with twelve or less credits needed to graduate the option to finish elsewhere and apply those to attain a degree at their previous alma mater. For some reason, it was important to the witch that her diploma come from UC Sunnydale.

Kennedy told Willow she didn't care where she went. She just wanted to be wherever her girlfriend was. The two chose CSU because Buffy was already going there. They started the fall after their return.

When the blonde slayer got back from Italy, she decided that being a college graduate was one of those life's experiences she wasn't going to do without. Additionally, since she was no longer a fulltime slayer, she knew she'd be able to get a real job. She wanted to try to have a "career", something with substance, and that meant college was her best chance. She started in the summer session and was glad to show her friends around the campus when it was their turn to start.

Besides dealing with their education, the initial time back also meant parental visits for the couple, first to Willow's parents and then to Kennedy's dad. The visit to Sheila and Larry Rosenberg went better than expected. Besides just reconnecting with her parents, Willow had decided to tell them more about the truth of her and Kennedy. They already knew their daughter was a witch but they were thinking more in terms of Wicca and woman power, not enchantments and demon fighting.

On this visit, Willow told them a short and light version of her involvement, since high school, with Buffy and Xander in the fight against 'evil.' The witch tried to explain that not all horror stories were make-believe. Willow couldn't bring herself to come out with the entire truth; she knew telling them about all the horrible apocalypses she'd help divert would be too much for even her parents. She remembered how hard it was for Joyce Summers to accept the fact that her daughter was the vampire slayer; and she lived with the slayer and danger every day.

It did take a bit of time and a few on the spot spells before the realization and significance of the information sunk in. As liberal as Willow's parents were, they were still taken aback with the assertion that the things that go "bump in the night" really were caused by monsters. When it did take hold, a look of understanding lit their faces.

"There was always so much strange stuff happening…we just thought it was an unlucky town," Larry said. Shelia added, "I always thought there was something 'different' about Buffy." Learning that evil really did exist seemed to make years of peculiar events all make sense.

Then Willow told them about the slayer spell and Kennedy's abilities, again leaving out the more upsetting attributes. The daughter then explained the women's present position on the fighting evil issue. "There're lots of slayers now, so Kennedy doesn't have to do this like Buffy did…we're gonna finish college…and lead as normal a life as possible…but we're not giving up altogether…if something bad happens and our help is needed…we're gonna do our part."

Willow explained that the information given to her parents still needed to be kept confidential from others and that she was letting them know because she didn't want secrets between them any longer.

Willow's parents weren't exactly happy that their daughter was a foot soldier in some sort of fight against evil, but they knew it wasn't for them to choose. After what they were told and saw of their daughter's powers, they felt more at ease. The fact that Kennedy would be by her side also made them more assured that their little girl would be fine.

The redhead's parents grew fonder of Kennedy with each visit and telephone call. It didn't go unnoticed to them how Willow had became more self confident, and less shy since she'd been with Kennedy. In the end, Sheila and Larry begrudgingly accepted their daughter's new life, knowing that they could do nothing to keep their only child from fighting the good fight. "Please be careful" was the only thing Sheila could say.

After the visit to the Rosenbergs, the couple went to New York to see Kennedy's family. They had a wonderful few days with Emma and Willow could see the difference in Kennedy's interaction with her father. Kennedy's stepmother, Julia, was the same-polite but restrained. Kennedy informed Jackson Prescott that she had reunited with her mother, his ex-wife. "Mom and I worked things out, Dad…I hope you're not mad." As it turned out, Kennedy's father wasn't upset. Whatever sour feelings he held for the woman who'd left him, he kept them inside. He saw his daughter happy and didn't want to affect that.

Kennedy also told her father of the couple's plans for the near future. "We're going to Cleveland State University…I told you I'd finish college." When Jackson Prescott asserted that they should live in New York so his daughter could finish at Columbia, Kennedy stopped him mid sentence. "Dad, I'm a slayer…Cleveland's on a hellmouth like Sunnydale was…I have to be there…we have to be there right now…CSU will work." After one more attempt to persuade his daughter otherwise, the father resigned in defeat. Once again, his daughter's mind was made up and there was no changing it. "Keep me up-to-date on school and let me know if you need anything…your education is very important, Kennedy." The man still harbored dreams that his daughter might some day go into the family business.

On the day they left, as the couple went to get into the family limo to go to the airport, Jackson Prescott hugged his daughter. "You take care of yourself, Kennedy…be safe…and keep Willow safe, too." Like the witch's parents, Kennedy's father had grown to be quite impressed with his daughter's companion. He could see the wispy redhead was good for his daughter. Kennedy didn't seem to be as headstrong and reckless around the witch.

The couple wasn't able to visit with Kennedy's mother, Gabriella, as they had hoped. College classes started sooner than they wanted and they were relegated to weekly phone calls. The woman decided that she would visit them when they could squeeze in a few days in their busy schedules. Every time Gabriella Gonzalez said goodbye to her daughter at the end of their call, she always stated, "I love you both…take care of one another." The daughter's reply was always, "We will, Mom."

The initial time back from Brazil was an adjustment for the couple. For one, they were no longer alone in a house and had to adjust accordingly. Their bedroom with its private bathroom became their sanctuary, their Sao Paulo reincarnate where they could be alone to cuddle, talk or crave on each other's bodies. That room allowed them the solitude they had come to love in Brazil.

The couple's understanding of and insight into each other continued after their South American return. Despite being together for well over a year and having experienced events few couples could ever imagine going through, Willow and Kennedy still found ways to surprise the other. A new city meant new adventures. They also had to deal with college and their academic idiosyncrasies. The women dealt with figuring out schedules to accomplish all the things necessary in a day. Little by little, in those first several months back, the witch and slayer started to adjust to their new life out and get into a routine. Luckily, they were still new enough into their relationship, despite all they had been through, to keep the day-in and day-out chores from becoming a rut. Life was good and the lovers were happy. Each night they went to bed with a positive attitude for the coming day.

Their return from their Brazilian paradise did nothing to slow down their feral desires. Night was the time they escaped; the time they gave of themselves to the flesh. The women had been sharing their bodies for over a year and their return from Sao Paulo did nothing to alter their cravings for one another. Their lovemaking was still fresh and new. Though each knew exactly what to do to make the other crumble to her knees, their physical expression hadn't become routine. They still tried to give the other even more pleasure and satisfaction. It hadn't entered their minds that their time together could be any other way.

Willow could feel the expert hand of her lover trailing ever so lightly up her thigh, across her stomach and then back down to her waiting center. With the caresses acting like a soft plea, Willow arched back into the slayer, who was behind her, and moved her leg, inviting Kennedy in. The sensation of fingers rubbing and exploring was accompanied by soft kisses on the witch's neck and across her shoulder. The redhead felt her lover's other hand lightly stroking and running its fingers through crimson strands. Willow's body soon found that familiar rhythm as she rocked with the movement of her brunette, feeling Kennedy's erect peaks pressing into her back. The redhead's eyes closed and she got lost in the feelings caused by her lover.

Willow started to feel the sensation beginning deep inside. As Kennedy's fingers worked faster, the sensation started to ripple outward. The redhead's movements became more urgent, straining to gain more contact. She grabbed Kennedy's hand and pushed it further into her. The moans that had already made their presence known became louder as the witch's breathing labored. Willow let her lover bring her to the crest like she had so many times before. She absorbed the tingling sensation all over her body from Kennedy's precisely placed kisses. When the slayer attacked her ear and the sensitive delicate area of her neck, Willow felt the full force of her orgasm hit. The combination of feelings sent her reeling, her body racked with spasms, her skin feeling almost electrified. At the height of her fall, the redhead grabbed the bottom sheet on the bed and with eyes clenched shut moaned out her lover's name – "Kennneddyyy…"

Willow then turned her face into the pillow and let her breathing slowly fall back to normalcy. As she waited for her body to return to peaceful calm, Willow thought about how she loved what Kennedy could do to her. It was as if her body was an instrument and Kennedy a virtuoso at making the most exquisite music. The slayer could make the redhead's body do and feel things that she never knew existed. The witch was truly in awe of her brunette's talents.

Just as she was ready to return the sexual favor to her slayer, Willow felt a mouth on her shoulder; then a hand gently turned her on her back. Before she had a chance to react, Willow felt that mouth on hers, begging to be joined. The witch eagerly obliged and the lovers shared a deep, lingering kiss. The slayer broke the union and her mouth then began a journey down her redhead's throat, across her collarbone and then to her breast. It was accompanied by a bronzed hand grazing her arm. The mouth spent a few moments teasing the redhead's nipple and then it was off again, slowly making its way down the witch's alabaster stomach. Willow didn't even need to speak; she knew her girl was taking her for another ride into the throng. She went willingly and happily, like a true believer being led to the Promised Land.

Willow awoke from her dream just as Kennedy's mouth reached her center. There was sweat on her brow. The redhead lay on her back in bed. She always dreamed of her and Kennedy after her attempts to escape. During those sad hours, the redhead felt an extra need to be close to her slayer. She'd been without her touch for almost five months. Memories were all the witch had left. She had to keep them feel real, to keep herself feel real.

"Baby…I miss you so much." Willow said the words softly but desperately, hoping that somehow her slayer could hear them.

Looking at the sunlight drenching the window curtains, Willow knew another day without her love was upon her, and like the days before, she wondered why this had happened.

The Florida Everglades, "the glades", is in large part an enormous, shallow river. It's a slow, flat expanse of land shaped by the action of water and weather covering much of southern Florida. Its watershed begins in central Florida's Kissimmee River basin and flows as a shallow, wide river, the "River of Grass", southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The shallow river is fifty miles wide in places and one to three feet deep in the center of the slough, the faster flowing part of the marshy river. Elsewhere, the river is a mere six inches deep. The water travels at a snail's pace of a hundred feet a day across sawgrass and toward the mangrove estuaries of the Gulf.

There are several very distinct habitats existing within the glades' boundaries. Florida Bay contains over eight hundred square miles of marine bottom, much of which is covered by seagrass. The coastal prairie is located between the tidal mud flats of the Bay and dry land. Mangrove forests are found in the coastal channels and winding rivers around the tip of South Florida. The mangroves give way to the slough which is spotted with hammocks, natural rises of only a few inches in the land on top of which are dense stands of hardwood trees. In the water filled depressions of this area are also found cypress domes, clusters of the cypress trees that can survive in standing water. Once out of the marshy water, the pinelands make their appearance and are called home by a variety of pine and oak trees, an undergrowth of saw palmettos and over two hundred varieties of tropical plants.

The beating of the glades' heart is measured by rain, that glorious liquid that runs the cycle of life in the seemingly slow moving, never changing façade. Florida's wet and dry seasons, however, cause significant changes to the topography of the place and the behavior of its inhabitants. The dry season means dropping water levels. Fish migrate to deeper pools. Birds, alligators and other predators concentrate around those pools to feed. Late spring thunderstorms signal the beginning of the wet season. The landscape with its spotted pools of water yields to a summer landscape almost completely covered with liquid life. As the water disperses, so does the wildlife, reptiles and mammals.

The Everglades is a magnificent vast area of land, flat as the plains of Iowa. It stretches out as far as the eye can see. Tamiami Trail is the road that passes through the vast land, from the west coast to the east coast of the peninsular state. Though there is a bigger and faster highway to get across the area, the Trail is the truer path, built by the sweat of Indians and foreigners working for a rich elite looking to tame the wild tropical beast. Traveling the Trail gives one the sense of old Florida, the one before Mickey Mouse, the Rough Riders or even the white man. That ever straight road leads its travelers into the heart of the land that holds so many secrets. It opens the door to the croaking of the alligator looking for its next meal, the majestic elegance of the Florida panther stalking its prey. If listening intently enough, one can hear the cries of the indigenous peoples being butchered and slaughtered for refusing to follow the Government's demand to "relocate out west".

The Everglades holds both grace and transgression within its waters and in the air that wisps through cypress branches. There is a long account of the mystical attached to the area. The Miccosukee Indians have an oral history of miracles, mystery, suspense and intrigue to the land they've inhabited for hundreds of years. There are tales of the righteous and of evil medicine men…of evil itself living in the darkest recesses of the marshes. There are places in the glades that locals don't dare tread, not even the Miccosukee shamans anointed with the spirit of righteousness. Stories abound about evil men living with and among the gators, living off the refuse in the marshy grass…or killing an innocent who happened by unexpectedly. The tales, like so much of what the modern world tries to deny, were true then and continue to present time.

Along Tamiami Trail, about twenty miles west of Route 997 and the last vestiges of civilization as considered by Miami standards, well into the boundaries of Everglades National Park, is a tiny dirt road. It's hardly noticeable and takes someone who knows it's there to really see it. At night, even one possessing knowledge of its presence still has to take considerable care not to overshoot it. That road leads south, deep into the Everglades, into the most secluded, eeriest part of the land. Much of the year, the road is covered by water or deep mud, unnavigable by automobile.

At the end of that dusty line of a road stood a shack, or what would have passed for a shack in its better days. The structure was merely cypress planks attached to a frame. There were no windows, no electricity or phone and no other modern comforts. The door was nothing more than more planks affixed to a frame and attached with crude hinges to the opening in the front of the shack. The overwhelming feature to the area was the stench; it smelled of death. If not for the light sneaking between the slits in the siding of the shack, it would have been a foregone conclusion that the place was inhabitable. But there was a presence in the hut; a living, breathing creature of the two legged variety.

The person living in the dank and dreary place had been there for some time, since not so long after Willow had made her departure from South Beach. The shack was the castle for the figure, a fortified encampment that was unknown, and virtually impenetrable. No one could get in without the inhabitant knowing. No one would get out, thanks to the evil power possessed by the tenant. The determined willpower needed to stay in that cesspool of a hut was worth the benefit of being witness to the demise and the, yet to happen, death of Willow Rosenberg and Kennedy Prescott.

Inside that shack, beside the lantern that lit the dead night air, stood evil. As sure as Jack the Ripper and Adolph Hitler were born from some seed of evil, the figure in the room bore their kindred soulless existence. A heart dead to kindness or love and eyes blinded to anything but hate had been wallowing in the suffering of Willow's and Kennedy's despair.

Bent over a small kettle filled with the foul smelling muddy water which surrounded the shack, the figure cracked a crooked smile. The grin was distorted and crippled to match the face on which it laid. The figure stared into the murky blackness concentrating on the surface as if absorbed in a thriller of a movie. A heinous voice squeaked out.

"The plan is working…it won't be long now…the slayer and witch will know torment like never before…when they die, they'll know what real pain is…"

"What're we gonna do, Buffy?…She can't stay down there forever…We've gotta do something." Xander's voice had a slight distressed tone to it.

"She doesn't want to come back…She thinks Will's alive…You know there's no getting through to Kennedy once she's made up her mind." Buffy was just as worried and frustrated as Xander but didn't know if there was anything that could be done for the younger slayer. She knew how obstinate Kennedy could be.

"B, we can't just let her stew in her own juices…I've seen her…it's like she's a different person." Faith had been down to Miami once, for a week, since Kennedy left to go back there. She went to try to make the brunette come back to Cleveland; she tried to make Kennedy remember that there were people who loved her and were concerned for her well being.

Faith's appearance in Florida was a surprise to Kennedy; the older slayer decided it was a good thing that the brunette hadn't had time to fake things. In the week she was there, Faith saw how differently Kennedy acted. She was distant and detached except in her discussions about the research done and that still needed. The older slayer also noticed the drinking and the change in her slaying. During her time there, Faith couldn't get Kennedy to really talk about going back to Cleveland. All they did was research, man handle demons to get information out of them and slay. There wasn't any "down" time. Faith had a hard time just to get Kennedy to sit and relax for a decent meal.

They didn't talk like they used to; Kennedy was uncharacteristically quiet. And the younger woman never talked about Willow in any manner except in terms of the factual events of the dreaded night or of possible tactical ways to get her back. Faith attempted to get Kennedy to talk about her redhead, to feel something other than the mission to get her back. They were on the beach one night and Faith actually accused Kennedy of not even trying to keep Willow close to her. "You don't even really talk about her…it's like you don't really miss her…" Faith knew she had to push the woman to the edge to get a response.

Kennedy stared at Faith. Her face was expressionless. Then Faith saw sadness blanket her friend's demeanor as tears welled up in her eyes. The older slayer could see the grief and despair shimmering off the pools of emotion forming over those chocolate eyes. Kennedy wouldn't let herself cry. She turned to look out to the sea. Quietly, "I can't talk about her…If I do…I'll fall apart…and I can't afford to do that…can't do that to her."

It was at that moment that Faith understood the pain Kennedy carried. She tried again to talk the girl into going back to those who could help. Faith wanted Kennedy to return to Cleveland and not take the entire burden herself. Kennedy said no. "I can't go back, Faith…I'll be ok here…I'm not gonna do anything stupid.…" Kennedy knew Faith thought she was close to going off the deep end. The younger woman reassured her friend that she had a plan and that she would be fine alone. In the end, Faith had to trust Kennedy and let her make her own way.

Having arrived on a Saturday and left on a Friday morning, Faith never experienced the Friday night ritual. Had she, the slayer would have pressured Kennedy harder to return or to wait until she could spend real time down in South Beach with her. Had she known the wreck of a woman Kennedy became after each failed return, Faith would have been even more adamant in her feelings about the situation now.

The three Scoobies sat at the conference table in the strategy room at slayer central in Cleveland. As the rest of the city's inhabitant's were enjoying their Saturday night, the three friends were in serious discussion. Buffy still lived in the slayer house. Xander had moved from the first home he rented when he originally came back from Africa. He now lived in the city in an old Victorian he was renovating. Faith had made the trip from a stint in Mexico in part to catch up with the U.S. slayer branch she'd started, but mostly to talk about Kennedy.

The group had been discussing the younger slayer for several hours. It was a difficult conversation; the emotions they all had for Willow were as much on the surface as their concern for Kennedy. None of them wanted to believe their witch was gone…gone forever. But after the demon attack, they had all gathered, researched and digested the facts. Giles had made it his first priority to get to the truth about Willow's disappearance. He had watchers and coven women working night and day on the matter. All the conclusions kept coming up the same; Willow was gone.

The demon that attacked Willow was a Feif-orey demon. These were an extremely old and powerful sect of demons. The creatures lived on the energy produced by and because of fire. The greatest 'boost' such a demon could get was off the burning flesh of humans. But the demons didn't just wait for their victims to burn to a crispy corpse; they assimilated, by a process much like osmosis, the energy put forth by their burning victims. Their ability was so refined that they actually sucked the person out of existence. As long as the demon was focused and 'osmosis-ing', its victim was under its control and doomed.

As Willow's attack had been described to Giles by Kennedy, Faith and Miguel, the witch had succumbed to such a demon. She had been caught in its field and drained of energy before Faith was able to kill the monster. Giles had researched the matter a hundred times; he investigated every other possible avenue for Willow's disappearance. He didn't want his answer to be true. For quite a while, he wouldn't accept it as such. However, when every lead had been run down and squelched, he had no choice but to consider the horrible possibility that Willow had gone the way of so many others they had all loved. His realization that Willow was gone hit him as hard as when he was told of Buffy's death during the fight to save Dawn from Glory. As with the news of Buffy's passing, Giles felt a part of him die when he let himself believe his quirky, powerful Willow was too gone.

None of the Scooby gang accepted what Giles told them at first. They'd had too many experiences with the afterlife and knew that "gone" really didn't necessarily mean "dead" in the world in which they lived. Buffy had died twice and once resurrected. Spike had died with the implosion of Sunnydale, and yet, he too lived on in LA with Angel – as the Scoobies found out upon their return from their world wide excursions. The friends couldn't help but feel Willow's demise was much the same; they needed to think that because the alternative was too painful.

However, as the months passed and there was no sign of any kind that Willow was still alive, the hope they carried started to dim. There had been no mindspeaking to anyone, no teleporting, no sensing. Every spell, chant or potion that Giles or the coven did, said or used never gave one inkling that Willow was somewhere in the great beyond. Though the Scoobies couldn't bring themselves to say the word "dead", as time went on they began to allow themselves to think occasionally of Willow as gone. Outwardly, they still garnered hope of her return; but in their hearts, they were beginning to mourn her absence. When each was alone, they started to feel that heart wrenching feeling over the loss of a loved one. They began to shed tears not for some unknown separation of Willow from their lives but because of her complete removal from them. They hadn't publicly admitted to her death; there hadn't been "the talk" to her parents or even the discussion of a funeral, but the terrible conclusion of Willow's death hung in the air like a bad stench.

They all started to come to grips with the realization of Willow's death except for Kennedy. She refused to hear anything that even hinted that her love was gone forever. Though the brunette lived with the torment of having Willow ripped from her life, she wouldn't even consider that getting her redhead back might be impossible. "She's alive" and "It wasn't a natural event" was all the slayer would say when any one tried to talk to her about the matter. Giles tried to tell her that people who die from vampire bites meet their demise from an unnatural event, and yet, sadly they were still gone. The brunette wouldn't listen. Kennedy's insistence that Willow would come back had eventually led to her return to Miami. It was also the reason for the present summit meeting at slayer central.

"Yo, I'm telling you guys, if K isn't brought back, she's gonna self-destruct…The girl is drinking way too much and from what I can tell, she's getting damn reckless with her slaying…like I used to be…" Faith knew that comparison was meant to show the dire straits Kennedy was in; the slayer knew everyone would know exactly what she meant.

Xander responded. "But she went down there for a reason…She said Willow would want her there…Maybe she does know something we don't…or has a hunch…it wouldn't be the first time…" Xander too felt the harrowing pain of the loss of his best and oldest friend, but he wanted to believe that some miracle would bring his redhead back. He needed to give Kennedy the benefit of the doubt.

It was Buffy's turn next. "Xan…We all want Willow back…Thinking she's gone is one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with…but what Kennedy's doing is bordering on obsessive…There's no telling what might happen if she snaps." Despite her attempts to stay the semi-retired slayer, Buffy still had the natural instinct to see a situation for more than just the sum of its parts. She saw the 'whole' potential impact. The status of Kennedy affected not only the brunette but possibly also innocents and the slayer legacy. Buffy couldn't help but wonder what Kennedy could be capable of if she went on a grief stricken bender like Willow had done after Tara's death. She couldn't let that happen for Kennedy's sake or the world's.

"But she's spent so much time with Will…maybe some witchy intuition rubbed off…She's gotta be so damned adamant for a reason…" Xander wouldn't let go of his optimistic nature.

Faith looked at the man and shook her head. "No, she doesn't…Xander, she's like that because Willow was everything to her…You know the kid, when she believes something, it's like it's written in stone…if she thinks she's right, then she is…and she gives it her all…" The brunette remembered her frenzied trip to Brazil when the younger slayer had lost her confidence in her slayer abilities. Kennedy had been devastated when she discovered she was not a "perfect" slayer. When Kennedy believed, it was with complete surety, with her total heart and soul. That meant when she fell, she fell with the force of the universe.

Faith smiled a bit. "To Kennedy, her and Willow were supposed to be together forever…til they were two old horny lesbians…there was no other ending to the story for her…When we were in Brazil, K used to talk about Willow all the time…" The slayer warmly remembered their late night talks during patrolling. "I've never heard anyone talk about another person with so much…admiration." Then Faith got quieter. "Red told me once that Kennedy felt like she was the one person who'd never leave her…So, if K let's herself think that Willow's gone, then to her everything she believed before was a lie."

"So what'da we do?" Xander was willing to fly down and drag the slayer back home if that's what would help his friend. Having to contemplate his life without Willow was painful enough; he didn't want to add to the burden.

Faith sat up in her chair. "Listen, I can go..I just need to juggle a…" Buffy stopped her by shaking her head and standing up.

"No…I'll go…Faith you've got stuff to handle in Costa Rica…I mean Giles wants you down there to help with some possible apocalypse, right?"

Faith nodded but quickly responded, "Yeah, but I can get someone else…" Again, Buffy cut her off.

"No…he wants you for a reason…the Council knows you're the one who can stop the bad guys. You have to go, Faith…I can handle this…I want to…I don't want anything bad to happen to Kennedy as much as you."

The blonde slayer had made up her mind that she would be the one to bring Kennedy back. A part of her knew that the brunette might end up harboring ill feelings toward whoever brought her back. Knowing how close the two brunette slayers were, Buffy decided if Kennedy was going to end up hating someone, it should be her and not Faith.

Faith didn't like her present predicament. She wanted to help her brunette friend; she felt she had the best chance to get through. But she was desperately needed in Guatemala to divert some pretty heavy evil. She had given her word to Giles that she'd go. Besides, Miguel was also in on the mission and she liked being there with him to keep the man out of danger as best she could. She loved him and didn't want to lose the one man that broken through her armor.

There was a part of Faith that, at that moment, wanted her old self back, the unattached rogue slayer. That girl was beholding to no one, obligated to nothing. The brunette realized her life now was not free of strings even with all the freedom she had. Faith had responsibilities to Giles and the New Council, the slayers expecting her help, and to Miguel. This was the first time in her life that the brunette allowed her feelings for a man enter into her decision on what she would do. The strange part for Faith was that she didn't feel angry or ashamed of it; the man deserved her consideration. In the end, the slayer knew she couldn't just throw away her obligations of protecting the innocent; she had a job to do.

Ultimately, Faith knew Buffy could do get through to Kennedy, and the brunette acquiesced to her sister slayer going to see the younger one. Faith gave the blonde every detail of information she remembered.

The brunette had told Buffy numerous times what she saw and remembered from that night. "Me and Mick were gonna go back to our hotel when I got this feeling…I sensed something was gonna happen…and sure enough when we went to trail them, Mick sees a flash of light by this old building in the park…I start running and yank the blade outta my boot when I see the demon…I charge the fucker and cut his head off…I see the thing hit the ground as Willow goes up in flames…then she's gone…" Faith hated recalling that night. She had come to value the redhead as much of a friend as the rest.

The brunette enjoyed her semi-nomadic life; her ability to share her life with Miguel without having to give up that need to be alone that popped up from time to time. But, the one thing she did miss was being able to see her friends more. The lone wolf, bad-ass slayer Faith missed being around the people she was now lucky enough to call friends, and that included Willow as much as anyone.

Faith knew this was one time that Buffy would have to fix the situation without her. She hoped the blonde wasn't too late.

"Xan…you need to stay here…with Kennedy and me gone, you and Dawnie are the only two to hold down the homefront…you need to take over as much of my stuff as possible…I need to know everything will be ok when I bring Kennedy back."

After a moment of obvious disappointment, the man shrugged his shoulders. "Ok, Buffy…if that's what you need me to do."

Xander had an urge to get involved in the mix. Since his return from Africa two years prior, his life had been on an even keel for the most part. Aside from the usual demon uprisings, there had been no serious 'inevitable apocalyptic end of the world' situation. He had almost been taken by a ueber vamp, but Willow saved him that day.

After his return, Xander spent his time giving whatever information to the new slayers that the watchers thought fit. He had also settled into a construction consulting job; the loss of his eye made him unable to perform adequately many jobs within the construction profession. The consulting position he had, however, fit his nature and physical limitation quite well, and Xander excelled at it. He liked his work and enjoyed getting up everyday to go to it.

The fact that Xander wouldn't now have to go off and help save the day didn't cause him too much consternation. His life was complicated by more things than that just Scooby matters. And although his friends would always come first, he didn't go looking for ways to keep him from a life that he had come to value.

For Xander's job wasn't the only reason he didn't mind staying behind. There was Jessica, the girlfriend with whom he shared that fixer upper house in Cleveland. He'd been living with her for almost a year and a half. She was funny and pretty and Xander was in love again. Their meeting was fortuitous to say the least.

While in Africa, Xander had met and started dating a Moroccan slayer by the name of Rhianni. They got along quite well and when the man left to go back to the United States, he asked the dark skinned woman to go with him. She hesitated at first and then agreed to take a vacation to see how it went before there were any further decisions made. She was supposed to stay a couple months; she only lasted six weeks. Xander wasn't exactly terribly upset when she went home.

As it turned out, they both realized their relationship was in reality a nice interlude. Rhianni missed her homeland terribly and her family just as much. She also knew that evil was as ingrained in her society as anywhere else and she felt an obligation to her people to help eradicate it. For Xander's part, the man realized that the slayer had been, in the back of his mind, a replacement for Anya. Rhianni was forward and opinionated like his dead Anya. There was even a part of Xander that told himself dating Rhianni was a way to make his high school crush on Buffy come to fruition. By the sixth week of the slayer's visit, it was obvious that the relationship was not going to last. They parted ways and were able to remain somewhat friends.

Xander was still feeling the after effects of his latest relationship debacle when Willow and Kennedy returned from Brazil. It didn't take long for the redhead to see her dearest friend was in the doldrums. "At least this one wasn't a demon…that's good news…" Willow jokingly said trying to cheer up her friend. Xander didn't see the humor. "I'm a loser with women, Will…I'm thinking I always will be…"

Willow hated to see Xander in such a deflated way. She knew how amazingly wonderful the man really was; how generous, kind and loyal he had always been. She had hoped he'd found happiness when she heard about Rhianni. She still clung to the feeling that Xander would find true contentment one day with someone who really saw him for the great person he was.

Trying to get his mind off his romantic troubles, Willow got Xander to take her to a magick shop in Cleveland. She wanted to get the man out of his apartment; he'd been hibernating in it, watching baseball on tv and drinking beer. "I need to do something, baby…the poor guy's all depressed," Willow said to Kennedy one afternoon. "Do what you need to do, Will…I don't wanna see him that way either," the brunette responded. Kennedy had always liked Xander; she liked his loyalty to the Scoobies and to Willow in particular.

The best friends were browsing around in the magick shop, or to say Willow was browsing; Xander was just staring at a jar full of lizard tails. He was zoned out, thinking of nothing when someone bumped into him from behind, making him nudge into the jar with his arm, knocking it to the floor…Crash! Lizard tails everywhere. The funny thing about the kind of lizard tails found at that magick shop was that they weren't dead. Once the jar hit the floor and broke, there were squirming slithering tails all over. It took the owner ten minutes to catch them all. And she made Xander buy the ones that were stepped on by customers.

The woman who collided with Xander apologized profusely. She was taller than Willow with big brown doe eyes and short sandy blonde, wavy hair. Despite her constant red face due to blushing from embarrassment, Xander could tell she was attractive. She offered to reimburse Xander for the tails he had to buy but the man said no. "I'm sure my friend can use them somehow."

It was when the woman said, "Well the least I can do is buy you dinner," that Xander realized she was interested in him and not just the embarrassing collision. With an approving nod from Willow, Xander got enough self esteem together to flirt back. "I don't know…I don't usually dine with women who physically assault me." The woman laughed and hence began the relationship of Xander and Jessica Hunter.

In the time they'd been together, Xander became genuinely happy again. It turned out that Jessica, a history teacher at the local middle school, was a bit if a Wiccan follower. She wasn't a witch, not a full fledged recruit into the Wiccan sect, but she believed in ghosts and witches and the occult.

After the two had been together long enough, Xander filled her in on the true nature of his friends. Jessica took it in stride. Xander knew at that point the woman was a keeper. They moved in together into an old house that Xander planned on renovating. By the time of Willow's tragic disappearance, the man was content and pleased with the direction of his life.

The request by Buffy to Xander to maintain the Cleveland front wasn't met with too much protest. A part of him felt bad for wanting to stay with his life, like he was betraying Kennedy by not being with her in Florida. A part felt like he was betraying Willow because he knew she'd want him to do whatever was needed to help her brunette. Xander was having a very hard time coming to terms with Willow's absence. She was the last person he thought would have been taken away, but she was and now he had to deal with it. Jessica made it easier for him. She made the pain he had inside a little more bearable. In the end, Xander told Buffy she could count on him and that she should concentrate on helping Kennedy; he'd take care of her responsibilities with the slayers.

In the course of the time that 'Slayer Central' had been in existence, numerous girls had gone in and out of its doors. The original thirty odd slayers contacted after the final battle with the First spent a better part of a year being taught the ways of slaying. In fact many were still at the house. Cleveland turned out to be one "helluva hellmouth" with the destruction of Sunnydale. All those California demons had to go somewhere and many chose Cleveland. But not all the girls stayed to fight the good fight in Ohio. There were other areas around the country that needed the presence of a slayer or two and, as a result, some girls moved. Unfortunately, as is the life of a slayer, even when there are hundreds instead of just one, some girls didn't make it and were killed by vamps or other creatures. Every time a 'Chosen One' was lost, all felt grief and all mourned.

The blonde slayer had become a mentor to the young girls; someone they looked to for advice and inspiration when needed. Buffy also helped with some training and other administrative duties. It was these responsibilities that Xander gladly took upon himself.

After hearing her friend's acceptance of his role in this mission, Buffy softly smiled her approval. She knew the trouble Xander was going through because of Willow's disappearance and wanted to save the man as much grief as possible. That's why she wanted him to stay behind. The slowly emerging realization that their beloved, gentle Willow was gone was crushing. As much as Buffy wanted to deny the facts, she too was beginning to give in to the remorse and mourning for her lost friend. Buffy felt more than a tinge of guilt knowing that she couldn't resurrect her friend as the redhead had done for her. The facts showed that Willow's vanishing was one unnatural act that couldn't be reversed. That truth bolstered the blonde's resolve to help Kennedy. She may have lost her best friend to evil but she wasn't going to let it get yet another. She owed it to Willow to make sure Kennedy didn't fall into despair; the witch wouldn't have wanted that for her slayer.

Buffy's decision to go to Miami and to try to bring Kennedy back meant that her life was to be put on hold. In the two years since their return, Buffy and Dawn had gone through incredible change. Dawn had gone from an exacerbating teenager to a young woman with a thirst for knowledge. Her year in Italy gave her a new curiosity for other cultures, both old and new. She became more of a helper to Buffy instead of the bratty little sister. She was excited about going to college and the chance to spread her wings away from the watchful eyes of "big sister."

Buffy's changes were more internal but just as severe. The weight had truly been taken off her shoulders. After her slayer contacting mission, Buffy absorbed herself in being 'one of many' instead of 'one without others.' It took her a year, but she was able to let go of always feeling like she had to save the world.

Instead, in the two years since her return, Buffy was saving herself. That's not to say she turned away from her legacy; she merely saw it for what it was now, a group of extraordinary women all capable of ending apocalyptic events. That was part of the reason she remained in Slayer Central. Buffy couldn't completely let go of her slayer connection to the new girls. She took the time to teach and mentor the younger slayers. She still patrolled also but not as often and always with at least one other slayer which was fine by her.

Buffy's academic life went well. Because of her mother's illness, the blonde had to drop out during the first semester of her sophomore year at UC Sunnydale. In Cleveland, she started up right where she left off at CSU. Having been denied the opportunity to attend college as most other young adults do, Buffy cherished the experience upon her return. Though she did without dorm life or a sorority, she tried to take in all the other "college" things. She went to parties, visiting lecturers and sporting events. By the time of her decision to go get Kennedy, she had graduated, with a bachelor's degree in social work. Her time working at Sunnydale High as a counselor before the First came to town inspired her. Somehow she was able to keep her wits about her long enough after Willow's vanishing to make it through her last semester.

The dating scene proved to be Buffy's stumbling block. It certainly wasn't from lack of opportunity. Guys were pounding down her door to go out with the beautiful mysterious blonde. She carried a presence in class that she never even knew she had. Buffy's trepidations were because of her past experiences. She had always ended up with the undead, a man who wasn't really a man-the ultimate in dead end relationships. But those times were always exciting if not the healthiest of affairs.

Her most recent jump into the dating scene pushed her into the life of normal men, ones not connected in any way to evil, slaying or magick. She had trouble adjusting and went on a number of, to put it kindly, dud dates. Willow was the one to tell her to keep trying. "Buff…don't get discouraged, there's lots of great guys out there…you just have to get back into the swing of things…" And she did, but not with a fellow college attendee.

James Petson, "Jimmy", came into Buffy's life as one of the watchers for the girls at slayer central. He was new to the position and only twenty-eight. He had come from a line of watchers though and understood the obligation like a man twice his age. He showed up in Cleveland in September of 2004 when Buffy and Kennedy were starting their last year at the University.

Despite her being younger, Kennedy had actually more of her college life under her belt than Buffy when her watcher was killed and she was brought to the blonde's home as a potential. Buffy started CSU in the summer of 2003, while Kennedy along with Willow joined her in the fall of that year. Both slayers decided they wanted to finish college as soon as practical so they both took courses during the following summer. Buffy's one semester head start brought her even with Kennedy's one semester more initially.

Buffy was annoyed at first with the new watcher. He was overly confident, brash and tough on the girls. They'd had a few words on his tactics for training the young women. Buffy tried to keep her comments to herself since she knew Petson had to answer to the other watchers who'd already been with the U.S. branch of the Council for a couple years. Yet, the more she got to know the man, the more she saw the method to his madness and the justification for his confidence. The man was a superior watcher. Over time, she saw the subtlety that he brought to his duty. Buffy could tell James really took his job seriously and the safety of the slayers was his number one priority.

It came as a pleasant surprise when Petson asked Buffy out to dinner. "You know dinner…as in date…you, me…utensils and dishes owned by someone else."

Buffy didn't think the man liked her at all. "Umm…yeah…ok…ummm…yes…dinner…food cooked by other people…" Buffy didn't know why she couldn't think straight.

Dinner went well and the blonde found out that James Petson did indeed like her; he liked her quite fondly. A certain part of his feeling for the slayer was awe, to the woman who had for so long kept the world from falling into the abyss of evil. The other part of him just admired the beautiful, blue-eyed beauty that she was.

The slayer and the watcher slowly entered into a romance. Buffy was reluctant to dive into anything too fast given her track record. What she liked about the relationship was the fact that she didn't need to explain a thing to "Jimmy"; everything about her slaying was already an open book for the man. He was normal, knew about slayers and had a heart beat. Buffy was miles ahead in the race.

By the time of her conference with Xander and Faith, Buffy and Jimmy had become a solid item. They weren't living together but spent many nights together at one of their places. Buffy knew her budding relationship would have to be put on hold until she could get her fellow slayer to accept the reality of life. The blonde secretly thought that she would be able to do her job better if the watcher were with her. But she understood this was about Kennedy and a third wheel would only make things tougher for the brunette. So she made up her mind to go alone but knew that Jimmy and she would end up having a long conversation about it.

By the time the Scoobies finished their discussion, it was very late on Saturday night.

"Alright…it's decided…I'll go down tomorrow and see if I can get through to Kennedy." Buffy had set the plan in motion. The other two nodded in agreement. It was time to help Kennedy.

Her fingers tightly clenched the neck of the vampire. Chocolate eyes pierced into the nothingness of black orbs staring back, knowing the end was near. The demon couldn't move; its legs and one arm had already been broken in several places by the slayer. All the vampire could do was wait…wait until the brunette decided she'd had enough of whatever it was she got from dragging out the inevitable.

Kennedy just stared into those vacant eyes. She knew she should stake the vamp and be done with it, but something kept her from the quick kill. She wanted to see the pain and agony in the demon's face; she wanted something else to feel as scared and desperate as she was. So she made the demon suffer until she saw that beautiful face of her Willow flash in her mind; the look was of concern and disappointment. In an instant, Kennedy reminded herself she was a slayer, not a killer, and immediately plunged the stake in the vampire's heart, turning it to dust.

The brunette brushed herself off, looked at her watch and turned for the nearest bar. She'd gotten out her frustrations and now it was time to wash away the memories for a little while. As she headed down the side street to Collins Avenue, she wondered how her present state had gotten so out of kilter to what her original plan was when she decided to come back to South Beach. She knew Willow would be ashamed of how she was spending her time; how she was failing at putting to practice all the things she'd learned from the witch since they became a couple. Kennedy knew if she didn't get her act together she'd never get Willow back. All she had to do was believe in what her witch had told her about magicks, her and them. It was the reason she was in Florida and not Cleveland.

"I'm going back, period…I don't care what you think I should do." Kennedy had had enough hand holding by the Scoobies. She didn't want any more "shoulders to cry on"; she wanted to get Willow back.

Buffy tried to talk some sense to the brunette. "Kennedy, going back down there will serve no purpose. Giles has looked at this from every angle and there's no good reason to think being there will lead to anything.…" The blonde had been dealing with the stubborn brunette since her return from Florida.

After Willow's disappearance, Kennedy stayed in Miami for two weeks waiting for her redhead to return and gathering information. Faith stayed with her after quickly rearranging some slayer duties with Miguel. Faith helped to keep Kennedy from getting out of hand due to her rage. All Kennedy wanted to do in those first few days was to beat the shit out of any demon she thought even looked like it knew something about Willow's disappearance. Faith saw the anger turn to resolve when the brunette decided that Willow wasn't really gone. Even though Faith saw the initial hint of Kennedy's unhealthy detachment then, she figured it was better than the girl completely losing it and drowning in grief.

Eventually, after much discussion between the two older slayers, Faith was able to convince Kennedy to return to Cleveland where they could carry on a united and intense investigation into the whereabouts of Willow. "K, if everyone is in Cleveland, then we don't have to be making phone calls or taking planes to get the facts straight…we can all work on this from a central point and we'll all have the same info at the same time." Despite her feeling otherwise, Kennedy did give in and consent to return to slayer central.

A month and a half after her return, the Scoobies were no closer to solving the mystery of the witch's vanishing. Everything that was researched and tracked down led to a dead end. Kennedy was barely able to make it through the day; all her thoughts were on the thousand possible horrible things that her lover could be going through while they failed at finding an answer. The brunette missed Willow terribly; she couldn't eat or sleep and soon enough the affects began to show. "Ken, you gotta eat…you can't let yourself get sick…Willow wouldn't want to see you like this." Xander had on more than one occasion tried to help the brunette cope with her loss. When the direct approach didn't work, he pulled out the 'Willow card', hoping that he could get Kennedy to take care of herself out of guilt. It worked but only slightly.

From Kennedy's perspective, all she knew was that Willow had to be alive and anything that told her otherwise was given a deaf ear. In the weeks after her return to Cleveland, she saw the entire gang throw their hearts and souls into figuring out how to get her redhead back. She knew they wanted her back as much as she did. The witch was as much family as their own flesh and blood. It was tearing them apart that Willow was gone.

However, over the weeks when the answers kept coming up with the unthinkable conclusion, Kennedy saw a change in the group. They weren't saying Willow was dead; they weren't even close to admitting that. But, there had begun a slight shift in their perception, in their point of origin. In the beginning, no one assumed anything except that Willow was somehow in a different place, a different dimension perhaps. But after Giles had performed a scrutinized interrogation and analysis of the Feif-orey demon incident and told his results to the group, the mood changed slightly. Doubts crept in where only sureness was before. As the leads dwindled, the hearts of Scoobies got heavier. By early March, Kennedy felt like the group was not so much as giving up as giving in. They weren't ready to say their friend was gone but the idea had begun to creep into their psyches more often.

Kennedy couldn't deal with that. After all she and Willow had been through, after all they had promised to each other, Kennedy wouldn't let the thought of her love being gone for good enter her mindset. She could hardly make it through the days just thinking that Willow was stuck somewhere trying to return. The brunette knew she would fall apart into nothing if her redhead was truly gone.

Kennedy decided that she was going to have to rescue Willow. It would be up to her to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and discover the way to get Willow back. The problem was she didn't have all the pieces and she wasn't even sure she was piecing together the right puzzle. All the late night talks she'd had with Willow about magicks kept telling her they were missing something. Kennedy decided that the best place to find that hidden fact was in South Beach.

So Kennedy notified the group she was heading back to Florida. "I know she's alive…something in my gut tells me she is…the answer is down there…it has to be…I've got to go." Despite several heated discussions with Buffy, Kennedy flew back to Florida.

When she got to South Beach, she immediately went to the Tides Hotel to get the room she and Willow had booked. "I'm sorry, Miss, but that room is taken…we have another very nice room directly across the hall." Kennedy wouldn't take no for an answer. She ended up paying for the entire stay of the couple who had the room just to get them to move to another one. She didn't care; she wanted the room and would do whatever necessary to get it. She gave the front desk manager her credit card number and told him to keep charging her stay on it for as long as she was there. "Don't rent out this room until I tell you I'm leaving." She also told the manager she only wanted the room cleaned once a week. Daily fresh towels could be left at her door. Kennedy wanted no disruptions, including the cleaning service disturbing her plans.

The reason Kennedy was so adamant about being in South Beach was due to the knowledge instilled into her about the workings of magick from Willow. While in Brazil but mostly after their return to the States, Willow had immersed herself in magick, studying the origins, the workings and the interrelationship it had with nature and the beyond. Willow had become not only one extremely powerful witch but she was also one of the smartest. There were many nights when the witch would tell Kennedy about the symbiosis between magick and the forces of nature. Kennedy would listen with great interest as her redhead told her how magick went hand in hand with many of the natural and scientific laws of the universe. The witch was an encyclopedia on the subject matter.

"Kenne, it's so incredible how this all works together…a lot of magick follows patterns…mathematical equations in some cases…" Kennedy could hear the excitement in the witch's voice. "…a lot of the stuff that's in that "DaVinci Code" book is true…as far as math goes…and magick seems to follow it too…" They were sitting on a blanket in a quaint park they liked to visit on the edge of Cleveland. "…That's why we were always able to know when certain demons or spells were going to happen…magick likes patterns…it's not usually random…"

Willow went on to tell her intent listener how spells, rituals and mystical events usually had a mathematical formula that dictated when things would or needed to happen. She used as examples the many situations from her past in Sunnydale. The Master's attempted rising, the mayor turning into the giant snake, and the use of Dawn as the key by Glory were all set to time tables.

Willow showed Kennedy how the moon's cycles also held a place in magick. Many events were tuned into the full or new moon; she used Oz and his werewolf manifestation as one example. Then the witch told Kennedy how the mystical liked symmetry. "Portals to other dimensions tend to stay in the same place…If you leave by one, you have to come back the same way…like the one I had to use your power to open…when you were still a potential…" Willow continued to tell her slayer how it wasn't just reserved to physical location. "Think about the times when the time of day or night dictated how we reacted…when a thing happens can hold just as much meaning as where or why…"

Kennedy and Willow had many such conversations. The brunette never tired of listening to her girl as she got all excited and concentrated on her life's destiny. Though Kennedy was truly interested in the subject matter, truth be told, Willow could have just as easily been talking about paint colors. Kennedy loved the sound of Willow's voice; it never got old even after being together for several years.

The slayer also enjoyed the after affects of Willow's rants. The redhead would be all worked up and looking for the right medicine to dispel the overflowing energy. Kennedy was always there to assist in that regard. After the witch was done lecturing, she and her slayer would spend time playing and teasing with each other. Then the light mood would give way to building desire for physical contact and the lovers would end the time together moaning and writhing in each other's arms, wondering how they ever managed to exist without the other.

It was all those talks with Willow that led Kennedy back to Florida. She was doing exactly what her redhead would have done. She was doing the math. South Beach was where Willow disappeared; it would be where she returned. The spot in the park next to the old building was the point of her witch's vanishing and the slayer knew it would be that same place where she would reappear. Friday night at 9:50 was the time the world stopped for her and it would be when it started to rotate again. Kennedy felt it had to be the way because everything Willow ever told her said it made sense, even if it didn't to the rest of the world. The brunette didn't care about the demon that lived on burning its victims; she gave no head to the fact that her powerful girlfriend had failed to make any kind of contact. All she knew was what Willow told her, "Almost anything is possible with magick…you just need to know how to approach it."

There was one other fact that Willow told her more in passing and jest than in seriousness. "If you don't have a body, chances are it ain't dead." Willow had been joking about the return of Spike and several other people and demons from the great beyond. "Death really doesn't have the same meaning after you've done this for a while…"

Despite the lightheartedness with which it was said, that stray remark had stayed with Kennedy. Since the brunette never saw Willow really die, was never able to hold a lifeless body, she refused to believe Willow was dead. She may have been caught in another dimension or imprisoned somewhere somehow, but Kennedy could work with that. She had no choice; if her redhead was dead then she was too for all intent and purposes.

Kennedy walked into her hotel room after another night of drowning her sorrows in seven shots of tequila. She took off her clothes and dropped them on the floor amidst the others from previous nights. She made a mental note to send her clothes out to be laundered. She then took off her butterfly necklace and laid it gently in its tray. The day she got back to Miami, she told herself she would take it off every night. She had done just that the night Willow vanished. She promised herself when she got her redhead back, she would never take it off.

As she walked to go into the bathroom, she saw her reflection in the mirror on the wall. She just stared. She knew she had lost too much weight; her ribs showed too much as did her hip bones. Even her face had begun to look a bit hollow. The only thing that didn't look mistreated was her short hair. That too had come about since her return to Florida.

One particularly bad night, after far too many drinks, Kennedy came back to her hotel room dejected that she hadn't been able to find the "answer to the problem." She wanted to start fresh, with a new outlook on the dilemma. For some reason, which she assumed made sense to her at the time, she thought her hair was part of the problem. The shimmering long dark tresses that were her signature look for so many years went into the trash. In her drunken stupor, she took a pair a scissors and chopped them off. In a much more even minded way the following day, she chastised herself for the act and wondered if it would tilt the puzzle any. Not being able to undo the action, Kennedy did the only thing she could. She found a hairstylist who was able to turn her would be chainsaw massacre into a quite attractive free style affect. "This is the short style all the movie stars are wearing," she was told. Even at her worst, Kennedy still looked great.

After the short recollection of one of her lesser moments, the brunette went into the bathroom and took a shower. She stood under the shower head letting the hot water knead her tight muscles. She wanted Willow to be taking out the knots in her back; she longed for those delicate fingers to graze down her thigh and up to her breasts. Willow was a master in the shower.

Kennedy could tell when Willow was in a particularly wanton mood because it always started with a shower for the two of them. Willow would lather up her girl and then begin her caressing and massaging of the slayer's heated skin. The combination of the hot water, slick soapy bubbles and her redhead's expert hands sent Kennedy into overload almost immediately. Willow would press up against her from behind and wash away the lather, spending a particularly long time slowly diverting the soap from the slayer's thighs and heated center. The witch was so good at working Kennedy up just by her massaging that when Kennedy felt fingers introduced intimately upon her and a mouth and tongue on her neck, she'd practically be knocking at the door of her release. But Willow would slow and then pause allowing her free hand to move up and bring Kennedy's breasts into the action. It didn't take long for the slayer to begin whispering her girl's name and then stifling a moan as fingers sped up again, the urgent kisses on her neck and determined massaging of her breast joining in. Kennedy always fell hard when Willow took her this way.

After all their time together, Willow knew exactly how to make her slayer weak; she knew and hadn't grown bored or tired of it. Kennedy could tell Willow loved the power she had over the slayer, and the brunette freely gave it up to her.

Kennedy came out of her memory, breathing hard, flushed and yearning for her redhead's touch. She'd been without her lover's feel for so long; she ached inside for her. The slayer went to the bed and crawled under the covers. She turned on the tv and watched hoping that it would keep her mind off Willow until she fell asleep. As she drifted, her last conscious thought swirled in her mind – "I've got to get you back…"

The small, delicate hand gripped the leather wrapped handle of the replica samurai sword. The weapon was held completely still at shoulder level, tilted forward, almost the way a fencer holds an epee. The steel blade glistened off the street light's rays; the residue of past battles on the razor sharp edge having been meticulously removed.

Willow stood motionless, sword held at bay, waiting for the demon to show its face, to make that one mistake that would give her the opportunity to end the fight. Sure enough, the monster did appear and just as the witch had anticipated. The green skinned 'thing' slinked its way down the alley and straight into Willow's invisible web. The witch had discovered these particular demons were impervious to energy blasts, and given the weirdness her powers had taken in her new environment, the redhead had to fall back on help from other techniques. Willow was having to fight with her brawn and not just her brain.

As the demon got entangled in the net it couldn't see, the redhead jumped out from behind her hiding place, a red Ferrari, and, in a quick and sure movement, plunged the sword into the demon's center eye. She had learned the move from Kennedy after countless times seeing her do a similar one. The demon let out a high pitched squeal and then dropped to the ground dead.

"Teach you to get testy with a redhead…" Willow was proud of her victory; she felt pride every time she killed a demon. 'Maybe I'm more of a fighter than I thought…' she said to herself as she turned and headed back to her hotel. It was night time now and the redhead knew that it was best to be inside the safety of her room.

After Willow's appearance in the new South Beach and her defeat of the demon type that had, as far she as she knew, put her there, the witch soon found out some disturbing information. She quickly deduced that she was trapped in some parallel dimension. It wasn't an alternate universe because she was alone. It wasn't that she was in another possible reality, because no one else existed in her new world, that is except for demons and such. It was as if she were placed on an empty stage lot, like being left behind after a movie scene had been shot and everyone had gone home. But Willow couldn't leave that stage.

During the first several days, she tried to 'walk' out of the place. She thought that maybe she could keep strolling through Miami and into a real existence again. But it never worked. Willow would start walking to the end of South Beach and get distracted. Next thing, the witch would realize she was still walking but now at the other end of the island. It was like leaving through a door on one side of a room and automatically reentering through one on the other side. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate, to keep focused on leaving South Beach, something would cloud her mind and she'd regain her attention only to find herself still there.

After staking out her room at the Tides, the redhead cased the area for any signs of human existence. She found absolutely none. What she did find was demons. Besides that first day, she had encountered on average one demon per week. They were different kinds and attacked at differing times, although most fights were during the dusk or evening hours. That was the reason for staying inside her room at night. For some reason, her hotel room was like a sanctuary, keeping out all forms of evil.

But the witch knew in order to get home, she'd have to brave the night. She needed to investigate for answers. She had to keep going to that 'spot' every Friday to try to get home. She couldn't stay in her hotel room she knew; she'd never get back to Kennedy that way. Each day thereafter, Willow braved the strange world she was in and tried to figure out what had happened.

So began her understanding, or lack thereof, of the strangeness that had befallen on her powers. Before her exile, Willow had become a very powerful and in control witch. The Scoobies openly acknowledged, on numerous occasions after her return from Brazil, how amazing she'd become. Willow and Kennedy could 'sense' each other with ease and the redhead had been able to sense others upon merely thinking it. She and her girlfriend had also become proficient at mindspeak. They regularly engaged in the communication when fighting evil, or even just at the movies so as not to disturb other patrons. Willow had also mastered teleporting and all forms of time bending. Though she 'traveled' only when absolutely necessary, she could do it with ease. The days of physical pain upon 'landing' were long gone. Through study of the Han Nurrabi Chronicles, the witch gained insight into magick reserved for only the truly gifted and worthy.

The witch had also come to make a name for herself, despite the reserved manner in which she used her powers. She was known throughout many covens and would often be sought after for insight into magickal and mystical issues. The teacher in Willow loved helping others; her modest side often felt uneasy that people held so much faith in her opinions. Kennedy always set her straight on that point. "Willow…I told ya you were a goddess…you're at the top of the top, babe…people should listen to you…you know almost everything there is to know." Even though Willow knew her girl's statement was coming from a biased perspective, the redhead was still grateful for the words. Kennedy had believed in her when she was a mess, when she thought she'd never be able to believe in herself again. The brunette had never faulted in her view of Willow; she saw a goddess even before it was a spark in the witch's mind.

Being as powerful as she was, Willow had expertly learned to control her magicks. For a long time, she hadn't thought about 'big bad Willow'; those days were behind her. The time in Brazil had shown her how to channel and move her feelings, good and bad, to her advantage. She no longer worried about going all "Gggrrrr" when bad things happened. And they did. During her time in Cleveland, there had been close calls and harrowing moments. She had to save Xander from a ueber vamp and Kennedy would have lost a leg to a rather nasty vampire had it not been for the calm reaction of the witch. As mad or frightened as she got, the witch never lost control. She was like the recovering addict with years of sobriety behind her. Willow was able to gather her strength and power when needed to keep evil at bay and the ones she loved safe.

That's why her present predicament was so frustrating. She wasn't the same powerful witch as before. In this reality, she felt like she was submerged in thick molasses every time she tried anything magickal. Reactions were in slow motion. A whip of a hand that would normally send a power burst speeding to its destination only sent a whimper of a blip wafting through the air. Incantations and spells also seemed to work at half sped or magnitude. Of course, this insight was learned after close calls and several cuts and bruises from unwelcomed demons.

Willow also couldn't pick up from or send any kind of 'vibe' to Kennedy or anyone else. Willow hadn't ever been in an alternate world or reality, so she couldn't say for sure contact was possible. Connecting between dimensions, while possible for the undead or other nonmortal types, was still a theory for Willow as it pertained to humans. But given her attitude about most other things dealing with magick, the redhead suspected that contact in some fashion could be made if tried from the correct angle. She hadn't found out what that was as of yet.

Based upon her experiences, Willow surmised her placement in her banished land had been done intentionally. She knew enough about magick and herself to sense that she was being blocked somehow from using her powers. She knew whatever, or whoever, was the mastermind must have a reason, a plan…and lots of power, lots of incredible power. The culprit for her existence was able to alter her unreal reality. She found that out the hard and terrifying way.

Willow had been in her version of South Beach for several weeks. She was starting to understand her stunted magick ability and the unexpected nature of demon attacks. They seemed to come not long after times when she got particularly worried or scared about what was outside while she was inside her hotel room. Sure enough, after each time that she'd had a bad dream or a solitary monologue about the 'big bad' outside her door, within a day or so, she'd find herself fighting some variation thereof.

Because her powers were unreliable, Willow turned to the fighting skills she'd learned from Kennedy to help keep her alive. Even after their return from Sao Paulo, Willow still patrolled sometimes with Kennedy. When she started college, it was less often, but she tried. After her graduation, she attempted to continue until Kennedy said she should focus on her job.

The times she did go with Kennedy, the redhead picked up fighting tactics. Willow watched how Kennedy moved and cornered her attacker; she saw how the slayer used surprise to her advantage. To be sure, slayer strength was the brunette's most powerful weapon, but there was more than that. Kennedy used tactical decisions to topple her enemy. Willow knew that she was witnessing a mighty fighting machine and couldn't help but acquire some pointers on her style.

Besides patrolling, Willow also gained insight from her slayer's workouts to which the redhead was, on many an occasion, a spectator. When she was not entrenched with classwork, witchcraft, or the ordinary grind of life, Willow would sit in on Kennedy's training sessions. They usually involved Buffy or one of the other slayers at the house.

What immediately became apparent to the witch was that Buffy was no longer lone top dog. Kennedy was just as skilled and proficient as the blonde and many times Buffy found herself on her back, pinned down by the younger woman. Willow marveled at the slayer Kennedy had become. If she hadn't been in love with her before, she would have instantly fallen for her now because of her grace and power.

Everything Willow learned from Kennedy was used in her new reality. She found a pawn shop and was able to put together a nice arsenal of weapons. She remembered what her brunette told her about handling the weapons and using them to their fullest potential. And Willow did. The redhead still relied mostly on her magicks; that was her strong suite no matter how weird they were behaving. But she fought when necessary. Though she still didn't think of herself "much with the butch", Willow faced her share of evil and came out victorious because of a combination of magick and physical ability. She was positive Kennedy would be proud of her.

Of course, her fighting skills still didn't affect the emotional aspect of her captivity. Though she would feel triumphant upon victory, it soon led to sadness because her slayer wasn't there; she was still no closer to being back in her arms. The loneliness would lead to dread and then the thoughts would start. Some brought new evil to battle. But on one occasion an even more profound change occurred.

After one fight about six weeks into the witch's banishment, Willow was feeling very low. She missed Kennedy and the rest of her friends terribly. She was walking back to the hotel and her mind started to drift. She remembered all the good times with the Scoobies, and Kennedy specifically. Then her mind wandered to a little park in Cleveland she and Kennedy visited often. They loved that place; it was peaceful, beautiful and perfect for a lazy afternoon of doing nothing but lying on a blanket and reading, or talking about the future.

It was as if the redhead had sleepwalked because she soon came out of her daze. To her amazement and concern, she was no longer in South Beach. She was in the park, by herself, at night and carrying only the wooden stake from her recent battle with a nasty vampire. She grew instantly frightened. She knew she was still in a parallel reality. The scene had an eerie feel.

Before she could get her bearings on the new situation, she heard a rustling coming from the bushes to her far left. She turned in time to see a werewolf jump out of the woods. Her first thought was 'It looks like Oz…' Her next thought was to run, and she did. Willow ran as fast as she could, trying to recall the layout of the park. She could hear the heavy footprints of the beast chasing her. As she turned a corner she remembered there was a playground ahead. That gave her an idea. She ran over behind the seesaw and waited.

The wolf wasn't far behind. The animal came around the corner and that's when Willow could tell it wasn't Oz, just another creature trying to kill her. The wolf saw her and in a quick move leapt for her. When it was in mid air, almost at her head, Willow lifted up on the end of the seesaw and hit the werewolf square on the chest, knocking him back and to the ground stunned. She then thrust her arms out and prayed that her magick wasn't somehow altered even worse in this reality. It wasn't. She had enough concentration and energy to throw a blast that killed the beast.

After that event, Willow knew she couldn't gloat; she had to find shelter from the night. After walking briskly for several minutes, she found a snack and facilities building. She couldn't help but think how fortuitous it was to find it. Again, the witch had the sense that strings were being pulled at her expense.

Willow stayed in that building and the park for almost a month. Nothing she did could get her previous reality back. Luckily, and for reasons she couldn't fathom, she had no further attacks. Though there were no further episodes, every day the fear of another assault loomed over her head. As peaceful as the place was, and as fond as her memories were of her time there with Kennedy, Willow came to hate the park. She was alone, with no real weapons and no hope of being able to get back to Kennedy.

Her time there turned out to be the low point for the witch. The feeling of desolation, fear and loneliness ate at her resolve. There was nothing for her to hold onto in the park. All her possessions and distractions, except the clothes she wore and a stake, were back in her other nonreality. Here, she had no books, music or movies. There was only the sound of the wind and animals to break the silence, and of course the frightening noises at night that she dared not investigate. She lived off of hot dogs, mini bags of potato chips and soda she found in the snack building's freezer and storage room. She was reduced to cleaning her clothes in the restroom sink. There was nothing…absolutely nothing to help Willow handle the solitude.

After a while, the despair crawled under her skin like a nasty infection. Willow went through several stages. There was fear at first and then denial. The witch kept telling herself, "This is a dream…somehow it is, and I'll wake up…" But it wasn't a dream. Willow was living the nightmare. That soon gave way to the next stage – anger.

The emotion started to grow in her. The witch built up a pool of anger for the state of her life and whoever or whatever did it to her. "I was so happy…we were so happy…it's not fair…it's not right…" Willow felt like she was being punished yet again for mistakes in her past for which she had long ago tried to make amends. "I've kept strong…I haven't given into evil or dark magick…I've only tried to do good…"

Willow saw her life as marked for pain despite the high path she'd tried to walk. She felt like no matter how "straight and narrow" she walked the universe just wouldn't let her stay happy; it wouldn't let her be with the one she loved. The longer she was there, the more endless hours she gave to contemplating the hell she was in, the greater the anger grew in the witch. She could feel the rage building and bubbling its way to the top.

Anger wasn't the only ingredient to send Willow into her spiral downward; there was also grief. The redhead had lost Kennedy; the woman she had declared her love to, the one she had given of herself body and soul. Since the implosion of Sunnydale, Kennedy had become her center, her compass. She had never felt safer and happier than with the slayer. There were nights in Cleveland when Willow would wake in the early hours and just watch her brunette sleeping. She would study Kennedy and think how truly lucky she was to be with the woman. The slayer had become everything Willow ever wanted in a partner; the witch had expected to live the rest of her life fighting evil and enjoying her time with the impetuous brunette.

That reality had been stolen. Willow's existence in the park had given little hope of ever returning. The anger mixed with grief to make a cocktail of pain of enormous proportions. It festered and soured until it could not be held at bay any longer.

The witch was crouched in the snack building trying to keep out the frightening sounds coming from the dark. She couldn't take the uncertainty of attack any longer. Her feelings of complete loss and despair finally spewed forth and she attacked the night. Willow in a crazed rage stood up and ran out of the building. She stood perfectly still in the middle of the open area, arms up, fists clenched.

"You want me?…Come get me…" she ranted. "You've taken everything I have…everything I love…" The witch was yelling into the night. "Come take me…" Willow started frantically hitting her hands to her chest. The witch had tried her best and still the powers-that-be took from her. Willow knew she was at her lowest.

It came like the small bubbling of water out of the ground that initiates a roaring river. Darkness started to trickle its way inside her. Willow knew the feeling; it was what came over her when Tara died.

Somewhere deep inside the witch, a voice told her 'Why be good…what difference does it make." Feeding off the anger, Willow wanted to strike back for everything that had been taken from her. The witch felt the dark magicks stir in her, felt that undeniable power and surge. It oozed into her soul like seepage from the plague. Her version of "Black Death" was leaching into her heart. Willow could feel her soul turning to the dark side of magick. If she was going to be devoured, she would lash out with total hatred. Emerald eyes started to turn black, crimson hair soon followed. Willow had nothing, so giving into the anger and despair would cost her nothing. The witch let the transformation envelope her.

Willow could feel her innocence, her goodness slipping away. She paid it no heed. The witch wasn't feeling loneliness or fright or grief. For the first time in so many weeks, Willow felt no pain of loss. The blackness that was overtaking her blanketed those emotions that were only too human. To feel anything other than despair, even the horrendous weight of evil, was in a way a relief. Willow was being submerged in the pool of utter darkness and her only reflection was 'I want to drown.'

Just when she thought she was lost to the dark side, she heard her name in the farthest corner of her mind. It was faint, but she knew the voice. It was Kennedy. Then through dense fog-like senses, the witch saw her lover's face, that visage that had made her feel like she could conquer the world. That face, those chocolate eyes burned into her. They wouldn't let her go.

Willow stood at the cross-roads of her soul. Through all the dark power coursing through her, the witch felt the gentle loving presence of her slayer. It didn't brow beat; it didn't even push. The sense of love and goodness from that vision touched lightly upon her heart. That was enough.

The hatred that had engulfed her ceased its barrage and ever so slightly shifted away. The longer the thought of Kennedy stayed in the witch's mind, the weaker the darkness became. It then began to retreat, to seep out of Willow's soul and heart. What replaced it was love; the redhead's love for her slayer; her need to stay and fight against the evil decimating her life. Emerald eyes and crimson hair soon returned as did the purity in her heart.

Willow was back…because of Kennedy. She still felt completely lost but she knew she couldn't give in to evil.

That night the witch cried herself to sleep knowing she had almost made the ultimate mistake. She cried thinking she might never see her real home again. She shed tears for parents who would think their only daughter was dead and for the friends with whom she had shared the best and worse times of her life. But mostly, she cried for Kennedy, knowing that, though Kennedy had saved her again, she may never get to tell her. Though Willow would keep fighting, she knew she might never again see those disarming chocolate eyes and that beautiful inviting smile. The woman she wanted to spend her life with, the one she had told she would never leave was still out of her reach. She fell asleep clinging to her thoughts of Kennedy.

When Willow wiped sleep from her eyes the next morning, she awoke to the sight of her beach bag, resting precisely where she'd placed it by the tv bureau. She was back in her room. How she got there, she hadn't a clue. She didn't care.

For the first time, the hatred for whomever or whatever was pulling her life strings gave way to gratitude for just being returned to her initial hell hole. She was back and that meant the possibility of escaping to her true reality…to Kennedy.

After her return from the park reality, Willow was more determined to find the answers to her incarcerated existence. She'd started when she first arrived, but early on her focus was on finding shelter and food. Then she concentrated on not getting killed by demons. Within a short time, the redhead realized she also needed clothes.

When she was dropped into her parallel reality she only had the clothes on her back, which included her bikini, and the contents of her beach bag. That contained her wallet, suntan lotion as well as her watch. Also inside was a paperback book about the Salem witch trials, Kennedy's copy of "Xtreme Boarding" magazine, a spike and their beach blanket. "Not a lot here to topple a parallel dimension," she told herself upon inspection.

Willow explored the empty streets and stores during the day and easily found clothes. When she initially took some, she felt a twinge of guilt, like she was stealing. Then she remembered where she was and left the store with outfits and undergarments in tow.

Life quickly got very lonely for the witch. The loss of Kennedy and her friends was excruciating. The absence of human noise was stifling. Though the birds gave some comfort, Willow needed more. That led to another outing to a music store and the addition to her hotel room of a CD player and numerous CDs. Though she had no tv programs to watch, Willow wired up a DVD player she'd taken from a store one street in back of her hotel. She "borrowed" several movies, including one of her favorites, "Moulin Rouge", and one of Kennedy's, "Gone with the Wind."

It wasn't that the witch had become settled in or resigned to her new home. There was just so much empty time to fill. It didn't take long for Willow to know the area like the back of her hand. She'd examined and scrutinized the spot of her disappearance a hundred times. Even doing normal daily activities, like meals, laundry and such, still left so much down time…alone time.

Part of the reason for all the distractions, the biggest part, was to keep her mind from obsessing about Kennedy. She missed her terribly and would find herself thinking about what Kennedy must be going through. She let her mind take over and soon it would zoom in on a frantically crying slayer saying through gasping weeps, "How could you leave me?…You said you'd never leave…" The thoughts were too hard to bear. So Willow occupied her time when she wasn't investigating her plight. She was able to think about Kennedy and the good times; she was able to dream about her slayer trying to find her.

That discipline helped the witch to get closer to how to escape her prison. In the nearly five months since her vanishing, Willow had begun to sort things out. Her task was harder and slower than it would have been otherwise because she had no resources to aid her. There were no magick books, internet or calls to Giles or other witches.

Willow was going solo, having to search her memory for all the information learned over the many years she'd been a witch. She had to allow her mind to recall all the facts learned from her books and experiences. She found her mind often recalling the particulars from the Han Nurrabi Chronicles. That book, one of the best birthday presents ever received from Kennedy or anyone, was an almost endless stream of information. She had read through it several times in the few years she'd had it.

As Willow made herself scavenge for morsels of insight to her present situation, the shroud of her predicament began to peel back.

The Sunday after her latest escape attempt, Willow sat on the beach and went over the fragments of knowledge she had pieced together and how it connected to Kennedy's slayer dream.

"Ok…Kenne's dream started out with us under water…That corresponds to us being in down here on vacation…" Willow knew her and Kennedy had never actually gone swimming in the Atlantic while in South Beach; the January water temperature was much too cold. But not everything in a slayer dream could be taken literally, that she knew from experiences with Buffy.

"The hotel in the dream has to be the Colony 'cuz of the sign…but it doesn't have a lobby floor with waves…the Tides does…so that part correlates to our hotel and the one where we met Faith and Miguel…" So far, the puzzle pieces were easy to find and place.

"The musicians and instruments I don't get…two guitars and a violin?…made out of a tiger?…" There was nothing in their lives that involved music or animals other than the stereo system in their place and the fact that the next door neighbor had a cat that liked to poop by their flowers. Willow had tried to place a connection with music and tigers or cats to their past but always hit a block. "Phfftt!…" she pushed out; the hard part had begun.

Next Willow connected the grassy area in Kennedy's dream to the place of her vanishing.

The eye was the thing from Kennedy's dream that had her most perplexed. "What the heck is that?…it's around before I disappear and again when Kennedy's trying to get away from the mystery person.…" The redhead knew the eye was a key fact. "That thing has to be connected to me disappearing…and probably Kennedy not being able to move to help me.…"

Done with the beach, her analysis continued as she gathered her clothes to do laundry. Initially, Willow thought she just might keep getting new clothes and forget washing altogether. But she realized that was impractical; she'd have the wash the starch off the clothes anyways, and besides, new clothes meant continued trips to stores. She had more important things to do.

Willow's examination continued in the laundry room of the hotel. She rolled over the facts she knew as she watched her clothes tumble in the dryer.

"Kennedy said she felt like there was something out in the dark in her dream…that was the demon…" Then the witch got a thought. "…or maybe not…that demon works off fire…it's not too smart…" Willow remembered how Kennedy wasn't able to really move once the demon put its attention to her. "…the demon forgot about Kenne but still she couldn't move…" Then the redhead recalled the fire and the feeling of being pulled. "…That demon was trying to burn me…but it wasn't even touching me…I was behind it being pulled into a hole almost…"

That's when Willow saw a new piece for the puzzle. "There was another presence there…the thing Kennedy felt in the dark wasn't the fire guy…it was some other evil…," she exclaimed emphatically. That one slip of a clog into its rightful place led to a succession of new thoughts.

"There was something or someone else there…making everyone believe that the fire demon was the cause of everything…" Willow's eyes darted like she was scanning a math equation searching to make sure the formula worked. "Some other force put a spell or something on Kenne so she couldn't help fight…to her it looked like the fire demon was burning me alive…" Willow knew if Kennedy or the other Scoobies studied the matter they would probably find out that burning its victims was what that particular demon did. "It would look like I died because that fire demon thing did what it was born to do…"

But then Willow remembered another seemingly small fact; the demon had been killed before her disappearance. Willow saw Faith jump the beast and slice its head. That was the key to knowing that the fire demon wasn't the cause of her disappearance. Once the demon was dead so was its power. Dying while the redhead was "burning" would have stopped the flames instantly.

Willow's heartbeat quickened; this was a critical fact to show those in her own world that she wasn't dead, just gone. With an inquisitive tone as she saw Kennedy's face, "Have you figured that out yet, baby?"

The redhead was now certain there was some evil presence behind her vanishing. That also fit nicely with the strangeness of her make shift world. She knew the attacks and scene changes she'd undergone weren't all by random. There had to be an overriding force somehow "tweaking" the course of events.

It was like the penance malediction spell placed on her by the witch Amy. The spell was not of Willow's own doing; it was cast upon her. But, the manifestation was triggered by her own psyche, her own mind wanderings. The same seemed true now. Her demons were connected to her fear, the transformation to the park by her remembrance of a special memory with Kennedy. She wasn't sure how the 'other presence' picked up on these. "It could be just a spell put in motion based on a self-initiated sequence…it can't be a simple time pattern because the incidents don't happen at the same time…"

When Willow thought of the penance malediction, she wondered if Amy had anything to do with the present situation. For sure, the woman had ill feelings for Willow. "But that was years ago…" The redhead didn't think the unreformed witch would hold onto a grudge that long. Besides, the power at play seemed well above that possessed by the ex-friend. Though Amy could be cruel, Willow didn't think she had enough hatred in her for something of this magnitude. The woman had been more jealous about Willow's abilities than anything else.

The more the witch thought, the more she was convinced that there was some great evil in play. "It has to be very powerful…almost to the level of the First again…or a psycho god like Glory…" Either option caused a queasy feeling in her stomach. The battles against those entities had been horrific.

Then another thought crossed her mind. "Why us?…This seems to be directed at me and, or Kennedy…" The computer like sharp neurons were working overload in the witch's brain. "Maybe it's not the evil itself after us…could it be someone working for the First or whatever?…"

Willow snagged on another dilemma. The evil working in this macabre production could be evil itself or another entity working with or for evil; the redhead didn't know which. Again, she searched her past for those that might seek harm to her or Kennedy. Most demons they'd had run-ins with were dead. There hadn't been any warnings they'd been told about concerning new evil in town. Willow drew a blank on possible suspects.

At a dead end on that matter, Willow contemplated Kennedy's dream and the events of that terrible night again. She kept coming back to the eye in the dream. It had buzzed around her blinking and did the same around the faceless enemy keeping Kennedy under the murky water. The tormentor Willow surmised was the evil pulling the strings; who it was, she didn't know.

"The eye may be a tool it uses to do spells, maybe…maybe it's the power source…" There were lots of possibilities. "But it was an eye…an eye sees…it's for vision…for seeing things…" Willow let her mind go off on a stream of consciousness as it opened the channels to all her past memories of magick and its teachings. "An eye can see many things…it sees things or it can be blind…it.…"

Willow jerked up her head; her eyes widened. "It's a passage through realities…it allows sight from one world to another…" The redhead knew she was right. "The eye represents a portal from the real world to this…The blinking must be opening and closing the portal."

It was making sense now. The eye in the dream made the opening which sucked her into her present hell she propounded. "The portal must be closed. The eye, whatever it really is, must be like a key…opening and closing it…it must be closed at this end 'cuz I can't get any sense of a portal at the spot."

The next thought was that the portal on Kennedy's side must also be closed because Willow knew if it wasn't Kennedy would have found her somehow. Knowing the obstinate character of her girlfriend under the right situation, Willow could envision Kennedy knocking down the barriers of interdimensional existence just to get her witch back.

"Ok…" Willow said with renewed optimism. "Now we're getting somewhere…" More of the pieces were falling together and Willow felt like she was finally making serious progress. "Just gotta figure out the goofy instruments, the identity of the faceless evil thing and what the eye really is…" As daunting as that seemed, the witch really was in a positive mood. She knew that this chapter in her life didn't end with the vanishing; there was more to Kennedy's dream. The slayer had set out to find her. Willow knew that if she could figure out her part of the dream, if she could unlock the secrets to her vanishing she could get home because she was certain her brunette was doing the same in the real world.

Willow went back to her room feeling good about her discoveries. She decided to work harder on trying to find out why her powers weren't working at normal intensity. She would also concentrate on trying to make contact with the other reality, with her slayer.

When the witch fell asleep that night, only good thoughts were in her head. For the first time, she wasn't scared about what she'd wake up to. That night, Willow let herself dream about Kennedy and the wonderful life they had, the life she was determined to get back.

Kennedy sat in the Miami Public Library reading a book on mysticism. She'd lost count on the number of books she'd looked through. Kennedy usually did her research on Willow's computer that she'd brought with her to Florida. But there were some things only found in books. The slayer had already gone through the Chronicles; she brought that one because she knew it was the best source for witchcraft information. Several other particularly important treatises belonging to Willow made the trip down also. Kennedy read through them all looking for anything that might shed light on Willow's whereabouts. So far, nothing stuck out, although not being the mega brainy witch like her girlfriend, Kennedy wasn't sure she'd notice it unless it bit her on the ass.

But that didn't stop Kennedy from trying. She attempted to research at least several times a week, if not everyday. She had to do something to keep her mind active. Her researching wasn't limited to just books. The brunette soon discovered the undercurrent of the mystical and occult that permeated Miami.

That city holds a place in American culture as does no other; a visit there is like walking into another country. The place is beaming with Cubans, Jamaicans and Haitians. It abounds with people from Central and South American countries. But the Cuban influence saturates the city; Miami is "Little Havana." A walk downtown is greeted by the layers of conversations in Spanish, the aroma of café con leche, and the smell of lechon asado, the traditional Cuban dish of roast pork served with rice and black beans. There's the seductive and encapsulating rhythm of Cuban and Latin music styles blaring out of stereos in the entranceways to shops lining the streets of the metropolis. It is a seaport city set in a tropical scene. Its citizens work because they have to and play because life would not be worth living otherwise. Miami is a wonderful integration of U.S. born and naturalized citizens and foreigners. Despite the imperfections that plague every big city, and especially those with such an ethnic make-up, it is a city to be seen and enjoyed.

The melting pot aspect of the area also allows for the traditions of other countries to make their way into the culture of the people. The religious, spiritual and mystical elements all flourish for the many varieties of faiths and races. Besides the "acceptable" religions, Rastafarian, Santaria, voodoo and a host of other belief systems exist there. Along with the more "respectable" aspects of many of the religions, immigrants brought the underbelly of their systems, the "dark side" of human worship. There exists a strong presence of witchcraft, the occult and mystical connection in Miami.

That's exactly what Kennedy went looking for. She sought out the witches and mystics for insight into her slayer dream and the horrible event on January sixth. It wasn't just the good side of the subculture that the slayer questioned. She went to the black sheep of magick's family for assistance. The brunette didn't care where information came from; she just wanted it.

The slayer's journeys into that world yielded some benefit. She gained the knowledge that the night of Willow's disappearance was a special night to many of the more mystically inclined "religions". It was not only a full moon but a "luna santificada", a hallowed moon. This was a not so common occurrence that legend told gave more power to the powerful when called upon using the proper incantation.

Kennedy also found out about South Beach's long history of death and destruction behind the scenes of its glitz and glamour. The place, like many other parts of Miami, was full of colorful stories of the "hay days" in the forties when the Cuban explosion hit. There were dinner clubs galore. It was the era of the big bands, and Latin music brought new vitality to the emerging American stronghold. South Florida was conga drums, and guitars, Carmen Miranda and Desi Arnez. The husband of Lucille Ball had actually been discovered in South Beach playing in a tiny little club where it's claimed he introduced the Samba to the American dance scene.

Like most places where there's big money, free flowing liquor and hot women, South Beach also attracted the "illegal" elements of society – the mob, prostitution and gambling. There was a harsh side to the beach resort area known only to the local police, crooks and those unlucky enough to stand at the wrong end of a gun.

With the passing of that glorious era, South Beach underwent a change. It was no longer 'the' spot. The hotels started to be neglected, people and money moved away. By the seventies, the area had been nicknamed "heaven's waiting room" because of the make up of its residents. The beach had become the home to mostly the very aged, trying to hold onto life by living their days in a hot climate. The buildings were in ill repair. The only excitement came from the drug subculture that had designated South Beach its place for mind altering behavior. The area was filled with lost or lonely souls looking for a fix.

Then, just as unexpected, South Beach got a new life. Rich locals saw the glorious place it could be once again. They wanted the beauty and glamour of the area returned. And so, over the course of several decades, South Beach was revitalized, rebuilt and reborn.

But, the undercurrent of its past plagued it still. There continued unexplained disappearances and murders, Versace being the best and most notorious of them. Kennedy realized that throughout the area's life, evil had always been there in many forms. It was the gangster, the rapist, the heroine needle and the demon that all in their own way kept evil's hand in play.

The presence of the Feif-orey demon that fateful night then didn't come as a surprise to the slayer. It seemed no matter where she and Willow went there was always some demon or other evil present. They were just able to spot it.

Kennedy's investigation had given her deep insight into the area she called home for the present. She was also starting to put together her own interpretation of her slayer dream. She knew the flickering eye held an important key. There wasn't anything she'd found in any book to link to it though.

She also figured out that the demon at the park wasn't alone and didn't burn Willow to death. Kennedy kept remembering the event as Faith told it – "I jump the fucker…cut its head off and it dies…and Red's gone…" The brunette remembered the sequence that way also. 'It happened all a once.' The more she thought, the more the sequence scrambled in her head. Then one day, she was researching on Willow's laptop. The television was on and she could hear a baseball game in the background. Kennedy wasn't really listening to the game, but it caught her attention when the announcers energetically questioned a play at first. One was saying how close the catch had been. He commented that umpires listened to the ball hit the first baseman's glove while watching the runner's foot tag the base. "Sometimes the play's so close…it's almost simultaneous…the catch and the step seem to happen at the same time…but they don't."

It was the last remark that made Kennedy sit up and notice. "They seem simultaneous…but they aren't…" she repeated to herself. The slayer traversed her memory for a repeat of the Feif-orey event. She recalled the demon coming after her then Willow. The flames went up around Willow and she couldn't move. Then Kennedy remembered trying to get to her girl bit not being able to. It was then that Faith jumped the beast. Kennedy took her time to recall the exact sequence of events that came next. She played the events in slow motion in her mind. "The flames were getting worse, Willow was screaming…Faith cuts the demons head off…it falls…and then Willow vanishes…" Kennedy repeated, "…and…then…Willow vanishes."

The slayer got wide eyed. "Why didn't we notice that before…Willow didn't vanish when the demon died…she went after it died…which couldn't happen if it was the demon doing it." Kennedy had been told by Giles that the demon lost its power as soon as it died. As if in victory, "That stupid demon didn't kill you…there was something else there…"

This all made sense because in her dream, she had felt a presence in the darkness. The fact that there was another figure in the muddy water part of her dream led her to believe a second person was present. She decided she needed to cruise the demon spots for a new "big bad" in town. She knew her dream didn't end in South Beach. There was the murky water area. But Miami was surrounded with water and narrowing that part was arduous to say the least.

For almost five months, Kennedy kept pushing forward. When she let herself think about it at all, she tried to believe only positive thoughts about her redhead's status. Despite all her attempts to keep up the good fight, to believe Willow was alive and just waiting to be found, Kennedy had moments of doubts. She wouldn't admit to them as soon as they happened, but they were there. They would come when she hit another dead end or had a rough night thinking about all she'd lost when Willow vanished. The only way Kennedy found that she could hold herself together was to try to block out her emotions. She drank to forget, to keep from feeling. She killed to forget, to make something else feel the pain she tried to hide.

The brunette had learned that behavior from her stalwart father. After Kennedy's mother left him, Jackson Prescott went on auto pilot when he wasn't with his daughter. Though he tried to show his young abandoned daughter love and attention, when in other situations, the man was an automaton. He went to work and acted like nothing happened. All charity and business related outings were attended. His outward appearance was of a man in complete control. But at home, at night, another person showed. Jackson would sit alone in his study and stare out the window or into the fireplace. The man would sit and drink scotch well into the evening. He would drink to numb the pain.

Jackson Prescott never shed a tear over his wife's desertion; it wasn't the 'Prescott way.' He never thought Kennedy saw him, but she did. The little girl would wander the house seeking out her "Daddy" only to find him lost in his thoughts. Young Kennedy never disturbed the man when she found him like that. Something inside told her that that was how he coped. It was all she ever knew about dealing with horrible events.

Kennedy had attempted to keep her heart from feeling anything for nearly five months. She walked through life breathing and looking but not connecting. She had not sought out a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold from her friends. She was a Prescott and that meant she dealt with it herself and kept the loneliness buried inside. Each week the feeling got a little more painful and she had to try slightly harder to keep it still.

The most recent Friday night no show was another blow to the slayer. The Sunday after it, Kennedy found herself once again at a club after patrolling. This one was a gay establishment which the slayer had been to on occasion. Like ever other place she went to, she sat at the bar and sucked down drinks.

She looked around to the crowd of women enjoying themselves. Kennedy saw how they laughed and danced and seduced. The brunette saw life surrounding her; women expressing all their feelings. Whenever the slayer went to that club she inevitably got hit on and usually quite often. Kennedy never gave any intention of interest; she'd say "No, thank you, I have a girlfriend" and just keep drinking. To be honest, Kennedy never looked at any woman there without measuring them up against Willow. They all failed miserably. Red hair was never quite as glistening, the smile never as bright, and the curves were never as slender and refined as her Willow's.

However, after all the months without her redhead, telling herself that Willow was alive even though the evidence pointed otherwise, Kennedy's resolve faltered that night at the club. She was so alone, so lonely and lost to any real feeling, she gave in to the doubt – Willow was gone.

As she nursed her drink, Kennedy scanned the room. The hard thumping dance music filled her head. The brunette watched as dancers swayed to the music; bodies pressed together moving rhythmically in a sensual dance.

As she searched the room, she saw a blonde at the other end of the bar staring at her. Kennedy knew that look; she'd seen it many times before. She'd worn that look before.

The brunette kept fixated on the woman, taking in her flowing hair, slender arms and tight body. The blonde stared back and then got up and proceeded to walk towards Kennedy. As the woman got closer, Kennedy could see she had hazel eyes.

In the few seconds it took the woman to reach her, Kennedy let the thoughts run through her mind. The brunette knew this woman was hers if she wanted her. She could reach out and connect in the most feral way…and feel. 'It would…just…be…a fuck,' the slayer thought, not with desire but as a flat statement. It wouldn't be anything more than a one time, purely physical contact, but it would be contact. Just to feel. And Kennedy at that moment wanted desperately to feel something, anything.

The blonde stood there beside the slayer, closer than would be expected for strangers. She leaned in and, slowly sliding her finger up and down the side of Kennedy's glass, said – "I'm Vanessa…Can I buy you a drink?" The woman fixed onto brown eyes. Both women knew that question was an invitation, or more rightly a desire, for sex.

Kennedy sat staring at the beautiful woman, then down at her drink. The woman's finger was now lightly grazing the back of Kennedy's hand. The brunette could feel her heart pounding in her chest. All the months alone; all the months without Willow.

After a long pause, Kennedy looked back at the woman. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

The brunette left not long after the blonde retreated to another part of the club. As soon as that woman looked Kennedy in the eyes, the slayer knew what her answer was. She was brought back to her reality. Touching another would make her unfaithful to Willow. It would have to mean the doubt was right – her redhead was dead, and Kennedy knew otherwise. After all her time alone, Kennedy still only thought of Willow, only wanted her touch. Her momentary misgiving was cast out and she once again assured herself Willow was alive and would come back to her. And she'd be waiting for her witch with open arms.

Kennedy walked back to her hotel stumbling from her drunkenness. In her inebriated state, she fumbled with her key card as she attempted to get into the room. She was unsteady and the night's events were starting to make her head spin. She kept trying to open the door to no avail.

Kennedy instantly turned to a fighting stance facing the intruder; she wobbled as she stood there. The brunette stared blurry eyed at the person.

"Here, Kennedy…let me help you…" Buffy said as she unlocked the door and led the slayer in.

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