After the Fall by Wolfkin

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: All of the materials borrowed from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel belong to Joss Whedon and to the entities and companies associated with their creation. I have borrowed them for creative and entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or ever shall be received for the writing below. No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Wolf Tales: http://www.elfie.org/~wolfkin/wolftales/index.html
Feedback: Yes, please. Any type you wanna send. Can't fix what I don't know is broken, right?
Spoilers: Show's been off the air since May of 2003. Can they still be considered spoilers?
Author's Notes: I have kept to the BtVS/Angel canon to the end of the season 7 and season 4, respectively. From there, the story is a little different than shown.
Pairing: Willow/Kennedy

Summary: What do you do when you've got your own little army, but no where to stay?

Rupert Giles trooped back onto the bus, a handful of keycards in one hand. "All right, girls. There are enough rooms for everyone, although we are going to have to double up, I'm afraid. Everyone please choose a room mate and I'll give you a pair of cards for a room, alright?" Reaching down, he picked up the small travel bag of things he'd picked up when the busload of survivors had stopped at that oversized department store after dropping the wounded at a nearby hospital.

Stepping off the bus, he sat the bag down at his feet again, then slipped three solitary cards into his pocket. When the Watcher had arranged for the more than a dozen rooms they needed, he made a couple of fast decisions and made five of them single rooms, with the rest doubles. Circumstances being what they were, each of the males got their own room, although in Andrew's case, it was simply that he couldn't bear to inflict the young man on anyone else. [Although,] he mused, a Ripperish smirk crossing his face, [if Spike had survived…]

Shaking his head slightly to dispel such thoughts, he smiled as Willow and Kennedy stepped off the bus first, the couple's meager belongings in the Slayer's hand. He extended the first of the plastic cards to the redhead. "Here you are my dear. I took the liberty of getting you both a single, somewhat away from the others. I thought a spot of privacy, for a change…" He carefully didn't laugh at Willow's embarrassed blush or Kennedy's knowing smirk.

He didn't often tease his children, as he considered them, in this manner, but sometimes, a little bit of Ripper just had to come out to play. He smiled benignly at Willow's mumbled, "Thanks Giles," as she snatched the card from his hand and dragged Kennedy into the hotel.

At a snickering sound, he turned to see Faith stepping down from their purloined transport, laughing softly at what she'd seen. "Good one, G-man! They can be a little loud, can't they?" She didn't wait for him to respond. Instead, she just shook her head, grinning sardonically. "Never woulda figured Red for a screamer, though."

With a sigh of long suffering, the Watcher admonished the brunette, "Faith, please don't call me that."

"You don't seem to mind when Xander does," She pointed out, her expression blank, though Giles thought he could detect the hurt in her eyes and voice at his rebuke. "Guess since it's me…"

"Actually, I do," he gently corrected, interrupting her. "And despite my objections and admonishments, he occasionally continues to refer to me by that name. Please don't encourage him, all right?"

The dark Slayer shrugged. "Sure, whatever. Did a quick head count and we've got an odd number. I'll take the solo room, okay? Real tired of room mates these days."

Giles smiles gently, paternally and lays one hand on her shoulder, ignoring her comment for a moment. "Faith, I know I haven't said it before now, but you've done an excellent job since you returned. Both as a leader in your own right and as Buffy's second, once she was thinking clearly again. I'm quite proud of the way you've turned your life around, the way you've become an exemplary Slayer and leader, not to mention an honorable young woman. I hope you'll consider staying with us, help us rebuild the council and fight our foes."

The Bostonian fought the embarrassed flush that tried to spread across her face. She was completely unprepared for the feelings that rippled through her at Giles' words of praise and trust. She tried to retreat to her usual unaffected shell, but the gruffness of her voice betrayed the inner turmoil the Watcher's words had started. "Yeah, uh, thanks. I'll think about it. Listen, you got that room key? Wicked tired and wanna sleep, y'know?"

Giles held up a key card. "I thought you might want some time alone, so you have one of the single rooms. Near mine, if you wish to talk."

Her eyes flashing a little, the brunette snatches the piece of plastic from the older man's hand. "Near your room, huh? Keeping an eye on me? Seeing if I go nuts again, that it?" Baring her teeth in an angry snarl, she turns to stalk off when the Watcher's hand on her shoulder stops her. With a furious shake of her shoulder, she flicks it off.

Undeterred, Giles once more reaches out to the angry Slayer, this time gently grasping her right arm above the elbow, again stopping her retreat. He ignores her hard look, instead steering her away from the others a little. "Faith, first of all, I have no intention of monitoring your activities any more than I will Buffy's or Xander's or any of our group that's of legal age. Quite the opposite, in fact, since I'll be relying on you, Buffy and Kennedy, as the only three Slayers over eighteen, to help me watch over the younger girls."

Seeing her expression softly, just a little, he presses on. "Secondly, my offer of being available should you wish to talk about anything troubling you wasn't made because I don't trust you. That isn't an issue any longer. I believe that you are honestly trying your best to make restitution for your past and I'm quite pleased and proud of the progress you've made so far. No, the offer was made solely because I know you've spoken to Angel in the past when you've had difficulties. As he's not available currently, I thought I could…'stand in' for him, that's all."

This time, Faith's cheeks darken as she blushes, both at the Englishman's words of praise and encouragement and his gesture that he actually cares that she's okay. "Uh, yeah. Thanks G-M – I mean Giles. 'Ppreciate it, but me and Fang, we kinda got things in common, y'know? Makes talking to anyone else wicked hard. 'Sides, I'm good." She smiles, though the Watcher can tell it's a bit forced.

Catching her eye, Giles refuses to let her escape yet. "May I assume that the 'things in common' you're referring to is the fact that you've both taken human lives?" He asks gently, understanding that the young woman doesn't really like to speak of it. She just looks down and nods a little. "I thought as much. Well, Angel isn't the only one with which you have that common frame of reference. There are others within our little band with whom you could speak. Commiserate, if you will."

Faith snorts a harsh, bitter laugh, but still doesn't look at the Watcher. "No thanks. Red and me kinda get along now, but reminding her that I tried to kill her a couple times might change that. Not really wanting the world's most powerful witch pissed at me right now."

Giles extends a hand and, with a finger under Faith's chin, gently lifts her head until he can see her eyes. "Faith, I wasn't speaking of Willow."

She stares back at him, confused for a moment, then her eyes clear and widen. "You?!" She hisses incredulously. "But…But…How? When?"

Giles waves her to silence. "That can wait. Like yourself, I'm reluctant to speak of it, unless I must, but I will, if you wish to know. I would ask that that conversation be conducted in private, though, if you don't mind." He gives her a small smile to take any possible harshness from his words.

The dark Slayer finds herself smiling in response. "Yeah, sure. I get that." She starts to walk away, then turns back to the older man. "Hey G! Sorry 'bout that shit I gave you. And…thanks for…" she shrugs uncomfortably.

Giles just smiles softly. "You're quite welcome my dear. And think nothing of the other thing. It's forgotten. Now, why don't you go and freshen up for dinner? You must be desperate for a shower and clean clothes."

"Oh yeah! Feel like I crawled through every low rent dive in SunnyD." She smiles sardonically and winks at the watcher. "Later, G- Man! Giles!" She corrects as he frowns and opens his mouth to chasten her. "I meant Giles!" Laughing, she turns and dashes inside.

Giles hangs his head and shakes it theatrically, even as he attempts to hide his smile. Sighing and muttering about, "Bloody Slayers," he turns back to the gathering girls and starts assigning rooms again.

Kennedy watches as Willow collapses across the bed in their room, then smiles as the witch gives her a little, "Aren't you joining me?" pout. She sets the two bags down on the low table near the door and, her eyes never leaving the redhead, her smile turning hungry. She stalks toward her girlfriend, looking every inch the predator she is now. She's never felt like this before, this desire, this need to be with someone. It's nearly all consuming suddenly and all she can think of is getting Willow naked right now and the two of them exhausting each other.

Willow feigns terror, throwing her hands up playfully, all the while smiling at the brunette. "Oh no! What am I gonna do? The mighty vampire Slayer is coming after me! What ever shall I do?" The redhead giggles and shrieks as Kennedy dives toward her, trying to roll away, but the younger woman grabs her and pins her to the mattress.

Smiling down at her girl, Kennedy looks at her her flushed, excited face, her shining green eyes, her chest heaving as the witch breathes quickly and her already dark eyes darken even more as her pupils dilate in desire. Lunging forward with a sub-audible growl , the new Slayer captures Willow's lips in a kiss that goes straight to searing. In their excited state, oxygen quickly becomes a problem, so the deep searching kiss becomes a series of hungry ones as Kennedy continues her assault.

Pulling herself back from Willow's lips, Kennedy attacks her girl's throat, licking, kissing, biting at the flesh, first one side then the other. Willow throws her head back, panting for air, a little trickle of fear coursing through her. She's not sure what's come over Kennedy. The brunette has never been this aggressive, this…needing before and she's confused, even as she enjoys the sensations the younger woman is producing in her. in the small corner of her mind not consumed by lusty thoughts, the redhead tries to analyze what's going on, searching through her memories of seven years of dealing with the supernatural, looking for an answer to Kennedy's onslaught.

Finally, through the more than welcome distractions, a memory fragment surfaces. The Scoobies, all much younger, sitting together as Faith smirks at them and asks Buffy, "Isn't it weird how Slaying always makes you hungry and horny?"

Her eyes open wide for a second, then slam closed with a groan of pure lust as Kennedy sucks her left ear lobe between her lips and sucks hard and nips at the dangling bit of flesh. "Th-that's what this is!" She manages to think. "This – this is what F-F-Faith was talking about!" Her rational mind completely shuts down as the Slayer releases her ear and moves to bite and suckle at the redheaded witch's throat. Willow gasps and arches a little as she feels Kennedy mark her, the girl's actions producing a dark bruise on alabaster skin.

Kennedy isn't thinking about anything but satisfying this need coursing through her. Raising herself off Willow a little , she grabs the hem of her girl's tee shirt and raises it up, allowing her hands to slip under. Immediately, she begins to fondle and massage the redhead's breasts, eliciting an inarticulate cry as Willow arches into her touch. She continues to manipulate her girl's breasts, her fingers brushing across hardening nipples as well, with one hand, while the other snakes under Willow and, with a snap, the witch's bra is lying loosely on her skin.

Willow moans deep in her throat, a sound that turns to a hissed, "Yes! Like that baby! Yes! Yes!" She feels Kennedy bring her left hand back to her chest, then savors the sensation of the brunette tweaking and pulling at her engorged nipples. Unable to resist any longer, the fevered witch pulls her girl's face back up and recaptures Kennedy's lips for a series of bruisingly hard kisses. Pulling back a little, the witch repeats what her girl did to her only moments ago, licking kissing and nibbling her way up Kennedy's throat, heading for the girl's ear.

In her mind's sex-addled state, it takes a moment for the taste Willow finds there to register, but when it does, she involuntarily recoils, making a disgusted face. Shaking her head a little, trying to jump start her brain, Willow stops her teasing strokes of Kennedy's back and starts trying to push the new Slayer away.

The words finally get through the younger woman's lust clouded brain and she pulls away, confused, thinking she's done something wrong. "Wh- " She shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts a little. "What's wrong, are you okay? Did I hurt you?" A little of the desire in her chocolate eyes is replaced by concern.

Willow smiles at her and reaches up to stroke her girl's face. Kennedy leans into the touch like a cat, nuzzling the hand for a second before kissing the palm. Willow's smile gets brighter, some of the want returning to her eyes. "No, you didn't hurt me! Everything felt really good!" At her Slayer's confused look, she explains. "The only reason I said stop is because you really need a shower before we continue. You taste like cave dirt and vamp dust. Not so good for the lusty thoughts and actions!" She says wryly.

Kennedy flushes and moves to get off Willow and stand beside the bed. "Sure, baby. Sorry about the attack. I really don't know what happened, I just knew I had to have you right then." She smiles sardonically, her eyes locking with Willow's. "To be truthful, I still want that really bad, so…" She stops speaking as she hurriedly skins out of her clothing. In just a few seconds, she's standing in front of Willow, completely nude.

Willow stares open mouthed as her girl's beauty. At the curves in the right places, the toned musculature, the dusky skin. The brunette watches as the redhead's eyes turn a darker green and her pupils dilate even more. "Yummy," Willow breathes, suddenly realizing this is the first time she's seen Kennedy completely naked with the lights on. Simultaneously, she finds her throat is dry, but her mouth was begun to water. That bit of seeming contradiction dimly registers in her mind, but she's far too busy drinking in the sight of her girl to worry about it now.

Her eyes starts back at the brunette's feet, following the lines up shapely calves to toned thighs. She bites back a groan as her eyes reach the neatly trimmed patch of dark hair at the apex of those perfect legs and sees something glistening wetly there. Tearing her eyes away, she continues up the flat stomach, fighting the desire to just grab the girl. Her gaze stops again when she reaches Kennedy's breasts, sucking in a breath as she memorizes them. They're no where near as big as Tara's were, but they fit perfectly on the Slayer's frame and Willow groans again, louder this time as she once more thinks that her girlfriend's nipples look like half melted Hershey Kisses. She finally reaches Kennedy's face and has to smile at the cocky grin she finds there.

"I was just thinking," Willow says, her voice low and husky, unable to tear her eyes away from the Slayer. "We should really be more environmentally aware, don't you think?"

"Water conservation," the redhead babbles. "We should shower together and save water."

Kennedy laughs a little at that, though she nods her agreement. "Oh yeah, that's makes sense. Always willing to do my part. And besides, that way I can wash your back for you and you can wash mine."

"Rather wash the front," Willow groans, still mesmerized by her Slayer's charms.

"Think that can be…arranged…" Kennedy stops speaking as Willow stands quickly, shedding her own clothing as rapidly as she herself had. Now it's the young brunette's turn to stand and stare as creamy, freckled skin is revealed. The Slayer feels her entire being start to vibrate with the force of her desire.

As the redhead's last article of clothing hits the bed, she can contain herself no longer. Lunging forward, Kennedy sweeps a surprised, squealing Willow into her arms, pulling her close even as she latches on to her girl's lips in a scorching kiss. Breaking the kiss only seconds later, the new Slayer picks up her girlfriend and almost runs into the bathroom, kicking the door shut with her foot.

Faith smirked and shook her head as Willow and Kennedy finally joined them in the hotel's restaurant. The couple was more than twenty minutes late, but both glowed in a way that fairly screamed 'just got laid' to the once rogue. Her smirk turned to an impish grin as Willow gave an embarrassed apology to Buffy and Giles, while Kennedy just smiled and sat down.

Looking more closely at Willow, the brunette's grin turned truly evil as she spotted something. [Oh, I shouldn't,] she argued with herself. Schooling her expression to one of concern, she made her 'inspection' of the redhead more obvious before saying in a stage whisper, "Uh, hey Red? You got something on your neck, there. Junior not give you a chance at a shower or something?" She waited until Willow touched the spot and shot her a dirty look before she added, "Oh, sorry. My bad." Kennedy glared at her as well, though Faith was positive she could see a smug glimmer in the younger Slayer's eyes as well.

The brunette jerked as she felt an elbow impact with her ribs. "Hey!" She exclaimed, turning to glare at the person who hit her.

Dawn returned her glare with a look of stern disapproval. "Leave'em alone, Faith."

Faith smirked at the implied threat in the teen's voice. "Or what, Bitesize?" Her whole attitude fairly screams 'What can you do to me?'

To her surprise, Dawn smirked as well and replies, her voice so low, Faith is sure she wouldn't have caught it without Slayer hearing. "Or, I'll show everyone this." She opens the paperback book in her lap and shows the dark Slayer a picture she's using as a bookmark.

Faith feels her eyes nearly leave her head. "How did you…Where the fuck did you get that?!" She hisses, trying to keep as quiet as her embarrassed anger will let her. Dawn just smiles and closes the book on the snapshot of Faith cuddling Buffy's stuffed pig, Mr Gordo.

Faith remembers that moment, when she couldn't hear anyone else on the top floor of the Summers' home, was absolutely sure she was the only living soul in that part of the house. For just a moment, she wasn't Faith, the bad ass dark Slayer, she was a twenty year old girl who's entire body ached from being caught in an explosion. Who was surrounded by people who barely tolerated her and seemed to be just waiting for her to go nuts again, so they would have the excuse to get rid of her. A girl who's only real friend was hundreds of miles away in LA. As the wave of loneliness, pain and misery swept through her, she'd picked up the toy, looked at for a moment, then hugged it to her tightly, oddly taking comfort from the stuffed animal.

After a moment, she'd snorted in annoyance with herself and tossed the toy aside, just in case someone came to check on her. She had an image to keep, after all. She didn't need some stupid toy. She didn't really need anybody. And if she kept repeating that, maybe she'd eventually believe it herself. Now, sitting in the restaurant, she looks at Dawn and growls, "Give me that, Dawn! Right fucking now!"

Dawn smiles the smile of someone who knows they're invulnerable. They both know if Faith were to carry through on her threat and hurt the teen, the least Buffy will do is kick her ass. "Eventually, sure. For now? Nope. I promise, no one else sees it, but you quit picking on Willow and Kennedy. Deal?"

Faith growls to herself for a moment, then nods. Locking eyes with the grinning teenager, she slowly smiles a shark's smile, all teeth and menace. "Just remember, kid. Paybacks are a real bitch, so watch your ass!"

Dawn just shrugs. Short of physical violence, which she knows won't happen, there's not much the older brunette can do. It's not like she's dating anyone, or is doing anything worth blackmailing her over, so what can Faith really do?

"What are you two whispering about?" Buffy's expression is a mixture of curiosity and exasperation with Faith's teasing.

Shaking her head, Faith replied, "Nothin' really B. D was just saying that pickin' on Red there was mean." A shrug. "Gotta admit, she's kinda right. Sorry, Red, Junior." She adds, looking at the wicca and new Slayer. Seeing everyone's thunderstruck expression, Faith just gives them her smart-ass half smile and takes a sip of water.

Willow recovers from her shock first. "Uh, yeah. Don't – don't worry about it."

Giles looks at the second oldest Slayer for a moment, then carefully hides a small smile as a spark of hope courses through him. Maybe she can be redeemed, be who she was meant to be before jealousy and neglect pushed her into the arms of the enemy. Throwing off his darkening mood for mistakes past, he sighs as he stands. "May I have everyone's attention, please? Now that the preliminary banter is out of the way and most of us are here, I wanted to give everyone a chance to discuss the options and decide what they want to do from here."

Holding up a hand as several people began to speak, he continued. "Please, not yet. I want you all to think over what you wish to do while we eat our meal and we'll discuss things afterward. Is this acceptable to everyone?" The Watcher looked over the assembled young women and Andrew, seeing them nod with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Suddenly, he realized they were one person short. Deciding to wait on that, he again addressed the group. "Good, thank you. In that case, please, everyone order what you want to eat and enjoy your meal."

Sitting down again, he leans toward Buffy. "Have you seen Xander? Was he here earlier and I just didn't notice?"

Buffy shook her head, opening her mouth to speak, but Dawn beat her to it. "I stopped by his room on the way, but he said he wasn't hungry. He looked so sad, but he wouldn't let me stay." Her eyes misting, she looks down at the tabletop.

Giles nodded his head, even as he silently berated himself. He should've foreseen this, that Xander would want to be alone. Unbidden, his mind throws up the memory of his own feelings after Jenny's death. Clearing his throat, he pastes a little smile on his face. "Yes, of course. Well, perhaps we should leave him be for a day or two. At least, for the most part. One of us should probably check on him once a day or so, try to get him to eat something."

Buffy gave Willow a significant look and the redhead nodded. Silently, the two women worked out a schedule between them, then Buffy turned to her former Watcher. Before she can say anything, though, a waitress appears and begins to take dinner orders from everyone.

Several minutes later, Buffy finally gets to ask what she wanted. "Giles, you asked what everyone wanted to do, right?" The Englishman nodded as he sipped water. "Okay, but see…You didn't give any options. How can any of us decide anything without knowing what there is to decide about?"

Giles took another sip from his water glass, then set is precisely back in place, stalling a bit as he worked out what he wanted to say in his head. Buffy had been so volatile in the last few weeks, since he'd tried to have Spike eliminated(And thank God he'd failed, in hindsight!), he found himself having to think carefully about their conversations.

Taking a quick breath, he turned his complete attention to Buffy. "Well, to be honest, those options greatly depend on the person we're talking about. For instance, I would prefer that the younger Slayers, those, oh say, fifteen years and younger to contact their parents so we can make arrangements to send them home. I believe, now that the First has been defeated, they'll be safe now. However, I also believe we should maintain a contact list for them as well."

He paused for a sip of water. "As for the older girls and those of us 'older hands', as it were, there are a few more things to be discussed. For instance, there's the going home option for the other Slayers, or they can remain and assist us where ever we end up. I wasn't joking at the rim of the crater; There really is another Hellmouth in Cleveland, as well as a half dozen other, more minor ones scattered throughout the world. It's possible, with the collapse of the main one in Sunnydale, these other Hellmouths will widen and become more of a problem. Eventually, we'd have to send teams in to check on them, but there's one thing I thing we should be thinking about before anything else."

Willow gave him a look that was half smile and half grimace. "Let me guess. You want to get the Council back up and running, if someone from the old Council hasn't already got things moving without telling us."

"Yes, Willow, that's it exactly." He smiled at her, understanding the distaste in her voice. After all the things the Council had done to Buffy, to Faith, and by extension, himself, his own feelings toward the organization he obstensively belonged to were ambiguous at best. However, he'd convinced himself that all their problems in dealing with the Council of Watchers were almost entirely the fault of Quentin Travers and his cronies. With them safely dead, Giles was confident that the Council, under their stewardship, could at last be a source of aid and comfort for Slayers, not a thing to be feared or dreaded.

Buffy looked frankly dubious and Faith out and out distrustful. "I dunno, G-Man. Why would we wanna get'em goin' again? They tried to kill me a buncha times and they didn't seem real worried that they might've kill B and anyone else nearby at the same time. Why not just let'em stay down?"

"Faith, I understand your objections. I even agree that, in the past, the old Council was rarely a friend to either yourself or Buffy. Quite the opposite, in fact, on many occasions," he replied calmly, looking directly at her. "However, note that I said the 'old' Council. By that, I mean the one with Quentin Travers and his associates in charge. As Quentin is now gone, things should be much easier for us now."

Faith scrunched up her eyebrows, wrinkling her nose at the mention of once head Watcher. "So, what happened to the shifty old fuck? He finally cross the wrong guy and get booted?

At her words, Giles looks hard at Buffy, his own expression one of incredulity, with a touch of disappointment. She returns his stare with dawning consternation as she realizes just how much they apparently haven't told the next oldest Slayer. She glances at Willow, who gives her a sheepish look in return.

The Watcher just shakes his head. "I must apologize Faith. I thought you knew that one of the First's opening moves had been to kill off the leaders of the Council. Someone," he pauses for a second, "Caleb, most likely, planted a rather large bomb in the headquarters. While the Council leadership was meeting to discuss what to do about the threat of the First, those same headquarters were leveled in the explosion. For all intents and purposes, the Council of Watchers is gone."

The dark Slayer's eyes open wide as she absorbs this news. "Gone?! As in, you're the last Watcher on the whole freakin' planet?"

Giles quickly shook his head. "By no means. I personally know of a dozen or so Watchers that survived and are scattered throughout the world and have heard about many more. It's just the main compound and organization that's in a shambles and will have to be rebuilt. A daunting task, to be sure. but one that must be started very soon."

"Why?" Dawn asked, truly puzzled. "Considering how much of a pain in the ass they've always been to Buffy and Faith and all of us really, why not just let'em stay dead?"

Although it's Giles the teen is looking at, it's Willow that answers her. "Because we need them, Dawnie." At the teen's confused, faintly antagonistic look, she smiles. "If was just Buffy and Faith as the world's only Slayers, I'd probably agree with you. But my spell made every potential Slayer that was even one second into puberty a Slayer. From what I can feel, that's nearly a thousand girls throughout the world and the Watcher's Council is the best way for us to help and guide them."

Giles nodded and smiled warmly at the redhead before turning to the younger Summers. "Yes, that's it exactly. Dawn, you must remember that, while it may seem to you that the Council are the…well, the 'bad guys', due to their treatment of Buffy and myself, the truth is, Slayers need Watchers. Perhaps not after a certain period of time, but for the first few years, the training and research that a Watcher provides is invaluable in keeping a Slayer alive. Especially those Slayers like Buffy, who have no idea of their destiny and powers. Without a Watcher, they're easy prey for vampires and demons. They'll be drawn to them and not know why or how to fight them."

"Will, can you tell how many of the new Slayers are like me?" Buffy asked as memories of her early experiences filter through her head.

Willow shook her head, a regretful expression on her lovely features. "Sorry, Buff. All I can tell is that they're Slayers and a rough idea where they are." She held up a hand. " And before anyone asks, by where I mean general direction. I mean, I can tell there's a newbie somewhere between here and LA, but not whether they're in a little town outside of LA or somewhere in the city itself. Maybe the coven can narrow it down or…or I can maybe come up with a special locator spell…"

Buffy leaned across and grabbed the redhead's hand, stopping her. "I get it, Will. It's okay. We'll call the coven and you can talk to your friends, maybe come up with something. Giles, you should start to see what our Watcher situation is like. If we can, I'd rather not give a Slayer to the old 'They're just tools to fight evil' crowd, but see what we've got to work with, okay?" He nodded. "Okay, what I think we should do, for now, is stay right here for at least a week or so. That'll give us time," She boosted the volume on her words to talk over the others, giving them all a look simultaneously. "That'll give us time to really sort things out and start sending the youngest girls back home."

She shifted her attention to Faith and, to a lesser extent, Kennedy. "In the meantime, we should start organizing the girls to patrol around here. I honestly don't expect to find many vamps or demons, but it'll give them the idea of what a regular patrol is like, not just fighting for our lives with Bringers and Turok-hans. Kennedy, you, Rona and Vi have been with us the longest of all the new Slayers. Do you remember the standard patrols Spike and I took you on? Enough that the three of you could supervise a few of the new girls without Faith or me, I mean?"

The younger Slayer's face immediately broke into a bright, delighted smile. "Hell yeah, I do! When do you want us to start? Tonight?" She was practically bouncing in excitement. Willow smiled at her girl's giddiness and Dawn giggled.

Buffy ignored Faith's chuckle. "No, not tonight. Tonight we're gonna stay here and get some rest. I hear that sleep is actually supposed to last all night and I want to see if it can." She sees the look that passes between Willow and Kennedy and grins. "Well, some of us want a whole night's sleep, anyway!"

Willow blushes and Kennedy opens her mouth to reply when suddenly a flurry of arriving food stops her. Once the wait-people all leave, Buffy resumes what she was saying. "What I was thinking is, all of us would go out tomorrow night, do a look around, get the lay of the land kinda deal. Then we'll divide up into three groups and take turns each night after that until we leave town. That sound okay to you guys?" She looks from Faith to Kennedy and back. Kennedy's smile gets even bigger and Buffy can almost hear her excited thoughts about leading a patrol.

The dark Slayer shrugs and grins a little. "Five by five with me, B. Town this size, might be lotsa questions about a big group of teenage girls walking around at night, so small groups would be better. Just one thing," she adds after taking a bite of her food. "When are we headed for LA? I mean, Angel's got that big freakin' hotel we could stay at and not run up any bills, 'cept for food, of course. And LA's got lotsa vamps and demons to use to train the girls right, so why stay in this rinky-dink little town more'n a day or so?"

Buffy swallowed what she was eating, the took a sip of her tea. "There's actually a couple reasons, Faith." She cleared her throat, then continued. "First of all, we need to give the girls in the hospital time to heal and this way we don't have to come back for them or move'em before they finish healing. Robin too, for that matter, though him, we probably will have to come back for."

She pauses for a moment and thinks about Robin Woods, wishing for a second that he'd inherited some of his mother's Slayer's powers. Especially the fast healing. Shaking her head, the blonde returns her attention to Faith and their discussion. "Another reason is simply so we can all catch our breath and rest a bit. I know you've been going pretty much full tilt for over a week now, but the rest of us have been at this for months and rest is definitely of the good!"

Faith absently chews on her steak while she considers Buffy's words, discovering that the blonde kinda has a point. What with the shit that went down in LA with the Beast and Angelus, then the fight with First in SunnyD, not even counting getting blown up, the brunette concedes that a couple days of downtime could be nice. Might even give her time to really try to make up for some of her past. If the Scoobies will let her. Just as she starts to agree with Buffy, though, another thought occurs to her.

"Yeah, okay. I'll give you those two, B. Gotta admit, I wouldn't mind sleepin' for a couple days myself, this time without the explosion first!" She grins sarcastically at Buffy, who rolls her eyes, though the blonde smiles back. "On the other hand, town this size, we might scare up one or two, maybe even three vamps, but that's probably gonna be it. How're we gonna show the kids how to patrol if there's nothin' to stake?"

Buffy gives her counterpart an exaggerated nod. "I was thinking about that, but I figure only a few vamps is a good thing. I mean, yeah, vamps everywhere in the world, but other than a Hellmouth or a major city, where are they gonna have to be experienced in staking a half dozen or more vamps or demons in a single night? I was thinking that a lot of the cities and towns where they newbies are gonna be patrolling are gonna be like here; a few vamps now and then and a lot of boredom. If we show them proper search procedures now, even with only a few things to kill, then maybe they'll remember when they get home or where ever they end up and they'll do a good job and not get killed the first week."

Giles returned the gaze that Buffy had locked on him as she finished explaining her thoughts, his own expression conveying deep, considered thought. Slowly, he answered her. "Well, there is something to be said for getting the basics down first, but Faith does have a point, Buffy. Perhaps it would be better to move on the Los Angles as soon as possible. Without vampires or demons or any of the other things a Slayer, well, slays, your patrols will be little more than night time strolls."

"Okay, yeah, that's kinda true, but we can at least show'em the best way to do a sweep. I mean, with all the Bringers and Turok-hans we've all have to face and kill, I think they newbies here have a pretty good idea how to kill demon types. Most of the girls have no idea of how a regular, just looking around to see what we find patrol is supposed to go, so I thought a slow little town like this would be good for the first few. That way, we could concentrate on how to patrol without the bunches of undead things trying to kill us during class." She pauses and takes a breath, as well as a bite of her dinner. "Besides, we'll only be here for a week at the most, then we'll head for LA and have lots of evil things to kill."

All was quiet for a moment, then Faith spoke up. "Hate to say it, but B's kinda got something there, 'specially if we're only gonna stick around here for a few days." She turned a little and graced the elder Slayer with a half smile that brought out one of her dimples. "Got my vote B!"

"Gee, thanks, Faith!" Buffy replied, her tone a little sarcastic, but her smile genuinely grateful.

Giles looked around the table and realized that he was outvoted. "Very well. I suppose a few days won't hurt and it will give me a chance to talk to the girls and see which ones want to go home at the earliest possible moment. It will also give Willow a chance, perhaps, to start that little project we discussed."

Willow glanced up at the mention of her name, still smiling and blushing faintly from her and Kennedy's playful flirting while they ate. "Um, huh? Project, Giles?" She racked her brain and suddenly remembered the conversation they'd had a month or so earlier. With the Council leadership gone, Giles had asked Willow to try find their assets and accounts, knowing that if they won, the Council would have to be re-started. She'd tried to work on it earlier, but the fight with the First took precedence, so she had forgotten about it.

"Oh! That project! Yeah, okay. I can start that up again, but I'm gonna have to get a new computer and get it set-up. That'll take a day or so, assuming I can find a decent computer for sale in this town and I think this hotel has free internet access in the rooms. I can check when I go up later, though until I get the computer, it's kinda a waste of time, so…" Kennedy cut off her babble with a soft kiss.

The young brunette broke off their kiss a moment later and Willow blushed as she faced her friends again. "Umm…I'll get back on it tomorrow morning, Giles," she said quietly.

After a little more teasing for the redheaded wicca, everyone concentrates on their meal, then on dessert, their conversation only light remembrances of their lives in Sunnydale. Kennedy responds with a few stories of growing up in boarding schools and what it was like living with her Watcher. Faith compares the younger Slayer's experiences with her own from her time living with her old Watcher. She carefully keeps the other memories she talks about either her early days in Sunnydale or of what happened a week before with Angelus.

As the meal winds down, a hotel worker appears at Giles' elbow and somberly hands him a message. He thanks her and glances at it, his good mood evaporating. He whispers something to the young woman and she nods and withdraws. A moment later, their waitress reappears and Giles quietly orders a bottle of wine and asks for enough glasses for everyone at the table. She glances at Dawn and Kennedy, but at another quiet word from the Brit, she nods and leaves.

When she returns a few minutes later, everyone gets quiet when they see what she's brought, though Buffy scowls when she sees glasses set in front of her sister and Kennedy, both of whom are underage. She turns to question Giles, but Faith cuts her off.

"Whoa! G-Man's springin' for the drinks? Very cool!" The Boston Slayer smiles at the sight of the crimson liquid being poured.

Dawn's been watching the older man's face, though, and she knows something is up. Laying a hand on Faith's arm and looking at her sister significantly, she quietly tells them, "Not now, guys. Giles, what's wrong?"

Giles smiles a little at the intuitive teenager. "A moment, please, Dawn." He waits until everyone at the table has a glass of wine, then stands and raises his own goblet. "A toast, ladies. To those who gave their all, so the world would live." He raised his glass a little more, waiting until the others had repeated his words, then they all drank.

Sitting down again, Giles took another sip of his wine, ignoring for a moment the five silent requests for information. Taking a deep breath, he looked up and looked at Buffy, then Faith. "Approximately thirty minutes ago, Robin Woods died of complications from his wounds. Buffy, Faith, I'm so sorry."

Buffy feels her eyes widen a the news, then a prickling sensation as tears start to form. Closing her eyes, she looks down and to the side for a moment, regaining her composure before returning her attention to her Watcher. "Did – did he ever wake up again? Should one of us have been there?" Without any conscious thought, she reaches out and takes Faith's hand in her own, seeking to comfort her sister Slayer and to be comforted. She remembers well the discussion they had in her bedroom while Faith was recovering from Caleb's bomb.

Giles shakes her head a little. "The doctor's message says he never regained consciousness. He also says that there was nothing more anyone could've done." The Watcher lapses into silence for a moment, then, almost like he's speaking to himself, adds, "He was a good man and he'll be missed."

The others nod at his words as they remember the man they knew for such a short time. Dawn feels tears break free and begin to course down her cheeks, as does Willow. Kennedy stares at the center of the table, then raises her glass of wine. "He was a hell of a fighter." She drinks another, solo toast.

Faith distantly feels Buffy take her hand, but most of her mind is on memories of the former principal and how much he came to mean to her in such a short time. Thoughts and feelings and memories echo through her head until, with a violent shake of her head, she pushes everything away through sheer force of will. Picking up her wineglass, she drains in a single gulp, then, freeing her hand from Buffy's, she refills her glass brim-full and drains it again. She barely feels it when Buffy lightly lays a hand on her arm.

The dark Slayer shrugs off the hand of her counterpart, throwing both hands off the table. "It's cool, B," she says, her 'who cares' persona slamming down. "Not like we were datin' or nothin'. Boy had guts, gotta give'im that. Went out the right way, too." She drains the last of the bottle in her glass and sucks it down as fast as the others.

"It's okay, Faith. Really. We under…" The blonde starts to say, again trying to offer sympathy, but the brunette once more rebuffs her.

"Seriously, B, I'm good. Listen, I'm a little keyed up, big fight today and all," she declares, standing and taking a step backwards. "I'm gonna take a little walk, maybe scout around a little for tomorrow night, okay? 'Sides, I read in prison that a walk after eatin' s'possed to be good for digestion or some such shit."

Giles studies her for a moment, then judiciously nods. "Very well, Faith. Please, be careful and report any supernatural activity you discover, alright?" He gives her a little smile. "If I don't see you again tonight, sleep well."

She stares at him for a long moment, trying to decide if he's playing her, finally deciding that, no, he's not. Nodding, she replies, "You got it, G-Man. Later!" She calls over her shoulder as she leaves.

Buffy watches as she jogs from the room, then turns on her Watcher. "Was that really a good idea? Letting her go out by herself, I mean?"

"She'll be back, if that's what worries you, Buffy," Giles answers, evading the question slightly.

The man lowers his eyes and gives a little self deprecative snort. "Yes, I know what you meant." He pauses, looking toward the door that Faith went through for a moment, then back at his original Slayer. "Faith has made enormous strides in the last few years, but, in some ways, she's still the same 'loner' we first met a long time ago. She needs to deal with this alone before she can talk to anyone."

Buffy looked at the door as well, then back at Giles, a worried expression on her pretty features. Her mood lifts somewhat, though, when Giles smiles encouragingly at her. "I do feel, however, she will eventually seek out one of us to talk about her loss. Whichever one of us she chooses must remember to be encouraging and supportive without seeming to be patronizing or trivializing her feelings. I do not want her thinking that she would be better off away from us. That could have the effect of undoing all the good Angel and her stay in prison accomplished."

Reluctantly, Buffy admits, to herself, that Giles has a point and a good one. She turns back to her dessert, but discovers that she no longer wants it. She hates it when her friends are hurting and there's nothing she can do to help. That thought brings her mind to an abrupt halt as her eyes open wide. [Faith? A 'friend'?] The thought ripples through her. [When did that happen?]

Even as she asks herself that question, the blonde realizes the answer is simple. The moment Faith had stood up to her. Not because she wanted to, but because she felt she had to so evil wouldn't win. The moment that the former rogue had put the mission first, something she'd never done before to Buffy's knowledge. The Faith of old had always done everything because she wanted to, because she wanted to have fun. That Faith would've blindly followed her back to the vineyard without any thought or plan, other than to kill the bad guys and been killed.

Now, she thought things through and made plans and Buffy suddenly realized that she trusted the younger Slayer again. That she had forgiven her. [And all it took was her throwing me out of my own house,] she thinks, her tone sarcastic, even in her own mind.

Looking at Giles, she grimaces a little. "Okay, I'll wait 'til she gets back. Do I have to like it?" She asks petulantly. Her eyes, though, sparkle with amusement.

Giles successfully fights off a smile, managing to look stern instead. "No, you do not have to like it, Buffy." Unable to maintain his severe expression, his lips curl slightly in the tiniest of smiles. "Now then. We have seventeen girls here and a night off. Shall we see what amusements there are in this little hamlet? I think they've earned at least the chance to visit the cinema, if nothing else. Unless everyone would rather stay in and rest?"

Answers began pouring in from the young people at his table, as well as the surrounding ones. Ideas of how to spend the first evening they've had where there was no one trying to kill them. The Englishman settled back and let the debate rage, smiling a little as he waiting for the decision.

After a low pass through her room for a couple basic weapons, a stake and a knife, Faith went out the front door of the hotel and started walking. Her thoughts were focused mainly on Robin Woods and wondering how he'd gotten to her so fast and so deeply. How he was one of the few men she'd ever known who treated her like she was some kind of lady and not a self propelled sex toy or low level flunky.

[Hell,] she thinks. [Only other guy I can think of treated me like I was somethin' special was Xander, and what do I do to both of'em? Toss'em aside before the sweat was even dry!] Her self recriminations continue to echo through her mind until, with a violent shake of her head, she forces herself to stop walking.

Looking around her, but not really seeing anything consciously, she sighs heavily. [Look, just accept it. I'm gonna miss him. It don't make sense, and it's not like me, but I liked him and I woulda give'im another shot, maybe even let him show me that whole surprise thing he was talking about. So much for that, but he was a good guy and I don't wanna just forget about him.]

Her thoughts are cut off by the sound of a scream that's suddenly cut short, and Faith feels herself slide into Slayer mode without any effort. Not really having paid attention to where her feet took her, the Slayer is surprised to discover she's walked from the outskirts of the small town to it's main shopping area near the center of town. Looking around, she thinks the scream came from somewhere to her left, so she runs in that direction, taking care to be as silent as possible.

As she gets closer, her Slayer hearing easily picks up the sound of a struggle coming from a darkened walkway between two buildings and she quickly crosses the last of the distance, stopping at the corner to look at what she's walking into. What she sees makes her blood boil.

A struggling, crying girl is lying on the ground with what looks like a guy about her age on top of her. The male has his mouth plastered on the girl's in what she's sure the guy thinks is a kiss, even as one of his hands struggles to get his pants down and the girl's skirt up. Another guy looks nervously around, though he's clearly just waiting his turn.

Instinctively, Faith pulls her stake with one hand and her knife with the other, but, before she starts around the corner, some part of her takes control of her fury and she puts her weapons away. Watching for another second, waiting until the sentry's eyes aren't looking at her, she darts around the corner and launches into a flying kick. Catching the look out on the point of his chin, the man's head snaps around as the force of the kick sends him flying. His body spins around almost two complete revolutions before he crashes into the side of the building a slides down, unconscious before he lands.

Landing again, Faith spins on one foot and lashes out with the other. The would-be rapist has just enough time to register that there's someone else on the scene before the point of the Slayer's boot connects with his scrotum. He turns his head to see who's attacking him, but before his eyes can focus on the raven haired woman, the pain messages from his crushed testicles arrive in his mind and he suddenly finds he's forgotten how to breathe.

Faith watches impassively as the scum she just kicked rolls into a tight ball, then off the girl. She waits for a few seconds, letting him truly savor his punishment. She enjoys the expression of agony on the young man's face for a second, then squats and punches him with just enough force to render him unconscious. Closing her eyes, the Slayer concentrates for a few seconds, fighting down the urges and voices that are demanding she rip the two men apart.

Getting control, she opens her eyes and turns to the girl, seeing that she's curled into almost as tight a ball as her attacker. Reaching out, she gently touches the girl's shoulder, causing her to scream and thrash, trying once more to escape. "Hey! Whoa! Easy now! He's gone and I won't hurt ya!" Although she knows she's not very good with this comforting thing, she tries, knowing what the girl's thinking and going through. Awkwardly, she tries to gather the girl close, muttering soothing words all the while.

Carefully, she tugs the girl's skirt back in place and rearranges her shirt, all the while making sure the girl can see what she's doing. "See? That's better. Now, you're safe and I took care of those assholes." She smiles down at a tear-streaked face. "What's your name?"

Gently brushing beige-blonde hair off the girl's face, the Slayer's smile softens a little. "Katie. Okay, Katie, I'm Faith." Making sure she was between the teen in her arms and her attackers, Faith's expressions turns the least bit serious. "Katie, do you know either one of those shitheads?" She tosses her head a little toward behind her.

Katie stiffens, whimpering a little and Faith hastens to reassure her. "Hey, hey! Don't worry. I stopped'em once, right? They couldn't take me on their best day and I won't let'em hurt you, okay?" Her eyes still wide and frightened, the teen nods meekly. "Cool. Now, do you know either of'em?"

Katie nods. "I work with them. Matt and Sean. Matt, he – he's always asking…wanting me to…He's always after me!" Her tears start again, but she continued to explain to her savior. "I keep telling him, I've got a boyfriend and, even if I didn't, I don't fool around. Not…not just, you know, with anybody. Especially not him! He's a creep. They both are."

"Yeah, I got that part." Seeing that the girl seems to be calmer, Faith helps her to sit up and moves away a little, squatting in front of her. "Where's your boytoy? Why wasn't he with you?"

Taking a deep breath, the blonde explains, "H-he left yesterday. Billy joined the army and he had to leave for basic training." She smiles faintly. "We're getting married when he gets back, before he goes to his duty station. We're moving to North Carolina."

Faith nods. "Cool. Congrats and all that shit." Glancing behind her, she asks softly, "So, what do you wanna do now?"

Sniffing deeply, Katie wipes at her eyes, seeming to be calmer, but Faith notices that she can't seem to look behind the Slayer to where her attackers are. She knows it won't take much to send the girl into hysterics again. "I – I guess call the police." She spots her bag a couple feet away and reaches over, snagging it.

Fishing through it, she comes up with a cell phone and opens it. Before she can dial, though, Faith puts her hand over it, closing it again. The young blonde looks at her confused.

Sighing, Faith says, "If you do that, cops'll arrest'em, but any lawyer they hire'll just convince people that you were all but strippin' in this alley and that you only yelled rape for attention. Most of the time, no judge or jury believes a woman about this, trust me." Seeing the girl's stricken look, she adds, "'Course, small town like this, you might luck out. Specially if they've tried this shit before. Cops usually will believe it if a buncha girls report'em. One girl is kinda a 'he said, she said' kinda thing, y'know?"

She takes her hand off the phone, her eyes never leaving the blonde's face. "Now, you still wanna call'em?"

Katie finally looks past Faith, her expression bordering on freaking out again, but she seems to visibly pull herself together after a second. Looking the Slayer in the eyes, she nods and replies, "Yes, even if they only spend one night in jail."

Faith shrugs, but grins a little. "Your call, girlfriend. Just one thing, okay? Leave me out of it. It's not that I don't wanna help ya, Katie," Faith tells her, seeing the anguished look on the teen's face, "but me and cops…We just ain't really gettin' along right now. 'Sides, I'm just kinda passin' through, y'know? Not even gonna be here a week and I just ain't real sure where I'm gonna end up, so gettin' in touch with me to come for a trial just won't be easy. Better to just skip it."

Katie sighs in defeat before nodding her understanding. "Okay, but what do I tell them? And won't they tell the police about you?"

The brunette shakes her head. "Nope. Blondie over there," she indicates the look-out, " he was lookin' the other way when I knocked his ass out and dumb-fuck was way too busy thinkin' about the nuts I kicked up under his chin. Trust me. For all they know, it was Bigfoot that nailed'em." She snorts and smiles evilly. "Hell, he probably thinks it was!" Seeing the confused look on Katie's face, Faith laughs. "Steel toed boots and a guy's balls don't mix too good," she explains, a satisfied look in her eyes.

Katie looks at the guy who was trying so hard to rape her and thinks about how Faith stopped him. A slow smile spreads across her face as she thinks about it. "Okay, I'll tell the police there was no one here when I realized they were leaving me alone. Will that work?"

"Yep, that'll work fine!" Faith confirms with a smile. Hesitating for a second, she makes a decision. "Hey, you know the Comfort Inn a couple miles that way?" She tosses her hand in the direction she came from. Katie nods. "Well, I don't know the number there, but these guys hassle you after they make bail, find some place with lotsa people and call there. Ask for either Faith Roberts' or Buffy Summers' room. B's a frienda mine and she'll help you too. You call and one or both of us'll come runnin' and explain things to dumb and dumber, 'k?"

Katie's grateful smile lights up the alley. "Thank you! I don't know how I'll ever repay you for this, but…" She trails off as a thought occurs to her and her smile dims. "Wait. You said you weren't gonna be in town long. What if they decide to wait before they try to come after me again?"

Faith shakes her head, trying to dispel the worried look on the younger girl's face. "We'll be in town about a week, but don't worry. Guys like them? They think with their dicks. If they wait more'n twelve hours to try somethin', I'll be way surprised. Just be careful, try not to go anywhere alone, that sorta thing, right? And if they don't give up, call me and I'll finish beatin' the shit outta them," she says nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

Standing, the Slayer looks down at Katie. "Now, you go ahead and call whoever you want and I'll make sure they're gonna stay sleepin' 'til the cops get here, 'k?" She walks away before the girl can answer, checking first the would-be rapist, then his buddy. Neither shows any sign of waking up anytime soon, but Faith looks around for a moment.

A little noise of discovery has her bending over, then standing again with some wire. Working quickly, she secures both males hands behind their backs, then turns back to Katie. "Okay, kid. I guess you called the cops by now?" The blonde girl nods. "Okay, then I'm gonna motorvate. You'll be okay 'til they get here. I tied the assholes up, so they can't hurt'cha before the cops get here."

The blonde girl gives her a wistful look. "Are you sure you can't stay until my parents or someone else gets here? Please?"

"Sorry, kid. Like I said, me and cops really don't get along and they should be here any minute, right?" Faith edges toward the entrance of the alleyway. "I better go. Remember, call if they need another lesson, 'k? See ya Katie."

Faith jogs out of the alley and back up toward the hotel. She barely makes it passed the end of the the first building and into the shadow of the next before her Slayer hearing picks up the sound of a racing car engine. Ducking further into the shadows, she turns and sees a police car turning into the parking area of the shopping center and come tearing down through the lot to come to a tire screeching halt in front of where she left the traumatized girl.

She waits a little longer, until she sees another car speeding onto the scene and a middle aged couple jump out and run into the alley. A few minutes later, the couple comes out, each with an arm around the girl, and the Slayer nods, a bittersweet smile easing onto her lips. Another few minutes and the two police officers carry/escort the two men to the patrol car. The brunette takes a certain viscous delight when the cops 'accidentally' bounce both guys heads off the top of the car door frames.

She waits a little while longer, then heads back to her friends, making sure to keep to the shadows.

Dawn glanced back over the assembled teens, counting noses, making sure that everyone who'd said they wanted to go with them to the movies was there. She nodded when the count came up right and turned back toward the entrance of the hotel. [Come on, Buffy,] she thought. [Need the money so we can go! Movie starts in less that thirty minutes and it's the only one tonight!]

At the ding of the elevator, she looked that way, just in time to see her sister, Willow and Kennedy step off and head their way. Sighing, the former Key stops fidgeting and frowns. "It's about time! I thought I was gonna have to call it off!"

"It's only been fifteen minutes since you guys said you wanted to go, Dawnie," Buffy explained, her voice one of strained patience. "I had to get the money from Giles, then I stopped to check on Xander." She made a face. "He said he didn't want to talk to anyone right now."

Dawn grimaces at the blonde's sad tone. "Yeah, I know. I tried to talk to him before I came down, but he asked me to leave. He's never asked me to do that before," she said despondently.

Willow looked on the verge of tears and Kennedy automatically wrapped an arm around her. "He even asked me to leave him alone. Me!" She lamented, leaning into the Slayer at her side. "I know he loved Anya, we all did, just not the same, of course. Goddess knows I'm sorry she's dead and I'll miss her too, but…"

Buffy shook her head. "Not the same Will, and you know it. I'm pretty sure, if she'd made it through the fight, they'd have gotten together again. I mean, you guys saw'em the last few weeks, right?"

"Yeah, okay, you have a point," the redhead concedes. "It's just…He shouldn't go through this alone. I had to and it nearly killed me." The witch sighs deeply, a tear breaking free and rolling down her cheek.

Kennedy reaches up to wipe it away, but Buffy beats her to it. The new Slayer looks at the blonde, irritation surging through her, but, to her own surprise, no jealousy. After a few seconds to think about it, Kennedy decides the feeling she's getting from the act is closer to someone interfering with her job. Shaking her head, the brunette decides there's no jealousy simply because Buffy is Willow's best friend and therefore not a rival.

A small part of her, however, is not satisfied with that answer and continues to worry the question like a dog with bone.

Dawn nods vigorously. "Willow's right! We have to show Xander that we're all here for him and that we just want to help!"

"I know, guys, but not everyone does this the same way," Buffy responds. "I love Xander, just as much as you or Dawnie do, but maybe we should do what he says and give him a little time," she adds after a moment.

"I just hate to see him so sad," Dawn adds, sounding upset. "I'm gonna go ask if he wants to come with us to the movies!"

Sighing heavily, she drops her arm and says, "Okay, here're my thoughts on it. We're giving Faith time to deal with Principal Wood's death and she only knew him what? Three, four days? Xander knew Anya since our senior year in high school and was in love with her for most of that time. We give him a day or two, then if he's still holed up in his room, we'll talk again about how to cheer him up." There was a pause, then, "Agreed?"

Willow paused, then reluctantly nodded her head, sighing. "Yeah, okay. A couple days."

Buffy waits for Dawn to promise, but the teen says nothing. The Slayer turns her most quelling stare on her sister and cocks an eyebrow.

"Thank you, Dawn. Don't worry, we'll all help him, but we can't until he lets us, right?" Buffy asked.

"I get it, Buffy, okay? I said wouldn't bother him and I won't, so can we just drop it now?" Dawn growled out her answer, clearly angry.

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Dawnie!" Buffy waved her hands in front of her in a kind of warding gesture, then dropped them, closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath and releasing it, she opened them again. "Look, I'm still kinda wiped, what with the fight and being stabbed and all. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room, okay? Dawn, I promise. If Xander doesn't come out of his room by lunch tomorrow, then we'll start planning Operation Cheer Up Xander, okay?"

"Fine." Buffy's voice was equal parts annoyance and exhaustion. "Be quiet when you come in the room, okay? I'll probably be asleep."

"Whatever." Dawn almost snatched the money from Buffy's hand and turned back to the waiting Slayers. Impulsively, she turned back to Willow and Kennedy. "You guys wanna come along?"

Red hair flying, Willow shook her head. "Not me. That spell and…other things," she blushed, "have me kinda tired too. I wanna just go back to the room and meditate some. Kenn?"

The brunette Slayer looked torn. "I'd kinda like to go, yeah. Still way too keyed up for sleep yet." She slid one hand up and cupped Willow's cheek. "You don't mind?"

Willow smiled. "Not at all. Like I said, I want to meditate a while, so have fun!" Her eyes narrowed playfully. "Just don't flirt with the girls at the theater!"

Kennedy gives her a playfully shocked look, then a real one as Dawn slips an arm through the crook of her own.

The younger teen smiles at her friend/sister. "Don't worry, Willow. I'll make sure she behaves!"

The redhead's face gets a worried look, though there's a twinkle in her eye. "Okay, now I am worried. I knew about you and Kit, you know, so having a girl who likes girls watching over my girlfriend? Not that reassuring!" She winks to show she's playing, then laughs at Dawn's crestfallen expression. At the Key's questioning look, she just smiles and shakes her head. "Not saying how, so don't ask. Now go on," she points at a nearby clock. "You're gonna be late!"

Dawn looks at the clock and nods, but pins Willow with a stare. [We are gonna talk about this, you know!] She mentally sends to Willow, frowning when the witch's smile gets broader. "Come on guys. We're gonna miss the movie."

She and Kennedy in the lead, the group of girls head off through the front doors.

Faith walks back into the lobby of the Comfort Inn feeling strangely good. She'd stopped a girl a little younger than her from getting raped and even scrapped up a vampire hunting among the tractor trailer rigs parked across the road.

The demon was pretty experienced and gave her a really good fight, which she hadn't minded in the least. She'd needed to burn off some steam anyway, so she'd had a blast toying with the vamp for a few minutes, then staking it. Thinking about his expression when the stake slid home made her smile again.

Heading back through the lobby area, she stops as she recognizes Willow's voice from her left. Curious, she eases over to hear what's going on. The dark Slayer figures if it's not about her or slaying, she'll know pretty quick and can get on to her room to shower and take care of how worked up she is from tonight's action.

Dawn's voice comes quickly on the heels of that statement. "Willow's right! We have to show Xander that we're all here for him and that we just want to help!"

[Him?] Faith wondered. [Him who?] Leaning closer, she consciously jacked up her hearing.

"I just hate to see him so sad," Dawn says, sounding upset. "I'm gonna go ask if he wants to come with us to the movies!"

"No!" Buffy almost shouted, then Faith heard her sigh heavily. "Okay, here're my thoughts on it. We're giving Faith time to deal with Principal Wood's death and she only knew him what? Three, four days? Xander knew Anya since our senior year in high school and was in love with her for most of that time. We give him a day or two, then if he's still holed up in his room, we'll talk again about how to cheer him up." There was a pause, then, "Agreed?"

A fairly long pause, then Dawn says, "Okay! I'll leave him alone for a little while. Promise!"

"Thank you, Dawn. Don't worry, we'll all help him, but we can't until he lets us, right?" Buffy asked.

Faith hears the teen's growly reply and smirks. "I get it, Buffy, okay? I said wouldn't bother him and I won't, so can we just drop it now?" Faith shook her head in bemusement, knowing intimately how much Buffy liked to drive a point home, now matter how much you told her you understood.

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Dawnie!" Faith heard the blonde sigh. "Look, I'm still kinda wiped, what with the fight and being stabbed and all. If any one needs me, I'll be in my room, okay? Dawn, I promise. If Xander doesn't come out of his room by lunch tomorrow, then we'll start planning Operation Cheer Up Xander, okay?"

"Okay," came the petulant sounding reply a moment later. "But, no longer than lunch!"

Faith rolled her eyes at the younger brunette's tone, suddenly grateful for the first time that the others had never really been that interested in her and her problems. She just wasn't sure she could take them all running around, making her crazier, thinking they were helping. There really could've been bloodshed, then she'd have had to say she was sorry, and feel guilty and all that crap. All in all, maybe that little part of her earlier time with the Scoobs was for the best.

"Fine." Buffy's voice was equal parts annoyance and something Faith figured was exhaustion. "Be quiet when you come in the room, okay? I'll probably be asleep."

Faith heard the teen's answer of "Whatever", but she'd already started to move away, so anything else to the conversation was lost. On autopilot, her feet carried her to her room while she thought over what she'd heard, it mixing with what had happened while she was out.

Once in her room, she glances at the alarm clock, noticing it was still pretty early, but her mind still on the events of the evening and the comments she overheard. Mechanically, she strips and heads for the shower, setting everything up and stepping into the tub.

When the first drops of water hit her though, her body urgently reminds her that she fought and slayed recently and that there something she needs to take care of right now. She starts to take care of things, but impulsively decided to not masturbate. The part of her controlled by her libido screams in frustration, but, using the control she learned in prison, Faith simple cleans up quickly and steps out of the shower.

After drying off and ruthlessly suppressing another urge to scratch certain itches, the dark Slayer sits on her bed for a moment staring at the darkened television. Abruptly, she stands and dresses, then leaves the room.

Buffy groaned and sat up, looking at the door to her room with near hatred as the sound of the light knocks died away. She debated ignoring it and lying back down, but the knocks were repeated before she could. Growling, the blonde stands and goes to answer it, promising herself that if it was Andrew, Faith wouldn't be the only Slayer guilty of murder.

"Okay, okay!" She muttered as she reached for the knob and opened the door. Instantly, her eyebrows contracted in confusion. "Uh, Will? What's up?"

A faint blush crept up her fair cheeks as Willow smiled hesitantly at the Slayer. "Nothing's wrong, if that's what you're thinking. I…just started thinking on the way to my room and I remembered something. Can I come in?"

Buffy stared for a second, her exhausted brain needing time to make sense of the words. Blushing a little, she mumbled, "Oh! Uh, yeah. Sure," as she stepped back.

Willow smiled as she walked passed, then turned to wait for her best friend as she closed the door and crossed to sit on the bed. "How's your side?" She asked before Buffy could speak.

"Huh? Oh, it's okay," Buffy replied offhandedly. When Willow fixed her with a knowing glare, she twitched, then winced and admitted, "Okay, it hurts like hell, but it's getting better. You know how Slayer healing works; if I don't die, it'll heal eventually." She shrugged nonchalantly. "It's healing."

Buffy looked expectantly at the door, then frowned and turned her gaze to to the redhead. "Where's Kennedy?"

Willow shook herself from her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, she went to the movies with Dawnie and the girls."

The Slayer was incredulous. "You passed up a chance for a date? Are you guys having problems or something?"

"No, we're fine. I just didn't wanna go." She pauses, then her features sharpen a little as she makes a decision. "Buffy, I know you heal fast, but I'd like to help, if I can. Will you let me?"

Buffy frowned in confusion. "Uh, yeah, but I thought healing spells didn't really work. At least, not without really funky side effects, anyway. Other than best friend moral support, how're you gonna help?"

Willow smiled even as she made and "eww" face. "Remember when that demon cut off my skin and ate it? How I helped myself heal?"

Her face clearing in understanding, the Slayer smiled. "Oh! When I helped you by lending my strength so you could heal faster? Yeah, I remember that. Is that what you wanna do?" Suddenly, she frowned again. "I don't know the spell or whatever. I can't use that trick, Will."

"It's not a spell, Buffy," Willow explain with a fondly exasperated smile. "It's a form of meditation. Besides, you don't need to know how it works, not unless you just want to know. I'll be doing all the work, you'll just be providing the 'umpht'"

"Basically, I'll be pulling the energy from the Earth, sorta transforming it a little to a healing type of energy, then feeding it into you. Then you add it to your Slayer healing power and sorta 'will' it to fix the damage that turok-han caused." Willow smiled at her blonde haired friend. "Simple, right?"

Buffy stared at her crazy friend for a second, then nodded absently. "Oh. Simple. Yeah. If you're a witch. Which I'm not, in case you forgot."

Willow frowned at the Slayer. Reaching out, she took her hand and led the way over to the bed and indicated that they should sit down. Her eyes lit up as Buffy groaned as she sat and she suddenly knew how to explain it. "Okay, how about this; You take the energy I give you and think about what hurts and really want it to stop and get better." She smiled cautiously. "You get that, right?"

Slowly, the blonde nodded as the concept soaked into her fatigued brain. Now it was simple. Make it stop hurting. That she could do. Looking up at the redhead, Buffy noticed that Willow was looking at her expectantly. "Oh, I guess you wanna do this now, huh?"

"I don't know, Will. Really tired right now, y'know? I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately and today's kinda started to catch up and kick my ass."

Willow turned her best pout on the Slayer, a real 'Please, pretty please can I keep the puppy?' kind of expression and Buffy felt her resolve beginning to crumble. Truthfully, there wasn't much she was prepared to deny Willow at the best of times and right now, when her mental faculties were so low…

Willow took Buffy's silence for further reluctance, so she looked down a little and sold her real reasons for insisting. "Please, Buffy, let me do this. Xander…He won't let me help right now and I want to do this for you. Please? Let me take the pain from one member of my family?"

The witch smiled gratefully and scooted toward the center of the bed, but closer to the foot. "Like last time, only backwards. We sit cross legged and hold hands. When you feel the energy start to enter through your hands, just use it to make the pain go away," Willow chirped.

Despite herself, Buffy found herself smiling at Willow's sudden bubbly enthusiasm. [Okay, this is worth putting off sleep for a little while,] she decided. [Besides,] another part of her mind offered up the thought. [Will's really cute when she's all bouncy].

That thought jolted the blonde out of the start of her meditative trance. Since when had she thought of Willow as cute? [Um, okay. I-it was just a friend thing,] her thoughts suddenly moving quickly, like a kitten on ice. [Yeah, girlfriends are always thinking and telling each other that their cute or look good.] Hazel eyes widen nervously at that thought. Buffy is well aware that Willow can talk to anyone she wants telepathically.

[Friends who just happen to both be girls, not girlfriendly type girlfriends! Not like her and Kennedy! Just Willow's a girl and I'm a girl and we're friends.] Quickly, she thought of her current favorite actor and what she'd like to do with him if she had him to herself for a night. She mentally sighed in relief when she felt her body react excitedly at the thought of the man naked. [See? Nothing weird here.]

The Slayer's eyes snapped up and locked onto Willow's. She made a little apologetic face. "Sorry, Will. Weird thought that wouldn't go away." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm ready now."

Willow watched as Buffy seemed to center herself, but the sensitive wicca could tell there was something still bothering her friend. Shaking her head, she decided to worry about it later. Centering quickly, she tapped into the Earth's energy and began to slowly feed to Buffy.

The Slayer felt it start to enter her and consciously directed the power to each of her bodies many aches. Nagging at the back of her mind, her subconscious asks, [Do I think Willow's cute?]

Looking around as she waited in the concession line, Dawn finally noticed the creepy looking guy who was staring at her. Looking more fully at him, she tried to suppress a shudder, but just wasn't quite successful.

He might once have been hot, but not anymore. Now, he looked like a jock who'd O.D.ed on steroids twice so far and was determined to go for three, even though he already looked like he should be living in a cave and hunting mammoths. She could almost hear what he was thinking as he undressed and devoured her with his eyes.

Trying to think of a way to keep the troll in the making from coming any closer, the brunette thought frantically, trying to come up with something that would deter him. Glancing to her other side, she suddenly felt like hitting herself.

Reaching out, she snagged Kennedy's hand and snuggled closer to her friend, trying to hide the older teen's surprised reaction from Mr. Caveman. She shook her head quickly as she saw Kennedy about to question and pull away, then jerked her head a little to her left.

"See the thing over there?" She asked in an urgent, whispered hiss. "I really don't wanna deal with a Neanderthal tonight, so please, pretend like we're together, at least until we're in the theater, okay? Please?"

The young Slayer cast an appraising look at the evolutionary throwback and decided he wasn't gonna be any kind of a challenge if he decided to get stupid. Looking back at Dawn, she frowned ever so slightly. "I don't know, Dawn. Kinda seems like I'm cheating on Red, y'know? Almost like I was here on a date with you."

Kennedy managed to maintain a straight face, but it was close. Glancing at the guy again, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have wished him on a vampire, let alone a friend. Teasing aside, she was already mentally rehearsing her apologies to the theater staff for decking the loser.

Dawn scowled indignantly. "Aw, come on! It's not like I'm asking you to make out or anything! Just hold my hand till we're in the theater, then you can sit on the other side of the room if you want. Just keep tall dark and creepy away from me, okay?"

She glanced at the guy and he seemed to have made up his mind and was starting toward them. Frantically, she turned back to Kennedy. "Please?!" She begged, getting desperate. "I'll – I'll tell Willow you saved me and to be really nice to you! Please?"

Kennedy took one more quick look at the lumbering male approaching and decided to let the younger girl off the hook. Looping an arm around Dawn's shoulders, she pulled her closer and smirking at the wanna be giant, the Slayer pressed a soft, slow kiss to Dawn's lips.

The Key's initial reaction was try to jerk back, but Kennedy had foreseen that and Dawn had limited movement, the way Kennedy was holding her. After a split second to decide that, no, it didn't mean anything other than saving her butt, Dawn relaxed into the kiss and returned it.

Sudden cat-calls and whistles caused her to pull away and she blushed bright red, even as she smiled nervously at Kennedy. Kennedy smiled back, but continued to keep one eye on the now disgruntled male. She could tell he didn't like the idea that his new obsession was someone else's and he locked eyes with the Slayer, pulling his most ferocious expression. Kennedy snorted.

He knew it was a scary and mean looking face. He'd seen this face in the mirror, watched as some of the town's toughest bullies backed down and let him have his way. Which was why he was confused when the little girl, shorter than his planned fucktoy for the night, returned his stare with one of her own that seemed to just beg, 'Please, fuck with me!'

He started to take her up on the challenge, but something, maybe a deep seated instinct for self preservation, or maybe just a sudden understanding, but the behemoth ponderously changed his mind. His was the mind of a scavenging predator, but some part of him recognized the more dangerous predator looking back at him. A lioness to his jackal. He took two steps back, though he continued to stare.

Kennedy snorted in amused disdain, then pointedly ignored him to turn and place her order for snacks. She nudged Dawn, then paid for both of them. Stuffing candy into various pockets, the Slayer handed Dawn both tubs of popcorn, the balanced the drink carrier in one hand. Wrapping the other around around Dawn's waist, she lead them by the baffled ogre. Smiling, Kennedy said, loudly enough for him to 'overhear', "Come on, baby. Let's get inside and ignore the movie, 'k?"

Dawn just nodded, completely confused and not a little blown away by the older girl in full flirt mode. She risked a glance back over her shoulder and saw the guy that had been terrifying her turn dull red with confounded rage before he looked quickly around and stalked off.

Kennedy looked up at Dawn. "Huh?" She stopped their progress and turned to look behind them. "Oh. Good!" She smiled, then rotated back to find Dawn staring at her. "Oh!"

"Sorry about the kiss." The Slayer shrugged. "I just figured it was the fastest way to get'im to back off. And it worked, too!" She smiled triumphantly, then it dimmed a little as she thought, [Oh, um, sorry Willow!]

Dawn shook her head, brown hair flying a little. "No, no! I get it! And thanks! That was way more than what I was asking though." She looked shyly at the darkening theater in front of them. "Um, we better…Um, get inside. Here," she offered the Slayer one of the popcorn tubs.

Kennedy looked confused, then understood. Dawn wanted them to sit separately. She opened her mouth to agree, but found she couldn't. Glancing back over her shoulder, she faced the younger teenager. "He, uh, he might come back. We probably should sit together, right?"

Dawn blushed and peered around nervously. "Yeah, okay. Come on then." She immediately spun and headed into the dark room.

Kennedy smiled a little and trailed at her heels. She let Dawn pick out the seats, then divided up the snacks. Both girls sat back to watch their movie, but they both also kept casting quick glances at each other.

Kennedy tried to pay attention to the screen, but found her conscience was bothering her about the kiss. She knew she shouldn't have done that, if for no other reason that it might hurt what she and Willow had. Kennedy didn't want to mess up the good thing that was their relationship.

But, like she'd told Dawn, it was the fastest way she could think of to get clueless to back off. Glancing at Dawn, she suddenly realized something. Yes, her conscience was bugging her about kissing Dawn, but it seemed like it was more for the confusion it had caused the other teen than any 'betrayal' of her girlfriend. [Why aren't I more worried that Red'll be mad I kissed another girl?] She wondered.

Xander glanced at the door as a hesitant knock sounds through his room, but ignored it, returning his gaze to the ceiling. Buffy, Dawn and Willow had all come by earlier to try to 'cheer him up', but he'd soon asked them to leave. A small part of him hated himself for the hurt looks all three girls had given him, but mostly, he really just wanted to be left alone to grieve. Various scenes of his life in Sunnydale just keep replaying through his mind and only a very few of them didn't have Anya in them somewhere. The ones that haunt him, though, are the events after his not-wedding and how long it took the two of them to become friends again. He remembers every little hurtful thing they did to each other in between those two events too.

He sighed deeply, feeling a now familiar wave of sadness sweep over him as he thought about the way he and Anya parted at the Summers' home the morning of the battle. How she'd hugged him tightly, kissed him hard, but lovingly and said simply yes. When he'd asked what she meant, she reminded him of their first conversation after the aborted wedding, how he'd wanted to go back to just being a couple, maybe try the marriage thing later, when they were better prepared.

"Yeah. Of course I remember," he'd replied. "And you had every right to tell me what an idiot I was."

She had nodded. "You were an idiot, yes, and I was so angry that you just left me there, at the alter. And after spending all that money and if I could've cursed you then, I would've wished that you knew the pain I did, just in the physical sense, you understand. I mean…"

He waved her to silence. "Ahn, is there a point here somewhere? We kinda need to go soon."

"Right. So, anyway, that was then. Now, the answer to your question is yes. I want to be an us again. You and me. Okay?"

Xander stood there dumbfounded for a moment, his jaw sagging open. Slowly, he'd pulled himself together, finally able to ask, "Not that I'm arguing or anything, but what brought this on? I mean, it's only been a few weeks since we actually started talking to each other again instead of just trading insults."

The former demon had nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, that's true, but those weeks have made me think." Seeing that his confused look hasn't gotten any better, she tries again. "Xander, when I was getting ready for our wedding, I told Willow and Tara that I was excited because I was getting to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Living here, with you in the same house has made me realize I still feel that way. That you're my best friend, I mean, and that I've missed you. And God knows, I really miss the daily sex, but mostly, I miss being with you. Okay, I really mostly miss the sex with you, but…"

She stopped herself and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and tried again. "Okay, what I mean is, I still love you and I know you still love me. You said so when Andrew was filming us for his silly movie. So, if you still want to try again, then I do too."

Xander stood there, letting her words soak into himself, turning them over in his mind. On one hand, she's offering something he's wanted for over a year and told himself that it would never happen. A very large part of him wants to sweep her into his arms, tell her an exuberant yes and kiss her breathless to seal the deal.

Another part of him was suspicious of the timing of her offer, since either one or both of them could very well die that day. He wondered if she wasn't just trying to give him a comforting thought before heading into battle. Almost instantly, he'd discarded that thought. Anya had always just said what was on her mind, no matter what. If she said she wanted them to get back together, then that's what she was thinking about and she meant it.

The rest of his mind though, kept reminding him that they were about to go fight the fight of their lives and this was a really bad time to make such plans and/or promises. Then he remembered what he'd told her just before they fought Glory, the night he'd proposed to her. That he was doing that to prove that they would live through the battle, that they had a future.

His eyes refocused on her and he smiled softly. "Tell you what. If we both survive this, we'll sit down and talk about it over a cup of coffee or something, okay? I'm not saying no, not by a long shot. I mean, you just agreed to something I've wanted since I realized just what a moron I was, so hell yeah. Cause you're right. I do still love you. I never really stopped."

He'd held up his hand as she started smiling happily. "Hey, we need to make it through today first, okay? But, afterwards, I think we need to kinda start over. Not like first dates or anything, just not move in together again immediately. We've both changed a lot in the last year. We need to talk things over before we make major decisions." He smiled sheepishly. "Does that make sense?"

A sharp nod. "Yes, it does!" She slammed into him, hugging him fiercely, and kissed him hard, their lips moving against each others, tongues caressing and dueling. Finally, she'd pulled back and looked him in the eye, her expression fierce, almost angry. "You better live through this, Xander Harris! I expect at least twenty four hours of celebration sex after we win, since we'll have both lived through the fight and being together again to celebrate, so don't do anything stupid!"

"Yes, I do," she agreed. "That's why I said that. If you get yourself killed, I'll have Willow resurrect you just so I can kick your ass, you hear me?"

"I hear you, Ahn," he chuckled. He kissed her once more quickly. "Same goes for you. Come on, the others are waiting." She'd nodded and they walked to join the others, hand in hand.

Another knock, a little louder interrupts his memories and he looks at the door hard and angry for a moment, then sighs. "What?!" he calls loudly. [God, it had better not be Andrew!] he thinks with asperity.

The door opens and the top of a dark haired head peeks in. "Xan? Can I come in?"

Xander feels his eye widen a little. Of everyone here, Faith was the last person he expected to seek him out. A small shudder ripples through him as the old, familiar feelings of fear and distrust coil up within him at the sight of her. "Why? Looking for someone to terrify and hurt?" The biting comment slips out before he can censor it and he flushes, dropping his gaze from the Slayer. "I'm sorry, Faith. I didn't mean…Look, I'd rather just be alone, thanks anyway."

The only sign that she even heard the comment is a slight narrowing of the eyes as the dark haired beauty steps into the room, allowing the door to close behind her. She shrugs a little and gives him a little, lopsided grin. "Hey, sorry to bug ya. I just wanted to know if I could kinda borrow your tv, that's all."

He gives the woman a perplexed look before asking, "Uh, Faith, doesn't your room have a tv in it?"

Moving over and leaning on the dresser at the foot of the bed, Faith nods as she eases back against the furniture. "'Course it does, but it's broke and the guy at the desk said it'd be at least tomorrow before they could swap it out. I offered to, y'know, do the lifting and stuff, but he started spoutin' off about 'insurance' and 'liability', so I just told him tomorrow was cool. That leaves me with nothin' to do tonight, though, so I thought I'd see if you minded sharin'."

Xander stared at her for a moment, not truly processing what she was asking, then he frowns a little. "Um, Faith? At the risk of making a Slayer mad, why me? Out of all the rooms our group has, why am I the lucky one?"

Faith bit her tongue, barely managing to stop her initial outburst. Her eyes flashing, she straightened up and leaned slightly toward the man sitting on the bed. "What's your problem, Xander? I ain't askin' you for nothin' 'cept to watch your damned tv! But hey, if that's too much, just tell me and I'll quit buggin' you, alright?"

Xander rocked back from her outburst, feeling remotely guilty, though he's not sure why. Blowing out his breath in a gusty sigh, he said, his tone placating, "Faith, I didn't mean anything by that. I just really wanna know why me? I mean, I understand why you don't ask Giles and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't ask Andrew if he had the last working tv on the planet, but what about the others? Some of the other Slayers, maybe?"

The dark Slayer just stared hotly at him for a few more seconds, then snorted softly and leaned back against the dresser, crossing her arms over her chest. "I make the newbies nervous, thanks to the runt. Fuckhead Andrew told all about how I'd just as soon kill'em as train'em, so they only want me around when I have to be. You're right about G-Man, so that leaves B and Dawn's room, Red and Junior's and you."

She shrugged, carefully hiding a sigh of regret. "Me and B, we're kinda getting along, but sometimes she gets this look like she remembers why she wanted to kill me and now might be a good time, so me and her in a little hotel room? Nope, not gonna go there. 'Sides, I heard her say she wanted to crash a little while ago.

"As for Red and K, well the floor show'd probably be better than what's on the tube, but I think I might cramp Willow's style." She flashed her best suggestive grin and winked at Xander.

He snorted in rough amusement. "Only if you held up score cards or started offering tips," he muttered. He remembered the night before last, him and Anya listening to the sounds of lovemaking from upstairs. Faith and Wood, yes, but just as loud, Willow and Kennedy. He felt another pang ripple through his chest as he remembered locking eyes with Anya, then there were clothes flying and hands moving, touching…He closed his eye and inhaled deeply, willing the memory away.

Faith noticed the haunted look, but played like she hadn't. She chortled at his comment. "Sounds like fun. Wanna come with? Give'em a second opinion?" She laughed a little louder when he looked up suddenly. She knew from the look in his eye that, good guy or not, Xander was like all the others when it came to two hot chicks doin' the nasty. Much more than willing to watch and hope for an invite. Even if one of them was someone he thought of as a sister.

She waved him off, laughing quietly at his expression. "Don't worry about it. Junior went to the movies with D and a buncha the newbies and Red said somethin' about meditatin', so not gonna be a floor show to watch for a couple hours." She gave him a knowing smile and wriggled her eyebrows. "So," she asked briskly. "Whadda'ya wanna watch? Or do you care?"

Xander watched her for another minute, then sighed and tossed her the remote. He'd already figured out the only way she was leaving was if he threw her out and he knew how that would end up. "Whatever you want, just…keep it down, okay?" He turned away, facing away from both Faith and the television.

The brunette watched him turn away and suppressed an irritated noise. Patience just wasn't one of her strong suits, even though she was better at it now. Shaking her head a little, she dragged a chair over beside the bed and turned the tv on. Flipping idly through the channels, she snuck peeks at the quiet man a couple feet away.

Glancing at the clock, she thought about it for a second or two, and decided to let him in on one of her secrets. After a quick check of the channel guide for this town, she turned the tv to her program and laid the remote down to wait for Xander's reaction. Frowning at what she saw on the tv, she glanced at the clock and saw that she had a few minutes until her show started. Remembering that Xander hadn't come down for dinner and feeling her own stomach rumbling after the action she'd seen earlier, she jumped up and went to the phone.

Quietly, she called the front desk and got the number for the nearest pizza place that would deliver to the hotel, then called them up and ordered two larges and a six pack of soda. After getting a total and an ETA for the delivery, she hung up and returned to her chair, right as the teaser for the show she'd grown to love while in prison started.

Glancing at Xander, she checked to see if she was getting a reaction yet, knowing what a sucker for this stuff he was. Nothing yet. Sighing quietly, she wriggled around a little, getting comfortable. She could wait.

Buffy feels the last of her own energy ebb away, even as the feed from Willow continues in a steady stream. Opening her eyes, she releases her last deep breath, lets her hands drops out of her friend's grasp and slumps back against the head board. "No more. I'm just too pooped," she informs Willow in a haggard voice.

The redhead takes a deep breath, coming out of her trance a little slower. She opens her eyes and smiles at the blonde. "It's okay. I'm kinda tired now myself." She points in the direction of Buffy's side. "How's the stab wound? Still icky?"

Buffy sits up, wincing reflexively, but the wince turned into a thoughtful frown as she realizes her side hurts a lot less. Raising her sleep shirt up, she looks down at her latest war wound, then probes it gently with her finger. Feeling no real pain, she presses a little harder, stopping at the discomfort that the action produces. All in all, the place looks like it would've the next night, so it should be fully healed by tomorrow evening. She moved and twisted a bit, slowly smiling as there's no pain from any of the other wounds.

"It's much better and everything else feels great! Thanks Will!" She turns her smile on her best friend, then looks perplexed. "What's wrong?"

Willow had watched as Buffy pulled her t-shirt up, her breath catching as the blonde inadvertently exposed the lower part of her right breast as well. There was even the tiniest bit of pink nipple showing and Willow suppressed a groan. Between that and the Slayers near perfect abs, she felt herself getting aroused even as she tried to fight it off.

At Buffy's question, she looked up, realizing suddenly she'd been staring. The redhead blushed furiously and looked away quickly. "Sorry! I was just…I didn't mean…"

Her eyebrows drawn down in confusion, Buffy asks, "Will, what are you talking about?" She takes in the blush and where Will was looking and glances down, jerking her shirt back down as soon as she understood Willow's reaction. Her cheeks explode in a deep blush. "Sorry Willow! I didn't know! I wouldn't have…"

"No, Buffy, I'm the one who's sorry. It's not like we've never seen each other naked before, right? I mean, we used to share a dorm room, so I'm sorry for acting so weird." She turned back and sought out Buffy's eyes, finally capturing the Slayer's hazel ones with her own emeralds.

The Slayer let herself peer at the redhead as she listened and accepted what Willow was telling her. Two thoughts, however, surfaced and made her wonder; [Was Willow checking me out? And how do I feel about that?]

Before Buffy can answer herself, both women turn toward the sound of the door opening, followed immediately by Dawn. Buffy takes in her sister's expression and generally 'down' body language and hazards a guess. "Movie sucked, I take it?"

"Huh?" Dawn looked up quickly. "Oh, no, it wasn't too bad. I mean, Xander's made us sit through worse." She kicked off her shoes and grabbed the package of pajamas she'd bought earlier.

Finally turning to look at Buffy's bed, Dawn's eyes widen as she noticed Willow was in the room. She immediately blushed and looked down, fighting to keep a guilty look off her face. "Oh, uh, hi Willow. Uh, Kennedy went on to your room."

The redhead smiled. "Thanks Dawnie." She suddenly grinned wickedly and asked, teasing. "Did you manage to keep your hands to yourself?"

The teenager's head jerks up, a stricken look on her face. She fights hard to clear it, make her expression neutral. "Of course I did!"

Willow laughed lightly. "Easy, Dawnie. I'm only joking." She looked back at Buffy. "Sorry, Buff, I didn't know it was so late, so I'll go ahead and go now." She scooted to the side of the bed and pulled her shoes back on. Smiling at both Summers sisters, she tossed off a small wave. "Sweet dreams!"

"You too, Will and thanks!" Buffy called automatically. Her attention was on Dawn. She'd caught the guilty look and the blush and that her sister looked like she wanted to melt into the floor when Willow asked about keeping her hands to herself. She started to ask about it, but Dawn practically ran into the bathroom, so the blonde settled back to wait.

In the bathroom, Dawn set her sleep clothes on the sink and started the shower, then slumped down on the toilet, dropping her head to her hands with a low moan. She felt a little bit bad about the white lie she told Buffy. In truth, she can't really remember anything about the movie. The whole time she'd sat in the darkened theater, all she had been able to think about was what had happened with Kennedy and how close the older girl was sitting to her.

She sighed. Dawn knew Kennedy had caught her staring a couple times, but she had no idea what to do about it. All she'd been able to think about had been what happened. It had seemed like such an innocent thing to ask her to do, but the teenager wasn't prepared for the emotions that the Slayer's kiss had stirred up. [God, she's got the softest lips,] she thought dreamily.

"Okay, that's enough!" Dawn told her emotions and libido, though quietly so Buffy wouldn't hear. "We have got to stop obsessing about this. Yes, it was a great kiss and I do think Kenn's really hot, but I thought Molly was too and that Vi's really cute, so just get over it. Besides, she's Willow's and that means she's off- limits, so just back the hell off!"

The teen finally raised her head from her hands and snorted, realizing the absurdity of arguing with herself. She wasn't interested in Kennedy, not like that. The Slayer had only kissed her to help convince the jerk to back off and it hadn't meant anything more for either of them.

She turned her head and stared at her reflection. "It didn't mean anything," she repeated out loud. Smiling at herself, she nodded firmly and stood, stripping for her shower.

Kennedy waved at Rona and Vi as she opened her hotel room door, watching as the younger Slayers walked toward the part of the hotel where their room was. She smiled to herself and wondered if either of them had started to figure things out yet. [Rona, maybe,] she decided. [But Vi? Maybe after they kiss a few times, but not before then.]

Glancing at the retreating pair, she chuckled and shook her head a little, then entered her room, calling, "Will? I'm back! You here?" She glanced around the room, then checked the bathroom. "Huh." [Oh, well,] the brunette shrugged. [She probably just went to get a soda or something.]

She stripped off her jacket and tossed it onto one of the chairs, kicked her shoes off and scooted up on the bed, her back braced against the headboard. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back, finally giving way to the internal debate that had been trying to start up for hours.

She was still there ten minutes later when Willow came back. The redhead smiled as she stopped and observed her girlfriend, the way she was sitting so rigidly. Obviously, she was thinking hard about something and Willow wondered briefly if it was something devious, a joke on one of the others. She'd discovered Kennedy had an…interesting sense of humor. She watched the Slayer for another moment, then quietly closed the distance and pressed a soft kiss to her girl's lips.

Kennedy jumped a little as she felt the tender caress, then returned it quickly. "I didn't hear you come in." She smiled.

"I noticed," Willow teased. She stroked the brunette's cheek gently, then turned to the dresser holding her sparse extra clothing. "What were you thinking about so hard? Or do I really wanna know?"

Kennedy laughed at her playfully added comment. "You, mostly," she admitted, then sighed and stood. Reaching out, she took Willow's arm and gently steered her to the bed. "Willow, something happened at the theater and I want you to know what, okay?"

The redhead frowned a little, but moved to sit down on the bed. Kennedy drew her legs up to give Willow room. "That sounds fairly ominous."

"Um…Not really. Well, maybe a little, but it's not bad, so don't worry…" She stopped, not really believing she was babbling. She didn't babble. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "See, there was this muscle bound freak at the theater and he kept giving Dawn this look like he was gonna eat her alive, and I'm not sure in the fun way. He kinda scared her and she grabbed my hand and asked me to pretend we were together to keep him away and I didn't think I could refuse, especially after I saw him, and somewhere in between agreeing and him leaving, I kinda kissed her." By the time she finished, Kennedy was looking down at her lap, not wanting to see Willow's eyes.

Willow smiled a little at Kennedy's initial babble, though she felt a little uneasy when she understood that whatever it was was potentially bad. As her girl further explained, she fought another smile at first, then felt it dim as the Slayer mentioned the kiss. "Okay, see, I didn't hear that right, 'cause I coulda sworn I heard you say you kissed Dawnie!"

Kennedy grimaced and glanced up, catching Willow's eyes for a second. She blushed a little. "Um, that is what I said," she confirmed.

Willow stared at her for another few seconds, then abruptly stood and walked across the room to stare out the window. Kennedy watched her through unsettled eyes, part of her wanting to ask her if she was okay, but most of her knowing she should wait until Willow was ready to speak again.

The redhead knew that Kennedy wouldn't say anything or even move until she indicated it was alright to do so, that she was giving her time to think. The witch's first thoughts weren't happy ones as she remembered that awful morning when she'd bounced into a crypt and found Oz and that skanky she-wolf in his cage together, naked. All that had happened after that, him saving her life, then leaving with scant word or explanation or a chance for her to talk him out of it.

She remembers how she felt seeing Tara and the blonde that was flirting with her at UC Sunnydale. Even though they were officially broken up, it had still hurt immensely seeing someone else kissing her girl. Now this.

The redhead stares out the window, not really seeing anything as she thinks over what Kennedy told her, spending precious minutes calming herself. Reminding herself that Kennedy didn't try to sneak around or lie. She'd told her the minute she and Willow were together again. The wicca goes over her Slayer's account of what happened word for word, thinking about what she'd have done in Kennedy's place.

Willow quickly accepts that it wasn't planned, that it just happened and only to chase off a low-life. That neither Kennedy or Dawn were trying to hurt her or get together. It was just a one time thing to save Dawnie.

What troubles her is, after that initial, brief flare of feeling betrayed, she has quickly accepted what happened. It took her weeks to even start to get passed what happened with Oz and the only thing that made her forget the thing with Tara was the blonde witch coming to her that evening and them making love all night. Her mind sheers violently away from the thoughts of what happened next, though.

Willow takes a deep breath, nodding minutely to herself, but not turning around. "Tell me again what happened. This guy was a real creep?" She requests softly, her voice almost a whisper. She frowns when Kennedy doesn't answer, but seems to be lost in thought.

Kennedy stares at the bed's comforter, keeping Willow in her peripheral vision, quietly waiting on the redhead's decision. She hopes that they'll be okay, but the longer Willow's quiet, the more nervous she becomes. The Slayer isn't really sure what she'll do if Willow doesn't accept that none of it meant anything other than helping a friend. [And that's all it was,] she thinks.

[Oh really?] A snide voice in her head growls. [If it didn't mean anything, then why did you enjoy it? Why did you spend half the movie watching Dawn. Why did you want to kiss her again?]

The young Slayer shook her and head and told the traitorous inner voice to fuck off. She hadn't wanted to kiss Dawn again. That would've been wrong, since the brain dead jerk was gone by then.

Kennedy grumbled subvocally for a few seconds at the provocative voice, then reluctantly thought, [Fine! I admit it, I wanted to kiss her again. So what? She's hot! So are Faith and Buffy and most of the other girls for that matter! Well, Buffy until you get to know her.] The brunette shook her head again to reset her thoughts, a small part of her not truly believing she was having this argument with herself. [Anyway, it doesn't matter if I think Dawn is a hottie or if I want to kiss her again. I'm with Willow. I love Willow!!]

[I…] Kennedy's mental argument faltered in the face of that calmly delivered statement. [I love Willow. I do.]

Kennedy's lips peeled back in a snarl. [Fuck off!] She growled at the infuriating voice. {You don't know anything about this, so just shut the fuck up!]

Kennedy sat stock still for several seconds, eyes closed, breathing heavily and getting her anger back under control. She jumped a little when a warm hand touched her arm.

Turning startled eyes up to her girlfriend, Kennedy can't believe she didn't notice Willow had moved. "Sorry. I was thinking about something. What did you say again?" She blushes a little at having to ask the witch to repeat herself.

Willow cocks her head to one side, wondering what the brunette had been thinking about so hard. Giving herself a mental shake, she said, "I asked you to tell me what happened again. About this guy who was 'threatening' Dawnie."

The Slayer frowns. "Well, 'threatening' is probably the wrong word, but we could both tell the jerk had decided she was going to be his toy for the night, no matter what she thought about it. She grabbed my hand and asked me to pretend we were together so he'd leave her alone. I kinda made a joke, asking her how she could ask me that, knowing we were together, but then I really looked at the guy."

She pauses, thinking back to the look in the man's eyes. The woman in her reacts with a shiver of fear at what she remembers, but the Slayer in her snarls defiance. "I could tell, just by looking at him, this asshole had already planned how he was gonna use her and just wasn't really worried she might say no. He wasn't gonna let the fact we were holding hands slow him down at all, so I decided to, uh…Well, kinda 'claim' Dawn as mine." She blushes a little at the description, looking away from Willow for a moment.

"Anyway, I kissed her, then stared him down and he backed off. We got our snacks and sodas and stuff and headed for the movie. Oh, I made some comment about ignoring the movie as we went past him and that's about it. We did sit together during the movie, but that's really all. We both just watched the movie. Nothing else really happened." She smiles apologetically. "I wanted to find you and tell you what happened as soon as I got back, so here we are." She sits quietly, her hands in her lap as she waits for Willow's decision, forcing herself to not wring her hands nervously.

For her part, Willow sits calmly opposite the Slayer, listening to her words and the greater detail she goes into this time. After a few minutes thought, she comes to the conclusion that her decision at the window was right. Kennedy wasn't trying to cheat on her or hurt her. Dawn wasn't trying to steal her girlfriend. This wasn't at all like what happened with Oz, and trying to make it into something similar was ludicrous.

Deliberately, her eyes locking with Kennedy's, the redhead reaches over and takes her girl's hand in her own, smiling a little at Kennedy's suddenly released breath and smile. "I hope you're not waiting for me to say I forgive you, cause that's not gonna happen." She frowns at Kennedy's sudden lack of expression. "No, no! I mean, there's nothing to forgive. Slayer's protect people and that's what you did, protected Dawnie."

The redhead chuckles a little at the look on comprehension, then relief that crosses the Slayer's face and gives her hand a little squeeze. "Let's just forget about it, okay?"

Kennedy smiled broadly. "Works for me!" She leans forward and punctuates the sentiment with a kiss. "Mmmm. Much better!" She says teasingly.

Willow smiles, then abruptly laughs. At Kennedy's wondering look, she shakes her head. "Oh, it's nothing! I was in Buffy's room when Dawnie got back and I asked her if she managed to keep her hands to herself. Now I understand why she looked ready to die when I asked her that."

The Slayer laughs as well, easily picturing the younger brunette's face as Willow had asked her question. She ignores her subconscious when it tries to add herself to that image and the two brunettes kissing again.

The witch leans forward and kisses her girl again, slowly, but softly, then scoots a little closer. Moving to kiss Kennedy again, she suddenly yawns, blushing a little. "Guess it's bedtime," she jokes.

The brunette smiles and kisses her quickly, then stands. "Yeah. I'm kinda tired myself." She stretches, going up on her toes, bending backwards a little. "You want the bathroom first?" She croaks out, then looks at Willow, grinning at what she sees.

The redhead watches mesmerized as her girl stretches her muscles, her shirt riding up, exposing her stomach and tightening across her chest, molding itself to her breasts. She feels a wave of desire course through her, even though she knows she's too tired to do anything about it. "Huh?" She looks up at the Slayer when her question registers, then grins at being 'caught'. "Yeah, sure."

She stands herself and gets her sleep clothes, then heads to change. "Just be a minute," she calls as she leaves the room.

Kennedy's eyes follow her as she moves, a smile on her face. When the bathroom door closes, the brunette's smile falters a little as she what could have happened tonight. How Willow could have not understood and dumped her. She'd half expected that anyway, but had been very pleasantly surprised instead.

She frowns a bit and growls a bit at the scoffing laugh at the back of her mind. Dismissing the mocking voice, she absently changes into the tank top and shorts she prefers to sleep in. Looking into the far too empty drawers on the dresser, she decides she and Willow are going shopping tomorrow so they can have more than two changes of clothes.

Kennedy turns at the sound of the door opening and smiles at Willow as she returns wearing an oversized tshirt. "Feel up to some serious shopping tomorrow? I'm figuring ten days to two weeks worth of clothes and a new laptop for you, if we find one you like."

The redhead smiled at the thought of new clothes, then frowned at the mention of the computer. "Kennedy, that'll be expensive. I can wait until we get to LA and I can get to a bank."

"Oh, come on! Admit it, you miss your laptop and I don't mind replacing it. I mean, it's not like money's a problem." As soon as she said that, the Slayer had winced. "Seriously," she adds, seeing Willow about to protest again. "My step-mom spends more than this'll cost in a weekend's worth of power shopping, so it'll be okay, promise."

Willow closed her mouth, not voicing her denial. She could see that her girlfriend really wanted to do this for her, but she was still talking about a couple thousand dollars.

"Oh, come on! What about that project Giles wants you to do? Shouldn't you start that as soon as possible?"

The hacker/witch feels her resolve crumbling in the face of Kennedy's wheedling, the Slayer's comment touching on her sense of responsibility. "Okay, we'll look," she reluctantly concedes. "I doubt they'll have what I would prefer here, but if they do, you can get it. And I reserve the right to pay you back when we get to LA!" She grinned as she laid out her terms.

Smiling mysterily, Kennedy replies, "We'll see." The brunette walks toward the bathroom, saying "Be right back," over her shoulder. Quickly brushing her teeth and the other little things she usually does at the end of her day, she returns to the main room to find the lights out and Willow already in bed. She smiled and slipped in beside her girl.

As soon as she was settled, Willow snuggled up to her side, laying her head on the Slayer's shoulder. Kennedy turned her head a little and pressed a soft kiss to the witch's lips, then frowned as the kiss ended. "Are you okay?"

Kennedy chuckled a bit at that. "It was a busy day, that's for sure." She presses a kiss to Willow's forehead. "How about we crash and talk and stuff in the morning?"

"Sounds good to me," the redhead responded softly, sleep already tugging her down. "Ni' sweetie," she managed to say before surrendering.

"Night baby." Kennedy took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then released in a sleepy groan as she felt her body getting heavier. Willow a warm, comfortable weight against her, she smiled a little as she faded, her mind imagining the long chestnut hair spread out on the pillow a she held her girl close.

Then she frowned. [Chestnut?] Her exhausted mind finally managing the thought. [Will's hair is red. Why would I think it was brown?]

[Go away,] the Slayer growled in her mind. Her last thought was to wonder why the stupid voice kept tossing the image of Dawn at her. It seemed somehow wrong for one of her last thoughts for the day to be of a girl other than Willow. Then her mind surrendered and allowed her drop of into a deep sleep.

Little did she know, Willow's last thoughts were of a different girl as well. And she felt just as faintly guilty as the Slayer.

Faith opened the door to her room and entered slowly, absently flipping on a light she didn't really need. She crossed to the bed and sat down, then fell backwards, throwing her forearm across her eyes as she released a growly sigh of frustration. This whole 'making friends' thing was a lot bigger pain in the ass than she remembered.

The night hadn't been a complete bust. She'd managed to get Xander to eat most of a pizza and suck down a couple of the sodas. He'd even half paid attention to the episode of Farscape she was watching when the food had arrived. At least, he had until she'd tried to talk to him about past episodes and the series in general.

At first, he'd responded with genuine surprise that Faith even liked the show. Slowly, but gradually, they had started to talk about various plot lines and episodes Faith hadn't been able to see.

"How in the name of everything silly did you get hooked on a such a sci-fi geek favorite like this?" He'd finally asked, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

Faith finished the mouthful of pizza she was chewing, then shrugged her shoulders. "Sam loved it, so I'd watch too, if I was sitting with her." The dark Slayer smiled in reminiscence. "She used to do what you just were, tellin' me all about the shit that had happened before. Y'know, since the show started." She shrugged again, then grinned wickedly. "And it don't hurt that Crighton and his girl are a hot couple. Love how she don't put up with his shit when he's bein' stupid!" She chuckled.

Faith got a sort of distant, almost worried look. "She was one of my crew in the joint, kind of this geeky little blonde." Her eyes met his for a second and she smiled. "Reminded me of Red sometimes!" Xander raised an eyebrow and she chuckled again and made a tossing away gesture. "She was in cause her fuckwit boytoy committed suicide by cop. Dumbass tried to hold up a gas station and there was a cop in there eating lunch or somethin'. Anyway, she was in the wrong place with the wrong loser and the DA made a charge of accessory stick, so she got five to fifteen for it."

Xander watched as the brunette put her food down, seeming to be lost in thought or memories. "Member of your crew, huh? Ran the prison, did you? Baddest thing in there and all that?" His tone was somewhat harsh and accusatory.

Faith looked back at him hotly, her eyes flashing in anger and the man realized he might have went a little too far. Then, in an instant, the anger seemed to flow out of her or, at least, be contained. Her voice, however, betrayed just how pissed she still was at what he'd said.

"Okay, look, X-man. This is the only time we're havin' this conversation, okay? I was in four fights in prison. The first a week after I got there, cause you always have to test the new meat. The second, three days after I got outta solitary for the first one, cause it mighta been luck that I took down four of the toughest bitches there in a minute flat.

"The third was to stop this really stupid bitch name a Ricki when she was tryin' to rape Sam and the last one was a girl named Deb tried to gut me with a Bringer's knife. Couple days after that, Wes came and told me 'bout Angel needin' my help and here I am."

Xander looked faintly surprised by her words and the passion behind them. He starts to make another faintly snide comment, but, for some reason, decides against it. "Sorry about the last one," he grudgingly says. glancing up at her, he drops his eyes again immediately and blushes faintly. "I guess we should've given you a head's up about the Bringers trying to kill Slayers and Potentials."

Faint looked as uncomfortable now as she did when Willow had said something similar. "Don't sweat it. Like I told Red, I get by." She turned back to the tv, watching the end of Farscape and the start of the next show quietly for a few minutes.

Xander followed her lead, not saying anything else. A small part of him marveled that he was in a room alone with Faith and he was fairly comfortable with the situation. He'd astonished himself when he'd apologized for not warning her, then felt a fresh wave of wonder when she said that Willow had apparently done so as well. He was still thinking over everything when he realized she was speaking again.

"So, anyway, Sam loved Farscape and that Stargate show, but I just couldn't get into that one. You know, the one with that guy that played MacGyver?" She snorted with real amusement. "I kept waiting for him to do start doin' the same kind shit he used to on his old show, so I just couldn't watch it."

The one-eyed man had genuinely smiled at that, even chuckling a little. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm the same way and it always messes me up when he grabs a gun, too, cause of how anti-gun MacGyver was. Anya didn't care. She just always liked the guy, so she'd…"

He suddenly trailed off and Faith watched as the animation left his features. "Listen Faith," he'd finally managed, his voice rough. "It's kinda late and I'm tired, so, if you don't mind…" He steadfastly refused to look at her.

Faith waited quietly for a moment. She understood what he wanted, but was reluctant to leave. She wanted to keep talking, but wasn't sure how to convince him to let her stay. Finally, she made a little show of belated understanding. "Huh? Oh, sure. Thanks for lettin' me watch my show." She turned the tv off and stood, putting the remote on the bedside table. The Slayer stopped when she had her hand on the door knob, looking back at Xander.

"I'm sorry about Anya. She was a little ditzy, but I liked her." The brunette smiled and snorted gently. "Gotta respect someone who says what they mean, no matter who it pisses off."

The male Scoobie's eye tracked up and he studied the Slayer's face for a moment before deciding she was being truthful. She wasn't mocking him or just saying what was expected. "Thanks Faith. And thanks for the pizza." He paused, dropping his gaze back onto the bed. "Night," he finished absently.

"G'night." She turned to leave, but again stopped. "Oh, I don't know if anyone told you, but the hospital called during dinner. Robin didn't make it." She deliberately didn't turn around this time.

Xander looked back up at her, another jolt of melancholy coursing through him. "I'm sorry to hear that. He was a good man."

Her eyes softened a bit as his concern. "Five by five. Later!" She pulled the door open and left.

Now, in her own room, she decided it was weird. She had been alone with a guy in a hotel room for a couple hours and she hadn't want to bang his brains out. She had really had a good time watching tv, eating pizza and just talking with Xander. Against her will, the Slayer remembers the last time she'd done that, spent time with a guy, just hanging out.

The memory surfaced, eluding her attempts to suppress it again, her and her bud Mike. They'd met at a local comic shop, him buying his weekly titles and her just standing around reading the comic books she couldn't afford to buy. Involuntarily, she smiles as she remembers that first, playful argument on which was better, DC superheroes or Marvel. He never would admit she was right. Batman was way cooler than Captain America and she just knew he was full of shit with his love of The Avengers. Sure, they had Thor and Iron Man, but Superman could kick anybody's ass she'd maintained.

That first day's friendly arguments had lead to them meeting up nearly every afternoon, hanging out, running around the neighborhood, just being kids. She'd been eleven years old and a major tomboy and he was an oh so mature thirteen. Mike was proof that some people could be trusted. That they weren't friendly to you just because they wanted something from you and once they had it, you could fuck off. He was her escape from her home life. Proof that her mother was the fucked up one, not her. With Mike, she could be a kid again.

She remembered one of the last times she'd seen Mike, the night he snuck her into his room and they'd just kicked back, reading comics, watching the small tv he had, just enjoying being together. The two had been the best of friends for about six months and this was the first time she'd ever been to his house. Every time he'd asked, she'd come up with an excuse, but not this time for some reason.

They'd been laying on his bed, watching some lame movie, when she'd felt him take her hand in his. Faith had asked what he was doing. Mike just smiled and asked, "What's it look like?"

He shrugged and smiled again. "Cause I like you." Mike had finally noticed his friend was a gorgeous girl a couple weeks earlier and spent all the time between then and now screwing up the nerve to say something.

Faith looked at him like he was nuts. "I like you, too, but what's that got to do with grabbin' my hand?" She thought it over for a few seconds, then her eyebrows rose in astonishment. "What, you want be, like, my boyfriend or somethin'?"

His smile vanished and he looked really scared all of a sudden. "Yeah, so how 'bout it? Wanna be my girlfriend? Maybe go to the movies tomorrow?"

Thanks to her mother, she already knew all about sex, but this was new. She'd heard of holding hands and dating, but never seen it, not for real. She may have only turned twelve a couple weeks before, but she watched movies and stuff, and she was sure that that wouldn't happen to her. She just wasn't the kind of person someone would want to date. Not with her luck.

On the other hand, Mike was kinda cute and nice and they were already great friends, so if he wanted to call her his girlfriend and hold her hand, what the hell. That was fine with her. "Sure."

He smiled happily and before she knew what he was gonna do, he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers. She was caught off guard, not expecting that. Faith squeaked and pulled away quickly, her fingers going to her lips.

He pulled back and looked nervous. "Sorry! I was just so happy, I didn't think."

The young brunette sat there, her fingers on her lips as she thought about what had happened. Her first real kiss. It had felt nice, she decided, but just to be sure…

Faith leaned over and kissed Mike, holding it for a moment, then moving away again. Yep, nice. Maybe there was something to all that kissing she saw on tv and in the movies. She smirked at her new boyfriend. "It's cool. Just wasn't expectin' it, that's all." She blushed a little, her eyes flicking down, then back up with a lopsided grin. "Wanna try it again?"

He smiled and twisted around, his arms slipping awkwardly around her, pulling her close. She smiled, just as their lips met, her left arm moving behind him. Moving her arm caused her lips to slide across his and that felt even better, so she slowly started to move her mouth against his. Faith smirked inwardly at the low moan that Mike produced at that action. Apparently, she wasn't the only one enjoying this.

Nothing good in Faith's life lasts for long, though. About the time they were both really getting into it, really relishing their first make out session, Mike's mother had walked in without knocking. Both kids sprang apart, both blushing furiously, but it was too late.

Mrs Jennings was been surprised to find a girl in her son's room, especially when she hadn't know he was even home. She's been further shocked to find said girl straddling her son's lap, the two of them rather seriously making out. Both kids looked at the floor, their cheeks flaming, identical guilty looks on their faces.

She took a deep breath, then, with a calm she didn't really feel, said, her voice even, "Michael, I think it's time for your guest to leave."

"But-," he started to protest. He'd planned to ask her to stay for dinner, introduce her to his parents. [Guess that's taken care of,] he thought sarcastically. He looked at Faith and saw all the signs he'd come to know in her that she wanted to escape. "Okay. I'll see ya later, Faith. Usual place tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll be there." Without thought, she leaned forward, intending to kiss him again, but he moved away subtly. She realized what she was going to do and pulled back, standing up with a deeper blush. She glanced at his mom, then at Mike and mumbled, "Later," before nearly running from the room.

The next day, she was outside the comic shop a little earlier than normal for a saturday, but hopeful that Mike would already be there. She hoped his mom wasn't too mad, maybe grounding him or something. They'd only been kissing. [Not like we were screwin' or nothin',] she thought acerbically.

Mike wasn't there yet, so she sat on a nearby bench to wait. When he hadn't shown up by the usual time, she started to worry. Another fifteen minutes and she abruptly stood and went in the comic shop. Maybe he was in there and didn't know what time it was. He wasn't.

She returned to the bench, her worry turning to anger as the time slipped by. Finally, nearly an hour late, she saw him approaching. Jumping to her feet, she ran over, yelling, "Where the hell've you been? I've been waitin' forever!"

Faith closed her eyes and willed her temper down. Gaining control, she opened her eyes again and smiled at him. "Oh, okay. I guess I shoulda known, huh?" She grabbed his hand and started to tug him into a nearby alley, wanting a kiss. He pulled back, actually pulling his hand free. The brunette looked back at him, confused. "What's up? I thought we could, y'know, what we were doin' last night." She grinned at him, wiggling an eyebrow.

Mike smiled wanly at her, but shook his head. "I can't stay long." He looked at the bench she'd been sitting on. "Come on," he said, taking her arm and leading the way over to sit down.

Faith growled a little under her breath. "Perfect." She blew out a breath in frustration. "So how long you grounded for?"

Faith growled again. A month without her bud/boyfriend? That was gonna suck big time. She felt a little half smile curl up as she thought of something. "What about your comics? They gonna let you come get'em?" She looked at him, then frowned. He still hadn't looked at her, not really. Distantly, a little warning bell began to sound in the depths of her mind.

He snorted. "Actually, yeah, but either Mom or Dad has to bring me and I have to go straight back home."

The Slayer-to-be smiled. "Cool. I can be waiting inside if I know about what time." Seeing him flush, she shook her head. "Hey, don't worry! I won't let'em see me! A month is gonna be enough of a bitch. Don't wanna make it longer, right?"

"God, this sucks!" He lamented softly, still not really looking at her. Taking a deep breath, he seemed to brace himself. "A lot of things got said after you left and I got really pissed off, but my parents say we can't be friends anymore."

"What! Why not? We were just kissin'!" She protested, jumping to her feet. She felt a tightness around her eyes as they suddenly started to fill. "Okay, in your room without them knowing, not such a good idea, so yeah, I can see pissed, but why can't we stay friends?"

He looked to the side. Faith sat back down, reaching out to touched his arm. "Hey, look. Forget the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff. The kissin' was nice, but I don't wanna lose my best friend!" She blinked rapidly and the first tear broke free. She wiped at her face angrily.

"I don't want that either, but my mom went off when I told her your name. She knows your mom or somethin' and says that you can't be my friend because of her." He snarled softly. "It's stupid! You're my friend, my girlfriend, not your mom! I don't care about her anyway. I care about you."

At the mention of her mother, Faith's tears stopped. She loved her mother, like any child, but hated her nearly as much. For the beatings, for the neglect, for choosing booze, drugs and johns over her every time. Now, she was being denied the only thing she'd ever truly wanted, a real friend, because of her mother. It was official; her life sucked beyond the telling.

"So what you're tellin' me is," she said slowly, "we can't be friends because your mom doesn't like mine?"

He nodded. "That's what they say, but fuck'em! I say who my friends are, not them!" He growled defiantly.

She started to smile. "Yeah, fuck'em." It'd all blow over quickly and they could get back to the way things were. "So, basically, we get through this month and when they forget 'bout what happened, we go back to the way things were? Good plan!"

Mike winced at her enthusiastic response. "Well, sorta. What I was thinking was, yeah, we wait out the month, then see how crazy the 'rents still are. We probably have to be careful and maybe a little sneaky, but, eventually, I'm sure it'll be okay." He smiled at his solution, confident she'd go along with it. Finally, he looked directly at the brunette, waiting for her to agree with his plan.

Faith sat still, her mind running riot as she considered his words. She can feel herself getting angry again as she distills his plan to it's core elements. Surging to her feet, she starts to pace in a tight circle in front of him. After more than a minute of furious thinking, she stops and turns hard, flashing eyes onto the boy she thought was her friend, her best bud. Her first 'real' boyfriend. "So, let me get this straight. After you get passed the whole 'grounded' thing, you want us to be secret friends. Make everyone think we're not, but sneak around and try to make things seem like before. Is that the master plan?"

Her last words were very nearly a growl and the boy looks at her confused. Why was she angry? Things wouldn't really change. Well, not that much. They just couldn't let his parents know, that's all. "Well, yeah. Why do you sound so pissed off?"

"Are you shittin' me? You just said you wanted to be my friend, my boyfriend," she spat the word at him, "just as long as nobody else knows about it!"

"Sure it is," she argued, her voice hard and brittle. Inside, she felt a part of her die as her trust was betrayed, but outwardly, all she showed was her fury. "That's exactly what you said! Know what my answer is?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Fuck you! I might be a lot of things I ain't real proud of, but I'm nobody's 'dirty little secret'!!"

"Why are you twisting everything I'm sayin'?!" He yelled back. He just couldn't understand why she was acting like this, why she was saying the things she was. Couldn't she see that this was the best thing, the only thing they could do for a little while? "Look, it's not forever. Just 'til my parents find something new to bitch about, then things can go back like they were. We're talkin' a month, maybe. Three, tops. That's all I'm sayin'"

Faith bit back her initial response, looking away from her soon to be former friend. Trying vainly to calm herself a little, she turned back to him. "If you were really my friend, you wouldn't be actin' like you were ashamed to be seen with me or that you know me." Her statement was delivered in an even, almost quiet voice that belied her rage.

He leaned toward her, his tone turning belligerent. "I'm not ashamed of you! I just can't let my parents know we're still friends, that's all!" Leaning back again, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her, taking full advantage of his superior height. "Just because your mother doesn't give a shit about where you are or what you're doing doesn't mean my parents are the same!"

The brunette's face closed with an almost audible snap. "You know, that's not really gonna be a problem."

She snorted and smiled wickedly, coldly. A smile that never even approached her eyes. "Your precious parents thinkin' we're still friends, 'cause we sure as hell ain't, not anymore!" With one more contemptuous, withering look, the future Slayer turned to walk away.

Suddenly getting it through his head that she was serious, Mike took a step forward. "Faith, wait, please!"

"Come on, don't go! We can work this out, I know we can. We just need a little time, that's all. We can still be friends!" He wailed, his voice pleading now.

Faith turned halfway around, looking right at him. "No. We can't. Have a nice life, shithead." She turned and ran, ignoring his cries to come back.

Running all the way back to the apartment building she lived in, she headed straight for her most secret hiding place. The one she had even set up with an old mattress she'd salvaged from a dumpster and a few of her most prized possessions. Once there, she collapsed onto the makeshift bed and finally gave way to the misery that had been threatening the whole way home. Curling into tight ball, she broke down and sobbed.

She couldn't believe it. Her mother had actually been right about something. The old bitch'd told her you couldn't trust nobody 'cause as soon as you did, they could screw you over and make it hurt. Well, Mike'd sure proved that, hadn't he?

Faith cried for hours, first wanting to say to hell with her pride, she wanted her friend back, then angrily snarling at herself that she'd made the right decision, so fuck him. She'd finally dropped into an exhausted, nightmare troubled sleep. She woke the next morning feeling like shit, but deciding that she didn't need anyone anyway. The whole experience solidified her opinion that you can't trust anybody but yourself. An opinion that she'd been more than willing to ignore until yesterday.

Well, no more. She didn't need anybody. Not her mother. Not what ever asshole she was shacking up with this week and certainly not fuckwit Mike Jennings! She sat up and scrubbed at the tear stains on her face.

MIke had realized what he'd done later that same night and snuck out several times during the month he was grounded, trying hard to find Faith, to tell her she was right, he was full of shit and he wanted to do things her way. Just be friends and to hell with everyone else. He just had to find her now and tell her.

Despite searching all over for her, checking all the spots they used to hang out at at widely different times, he never found the brunette and slowly came to accept that he'd lost her friendship and wasn't gonna get it back. His sorrow turned to anger and he started blaming her for what went wrong.

Faith had seen him most of the times he'd been looking for her, but evaded him easily. Almost two months later, they'd seen each other in the food court of the local mall. She'd been there hoping to score a few things she could resell and he'd been there with some friends from school, including his potential new girlfriend.

When Faith saw him, all the old feelings of friendship and liking for the tall boy had returned full force and, try as she might to resist, she found herself taking a step toward him. She saw him look at her, an expression of sorrow and longing on his face for a second, then his face cleared and he looked right passed her, like he had no idea who she was.

The act was like a slap in the face and she stopped, an expression of stunned disbelief warring with outright fury at the very public snubbing. The brunette turned and walked away, the walls of isolation climbing higher, becoming thicker. As soon as she was sure she was out of sight, she broke into a run, not stopping until she was almost home.

That had been the last time she'd seen Mike, the last time she'd let anyone in until she met her Watcher. It had taken Katherine months to even begin to break through the potential Slayer's wary skepticism, but she managed to do it. Faith came to regard her as almost like a mother, much like Buffy thought of Giles as a father. Then Kakistos had ripped her away, nearly destroying the Slayer in the process.

By the time she made it to Sunnydale, her internal walls were at the thickest they'd ever been. She was determined that no one would ever hurt her like that again, no matter what, so Buffy's efforts to be friends were met with half hearted indifference or mocking jokes. Xander's attempts, she secretly laughed at.

She'd known it was just a dodge, just a lie so he could screw her. He was a guy and they were all the same. They all say they want to get to know you, be your friend, then you give it up and they leave, so fuck him. She didn't want any friends.

Except…Xander kept trying. Of all the Scoobies, save Buffy, he was the only one who tried to be her friend, to include her in the groups activities, despite her every attempt to blow him off. He didn't know why she wouldn't give things a chance, but he was determined to keep trying.

What he didn't know was he was acting almost exactly like Mike had at the beginning. Friendly, joking, a little geeky. It was too much for the dark Slayer, brought up too many bad memories. Too many good memories she hadn't wanted to think about for years, so she'd pushed him away. Then came the night she'd nearly killed him and that really stopped any possible friendship.

Except…Faith had started thinking about it while she in prison. What she'd done, how she'd treated everyone. How they'd treated her, both at first, then later when she went to the mayor.

Of everyone in Sunnydale, Angel had been the first to put a crack in her internal armor. Of everyone there, it had been a vampire, a creature she was designed to hunt and destroy, who'd managed to start worming his way passed her defenses. Wesley had screwed it up at first, but, eventually, Angel became the third person she'd ever called friend in her life. He'd saved her, and, in turn, taught her that, yeah, sometimes you got hurt when you trusted people, but that didn't mean you didn't keep trying. He hadn't given up on her when she needed him and she'd returned the favor not quite a week ago, slamming Angelus back in his cage and keeping Angel's own son from killing him.

Now, she was here, trying to help Buffy again, playing nice with the Scoobies, but really trying to get along this time. She wasn't worried about her relationship with Buffy. They had that Slayer bond and had an understanding now. The two women would probably eventually be friends, but, for now, they were allies and Buffy had cautiously started to trust her again.

Despite her initial distrust, Dawn was coming around now that she'd proved she wasn't nuts anymore. The teen was still a bit wary around her, regardless of her teasing at dinner earlier, but she seemed to be taking her cue from her big sister, so everything looked good there.

She and Willow had that whole 'gone to the dark side, killed a few people, now trying for redemption' bond working. The Slayer and witch had talked quite a bit on the way to Sunnydale and had reached a tentative friendship by the time they'd found the injured Potential. Or, at least, a good basis for one.

Giles was Giles. She was a Slayer, he was a Watcher and she'd proven to him that she was gonna fight the good fight. From what he'd said when they got to the hotel, he had started trusting her again, maybe even beginning to respect her and think of her like the others, as one of 'his kids'. She found that idea more appealing than she would've ever believed.

Xander, though. Xander was the one who's friendship she wanted. Wanted it badly. She knew what she'd thrown away years ago. Long nights lying in her bunk thinking had made that clear to her. He was the one she'd have to work the hardest to earn his trust again and she would. She'd discovered, somewhat to her amazement, she very badly wanted to be Xander's friend and to have him to think of her the same way. Tight friends. Like Mike should've been. Like he had been, if she was honest with herself.

The dark Slayer released a growling sigh and jumped off the bed. All this introspection was giving her a headache and she decided enough for one night. Moving quickly, she readied herself for bed, slipping out of her clothes and sliding under the covers. Making herself comfortable, her last thought before sleep claimed her was if Xander wasn't at breakfast, she'd grab something for him and take it to him. Maybe he'd even let her stay and they could watch some tv or something. Tonight had been fun and she wanted to do it again.

"Oh God, that feels so good!" Dawn moaned out as her lover kissed and licked her way back and forth between the teen's breasts. She tried to lift her head to look and smile at her girl, but, strangely, she couldn't. She dismissed the thought as a strong tongue laved all the way across one nipple, the tip flicking the hardening nub as it cleared.

Dawn gave another groan and brought her hands up, threading her fingers into the mop of dark hair she could just make out. She held the head wandering across her chest loosely as wonderful things were done to her. "Yes! Just like that, oh don't stop," she babbled out.

Suddenly, she released a strangled scream as her girlfriend firmly caught her right nipple between her teeth and pulled up and away from her body. It did hurt a little, but the raw pleasure that rocketed through her more than made up for it. She waited in dread/anticipation, waiting to see if the move would be repeated on the left.

Instead, she squirmed and felt her arousal kick up another notch as a warm, metallic object danced, flicked and teased her left nipple for a moment. Her lover seemed to quickly tire of that, though, and, after one last hard suck, released her breast with an audible pop. She began to trail nibbley kisses down the Key's abdomen.

Dawn giggled as she felt her girl lick and tease her belly button. "Tickles," she managed to say, then moaned again the kissing resumed and started lower. "Yes!" She exalted as the feather light touch of a finger moved over her clit and down across her soaked mound. She bucked her hips upwards, trying to get more friction against the hand, but it was gone.

The excited teen felt lips smile against her skin, then heard a soft voice command, "Patience." She felt her breath and heartbeat increase in speed, while a small part of her mind wondered what was wrong with Kit's voice. It sounded…different.

Then she feels her lover run the flat of her tongue up and across her overheated sex and she scream/moans at the exquisite sensation, especially the little double flick she did with the tip over her engorged clit. All thoughts, confused or otherwise, leave her head as her libido kicks into overdrive.

Again, she tries to raise her head to look down her body at her girl, but she still can't move it much. All she can really make out is a dark haired head moving a little between her thighs, so she moves her hands to grab her lover's head, trying to force her closer.

A teasing chuckle sounds out, but, almost before Dawn can register the sound, lips close around her clit and a hard suction is applied. "Yes!! Yes!" The former Key squeals and jerks, her orgasm that much closer. A deep moan completes her vocalization as a finger slides into her sopping, burning channel.

With something inside for her vaginal muscles to bear down on, Dawn feels the little tingles and tremors in her stomach that tell her she's about to come and come hard. A second finger slips into her and both begin a thrust and retreat motion as her lover starts to fuck her. The young brunette pants hard, trying vainly to keep from passing out from sheer pleasure.

Sweat pours from her body as she inches inexorably toward her monster orgasm. "Yes!!" She near screams as a third finger is suddenly thrusting deep into her. Simultaneously, her lover does three things; she adds a twisting motion to her thrusts, causing the very tip of her middle finger to brush across Dawn's g-spot. She starts to stutter her tongue, sort of purring, causing the tip to almost tap dance on the hyper sensitive bundle of nerves between her lips, and she presses in ever so slightly on Dawn's anus. Not penetrating, but adding a delicious pressure as she rubs.

Dawn screams inarticulately as her body thunders through the gates of nirvana. Her girl doesn't even slow her ministrations, but continues them, even as the teen nearly throws her off in her orgasmic convulsions. She plays the brunette's body like an instrument, extending Dawn's orgasm for what seems to the Key like hours as her body convulses and quivers. She feels her vaginal muscles squeezing the invading fingers hard, then she screams once more as the feeling of one of her nipples being pinched blends into everything else, causing her to go into a multi-orgasmic state.

Dawn feels like her bones are shaking loose as her body just keeps shaking and coming. Finally, she just can't take anymore and pushes her lover away. Curling into a ball, she continues to ride out the last of her final orgasm. Minutes later, she slowly uncurls. She can still feel little tremors throughout her body, especially through her stomach and her still spasming center. She blinks quickly to clear the tears she doesn't remember shedding from her eyes.

Little quakes of sensation start up her back as her girl begins to plant little kisses up her spine, continuing until she's lying behind Dawn. The Key lets herself be pulled unresistingly into her girlfriend's arms, smiling tiredly and feeling extremely sated.

A soft kiss to the back of her neck makes her purr, then another to the side of her neck, below her ear. A husky voice teasingly whispers, "So, am I worth keeping?"

Dawn smiles and turns to answer, but freezes as she sees the tender, but cocky smile and the look of devotion in Kennedy's chocolate eyes.

"Gah!!!" The brunette teen utters as her eyes fly open and she sits bolt upright in bed. Her breathing coming very fast, she looks around the darkened room for a split second before spinning around to look behind her. She's not sure if she's relieved or disappointed to find her bed empty.

Dawn jumps. Telling her nerves to calm down, and for more than just Buffy startling her, she looks over at the other bed. "Sorry. Yeah, just…bad dream." She shifted a little and winced as she realized she didn't have that monster orgasm only in her dream. "I, uh…I'll be in there." She jumps out of bed, tried to subtly grab a clean pair of panties and nearly runs for the bathroom.

Buffy watches her sister dart through the door and slam it, then looks at Dawn's bed. A damp spot was just visible, and the blonde feels a small, wry smile cross her face. "If that was a bad dream, I don't think I wanna be around for a good one," she mutters. To her Slayer senses, the scent of Dawn's arousal is very plain.

Shaking her head, Buffy decides she really didn't want to think about her baby sister getting hot and bothered by some guy, even in a dream. Rolling over, she buries her face in her pillow to help her ignore the smell. It worked well enough that when Dawn returns a little later, the Slayer is sound asleep again.

Faith walked into the little restaurant, glancing first at the buffet tables with their clusters of new Slayers around them. Her lips twitched up slightly as she felt the slightest bit of sympathy for the restaurant's owner and pictured his reaction to the report of this morning's business. Twenty five Slayers and an all you can eat buffet was definitely bad news. If you were the guys supplying the food.

Still smirking a little, the sultry brunette looked around the interior, ignoring the girl asking if she wanted to be seated for the moment. Frowning, she finally acknowledged the girl. "Yeah, I wanna sit down, but lemme ask ya. Have you seen this guy come in, average height, brown hair, patch on his left eye?"

"Um, no ma'am. I haven't seen anyone like that. Would that be smoking or non-smoking?"

"Smoking," Faith answered absently. She followed the girl, her thoughts centered around the fact that this place was her last hope that Xander had made it out of his room and he was apparently not here either. Growling lightly under her breath, Faith decided to get a box and take the man a little of everything from the buffet tables. [Boy's gotta eat, right?]

She sat at the small table the hostess led her to and nodded at the offer of coffee, then looked around the restaurant while she waited. She felt a wide grin break out over her face as she glanced at each cluster of Slayers and took note of the amounts of food on their plates. A thought wandered through her mind as she silently tallied up roughly how much their group was gonna put away just for this meal. [Maybe I oughta tell Giles to pay double to the poor bastard who runs this joint. Guy might break even that way!]

The dark Slayer smiled and shook her head as she realized what she was thinking. Not that it was a bad idea, but before, she'd have never worried about such shit. [Huh. Maybe this leader shit is rubbin' off on me.] Looking up at the waitress, she nodded her thanks as her coffee finally appeared. She ordered the buffet and after a few sips of caffeinated goodness, got up to load up her first plate.

Much later, the brunette sat back, taking small sips from her 5th cup of coffee and rubbed her stomach. [Yeah,] she decided. [G-man needs to give this place twice as much as the bill.] She looked over the eight plates she's consumed, then smirked. [Maybe triple.]

"Will there be anything else, miss?" a voice asked, the undercurrents of it a fervent hope that the answer was no. The waitress, Connie her nametag read, had never seen so much food being eaten as she had that morning. At least, not without a minimum of three or four tour buses being involved. Three or four packed tour buses. The fact that there were less than two dozen people involved and nearly all of them had appeared to be girls in the their mid to late teens astounded and confused her.

Faith glanced up at the older woman and nodded a little. "Yeah, just one more thing. You guys got some kinda take out deal for the bar over there?"

The woman tried to stop her eyes from widening. Surely this relatively short woman wasn't still hungry! "Um…I'm sorry, miss, but you're not allowed to take your leftovers or more food out if you order the buffet."

"No, I didn't mean for me. I meant, I got a friend that couldn't make it over here this morning. I want to take him back somethin'. You know, maybe one pass and grab a little of everything? Could I do that if I bought another buffet?"

"Oh!" Understanding lit the woman's eyes. "I, uh…I don't see why not, in that case, but let me go ask my manager." She glances toward the serving table only about half full of food and the group of Slayers nearby. "She's kind of in a grumpy mood this morning," Connie says confidentially.

Faith grins and shakes her head. "Yeah, I can kinda see why. I'm gonna see what I can do about that, too. Maybe if you tell her that, it'll make her feel better."

"Um, okay. Could you wait just a few minutes, please?" Without waiting for an answer, the waitress leaves and heads for the kitchen area. She returns almost immediately, the large styrofoam box in her hands telling Faith that the answer was yes. "She said okay, so here you go, Miss." She hands Faith the empty container, then scribbles something on her order pad. Tearing the top sheet free, she hands it to the Slayer. "Have a good day."

Faith watches her retreat with a feeling of amusement, then stands and moves over to the breakfast bar one more time. She spends several minutes there, then, after reminding the mini-Slayers still in the restaurant to not wander too far from the hotel, she pays her bill and leaves. A quick stop at the convenience store beside it and she heads back to their temporary lodging herself.

Entering the building, she quickly made her way toward the elevators. Rounding the corner, she spots Buffy and remembers the events of the night before, especially telling the girl, Katie, that either she or Buffy would help her if the assholes came back. Chuckling to herself, Faith thinks, [Guess I better tell her what I signed her up for.] "Yo, B!" Faith called, jogging a little to catch the blonde before she could get on. "Wait up!"

The eldest Slayer turned to look at the next oldest, her eyebrows contracting as she took in the styrofoam box and bag in the brunette's hands. As the doors to the lift opened, the blonde stepped backwards and inside the car, but put a hand over the door.

Faith smiled as she slipped in beside her. "Thanks. Needed to talk to you anyway. I kinda did a patrol last night and I was thinkin' you might want to know what I sorta got you into." Faith's smile turned slightly apprehensive.

The blonde's eyebrows drew down even further in consternation. "You need to explain that really quick," she responded, her voice laced with threatening undertones.

The Bostonian held up the hand with a bag, trying to convey a 'hold on' gesture. "Whoa! Don't worry. Not like I signed you name to a car or nothin'. It's just somethin' happened last night and I kinda promised one of us would come runnin' if this girl I met calls us."

Buffy opens her mouth to ask, but the elevator doors pick that moment to open and she's distracted. Glancing back at the brunette, she motions to her. "C'mon." She leads the way down to her room, opening the door and entering, confident that Faith is following her.

The dark Slayer, though, is looking up the hall toward another room, then back down at her burdens. Sure enough, Xander hadn't come down for breakfast, so she'd gone through and loaded a little of everything into the biggest take out box the restaurant had, then grabbed a cup of coffee and a bottle of both milk and oj at the convenience store beside it. She didn't want the man's food to get any colder, but she also knew she had to tell Buffy what had happened the night before. The other thing she was sure of was, Xander wouldn't eat if she wasn't there to guilt him into it, so she couldn't just take him the food and come back.

Sighing, she followed the blonde, setting the box and bag on the dresser near the door, then turned to face Buffy, leaning back against the same dresser.

Buffy had watched her, impatient to hear what kind of trouble her former(?) enemy had gotten her into. "Well?" She finally snapped. "What did you do this time, and how did I get dragged into it, since I was here all night!"

Faith's eyes widen slightly at the other Slayer's tone, then narrowed into a 'fuck you, too' glare. Standing up, then leaning slightly forward, toward the other girl, the former rogue snarled, "Y'know what, B? Never mind! I just thought maybe…maybe, we were finally getting along like we did way back when. Almost friends and shit, but hey, you wanna keep up the barely toleratin' each other, fine by me, girlfriend!"

Turning, the brunette picked up the styrofoam box and bag and moves toward the door. She stops when she feels a hand on her arm. "Faith, wait."

Sighing heavily, Buffy replies, "Because I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that and I would like us to be friends again. It's just…the last time someone committed me to something without first telling me what it was, I ended up with a little sister." The blonde chuckled lightly at the confused expression the younger Slayer turned on her. "Never mind. Come back and tell me what happened, okay? What am I supposed to be doing?"

Growling sub-audibly, Faith turned back toward the room and once more set Xander's breakfast on the dresser. She hated being confused and had no idea what the crack about little D had meant. Shaking her head and dismissing it from her mind, she took a deep breath and tried to wave the older girl off. "It's nothin', B. Just, if you get a call from this girl Katie, just find me quick and tell me what she said, okay?"

Buffy took in the defensive body posture the other girl was maintaining and sighed softly. This was going to take time, she knew. "No, I can help. I just wanna know who I'm helping and why, that's all. Did this Katie get attacked by vamps last night or something?"

"No. Only found one vamp last night and he was across the road lookin' for a trucker to snack on." The brunette pauses, wanting to tell Buffy what happened, but she's reluctant for some reason. "Look, seriously, don't worry 'bout it, B. I got it covered, 'k? Just find me if she calls, that's all I'm askin'."

She reaches to pick up her bundles once more and once again Buffy stops her. "Faith, please. What happened to Katie? Why would she call one of us?" The blonde's voice is soft, conciliatory.

Faith sighs heavily, but doesn't turn around. Finally, she quietly says, "'Cause these two assholes tried to rape her last night and I stopped'em and she was worried they might come after her, so I told her to call me if they tried and I'd come kick their asses again."

The eldest Slayer stood stock still as she absorbed Faith's words. Unbidden, unwelcome, the memory of that terrible night over a year ago, goes through her mind. She can still feel Spike's body on hers, his hands ripping and tearing at her clothes. See the wild desperation in his eyes as he tried to force himself on her. She can remember her sense of helplessness when she couldn't seem to stop him, even though she was stronger than the vampire. "You didn't kill them?" Buffy asks softly, her thoughts a million miles from her body's location.

Faith spun around, her face contorted in fury and hurt at Buffy's distracted question. "That's all you think of me, ain't it? Just some murderous bitch that can't ever change! You're just waitin' for me to fuck up so you can finish what you started four years ago, ain't'cha? Admit it, Buffy; You won't ever trust me again, will ya?"

The dark Slayer's words wrench the blonde's attention back from the past and she thought about what she said, suddenly understanding why the other girl is so furious. "No, Faith! I do trust you now. That's not even a question," she hastened to reassure the brunette. "I know you've changed. I've seen it for myself and I don't wanna hurt you anymore. I just…" She tried for a sardonic half smile. "I wanted to know if I needed to help hide bodies, that's all."

Even as her words left her mouth, Buffy shuddered at another onslaught of memories, these, though, have to do with the last time the thought of Faith and hiding bodies was brought up. She closed her eyes with a small groan at her own stupidity and took a deep breath, trying once more to banish all the bad memories. Forcing herself to calm down and concentrate of the now, Buffy opened her eyes again to find Faith staring at her. "What?"

Buffy gave the other woman a wan smile. "Bad memories. And no, nothing really to do with you." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. Opening them again, she nodded. "Okay, if your new friend calls and I can't find you, I'll go help her. Since she doesn't know who I am, that would probably work better, you agree?"

Faith smiled, fighting to keep it from becoming sarcastic or dismissive at Buffy's seemingly reluctant tone. "Yeah, thanks B. That'll be fine." She paused a moment, then shrugging, the brunette started walking backwards. "Okay, gotta go, so later, B!"

Buffy started to respond, to ask where Faith had to be with all those packages, but the dark Slayer had already turned around and was walking briskly away. Shrugging, the blonde mumbled, "Whatever," and went into her room.

Xander gave a jerk as he awoke from a troubled, accidental sleep. The last thing he remembered was lying there and staring at the ceiling after Faith left, scenes from his life with Anya playing in his mind. Scenes from what should have been their life together, if he'd just had the guts to tell her how he'd really felt, instead of leaving her confused and heartbroken at their not-wedding. Without thought, caught up in his fantasies af what might have been, he automatically reached out, trying to find a warm body that wasn't there, would never be there again. That knowledge once more pressed itself into his brain and he felt the now familiar feeling of anguish roll through him. [Anya…]

Since he was alone, he didn't even try to fight the tears that began to roll down his face. Curling around his pillow, the man finally gave vent to the grief he'd been holding back. He'd been unable to cry the day before. The knowledge and pain of her loss had been too new, too raw. He'd managed to ignore it by being 'joke-guy', trying to make his friends, his family believe he was fine. They'd known better, but had allowed him the illusion, since that was what he obviously wanted.

Finally, the great heaving sobs began to abate and he slowly brought himself back under control. Strangely, even though his eye felt swollen and burned a little, he felt a little better, lighter. He still missed Anya terribly and he had a sneaking suspicion that this was gonna be a somewhat regular occurrence for a little while, but for the moment, he felt a little better.

Running his hand over his face, he dashed the tears from it, wiping at the stubble that was beginning to cover his chin. That was something he'd discovered in the last year or so. If he didn't keep on it, his beard grew in fairly quickly. He himself didn't mind that so much, but Anya…He flinched minutely, feeling his eye prickle like fresh tears were gathering, but completed his thought. [Anya hated for me to not shave, cause it was itchy.]

Rolling onto his back, Xander once more stared at the ceiling and let his mind wander. Occasionally, enough moisture would gather at the corner of his eye and a solitary drop would roll down his cheek to melt into his ear. He did nothing to check them, just continued his contemplation of the tiles above him.

Three sharp knocks distracted him and he looked at the door, frowning a little, unsure if he really wanted to talk to anyone. Maybe if he ignored them, they'd go away. He shifted his gaze upward once more, disregarding the repeat of the rapping at the door. He growled softly in frustration as the knocks sounded for a third time, slightly longer and louder.

[Okay, it's probably Will or Buffy and they'll stand there 'til I tell'em to go away, so…] he thought as he stood. Opening the door, he said, without really looking at who it was, "Look, I appreciate the visit, but I'm fine, so I'll talk to you later, okay?"

The carpenter focussed on his guest and was surprised to see Faith. Faith with a large styrofoam box and a medium sized bag. "Um…huh? Faith?"

A dimpled smile flashed. "The one and only! Listen, can I come in and set this stuff down? Feels like I been carrying it forever!"

Seemingly in a daze, Xander took a step back and to one side, leaving room for the Slayer to enter. Faith smiled at him again and walked in, going straight to the smallish table in the corner and placing her burdens on it. Looking back at the frozen man, she gave him a grin that seemed to be both innocent and smirking at the same time. "Well? You gonna come eat this before it gets any colder?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Still asleep, handsome?" She asked teasingly. Flipping open the box, she showed the man the assorted contents. "Since you didn't come down for breakfast, I brought some to you. Also brought coffee, juice and milk, since I wasn't sure which you'd want." She shrugged. "Whatever you don't want, I'll drink, so no big."

Xander looked at her like she'd grown an extra head. "You. Brought me breakfast?" She nodded, just standing there, waiting for him to react. Try as he might, the one eyed man just couldn't see what her angle was. But, this was Faith, so there had to be one. Finally, when she said nothing else, just stood there looking at him, he sighed and asked, "Okay, why?"

Faith shrugged again and smiled sardonically. " Why what? Why'd I do this?" He nodded and her smile became a grin. "Like I said, you didn't come get any for yourself and I was in a good mood. Do I really need a big reason to be nice to a friend?"

Friends? Him and Faith? When had that happened and where the hell had he been? At one time, yeah, he'd tried the friend thing with her, but that was a long time and at least two murder attempts ago. Xander looked at her incredulous. "Us. Friends. Right." He sighed tiredly. "Faith, why are you here? What do you want from me?"

Xander took in her open, slightly bemused expression, thinking about her words for a second before rejecting the idea. Faith always had an angle, a reason for everything she did and it usually went bad for those around her. "Why? What's in it for you?" His expression darkened. "Been out slaying? Needing to get your rocks off? I thought you didn't backtrack!" he snarled nastily.

Faith closed her eyes, fighting down the surge of anger rippling through her. Opening them again, she looked at Xander. "What's in it for me? That's easy. A long time ago, this really great guy offered to be my friend, no strings attached, just the hope I might wanna be his friend in return. But like the stupid bitch I am, I figured it was just a trick to get me on my back again. So I said no, tried to kill him, then tossed him out of my life. It took a long time and a lot more thinkin' about it, but it finally got through my thick skull just what I'd tossed away and all I want now is a chance to earn what he offered. That's it." The Slayer turned a little away from Xander, her eyes dropping to look at the carpet. "But, if you don't wanna, I'll understand. All you gotta do is say no and I won't bug you no more, I promise." She stood there, her body language defensive, waiting for his answer.

Xander heard her words, heard the uncertainty behind them and was confused. In all the time he'd known her, she'd always given off this air of invincibility and infallibility that was completely lacking at this moment. Faith had never sounded so…listless, so…"defeated" maybe, as she did right then. Not to mention, she was standing there giving off the aura of a puppy waiting to be kicked and hoping it won't hurt too much.

The man thought about that, considered it from all the angles he could think of, but still, he just couldn't see where the sucker shot was gonna come from. How she was going to trick and try to hurt him.

Slowly, so slowly, it finally got through his built up defenses where the dark Slayer was concerned that she was being serious. As incredible as it sounded, she was offering to be friends, for real. A part of him marveled at that concept while another part whispered that here was the perfect chance to pay her back for what happened in her hotel room all those years ago. The part that made him the good man that he was, though, was saying to believe her, but not to trust her. Yet. Give her a chance to prove what she was saying.

Faith watched the emotions and thoughts flit across Xander's face, feeling her stomach clench and drop as the silence dragged on. Finally, she felt that if he'd believed her at all, he would've said something by now, so, obviously, he was rejecting her offer. With a sigh that she cut off quickly before it could become a sob, the brunette turned from him, heading for the door. Her chest felt heavy and she was fighting tears, but was determined to make it back to her room before she even thought about giving in to them. "Okay. I get it," she said softly. "I'll head back to my room then. Hope you like the food."

Xander came out of his introspective fugue and registered that Faith was leaving. He noticed the shoulders rolled forward in defeat, the general feeling of sadness and regret that surrounded the Slayer. Almost against his will, Xander reached out slightly. "Faith…wait."

The slayer stopped, but didn't turn around. "What?" She asked, her voice flat and toneless.

He sighed. "You don't have to leave." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "If you want to stay, you can."

Faith turned to glare at him, the most basic part of her personality, the part that compelled her to not show any of the "weak" emotions turned her sadness to anger. "Don't do me no favors. You don't want me here, so don't fake it now!"

Xander's gaze hardened. "Faith, yesterday I lost the woman I've been in love with for the better part of four years! I don't want anyone here, so don't flatter yourself that I'm picking on you or something. You pushed you way in here, I didn't invite you, so don't get all indignant if I don't start doing cartwheels just cause you're here!"

Faith started to snarl back, lashing out in a further attempt to disguise her hurt feelings, but Xander's mention of Anya stopped her cold. She remembered how she felt after Mike's betrayal, after she, in effect, lost him. How she felt the night before when Giles had told them about Wood. "Wait, okay? Just hold on." She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, releasing much of her anger with it, just like the counselor at the prison had taught her.

"I didn't mean to piss you off, X-Man, I just…I kinda figured you hadn't eat yet, so I decided to bring you something, y'know? I mean, even Red and her girl have left their room by now, but nobody had seen you, so…" She shook her head and tried to smile a little. "Look, I'm sorry for bustin' in, okay? Just…Eat, okay? Anya wouldn't want you to make yourself sick, right?" She backed toward the door. "I'll see you later, 'k?"

Xander took a step forward. "Hang on. Just…Did they replace your tv yet?" The Slayer looked at him blankly. "You told me last night the one in your room didn't work, remember? Did they get you a new one yet?"

Faith's eyes opened wide as she suddenly remembered what she'd said the night before. "Oh! Right! Uh, yeah. I think so, anyway. Haven't checked yet, but it's been a couple hours, so…Yeah, I'm sure it's fixed." She smiled her very best, 'You believe me, right Officer?' smile.

Xander looked at her with a blank expression for ten solid seconds, then grunted. "Uh huh." Another pause of a few seconds, during which he observed her starting to fidget and frequently look away, then he plainly asked, "Faith, was your tv broken last night?"

"Hell yeah!" She quickly affirmed. "Well, sorta…kinda…" He simply looked at her and a small corner of her mind marveled at how powerful the stare of a guy with only one eye could be. She released an aggravated sigh and admitted, "Okay, I couldn't find the remote."

Again, Xander just looked at her. "Hey, I figured you shouldn't be alone, y'know? And I figured B and Dawn and Red would all come by and try to cheer you up and I knew that wasn't what you'd want, y'know, to be cheerful, so I thought I'd try somethin' else." She smiled a little. "Worked for a little while and you did eat somethin'."

"Did it occur to you at all that maybe I wanted to be left alone? Any of you?" Xander growled out, his eye flashing with anger.

It just rolled off Faith's back. "Well, yeah, but we were all worried 'bout you, so we all came by to try to help. I just tried somethin' different. Look," she said after a moment. "You want me to go, say so and I'll motor. Just promise me you'll eat part of what I brought, okay?"

Xander continued to stare at the unrepentant woman for a few more seconds, then turned with an angry grunt and sat down, thinking furiously. To be honest, he wasn't sure how to deal with this Faith. Sexy Faith, the one who came onto everything remotely human and still breathing he could deal with, either by ignoring her suggestions or teasing back. Angry Faith he could handle by staying out of her way until she was calmer.

This new Faith, however, we wasn't so sure how to deal with. She was showing every sign of considering others before herself, of genuinely being worried about him and going out of her way to make sure he was at least taking minimum care of himself while he grieved. Which was another thing he was having trouble with. The dark Slayer had expressed her sympathies for Anya and been serious about it. She hadn't mocked or teased him about his feelings, hadn't really even mentioned them, except the once, but she also hadn't been full of false cheer like he was afraid his family would be. Like Dawn had already been, to tell the truth.

All the sultry brunette, waiting patiently for him to finish thinking, had done was be there. She'd quietly watched tv the night before unless he started a conversation, lapsing into silence again when they were finished talking. He looked up at her, just silently observing the woman for a minute, then closed his eye and shook his head. His stomach chose that moment to clench and growl its displeasure at being empty when his nose plainly detected food.

Sighing, Xander walked over to the dresser where the Slayer had deposited her bags and moved them to the table. He glanced at Faith. "If you're gonna stay, why don't you find something worth watching, okay?"

His voice contained a slight growl of resignation, but Faith just ignored that. She smiled and nodded her head. "On it." She quickly grabbed the remote and turned the tv on, flipping quickly to the listings channel she'd noticed the night before. Inwardly, she was very pleased that he'd allowed her to stay, even trying to not gloat too much that Xander was talking to her, even when he wouldn't talk to Buffy or Dawn or even Willow. "Hey, I been outta circulation. They still showin' X-Men?"

"Dunno," Xander grunted as he picked through the enormous pile of food she'd brought him. "I haven't had a chance to watch Saturday morning cartoons in a while. What all's in here?"

Faith turned her attention to the man. "Huh? Oh, a little of everything. 'Cept oatmeal. It was just too runny. Anyway, mostly toast, then hash browns and eggs and pancakes with strawberry jam and syrup. Some fruit. Sausage and bacon and I think a piece of ham. Some more eggs. Oh, and there's coffee, milk and oj in the other bag."

Xander used his fork to move some things around, spotting pretty much everything she named off piled together in a jumbled mess. He gave her a slightly nauseous look. "Did you have to just mix it all together in a pile?"

The dark Slayer just snorted and grinned sardonically. "What's the matter, X-Man? It's all goin' t'the same place, right? Just gettin' a little headstart this way." Seeing his dubious look, she gave him a challenging one back. "Just try it, you big baby. If you don't like it, I'll go hit the Mickey D's for you."

Xander stared at her for another moment, then looked back at his "breakfast". Checking, he seasoned the pile of mostly eggs and hash browns a little and started eating, tentatively at first, then with a bit more gusto. He gave Faith a mocking expression when she grunted in satisfaction, taking a sip of coffee to hide his surprise at her being right. "So, find anything worth watching?"

"Maybe," she conceded. "No X-Men, but there's this." She turned the channel and an image of a large black man in leather, a sword strapped to his back appeared. Xander choked a little and looked at the brunette incredulously.

Faith smiled in delight. "That's what this is? Heard about it, but didn't think I'd ever get to see it." She looked back at her companion, then pouted. Well, as best as she could copy Buffy's pouts, she did. "Come on, Xan-man! We can laugh at the shit they get wrong, an' everything! Hell, might even pick up a few new things to try." She looked at him appealingly. "Please?"

Xander was amazed and a little weirded out. Where the hell had this come from? This was most definitely not the Faith he remembered, not even the one he'd gotten accustomed too during the last days before the final battle. Truth to tell, she was acting more like Buffy than anyone else. That thought triggered a memory and he looked directly at her through a narrowed eye. "You sure you're not Buffy? Was there another body swap I didn't know about?"

Faith smiled sarcastically at him. "Nope. One hundred percent bad girl in this bod. No Buffy 'round here. Well," she added with a knowing smirk. "Unless she's hidin' in the bathroom or something."

Xander stared at her again for a few seconds, the banter and mood changes once again causing his brain to strip a gear. He finally just shook his head and pulled out a chair at the table, the meal the Slayer had brought him in front of him. "Just…Sure, let's watch that. And thanks for the breakfast, Faith."

She smiled at him, flopping down on the bed so she could see both Xander and the tv. "Hey, no sweat. Let me know if there's anything you can't finish, okay?" The Slayer watched as Xander waved one hand at her, reaching for the bag with his drinks in it. She watched as he started to eat, a warm feeling washing over her at Xander's seeming to accept her as a friend. Smiling to herself, she faced the tv again, deciding to see if she could get him to actually leave the room for lunch.

"Are you okay, Sweetie?" Willow asked as Kennedy stopped eating again to look toward the door. Glancing over herself, she saw that it was just Shannon, Grace and Libby, so she turned her attention back to her Slayer. "You looking for someone in particular?" She asked with a little half smile.

Kennedy's eyes widened slightly in response to the gentle teasing. "No! No, just…I'm still kinda getting used to these new senses, that's all. I keep getting tingles whenever one of the others comes near the door and that causes me to look up to make sure they're friendly."

Willow carefully hid her smile. "Oh, so you're not just checking out the girls as they walk in."

Again, the new Slayer missed the teasing tone in her girlfriend's voice as she vehemently shook her head. "No! I wouldn't do that! I mean, I look, but I wouldn't…" She trailed off as a smile broke out across Willow's face. Kennedy groaned and rolled her eyes, throwing a french fry at her girl. "That was just mean!" She grinned back even as she complained.

Willow's face changed to an expression of incredulous innocence. "You mean, I'm not allowed to pick on you? Even a little?" Then redhead worked hard to keep a giggle out of her voice.

Kennedy's face got a sly look as she grinned at the witch. "Only if I can pick back. And there may be consequences later." She wiggled her eyebrows, letting Willow know exactly what those 'consequences' would be. Willow smiled and winked at her girl, letting her know it worked both ways.

Movement at the door again distracted the Slayer and she looked that way, only to look quickly back at the table. Her thoughts and feelings from the previous night came roaring back and she cringed inwardly as Willow waved excitedly and called, "Buffy! Over here! Sit with us."

Kennedy again turned to look at the doorway as the eldest Slayer and her sister walked in. At the sight of Dawn, all the internal arguments from the night before came rushing back as Kennedy's eyes raked over the younger brunette's svelte form. Suppressing a small growl, the younger Slayer turned back toward the table, glancing at Willow before staring fixedly at the tabletop.

A moment later, Buffy and Dawn were standing beside their table and Kennedy glanced up in acknowledgment, but quickly dropped her eyes again.

Buffy was smiling and her eyes flicked across the younger Slayer before going back to her best friend. Dawn smiled quickly, just a flash, but she also blushed as she looked at Kennedy. Willow noticed that, but just figured it was because of the kiss the night before. She missed, however, the faint blush that flashed across Kennedy's own countenance as the new Slayer looked at the Key and looked away hastily.

"Hi guys!" Willow chirped brightly. She waved her hand at the bench seat across from her and her girlfriend. "Wanna join us for lunch?"

Buffy paused, seeming to consider the offer. "Hmmm. Lemme think about that. Sit with a table full of newbie Slayers, no offense Kennedy, and have them try to pick my brain and listen to them relive yesterday, or, enjoy a meal with my bestest friend and her girlfriend." She waited for a second, then smiled brightly. "I'll take 'No-Brainer' for a thousand Alex," she quipped as she pulled out a chair, nodding to Dawn to indicate she should as well.

"Oh, and Kennedy? It's okay if you want to talk shop," Buffy assured the younger Slayer. "I just didn't want to deal with six or seven girls, all trying to get my attention at once." She saw the brunette roll her eyes and chuckled. "That's not ego talking, Kennedy. It's…Have you gotten used to hearing everything in the room yet? Being able to smell things cooking in the kitchen? Not needing a lamp to see in a dark room? Can you say you're used to being able to tell exactly how many regular humans are in this room right now? How many people are of the mystical variety?"

Kennedy got a challenging look in her eye as she stared back at the blonde. "Can you?"

Willow and Dawn both chuckled and shook their heads as Buffy smiled. "You already know that Will and I are magical in nature, so…" She pointed back over her shoulder, but didn't turn around. "Slayer, Slayer, human, human, human, Giles, Slayer." She closed her eyes, but not before she saw Kennedy's getting bigger. Inwardly she smiled but also chastised herself for showing off a little. "Okay, Faith is that way," she pointed toward the back lobby of the hotel, then sniffed. "The waitress is bringing someone's cheeseburger and fries…now. There's a demon in the corner aaaand…" She cocked her head in a classic listening pose, then opened her eyes and blinked, a confused grin on her lips. "Since when are Vi and Rona dating?"

Kennedy just returned Buffy's amused look with an incredulous one, her jaw dropped. Glancing at Willow, she saw the witch trying hard to not laugh, though Dawn was chortling quietly, her blue eyes sparkling with merriment in a way that made the Slayer's heart skip a beat. Gathering herself, she finally was able to ask, "Okay, how do you know where Faith is, but couldn't name any of the others? And that guy doesn't look like a demon." She paused, concentrating on her own senses, clearly hearing Vi's answer of yes, she'd like to go out. "Oh, and they kinda got together last night."

"That explains it." Buffy looked over her shoulder at the two girls in question, then glanced at the demon she'd detected. "As for the demon, he's obviously one of those that can pass as human, so he's most likely harmless. Besides," she added, noticing how the guy was glancing around nervously. "I think he knows he's in a room full of Slayers, so he won't try anything."

Kennedy nodded at each point, glancing down as Willow took her hand. "Okay, I get that, but what about Faith? And how did you name off Giles too?"

"Giles used to be a mage, so he reads a little like Willow, just a lot weaker. As for Faith, she was called as a Slayer about two years after I was, though if you count off for the almost six months I was dead, it's more like a year and a half. Anyway, she's been a Slayer for five years, so she reads as a lot more powerful than any of you guys."

Willow was nodding her head as Buffy explained. She could sense a lot of the same things through her connection to the magic, just not the enhanced senses stuff unless she cast the appropriate spells. "It's kinda like comparing light bulbs, baby. Buffy's kinda a hundred watt bulb, really bright and everything." She smiled at Buffy's sour look at describing her as a light bulb. "Faith is a seventy five watt and all the newbies are like twenty five watters."

Buffy smiled at the hurt look Kennedy was giving Willow at her last comment. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and let her senses sweep over the room, quickly realizing Willow was right in her estimation. All of the new Slayers were giving off a power reading similar, but a little stronger to a newly risen vampire. Faith, on the other hand, felt a lot like Angelus had, just with the Slayer overlay. No, not Angelus or even Angel. More like Spike. Powerful, with just a touch of badness, but a lot more good to balance it out.

That thought made her smile. Spike, at the end, had been her friend, someone she could count on, no matter what. She had told him the truth. She did love him, but they both knew the whole truth. He was in love with her, while she loved him as a friend. Like Willow or Xander or Giles. The thought that Faith was, in some wacky mystical way connected to Spike made her happy. It meant Spike wasn't really gone and that she could trust the dark Slayer again.

As she let her sensory sweep go completely around the room again, she shied away from Willow, trying to turn things off. The witch's aura of power was blindingly incredible, almost overloading everything else for several feet in every direction. She started to open her eyes, when she suddenly sharpened her focus, trying to filter out Willow. "Huh."

The other three at the table looked at her expectantly at the guttural sound. After a couple minutes, when she didn't elaborate, Dawn said. "'Huh' what?"

Dawn gave her a fondly exasperated look. "You looked all concentrate-y, then said huh, so 'huh' what?"

"Oh, uh right," Buffy blushed a little. "I was just trying to 'feel' out everyone in the room, trying to see if I missed anything and noticed something about Kennedy." The blonde looked toward the younger Slayer and almost laughed at the 'deer in the headlights' look the teen was giving her. "Nothing really bad," she soothed. "It's just, if we use Willow's light bulb analogy, you're not a twenty five watt bulb like the others. More like a forty watt. Like you've been a Slayer for a year or so. I was trying to figure that out when Dawn said something."

Everyone else at the table reacted with varying degrees of astonishment, then confusion at the senior Slayer's explanation. "Maybe…Maybe it's because she was right there with Willow when the spell was cast," Dawn offered, causing Buffy and Kennedy to look at her. The doe eyed brunette blushed lightly and shrugged. "Maybe she kinda got like an extra dose of Slayer-ness?"

"Maybe yeah," Willow agreed slowly, her cheeks turning an interesting shade of reddish-pink. "Um, there's also that Kennedy is next in line. If there was still a line, that is." Buffy's face cleared with a 'that explains it' expression, while the two teens still looked confused. The redhead rolled her eyes and explained further. "She's the Slayer after Faith? You know, if Faith had died before the spell, Kenn would've been called next."

"You mean I was always going to be a Slayer?" Kennedy asked, wonder in her voice.

Buffy nodded, while Willow winced a little. "Maybe," she hedged. Both Slayers looked at her. "Well, I'm pretty sure there was an age cut off built into the original spell. In other words, so that everyone who was called as a Slayer would be young enough to survive the initial learning stage." She sighed at the blank looks the Slayers gave her, but winked at Dawn when she rolled her eyes at their denseness. "Buffy, when you first became a Slayer, you were a cheerleader, yeah, but other than that, you weren't very athletic, right? Didn't know how to fight?"

Buffy's expression cleared. "Oh, I get it. If I became a Slayer now or worse, a few years from now, I'd probably get killed before I learned how to be a Slayer, right?"

"Exactly!" Willow smiled and nodded. "Kennedy would probably have a couple more years than you since she trained for years, but even she would eventually be unable to do the job. So, I figure the old guys who started all this probably put an age cut off, most likely twenty at the top. Since Kennedy's almost nineteen and Faith was supposed to be in jail for at least twenty five years, she would've never been a Slayer if not for my spell. Well, unless something happened to Faith in prison, that is. Which it almost did, to be honest." Willow chuckled at Buffy's look of alarm. "The First."

"To change the subject," Dawn said, just a little louder than she really needed to, seeing the stricken look on her sister's face and wanting to stop it. "I was thinking we could go shopping. Really go shopping and pick up more than a change of clothes. Like maybe several outfits. And other stuff, too. You know, like shoes, maybe. Can we, Buffy?" She smiled broadly, innocently, but hopefully.

The blonde felt a knee jerk reaction to the idea of shopping, the thought of getting a new pair of boots appealing. More appealing, though, was the thought of finding Faith and telling her she was in charge, then going back to her room and vegging in front of the tv and not worrying about anything harder to think of than should she order a pizza for dinner or go out to a restaurant. "I don't know, Dawnie. I kinda wanted to stay here. I'm still kinda tired and my side's still a bit sore, even with all Will's help. I was thinking we could have a lazy day instead."

Willow watched as Dawn pouted and Buffy began to waver. She had to admit, the teenager did have a really good "Pleeeease, can I have my way?" pout going. It reminded her of some of the rather adorable ones she'd seen Buffy use over the years, which was probably where Dawnie had learned it from, she mused. Chuckling, she drew the attention of the senior Slayer. "Come on, Buffy. Let her go. She'll be with a bunch of Slayers, so I'm pretty sure it'll be okay."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you mean a bunch of Slayers and a kick ass witch?"

Willow shook her head. "Nope. I'm not going either. Still pretty tired from yesterday and someone," the redhead looked at her girlfriend with a fondly exasperated look, "kept me awake half the night!" She chuckled at Kennedy blushing lightly, but still managing to look smug at the same time. Glancing at her table companions, she saw the lightly embarrassed expression from Buffy she was expecting, but Dawn surprised her. Oh, the teen was blushing, like she'd known she would, but the weird thing was, she looked a little angry, too. Well, maybe not angry but definitely something she wasn't figuring on.

[Weird.] Willow shook her head a little, rearranging her thoughts. "Anyway, I thought maybe I'd stay behind and catch up on my sleep while you," she lightly poked her girlfriend in her ribs, "go run up your dad's credit cards."

Kennedy kept looking smug for a moment, until Willow's statement that she wouldn't be going shopping sank in, then the teen frowned. "But, I thought we were gonna go get you that new laptop today for, y'know, that project of Giles'? Not to mention, new clothes does sound like a good thing and maybe the mall here has a Victoria's Secret." Kennedy leered playfully, already imagining the redhead in something lacy and very skimpy.

Willow made a sympathetic face. "Sorry, sweetie, but I'm just too pooped. We can go get the laptop later this evening or tomorrow morning, okay? I mean, it's waited this long, it'll keep a few more hours." She stifled a small yawn, then smiled at her girl. "And hey, you can surprise me with clothes, if you want. Dawnie and I are mostly the same size and she knows what's different, so she can try on stuff that you want to get me. I'll even model whatever you get later, if you want." The redhead gave the new Slayer a sultry, 'I wanna eat you alive' look.

Kennedy felt her body respond to Willow's expression, but her mind's eye was busy picturing the younger brunette beside her in some of the lacier, skimpier things she'd seen in Victoria's Secret on previous visits. She managed to suppress a whimper at the pictures flashing through her mind, but only barely. She dropped her eyes to the table and kept them there, knowing Willow would see the desire coursing through them, but also knowing there was no way she could look at Dawn and stay silent.

For her part, Dawn's mind instantly flashed back to her dream from the night before the second Willow mentioned trying on clothes that Kennedy picked out. The thought of the two of them in various stores dressing areas, clothing being changed, the way she kept thinking of the new Slayer, her memories of their kisses the night before. Maybe this shopping trip wasn't such a good idea. Dawn wracked her brain, trying to come up with a way out of or around the whole her and Kennedy alone for several hours plan, but nothing was really occurring to her…"Xander!"

Buffy and Willow stopped talking and Kennedy jerked her eyes up and toward Dawn as she shouted. Buffy frowned slightly, glancing around. "What about Xander?" She finally asked.

Dawn tried for nonchalance, blushing slightly nonetheless. "I was just thinking, I should go ask Xander to come with us. To the mall, I mean."

"Yeah," Kennedy picked up on her idea immediately, her thoughts running parallel to Dawn's. If the male Scoobie was with them, she couldn't flirt with or ogle Dawn, right? Looking at Buffy and Willow, she smiled. "She's right. I mean, he needs clothes and stuff too, right?"

"And besides, Buffy," Dawn added quickly. "You said if he hadn't come out of his room by lunch time today, I could go and talk to him. This is even better, cause it'll mean he has to come out and we can cheer him up and everything. So, I can go ask him, right? I mean, I miss Anya too, but she wouldn't want him to just lock himself in a room and die, would she?"

Buffy felt her eyes slide back and forth between the two teens as they explained their idea, finally stopping on Dawn. She glanced at Willow, to see what the redhead thought about this idea, but Willow was already looking at her. She smirked ever so slightly and raised one eyebrow, clearly deferring to the Slayer for the decision.

Willow was willing to let Buffy decide this, though she herself thought it was probably a good idea. For the most part, she vividly remembered her own feelings and reactions after Tara's death, both before and after the whole 'If she can't be here, I'll just destroy everything' episode. After Xander had talked her down and she'd started grieving, her memories were a little fuzzier, since she'd spent entire days asleep or trying to be. She'd absolutely refused to even look into the room she'd shared with Tara and being in the upstairs of Buffy's house was nearly as bad, so she'd returned to her parents place. Once again, it was Xander who'd saved her when he'd come into her room at her parents, forced her to eat and clean up and start functioning again.

Buffy rolled her eyes a little at Willow's attitude, then returned her attention to her sister. "I don't know, Dawnie. I know I said to wait 'til today, but…I don't know, it just seems…wrong or something. Maybe we should wait a little longer, okay?" Seeing Dawn's somewhat hostile look, she offered instead, "Or maybe just wait until dinner, then ask him to join us?"

"Or," Kennedy said, her attention once more drawn to the entrance of the dining area. "We could just go over and ask him if he wants to go to the mall with us." When her table companions looked at her for an explanation of her words, she nodded across the room where a waitress was showing Xander and Faith to a table.

The other three women at the table spun and looked where Kennedy was indicating, all displaying varying degrees of shock and disbelief. Sure enough, they saw Xander just sitting down at a table across from Faith, his lips moving as if he was talking to the dark Slayer. Buffy and Kennedy could hear him saying something about some sci-fi show, but the blonde had never seen it, so she had no idea what he was talking about. Kennedy just rolled her eyes at the man's words, but was faintly surprised at Faith's response, indicating the brunette's familiarity with the show.

"When did…?" Dawn asked, confused, a little pout on her face. Kennedy turned as soon as she spoke and groaned at the expression. It was so much worse the second time. "What the frilly heck's going on over there? Why would he come out of his room for Faith but not me?"

Kennedy caught herself before she reached over and ran a comforting hand down the younger teen's arm. Blushing at the impulse, she glanced at Willow to see if the redhead had noticed, but Willow's attention as still on the other table. Glancing around, Kennedy noticed that the other Slayers and Giles had taken note of Xander and Faith's entrance, but were going back to their own meals and conversations just as quickly. Well, except for Giles. He looked quickly toward their table, like he was expecting some kind of reaction.

Buffy took her sister's hand and gave her a little squeeze. "It's okay, Dawnie. I mean, the important thing is, he's out here with the rest of us, right? Not locked in his room like he was." She smiles reassuringly, then frowns just a little. "I don't mean he shouldn't grieve, cause we all know what Anya meant to him, but," she sends a little apologetic look at Willow. "We all know that you should turn to your friends and family when this kinda thing happens, so we should support him and would you please go over there and ask him about going to the mall before I swallow my whole leg?" The blonde's babble ground to an embarrassed, blushing halt. She quickly took a sip of water, fighting the burning sensation in her face and neck.

Willow smiled at her best friend, suddenly understanding why all of her lovers found her babble so adorable, though that thought was followed immediately with one wondering why she thought that about Buffy. She shook her head and looked at the younger brunette. "Go on, Dawnie. And see if you can find out what's up with him and Faith hanging out together, okay? Not that it's not okay, but they didn't really talk all that much in Sunnydale and now they're acting like study buddies or something."

Dawn nodded and stood, glancing around the table as she did, fighting down a feeling of longing as she looked at the brunette Slayer and her dream once more thundered through her mind. [No!] she snarled to herself. [I said I was gonna stop obsessing about this and I am. Kennedy's just a friend, the girlfriend of someone who might as well be my other sister, so I'm gonna just forget it now.] Taking a deep breath, she forced the images of her dream and the feelings she'd had from the night before from her mind and turned toward Xander.

Walking over, she passed the waitress, who's apparently already taken Faith and Xander's lunch orders. Absently flashing a smile at the woman as she avoided her, the teen walked up to her friends and smiled warmly at Xander. "Hey, guys. Can I join you?"

Xander looked up at the young brunette, hesitating a second before pasting a wan smile on his face. Faith, on the other hand, gave Dawn the hairy eyeball before commenting. "Dunno, Squirt. Depends." She glanced at Xander and winked with the eye Dawn couldn't see. "You buyin'?"

Dawn's temper flared. "You want me to buy you lunch? Just so I can talk to my friend?!" Her voice dropped half an octave and took on a slightly growly texture. "Listen, Faith, if you think…"

"Whoa! Easy, Dawnie. She was just messing with you, I promise." His eye cut over to the now sheepish looking woman. "Right Faith? You were not being serious with Dawn, were you?"

Faith shook her head. "No, I was just pullin' your leg, kid- Dawn." The Slayer hastily changed what she said when the teen glared at her. "Seriously, pull up a rock. D'ja eat yet? I'll buy to say sorry, okay?" She glanced at Xander, noting his raised eyebrow and she grinned. "Okay, G-Man's buyin', but hey, it's the thought, right?"

Xander rolled his eye and looked toward the girl he thought of as a little sister. "Have a seat, Dawnie. I'll keep the big bad Slayer under control." He ignored Faith's derisive snort. After their talks this morning, the things she'd opened up to him about, he was fairly sure she'd stop teasing Dawn if he asked her to.

Dawn gave Xander a dubious look for his statement, but quickly sat down. Reaching across the table, she laid her hand atop Xander's. Looking directly at him, her voice thick with worry and concern, she asked, "Are you okay? Do you feel any better?" The anxious teen noticed the signs that her first crush was still upset, even if he was trying to hide it. "Can I do anything to help?"

Xander smiled, not knowing how heartbreaking it was. "I'll be okay, Dawnster. It's just…" He shook his head and forced another smile. "So, how about some lunch?"

Dawn hesitated. She really wanted Xander to reassure her he was really okay, but…. Squaring her shoulders, the teen resolved to be there as much as possible for Xander, so when he did want to talk, he'd have a friend to listen, not someone who was practically a stranger like Faith. Smiling, she shook her head. "No thanks. I already ordered over there," she pointed at the table she came from. "Can I have them bring it over here?"

Xander took in her hopeful look and chuckled. "You think I'd say no? Two beautiful ladies want to keep me company for lunch and you think I'd run you off." He flashed a smile, then signaled the waitress. When she got within hearing range, he told her to bring whatever Dawn had ordered to this table. She nodded and continued on her way.

"So," Xander said, a little louder than he really needed to. "What's been happening out here while we were watching bad vampire movies?"

"Hey!" Faith protested. "Blade was pretty good even though a vampire that can be out in daylight ain't ever gonna happen." She gave Xander a playful scowl. "And I still say there's a way for wood bullets to work."

Xander ignored Dawn's shocked expression. "Okay, one, I agreed with you about the bullets, I just don't know how we could do it without them blowing up the gun or burning up when they're fired. And two, I know of two vamps that could be out in the sun. At least, until Buffy and Angel fixed things. You know 'em both too."

Dawn's eyes shifted back and forth between her table mates, listening to their conversation. That they had spent the morning together was obvious from what they were saying, they were simply continuing a previous conversation. The other things that she couldn't wrap her brain around was how easy Xander seemed to be in Faith's company now. Like all the Scoobies, he'd been a little wary around the dark Slayer ever since Willow had brought her back, but that seemed to be gone now.

"Two vamps? And I know 'em?" Faith stopped and shook her head. "Only vamp I know that ain't dead is Angel and last time I checked, he's still sporting that tanless look."

Xander glanced at Dawn, flashing the teen a grin. "Well, it was only for a day. A few years back, just before you woke up from your nap, Spike found a magic ring that made a vampire impossible to kill. That was before he started working with us. Right before they put the chip in his head, really. Anyway, Buffy kicked his ass and took the ring and sent it to Angel. Angel kicked his ass when he tried to get the ring back and destroyed it, but not before he spent a day in the sun."

"So see?" Xander smiled at her smugly. "You know two vamps that were out in the sun without doing a roman candle impression." The man almost laughed at the thoughtful, kinda pouty expression the Slayer wore.

Dawn cleared her throat, then blushed slightly when the other two looked at her. "Um, I think that was about the time his friend Doyle got killed, so he probably doesn't like to think about it."

Faith nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's probably it. I mean, if you haven't seen the sun for two hundred and fifty years, then you're not gonna forget the one day you get to go out in it, right?"

Xander leaned forward, then back as their food arrived. "I'm sure Dawnie's right and so are you," he says diplomatically, not wanting to mention anything in front of the waitress.

Faith poured about half the bottle of ketchup over her fries as she asked, "Hey Squirt. B tell you if she's got anything official planned for today?"

Chewing her bite of salad and swallowing quickly, the teen shook her head. "No," she coughed lightly, then cleared her throat. "I mean, a bunch of us are going to the mall in a little while, but nothing else until tonight, I don't think. You'll have to ask her about patrols though."

Shrugging, Faith looked at her blond counterpart. "Hey B!" She called, in just a little louder voice than she'd been using to talk to Dawn and Xander. When Buffy looked toward her, she asked, "What time and where you want everyone together to set up patrols?" The brunette cocked her head, then nodded. "Okay. I'll be there."

"Not sure I'll ever get used to that," Xander observed, shaking his head. "What did she say?"

"Her room after dinner or about eight, whichever comes last." She took a huge bite of her first cheeseburger. "So, what's at the mall?" she asked, somehow managing to speak mostly clearly with her mouth full at the same time.

Dawn made a little "ew" face and looked at Xander, but had no help there. He'd just taken a bite as well and was looking at her. Suppressing the urge to use one of her mother's favorite sayings, Dawn replied, "Oh, a bunch of us wanted more than a single change of clothes, since we're gonna be here a few days and everything. Maybe pick up a cd player and some music, that kind of thing." She looked slyly at Xander and smiled. "There's a comic and hobby shop there."

Dawn was prepared for the sudden interest in Xander's eyes, but not the even more intense light in Faith's. Then she remembered how much the Slayer had loved comics when she first came to Sunnydale. Even if it was an implanted memory, she figured the monks put it there based on the other's observations.

Dawn shook her head. "Nope. As far as I know, Kennedy is the oldest person going. They both said something about wanting to sleep."

Faith looked at Xander, a concerned expression on her face. "Hey, y'know, X-Man, we can't let all these teenyboppers go to the mall by themselves. 'Specially not a mall they've never been to before. Since it looks like G-Man, Buffy and Red have punked out of the job, we should probably go with 'em. Y'know, just to keep 'em out of trouble."

"Uh huh. And the fact that you haven't been in a comic shop in three years or so has nothing to do with your sudden interest in shopping?"

Faith took in the almost angelic expression on the man's face, even though it was kinda spoiled by the eye patch. Scowling playfully, she replied, a light growl in her voice, "Okay, fine. Maybe I wanna check out the books, but hey, I'm a little behind, so cut me some slack, okay? 'Sides, some tunes'd be good, so the music store is a good stop too. Clothes, though. We're gonna need a Goodwill store for that."

Dawn gave the Slayer with a puzzled look. "Goodwill? Why get your clothes there? I mean, I get cheap, but why go there if you don't have too?"

Faith shrugged. "Simple, kid. Slayin's hard on clothes, so why spend a lot on 'em? If a pair of jeans I paid two-three dollars for gets shredded, I don't give a shit. If a pair of leathers I spent forty- fifty dollars on gets wasted, then I gotta hurt whatever fucked 'em up. Simple, see?"

The Slayer watched as the teen worked her way through that idea, trying not to think about the real reason, that Goodwill was simply where she'd always gotten clothes. She'd never had much money, so why spend a lot at some fancy store at a mall when that same store would donate what was left over after a particular season to Goodwill and they'd sell them for a tenth of what they cost originally. Besides, she'd never been a big fan of shopping as a hobby. Certainly not like Buffy, so thrift stores let her get clothes and get on to something important.

Faith shrugged and took a bite of her second cheeseburger. "So anyway, yeah, I'll tag along and help keep the baby Slayers outta trouble if Xand's in." She shoved several fries in her mouth while asking, "Well, you comin' along?"

Xander returned the calm look of the Slayer with a slightly amused smirk, more sensed than seen. Carefully schooling his face to an expression of reluctant acceptance, he released a long suffering sigh. "Well, I guess I better, since Buffy's not going. Someone's gotta keep you outta trouble, right?"

Faith gave an insulted squawk of protest. "Me in trouble? Hey, I don't do trouble nomore, okay?"

Dawn frowned and tensed at Faith's tone, but then looked more carefully at the older brunette. While her expression did seem to convey anger, her eyes sparkled playfully and, now that she was looking closer, the teen noticed the Slayer seemed to be fighting to not smile.

Xander's eye opened a little wider in feigned astonishment. "Oh really? Then it was another dark haired Slayer I was hearing about who got into a fight with a half dozen cops in Sunnydale?"

"That so totally doesn't count! They were the ones who started that," Faith assured him. "I was just looking to dance and help the newies blow off steam. How is it my fault those hellmouthed cops wanted to start something?" Faith just looked at the male Scoobie for a moment, then gave a growly sigh. "You're gonna be a pain in my ass, ain't'cha?"

Xander smiled beatifically. "Seems only fair. You've been a pain in mine for the last day or so."

Dawn suddenly felt torn. If Faith had indeed been annoying Xander for the last day or so, she was going to get Buffy to help stop her. What was keeping her from yelling for her sister, though, was that, even though the words of her table mates were seemingly harsh, even accusatory, they were said playfully, almost…affectionately. Like Faith and Xander had become the best of friends overnight. [That's it,] she thought. [She sounds like Buffy or Willow would in a mock argument with Xander. But…I thought Xander didn't like her. He told me just a couple days ago he'd be glad when everything was over so she'd go away. How'd they become friends so fast?]

Faith maintained her scowl for another few seconds, then smirked. "Yeah? Well, get used to it, X-Man. You're the one who said I get to be, so suck it up and deal!"

Xander rolled his eye and Faith laughed before tearing into the remainder of her lunch. Xander tried to glower at the Slayer, but the smile that kept twitching his lips took most of the power out of the expression.

Dawn looked back and forth a couple times, then quietly asked. "What's going on here? Are you guys friends now or something?"

Xander looked sideways at Faith, then smiled slightly for Dawn. "We decided to bury the hatchet, Dawnie. Somewhere besides in each other's heads, I mean." He looked at Faith, calculating what it would cost him, then smirked. "'Sides, she likes Farscape. How bad can she be, right?"

"Hey!" Faith snarled, her manner turning embarrassed. She glanced at Dawn, then back at Xander. "What happen to 'I won't tell.'?" She turned back at the teen, wincing as the look of astonishment turned to one of grinning delight. "Hey, it's no big deal. A girl I knew inside loved the damned show and wouldn't shut up about it, that's all. Really, it's no big deal."

Dawn just kept grinning. "Oh, but it is. See? I knew you couldn't be all badass!" She giggled at the Slayer as Faith goggled at her. "Who's your favorite character? Lemme guess, Crighton, right? I like Tianna best, but Crighton is cool."

Faith hesitated, then shook her head. "Nah. I mean, yeah he's cool, but his girl, now…Love how Aryn'll just slap him down when he gets all fulla shit. Gotta love a girl like that!" She smiled, then narrowed her eyes at the Key. "Tianna, huh? Why? Cause she's a bad girl or somethin'? I mean, she's okay, but nothin' really special."

Xander smiled and resumed eating as Dawn defended her choice of favorite character, watching as Faith gradually got the girl he thought of as his baby sister to forget who she was talking to and just become friends. From the few hints the brunette had dropped, he had figured out that the Slayer had never had many friends growing up, and pretty much hadn't wanted any when they'd known her years before. Clearly, she wanted to change that now.

Considering everything she'd done for him in the last twenty four hours, Xander resolved that she'd have all the friends she could handle this time. This time, there'd be no doing evil stuff for Faith because she felt it didn't matter, that no one cared about her. Because this time, at least one person did, at least one person was her friend and Xander Harris didn't give up on his friends. No matter what.

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After the Fall

by Wolfkin

Copyright © 2006

corinwolfkin@yahoo.com