Author's note: Thanks again for all the reviews, I try and update as often as I can but I'm juggling two fics at the moment and writers block normally sets in around now lol. But I'll do my best :-) For anyone keeping track of the time this is still the same day as chapter one. Any street names or places in this fic are made up cause I'm not from N.Y I'm from Scotland so it's all Greek to me lol, but I'm going to try and research stuff when I get more time I promise.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Faith and Buffy, they belong to Joss.

Chapter 3 - Déjà vu?

Lehane safe house - Lower East side -16:00pm

Mike O'Rielly sat tied to a chair in the middle of the bare living room of the safe house. Faith was currently knelt beside him on a large plastic sheet designed to prevent any blood from staining the carpet. Absentmindedly twirling the hammer in her right hand she stared at the broken discoloured foot before her.

"Now which little piggy went to market?" She asked, looking intently at the foot before her. "Hell you've only got two little piggy's left that ain't crippled, so it's gotta be this one!" she exclaimed, crushing Mike's toe with the hammer. Faith stared at the mangled foot in confusion while Mike screamed in agony. "Shit, that was the little piggy that had roast beef." she said sadly, "Man!, can't believe I fucked up a simple nursery rhyme, Mike do ya know what this means?" she asked looking up at the man tethered to the chair before her. "It means I'm gonna have to say it again, to make sure I get it right." she said calmly removing his boot and sock from his other foot.

"No! No! please!" he pleaded, desperately trying to get away from the woman before him.

"It's nice to see you've got some manners, nearly makes up for your lack of personal hygiene." she said grimacing as she threw his sock across the room. "You better have clean underwear on Mikey boy, I mean you never know when your gonna get hit by a bus, or tortured to death, it pays to be prepared. You don't want the guys down at the morgue laughing at ya." she said conversationally. "Now, is there anything you wanna tell me before me an MC Hammer here start banging away?" she asked, grabbing his foot with one hand and raising the hammer in the other. "Cause once I start, there's no going back."

Mike nodded and took a deep breath, "You're family's finished in this city." he spat.

"Is that so." Faith said thoughtfully.

Mike gave her a bloody smile, "We took Boston from you, New York will be a pushover." he stated.

Faith grinned turned to face the men that where standing in the shadows behind her, "You hear that Johnny?" she asked. "Little shit thinks they can take us down."

Her cousin stepped out of the shadows and approached them, staring at Mike in disdain. "What makes you so sure?" he asked. Mike stared at him defiantly, refusing to answer. Faith pulled her knife from her waistband and stabbed it through his foot, pinning it to the ground, causing Mike cry out in pain.

"Answer the man Mike." she said firmly. Seeing that he was still stubbornly refusing to talk, she pulled out her gun and shot out his knee cap, his scream of agony was quickly cut short as Faith pressed the barrel of her gun against the crotch of his pants. "If you don't start talking soon, I'll blow your fucking balls off."

"A-Anthony wants war." He stammered, tears of pain streaming down his cheeks. When he refused to elaborate Faith twisted the knife in his foot, feeling the bones crunching in protest. "FUCK! H-He wants all Lehane's dead, so that t-there's no one to challenge our family." he stammered. "H-He's starting small by buyin over all your dealers, t-then he's goin for your contacts. He won't stop till you're finished."

"Give us Anthony's address." Faith demanded, pressing her gun hard into his crotch, making him think twice about lying.

"He spends most of his time in a condo out in the hills." he explained, "Near sunset ridge, don't know the address, h-honest."

Johnny glared at him, "You better be telling the fuckin truth, what about this shipment of drugs from Columbia? Where's it bein stored?"

"D-Down in warehouse 10C near the docks." Mike said, "H-Half of it's been pedalled, but the rests getting sent t-to Boston."

"When?" Faith asked.

"Couple of days." he replied. "That's all I know."

Faith looked at Johnny expectantly, silently asking if that was everything. He nodded and turned and left the room, raising her gun Faith pulled the trigger, quickly ending Mike's misery and leaving them one less O'Rielly to worry about.

155 Riverside Drive - Apartment 10C- 18:45pm

Buffy trudged into her apartment and threw her keys on the side table by the door, before kicking the front door closed behind her. She had the day from hell and all she wanted was to sit on the sofa with a glass of wine and watch some fluffy movie. The ballistics report from the bullet had showed that the murder weapon was a regular semi-automatic hand gun, with ordinary regular 9mm bullets, and surprise surprise the gun didn't have a registered owner. Forensics had turned up nothing, no fingerprints, no stray hairs not even a piece of fluff. So with no witnesses and no forensic evidence, the chief had just chalked the murder up as a bog standard gangland killing and filed it away with the rest of them. Needless to say Buffy was pissed, they'd been trying to get a lead on the gang that had been committing these murders for the past two months, everyone had the feeling that it was the Lehane's however Buffy wasn't so sure, and it had nothing to do with her brief encounter with the brunette she'd bumped into earlier.

Walking into the living room she threw her coat on the sofa, before going to check her answer machine, two new messages. The first was her landlord reminding her that her rent was due in three days, like she could forget that, and the second was her best friend, asking her to give her a call when she got in. Buffy sighed and looked at the clock, she knew that Willow would want her to come out for a few drinks, and that was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment. However she knew how persuasive her best friend could be, and given the fact that she hadn't seen her for a while she decided to give her a call.

Picking up the cordless phone she hit dialled Willows number, and walked into the kitchen to fix something to eat. Opening her fridge, she groaned as she realised that she'd forgot to go shopping. "Just great, could today get any worse." she mumbled slamming the fridge door in frustration.

Buffy jumped as the person on the other end of the phone finally answered. // Hello?//

"Hey Willow long time no speak." she said, smiling as she heard her best friends voice.

// Buffy, hey. How are you// Willow asked excitedly.

"I'm fine, you know all things considered, still managing to pay the rent." Buffy said, grabbing a tin of soup from the cupboard and looking at it in disdain as she realised that it was two months out of date.

// I was wondering if you wanted to come out for a few drinks with me and some of the girls. // Willow asked.

"Depends you aren't going to hook me up with another one of your work colleagues are you?" Buffy asked warily. "Cause you know what happened last time." Her best friend was a consultant at one of New Yorks leading hospitals, she'd decided to set Buffy up on a blind date, with one of the hospital staff. When Buffy first found out she was all for it, hoping it would be at least another doctor or even a cute nurse. But it turned out to be a morgue attendant called Mavis, who looked as if she should be in a morgue, not working in one, not to mention that she was old enough to be her mother. Her friend had really been scraping the barrel that day and ever since Buffy had been wary about having her friend organising her love life.

// No and you still haven't forgiven me for that have you. // Willow exclaimed. // It's just going to be a few innocent drinks, it'll give us a chance to catch up. //

"Sounds harmless enough, Whose going to be there?" Buffy asked curiously.

//There'll be me, Tara, Charlotte and her flatmate Cassandra, and you if you decide to come.//

"Okay count me in." Buffy said, "But I won't be out late tonight, I've got an early start tomorrow."

// Cool, just come round to my place around eight, it'll give us a chance to have a couple of drinks before we head out at nine. // Willow said.

"Okay, I'll see you then." Buffy said, saying her goodbyes she hung up the phone, and tossed it onto the worktop. Looking back up at the clock she saw that she had less than an hour to get ready, and seeing as she was currently car less, she had the choice of hiking to Willow's or getting a cab. Deciding to go for the latter, she rushed through to the bedroom, hoping to God that she could find something decent to wear. With laundry day fast approaching and two bags of washing building up in the corner of her room, the odds where pretty slim.

Masquerade, Nightclub - 21:30pm

The group of giggling women made their way into the nightclub, for the first time in ages Buffy was enjoying herself. She'd enjoyed the chance to catch up with her friends and had the odd glass of wine while watching Willow and the others getting merrier. Knowing that she had work the next day made Buffy revert to soft drinks, it was bad enough having to put up with Riley on a good day, without having to deal with the hangover from hell.

As she scanned the club for a table she felt her stomach drop and her good mood quickly evaporate, as she saw Kennedy dancing with Harmony on the dance floor. She'd known it was a bad idea to come out tonight. "Listen Willow I think I'm just gonna head home." she said.

"But Buffy we've just got here, at least stay for a couple of drinks, please." Willow pleaded, however when she followed Buffy's gaze she saw the reason for her friends sudden change of mood. "Don't let that bitch get to you, stay with us and show her that you're over her." she said firmly.

"But I'm not." Buffy said sadly.

"You can't let her run your life Buffy, especially when she's not in it." Willow said gently.

Buffy smiled, "I know you're right, and I will make her see what she's missing out on, just not tonight. I've had a long day and I'm not ready to face a battle of wills with my ex." she said.

"Understood." Willow said, pulling her friend into a hug. "Give me a call tomorrow, we need to meet up more often." she said pulling back and staring at her friend intently.

"I will, I promise." Buffy said, seeing the doubt flash across Willow's face. Turning to leave she began to pick her way through the crowd, moving in the general direction of the door. The door was almost in sight when she bumped into someone, coming from the bar. Buffy turned ten shades of red and nearly died when she saw who it was.

"You've gotta be fuckin kiddin me!" Faith moaned, looking down at her top which was now soaked in beer. Looking up she was surprised to see the blonde from the coffee shop. "I should've known it would be you." she said.

"Oh God I'm sorry, again." Buffy said, "Honestly this isn't a regular thing for me." she said.

"Really? Cause I'm startin to think about investin in waterproof clothing." Faith exclaimed, plucking at her damp top. Looking back up at Buffy she saw the anxious look on her face, and felt the need to reassure her, "Look don't worry about it I've been covered in worse today." she said smiling gently. "This is only my fifth outfit change. The names Faith by the way." she said.

"Buffy, and I'm usually not as clumsy as this." she said, "Despite the fact that both times I've met you, you've ended up covered in stuff." she said sheepishly.

Faith smiled, "Listen, do you wanna join me for a drink?" she asked. "That is if you promise not to throw it over me."

Buffy hesitated, Riley's previous words of warning echoing in her ears. She considered what could possibly be dangerous about having a drink with a known criminal, granted all she knew about Faith was what Riley had told her. And from her own brief encounters with the brunette, she seemed normal enough. Besides she was just having one drink, it would give her a chance to get to know her better, and if she didn't like what she saw she wouldn't have to see her again. Looking back up at Faith, she couldn't help but smile at the nervous look on the brunettes face. "I mean if you don't want to that's okay." Faith added, giving the blonde the chance to back out of her offer if she wanted.

"No, I would love to." Buffy said smiling at Faith reassuringly. "And I promise I'll try not to spill anything on you." she said.

Faith grinned, "Great, we can stay here if you want, or if you want a change of scenery I know this bar down the street, it's quieter and it'll be easier to talk." she offered.

Buffy looked back at the dance floor and saw Kennedy crawling all over her slut of a girlfriend. Her smile fell slightly as she remembered what she'd had, before she turned to face the gorgeous brunette before her, and realised what she could have was so much better. "Sure that sounds great." she said, smiling happily as she felt the tingles run up her arm, as Faith took her hand and led her towards the exit.

Tbc.

A/N: Am I moving too fast? Too slow? Anyone has any ideas as to where they want the story to go, then let me know cause I'm open to suggestions, as long as you don't say the recycle bin cause that's just evil.