Chapter Ten:

Tiffany opened the door to her bedroom, bouncing happily down the stairs. She was supposed to be at Giles apartment in 30 minutes, and she still had to stop by and pick up Gerard. She had spent the night at his apartment last night, and while he'd been out with Frank doing something for their album, she had rushed home to change clothes and shower. As the excited girl rounded the last corner, and the living room came into her view, her smile immediately vanished.

Faith and Caitlin were both staring at her. Apparently her excited pace down the stairs had drawn their attention. They were both staring at her with different degrees of disdain and annoyance. They were obviously there to visit with Buffy and Angel, who weren't currently in the room. She figured there was some big evil going down that she didn't know about, but didn't think she would be needed for it anyway. She normally wasn't anymore.

"Hey, Tiffany said, weakly, stepping off the last stair. She felt it was her obligation to be polite to Caitlin, and also Faith-who would kick her ass if she said anything about the day before at the mall.

Caitlin turned away from her without a word, but Faith continued to stare at her.

"Hey," Faith replied, disdainfully, "Where's Super slut and tall, dark, and gothic?"

"Emily and Will," She punctuated each word as she looked at the Slayer with a glare, "are at Giles'. I'm about to head there myself, but I have to stop by Gee's apartment first."

The brunette vanished into the kitchen, and returned a bit later holding a bottle of Diet Coke. Faith and Caitlin were conversing in low tones, obviously not wanting her to hear what they were discussing. Tiffany felt as if she'd been eviscerated as her eyes fell on them. She had never felt awkward around Caitlin before, but now all she wanted was to get away from the her. Away from those ominous whispers that the two were now taking part in. Caitlin was supposed to be her best friend, and there she was obviously complaining to Faith about her, and probably Emily as well. Sighing, deeply, she didn't even bother to say anything, as she quickly grabbed her messenger bag off the table by the door, and exited the mansion. Slamming the door loudly, she felt tears pricking the backs of her eyelids as she headed towards her car. She practically held her breath, refusing to let the tears fall, but as soon as she shut the door on her car, they spilled forth, completely unwanted. But she was unable to stop them.

Back inside, the ominous whispered had resume.

"See I told you we shouldn't meet them here" Caitlin hissed.

"Relax" said Faith "She's gone"

"Was that mobspeak? Gone as in you're gonna beat her to death with her own corpse?"

Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Yes that was me being hopeful" she said dejectedly.

They heard the door close and Caitlin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why you hating on her? I mean I know why I do. But I'm still not clear on your reasons. Weren't you two the best of buddies?"

"We were. And now were not."

The slayer rolled her eyes, said "Whatever" and collapsed on the couch.

Caitlin hesitated but after another look Faith gave her, she conceded.

"Fine. We were friends for a long time. But in that time I started to discover things about her that…" she shook her head and walked into the kitchen.

"How the hell was that the end of a sentence? I know I dropped outta high school and all but come on!" Faith yelled.

"Chill nutcase!" she called back "I'm just getting some water!"

"Well it was rude" the other girl muttered.

Caitlin walked back in with a glass of water in her hand.

"What happened to Miss-I'm-Addicted-To-Snapple?"

"She went on a diet"

"You! Dieting? What are you doing that for?"

"I gained 5 pounds. I want to lose it. Quickly."

"But you're all powerful…"

That stopped her in her tracks. She stood there with the water in her hand, dumfounded.

"Gah!" she yelled and went over to the window, threw it open and tossed the water, glass et all, into the street where it smashed against the pavement.

Faith couldn't stop laughing.

"I swear I must be the stupidest person in the world."

"No arguments there!" she gasped through fits of chortling.

"Shut up!" Caitlin snapped "I can't believe I've been drinking nothing but water for 2 days!"

That only made Faith laugh harder. Caitlin blinked and a bottle of cold peach iced tea Snapple appeared in her hand. She ripped off the top and started guzzling it down.

"Ahhh" she sighed happily when she lowered the bottle to breathe.

"Better?"

"Much…I swear this thing with the bitch being back has got me in a knot the size of Texas"

"That's a big knot"

"Why did she come back? There's nothing here for her. Doesn't she know when she's not wanted? No of course not! She just barges in and expects everyone to fall at her feet because she's just soooo awesome and completely non-conformist, hates society with their lame music and clothes" she imitated Tiffany "Look at me! I loooove MCR and all the other obscure bands who make the shittiest music in the world because everyone else hates them. So I'm cool for liking them. I'm soooo cool and sooooo original!" she stopped to take deep, gulping breaths for she had just said all that without taking one. "I just hate being around her. It makes me wanna puke. She makes my skin crawl"

"Finish telling me why"

Caitlin had settled in the armchair now; her bottle of Snapple was half empty.

"Because she's evil, moronic, and I hate her guts?"

"I happen to agree but that's not a real specific-like answer"

"And why do I have to answer to you?" she muttered under her breath.

"Only because I have to hang out with you now that we're friends" Faith shot back.

"Oh? So you admit it?" Caitlin chuckled.

"I'm at your place nearly everyday, we eat together, we watch TV together, we go to movies together, we kill evil undead together…we're practically married (if you weren't practically married to Maxie) so I guess we're what some people would call friends"

She laughed "If you say so"

They were silent for a moment and then Faith got up and moved for the phone.

"Where the hell is 'B'? They said they were gonna be here at 3!" she picked up the receiver and was about to dial when Caitlin murmured "She wasn't the person I thought she was"

Faith put the phone back down and crossed her arms over her chest. "How so?"

"She was dishonest, and callous; she disregarded people as though they were hardly human at all. I couldn't stand it. How could someone "good" treat people like she did? I ignored it. I tried. I really did. But she just…"

"Kept messing up" the brunette finished for her.

"Pretty much"

"Not that I'm saying this in her defense or anything. Cause I really do hate the bitch. So consider this as a more general statement. Sometimes people need not just second chances, but 4ths, and 5ths, until they get it right."

"I know" Caitlin said, understanding that Faith was speaking from her own experiences. "But I gave her that many chances. And more. She never fixed it enough for me to forgive and forget. I don't think she really even wanted to."

"Are you ever going to tell me anything more specific? Or am I just going to be left in the dark here?"

"You're the slayer. You love the dark"

"You're ass is gonna be beaten in a second…"

"I don't…I can't…" she stuttered trying to find the right words.

"I get it" Faith said. "It's cool. You ain't gotta talk to me about if you're not ready yet."

"That's…surprisingly thoughtful…" she said suspiciously.

"Hey! I can be thoughtful!"

Caitlin gave her a look. Faith caved.

"It's those damn anger management things I have to go to. They're making me learn how to deal with "emotions" and all that shit"

"The horror" she mocked sarcastically.

"It was court-ordered! I swear by my knife that the judge was a Klausern demon! They love torture!"

"Give it up. She went easy on you and you know it. She could have put you in jail for 15 years for beating up that old lady. You put her in the hospital for 8 months. It's called Aggravated Assault"

"She was in MY face!" Faith cried in defense.

"She was 87!"

"Like that's any excuse!"

"She just asked you for the time!"

"She wanted to steal my watch! I saw her looking at it with her little beady eyes!"

"You mean the one you got from the $1 store?" Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"It's a good watch!"

Caitlin simply rolled her eyes, indulging in her Snapple.

…………………….………………………….…………….…………….…………….……………

Tiffany arrived outside of Gerard's apartment, and checked her makeup in the mirror. Her eyeliner was bit smudged, but she didn't think it looked bad enough to reveal that she had been crying. Forcing herself to put on a smile, she stepped out of her car and headed towards the entrance of his apartment. Standing outside the door, she looked around curiously after knocking as she waited for him to answer.

A moment later, the door swung open and she was met with the sight of one Frank Iero, standing shirtless before her. He rubbed his eyes, as he stepped back and gestured for her to come inside with his free hand. Normally she would have teased him about sleeping so much, or told him how adorable he was, but all she did was muster a tiny smile.

"Hey," she said, softly.

"Hi, Gee's in his room," Frank informed, "I'm going to go do that napping thing, like I usually do," he said, turning and heading into his own bedroom without another word.

Tiffany shut the door behind her, and headed down the hallway to her boyfriend's room. The door was cracked, so she pushed it open, quietly. Gerard sat with his back to her on the bed, and was strumming lazily on an acoustic guitar. A notebook was sitting next to him, and words were scribbled haphazardly on the page. Obviously a song was in the making. She quietly watched him, not wanting to interrupt, as he sang softly while playing the instrument. A moment later, he sat the guitar back in its stand, apparently finished for the time being.

The brunette stepped away from the door, and moved around the bed so she was facing him. She gave him a soft smile, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. The events from earlier were still weighing on her as she thought of Caitlin. Things had been gotten so completely skewed. Everything had been messed up between them since she'd been with Gerard. More accurately since Jaden was gone. It was all her fault, she was sure of it, though she wasn't quite sure how. Caitlin didn't even remember Jaden, or maybe, subconsciously she did. Caitlin her told her once that your subconscious was always working, that's why you could more easily relate to certain lines in songs, books, etc. Maybe that was the case now. Caitlin's subconscious remembered Jaden, and it was what had helped drive the pair apart. Not that either one of them had tried to remedy the situation. Not really, anyway. The entire time that Tiffany had been on tour with Gerard, Caitlin hadn't called her once. The other day had been the first time that they had spoken in almost a year. The brooding girl pulled herself out of her thoughts when she realized that Gerard had been speaking to her, and she hadn't even noticed.

"Sorry, what?" Tiffany asked, her eyes meeting his.

Gerard frowned deeply, "Well, I was asking if you were ready to go to Giles', but now I'm asking if you're okay."

"I'm fine," Tiffany said. Much to her annoyance, her voice held very little of the conviction that she wished it did. She looked down at her shoes, chewing on her lip.

"You're not fine," Gerard stated, knowingly, standing and tilted her chin up with his hand so she was looking at him.

"I really am," Tiffany tried to assure him. Once again she gave a tiny smile, and once again it was countered by the worry and depression that shown in her eyes.

"No, you're not, but you're not going to tell me anything otherwise. At least not right now," Gerard said, giving a tiny sigh. He knew how she worked, everything was held in, kept away until it all piled up and then she would break down and tell him about it. Slipping his arms around her, he hugged her tightly, as she laid her head on his chest.

Breathing in his scent, the girl tried to calm herself. She knew that if she showed up like this that Emily would know immediately that something was wrong. She also knew that Emily would be able to get her to admit what was wrong much quicker than Gerard. Her boyfriend knew exactly how she worked, and accepted that, but Emily was always the one who could pry anything out of her without really trying. Not that Emily was nosy, she just knew the right questions to ask, mostly because she had been doing it for so long. And also because she was the type of person that couldn't stand of her friends to be hurting, no matter how minute the reason behind it might be.

"We should go to Giles'" Tiffany stated, looking up at Gerard, his hazel eyes were laced with worry.

"Are you sure you wanna go?" Gerard inquired.

"Are you kidding, miss a Rocky Horror Picture Show party at Giles' house. That's like blackmail ammunition for the rest of my life, and I'm going to get Will in a dress if it kills me," Tiffany said, this time her tiny smile was genuine.

Gerard gave a small laugh, "If you're sure that you want to go…"

Tiffany gave him a mock glare, "Yes, I'm quite sure. Now, go get yourself a dress, Mister."

Gerard just grinned at her, pulling her back into his arms for a kiss.