Well, this is my first 'in between' that I've done in a while, and of course I did some research on the episode that's supposed to be next first, so let me just say…wow. There is so many things I will have to change in my version of 'Revelations', it's unbelievable; basically the whole thing….wish me luck? Anyways, um you might be a bit angry after this chapter, because I'm up to no good. I'm about to kick you guys around a bit, and…I hope you enjoy it. This is going to be a lovely, special chapter, that will kick off the long downward spiral that happened in the actual season, so I'm very excited to present you with this. I hope that I do the season justice. Thanks for reading, and please review. -ThomThom
Chapter Eight: Starving for Madness
"Who's the girl?" Oz asked, as he looked over Willow's shoulder, at Kennedy and the girl she was kissing. Though the kiss was short, the fact that it was happening, especially right where it was, relieved some of the worry he had. Yeah, he told Willow there was nothing to worry about, in terms of him being worried, but it wasn't entirely true. He had started to wonder about the two girls, after seeing how intimately they held each other when they thought their lives' were in danger. Seeing Willow hold Kennedy like that; her hand on her head, and waist, had hit him directly in the heart, making him wonder if she'd do the same for him. At the moment though, seeing Kennedy acting like the girl he had met, when she was first living in Sunnydale, gave him a little peace within himself.
Willow on the other hand, felt like she was dying inside, "What--? Who--?" she was trying to ask questions as if Kennedy were there; as if she could hear her. It was the only thing she could do, other than stare as Kennedy pulled away from the girl, and gave her most wicked grin. She thought it was a nightmare. That she had drifted off do to the fumes of the paint remover, but after a while--she knew she was awake, especially when Kennedy looked in her direction.
"Oh, shit," Kennedy said, as she looked at Willow's horrified expression. She turned to the girl in front of her, "I'll talk to you later, okay. I promise," she said, quickly, as she walked over to Willow. What started as a fast pace walk, turned into an outright run, "Willow, let me--" just as she reached out to touch the girl, someone stepped in between them, "Snyder!"
"That's Principal Snyder," the man said, pulling at the collar of his suit, "Now, unless you are here to help, you need to leave, so my volunteers here, won't be distracted."
Xander walked past Kennedy, with Oz behind him, to go get some more remover, "By volunteers he means slaves," he whispered.
"Fine," she reached down for a towel, "I'll help."
"You'll help?" the man asked, suspiciously.
She nodded, and after her looked at her with a distrusting eye, turned to the lockers, "See. Helping," the man walked off a little distance, but not far enough for her to fully turn to Willow, so she continued to wipe the locker, and whispered to Willow, "I know what you just saw was--But I promise, I can-"
"No, Kennedy," Willow said, as she too wiped the lockers.
"Please…"
"I've always been the one to listen to you when you made mistakes--no more," she started to scrub harder, "There's only one thing I want from you right now."
Kennedy looked over at the girl, with hope in her eyes, "Which is?"
She turned to her, "For you to stop trying to explain, and leave. If you do that--If you can do this one thing for me, we can meet up later, and you can explain. Not tonight though. Tonight, I need some time to think."
"Think?" she asked, not happy to hear that word.
"Yeah, Kennedy, think. What you should have done before you made out with someone in the hall," she sighed, "I just don't understand you. I mean I can understand all these complicated math problems, and understand almost any book someone puts in front of me, but I can't understand one person. Do you even know how much this--?"
"Hey Willow," Oz said, as he walked back over to his girlfriend, "I'm thinking that we're done here. There's no more remover, and Snyder went back into his office, so we should get going," he looked between the two of them, feeling a little tension, and then back at Willow, "We are still on for our thing tonight, right?"
"What thing?" Kennedy asked.
"A date thing," he said, "Maybe we could, uh, make it a double, and you could invite that girl you were kissing."
"No," Willow, and Kennedy, both blurted at the same time.
Kennedy sort of just nodded her head, "No, I'm good thanks," she said, as nicely as she possibly could, without seeming fake. She looked at Willow, "I'll see ya."
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Faith stuffed her hands into her pockets, as her and Buffy silently walked across the street from the school. She hadn't really fully thought out what she'd say to the blonde slayer, but even what she had thought about, seemed to be fading away. What Buffy had done to her definitely did have an effect on her, a major one, but she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad effect. In some ways she felt that the girl had given her a reality check; that she had showed her were she was meant to be; on the outside. While in other ways she just felt hurt by the whole situation, mad even. She had changed parts of who she was, shown a softer side of herself, and then was, literally, slapped in the face.
"About what I did," Buffy started, as if she had heard Faith's thoughts. She stopped walking, and put her hand on Faith's arm to get her to look at her, "I am so sorry. I can't even begin to explain how bad I felt--feel, about what I did to you; all of the things I said, and hitting you. There is no excuse for what I did, even if you had take the ring, that doesn't mean I get to go off on a rampage. There's no excuse," she said, again.
"Yeah, there is," Faith said, as she started to walk, again, "I ain't crazy, or stupid. Why you did it--there's no question; you love him," she looked over at Buffy, who was looking at her, and then turned away, "We both know it. That ring meant everything, ya know, of course you're gonna go a little wild."
Buffy looked down, "But you--I shouldn't have done it to you. I mean, I shouldn't have even thought you would--"
"But I would. I would take something that doesn't belong to me--it didn't belong to me. No, it wasn't the one Angel gave you, but it sure as hell wasn't mine either. If anything I should have given it back to Scott," she was silent for a moment, "It was kind of…bound to happen. Like, I egged it on a bit. What the hell was I thinking, wearin' that thing everywhere?"
Buffy had wondered the same thing, and still hadn't figured it out herself. Why would Faith wear something that symbolized her relationship with Angel? She had heard Dawn say that it was kind of like a twisted obsession once, when she was talking to Kennedy, but she didn't think it was that, and neither had Kennedy. That, in her mind, still wouldn't excuse anything, "It doesn't matter," she said, "I shouldn't have done it."
"It doesn't matter now," she said, hearing exactly what she had wanted to hear. She looked over at Buffy, and smiled, "You hungry?"
She shrugged, with a smile, "I could eat."
Faith laughed, "Right."
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"I got it," Dawn yelled, as she ran to the door. She opened the door quickly, expecting to see a familiar face, but that's not what she saw. In front of her was a girl, slightly taller than her, with shoulder length dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin, wearing a navy blue shirt, and light blue jeans. Dawn was struck to silence, blown away by the girl's beauty, especially when she smiled.
"Hi," she said, with a warm, flowing, voice, "Is Kennedy here?" she asked. The girl in front of her said nothing, so she gave her a sideways glance, all while keeping her bright smile across her face, "I am at the right house right?" still nothing, "I just wanted to give her this book…even though she's not a big reader," she lifted the book to show the girl, "See."
"Book?" Dawn said, her mouth slightly hanging open. She shook her head, "Right," she said, laughing nervously, "A book. I know what a book is. I can read," she hit herself, mentally, for saying something so stupid.
"I bet," the girl said, still keeping that smile. She put the book in one hand, and handed out the other, "I'm June."
"June," Dawn said, shaking the girl's hand, "as in the month. I'm Dawn, as in, well,… the dawn.
"It's cute," the girl said, once they were done shaking hands, "Not that I don't like standing in the doorway--"
"Oh, right," she moved aside, to let the girl in, and then closed the door, rolling her eyes at the her lack of normality, "You're here to see Kennedy, I'll take you to her," she said, leading the girl upstairs. When she reached her door, she turned to June, "She's being kind of quiet today, for some reason, do you know why?"
"Um, I'm not sure, but I'll be sure to ask," she said, with a concerned look, "Maybe it has to do with Willow, as in the tree."
"Hmm," Dawn said, with a smile, "Secret affairs can only go well, for so long," she nodded her head, thinking about her two friends. Then she headed down the stairs, "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah," June said, with a smile, "you too," once Dawn was out of sight, she turned and knocked on the door. She heard the girl inside say come in, and walked in slowly, closing the door quietly behind her, seeing that Kennedy was lying down, with the covers wrapped tightly around her.
Kennedy sat up, "Oh, hey."
June smiled, sadly, "Hey."
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Buffy watched as Faith gobbled down the sandwich she had ordered, unable to stop herself from smiling. It was funny how, despite the fact that Faith ate all the time, she always seemed to be starving each and every time she ate. She would take a couple of big bites, at once, wipe her mouth, missing a spot in the corner of her mouth, and then take a drink of her drink.
"I see you still eat like a pig," Buffy said, getting the girl's attention, seeing that they hadn't really talked since they had gotten their food. They had just had the whole 'is yours good' conversation.
Faith froze, looking up at Buffy. Then she wiped her mouth, still missing that corner, putting down her sandwich. She chewed as fast as she could, and then cleared her throat, "I see you still nibble on things when you're nervous."
"I'm wondering if you meant that in a naughty way," she said, squinting at the girl.
"Clearly I didn't," she said, with a grin.
"Because nothing you say is ever a pervy undertone."
"Never," Faith said, simply.
After a moment, Buffy spoke again, "So, what exactly have you been up to, since you left? Where's Rachel?"
"I haven't been doin' much really. I was thinking about getting out of here, but uh, Kenn said she wasn't gonna leave Red, so here I am."
"Oh," Buffy said, sadly. A little let down by the fact that she wasn't the reason Faith was sitting in front of her, that very moment, and the fact that she wanted to leave Sunnydale.
"Nothin' against ya B, I was just feelin' a bit lost. Thought it would help to get out of here for a bit," she said, seeing that the girl was clearly getting sad again, "No worries," she said with a smile, "Um, I'm not real sure where Rachel headed off to though. Pretty sure she wasn't into comin' back here to see Kenn with Red."
"How'd she know?" Buffy asked.
"Stuff like that is obvious, ya know? I mean, you can tell when someone's tiggin' someone else," she shrugged, "Not sure how long it'll be before we see her again. Kinda sucks really, she's a good friend. Just got her heart broken…it's kind of a thing in our family; get hurt, or hurt somebody. That's just how it plays out after a while," she thought about all of the things that happened to her, and then pushed the thoughts away, once she was starting to feel a bit sad, "How's it been, with you?"
"Fine," she said, quickly. Then she shrugged, "Okay."
"Sunny-D, musta been pretty boring without me here," she said, concededly.
Buffy laughed, "You could say that. I caught a lot of crap from my mom, and Giles, while you were gone. Lots of studying, and training, and patrolling…which seems to take longer, when you're actually doing it. Nothing around to distract from the job."
"Like I said, boring. Good thing I'm back, then," she said, grinning, "We can go out tonight, and hopefully, things will get a little raunchy out there…in a non-sexual way, of course," she added.
"Of course," the blonde repeated.
Faith sat up in her chair, and reached across the table, "You've got something," she said, reached to the corner of Buffy's mouth, wiping away a crumb.
"So do you," Buffy said, doing the same.
They both laughed, then Faith went into a more serious mode, "Look, B, with everything that went on with us…I think we should start over."
"Start over?" she said, with a bit of joy.
"Yeah, you know, just be friends," she paused, sitting back in her chair, and picking up her sandwich, "I think that'll be better for the both of us."
"Right. Friends."
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"Sorry about the lack of dressing up," Willow said, as her and Oz walked to his van, "The best I could do was a sundress."
"No, you look great," he looked down at his usual t-shirt, and jeans, "Sorry about mine though. I thought about wearing a tie, but it just didn't seem to work out," Willow laughed, making him smile, "I'm glad we're doing this, I've sort of missed you."
"Missed me?" she asked, confused.
He opened her door, "Yeah. We've been a little off balance lately, but I'm thinking tonight will fix all of that. We'll be back to our usual," he gave her a quick peck, and then went to the other side, and got in the van, "So I'm thinking we go somewhere nice, where we won't bump into anyone we know. Sound good?"
"Sounds great," she said, with a smile, but once they got to the place, she sort of sunk down in her seat. It was the place where Kennedy had stood her up, and that definitely made her feel guilty.
"This is it," Oz said, looking over at Willow, "Devon told me about it, so I thought I'd bring you here. It's a little different from the usual, but it seems like a pretty good place."
They got out of the van, and went inside, and it definitely was a nice place. It was quiet, with dimmed lights, and tables with nice white table cloths, and candles.
"Wow," Oz said, looking around, "We're a little underdressed," he laced hands with Willow, "But we're not really here to impress," they walked up to the hostess, "Yeah, I've got a reservation."
"Name?" the hostess asked, not really looking up at the couple.
"Uh, Daniel Osborne."
Willow looked over at the boy, a little shocked that he had used his whole name, and by the fact that he had chosen that restaurant. It was definitely different from the places he would usually take her, which was the movies, the espresso pump, or The Bronze. The hostess lead them to their table, which was a bit away from the door, closer to the wall. Unlike the other tables, it flowers on it.
"You like them?" he asked, as they sat down.
She smiled, feeling a bit more guilty, "They're beautiful," the hostess gave them their menu, told them their waiter would be with them soon, and then left them to be alone. The fact that they were once again alone, though in a restaurant with plenty of people, made Willow wish that they had gone to a place where they could bump into someone they know, so they wouldn't be alone. It had been a very long time since they had been alone on a date, especially since she had been going on secret dates with Kennedy.
Oz put his arm across the table, for Willow to take, which she did after a second, and looked into her green eyes, "I want this night to be perfect."
"It already is," she said, thinking about the fact that Kennedy hadn't showed up on their date, to the exact same place, once again. Then she started to think about what else Kennedy was keeping from her, or lying to her about, and the fact that Oz would never do any of that to her.
"Just you being here, makes it perfect" he said, with a gentle smile, "I love you."
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"I don't want to start over," Buffy said, as she kicked a punching bag. She had woken up early, woken Dawn up, and dragged the girl to a gym, so she could let out her frustration.
Dawn watched her sister pound the punching bag, "Is that a bad thing?" she asked, as she sat against a wall.
Buffy laughed, "Yeah, because that was followed by a 'just be friends', and I don't want to just be friends either," she admitted. She stopped hitting the punching bag, and leaned on it for support, breathing heavily, "God, she was so amazing, when we went patrolling last night."
"Are talking about fighting skills here?"
She ignored her sister's question, "It was just so--" she went to go sit next to her, "Fun. Yeah, the inappropriate jokes lasted the whole night, but I didn't care, because it was back to normal with us. There was no awkward, 'you hit me, and yelled at me' moments, after we talked. It was like none of that happened. She was funny, and sweet, in her own way, but she just wants to be friends."
"Maybe she was just saying that," Dawn said, trying to make her sister feel better.
"Maybe," Buffy said, almost in a whisper, "But I'm not sure. She asked me about Angel, and how me and him were doing."
"That's weird."
"What's even weirder was the fact that it actually made me think about him, in a I'm not sure what I want kind of way. Things have been a little tense between me and Angel, since the whole slapping event. We've gotten a little closer…again. Sometimes I would wonder, you know, if I was just trying to fill some void."
"You mean, using Faith?" Dawn asked.
Buffy put her face in her hands, and sighed, "I don't know. She's great, really great. And she was so understanding when I was apologizing. I missed her. But it doesn't really compare to what I felt when Angel was gone, or when he came back. Sure, Faith and I have always had that thing, but I'm just not sure if I'm just reaching, or not. What if I am?"
"So we're back to this," Dawn said, remembering the conversation she had had with Buffy the day after Faith had left. It seemed like Buffy could never fully get rid of her feelings with Angel, and that was understandable, seeing the history they shared. He was her first love; her first…everything, "I think you might want to talk to him. If Faith is really just wanting to be friends, or even just saying it, that means something. Maybe you chose the wrong person…but--"
"But?"
"But things are so complicated, when it comes to you and Angel. More complicated, in some ways, then what you and Faith have, and I'm sure she hates always coming in second. She's an all or nothing type of girl, and with you she'll always be in the nothing category, while you're still confused about Angel. The ring thing just proves that."
She knew that her sister was right. If Faith had really been who she wanted completely, the whole thing that happened that night, probably wouldn't have happened. Faith probably wouldn't have had the ring. One thing that she knew was that, other than Angel, Faith was the one that knew her best, though she wasn't sure that it ran both ways. The other slayer had to know, just like Dawn said, that she was always second. Did she even have a number when Buffy didn't love her, but she loved Angel? What did that make Faith, a distraction? In a way, she figured that's exactly what Faith was. When Angel was gone, Faith was the one that took her mind off of him, and when he came back, Faith kept her from thinking about him, and what him being back would meant.
"Do you think I'm using her?" she asked, turning to her sister, sadly.
Dawn frowned for a moment, looking away as she did, and then raised her eyebrows, "In some ways, yeah, but in other ways, I think you actually care about her. Just not the same way you care about Angel," she laughed, "I can't believe I'm saying this, because honestly, I like Faith more than Angel."
"You do?"
"Yeah, and it's not just because Faith hasn't tortured the people we love. When you're with Angel, you're happy, but also really sad, because you can't really be with him, and I don't mean sexually. Definitely not thinking sexually," she added, "But when you're with Faith, there's no sadness; there's no boundaries; there's no mood swings. Another good part of it is, we're closer. You never came to me to talk about Angel, but any time you had something to say about Faith, you'd say it to me. When you figured out that you really liked Faith, you admitted it to me first."
"Dawnie," she said, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder, "It might have taken me a while to really start talking to you, and I'm sorry for that, but I promise you, that's the way it's going to be from now on. No matter who I'm with, you're my go to girl. Somehow, you seem to be smarter--wiser, than everyone else."
"That's what I've been saying for years," Dawn said, with a smile. Then it faded, "The sad thing is, even though you and Faith's thing is less dramatic, less destructive, she's not the one that holds your heart. She's just easier…again, in a non-sexual way," she said, laughing, "You're on your own this time."
"Literally," Buffy said, flatly. She sat back against the wall, leaning her head back, staring at the ceiling, "You're right, I just need to talk to Angel about this," she looked at Dawn, "You wanna come?" she asked, in a desperate, scared, tone.
"No, not this time, but I'll be waiting for you to tell me about it, later," she said, sincerely.
Buffy hugged her sister, "You'll be the first one to hear about it."
Dawn hugged her sister back, "More like the only one, but that works too."
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Before Buffy was able to make it to Buffy's, Willow called her, and asked if they could meet up for a minute, and by the way the girl was looking, when she finally reached their meeting spot, she was glad she did go. Willow looked horrible. Not horrible as in ugly, and messy, but horrible as in sad, and miserable.
"What's going on, Will?" she asked, as she sat down.
Willow gulped, "I think--no, I know--Kennedy's cheating on me."
"What?" Buffy asked, shocked by what she had heard, "No way."
"No, I'm pretty sure. There was a show to prove it," she said, sadly.
Her eyes went wide, "You caught her having sex with someone else?"
Willow frowned, "No! I saw her kissing some girl in the hall. Do you think she's sleeping with her too 'cause I don't know what I'd do if she were having sex with her too I mean I know that we weren't--but did she have to get it from somewhere else does she need it that much? I'm not really ready for anything like that Buffy, I mean I love her but sex…sex?"
"Whoa, Willow," Buffy said, putting her hands up, "You're going all over the place here. I just thought you had caught her--I doubt she'd have sex with anyone else, especially not because you and her haven't--What exactly did you see? Maybe you're just confused."
"No, I'm pretty sure her lips were touching someone else's," she said, remembering what she had seen.
"Do we know her?" Buffy asked, then she shook her head, "That doesn't matter. Wow," she said, thinking about it, "I'm sort of shocked. Why would she…?"
"Because that's who she is. Think about all the girl's she used to sleep with. Then there's the fact that she cheated on Rachel, who was completely in love with her, and was with her when I wouldn't even respond to her letters."
"You were scared though," Buffy said, remembering what the girl had told her.
"That's not what matters. What matters is the fact that I'm cheating on Oz, with someone who I'm not sure even loves me the way he does, or the way I love her. I just feel like such a bad person. He took me on a date last night, to that restaurant that Kennedy stood me up at, and then lied to me about it. It was so nice, so romantic, and it just made me wonder, what if I was making a mistake. When Rachel came back, Kennedy was going to break up with her, and I was going to break up with Oz, but now I'm not too sure. I'm not myself when I'm with her. I take things, like being lied to, and cheated on, when Oz would never do that to me. I'm cheating on someone! I wouldn't have ever done that before, but when I'm with her, whatever she says--It changes me."
"I sort of get that," Willow looked at her, expecting to continue, and she just rolled her eyes at herself, "I'm sorry, this isn't about me. Keep going."
"No, what are you talking about?" she asked.
"Well, lat night, I met up with Faith."
"Really, how did that go?"
Buffy shrugged, "It went great. We went patrolling, and hung out. She said we should start things over; just be friends."
Willow squinted, "That's not good, is it?"
"That's what I thought, at first," she admitted, "But I was talking to Dawn earlier, and she sort of opened my eyes up a bit," she paused, making sure to choose her words carefully, since Willow didn't know Angel was alive, "Basically, I'm a horrible person that uses Faith to make me forget about Angel. Like Kennedy, when Faith is with me, whatever she says, just changes me. For me, she makes me forget Angel. With you, Kennedy makes you forget about the guilt you feel, about cheating on Oz. they're definitely related," she said, thinking about the two sisters, "There's no question about that. Now, the only question is, what are you going to do?"
"Well, what are you going to do about you and Faith?" Willow asked, wondering if Buffy's choice would help her out.
"I'm going to figure out what I want, before I do anything else, because I'm not really clear on that at the moment. So, I guess," she continued, "since you know what you want, you should figure out what Kennedy wants. It's like we're in opposite situations. I don't know what I want, but Faith does, and always has. While you, you know what you want, and Kennedy, obviously, has no clue. I could rough her up, for hurting you."
Willow laughed, "No, I think I'll just follow your advice; I'll find out what she wants, and that'll tell me what to do next."
"Well," Buffy said, getting up. She gave Willow a hug, "good luck."
"You too," Willow said, as she watched Buffy walk away. She sighed, "I guess I'll have to talk to Kennedy."
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"Back to being reclusive, I see," June said, as she walked into the room. Kennedy was once again, in bed, lying under a mound of covers, "Have you even left this room today?" she asked, as she sat down on the bed.
"Nope," Kennedy said, as she sat up, "So, how did it go?" she asked.
"Oh, well, I'm not sure. He thinks that we're together," she said, worriedly, "But I'm not fully convinced that he really gets that I don't want anything to do with him, just yet."
Kennedy ran her hands through her hair, and smiled, "Well, we'll just have to convince him."
June pulled her legs up, and sat Indian style on the bed, "Thanks so much, by the way, for helping me with this. I feel like such a loser for asking you, especially while we were in gym class. That seems to make it so much worse, some how. More embarrassing, I think."
"No, I mean, seeing you fall all over the place during basketball day was funny as hell, but you don't need to be embarrassed about asking me to help. That's what I do. I help girls with their boyfriend troubles. Second time this year, actually."
"Really, how'd the first time go?" she asked, curiously.
"Not so good," Kennedy said, thinking about the fact that both the girl, and her psycho boyfriend, were both dead, "But I promise that I'll get it right this time, even if it has gotten me into some trouble, already."
June grit her teeth, "I'm really sorry about that, by the way. I know I keep saying that, but I really can't even begin to explain how bad I feel. Have you talked to her today?"
"No, she still won't talk to me, and trust me, I've called about fifty times…within the last hour. The thing that worries me most, is the fact that I know exactly what's she's thinking, and I can't talk to her about it."
"What is she thinking?"
Kennedy rolled her eyes, "That I'm a lousy person doing things to her that Oz would never do. What sucks is that she's right," she said, laughing slightly, "He wouldn't lie to her like I do, or help someone if it meant hurting her, or at least not as much as I have. Then my track record doesn't make me look any better."
"Track record?"
"Let's just say, I've been around, but I haven't done anything like that, since me and her have started to see each other. Well, not in terms of her anyways. But Rachel--"
June leaned over a bit, putting her elbows on her knees, and putting her hands in her hands, curious to hear about the girl's life, "Who's Rachel."
"Oh, only the girl that was there for me when my mom died, when my sister left me, and my dad became a drunk," she said, sarcastically.
"Huh," was all the girl could manage.
"Yep, that's me; I'm a heartbreaker," she said, leaning back against the headboard of the bed, "I just don't want to break Willow's heart, but part of me thinks that it's sort of inevitable. I'm the one that suggested that we wait for Rachel to come back before she broke up with Oz, and now I'm thinking that I was unconsciously making sure that someone would be there to mend her heart, after I broke it. Would I really be able to do that to Rachel if she were to show back up, after all the things she's done for me? Did I mention that when I was going through all of this, Willow was no where to be found? She wouldn't answer my phone calls, or even respond to my letters, and emails."
"Wow," June said, taking in the situation.
"Yeah. Life for me, is just one big curve ball; I never where it's going," she paused, "So, what's up with you? Not that I'm not glad to have a visitor, I'm just wondering why you're here?"
"Just to give you an update," the girl said, sitting up, "And to make sure you were doing okay."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Kennedy said, honestly, "It's easy to talk to you, since you don't know Willow. That means you won't see me as being completely evil for hurting her."
"I'd never see you as evil, not after what you've done for me. There's no way someone as nice as you could be a bad person."
Kennedy scooted forward, pulling the girl into a hug, "Thanks," she closed her eyes for a second, just feeling comforted for a moment, but when she opened them, she was right back to where she had been, because in the doorway was Willow, staring right at her, "Will," she said, pulling out of the hug, "Let me explain. Don't leave," she said, jumping out of the bed, and catching the girl just as she was turning to leave.
"I'm gonna go," June said, standing up. She walked past the two of them, who were staring into each other's eyes intensely, and then at Kennedy specifically, "Sorry."
"It's fine, just go," Kennedy said, not taking her eyes off of Willow's eyes. When she heard the front door close, downstairs, she let go of Willow's arm, "Please, let me explain."
Willow walked into the room, "No, I get to talk first," she said, angrily.
Kennedy closed the door, quickly, and then walked over to Willow, who had her back to her, "Wait, just let me say--"
"I can't believe you're doing this to me," Willow said, cutting the girl off. She turned towards her angrily, and then took a step back, when she noticed how close Kennedy was, "You know what, I'm done, okay. No more miss sit around and be nice while Kennedy does what ever she wants. I won't--nope. No more waiting for you, or uh, thinking about you when I shouldn't be," she shook her head, realizing that she was just babbling, and then looked into Kennedy's eyes, "Don't you love me?"
The question threw Kennedy off. It was like she had just been hit in the face with a ton of bricks, "I--I" she said, finding it hard to answer, "I'm not sure," she finally managed, and it was true; she wasn't sure. Did she love Willow?
Willow turned away from Kennedy, and took a couple of steps, "Here's this guy, that I'm cheating on, who's good to me, and loves me. Yet, here I am. I'm with you, someone who has a history of breaking hearts. What am I doing?" she asked, mostly as a question to herself.
"Willow, let me explain, please," Willow was silent, so she took it as a sign to keep going, "I'm not cheating on you, I wouldn't."
"Oh, so you don't think kissing someone is cheating, 'cause--"
"Not when they don't mean anything," she blurted. Instantly, she regretted it when Willow turned around and looked at her with more hurt in her eyes.
"That's even worse," Willow said, tears building in her eyes, "I can't do this," she said, heading towards the door, but Kennedy grabbed her again.
"She's just a friend, okay. She's not even that," another bad choice of words, "We're in the same gym class…she came to me, needing some help with getting rid of this guy, and so I was helping her."
"If helping means kissing, then doesn't it occur to you, not to do it?" she asked, angrily.
"But--"
"No buts," she shook her head, "I don't want you kissing anyone else, for any reason."
"That's not fair," Kennedy blurted, feeling the need to defend herself, "You kiss Oz, to make him feel that you care about him, when you don't!"
"I do care about him!" Willow yelled.
Kennedy stepped back, looking down at the ground, "What does that mean?" she asked.
"Kennedy, I've known him longer, and I've been with him longer, I should care about him."
"Right," Kennedy said, nodding, "Well, maybe you should just be with him," she kept nodding, "We should just be friends."
"Friends?"
She looked at the redhead, "Yeah, I think that'll be better…for the both of us."
BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR
"Hey," Buffy said as she walked into the mansion. Angel was sitting on the couch, just staring into space, "You okay?" she asked.
He twitched, and then looked at her, "Yeah…How are you?" he asked, as she sat down.
She shrugged, "I'm okay, I guess. Faith's back."
"Oh, yeah? How's she?"
"She's good," Buffy said, forcing a smile.
"That's good," he said simply, "So, why are you here with me, instead of her?"
She didn't say anything for a minute, and they both just stared at each other. Eventually, she answered his question, "Because I want to be here…with you."
BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR
After Willow had left, Kennedy needed to get out of the house, so she decided to take a walk around Sunnydale, to think for a bit. She thought about her relationship with Willow, and what she had said to June about it. All of it was true, she had been sort of been waiting for things to go wrong between her and Willow, but she hadn't expected it to happen so soon. She really hadn't expected the love question, but that just went along with the whole curve ball scenario. Of course, it couldn't stop there. No, not when there were still a couple of hours left in the day. Just when she was about to turn into an alley, she heard a familiar voice, two familiar voices. She leaned against the nearest building, and looked into the alley, making sure that they couldn't see her.
"You don't need to do that," Faith said, on the verge of getting angry.
"She needs to know, Faith," Rachel said, already angry.
"But she's the one that's wrong. She's the one cheating on you with Willow," she said, trying to change the girl's mind.
Rachel look down, "I knew that was going to happen, though. The difference between me and Kennedy is that I can't stand feeling guilty, even if the other person is wrong too," she looked at Faith, "We have to tell her the truth."
"Please, Rachel, don't do this."
"She deserves to know," she said. Faith turned away from her, heading out of the alley, "Faith," she called, "I'm going to tell her. I'm going to tell her that we slept together."
Kennedy stepped out of her hiding place, "You what?"
-- TO BE CONTINUED --
Okay, there you go. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and didn't mind getting thrown around so much, 'cause there's a lot more to come. If you get nauseous, try to aim for the toilet. No, I'm kidding. Like I said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm not sure if I'm going to make another 'in between' or just put more drama in 'Revelations' the episode that followed 'Band Candy', because 'Revelations' is already full of drama, and I naturally have to add more anyways, so I'm not sure. I'll let you guys know though. What I do know is that whether it's an 'in between' or not, Kennedy is going to confront Faith, for lying to her, and she's going to figure out her thing with Rachel. That's not much, considering everything else that's going on, but that's what I've got. Thanks for reading, and please review, I would appreciate it. -ThomThom
P.S. sorry for any typos.
