Chapter 25: Faith, Hope & Trick
"I'm giddy," Willow said, a tiny smirk crinkling the corners of her mouth. She rocked a little on her feet, standing at the edge of the curb.
Oz looked at her appreciatively. "I like you giddy. Always have."
They stood side by side on the sidewalk at the out limits of the grounds of Sunnydale High, paused there as if frozen , or just waiting for something. In this case, that something would be waiting for Willow to move.
"It's the freedom," Willow told Oz. "As seniors we can go off campus now for lunch. It's no longer cutting, it's legal. Heck, it's expected. But also a big step forward, a Senior Moment. One that has to be savored. You can't just rush into this, y'know?"
Oz glanced over his shoulder at Xander sauntering up behind Willow with Paige and Dawn. The two guys exchanged nods and as Xander swept up to them, they grabbed Willow under her arms and carried her off the sidewalk.
"Ooo!" Willow exclaimed. "No! I can't."
"You can," Dawn told Willow patiently as Oz and Xander propelled Willow along with them into the street.
"See, you are," Oz said, pointing out the fact that her feet were moving, no matter how reluctantly.
"But what if they changed the rule without telling?" Willow said, still resisting. "What if they're lying in wait just so they can arrest me and put me in detention and mar my unblemished record?"
"Breathe," Paige instructed Willow. "Breathe."
Willow did as Paige asked, pausing in the street to take a breath. She calmed herself and linked arms with Oz. Xander slun an arm around Paige and the two couples and Dawn moved on.
"Okay," Willow said. "This is good. This is—hey! We're seniors. Hey, we're walkin' here!"
On a tiny park-like common area across the street, other seniors milled about, studying and eating lunch. The fivesome spotted Buffy in front of a wooden bench, laying out a picnic on a red and white checkered tablecloth she'd spread on the grass.
"Ah, Buffy and food," Xander announced happily.
Willow, Paige and Dawn were troubled, however. "Maybe you four shouldn't be too couply around Buffy," suggested Dawn.
"All right, prepare to uncouple," Oz instructed, almost under his breath. "Uncouple."
At that, Willow let go of Oz's hand and Xander broke away from Paige. The five of them spread out as they approached Buffy.
With a soft smile on her face, Buffy saw her friends and her sisters coming across the lawn.
"Buffy!" Xander said amiably. "Banned from campus but not from our hearts, how are you and what's for lunch?"
Buffy smiled as they all sat on the ground around her. "I just threw together a few things."
"When did you become Martha Stewart?" Paige said, impressed. Out of her, Dawn and Buffy. Buffy had always been the worst person in the kitchen.
"First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut prosciutto," Buffy replied.
Xander nodded thoughtfully. "I don't believe she slays, either."
"I hear she can, but she doesn't like to," Oz put in.
Paying no attention to their remarks. Buffy went on. "Second of all, way too much time on my hands since I got kicked out of school."
"Oh, I know they'll let you back in," Willow told Buffy.
"Don't you and mom have a meeting with Principal Snyder?" Dawn asked.
"We're seeing Snyde Man tomorrow," Buffy confirmed. "Maybe I should bring a wheel of my extra runny brie..."
"Ooh," Willow interrupted having spotted Scott Hope. "Scott Hope at eleven o'clock." She pointed him out to her best friend.
Buffy, Paige and Dawn each turned to see Scott talking to some friends. With dark hair and a sweet smile, he was more than cute.
"He likes you, Buffy," Willow told her. "He wanted to ask you out last year, you weren't ready then but I think you're ready now—or at least in a state of pre-readiness that would allow you to make conversation or do that thing with your mouth chat boys like—"
Buffy stared at Willow in shock.
"Oh, I don't mean a bad thing with your mouth, I mean that sort of half smile that you do and …" she fumbled, then gazed pleadingly up at Oz. "You're s'posed to stop me when I do that."
Oz was cool as ever. "I like it when you do that," he said.
Scott had walked away from his friends and was now moving in their general direction. As he passed he looked over at Buffy with a shy smile.
"Hi Buffy," he said.
Buffy felt a bit shy herself. "Hi."
"Oh, I think that went very well," Dawn said happily. "Don't you think that went very well?"
"Hey, did you do the half-smile thing?" Willow asked Buffy.
"I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope," Buffy replied, reluctant to burst her friend and her sister's bubbles. "I just want to get my life back, y'know? Do normal stuff."
"Like date," Paige prodded.
"Well..." Buffy was about to argue the point when Xander cut in.
"Oh, you wanna date," he said. "I saw that half-smile, you little slut."
Buffy gave him a quick shot to the arm. The grin of amusement on Xander's face disappeared after a moment, a delayed reaction.
"Ow," he protested.
"All right, yes," Buffy finally admitted. "Date. Shop. Go to school, hang out, save the world from unspeakable demons. Y'know, I wanna do all that girlie stuff."
That next morning Buffy's eyes flickered open. She sat up in bed, heart aching with the echoes of her dream. "Buffy?" Paige asked as she sat up.
"Just a bad dream," Buffy said.
A short time later, Buffy and her mother sat in the office of the Beast—Principal Snyder—as the cantankerous, bitter man glared at them from his high-backed desk chair. Buffy reached out to pick up a silver, daggerlike letter opener from his desk and fiddled with it, a bit nervous.
"Here are the terms of your re-entry, Missy. Take 'em or leave 'em," Snyder said, anger simmering beneath his words. "One, you pass a make-up test for each class you skipped out on last year. Two, you provide, in writing, one glowing recommendation from any member of our faculty who is not an English librarian."
Snyder eyed the letter opener in Buffy's hands and rose from his chair. He continued to speak as he moved around his desk toward her.
"Three, that you complete an interview with the school psychologist, who must conclude that
your violent tendencies are under control." Snyder snatched the letter opener from Buffy's hands and glared at her.
"I'm not sure I like your attitude, Mr. Snyder," Joyce said tersely. "I spoke to the School Board and according to them—"
"I'm required to educate every juvenile who's not in jail where she belongs," the principal interrupted. He crossed the room and stared petulantly out the window. "Welcome back."
Buffy stood up and eyed him with amusement. "So let me get this straight. I'm really back because the School Board overruled you. Wow, that's like having your whole ability to do this job called into question when you think about it."
Joyce stood up beside her. "I think what my daughter's trying to say is, nyah nyah nyah nyah."
Moments later side by side, Buffy, Paige, Dawn and Willow breezed along the hallways of Sunnydale High. As they pushed through the doors into the library; Willow, Paige and Dawn seemed almost happier than Buffy.
"It's so great you're a school girl again," Willow said as Paige and Dawn nodded in agreement.
Buffy glanced around the library, but they seemed to be alone. "What did Giles want, was he mad?"
"No, I don't think so," Dawn said. "He just needed to see you."
"Have you ever noticed when he is mad but he's too English to say anything he makes that weird "cluck cluck" sound with his tongue—" Willow grinned but did not notice Giles rise from behind the library checkout counter with a mortar and pestle and a bowl of some odd concoction. He had apparently been retrieving something from under the counter, but had clearly heard every word.
"Hi, Giles!" Buffy, Paige and Dawn chirped awkwardly.
Eyes wide with surprise, Willow turned around. "Oh, hi. Been there long?"
Giles paid no attention to the question. "Buffy, good timing," he said absently. "I can use your help. I trust you remember the demon Acathla."
"Giles, please, contain yourself," Buffy replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yes, I'm finally back in school but you know how it embarrasses me when you gush so. Why don't we just skip all that and get right to work."
Caught off guard, Giles fumbled for a response. "Oh, ahhh. Sorry. Of course it's wonderful that you're back. That goes without saying. But you... enjoy making me say it, don't you?"
"Yes, she does," Paige agreed.
Buffy grinned. "That and chocolate, what else have I got? Okay, Acathla, huh? What ya' doin'? she asked, gesturing toward the mortar and pestle on the counter. "Making him some demon pizza?
"We need to make sure he remains dormant, and the dimensional vortex stays well shut. So I'm working on a binding spell."
At the mention of a spell, Willow perked up. "Ooo, a spell, can I help?"
Paige, Buffy and Dawn looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Possibly with the research. It's a very sensitive –" Giles said.
"Who's more sensitive than me?" Willow asked in protest.
"—and difficult spell," Giles finished. He glanced at the sisters in particular Paige and Dawn. The two if he needed help with a spell, he'd ask first. Till Willow learned more about magick it was best she not attempt anything truly dangerous. "It involves creating a protective circle around ... I don't want to bore you, but there's a litany that one recites in Aramaic. It's very specific, and I need to know a few things about your experience in defeating Acathla and Angel."
Paige and Dawn noticed the reaction that flittered across their sister's face when Giles had mentioned Angel.
"Fire away," Buffy said.
"I've put the time at around six-seventeen? About half an hour after Xander rescued me."
"Less. More like ten minutes."
"And was the vortex already open?"
"Just barely."
Paige and Dawn looked at their sister watching her reactions to each of Giles questions. Paige wondered if Buffy's dream the night before had anything to do with Angel. They used to tell each other everything. But since Buffy got back, Paige could tell there was a wall around her sister."
The Watcher's expression was troubled. Like Paige and Dawn he could tell something was not right with Buffy. "I see. And Angel?"
"Big fight, Angel got the pointy end of the sword, Acathla sucked him into hell instead of the world. That's about the it."
"Yes, well that, um, that should be helpful," Giles said softly.
With a flash of alarm, Buffy glanced at her watch. "Oh, no. I gotta go. I've got the English make-up test." She paused at the door and looked back at them. "You get some credit just for speaking it, right?"
At the pitying looked she received from Giles, Willow, Dawn and Paige, Buffy moaned and rushed off to her exam.
After Buffy left, Willow picked up a small bunclde of herbs Giles had put on the counter. She smiled as she inhaled deeply.
"Mmm. Sage. I love that smell. And Marnox root? Just a smidge of this mixed with a virgin's saliva—"
Giles, Paige and Dawn cast her a baleful glance.
"—does something I know nothing about," Willow finished sheepishly.
"Our powers aren't something you should be playing with, Willow," Dawn said. "They were given to us for a reason."
Giles nodded in agreement. " Dawn is correct. What have you been conjuring?"
"Nothing!" Willow protested innocently, then faltered. Much. I mean, Dawn and I tried that spell to cure Angel and I guess that was a bust. But after that just, you know, small stuff. Floating feather, fire out of ice, which next time I won't do on the bedspread," She glanced up at Giles, Dawn and Paige. "Are you three mad at me?"
"No, of course not," Giles replied. "If I were angry I believe I would be making a strange clucking sound with my tongue."
Paige and Dawn rolled their eyes.
"Learning to control your powers Will," Paige said, "should come first before you try and worry about casting spells. Try learning control first, the floating feather is a good example of learning to control. Then gradually move on up."
Willow nodded as she left followed by Dawn.
Paige turned to look at Giles. "There isn't a binding spell for Acathla is there?"
"No," Giles said. "As I am sure you are aware. Buffy is suppressing something from that night. The same something that caused her to run away. My questions were to try and get her to reveal what it is and help her to move past it."
That night the Bronze was packed. Darling Violetta cranked out a sultry melody on the stage as people danced all around. Buffy and Dawn had gotten drinks for them, Willow and Oz and when they went back to the table, Willow and Oz were trading soft kisses.
"Don't let us interrupt," Buffy said with a smile.
"Are you—" Willow began. "Is she all a glow-y?
Oz nodded. "I suspect happiness."
"As do I," Dawn agreed.
"I passed my English make-up. I'm out with my friends and my sister." Buffy's smiled grew even wider. "Hello my life, how I've missed you."
As if on cue, Scott Hope strolled up to their table. Dawn grinned at him. "Hi, Scott, what are you doing here?" she asked.
Almost shyly, Scott shrugged. "You told me if I came after eight I could run into Buffy," he replied, before focusing on Buffy. "I'm sorry. I'm a bad liar, it's not good for the soul. Or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch."
Though she felt awkward, Buffy was charmed by him. "Hi, Scott."
"Hi," he replied, obviously relieved. "Don't you love this song?"
"Uh, yeah. Actually, I do."
"Would you like to—"
"Dance?" Buffy finished for him, feeling a kind of panic rising in her. "I, uh ... I don't know, I'm bad with, well ... I don't know. Thanks for asking but ..."
Scott took a breath. "Okay, you know what? I'm just going to go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind you can mosey on over. If not, you don't mosey. No harm, no foul."
"Right," Buffy said sadly.
Scott walked off and Buffy looked over to see Dawn and Willow staring at her.
"Come on, Buffy," Willow said. "I mean, the guy is charm."
"And normal which is that thing you want to get back to," Dawn added.
"Plus, bonus points for the use of the word mosey," Oz added.
Buffy knew they were right, but that didn't help. In some ways, it made her feel worse. "I'm just ... I'm not ready."
"What's stopping you?" Dawn asked, concern in her voice.
Before Buffy could answer, Paige and Xander arrived to join them at the table. Paige didn't often wear dresses since they made Slaying that much harder. But that night she wore a killer red dress that was certain to draw stares from many of the guys in the Bronze. She had worn it expressly for Xander though.
"Check out the Slut-o-rama and her Disco Dave," Cordelia said as she walked over. While she had never thought of any of them as friends. She had begun to hang out with them for the singular reason that they had saved her life on several occasions. "What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?"
They gazed out at the sea of bodies thrashing about on the dance floor. The sisters identified the objects of Cordelia's scorn immediately. The girl was a handful and a half, dressed in a tight, belly-baring black tank and leopard print pants that were even tighter. She dance the way she dressed, like something wild.
The guy was a different story. He danced like he'd just seen Saturday Night Fever for the first time. Buffy, Paige and Dawn glanced at each other and frowned.
Like the girl, he danced and dressed like what he was. A child of the seventies. But he still looked no more than nineteen.
Which meant only one thing.
Vampire.
"I don't think that guy thrives on sunshine," Buffy said as Paige and Dawn nodded in agreement.
Even as they came to that realization, the vampire and his wild girl left the dance floor and headed for the exit. Buffy sprang from the table instantly and followed them as the others followed.
The seven of them stood out in front of the club moments later and looked around at the shadows and dark alleys nearby, but no one was in sight.
"Where is she?" Buffy asked.
Cordelia grumbled. "I bet it's nothing, they're probably just making out."
From off to the right they heard a shout and a commotion, like a struggle going on.
"That's not what making out sounds like," Willow said as they all ran toward the source of the noise. "Unless I'm doing it wrong."
Stakes in hand, Paige and Buffy led the group around a corner, just as Dawn slipped her wand from its holster, into an alley just in time to see the wild girl drive the vampire to the ground with a powerful side kick. The girl's raven hair flew as she turned toward them. When she saw them, she smiled and sauntered over.
"It's okay, I got it," she said as though fighting vampires were the simplest thing in the world. "You're Buffy," she looked to Paige, "Paige," she looked to Dawn, "and Dawn, right?"
The vampire leaped from the ground and lunged at the girl from behind. It grabbed her, but she rammed her head back to smash into its face.
"I'm Faith."
Faith grabbed the vampire's arm, twisted , and slammed it into a chain link fence.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say we've got a new Slayer in town," Oz observed dryly.
With a cold brutality, Faith battered the vampire. She reached out to grab the stake in Paige's hand.
"Can I borrow that?"
Another two hard blows and she slammed the bloodsucker back up against the fence, then staked it. The vampire exploded into dust. Faith turned and smiled at them as she handed the stake back to Buffy. "Thanks, P. Couldn't have done it without you."
After Faith dusted the vampire, they had all gone back into the bronze and managed to score another table. Now they were gathered around listening to Faith ramble about her exploits.
"The whole summer it was like the worst heat wave," Faith said. "So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees, I'm sleepin' without a stitch on, suddenly I hear all this screamin'. I go tearin' outside—stark nude—this church bus has broke down and three vamps are feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston. So I waste the vamps and the preacher is hugging me like there's no tomorrow when the cops pull up. They arrested us both."
Xander gabed at Faith in undisguished admiration. "Wow! They should film that story and show it every Christmas."
Paige reached up and slapped Xander upside the head.
"Ow, Paige," Xander said as he rubbed his head.
Faith laughed. "I take it you two are together, P?"
Paige nodded. "Yes, for over a year now."
Faith picked up a roll from the table and started nibbling at it. "God, I could eat a horse! Isn't it crazy? Slayin' always makes you just hungry and horny."
Dawn, Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia turned to look at Buffy and Paige, waiting for their response to Faith's bold declaration. Buffy glanced around sheepishly. "Well ... sometimes I crave a non-fat yogurt afterwards."
"Sometimes?" Paige said, trying to divert attention from herself. "How about that's your regular bedtime snack."
Buffy glared at Paige.
"I get it!" Cordelia said suddenly. This time they all looked at her, and she scowled in disgust. "Not the horny thing. Yuck. The two slayer thing: there was only one, but then Buffy died for like two minutes so Kendra was called, then Kendra died so Faith was called."
Dawn frowned. "But why were you called here?"
"I wasn't," Faith explained. "My watcher went to some retreat thing in England, so I skipped out. I thought, this is my big chance to meet the infamous Buff and Paige and compare notes - So B, did you really use a rocket launcher one time?"
Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, actually, it's a funny story—"
"So what was the story about that alligator?" Xander interrupted. "You said something before."
"Oh, this big daddy vampire out of Missouri kept 'em as pets. He's got me rasslin' one of 'em, must have been twelve feet long—"
Enthralled, Xander gazed at Faith. "Now, was this also naked?"
Paige slapped Xander upside the head again and then turned and stormed out of the Bronze.
"Xander," Dawn said. "I'd highly suggest you go after her, and apologize."
Xander nodded, he knew he had stuck his foot in his mouth. He got up and left, heading in search of Paige and hoping she hadn't orbed home.
"Did the alligator get hurt?" Willow asked trying to divert attention away from Paige and Xander.
"Only a little. Then it was dead," Faith said. "I never had more trouble than that damn vamp." She turned her attention to Buffy. "What about you and P? What was your guys toughest kill?"
Outside Xander found Paige halfway down the alley. "I'm sorry," Xander said. "I really stuck my foot in it, didn't I?"
Paige turned to face Xander and sighed. "Yes, you did. But so did I. You're a guy I should expect that you will be interested in other girls. But I should know that you will come back to me."
"I will always come back to you," Xander said as he leaned in and kissed Paige. "You are the ones I love."
The next morning, in the library, Giles stood with his back to them, a sense of melancholy radiating from him. With a sigh, he turned to face them. "There is a watcher retreat every year in the Cotswalds. It's a lovely spot, very serene. They have horseback riding, river rafting, lectures and discussions. Quite an honor to be invited; they're very stimulating events. Or so I'm told."
He gazed off at nothing, a sadness in his eyes.
"Ah, it's boring," Faith put in. "Way too stuffy for a guy like you."
Buffy stared at her as though she were mad. "Um, maybe I should introduce you again. Faith, this is Giles."
Faith nodded appreciatively. "I seen him. If I'd known they came this young and cute I'd have requested a transfer."
Horrified, Buffy turned to her sisters, Xander and Willow. "Okay, raise your hand if eew.
"Well, leaving for the moment the question of my youth and beauty, I would say it's fortuitous that Faith arrived when she did," Giles said, a bit flustered by Faith's attention.
"Ah-hah!" Willow exclaimed. When they all looked at her, she seemed to deflate a bit. "Sorry, I just meant—ah-hah! There's a big evil brewing—you'll never be bored here, Faith, 'cause this is Sunnydale, home of the big brewing evil."
Paige and Dawn rolled their eyes.
Giles retrieved a newspaper from the counter behind him and handed it to the two Slayers and Paige. "Yes, well, I don't know how big an evil it is at this point but two people have disappeared in the Sunset Ridge district."
Together, Buffy, Paige and Faith glanced at the article. Paige then looked up at Giles. "Well, Buffy and I are good for patrolling," she said. "Buffy, Dawn and I promised Mom we'd be home for dinner."
Willow nodded in Faith's direction and the sister's sighed.
"To which you're invited, of course. Dinner. With us," Dawn said.
"Dying to meet the rest of the fam. I'm in," Faith said pleasantly.
"Great," Buffy replied. Paige and Dawn could tell that Buffy was less than happy about it. "Great. Then we'll patrol. Also together. Try to get a bead on these new vamps."
"We'll hunt 'em down and kill 'em where they stand. Come to momma, unh!" Faith said as she mimed punching a vamp in the head.
"Hey, Buffy, don't you have a health science makeup?" Willow asked suddenly.
"Oh, yeah, actually. I could use a little coaching—" Buffy began.
Willow did not hear her, thought. Her focus was on Faith.
"Y'know, you can hang with us while she's testing. You wanta?" Willow asked.
"Sure," Faith said as she gave a tiny wave. "Hey, later." Then she pointed at Giles. "We'll talk weapons."
Then Faith, Xander and Willow left.
"This new girl has rather a lot of zest," Giles said as he noticed the sisters glaring at him and quickly changed track. "Oh, I had a little problem with the binding spell for Acathla - in fact I wound up with a face full of Marnox root. I seem to be lacking the requisite details to perform it correctly. The physical location: Acathla was facing south?"
Buffy drew a tiny diagram on the table with her finger. "Yeah. Acathla. Angel. Me. Sword."
"That's what I thought, but I wonder –"
Buffy stood up abruptly. "Giles, look, I've got makeup tests to pass, missing folks in Sunset Ridge, a zesty new slayer to feed. Next time I kill Angel I'll video it, okay?"
Buffy slipped on her backpack and left the library as if running away from something.
Paige and Dawn sighed and shook their heads.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"And here we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes," Willow informed Faith.
"This is the spot where Angel tried to kill Dawn," Xander added as Dawn and Paige walked up to them.
"Not the most fun situation," Dawn said. "I must admit."
"Over there in the lounge is where Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on parent-teacher night," Willow said.
"And where mom too hit Spike on the head with the back of an axe while telling him to stay away from her daughters," Paige added.
Willow nodded. "Oh, and up those stairs, I was sucked into a muddy grave."
"They say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays," Xander mused. "But, I've learned to be afraid."
Paige rolled her eyes as Faith paused in the hall and turned to them. "You guys are a hoot and a half," Faith said. "I mean, if I'd had friends and even sisters like you in high school … I probably still would've dropped out, but I mighta been sad about it."
Willow and Xander smiled as the sisters rolled their eyes.
"What's up with B? She seems wound kinda tight—needs to find the fun a little, like you four," Faith said.
Just as Willow and Dawn began to respond, Faith saw a fountain across the hall. "Oh, water," she said, almost to herself as she went for a drink.
"Then the alligator story," Xander reminded Faith.
Paige glared at Xander and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "If you want to be single, keep it up, Xander."
Xander backpedaled his hands in the air. "I surrender, Paige. You're the only girl for me."
Faith turned away from the fountain and almost ran into Scott.
"Oh, excuse me," Scott said.
Faith smiled. "Sorry. Hey, I seen you before."
Scott thought for a moment, then pointed at her. "At the Bronze? You're friends with Buffy, right?"
"Yeah. I'm Faith."
"Scott, nice to meet you."
Buffy came down the stairs at a trot when she spotted Willow, Xander, Paige and Dawn standing in the hall. "I'm two for two with the makeup tests," she said. "Proud, yes, but also humble in this time of … what are we looking at?"
Across the hall, Faith was flirting and laughing with Scott.
Willow seemed pleased. "Boy I haven't seen him laugh like that. Hey, maybe Faith and Scott could hit it off." Willow glanced at Buffy, and her smile vanished. "I mean, if you're done with him. She thought about what she said and her expression became even more crestfallen. "Not that you used him or anything."
"I hadn't definitely, one hundred per cent said no to him for all time," Buffy confessed. "It's just, you don't enter into these things lightly, there's repercussions to consider, and ..."
As Buffy spoke, she looked at her friends and her sisters. Xander, Paige, Dawn and Willow were gazing at her with tired expressions.
"Why am I seeing a look?" Buffy demanded.
Paige sighed. "You really do need to find the fun a little, Buffy."
Buffy glared at Paige for a moment and then turned and strode over to where the other Slayer was still flirting with Scott.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey, Buffy," Scott said amiably. "Faith has telling me tall tales."
"She's funny," Buffy deadpanned. "And leaving. We have to go."
"Oh, bye," Scott said. "Nice talking to you."
"Likewise," Faith said as Buffy dragged her away. She leaned over to Buffy. "Cute guy. He seeing anybody?"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the dining room of the Summers home, Joyce served dinner to her daughters and their new friend they'd brought home. It had come as a bit of a shock to her that there was another Slayer. Giles had told her there could be only one at a time. One died and then the next one was called. That had brought up the awkward conversation that both Paige and Buffy had drowned when facing the Master and if not for Dawn and Xander would have died.
"So you're a slayer, too," Joyce said trying to distract herself from the thoughts of Buffy and Paige almost dying. "Isn't that interesting. Do you like it?"
"I love it," Faith replied without hesitation.
"Mom?" Buffy ventured, indicating her empty plate.
"Just a sec, honey," Joyce said. She put some broccoli on Faith's plate. "You know Buffy, Paige and even Dawn never talks that way. Why do you love it?"
Paige, Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. They could tell that their mother was having trouble dealing with the death issue.
Faith shrugged. "When I'm fighting, the whole world goes away and I only know one thing: I'm gonna win and they're gonna lose." She smiled. "I like that feeling."
"Mom," Paige said.
"Just a sec, honey," Joyce repeated.
Paige sighed as she held out her hand. "Broccoli!" The plate orbed out of Joyce's hand into her own.
"Well sure," Buffy added. "It's better than that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose." She piled French fried on her plate.
"I don't let that kind of negative thinking in," Faith countered.
"Right …" Joyce said. "Right, that could get you hurt. Paige, Buffy and even Dawn can be awfully negative sometimes." She looked at her daughters. "See, sweeties, you three gotta fight that."
Buffy, Paige and Dawn show her an incredulous look. "We're trying," they said.
Joyce saw that Faith's glass was empty. "Faith, can I get you another soft drink?"
"You bet, thanks," Faith said gratefully.
Joyce walked into the kitchen.
"She's cool," Faith commented.
"Best mom ever," Buffy, Dawn and Paige agreed.
"Excuse me," Buffy said as she got up from the table and walked into the kitchen.
"Excuse us," Dawn said a second later as she and Paige followed Buffy.
"I like this girl," Joyce told her daughter as she pulled a bottle of soda out of the refrigerator and began to refill Faith's glass.
"Yeah, she's personable," Buffy said, icy sarcasm in her voice. "Gets along with my sisters, my friends, my watcher, my mom." She leaned back and glanced into the dining room where Faith was apparently filching from her plate. "Look, now she's getting along with my fries."
"Now, Buffy—" Joyce started.
"Plus, in school today, she was making eyes at my not-boyfriend. It's creepy."
Joyce frowned. "Does anybody else think Faith is creepy?"
Paige and Dawn shook their heads. "No," they said.
Buffy offered a tiny pout. "But I'm the one getting Single-White-Femaled here." She sighed.
"Buffy, Paige, Dawn," Joyce sighed. "I know technically no one can take over for you Buffy. That's the whole thing about being chosen. You and Paige, Buffy, have technically died once already. Otherwise Kendra wouldn't have been called, right?" Paige, Buffy and Dawn nodded. "I don't want any of you to die."
Buffy, Paige and Dawn wrapped their arms around their mother.
"It's okay, we're not going to die," Buffy promised. "It's why I always had Paige back me up. And now Paige and I agreed that Dawn can help us too. Not just with the research like she has been doing for the last two years, but actually patrolling with us." She pulled out her Carolingian cross from under her shirt. "Our own little power of three."
Joyce looked at the cross as she remembered when she had given them to her girls. She smiled and nodded.
"We also can call on Faith now, too," Paige added as Buffy and Dawn nodded in agreement.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Hours after dark, Buffy, Paige and Faith patrolled a particularly unpleasant area filled with warehouses and business long since closed for the night.
"Didn't we already do this street?" Faith asked, glancing around.
"Weird thing about vampires, they'll hit a place even after you've been there. It's like they have no manners," Buffy said.
"Well," Faith said idly, "you two are the ones who've been doing this the longest."
"We have," Paige agreed.
"Yeah, maybe a little too long."
"Excuse me?" Buffy and Paige snapped, rounding on Faith.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing." Faith kept walking.
"You got a problem?" Paige demanded as she and Buffy kept pace with Faith. She looked at her sister wondering if Buffy's attitude at dinner in regards to Faith might be justified.
"I'm five by five, B. Living entirely large and wondering 'bout the two of you's problem."
"We may not sleep in the nude and wrestle alligators –" Buffy said.
"Well maybe it's time you two started," Faith told them as they glanced around for vampires. "Especially you, B. Something in your bottle needs uncorking. Is it this Angel thing?"
Buffy froze and stared at Faith. "What do you know about Angel?"
Paige looked at her sister more than Faith. She wondered why Buffy had gone defensive when Angel's name came up. Was that what her sister had been hiding? Did something happen when Buffy had to kill Angel?
"Just what your friends tell me: big love, big loss, you oughta deal and move on but you're not."
Was Faith right? Paige wondered. Was Buffy not dealing with Angel's death. Or did it go beyond that as she now suspected.
Fuming, Buffy stepped in closer to Faith. "I got an idea. How 'bout from now on we don't hear from you on Angel or anything else in my life. Which by the way, is my life."
Faith cocked her head back and cast a challenging glance at Buffy. "What are you getting so strung out for, B?"
Buffy's nostrils flared with anger. "Why are your lips still moving, F?"
"Did I just—" Faith started.
"Buffy, home," Paige said as she waved her arm at her sister and Buffy orbed out. She turned and glared at Faith. "What is your deal?"
"What do you mean what is my deal, P?" Faith asked.
Paige frowned as she spotted a quartet of nasty-looking vampires rushing up from behind Faith. "We'll have to finish this later. Four vamps coming up behind ya."
Faith spun and knocked the first vampire to reach for her off his feet with a single, swift blow to the gut.
A second was upon Paige immediately and she battered him with a flurry of punches, then spun him around hard, sending him reeling. She grabbed a trash can and brought it down over the head of the third one.
Paige knew the odds were against her, that she might not survive. She would have orbed out if Faith wasn't trading blows with her vampire several feet away. The fourth one attacked her and she drove him to the ground and punched a stake through his heart. He exploded into a cloud of dust even as the second one grabbed her from behind and hurled her against a fence.
Faith's vampire got in a solid punch, but Faith shook it off easily. "Come on! My dead mother hits harder than that!" She leaped on top of the vampire and began to pummel him with blow after savage blow.
The one Paige had used the garbage can on was free, and Paige now had two vampires to deal with. "Faith! You want to stake him already and give me a hand!" she snapped.
But Faith just kept punching, her fist splitting the skin on the vampire's face and drawing blood. Before Paige could shout at her again, she was surprised by one of the other vamps. Paige orbed out seconds before she was dragged to the ground. She orbed back in a couple feet away and held up a stake. "Stake, heart!" The stake orbed out and then the vampire exploded into dust.
"Yeah, this is me, you undead bastard!" Faith cried out in fury that sounded almost like she was in pain.
"For Kakistos we live," the last of Paige's vampires snarled as he turned and ran at Paige. "For Kakistos, you die."
Paige saw a broken board and waved her and. "Board, heart." The board orbed out and into the vampire's heart and he exploded into dust.
Furious at Faith, Paige turned to see that Faith was still hammering away with her fist at its face, pounding its flesh into a ragged mess.
"You! Can't! Touch! Me!" Faith sneered at the vamp, punctuating each word with another blow.
Mind reeling at the sight, and deeply troubled, Paige tore Faith off the vampire and quickly staked it. Dust swirled away in a light breeze that swept across the pavement.
Paige spun and glared at Faith. "What is wrong with you?"
Faith winced, frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you living large on the great undead here," Paige snapped.
"Gee, if doing violence to vampires upsets you, I'm pretty sure you're in the wrong line a work." Faith was cocky, almost sneering.
"Or maybe you like it just a little too much."
Suddenly Faith's attitude shifted. From cocky, she became angry. "I was getting the job done."
"The job," Paige said sternly, "is to slay demons. Not mash them into sloppy joes while their friends are cornering me."
Faith crossed her arms, lips pursed. "I thought you could handle yourself."
"Faith," Paige said. "I'm not a Slayer. I was greatly outnumbered. If I hadn't been a witch with an active power. I would be dead, now. Then his friends would have come after you."
Faith shrugged and walked off, leaving Paige to stare after her in anger and astonishment.
When Paige got back to the house, Joyce was waiting for her and she wasn't happy.
"You orbed your sister home," Joyce said.
"Mom," Paige said. "Faith and Buffy were doing nothing but arguing. I think Buffy's attitude at dinner may have actually been justified. Something is seriously wrong with Faith. After I orbed Buffy home. We were attacked by four vampires. Faith pummeled one of them to a bloody pulp while the other three ganged up on me. If I hadn't been a witch with an active power. I would probably be dead now."
Joyce looked at her eldest daughter her eyes wide. "You should mention this to Rupert in the morning. From now on, no matter what the situation. I want at least two of you together when patrolling with Faith."
"Agreed," Paige said.
In school the following morning, Paige related the previous night's events to Giles, who had a stack of books under one arm and a cup of tea in the other. Much to her chagrin, Giles did not seem nearly as disturbed by Faith's actions as the sisters and Joyce were.
"Well, Paige, Buffy, Dawn what you three have to realize is you all and Faith have very different temperaments," Giles explained, as the four of them strolled side by side down the school corridor.
Buffy shot him a look. "Yeah, and ours would be the sane one."
"Giles, she's not playing with a full deck," Paige agreed. "She has almost no deck. She has a three."
"You all said yourselves she killed one of them," Giles reminded them. "She's a plucky fighter who got a little carried away. Which is natural, she's focused on Slaying, she doesn't have a whole other life here like you three do."
"Giles," Paige said. "Do I need to remind you I am only a witch. Not a Slayer. Three against one are odds not in my favor. Last night I got lucky. If I hadn't had an active power, I would have been dead, again. She needs help. Even mom thinks so."
Giles took a sip of his tea and slowed just a bit. "I'll see if I can get word to her watcher at the retreat. They're …" He glanced at his watch, nearly spilling his tea in the process. "… eight hours later, they're probably enjoying a nightcap. I wonder if they still kayak. I was an excellent kayaker in my day, do they even consider that—"
Buffy, Paige and Dawn stared at him.
"Sorry, I digress," Giles murmured. "Now these vampires that attacked you, Paige, did you notice any details that might help me trace their lineage? Modern or ancient dress? Amulets? Cultish tattoos?"
"No tats. Crappy dressers," Paige thought about it for a moment. "Oh, the last one I dusted said something about Kakistos."
"Kakistos," Giles echoed, his tone unusually grave, even for him as he turned and rushed into the library.
Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Is that bad?"
When the sisters followed him into the library, Giles was moving around like a man with a mission. He went into his interior office to retrieve a book.
"Kakistos is Greek," Giles explained urgently.
"I knew I recognized the word," Dawn said. "But I couldn't pin it down when Paige told it to me last night." Her sisters looked at her. "Remember I studied a little Greek in Los Angeles before the move. It must have been in my textbook."
"Right," Giles said. "It means the worst of the worst. It's also the name of a vampire, so old his hands and feet are cloven. He must be here for some reason."
He brought the book to the checkout counter and began to riffle through the pages, obviously searching for some kind of reference on Kakistos.
"This guy shows up when, two days ago?" Buffy ventured. "Right around the time our bestest new little sister makes the scene."
Giles looked up from the book, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You think Faith is connected to Kakistos somehow?"
Buffy leaned on the counter. "There's two things I do not believe in. Coincidence and leprechauns."
"It's entirely possible they happened by chance to arrive simultaneously."
"Okay," Buffy replied reluctantly. "But I'm right about leprechauns, right?"
"As far as I know."
"Okay," Paige said. "Get England on the phone. Buffy and I are gonna talk to Faith. See if Kakistos rings a bell. Or an alarm."
Buffy and Paige pushed out of the library and marched down the hallway, intent upon finding Faith.
They almost didn't notice Scott until he was right up beside Buffy.
"Hi."
"Scott ..." Buffy said as Paige moved a few feet away to give Buffy and Scott a little privacy.
"How are you?" Scott asked, a bit of nervousness in his voice.
"Okay. I've gotta—" Buffy started as she motioned toward Paige.
"I know, be somewhere else. Think of this as my last ditch effort, I realize one more will qualify as stalking. I've given a lot of thought, some might say too much thought, to how I might be a part of your life. It begins with conversation, we all know this. Maybe over a cup of coffee, maybe at the Buster Keaton festival playing on State Street all this weekend."
"You know," Buffy said, with a tiny nod and a half smile, "Looking back now I see I haven't really been fair to ... Buster Keaton. I like what I've seen of him so far, I think it's time to see a little more."
Scott's smile reached his eyes, which sparkled with delight. "Keaton is key," he said happily. "Oh, um, I got you a little present." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white box. "A guy in a retro shop said it represents friendship. That's something I'd very much like to have with you."
Scott handed Buffy the box, and she looked at it warily. She opened it. Inside was a claddagh ring, almost identical to the one Angel had given her.
"You like?" Scott asked hopefully.
Buffy looked up at Paige who noticed the reaction on her sister's face. Paige moved beside Buffy and looked at the ring frowning as she took it from her sister.
"I can't," Buffy said, shaking her head. "I can't do this."
Paige noticed Giles and slowly turned her sister who nodded thankful for the excuse to get away. Buffy then headed for Giles. "Scott," she said. "This has nothing to do with you. That particular ring was given to Buffy by an old boyfriend of hers who died last year."
"Oh," Scott said as he took the ring from Paige. "I didn't know. Tell her its alright then if she doesn't want to go to the Buster Keaton festival then. I understand."
He turned and walked off. Paige then turned and joined her sister and Giles.
"Are you alright?" Paige asked as she reached out to comfort but Buffy flinched and drew away from her sister.
Eyes wet with unfallen tears, Buffy looked at her sister. "Yeah. I'm fine." She looked at Giles. "Did you reach the retreat?"
Grimly, Giles nodded. "I did."
"What'd her watcher say?" Buffy asked.
"Her watcher is dead."
Ten minutes later Buffy and Paige sat in the quad. "Buffy, you don't have to lie to me," Paige said. "You're not fine."
Buffy looked at her sister and then sighed. "Angel was cured."
Paige blinked. "He was?"
Buffy nodded. "When I killed him, Angel was ... cured. Dawn and Willow's spell worked, at the last minute. I was about to take him out and something went through him and then he was ... Angel again. He didn't remember anything he'd done, he just held me, and ... but it was, it was too late and I had to ... I kissed him, and I told him that I loved him. And I killed him."
"Oh, Buffy," Paige said as she wrapped her arms around her sister. "Why didn't you say something."
"Because I didn't know if I could," Buffy said. "I mean talk about it."
Paige nodded. "I understand and I'm sorry."
Buffy smiled at Paige and nodded. "It's okay. I guess I been holding onto that. It's actually kinda good to get it out."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Paige approached room eighteen of the Sunnydale Motor Lodge. Someone turned to go from the room they had heard Faith's voice coming from. When he spotted them, he gave Faith a hard look.
"Roommates are extra."
"We're just visiting," Paige assured him.
The manager glanced at Faith again, but she only shrugged. He walked out and Buffy shut the door behind him.
"What brings you to two the po' side of town?" Faith asked.
"Cloven guy," Paige said, fixing her with a piercing stare. "Goes by the name of Kakistos."
Faith felt her pulse begin to race, her heart beating faster even as her eyes went wide and a sick chill roiled in her gut. "What do you two know about Kakistos?"
"That he's here," Buffy said.
Faith felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Panic surged through, and all the fear she had buried so deep came rushing back out as if it had been just waiting for this opportunity.
Buffy must have noticed the expression on Faith's face. "So we're not happy to see old friends."
"What'd he do to you?" Paige asked.
"It's what I did to him," Faith admitted. Then she grabbed her bag and started to pack.
"What would that be?" Buffy asked.
Scrambling, shoving stuff into her bag, Faith ignored the sisters.
"Faith, you came here for a reason. We can help," Paige said.
"You two can mind your own business. I'm the one can handle this," Faith replied.
"Yeah, you're a real badass when it comes to packing," Buffy said. "What'd you say about my problem, gotta deal and move on? Here we have the moving on part, I get that. And dealing, that's something you just gonna dump on our doorstep?"
Frenzied now, trying to keep the panic out of her voice, Faith rounded on the sisters. "You two don't know me, you two don't know what I've been through. I'll take care of it."
Her bag packed, she started for the door.
"Like you took care or your watcher?" Buffy prodded.
Faith froze, despair stopping her in her tracks. Buffy's words were like a dagger in her heart. Slowly feeling helpless, she turned to stare at the sisters.
Paige and Buffy had seen that look before in each other's eyes. The look of someone who had either lost someone or had come close to losing someone they had cared about.
"He killed her, didn't he," Paige said.
Faith's response was a little more than a whisper. "They don't have a word for what he did to her."
A knock came at the door. Faith started, and swore her under breath. She put her eye to the peephole. The manager was standing on the doorstep again.
"What now?" Faith muttered in frustration.
"Faith, you run, he runs after," Buffy warned.
"Yeah, that's where the head start comes in so handy," Faith told the sisters.
She opened the door.
Kakistos stood outside with several of his vampire lackeys. He held the manager by the back of the neck with one powerful hand. At the sight of his horrible visage, the scarred countenance that had haunted Faith day and night, all the breath went out of her. Faith sared at him, eyes wide with horror.
The manager slumped to the ground, dead.
Then Kakistos spoke her name.
Faith was frozen as the scarred vampire reached in an gripped her by the throat, choking her, beginning to crush her windpipe and she barely fought back.
Buffy and Paige lunged for the door and shoved it. Finally, Faith beat at Kakistos' grip and freed herself. Again the sisters slammed the door on his arm and Kakistos withdrew. Desperate, Paige turned the flimsy lock and slid the chain across the door.
"No," Faith muttered, almost shuddering with fear. "No."
"It's okay," Buffy told Faith. "We just bought us a little—"
Kakistos punched a huge, cloven fist through the door sending shards of wood flying.
"—time."
Faith screamed now. "No!" she cried, as though she could deny it all, pretend it wasn't happening. She began to collapse onto the filthy carpet.
"Scream later!" Paige snapped at Faith as Kakistos battered at the door. "Escape now!" Her tone roused Faith from the dark images in her head. Images of her Watcher.
Buffy looked at Paige. The motel was not the best place to take on the vampires. So they'd have to find someplace else. They couldn't orb otherwise they couldn't lead the vampires away. Buffy raced across the room, picked up a chair and hurled it through the window. Glass showered out into the alley below. Even as Kakistos kicked the door off its hinges, Faith leaped out the window as Buffy and Paige followed.
They ran , side by side, down the alley to a T-junction. There were warehouses and other businesses all around. Buffy and Paige did not hesitate. They turned left at the junction. Buffy and Paige spotted off to their left, an opening in a boarded-up window. That would do.
"Here," Buffy whispered harshly. She followed by Paige and Faith crashed through the wood and glass and rolled onto the floor. Kakistos ran by outside the window. And the sisters frowned had their plan failed?
"We're okay," Buffy said. She and Paige gazed at Faith intensely. "What happened?"
"I ... I was there," Faith said at last. "When he killed my watcher. I saw what he did to her, what he was going to do to me ... I tried to stop him, but I couldn't ... I ran ..."
"Faith, listen to me," Paige said. "First rule of slaying: don't die. You did the right thing, you didn't die. Now do the math: one of him, two Slayers and witch."
"What the—"
The sisters were trying to comfort her. Then they saw that Faith's terrified gaze was not drifting, but was instead locked onto a spot just over Buffy's shoulder.
"No," Faith muttered, shaking her head.
Slowly, Buffy and Paige turned as realization crossed their faces. They hadn't been leading the vampires anywhere. They had been herded. In the corner were the corpses of three delivery men.
"This is his place," Faith gasped.
"They drove us here," Buffy said as she and Paige glanced around, alert now.
A long-haired female vamp appeared suddenly in the shattered window. As two more vampires erupted from the shadows and lunged for them. With a single, swift motion, Buffy kicked an enormous plastic bucket at one of them. She had debated about Paige orbing them but that would take too much time now since they were now separated by a few feet. And Paige remote orbing them would leave herself vulnerable till she too orbed out. No they would have to fight.
The other two vamps converged on Buffy and Paige. They leaped and kicked knocking both down.
Faith stood immobile.
Even as Buffy and Paige continued to fight them off, Kakistos emerged from the shadows and stalked across the firehouse toward Faith. Distantly, Faith heard the sisters call her name, but she only stood and stared at Kakistos.
"Don't die!" Buffy shouted at Faith.
Buffy tossed a tire iron and Faith automatically snatched it from the air. At last, instinct took over and Faith tried to protect herself. Terror in her eyes, she swung at Kakistos. He struck Faith in the face hard enough to drive her backward into a wooden column with such force that the support beam broke and slammed to the floor next to her.
Paige tried to go to Faith's aid, but she was grabbed from behind. She heard Faith's whimpers of pain as Kakistos beat her.
A flurry of blow and Buffy drove her vampire down. She punched the stake through its heart and it dusted. She then moved up behind the vampire Paige was fighting and staked him and he dusted as well. When the sisters turned they saw that Kakistos had Faith by the throat, choking her. He threw her to the ground, then prepared for the final attack. Buffy and Paige ran at him, brutalized him with a combination of punches and kicks.
He barely flinched.
Paige realized she didn't have any stakes left as she looked at her sister. "Buffy, I'm out."
Buffy nodded as she slammed her last stake at Kakistos' chest. His powerful hand clasped Buffy's wrist, stopping her.
"Buffy!" Paige called out as Kakistos was about to hit Buffy. Buffy orbed out and back in next to Paige.
"Guess you need a bigger stake, Slayer," Kakistos taunted the sisters. Then he began to laugh, deep and raspy.
Movement off to the sisters left drew their glance. They turned in time to see Faith pick up the huge wooden column that had snapped off in her fight with Kakistos. Faith hefted the thing over her shoulder with both hands and lunged at Kakistos.
The vampire was still laughing as the enormous shaft of wood pierced his chest. He grunt in pain and then stared down at it for a second before exploding into a ball of cinder and ash.
Stunned, Buffy and Paige stared open-mouthed at the place where Kakistos had been. Winded, breathing, hard they and Faith moved closer to one another, glance around to see if it was truly over.
"You two hungry?" Buffy asked.
"Starved," Faith and Paige said.
The next morning, Buffy stood in the library with Willow, Dawn and Paige as Giles finished a phone call in his office. While Giles was otherwise engaged, Buffy and Paige caught Willow and Dawn up on everything that had happened the day before. But as they Watcher's conversation went on, they became distracted by the seriousness of his tone and their own talking stopped.
At length he hung up and came out into the library.
"The Council approved our request, Faith can stay here indefinitely," he told Buffy and Paige. "And I'm to look after both you, Buffy, and Faith until they assign Faith a new watcher."
"Good," Buffy said. "She came through, you know. She had a lot to deal with, but she did it. Got it behind her."
Giles nodded. "That's good to hear."
Buffy looked to Paige who nodded, encouraging her to tell them.
"Angel was cured," she said.
Willow and Dawn stared at her, stunned.
Grave concern etched on his face, Giles studied Buffy closely. "I'm sorry?"
"When I killed him, Angel was cured." Buffy glanced at Willow and Dawn. "The spell worked at the last minute. I was about to take him out and something went through him and then he was ... Angel again. He didn't remember anything he'd done, he just held me, and ... but it was, it was too late and I had to ... I kissed him, and I told him that I loved him. And I killed him."
Paige nodded. "Buffy told me yesterday what happened when Angel died. I told her there was no spell. What you had been trying to do, Giles."
Giles nodded as he looked at Buffy. "If you ever need anyone to talk to. Even if you can't tell Willow or Xander or even Dawn and Paige. I'm here for you, Buffy."
"I know," Buffy said.
"I'm sorry," Willow and Dawn offered.
"It's okay," Buffy said. "Like I told Paige, yesterday. I guess I been holding onto that. It's actually kinda good to get it out."
Later that day Paige watched as Buffy waited in the hall for Scott to get out of class.
"Scott," Buffy said.
"Hey," Scott said.
"So I was just ... waiting here for you to get out of your class," Buffy said.
"Why?" Scott asked.
Buffy smiled. "I'm really sorry about going mental on you... there was…"
"I know," Scott said. "Your sister, Paige, told me about your old boyfriend that passed away."
Buffy looked over at Paige and nodded. "I liked what you said about friendship, I liked it a lot. Also, Buster Keaton, big fun. And I'm capable of the big fun even though there's no earthly way you could possibly know that about me lately. Wow, if I'd known I was going to go on this long I'd have brought water. So, if you were still up for the film festival—and I'd understand if you weren't—I'd pretty much love to go with you."
"When do you want to go?" Scott asked.
Buffy's smile grew even wider. "I have one thing I have to do tonight, after that I'm good."
Scott nodded. "Good."
Hours later Buffy, Dawn and Paige moved through the cold rooms of Angel's mansion until they came to the very spot where Buffy had impaled him upon the ritual sword.
In Buffy's hand was the claddagh ring Angel had given her. She knelt down on the stone floor where he had died.
"Goodbye," she whispered.
Gently, Buffy placed the ring on the cold ground, rose and turned to her sisters. They hugged her for a moment and then orbed out.