AN: Not even going to try to make any excuses about the long time between updates. All I will say is life gets in the way and computers aren't always as reliable as we'd like them to be. That said, enjoy the update. More to come hopefully soon. The Revelations episode was tough for me to find ways to include characters that weren't originally there.

Chapter 24

Angel was in the middle of performing the ritual to turn fire into living flame to destroy the Glove of Mynegon when he heard a sound and turned towards the doorway. He saw an older woman standing behind him.

"Who are you?" Angel was instantly wary, having never seen this woman before.

"Gwen Post. Mr. Giles sent me."

"What for?" As far as Angel knew, Buffy hadn't told her friends he was back.

"To help you destroy the glove. Is that the living flame?" Her tone was abrupt, but Gwen Post was in something of a hurry. No doubt the slayer and her friends would be there soon and if she didn't have the glove by then, she never would.

"Yes." Angel sensed there was something off about this woman, but he couldn't be sure.

"Look, I'm sorry to be abrupt, but Lagos is on his way here now. If you're performing the ritual wrong, you'll only make the glove stronger."

"Alright." It sounded reasonable.

"Good. Where is the glove?"

"It's in the trunk." Angel turned around again to get the glove from the trunk. Gwendolyn grabbed a shovel that's leaning against the table and swung it hard into his head. Angel crumpled to the floor, knocked out.

Post grinned at the, supposedly dead, guy on the floor and said, "That's what I love about this town. Everyone's so helpful."

She turned to the trunk and grunted in frustration at the big lock for a moment then she used the shovel to break the lock and gain access to the glove. Just as the lock broke, she heard shuffling from behind her.

"Okay, that hurt." Angel stood up, pissed off and in full vampire face, and faced her.

Post turned to him, "but it was supposed to kill you. If you'd been human, it would have. But..." she pauses to break the handle of the shovel over her knee, "I believe this is your poison."

Like most watchers, Post hadn't fought many vampires so her attack was clumsy and it wasn't a long fight before Angel slammed her into the wall.

Angel reached for the dazed but not entirely knocked out woman just as Faith barreled through the open doorway. She quickly assessed the scene, and her anger doubled. As far as Faith could see, Post, a human, was knocked out and Angel, in full vampire face, was attacking her. Faith may not like Gwen Post, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to protect her and use this moment to justifiably get rid of Angel once and for all.

"Mrs. Post?" Faith turned to Angel, "I can't believe how much I'm gonna kill you.

"You're not getting that glove." At that moment, Angel lumped Faith in with Post and decided she was evil. Unlike before, Angel didn't shrink away from Faith; he would protect the glove until it could be destroyed by either himself or Giles.

"You wanna bet?" Faith was convinced now that Angel was evil, guarding the glove for himself. She attacked him, and they fought.

Faith, driven by anger, jealousy, and vengeance for Kennedy's mom, fought without mercy and soon gained the upper hand. She threw Angel over her shoulder and onto the sofa nearby. Before Angel could recover from the throw, Faith stood over him, stake in hand ready to slay him. As she brought her hands down, she was stopped by someone else.

Faith turned to see who it was and was surprised to see Buffy.

"What?"

Without a word, Buffy used her strength to pull Faith away from Angel and off to the side. She had to get through to Faith. "I can't let you do it, Faith."

"You're confused, let me clear you up." Faith, unwilling to listen to reason just yet, pointed with the stake between herself and Angel, "Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire."

Buffy was determined to get through to Faith, even if it meant coming out of the closet. "There's a lot you don't understand. So much I haven't told you, please."

Faith looked like she was wavering, listening to Buffy so Post, seeing what was happening and realizing without Faith on her side she wouldn't get what she wanted, tried one last time. "She doesn't know Faith; she's blinded by love…for him."

That got through, and Faith's face hardened.

Buffy saw that and knew it was now or never, "Faith, no. Listen to me."

"Trust me," Post whispered.

"Faith, you know me. You know I never lied to you. I told you about Angel right away. I trusted you with that, now please trust me." Buffy held her gaze, willing her girlfriend to see the love and truth in her eyes. "I don't love Angel anymore, not like that. I got over him this summer." Buffy paused for a breath. She took a step closer to Faith, "You are the one I love. I love you, Faith, so please…don't do this. He's not worth it."

Faith was almost convinced, until she caught movement to her left and turned to see Angel sitting up on the couch, still in vampire face, and she remembered the other reason she wanted Angel dead…he killed Kennedy's mom. Faith turned back to Buffy and said, "He has to pay for his crimes."

Faith moved to attack Angel again, and Buffy sprang into action to defend him, and they ended up fighting each other. It was the last thing Buffy wanted to do, but she couldn't let Faith k\just kill Angel, at least not until they dealt with the Glove and Angel had a chance to know why Faith wanted him dead. Buffy was reasonably sure Angel had no idea who Jenny was to Faith so Buffy felt he should at least know why he was being slayed…after they dealt with the glove of course.

Their fight soon moved out through the glass doors that led to the atrium and fountain.

Xander and Willow showed up with the powder for the living flame and Post, knowing this might be her last chance, sent Xander to 'help' Faith while Willow got distracted by the trunk that held the glove.

Post got to the glove and unwrapped it, she smiled when it was finally in her hands, "Finally." Post slipped her hand into the glove and felt it clamp around her forearm, permanently embedding itself into her skin.

Willow watched her do this and was confused, but she didn't have enough time to question Post's actions before the older woman swung her arm around and knocked Willow unconscious.

Post raised her gloved arm and smiled maniacally at the sight, seemingly oblivious to the pain. She extended her arm above her, up toward the huge skylight and recited the Gaelic spell that would invoke the power of the glove. "Taou huogan maqachte milegaing!"

Up in the sky lightning strikes and thunder booms. Outside Buffy and Faith stop their fighting to see what's going on.

Post breathed excitedly as she waited for the power to become hers.

Buffy and Faith stared at Post, still holding onto each other, not yet willing to take the chance of releasing their grip. Post stared intently up at the sky, awaiting her reward for being the new wearer of the Glove of Myhnegon.

Soon, the two Slayers realized their fight was no longer with each other and let go.

Faith turned to face Post, "What's going on?"

Post turned to look at Faith and said, unkindly but with a gleeful grin, "Faith, a word of advice: you're an idiot."

That gets both slayers pissed off but before they can move to attack, Post holds the glove up once more and this time lightning crashes through the skylight and directly into the glove, charging it up. Post ignored the falling glass and aimed the glove at the slayers before shouting, "Tauo freim!"

The phrase seems to be the magic words because it caused lightning to shoot out of the glove and towards the slayers. They jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the lightning and they soon come to the conclusion that Post is evil and needs to be stopped.

Buffy turns to Faith just as Post is distracted by Willow who woke up and began moving away from the danger. Faith saw Post direct lightning at Willow and was about to try to help when she noticed Angel jump out of nowhere and push Willow out of the path of the lightning. Faith just saw Angel risk his own life to save Willow and it begins to make her doubt her need to kill him.

Buffy gets Faith attention again and asks, "Can you draw her fire?"

"You bet I can. You have a plan?"

Buffy just nods then says, "go, do it."

Faith ran into the mansion and down a hallway that surrounds the main room. Post started shooting lightning at her, drunk with the power and determined to kill anyone or anything that moves.

While Faith was distracting Post, Buffy looked around the atrium at the shards of glass that surround her from when she and Faith crashed through the glass doors during their fight. She finds one that looks like it can do what she needs it to do and she picks it up, checking it to make sure it can move as she wants it to. Then Buffy turns to look at Post just in time to hear the woman mutter, "There's nothing you can do to me now. I have the glove. With the glove comes the power. "

Buffy, tired of all this drama and just wanting to get this over with so she can have some time alone with her girlfriend to repair any damage caused to their relationship by this crazy woman just says, "Yeah I'm getting that."

Post looks over at her, surprised as she forgot all about Buffy.

At that moment, Buffy throws the glass shard, like she's throwing a knife and it cleanly slices off Post's arm just above the glove.

Post screams and soon the room is filled with lightning, it comes in through the skylight, but without someone to control the glove, the lightning strikes Post, and it kills her, there's nothing left of her but dust, and the forearm and hand still inside the glove.

After a moment, the glove's claws detach from Post's arm, and the glove relaxes.

Buffy, Willow, Angel, Xander, and Faith all gather around the glove on the floor and take a moment to look at it.

Angel turns to Buffy and says, "I think it's time that thing was destroyed." He looks around the room and notices the pot he was using for the living flame is on the floor, empty. "But it might take me some time to get the spell started again."

Willow chose that moment to speak up, "um, I have the catalyst already prepared. We just need the spell to make it work. You have that, right?"

Angel nodded and so together, they got the living flame prepared. Buffy grabbed the cloth the glove had initially been wrapped it and carefully gathered the glove up in it and brought it over. It didn't take long before the living flame consumed the glove and it was gone.

Faith offered to give Xander, Willow, and Buffy a ride home and soon they were off. Angel watched them leave, a little saddened as he remembered Buffy's declaration of love to Faith and hearing her say she was over him. While he knew it was probably for the best, they could never really be together again because of his curse; it still hurt to know she didn't love him anymore.

After dropping Xander and Willow off at home, Faith took Buffy home. Before Buffy could say anything to Faith about what had happened at the mansion, Joyce came out onto the porch and called out to Buffy.

Buffy realized she wasn't going to have the time to talk about anything with Faith tonight properly, so she just turned to her girlfriend and said, "can I come and see you tomorrow? After I check in with Giles?"

Faith looked at her for a moment then nodded, too tired to do more than that. Faith needed some time to think about what had happened tonight, from Xander getting her all worked up to Buffy declaring her feelings for her then defending Angel from her…it was all a bit too much to take, not to mention the knowledge that Post was just manipulating and using her for her own evil agenda. Faith needed time to process it all and figure out where she went from there.

Buffy, still unsure about where she stood with Faith carefully nodded and got out of the car. She somehow knew better than to try to kiss Faith now, even if only on the cheek, especially with her mother standing on the porch waiting for her. "I'll see you tomorrow Faith."

With that, Buffy got out of the car and walked to her house. Faith, as always, waited until Buffy and her mom were inside the house before she pulled away and headed home. It was late, and she was sure Kennedy was already asleep at Cordy's, so Faith decided just to go home rather than try to pick her sister up from her friend's house. Besides, Faith could use the alone time to think about…everything.

The next day, Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia, and Kennedy are sitting in the student lounge. Willow and Xander are recounting what happened the night before and the others are listening, curious about what happened but also secretly glad they weren't involved.

Cordelia was the first to speak after the tale was done. "So no more magic glove?"

"Nope. Little living flame, little mesquite. Gone for good."

Kennedy added, "Sounds like we missed a lot of fun." Kennedy was always up for action, she hated that since being in Sunnydale she had been once again relegated to little sister rather than training partner and patrol buddy.

"Then we're telling it wrong," Xander says, not knowing why anyone who wasn't a slayer would want to be in the middle of all that danger.

Willow, wanting to steer the conversation away from the fighting, and also still protecting Buffy's secret relationship asked, "What do you think Buffy and Angel are going to do now?"

Kennedy glanced at Willow with a strange look on her face, and Willow just shook her head the tiniest bit, trying to let Kennedy know that the others didn't know about Buffy and Faith yet so she couldn't say anything either.

Kennedy got the hint and stayed quiet, curious about where this line of questioning would lead.

Xander, not possibly able to care any less than he already did said, "boy do I not know."

His tone caused Cordy to look at him strangely, but she didn't say anything.

"Well, he saved me from a horrible flamey death. That sort of makes me like him again."

Kennedy silently nodded, torn between being glad Angel had survived Faith's attack to save Willow and wanting him to pay for killing her mom. In the end, she decided the safest route was silence until she could talk to Faith about what happened.

As the gang was talking Buffy joined them and asked them what they were talking about.

Oz chimed in, "Oddly enough, your boyfriend, again."

Buffy decided it was time to come clean to her friends about everything. If she wanted to prove to Faith that she was serious about wanting to be with her, Buffy was going to have to tell her friends the whole truth. "He's not my boyfriend. Truly. In fact, for a couple of weeks now, I've been seeing someone else. Someone I am in love with and someone that I want some kind of future with."

Xander, curious as hell now, asked, "Who is he?"

Kennedy, Willow, and Buffy just grinned, because of course, Xander would assume it was a guy.

Buffy took a breath then said, "Faith."

The looks of shock on three of her friends' faces was almost worth the fear she had that they might not accept her being gay…or bisexual. But remembering how Faith made her feel was enough to calm her fears.

Xander saw the lack of surprise on Willow's face, and he turned to her, "you knew?"

Willow grinned, "Yes I knew, but it wasn't my secret to tell."

Cordy took a moment to think about it then she decided it wasn't any of her business. She was glad that this meant Buffy wasn't going to be doing anything with Angel that would cause him to lose his soul again, and for the time being that would be enough for her.

Xander wasn't so easy to let things go as he asked, "So if you're with Faith, why were you kissing Angel?"

"That was a mistake like I tried telling you all before in the library. It was a mistake that isn't going to happen again, but I am glad that it did because it made me realize that I don't love Angel like that anymore. I love Faith." Buffy turned to Kennedy, "I told her as much yesterday before all hell broke loose, but I don't know if she even remembers it. Just know that I would never do anything to hurt Faith like that on purpose."

Kennedy heard the sincerity in her voice, and she nodded. She trusted Buffy was being honest and that she wouldn't hurt Faith, but Kennedy also silently vowed to kick the blond slayer's ass if she ever hurt Faith again.

Buffy looked to Oz, and he just nodded with a small grin. It was his way of giving his approval without having to come right out and say anything.

Buffy already knew Willow was okay with it from their conversation when her friend found out, so she turned to turned to Xander again, "Are we cool?"

Xander took a moment to think about it then he nodded, "yeah. Of course. I'm sorry for going all postal about Angel it's just, seeing you kiss him after everything that happened last year…it messed with me. But I trust you, and I am happy for you and Faith."

Giles chose that moment to walk into the lounge and lean on the railing leading up the stairs to where they were sitting. He had a large white bandage on his head where Post had clocked him with the statue.

Buffy turned to him, "Hey Giles. Let me guess, Gwendolyn Post, not a watcher?"

Giles grinned, "No she was…she was kicked out of the council for misuse of dark powers. They swear there was a memo." The tone in his voice gave away the fact he was still upset about the whole situation, that the Council should've tried harder to let them know about a rogue Watcher.

Buffy nodded then turned to the group, "well I gotta go…do some damage control and see if I even still have a girlfriend after all of this. I'll see you guys later."

Kennedy stood up and followed Buffy, wanting a moment alone with her. "Hey Buffy, um can we talk for a moment?"

"Sure." Buffy walked over to a quiet corner and Kennedy followed. "What's up?"

Kennedy lowered her voice and said, "I know Faith, and she's going to be a bit closed off at first when you see her. She's had a tough life, and even though she's made tremendous progress since she came to live with our dad and me, she's still got a ways to go. She's going to want to shut you out until she's sure about you…do not let her okay? I've seen you two together, and I think you might be the best thing that's happened to her since she met me." Kennedy grinned here because she knew there was only so much she could do to help Faith, the rest would be up to Faith and Buffy.

Buffy took a moment to process what Kennedy was telling her. "I promise, I won't let her do that. I love her Kennedy. I just hope she loves me too."

Kennedy didn't say anything to that, knowing that the knowledge of Faith's love would have a stronger impact coming from the dark-haired slayer herself rather than a third party. "Good. Now, go get her. You have until 4 o'clock then I'll be home." Kennedy winked at Buffy then left to rejoin the group before the next bell.

Buffy just grinned as she left the school and started walking towards Faith's apartment. She knew that no matter what happened now, her life was once again going to change…she just hoped it would be for the better.