Alex- at Giles house Saturday evening before patrol.

"So get to the point, I could care less about all this other shit," I gripped and looked around at the girls sitting at the table. Willow sat up. "These guys are cut throat, as in they'll do anything to throw you off your game and take us out of the picture," Willow explained, and I nodded in agreement. "Ok, so what doesn't that mean for us? No patrolling?" Nikki asked curiously and continued, "We'll have to protect the houses, right?" I shook my head. "There's no way I'm going to sit here and wait for the council to come over here and get us," I chimed in, and everyone staredd up at me. I was getting all the attention again. At the beginning of the meeting, I was avoiding this, but since patrolling was getting treated like candy being taken away, I had to say something. I'm not gonna sit here like some crying, little girl and wait for them to come.

"They could have conjured up or brought back anything to throw at you girls. I think it's best if you all take it easy," Willow confirmed, and I stood; glaring at everyone as defiantly as possible. "No…I say we go on the offense and take these British bitches out," I argued and searched the faces of people at the table for support. I was waiting for Willow to shut me down any second and sew my mouth shut. I was waiting for Buffy to walk in here and shut me down; putting me in my place, but no one did. Willow just gawked at me as if I took her arm and stabbed it. "You have that much confidence that you can win this?" she questioned as if she wasn't sure what the question itself entailed. "Yeah…I'm done with them. I want this to be over, so I can have a normal senior year of high school. I don't want to spend it running from some random guys who think they're the next big bad to come through Cleveland," I described as I scanned the room, and the rest of the girls nodded.

"Well, that settles it, we'll all go out and comb the city in teams of three then." I glanced up to see Faith and Buffy walk into the dining room. I wonder how long they've been standing there. I'm sure I'll get an ear full later for giving Willow a hard time. Great.

Buffy and Faith went over plans and maps of the city. Three teams of three and three parts of the city to comb through and find these jerks. Buffy said the tracker left her some tidbits with Angel that he had mailed to her. I don't know who this tracker is, but she sure did come in handy. I kinda wish she was here now. We could honestly use the 'skip a step' process and not have to comb the city. Hold a full on attack on the freaks of the Watcher Council wannabees.

Later, Alex and Chloe's bedroom

I sat up from the bed, watching Dawn as she entered by my room with Dominic in her arms and a baby bag over her shoulder. "Where ya taking him?" I call out, and she stops. "Over to Giles, and then I'm going to Lucas's house," she informed then resumed walking. I guess Dawn is spending as much time with him as she can or something because he's going off to college. She's stupid if she thinks she's going to stay with him. He's a guy with eyes that wander, and I'm sure the snake in his pants won't be so old fashioned after a couple of months of the college life. Ehh, I'll wish her good luck instead.

Chloe walks into the room, wrapped in a towel, and I can't help but ogle her as she gets dressed. We haven't argued in a couple of days. This is a good thing the way we've been going. Chloe holds up a couple of shirts as if she's going out and needs to impress someone. I shake my head, making a face, and she grabs another off the desk top. It's only a t-shirt, but it's a v low cut neckline. If memory serves me right, it shows off cleavage. I nod rapidly and anxiously get excited. "Ok then," Chloe said as shakes her head then her ass as she continues to get dressed. "So how is Dom going to be protected if we're all going out?" I inquired, and Chloe turned to me as if I should already know the answer to this. "Willow put an electric field up that no one can enter but her and Faith," she stated, and I nodded again. I hope the council's magic isn't anywhere near as strong as hers.

Few hours later

Faith paced in front of me, along with Kennedy. I lagged behind because the only thing we've run into is vamps, and I can honestly say I'm bored while patrolling. It's normal, but I was really looking for a good fight. As I trail behind them, I kick up dust and rocks down the gravel road out of the cemetery; not paying attention to anything around me, starring at my feet. It is against slayer 101, but at the moment I don't care.

An arm wraps around my shoulder and behind my neck, gripping and pulling me down into a head lock. "If you hit me with one more rock, I swear I'm gonna…," Ken growled in my ear as I struggled against her grasp. "Girls," Faith announced sternly while studying us as we fought aimlessly. I wasn't angry. Ken an I fight like this all the time. Before Ken could make another move, Faith had Ken's hand and twisted it upward; forcing her to let me go. "Let's not waste energy," Faith demanded as she patrolled ahead of us again. "But this is stupid, it's worse than having to sit at the house," I complained. "It was your idea," Ken reminded as she stormed past me and up to Faith as they strolled ahead of me. "I know, but I didn't think I'd be stuck with the only area with zero activity," I added as I jogged to catch up with them. Faith slaps me on the back of the head. "Told you ya shoulda let me pick….No Miss I know where these freaks are setting up camp," Faith taunts and I glare at her. I get a stronger glare back, so I back down.

"One day, kid, one day you'll get it," Faith declares and sticks to marching in the direction of absolute boredom. You would think around midnight there would be something, anything going on.

I peek up when I hear music, which is strange because there isn't any clubs in this part of town. It's all really dead out here, plus no one lives out here in these abandoned buildings. "What da ya know…, one of my favorite places to fish," Faith told us excitedly as she surveys down a street where the music is coming from. "Come on, girls, this night might just be salvageable," she ordered as she advanced to an old, abandoned, short building.

From the sight of it, there was nothing out of the ordinary. "I don't think you would be able to hear this place with human ears," Faith assumed as she placed her hand on the wall. Only it went through and rippled as if she was touching water. "A concealing spell?" Ken gasped. Faith grabbed onto both of our arms and pushed us through the nonexistent door. I stumbled to a stop and peered up to see where all the action was tonight. This bar was a lot bigger than the one in Sunnydale. Demons and vamps spanned the room, and most of them didn't even notice that we had entered the bar.

Faith struts right up to the bar, calling over the bartender. "I don't want any trouble out of you girls, I'm neutral," he affirmed as he turned and observed the crowd. When he did, you could tell how thick and long his horns were. Ok, kind of creeped out by how badly outnumbered we were. "Neither do we, just lookin' to ask a few questions out these guys," Faith claimed, and the bartender nodded; cleaning a shot glass and picking up another. "Gimme four shots of Jack," Faith requested, and the bartender went to the back of the bar and poured shots. I watched as Faith took one of them, handed Ken and I one, and then took one with us. "Ok, girls, get to work. No getting drunk, ok?' she commanded, and we both signaled our consent. I whipped the drop of liquor off my chin and wandered off behind Faith. I traveled to the other side of the bar and sat down to a chick who I knew was a vamp. Didn't want to start off with something I knew might beat my ass later, so she seems what comes next.

"What do you want?" she sneers immediately. "Why ya gotta be so negative. Just wanted to ask ya a few questions?" I muttered, and she faces me instead of her very Bloody Mary. I held my hands up in an honest defense. "Yeah, what?" she scowled and I scouted around to see where Faith and Kennedy were. Ken was talking to some demon leaning against the wall, and Faith was playing pool with a group of vamps; showing off cleavage and using it to her advantage. "I'm sure you heard of that group of guys taking a bunch of little girls and vamps around the city," I began and that got her attention. "Yeah, those jerks took my brother last month, haven't seen him since," she divulged. "Ya wouldn't happen to know where these guys are?" I challenged, and she shook her head. "Anyone that's ever gotten close to where they're setting up shop hasn't come back. So we stay away from there. As much as a free meal sounds nice, it only last for so long. Then one gets the jump on you, and you're dust," she revealed, got up, and shuffled across the bar.

She knows, I know she knows, so why won't she tell me? It's not like I wouldn't be doing her a favor. When I stared up again, I see Ken but no Faith. Getting up from the stool, I trekked over to Ken; who gawking around the room and wondering the same thing I am. We walk till we meet in the middle. I examine the area around us for a second till Ken points at a something behind me. "This way," she mumbles and pulls me in that general direction. I follow, and we pass through an actual normal door into a slightly darker room.

As we file in further, I see Faith kneeling down next to this curtain. A vamp sort of stumbles past us and out the door back into the bar. "Faith," Ken calls out, and Faith spots us in a worried way. We both quicken our pace to her. She's kneeling down next to a girl who appears pretty fucked up and bitten. "Is she going to change…Is she going to die?" I asked frantically. "Who is she, do you know her?" Ken babbles, and Faith stares again at both of us. "She was one of my seniors last year at Trake," Faith admitted explained them moved, so she was draping the girl's arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong with her?" I kept up the interrogation, and Faith motioned for me to help. I got hold of the other arm. "It's called Orpheus. Took it once, it has wicked magical effects when you get bitten. It seems like she's going to make it, so I'm sending her home before she decides to do anymore," asserted as we started moving. "I'll call a cab," Ken suggested as she got ahead of us.


Faith- same night about 2:00 AM

More than anything, I just want to get these girls home safe. About thirty minutes ago, we noticed one of the council tailing us. So I texted Buffy and let her know what was up. The girl I found in the bar was one of my students who graduated. She was always kind of weird. I had to fail her because she would never dress out for gym and now I know why. The tracks on her arm were really bad. I wouldn't wanna wear a t-shirt to show those off either.

"So why don't we do something about this douche bag," Alex whines, standing up from her perch on the bench. "Because I want to see how long he's going to tail us." I answer while not watching her. She stalks over to where I'm standing at the edge of the sidewalk. "Ok, so can we go somewhere, I'm tired of waiting," she complains, adding to my annoyance. "No, we're waiting on Buffy," I instructed, and she huffs. "Why can't we go get him, he's right there?" she insists and goes to face him. But from the one we met last week, I know that he'll just run off. I want to catch this mother fucker. I grab her arm. "Sit the fuck down and shut up for once," I snap and she looks up at me defiantly. I could knock her out. It'd save me the headache. Then the thoughts of 'What if he has reinforcements?' and we'd be somewhat between a rock and a hard spot cross my mind.

"What got in your ass tonight?" "Not Buffy, I'll give you that much," Ken grumbles and I spin to focus on them. "What? Ya mad cause you're not getting' any?" I nearly snarl, and Alex turns a little red; confirming my assumption. "Baby girl is still in the dog house." Ken replies; applying more heat to the flame and a flash of the Alex I met early yesterday morning comes out. "Get a grip, kid, we're talkin' shit." I warn her as if I had to. Alex looks away, and I feel my pocket vibrate. Picking it up, I hear B.

"We're coming up behind you, where is he?" B responds, and I spin around as if I'm talking absent mindedly as I supervise the two younger girls in front of me. However, I'm watching out for the company in the background. As I stay aware of our surroundings, I notice him hiking down a lonely street away from us. "He's leaving, headin' down seventh towards Ashcroft," I directed and heard the car stop. There's a beeping for her to turn the lights off, as she got out. "Ok, I see him. We'll tail him, you guys go ahead and stay put till I call," B orders, and I nod as if she can see me. "Yes, ma'am," I comply, taking in my orders as if I was eager to sit here with the bratty and bored teenager. I'd so rather be with B right now. "Don't call me that," B requests before she hangs up. I chuckle and Ken gapes up at me confused.

I see Alex glaring up at me a little more irritated then she was before I picked up the phone. "She'll call us if she needs us," I state and Alex rolls her eyes. "Right, like she's going to put the love of her life directly in harm's way if she can help it," Alex scoffs, and I sit down next to her. "You've got some death wish. It's not like you're missing out on anything. He probably made us anyhow," I rationalized, and she brought her gaze up to something else. I spy in the direction she was staring in and discovered a second male strolling in the direction of where I last saw the other one. Scoping around there's another two more doing the same thing. They keep focusing in our direction, I tap Kennedy's shoulder, and she's has the same expression as Alex and I. Worried yes, wondering if I should call B, definitely. Only if they don't know that B is in the area. I don't want to tip them off to her. In all accounts, we're surrounded.

"Come on," I advise and stand before marching in the opposite direction of the two guys we just saw; that are awkwardly out of place for this side of town. Having to practically pull Alex, I push her in front of me, and we head down the street parallel to them going in the opposite direction.

I gaze up and ahead of me as I take out my phone. Texting B what's going on and that she should get out of there. I hear footsteps behind us but I don't turn around to check. Everything in me is telling me to turn and face the bastards. Another set joins them. They're wearing boots, at least one of them is. His steps are too heavy, and they know we know they're there because they're making it too obvious. Alex and Ken are both breathing heavily. The anticipation is coming off them in waves, and they're itchin' for a fight. I can feel it. I don't think they're ready for this kind of fight. These guys could be packin'. Spineless, council lackeys normally are; Alex should know this. "Why don't we just…" "Shh," I snap, half scolding her at the same time. "Let me think," I announce and my phone vibrates again. 'There's a group of them talking on the corner. Willow is coming your way. Meet her on first and Hubbard.' I read and see Fifth street. We're still several blocks away, and I don't like the fact that there's such a distance between us. What if they're trying to separate us? What if they're driving me away from B just so they can snatch her up or any one of the girls she's with? Great, now Alex and Ken got me on edge too.

I hear something in the alley behind us and another set of footsteps joins the two men that were already following. We're about a block ahead of them and still have time to run just in case we have to. The thought of B not having any back up crosses my mind again. "Faith, I'm here. Where are you?" Red asks and I perk up, the girls notice. "A few blocks away, we'll be there in five. We're bringin' some company too," I relay back and feel a rush of relief. I know it's coming from Red. I like it when she does that, but at the same time, I don't. It dulls the senses a little and goes against the adrenaline rush I need. "How's, B, she's really in the heat of it all?" I question and wait as I continue travelling. "She's fine, sitting in alley with a few of the girls. I'm looking out for her, Faith, we're worried about you. Hurry up and get here," Red demands, and with that, I quicken my pace.

I find the street sign for Second and another wave of relief hits me. I see Red's black F150 sitting on a corner with three bodies inside. I know it's the girls, but I can't tell who because she just got her windows tinted. Ken's antsy-ness has since calmed down, and I'm sure she just wants tonight to be over and back in Red's arms. "I see you," Red declares and I peer up again as the truck turns on. As soon as it does, three men step out of the alley ahead of us and stop in our tracks. Spying past them, the door to Red's truck opens, and she steps out along with three eager slayers behind her.

"I was wondering when you guys would show up?' I confess and glance behind me at the three men who hadn't stopped approaching us yet. They stop about ten feet behind us waiting on a signal I guess to go ahead and start the beating. "We're all wondering how you survived," one exclaimed, looking at me. I'm assuming that was about the nice, little joke they played on me a few months ago. "Your son is an abomination," another chimes in from behind us, and Red is now stomping in our direction. I would be nervous, but we got a goddess on our side, and they just keep thinking that they can get past her without a fight. Only a couple of these guys are actually British, so the other two must be hired by them.

"I was going to leave you guys alone till you brought him into this…," I hissed, and one of the men raises his lips appearin' as if he wanted to snarl at my remark. "It's not you we want." The one from the left pulls out a bat and points it to either side of me. I peek at Ken, and she's ready to give it her all; not going down without a fight. They'd likely just kill me and take them if they had it their way. I feel something sharp go into my back and heat surges through me. Alex screams but runs ahead, and Ken stays put as she turns to face the men behind us. I can't do anything, frozen in place as searing pain flows through every part of my being. My knee hit the ground as it stops.

I reach halfway up my back and quickly pull the prongs out before he can pull the trigger again. Skin and whatever else goes with it. "Shit, fucker…You're gonna get it," I assure as I stand and take off running in the man's direction. There's yelling from the girls, and I almost completely ignore what's going on around me as I charge the man in front of me. He takes out a bat and swing as soon as I'm close enough. He misses, and I land on his ribs. As he gasps for air, keeling over a little, I land one across the side of his head feeling bones cave under my fist; knocking him out cold. I kick him as I turn. I peek up when I hear signs of unwanted struggle and see Ken getting pulled into the nearby alley.

Red is fending off one of the other girls that thought she could take off two of them. Alex snaps up as she takes out another one. I really hope she didn't kill him; we don't need a body on our hands right now. As far as I can see, the rest of the men are down for the count. "WILLOW!" Ken screams, and before any one of us could react and run to her aid, Red's hair turns flush white and a lightning bolt leaves the tip of her fingers. As I get to the alley, Kennedy stands upright, gasping for air and spotting the unconscious man still shaking on the ground behind her. She runs out of the alley, and I grab onto her arms as she reaches the end. "Are you ok?" I ask, and she shakes her head. She's shaken, but ok as far as I can tell. She runs up to Red, and they hug in a tight embrace. "Come on, girls, we need to get to Buffy," Red commands, but I get the feeling that she's safer then we are. As I take a step, there's another surge of heat flowing through me. NOT AGAIN. It hurts really fucking bad, and my body freezes where it is. I can't move, can't hear, can't open my eyes to look around, and I can't tell exactly what's going on. It doesn't stop, it increases.

"I'm so sorry, Buffy, I just didn't see him," Red pleads, and I slowly open my eyes to see an upside down Buffy standing above me. "It's fine, Will, she'll be ok," B said, comforting her as she placed a hand on Red's back. The fresh memories of being burned alive flows through me, and I try to sit up a little. Never thought tazers would ever be that effective. "Hey, hey, take it easy," B recommends, and I roll my eyes while gazing up at her. I rub my eyes as I prop myself up on an elbow, "That shit hurt," I groan, and a few of the girls standing next to B turn to see me awake. We're still out here in the city, so I must not have been out for long. Red spins around with them and smiles; looking grateful that I'm conscious. I want to get home so I can hold my son and B if possible, but the looks I'm getting say otherwise.

I sit up the rest of the way, and B guides me as if I have no balance. I must have tried to wake up already and only passed back out seeing as how she's being a caring and loving instead of the leader we need. "I'm fine, B, what's going on?" I inquire as I search around to see what vehicle I'm in. By the looks of it, Buffy's, I hate how tan it is in here. You'd think with a black paint job it should be grey or black but no, it's fucking tan and light brown. Whatever, it annoys me.

"There's something coming. It knows about you son," Red explains, and I sit up with the news. I know they know about him, I'm not dumb, or they wouldn't have tried that little stunt. I'm wondering right now how much they know, and what they plan on doing to him or trying to do. I'm not letting those freaks anywhere near him. I'll… "Faith," B almost shouts, and I gawk at her from the manic train of thought I was having.

"I haven't seen that look since high school," B confides, I drop the expression, and a plain grimace comes over hers. She's worried about me, I can feel it. Red leaves. My mind is racing, and it's hard to control a single thought and focus. "I'm not going to let anything happen to him," she whispers and gazes up into my eyes. It's as if she's trying to anchor me down, but I'm not sure if its working. The rest of the girls disappear, and I heard flesh hit flesh somewhere outside the Escalade. I scan past B for a second to see we're far away from where we were fighting at. They didn't want to bring him near the house. I'm glad because what I'm about to do, I don't want any of them to see. I'm contradicting myself, so I have to stay focused. If I can stay focused.

"I know, B," I agree, leaving the rest open for interpretation. I kiss her lightly and sit up further, swinging my legs out so she's standing between them.

I bring her face up with the palms of my hands and focus deeply on her eyes, so I can catch any sign of doubt with what I'm about to ask. "You trust me, right, B?" I question and she indicates that she does even though she's unsure of what I'm getting at. "With my life," she replies, but it's weak and kinda quiet; unlike B in any way. "I love you," I say, and I've never said that to anyone, not even Robin. And I can say now that I loved him, but I wasn't ready for it. I didn't know what love was. I didn't let myself feel it till Buffy came along and showed me love was more than just sex. Though the sex is better too, B can keep up. I guess it's a slayer thing after all.

B watches me for a long moment, and I search her eyes till she finally smiles. I kiss her again, only this time my tongue comes into play something serious. Definitely different to the point where its animalistic. When we pull away, we're both gasping for air, I don't know if she knows it yet, but I'm going to marry this woman eventually. I just see it. I don't know how to explain it. The warm tingle surges through me, and I have what I needed from Buffy to make this work. To be able to do what I'm about to do and not go off the deep end like I have before. This might go against all of what I come to defend, but I have to. For my son, B, and all the other girls, I have to be willing to do what they won't.

B studies my eyes as if she was trying to recognize me. These guys know me, they know what I'm capable of. "Faith," B mutters. "Hmm?" I answer as my concentration is broken somewhat. "What are you thinking?" she asks meekly. "How much I might regret this," I inform as I gently move B so I can get down from the back seat I was on. I land with my feet planted firm on the sidewalk, but I feel like I want to throw up because of what I was thinking about.

I could lose B for this. She could hate me forever and never want to see me again. I shake my head at the thought and I feel a hand on my arm. I swerve around B then view behind her at the girls standing next to Red's truck and facing the bed of it. I step closer to B, and I'm so close that our foreheads touch. "Stay here, k?" I instruct, and she nods against me. She leaves a soft, chaste kiss, and I pull up a little to see her smiling. I smile back, and she seems a little more reassured than she did before.

Turning, I strutted toward the truck. One of the girls is arguing with someone. It sounds like a male. It sounds like exactly who I want to talk to. I look back to see B observing with crossed arms. I know she would never do this. Not to another human being it goes against everything she stands for. It doesn't go against mine, or at least it didn't used to.I push past the girls standing around the bed of the truck. Red moves in my direction, and I see Alex out of the corner of my eye; holding a gun in her hand, examining it as if it was a shiny, new toy she opened on Christmas morning. Ya know what, that's it. I'll just keep thinking happy thoughts. That'll do it.

I pull down the truck bed, and some of the chatter from the girls rises. I snatch the gun out of Alex's hands. "HEY!" she yelps, and by now Red is standing right next to me. "What are you doing, Faith?" Red snarls, and I could feel her breath on my neck. She's so close. I don't stop though. I put the muzzle to the man's neck and grab the back of his shirt. "What I need to," I growled as I began pulling the struggling man from the bed of the truck. He's average size, so he's not all that heavy. "Faith, this isn't right," Red tries to convince me. I yank him the rest of the way off the bed of the truck, and he hits the ground. "GET UP" I yell in his ear, pressing the gun to his neck. "Or what?" he dares while smirking at me. I slowly click the safety off and feel Red take a step back. "Don't think for a second I won't use this," I declare and pull him to his feet.

I'm sure by now if I peek up at the faces around me, I'll get something between displays of shock and horror. But I don't, I keep my head down on his back and push him forward through the crowd of young slayers. They don't need to see this. As I get closer tot B, she does nothing but gape. She's clearly worried. As I walk past her I mouth, "I'm sorry." But I'm sure she can feel it as well as me saying it. She mouths, "I love you." as I continue to push him. Then I shove the muzzle in his back and kick the man into the nearest alley. This is what they've made me turn into.