"Buf-fy. Is... fine. Need time... 'lone," Angel stammered haltingly. It was so agonizing trying to use English. He could hear the correct words and full sentences in his head but there seemed to be some kind of blockage between his ears, brain and vocal cords. He could understand most of what the others said to him now, provided that they spoke slowly. Only with Rowan could he converse fluently but he had since the previous day insisted that also the Lehaïr speak only English to him.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked with concern. They were sitting on one of the large couches side-by-side with Buffy leaning against Angel's shoulder.

"Yes, Buf-fy."

"I... I understand. It must have been difficult for you. First the rescue and then people coming and going, day and night."

"Not... easy, hurts... less."

"I'll make your blood runs for you. There's stock in the fridge for a few days."

Buffy kissed Angel's cheek softly and stood up to leave. Just as she was at the door to the garden, Angel called after her haltingly.

"Buf-fy. You... my girl?"

"Always."

Angel stood at the exact spot where he had been standing almost a year ago, next to the looming Acathla. He reached out and pulled an invisible sword out of thin air, from the same spot where the sword hilt had been protruding from Acathla's chest back then. He slashed and parried with the insubstantial sword, re-enacting the fight with Buffy. With his precise movements, more memories started flooding back to him.

"Where are we?... I don't remember... I feel like I haven't seen you in months... What's happening?"

"Shhh. Don't worry about it... I love you."

"I love you."

"Close your eyes."

He was on his knees, clutching his chest. The pain of the memory and the memory of the pain were almost unbearable.

"She won't choose you, you know," a woman's voice said from behind him, a voice that had haunted him in his nigtmares.

He whipped around to see Jenny Calendar sitting on one of the couches, quite at ease.

"You're not real," he gasped in panic, backing away from the apparition. In his confusion, he didn't realize which language they were speaking. "You're dead."

"Hey, so are you, big boy, but look who's here."

"What do you want?"

"This is just a friendly visit. I wanted to see how you've been doing since I released you."

"You... released me?"

"Yes. But do you think this place is any less of a hell than the one you spent so many years in? Prisoner of a wretch of a self-styled Demon Lord. Rescued by your former girlfriend and her new lover. Unable to make yourself understood. Is it so hard to believe?"

"The Lehaïr..."

"Himself a prisoner for much longer than you. He sought me out, begging for answers. I gave him those and a voice. A voice he has used to seduce those who were once your friends, and the one you loved."

"I don't believe you."

"No? Perhaps you'll believe your own eyes. Come and see," Ms Calendar beckoned to him, indicating the couch opposite her. Angel approached warily but sat down facing the woman. He saw her take a few photographs from a pocket inside her jacket.

Ms Calendar held out the first one for Angel to see. It showed Buffy and Rowan side-by-side in a bar with Rowan holding a snifter in his hand. Angel reached out for the photo.

"Uh-uh. No touching; eyes only." She flipped out the other photo. It was grainy as if taken with a telephoto lens from a long distance and through a window. It showed Buffy and Rowan on top of each other on the floor of the adjacent bedroom, beside the bed he's sleeping on. Buffy appeared to be embracing Rowan with enthusiasm. "Very cosy, mmm-hmm. And you know what? First he fucked that woman Watcher into submission and now he's doing it to Buffy."

Angel couldn't take it any longer. He lunged at the smiling woman opposite him. He hit only thin air and then the back of the couch which fell over with him on top. When he got up, Ms Calendar was standing right in front of him.

"This one has served its purpose," the woman nodded and lashed out as if to bitch-slap him. Her hand went through his head and when she held her palm out, a small cloud was swirling above it. She gave it a blow and it dissipated in the air.

"I wish I could stay longer," the woman winked. "But it's not my time yet." Then she vanished.

"I'm sorry Ms... Summers. There's no-one by that name listed here," the City Hall receptionist told Buffy after having spent a few minutes checking the City's personnel list on her computer.

"But she must be there," Buffy tried exasperatedly. "Faith Lehane. I'm not sure about the spelling of her family name but you can't have that many people with surnames starting with an 'L' working for the City, can you?"

"Only a hundred or so," Buffy's Slayer hearing picked up the muttered reply, clearly not meant for her ears.

"I'll wait," Buffy told the receptionist, Joan, judging by the name on her access card. "She's gotta come through here eventually."

"As you wish," Joan told her in a voice that should have been accompanied by a roll of eyes but, obviously, the woman was too professional for such a visible show of boredom. "The public areas are open until 4 pm."

Sitting on a hard, wooden bench near the receptionist's desk, Buffy made sure she could see anyone entering or exiting through the main lobby. Without realizing it, she was managing to project a very convincing "I'm willing to wait until the hell freezes over" demeanour, and this time there was no denying it – Joan's eyes did roll almost imperceptibly.

After only fifteen minutes of waiting, she was starting to get bored. There was not a single newspaper or magazine anywhere that she could see. She didn't want to go to Joan and ask, so that left her with only her mind to keep her company. She realized she could remember practically nothing of what had happened in school earlier that day. She had been worrying about Angel, and she had been worrying about Faith. She had played a few dialogues and scenarios in her head of what would happen if/when she finally encountered Faith at the City Hall. In basically all of them Faith had eventually realized that, "God, what a stupid bitch I've been" and that Buffy had been right all the time. Right about what? Didn't really matter.

She was brought out of her daydreaming by someone calling her name. Blinking a few times, she saw that an additional twenty minutes had passed and Joan was beckoning to her with a phone in her hand.

She walked briskly back to the receptionist's desk and saw a visitor's badge with her name waiting on it. She looked quizzically at Joan.

"You can go upstairs now, Ms Summers," Joan indicated with her head. "Our executive assistant, Nathalie, will be waiting for you in the 2nd floor lobby and escort you from there."

Well, nice to see that her perseverance had paid off. She was so gonna give Faith an earful for making her wait.

Nathalie was a tall and elegant dark-skinned woman with a perfect pearly-toothed smile. She shook Buffy's hand and asked her to follow.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms Summers," Nathalie told her as they were walking along a carpeted corridor. "It took some effort to find a time slot for you in our busy schedule."

Busy? Faith was keeping busy already? And with only a few days of working for the City, she had her personal secretary as well?

They came to a wooden double door on which Nathalie knocked twice. She opened the other half of the door and motioned for Buffy to enter. "Ms Summers, Sir," Nathalie announced into the room. Buffy's head was so full of thoughts rolling around that she totally missed the address Nathalie used. Only when she was inside, and Nathalie had closed the door behind her, did she realize where she was.

"Well, Ms Summers," Mayor Richard Wilkins greeted her brightly from behind his desk. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"So, you're the little girl who's the proverbial terror of the Sunnydale underworld," the Mayor continued cheerfully as Buffy stood rooted on the spot just inside the office doors. "I thought you'd be taller, less skinny..."

"Hey!"

"... and I really can't figure out what Angel sees in you."

"What!?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Wilkins apologised, sounding genuinely regretful. "Is that a sore spot for you?"

Trying to focus, Buffy realized that she had been unconsciously playing with the locking mechanism of her purse where she kept her spare stake. She had had to pass through a metal detector but since nothing made it beep, the security guard had just waved her through.

"I can sort of understand your attraction to him," Wilkins continued still in that same jovial tone. "Slayers have always been drawn to the darkness against which they do battle. And sometimes the lure of the darkness can be just so darn irresistible."

Without realizing how it happened, Buffy suddenly felt her fingers circle around hard wood. Looking down at her right hand, she noticed she was holding her stake in a death-like grip.

"Well, isn't this exciting?" Wilkins laughed and stood up from his chair. His phone ringed once but he paid it no mind. He walked around the desk and faced Buffy, staying about ten feet away.

"You better put that toy away, Slayer, before someone gets hurt," the Mayor snarled in a cold voice which was in total contrast with his earlier tone. His face had hardened and his whole posture projected well-exercised authority.

"I want to see Faith," Buffy hissed through clenched teeth.

"She's not your concern anymore, little lady." Wilkins' tone was patronizing. "You and your Council had your chance but now she is well rid of you." He took a few long steps forward and was now standing only a few feet away from Buffy.

"I'm going to stop you," Buffy growled in a low voice. "I'm going to make you regret you ever heard the word 'Slayer'."

"And how are you going to do that? By staking me?" Suddenly Buffy's hand holding the stake was taken into an iron grip and the Mayor pressed the tip of the stake against his chest. "Are you going to become like your former colleague? A killer? Do you have what it takes to do it?"

Before Buffy could react, Wilkins jerked their joined hands towards him.

Buffy's scream was caught in her throat as the Mayor staggered a few steps backwards with the stake firmly embedded in his own chest. At the same moment she heard the door open behind her.

"Hi, Boss! You wanted me? ... B? What the...?"

Faith had been surprised to receive the call from the Boss just half an hour earlier. Giving Joan a nod in the lobby she was somewhat perplexed to see the receptionist pick up the phone as she started for the main stairway. The Boss had told her to come right away, so there should be no need to inform Nathalie of her arrival. She just shrugged and took the stairs two at a time.

She came across Nathalie in the corridor leading to the Mayor's office and the secretary just nodded to her and motioned for her to go straight in. She was in good spirits opening the door, having eagerly waited for a new assignment. What she encountered in the Boss' office made her jaw drop in shock.

She saw the Mayor pull a stake out of his chest and, to her surprise, there was no blood on it or his shirt. Buffy was standing in the middle of the room, her hand still raised in a staking gesture. There was a total silence in the room until the Boss broke it.

"Faith, I'm alright," Wilkins raised his hand, a little out of breath and rubbing his chest. "No harm done." Then he turned to the shell-shocked blonde Slayer. "You really have some anger management issues, Ms Summers. I called Faith here as you requested, and this is how you show your gratitude? In my youth you'd been bent over a knee and paddled for that kind of insolence."

The Mayor's audacity shook Buffy out of her paralysis. "No, Faith, that's not what..."

"What do you want, B?" Faith asked in an emotionless voice that made Buffy's heart sink.

"I... This is not how I...," Buffy started. "Can we go somewhere private?"

"This is as private as it's gonna get, B. Get to the point already."

Buffy could only stand there silently. Any words she wanted to say had totally evaporated from her mind.

"Thought so," Faith sneered. "Let me make it clear for you. I'm where I want to be. I'm where I'm supposed to be. If that's something you can't handle, too bad. Now, go back to your little Scooby fan club and leave me alone. I have work to do."

"Faith, why?" Buffy whispered almost inaudibly, her eyes misting with tears. "We... I need you. And Ro..."

That was as far as Buffy got before Faith's right hook to the jaw dropped her to the carpet.

With her head ringing from the blow, Buffy heard Faith's dispassionate voice above her. "Boss? I need use to the bathroom. Back in five." After that Faith's steps moved away from her and then the door to the office opened and closed. To Buffy it sounded like a crypt's door slamming shut.

Faith made it to the ladies' room just in time. Slamming the stall door closed behind her, she dropped to her knees in front of the toilet and emptied her stomach. 'Fuck it, B. Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone? This is way bigger than you and me. Please, please understand that I'm doing this to protect you. And you, Bright Eyes. You're the first one to give me their complete trust in like forever. But I told you I'm not good enough. There's no way I can come through this in one piece.'

Then she did something she had not done since she was eight. Still on her knees in front of the porcelain altar, she turned her eyes upwards. 'I just cannot win, can I, Big Guy? Can I even break even?'

Five minutes later Faith had composed herself enough to be able to face the Boss again. The Mayor was alone in his office reading some papers and Faith slipped in quietly, sitting in the familiar guest chair.

"Was there something else for me, Boss?" Faith asked after a minute of silence.

"Actually, yes, there is," Wilkins nodded, putting down the papers. At the same time her Slayer sense tingled and the office doors opened behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know that Mr Trick had entered the room. "Mr Trick informed me this morning that someone has been snooping around in the City Hall computers."

The vampire nodded. "I tracked down the identity of the hacker. I'm sure Ms Willow Rosenberg is a name you recognize, Slayer."

"Red? No way! Why would she mess with your computers?" Faith asked, managing to sound surprised, but mostly because Willow's snooping had been discovered.

"I was hoping you would ask her that," Wilkins answered. "And also tell her to stop; politely, mind. She seems to have an unhealthy interest in my affairs and those of the late Deputy Mayor."

Faith couldn't avoid a shudder at hearing that.

The Mayor didn't fail to notice her sudden discomfort. "Hey, hey, none of that. I told you it was an accident – water under the bridge. Now, regarding Ms Rosenberg's extracurricular activities, I wouldn't mind if she was only interested in Allan; it shows she cares about my Slayer. But her specific interest in me is somewhat troublesome."

Buffy left the Mayor's office without another word or backward glance. Her jaw hurt like hell as she walked like an automaton along the carpeted corridor, down the main staircase and out of the City Hall. Only when she was outside in the street did the first sobs escape her mouth.

While walking basically unseeing back to Sunnydale High, she kept replaying the scene with the Mayor in her head. The stake had definitely penetrated his chest deep enough to pierce the heart, but he had just pulled it out without so much as a drop of blood visible. She suddenly remembered Kakistos. She had tried to stake him, but the ancient vampire had just shrugged it off. That had been different, though. The chest of Kakistos had fused together to create an almost impenetrable armour but this time her stake had definitely gone in the Mayor's chest.

What if the Mayor couldn't be harmed at all? That thought fought against everything she had come to take for truth. If you staked someone, they either turned to dust or otherwise ceased being mobile. Story, end of. And Faith, oh God, Faith. That cold stare and impassive voice had hurt so much. Just a few days ago they had danced in the Bronze together, something that had been one of the greatest thrills of her life.

Despite everything that had happened at the City Hall, she tried to rationalize Faith's actions to herself. Faith had just... changed jobs. She had killed a man but it had been an accident. So, it was like she had been sentenced to... community service. She wasn't dead. She hadn't even left Sunnydale. But why did it feel like continents separated them now?

In the library Rowan was polishing their swords and axes and Giles was cataloguing what looked like a new batch of history books. Gwen was sitting at the long study table with a stack of books beside her, writing something in a notebook. Three pairs of eyes followed her entry to the library as she made her way to the table. She was sure everyone's eyes were focused on the bruise in her cheek. Rowan's smooth, brown features revealed nothing of what he was thinking. Gwen was looking at her with polite interest. Only Giles showed concern at seeing her face and led her to sit in a chair on the opposite side of the table from Gwen.

"It didn't go well," Rowan stated from the door to the cage.

Buffy propped her elbows on the table and hid her face in her hands. She could only shake her head. Giles brought her a glass of water and sat down in the chair beside her. He put an affectionate arm around her shoulders.

"I... I went to the City Hall," Buffy started haltingly after having gulped down the water in one. "I was escorted to the Mayor's office and... he said some things, definitely bad guy things... Slayers and darkness... Angel. He made me so mad. I... I staked him."

Giles' hand suddenly gripped her shoulder with painful force. "Buffy, no!" she heard the librarian say with a choke. Gwen's pen dropped to the table and rolled down to the floor.

Buffy continued as if she hadn't heard any of that. "I had a stake in my hand and he... he grabbed my hand and thrust the stake in his own heart. It... it didn't affect him at all. He just pulled it out like nothing had happened. It was then that Faith... She was so cold. She told me she wanted to be there, that she was needed there. Giles, we gotta do something! Oh, my God. I thought I'd never have to say this. Let's call the Council and have them get her out of there."

"Buffy...," Giles started.

"They can do it," Buffy continued, getting agitated. "They have agents everywhere. Let's see them pull some strings."

"Let me, Rupert," Gwen cut in gently, giving Rowan an almost imperceptible glance. "Buffy. If we call the Council, they will most likely send a retrieval team after Faith. Under the best circumstances they will drug her and smuggle her back to England for... rehabilitation."

Gwen's words were like a cold shower to Buffy and she straightened her back. "Those are the 'best circumstances'? I'd hate to hear the alternatives."

"The team they sent would be from the Council's special operations unit," Gwen explained further. "In addition to smuggling, they handle other tricky jobs for the Council, including wet works."

"Wet works?" Buffy asked in confusion. "Like taking Faith scuba diving? That doesn't sound so bad."

"Assassination, Buffy," Rowan announced from where he was standing at the cage door. "A new Slayer."