Leaves of Grass

Special thanks slayerman2001, Chelsea, Nevermore who all helped me when I couldn't think of a few facts I needed for my story. Thanks to all of you who commented on the last chapter. Due to server problems at fanfiction.net I was able to put another day into the writing of the chapter. I hope you all like this chapter! I look forward to your comments.

Xander and Faith pull up to their house a few minutes after leaving the alley. The garage door opens and the car pulls inside. As the garage door closes the couple climbs out of the car and makes their way to the door. They enter the lavishly decorated house a house that Adam had explained would help be perfect for their cover identities. Climbing up the spiral staircase they make their way to the room they shared.

Upon entering the room Faith gathers up some clothes to sleep in and makes her way into the bathroom and Xander stays in the room, as is their custom. Once the bathroom door closes Xander proceeds to shed the last remnants of his assumed identity. Leaning closer to the mirror hanging above his dresser he carefully picks out the hazel colored contact lenses. He remembers the conversation when Adam explained the makings of the perfect disguise.

"Changes?" Xander asks, a little uncomfortable. Adam just smiles a nods.

"Xander you come with me, and Faith?"

"Yes?" She answers.

"If you would go with Cassandra upstairs we'll get this part done quickly."

"Sure." With that Cassandra and Faith go upstairs.

Adam gestures to Xander to follow him down to the basement. They make their way down the stairs and Adam gestures for Xander to sit in a chair in the middle of the basement floor.

"Adam what did you mean by changes?"

"You'll have to disguise yourself if you are going to go back to Sunnydale. You died and coming back so soon after your death would put you at risk at being recognized. So I'm going to change your look."

"What you going to do? Bleach my hair blond and make me wear glasses? Wouldn't that make it too obvious? I'm pretty sure the Clark Kent routine won't work."

"I'm sure it wouldn't. I have actually found that the subtlest disguises are the most efficient. You are dead, so to hide Xander Harris I will have to change you into something that looks vaguely like Xander Harris."

"Adam you lost me." He says warily as he eyes the cans and bottles that Adam is pulling out of the closet.

"The human brain is a very stubborn thing. To everybody you knew in Sunnydale you are dead right?" Xander nods as Adam puts a shower cap of some sort on his head. "Well if people you knew saw you I want you to look just different enough to the point where they would dismiss you as someone who resembles Xander Harris. You follow?"

"I think so. Adam what are you doing?" Adam is now pulling a few strands of hair through the shower cap.

"I'm going to color your hair."

"What!?!" Xander tries to stand but Adam pushes him back into the chair.

"From a distance the first things people note are your body type and your hair color. If I change your hair color slightly it will throw most everyone off. Now relax, I'm not going to color it all, only the tips."

"Do you have a cosmetology license?" He asks Adam trying to save his hair from the butchering Adam would give it.

"Of course I have a cosmetology license. I've had one since the sixties. I had lost a bet one day and I had to learn to be a hair dresser. After getting one I figured no one would go out looking for Methos the hairdresser so it is a skill I keep up to date."

He hears Xander stifle a laugh. "Laugh it up all you want Xander, just remember who is coloring your hair right now. I could be turning your hair bright pink." The last comment quickly shuts Xander up.

An hour later Xander inspects the job Adam had done on his hair. It wasn't so bad he thought to himself. It had looked as if his hair really was growing out, loosing the color. Turing around Adam tosses him a package.

"Have you ever used a pair of those?" He says pointing at the package.

"No, what are they?"

"They are contact lenses, these ones are colored so your eyes will look they are a different color. Try them on."

"I've never put contacts on before!"

"You'd better learn then, otherwise you'll be picking at your eyeballs all night." He said. "I'll also have to do something about your clothes."

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

"Absolutely nothing if you are Xander Harris."

"That's who I am."

Sighing Adam turns to look at him, "Xander part of being Immortal is the ability to change, to be a chameleon of sorts. The best way to hide is in plain sight. Things like your height you can't change. But you can change your mannerisms, your voice, your clothes and you hair and eye color. Just enough to convince people you are something you are not."

"How can you be so sure that someone won't recognize me?"

"Experience, a lot of trial and error went into this Xander, just trust me. Besides you'll have to look the part that I've setup for you anyway."

"What part is that?"

"You will be my son, Harrison Pierce. Of Pierce Industries Inc."

"You own that company?"

"Yup, started it up back in the fifties and use it to hide money and some of my assets."

"I'll have clothes delivered to your house along with some clothes for Faith."

"We're staying in separate houses?"

"Of course my son and his wife can't very well stay with me can they? You two will be living together in a house not far from Cassandra and myself."

Xander's mind catches up to what was just said, "WIFE? You mean we're married?"

"Yes I have some info both of you will have to learn. But as far as the Man and Wife thing I don't think you'll have a problem pretending will you?"

"I guess not," He says then stammers, "I mean I wouldn't mind, we haven't done anything Adam."

"I believe you, but I do think that you have feelings for Faith, don't you?"

Xander just stands there and Adam says, "Hmm, just what I thought. Now about your clothes."

Xander had changed into his clothes and was ready for bed. The door to the bathroom opens and Faith steps out also ready for bed. Faith climbs into bed and Xander goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Upon returning his finds that Faith is asleep already, climbing into bed next to her she automatically moves to curl up to him. They had shared a bed twice in their lives first when they had sex together and then once again when he had stayed with her to comfort her.

He remembers the night they slept together. She had told him what a fight does to her and the needs that arise from those fights. She hasn't mentioned it, but he remembers it nonetheless. With them playing the roles of husband and wife Xander found that they would have to share the same bed every night. At first he was a bit frightened by the idea but as he puts his arm around her and moves closer to her he finds that maybe it isn't such a bad thing after all. He can feel the warmth of her body against his. Looking down at her now blonde streaked hair and takes a deep breath.

Faith looks up at Xander and says, "Come on, let's go to sleep."

"Sure." He says and reaches over to the lamp and turns off the light. "Let's go to sleep."

The Magic Box

Tara arrives at the shop shortly after making the call to Giles' house. Seeing that she is the first one there is forced to wait for Giles to make it to the shop. She reaches over to her passenger seat and grabs the stake that is sitting there. By the looks of it is a normal piece of wood with a sharp end, but inspecting it closer one can see that the edges have been smoothed down and slight almost imperceptible grooves can be felt toward the base of the stake. It was as if it was designed to be a weapon, designed with comfort and ease of use in mind. She didn't know what to make of it. What she needed was Giles and the others to help her make sense of what she saw. So she waits until Giles' car pulls up to the shop. Putting the stake in her pocket she gets out of her car to meet Giles.

"Tara are you ok?" He asks her again.

"Yes Giles I'm fine. Let's go inside and wait for the others so I'll only have to go through it once."

Unlocking the door they walk into the shop and make their way to the counter. Reaching into her pocket he hands Giles the stake. "You're the weapons expert, tell me what you think."

Giles catches the stake and examines it closely. He goes through several movements that she recognizes from watching Buffy. He runs his thumb runs over the base of the stake more than likely feeling the slight grooves there. He tosses the stake up in the air and catches it as it falls point down.

"It's a stake."

"I can see that Giles."

He gives her an annoyed look and then continues. "As I was saying it is a stake, but one of excellent quality. It is made from some very sturdy wood, cedar from the looks of it." He says banging the stake lightly on the counter. "And here…" He begins to point out the base of the stake but is cut off by the entrance of Buffy, Willow and Riley.

Willow is the first to speak, "Tara are you ok?"

"Why is it every time we all meet up together everyone assumes someone is hurt or something horrible happened?" Tara asks exasperated. Seeing their questioning looks she quickly adds, "Never mind. I'm fine." Seeing that they aren't completely convinced she adds, "Really, I'm fine."

"Then what's the emergency about?" Buffy asks.

"This." Giles says tossing the stake to Buffy. She catches the stakes deftly.

"All this over a stake? I mean it is a great stake and all but was it really necessary calling all of us to meet here?"

Giles picks up on her line of reasoning and cuts her off before she can finish. "Yes, I'm sorry if I had interrupted your…sleep," he says raising his eyebrow at Buffy and Riley, "but this meeting isn't about the stake. It's about how it came into Tara's possession."

Buffy tosses the stake back to Giles and turns to Tara. "Ok, so what happened?"

"Well I was walking to my car from my new job at Tableux when I hear something from the alley. I heard someone say 'I hate fighting for our dinner.' Thinking that someone would need some help I made my way to the mouth of the alley. There was a man and a woman, about our age. The man had stepped in front of the woman as if to protect her but from my vantage point I saw something that the vampires didn't see."

"What was that?" Giles asks

"The man wasn't actually protecting the woman."

"But you just said that he stepped in front of her. That would have cutoff the vampires from the woman." Riley says.

"Yes but I think it was to distract them for the woman to reach down to the hem of her dress and pull that," she says pointing to the stake. "out. I thought that was surprising but what happened next was surprising."

"What was that?" Giles asks now curious at the fact that the woman had pulled a stake out.

"The vampires had begun to circle around the couple, you know? Then they attacked like a pack of jackals. I was about to cast a spell of protection to help them out but the woman staked one vampire turning it to dust while kicking another one stunning him."

"Giles do you think that another slayer has been called?" Willow asks Giles. "That would mean…" Her sentence trails off the words implying all that needed to be said.

"I'm not sure, I can try to check with my contacts within the Council to be find out though. Tara please continue did the woman stake the last three vampires as well?"

"No that is what was strange. I heard a sound, you the sound you have when you rub your fork and knife together?" Seeing that they all are following her she continues. "Well this was the same, only a lot louder and a lot longer. The man had actually pulled out a sword and chopped off the head on one vampire. Then he sliced the arm off of one vampire and proceeded to chop off the head of that vampire."

"A sword?" Buffy asks incredulously. She had used one once and it had taken considerable strength and stamina to wield it for more than ten minutes.

"Yes a sword and a big one too. I couldn't even tell he had it on him. I think he might have been using magic to hide it."

"Well many watchers are trained in different arms. Swords are one of those types. I was actually academy fencing champion." Giles says with a bit of pride. "Tara will you follow me please?"

She nods and follows him to the back of the store and the others follow. Giles goes to the back of the store and opens up a cabinet. Inside are various weapons; clubs, maces, stakes, short staffs, and in the back are a few swords.

"Which one of these swords is the closest match to the one the man was using?"

Tara looks at the swords and points at one, "That one it's about the same length I think."

"Interesting, a long sword. Very interesting indeed." Giles says a look of concentration on his face.

"Why would that be interesting?" Riley asks.

"The long sword is a very difficult sword to use. It has long reach and is much heavier than the Calvary-style swords that I have trained Buffy to use. To use it in close quarter combat with the accuracy Tara had explained would imply great strength and hours upon hours of practice. Here." Giles tosses the sword to Riley who catches it easily. Grabbing a lighter sword he motions Riley to follow him.

"Now for our mystery man to have done the things Tara had said he would have had to do the following movements. First a lateral swing like this taking the head of the first vampire," Giles demonstrates, "then a downward swing with enough force to severe part of an arm." Giles then takes the sword and shifts his weight to his left and slowly brings the blade up and across his body at head level. "He then would have had to bring the blade up slightly then across his body like so to behead the vampire. The whole process would have taken no more than a few seconds to complete. Riley you try with that sword."

Riley tries to mirror the movements that Giles had demonstrated only moments ago. His movements are jerky and uncontrolled. He is unable to stop the downswing before hitting the ground and he is not able to stop the upswing at his head level. The sword is now raised above his head as he tries to bring the sword across his body but it is a wild swing. He realizes that the swing will put the blade into range of Willow and tries to stop the movement mid-swing but the weight of the blade carries enough momentum that he cannot stop the sword. "Watch out!" He screams at her.

Willow wide eyed is frozen in place. She closes her eyes unwilling to watch as the blade approaches her. She waits for the sword to hit her but instead she hears a loud clang. Opening her eyes she sees the Giles has deflected the incoming blade and diverted its path so Riley's follow through would end naturally away from the others.

"I think I have made my point. Picture this, this man was able to do this with such force and accuracy with someone at his back." Giles pauses before adding, " I will try to see if another slayer has been called. But in the mean time we'll try to keep an eye out for these new residents. Buffy if you see them while out on patrol I want you to be VERY careful. They can fight and we don't know why they are in town so be careful."

"No problem. We'll keep a low profile if we see them." Giles nods and Tara, Willow, Buffy and Riley leave the shop.

Giles walks over to the counter and picks up the phone. He dials a number he memorized a long time ago. He listens to the quick double ring as the call is connected to its international destination.

[Royal Academy, Julian speaking.]

"Julian, its Rupert. How are you doing old boy?"

[Rupert! I haven't heard from you in ages! I'm doing fine! How are you?]

"I'm doing fine Julian. What have you been up to?"

[The same old routine. Research this, catalogue that, lecture on this and so on. To what do I owe the honor of this international call?]

"There has been a sighting here in Sunnydale of a woman fighting vampires with a stake. I was wondering if a new Slayer has been called and if so who has been assigned to her?"

[I am sure one has not been called.]

"Are you sure?"

[Of course I'm sure Rupert! No slayer has been called forth and if one has I am most likely one of the first ones who would be notified of such information. You know that Rupert!]

"Yes, well sorry, it just that Faith had disappeared a few months ago and from the reports I heard I thought that perhaps a new Slayer had been called."

[Sorry old chum, the only active Slayers are yours and the other, Faith.]

"I see, thank you for the information. I'll be sure to keep in touch."

[I shall try to as well. Cheers.]

"Cheers." Giles says as he puts down the phone. He mulls over the information in his head and tries to make sense out of it.

The morning finds Xander and Faith sitting off to the side of a large workout area. They are in the house Adam and Cassandra have used to house their current identities of Benjamin and Elizabeth Pierce. Xander and Faith are sitting back and watching Adam and Cassandra practice against each other. Fluidity and grace all but oozed from the pair as they move across the work out area.

When Faith was invited to train with the trio she was hesitant at first, remembering the training with Giles. She didn't want to hurt anyone especially those who have accepted her and welcomed her into their lives. After some gentle coercing from all three of them she consented to join their training sessions. It was much to her chagrin that she learned that of all those in the room she was the least skilled in armed combat.

In hand to hand she is able to go head to head with Xander and come up with a win half of the time. Against Adam or Cassandra however, their skills far surpassed any that she had learned and they far surpassed any skills that she would have been able to learn from any Watcher. What she had learned was uniquely suited to fight vampires. Great portions of Vampires are not fighters. They rely on brute strength to win battles. True fighters however are like Generals. Generals that command the army that is their body. Using the multitude of weapons made available to them at the time.

Adam and Cassandra are true fighters, warriors. Unlike vampires when they fight these two constantly think when fighting. Even now she sees their eyes shifting, following, searching for openings but with only the barest of glances. A missed step could possibly mean death or in this case a loss. These are not the things that have earned her respect however. Their poise, confident manner and the fact they have accepted who she was and the fact that she wanted to change is what had earned her respect.

As Adam disarms Cassandra she stands up and applauds the pair. Adam breathing hard says, "That's three out of five. You almost had me there for a second."

"Almost doesn't really count though does it?" Cassandra adds after taking a swig of water from a nearby bottle.

"Not this time." He says to her then looks over at the younger couple standing to the side and bows to them. "Thanks to you two for your support. You both would make excellent cheerleaders." He says with a smile.

"Mmmmm, Faith in a cheerleader uniform. Now that is something that I would like to see." Xander says with a grin.

Adam grins and says, "Hey Xander!"

Xander is about to say something when Faith slaps him on the side of his head. Xander exclaims, "Ow!"

Adam smiles and finishes his train of thought, "Watch out."

"Thanks for the warning." He says rubbing his head. Faith smiles sweetly at him.

"That's what you get." Faith says to him and then turns to face the approaching Cassandra.

"I couldn't have said it any better myself." Cassandra says.

"Thank you." Faith says looking defiantly at Xander.

"What is this gang up on Xander day?"

Adam replies cheerfully, "No you dug your own hole that time."

"You both better get ready you have a full day ahead of you two." She says to Adam and Xander.

"We do?" Xander says.

"Oh yes, the new office opens today Harry. We need to be there to make sure it all goes by smoothly." Adam says.

"New office? I thought that was a just a cover. I don't know the first thing about running a business!" Xander protests.

"You don't have to. All you have to do is sign whatever the people under you hand to you. Don't worry, I've hand picked them myself, they won't give you anything that doesn't need to be signed. You will look like you are pouring over numbers, quotas, and pie charts but in reality you, like I will be looking over research. Hopefully we'll be able to find some information on how to stop Armageddon. "

"But…" Xander stutters out.

"Don't worry you'll do fine. Let's go."

"What about them?" He says gestures over to Cassandra and Faith. "What will they do?"

"We'll do what most rich socialites are expected to do Xander." Cassandra says.

"That being?"

"Shop and be seen where all the socialites can be seen." Cassandra answers with a smile. She then proceeds to gently lead Faith out of the room. Faith looks over her shoulder a little apprehensive and then concedes to Cassandra and follows her out of the room.

As the pair walks out of the work out area Xander begins to think that he has gotten the short end of the deal.

Buffy, Tara and Willow are all having breakfast in the dorm commons. The food at the commons isn't the greatest, but if you have to choose a single meal to have in the commons breakfast would be the one to choose. There wasn't too many ways to mess up milk and cereal, at least that was what most freshmen think. However it seems that breakfast is the one meal that is more than likely to go without a hitch.

"I need to find some kind of story I can take into my polisci discussion." Buffy says going through a newspaper she picked up on the way to the commons. "I need to find something about socio-economical resource…stuff. Could you guys help me?" She asks the other two girls.

"Sure." They both say.

"Hand me a part of the paper." Willow says reaching out to grab a section of the newspaper.

"Here take this part." Buffy says handing over half of the paper. They search through the paper while Tara goes and gets more cereal. The paper is strewn about the entire table as Tara makes her way back with a full bowl.

"Buffy! Here this one is perfect! Here it talks about the effects of an embargo in Africa." Willow points out to Buffy.

"That's awesome! I gotta get to class." She grabs the portion of the paper that has the article and puts it into one of her books. "Thanks Wills!" She calls over her shoulder.

Tara sitting in her chair asks Willow, "Don't you have a class this morning too?"

"Yeah, I was about to leave for chem right now. I see you after your eleven o'clock class?" She asks her.

"Yes, I might get out of Art History a little bit early today, we have a quiz. I'll meet up with you here ok?"

"Sounds good." Willow says as she packs her stuff away in her bag. "See ya later!"

Tara waves goodbye as she continues to eat her breakfast. Her first class is at nine that morning so she is able to take her time in the mornings. She begins to look through the paper trying to find something interesting to occupy her while she eats. She is in the middle of her search when she suddenly stops. Tara leans closer to the paper to peer at a particular section. Putting her bowl down she reaches for the page and holds it up for her to examine it more closely. Putting the bowl and the paper down she gathers her stuff together and picks up the paper in question and makes her way back to her dorm room.

When she gets to her room she takes the paper out and places it on her dresser. She calls information and asks, "Pierce Industries please. Thanks." She jots down the number and hangs up the phone. Looking at the number and then back at the paper she thinks of the best way to approach the situation. She decides to read over the portion of interest hoping that an idea will come to her.

The top of the column reads Society. The blurb says, vice-president and heir to the multinational company Pierce Industries Inc. Harrison Pierce and his wife Amanda have been spotted at one of Sunnydale's most exclusive restaurants last night. Harrison and his father, President Benjamin Pierce, have relocated to Sunnydale to open a new office for their billion-dollar company.

The blurb goes on to talk about their clothing and the restaurant but that was not what captured her attention. The picture above the blurb shows the couple sitting at a table dinning together. When she saw that picture she knew she had seen them from somewhere. She had seen them in the alley the night before. They were the mystery couple that dusted five vampires in less than five minutes. She had to be sure though and there was only one way to find out. There was no time to tell Giles or the others, she had to do this now or the opportunity would pass her up.

Picking up the phone she dials the number she had written down. "Yes, human resources please. Thank you." She waits while she is transferred. "Hello, my name is Tara Maclay I was doing research on your company and found that you have a new office in the area. I was wondering if you have any part-time clerical positions open? You do? Can I email a resume to you? Sure let me write that down." She says as she jots down the email address, "Today? Sure, ten o'clock would be fine. Thank you. I'll see you then. Bye."

Putting the phone down Tara resolves herself to the plan of action she has put into motion. She boots up her computer and while waiting she goes to her closet to find some appropriate clothing for an interview. Seeing that her computer is done booting she quickly finds her resume and makes a few adjustments. Opening her word processor program she writes a quick formal letter describing her and the skills that would make her applicable to the clerical position. Attaching that and her resume to the email she sends it out. She sits there for a moment thinking of the possible danger her plan entails. But she has no time for that as her clock on her dresser shows eight-thirty. She needs to prepare for her interview and if she is going to find out what Harrison and Amanda Pierce are really about she needs to get hired first.

A building that has been vacant for years is seen standing surrounded by a chain-linked fence and warning signs can be found all over the premises. The words that had once prominently displayed Sunnydale high School in bronze is now tarnished with letters missing.

Inside the once lively halls of the school stand empty and dirty. Lockers are hanging open, posters pined to the wall are now ripped and hanging from only corners. Listening to the sounds the school one can hear the creaking of boards, sound of wind blowing through the halls and the rustling of papers. Sometimes the mind will play tricks on whoever is listening; hearing sounds of student's voices echoing through the hall. But however if one listens closely they can hear a light tapping noise. Tap, tap, tap, tap. A pause and then tap, tap, tap, tap. The sound echoes through the halls. From the main entrance, in the halls, past the music room, past what was once the library and right inside to what was once the main science lab.

On one of the counters one can see a group of jars filled with a green murky fluid. In one jar a pair of eyes float peering unseeing at the world from behind the glass. In the jar next to it floats a tongue forever tasting the fluid inside of the jar. In the corner of the room stand two men speaking softly not wanting to disturb their leader the man sitting at one of the counters.

His hand is spread out on the counter. Between his fingers are several worn out holes, in his other hand is a knife. Tap, tap, tap, tap. One can hear as he stabs the knife in between his fingers. Tap, tap, tap, tap. As he does it over and over again. Looking down at his hand the blood that has collected around his fingers from the times he misses his target the man smiles. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Soon, very soon he thinks to himself. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Yes he would send his men out to retrieve another sacrifice tonight. Yes soon, tap, tap, tap, tap. Tonight, tap, tap, tap, tap. With that he begins a low chuckle. Yes, very soon. He doesn't even flinch as more blood pools on the counter top.

Tara is dressed ready to go to her interview. She couldn't believe that she was able to get an interview for today. She grabs a purse and a professional-looking notebook to take with her to the interview as well as a hard copy of her resume. Leaving her dorm room she decides to stop by Willow and Buffy's room to leave Willow a message. On the small whiteboard hanging from their door she writes, "Something has come up, can make it for lunch. I'll tell you about it later. Tara."

She walks out of her dorm room and to her car. Sitting behind the wheel she takes a deep breath to calm herself. "There is no turning back now." She says as she starts her car and slowly pulls away towards the commercialized area of Sunnydale. "No turning back now."

"An interview!" Xander exclaims over the phone to Adam.

[Yes, an interview. You'll have to do a few until you fill the open positions. The faster you hire you'll have fewer interviews. Live with it.]

"But what do I ask? I don't even know what the position is for!"

[Look at what was forwarded to you. The subject says part-time clerical position-admin assistant. I had asked HR to try to get a student. Students tend to be quiet and will do the tasks you need them to do. Just hire the first one that has some decent typing skills and would sound like someone who can answer the phone. It'll be a student so they'll be able to learn the system quickly.]

"Adam, I don't know the system."

[And you don't need to. Just interview the applicant and hire one you think is qualified.] After that last statement Adam hangs up on the other side of the line.

Xander rubs his head in frustration. Not even three hours into the first day and he already is feeling the stress of his assumed role. Sighing he opens up the email attachment that was forwarded to him. "Well Tara Maclay. Let's see what you can do."

At five minutes to ten Tara is opens the main doors of a small two story office building. She walks up to the receptionist and introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Tara Maclay. I have an appointment at ten o'clock for an interview."

"Sure thing, let me check what I have here…Okay, here you are ten o'clock. Let me call Mr. Pierce." At that statement Tara paled slightly. She was going to interview with Mr. Pierce? It took all of her own will power to force herself from not hyperventilating. She was going to interview with a potentially dangerous individual that could possibly lead to her death.

"Yes, Mr. Pierce a Ms. Maclay is here to see you. Yes, your ten o'clock appointment. Shall I send her in?" She pauses. "Yes, right away." The receptionist smiles at her and says, "Mr. Pierce is expecting you. His office is through that door and at the end of the hallway to your left."

"Thank you." She says as she walks through the door. The hall is stacked with boxes and passing by each door she sees that many of the offices are still empty, the only ones that show any signs of occupation are stacks of boxes that lie next to the desks.

At the end of the hall there she reaches a door that has a name next to the doorframe. Harrison Pierce. Now or never she thinks and knocks on the door.

"Come in!" Says the voice from behind the door. Tara reaches out to open the door and lets herself into the office. Walking inside she sees a spacious office. To the sides are bookshelves full of books and pictures. He is sitting behind a desk with a credenza to his back on it sits a wedding picture of him and his wife as well as one other couple. From the eye colors of the two men she guesses that they are his mother and father. His monitor sits on top of a docking station where his laptop is plugged in. Around him he has papers and notebooks open. He is talking on the phone when she walks in. He gestures to a chair for her to sit down.

"Yeah, I'll give you a call later, my ten o'clock is here right now. Ok, thanks." He hangs up the phone. He looks young but in his business attire he looks professional and deserving of his position. He stands up and extends his hand, "Hi, Tara. I'm Harrison Pierce, but please call me Harry."

"Hello, Harry." She returns.

"So I see you are looking for a position here in the company. Do you know what position you are interviewing for?"

"Well to tell you the truth, I had asked if there were any clerical jobs open and they had asked me to come in today. I honestly don't know what jobs were available at the time." She replies truthfully not adding the fact that she had seen him kill two vampires from the night before.

"Really? Well you are the first applicant to be my administrative assistant." Seeing her eyes widening he quickly adds, "Don't worry, all you really have to do is some light clerical work and from the looks of your resume you should be more than qualified." He pauses, "and I don't have anyone else to interview for the position and I was looking to fill it today."

"Really?" Tara says a bit confused.

"Yes really. If you could go back to HR down the hall and get all the forms you need to fill out I'll give them a call giving them my ok."

"Sure, when do I start?" Tara says.

"Tomorrow, bring in a schedule for your availability and we'll get you accounted with out system."

"Sure thing. Thank you Mr. Pierce."

"Harry, please call me Harry."

"Thank you Harry, I'll see you tomorrow then." With that Tara walks to HR as directed and tries to go over what had just happened. Either he really wanted to fill the position today or he had remembered her from the alley and wanted to keep an eye on her and what better way to do that than to work under him? She was either extremely lucky or unlucky. She would have to find out tomorrow.

Back in his office Xander was smiling smugly to himself. One position filled and with only two others left he decided to give HR a call to tell them that the last two positions were to be interviewed by the senior Pierce. He also told them of his decision to hire Tara. There really wasn't anything much to running a business. He smiles and gets back to work on his research on The Awakening.

Willow waited for Tara in the commons for about ten minutes but when she didn't show up she decided to make her way to her room and give her a call. When she reached her room she sees that Tara had left her a message. Reading it over she wonders what she should do for lunch.

At that point Buffy walks into the room. "Hey Wills!" She says to her, "I thought you were going to hang with Tara for lunch?"

"Yeah I was but something came up and Tara had to bail on me."

"I'm sorry you want to have lunch with me? We can go downtown and look at the new shops and grab a bite to eat. I'm done for today what about you?"

"I have a CS lab at three but I don't need to go, I finished my project already."

"Cool! Lets go." Buffy says and both women leave the dorm room.

The two make it to downtown with relative ease mainly because downtown is walking distance from campus. Buffy and Willow decide on eating at one of the small cafés in the area having chicken salads and people watching most of the time. When they finish they decide to spend some time walking around looking at the various stores.

"Buffy look at that store over there!" Willow points out to her companion.

"What about it?" She says.

"It's having a sale, thirty to forty percent off!" Willow responds.

"Oh wow! Let's go and see." Buffy says as they walk into the store. Moments later they walk out.

"That wasn't such a good idea was it?" Buffy says.

"No, forty percent off of four hundred dollars is still way more than I would like to spend."

"Seriously! I mean…" Buffy's sentence is cut short when she stops abruptly causing Willow to almost run into her.

"Buffy? What's wrong?" Willow asks warily looking around them to see if anything out of the ordinary was happening. "Buffy?"

"Will, look at those two across the street, the ones about to walk into that store over there." She gestures at the couple in question without pointing at them hoping not to get their attention.

"What about them?" Willow asks.

"The younger one, I could swear that she looked just like…Willow come on lets go."

"What? Go where?"

"I need to look at her more closely." Buffy says over her shoulder.

"Why?" Willow says catching up with Buffy.

"Because I could have sworn that girl was Faith."

Eyes wide Willow keeps up with Buffy as they enter the store. "Are you sure?" She says whispering to Buffy.

"No, but she looks a lot like her, that's why I need to get a closer look." She whispers back.

The two women that they were following were over by a rack looking at skirts. The young woman in question had a black one in one hand and a gray one in the other. They hear her ask her companion, "Elizabeth, which one do you think is better?"

Elizabeth replies, "I like that black one." She pauses as she looks at an adjacent rack and pulls out a red top. "If you try it with this top I'm sure it'll look wonderful on you."

Buffy quickly runs through a few of her options. Seeing that her options are limited she decides for the direct approach. "Oh my God!" Buffy says loudly, "I haven't seen you in such a long time!" she says as she grabs the girl's arm and turns her to face her. Startled by the sudden contact and movement the girl drops her things.

What Buffy sees is not what she expects. The night she had fought Faith the one thing that she remembered clearly were Faith's eyes. The moment she had fallen off that ledge she saw Faiths eyes look at her not with malice but understanding. It was that look that haunted her every time she went to visit Faith in the hospital. The eyes looking back at her now were an unfamiliar green opposed to Faith's dark brown.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" The girl says to her.

Buffy shaken out of her reverie replies, "Ah, you just reminded me of someone…I must have been mistaken." She adds quietly.

"Don't worry about it! I do it all the time too! You think you see someone but then after you see them in a little better light they're not who you think they are." She pauses and extends her hand, "I'm Amanda."

"Buffy, and this," She says gesturing to Willow who also extends her hand. "is Willow."

"Nice to meet you Willow. This is my mother-in-law Elizabeth." She says introducing her companion.

"Amanda you know I hate it when you call me that, it makes me feel so old!" She says and then takes the hands of the two girls, "Pleasure to meet you both."

"Same here," Buffy says.

"I'd love to talk some more but we have to get going." Amanda says gesturing to her watch.

"Sure, no problem, sorry about earlier. You must think that we're psychos."

"Not at all. Maybe we'll bump into each other later. If we do lets get a cup of coffee."

"That would be nice."

"Great! Well we have to go." Amanda says picking up her stuff and making her way towards the door with Elizabeth.

"We do too, it was nice meeting you." Willow says to both Amanda and Elizabeth.

"You too," Amanda says with a smile. She looks over to Elizabeth and they both walk back down the sidewalk in the direction Buffy had seen them approach the store.

Willow turns to Buffy who is still watching them leave, "Ok Buffy , you better stop staring or else they'll have to call the cops on you for stalking."

"I know Will, but I could have sworn that she was Faith." Buffy says.

"Well I guess they kinda looked the same but I wouldn't say that she looked exactly like Faith." Willow argued.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Willow. Lets head back to the dorms, I have some studying to do before I go on patrol."

"Sure let's go." Willow says as they head back to campus.

Inside a car Faith and Cassandra are making their way back to the house. "Would you mind telling me what happened back there?" Cassandra asks her young companion.

"Those were some people from Xander's and my past. They're the ones that think he's dead."

"And you? What do they think of you?"

"If it's any help the blonde, Buffy, was the one who put me into a coma."

They sit in silence the rest of the way to the house.

When Buffy and Willow return they see Tara is leaving another message on their door. Willow speaks up and says, "Hey Tara!"

Turning around Tara sees the couple approaching and says, "Hey."

"What happened? Where were you this morning?" Willow asks her.

"I'd rather explain inside," she gestures to their room. Nodding Buffy unlocks the door and they all walk inside.

"What's up with the clothes Tara? You look like you had an interview or something."

"As a matter of fact I did." Tara answers.

"You did? What kind of job?" Willow ask excitedly

"Admin Assistant at Pierce Industries newest office in Sunnydale." Tara says.

Willow looks at her with arched eyebrows. "Pierce Industries? Wow. That company has been on the S&P 500 for over twenty years!"

"And that is a good thing?" Buffy asks.

"Very." Willow answers

"What I don't get Tara is why the sudden urge to change jobs? I mean I thought you were happy with your job at the restaurant." Buffy asks.

"Well that's what I wanted to explain to you guys in here. After you left this morning I was looking through the paper for something interesting. When I stumbled onto this." She pulls out a part of the paper and shows them the picture.

"Hey that's the girl form the shop!" Buffy exclaims.

"What do you mean?" Tara asks.

"Buffy thought she saw someone she knew from a long time ago. But when we got close enough she saw that she was mistaken." Willow answers.

"Yeah her name is Amanda. That's her husband?" Buffy asks reading over the blurb. "Wow, no wonder I thought I had seen her from some where before. I must have seen this picture this morning."

Willow takes a close look at the picture as well. "He kinda looks like Xander."

"Will now you are seeing things." Buffy says, "Looking at the picture I can see how you can think that, hell looking at the picture you can see how I thought that woman was Faith, but you know as well as I do. Xander died a long time ago."

"Oh the person you visit every month," Tara asks Willow understanding now. "If it's any consolation he doesn't look like any of the pictures you have of him. I even saw his wedding picture, he couldn't be who you think he is."

"You saw his wedding picture?" Willow asks.

"Yeah, that was what I was getting to. When I saw this picture I knew I had seen them before it took me a second but I remembered where I had seen them."

"Where?" Buffy asks listening to her intently.

"Last night in the alley. They were the ones I told you about." Tara answers

"Are you sure?" Buffy asks her.

"Yes, when he interviewed me I was convinced that he was the guy from last night. I don't know what his story is but he seems like a normal guy. But I start as his administrative assistant so I should be able to get some more info this week."

"Way to go Tara!" Buffy says. "We have our very own double agent on our side Will!"

"Yup! Double-O aganet Maclay, Tara Maclay." Willow says.

"We should tell Giles so he knows that we have a lead on our urban assault couple. Hopefully he wont freak too much when we tell him about what you did though."

"You think he'll take it well?" Tara asks her.

Buffy answers, "Well it is Giles."

Later that night Buffy and Riley are patrolling around the city. With the University coming to Sunnydale she found that more and more vampires had come out of the woodwork to try and prey on unsuspecting students as they walked home or to the dorms from late-night classes. When patrolling by herself it was tough to keep up with al of the action. After finding out about Riley and his skills she was glad to have someone to patrol with. Riley really helped her with the vampires around town as well as provider her with some distraction from her day.

"Tara found her mystery couple today." Buffy tells him as they walk.

"How did she manage to do that?" Riley asks.

"Apparently they are some really important socialites or something like that. She found their pictures in the paper's society column."

"So they are kind of like Batman and Robin aren't they?" Riley says. "Multi-millionaire by day, demon fighting vigilantes by night."

"Yeah I guess so. We aren't sure what their motives are yet though so we have a spy working for us inside the company run by the dynamic duo."

"Really?" Riley says incredulously.

"Yes. What you think you are the only one with covert operations?"

"Yes. At least I've had training for it, who is your person on the inside?"

"Tara." Buffy enjoys the look of shock on Riley's face. "That's right, Tara. After seeing their picture in the paper she called up the office here in Sunnydale and asked for an interview. She got one and was hired."

"How did Giles take it?" Was all Riley could say.

"Not very well, he had called Tara irresponsible and all that good stuff but he finally came around when he realized there was nothing he could do about it now. He just told her to be careful."

"Well what about…" Riley was interrupted by a scream coming from a nearby alley. Looking at each other for a moment they break into a run hoping to reach the source of the scream before it was too late. Reaching the alley they see a single man with a knife holding a girl by the hair. He was bringing the knife closer to the girl's neck and was about to cut when something hit him from behind, forcing him to drop the girl. Turning around he sees two figures and man and a woman at the mouth of the alley.

The girl is holding half a brick when she calls out, "You want to play or do I have to hit you again?"

"This is none of your concern kids, leave now or I'll be forced to hurt you." The man says.

"Could you be a little more original? I've heard that one so many times now that it isn't even funny. What do you guys do? Go to a class and have a bad guy's handbook for stupid sayings?"

The man just shrugs and grins as he pulls out another knife and slowly beings to walk towards Buffy and Riley. "I'm on a tight schedule here so I'll just have to kill you quickly." He says as he breaks into a run. As he closes in on the pair he does something that neither expect. He throws the knives at them.

Riley screams, "Incoming!" and shoves Buffy out of the way of the flying knives both narrowly missing them. They do not even have time to hit the ground as the man hits them with a flying tackle. Buffy, Riley and the man all fall heavily on the ground. The man rolls with his fall and is quickly up on his feet pulling out more knives. Buffy and Riley struggle to their feet and see the man charging once again.

One of the knives that were thrown previously was lodged into a crate next to Buffy. Pulling the knife out she readies the knife to defend herself. Riley had picked up a two by four and was ready for the fight. The man seeing that the playing field was a little more even now slowed his approach and began to slowly circle the two keeping them both in front him so that they wouldn't surround him.

Riley is the first to take a swing at the man. Using his knife to block the swing he uses his other knife to try and lunge at Riley. Riley jumps out of the way of the strike as Buffy comes in with a swipe of her own which the man avoids. Throwing a kick to put Buffy off balance he continues to concentrate on Riley thinking him the bigger of his problems because of his longer reach. But Buffy is up sooner than he expects and the two young fighters surround him.

The man is frantically blocking the attacks from both sides that come at a faster and faster pace. Low, high, low, lunge duck parry. The fight looks as if was finely choreographed, a dance of life and death. Making his decision the man throws another kick out at Riley catching him behind the knees. Groaning in pain Riley falls. Turning to take down the girl the man feels a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down he sees the handle of one of his knives contrasting against his black clothing. Looking up she sees the horror on the girl's face as she realizes what she had done.

Oh my god. Was all Buffy could think, not again. She had stabbed another human being and even now as she thought about it she could feel his blood flowing onto her hand. Looking the man in his face she sees a look of hatred. His cold hard eyes do not change as he grins and coughs his blood onto her face. Stepping back he pulls the blade out and begins to run away into the darkness of the street.

Going to Riley she sees if he is ok. "I'm fine Buffy." He says through gritted teeth. "Don't let him get away."

Buffy runs off in the direction of the man and she too disappears into the darkness. Riley gets to his feet and hobbles off to follow her. He slows down as he sees Buffy standing on the sidewalk. "Where did he go?" He asks her.

"I don't know." She says walking over to him.

"What do you mean you don't know?" He asks hobbling towards her.

"I was following the trail of blood" she points to his feet. "But then I lost him."

"How?" Looking at his feet there was quite an amount of blood.

She points to her feet and then farther down the street, "The trail stops."

Looking around he finds that she is right. The trail of blood disappears as if the man had never existed or was never hurt. Hobbling farther up he can find no other trace of the man or his blood. Buffy walks up to him and says, "Come on, let's get you looked at." As she helps him to their parked car they both wonder what had happened to the man.

Sunnydale High School

The man has made his back to his lair back to where his master awaits. Yet he is afraid to go back inside. He has failed his master. He has returned to the lair empty handed, without the needed sacrifice. He has served his master as well as he could. He will walk inside to his master and face the punishment that awaits him.

"Keith, you have returned." A cold voice calls from the darkness of the room. Looking to the source of the voice he almost swears that his master's eyes glow a deep red.

"Yes master I have returned."

"Empty handed I see."

Going to his knees Keith says. "Yes master, empty handed. I await your punishment. I am ready for my death if that is your wish."

Chuckling the man in the corner stands and gestures for Keith to stand. "Keith, I was able to foresee your failure tonight so do not fret. I am not frivolous with the lives of those who serve me. That is why I had sent Aaron out as well. One of you, I knew, would fail me tonight. One of you would draw out our adversaries while the other…" The sound of the doors opening causes both men to turn around. "while the other succeeds in finding me the proper sacrifice."

Aaron pulls out two jars and puts them next to the others on the counter.

Their master smiles as he looks at the jars sitting on the table.

"Beautiful." He says, "Beautiful. Soon my friends, soon we'll be ready. Yes very soon! YES!" he screams and the laugh of a madman fills the room, louder and louder as it can be heard in the halls and the empty rooms. The laugh is heard outside of the building and startles birds to take flight from a nearby tree. The laugh goes on into the darkness of the night.

Congrats to those who picked up on the "Bring it On" reference earlier in the chapter. If you haven't seen Eliza Dushku in this movie then rent it and you'll know what I mean. Also in chapter two the person Methos is quoting is Carl Sagan sorry for not tell you guys that earlier.