Heaven Coming Down

by Joseph B

"Alternate realities are just the results of something --sometimes even the tiniest things-- happening just slightly different than they happened in this reality. For instance . . ." ~Anya

3. Parts 08 - 11

FIRST THREAD: Part Eight






"So how long have you been a Slayer?"

"About a year and a half now," Kendra replied without looking at the new Slayer.

They were patrolling the Sunset Ridge District and so far hadn't seen anything remotely vampy. When she had gone to Giles' apartment to meet up with Kendra, the other Slayer didn't waste time with pleasantries, just took her leave of Giles and Faith found herself having to catch up with her. Faith could have gone for a quick bite before they left but that was no big deal. If these past few weeks had taught her anything it was how to go a while without food.

"Do you like it?" Faith asked.

This time Kendra did look at her, but didn't answer her right away. "'Tis me duty." Then she returned to scanning their surroundings as they continued down the dark alley.

Faith realized that Kendra wasn't going to say anything further. "But how do you feel about it?" Faith tried again.

"'Tis a great honor to be chosen. De Slayer is entrusted wit de fate of de world."

"Sounds like you got the mission statement memorized."

Kendra looked at her again, but didn't say anything.

"What else did they tell you you should feel about this job?" Faith said. "I mean, one day someone just walks up to you and tells you that you're suddenly responsible for the whole world and everything in your own life is suddenly less important. What do you say to that?"

"Dat is how tings are," Kendra simply said.

Faith regarded her for a moment. "And that doesn't bother you?"

The truth was, Faith really wasn't bothered by the fact that she left her old life behind when she was called as a Slayer. It wasn't like she was in love with that life. After she met her Watcher things seemed to turn around for Faith. Where as she had no clear direction on the streets of Boston before she was the Slayer, her Watcher showed her something she had never thought she would see. And it wasn't just vampires. She actually showed Faith that there was a goal in life to attain. That what she did was important. Mattered. That she mattered.

Faith couldn't recall any other time she had dedicated herself to anything as much as she did to her training. Her Watcher, though Faith could tell she was as new to being a Watcher as Faith was a Slayer, had been very impressed with Faith's quick acceptance, not only of her responsibilities, but to her training as well. Faith hadn't really been fond of the book part of being a Slayer. Her Watcher said that although she would handle the research and origin side of demon fighting, it would still benefit Faith to have at least a familiarization with some of the written literature.

Reluctant she was, at first, but once she started reading the first book she hadn't noticed she had been reading for four hours until she had finished the book and saw the time. Instead of informing her Watcher that she had read the whole book, Faith picked up another and started to read that one. She hadn't looked up from the pages until her Watcher had come to her room with dinner for her and Faith could still remember the way her Watcher had looked at her. The pride on her face. The pride she had in her Slayer. In Faith. Though she never told Faith --God forbid a Watcher get all mushy-- she could tell she was proud of her. There were more times than Faith could count when she had seriously taxed her Watcher's patience. She would be firm with Faith, but she would never raise her voice, never yell at her.

The only time Faith had heard her yell was on that last night. Her Watcher had been screaming. Begging for her life. Not her own life. Pleading for Faith's life. The vampires had only laughed. As she was tortured she had screamed at Faith not to watch, but Faith had been unable to look away. She was powerless to save her Watcher and the one thing --the last thing her Watcher ever told her to do-- Faith couldn't even do that for her.

After she died, Faith could not recall what actually happened next. Kakistos, covered in her Watcher's blood, was approaching her, about to do the same to Faith. And then Faith was suddenly free, also covered in blood, but not her own, and she ran. And kept running. She had ran on foot until she had reached the city limits before she came back to herself and realized she needed some kind of plan.

Faith had acquired some supplies she would need, money and clothes. She hadn't stolen a thing since she was called, and was actually thinking that her days of stealing were over, but she didn't really feel bad about the things she took. It was a matter of survival. Not much different from when she was living out on the streets. But she was the Slayer, she thought, that had to mean something. Money and other material things could be replaced, the lives Faith could save could not. And she did make up for her stealing. Every town she traveled through she would patrol that one night she would stay, not just to acquire more money, but to cling onto something she knew. What her Watcher taught her. And with each vampire or demon she had slain she struck back at the forces that killed her.

But, as irony would have it, her slayage was how Kakistos and his pack were able to track her. She had been somewhere in Arizona when they had almost caught her but she managed to escape. From that point, she had stopped patrolling, therefore stopped stealing. Which was why she had used up the last of her money on that dump of a motel she was now staying at.

She had known about Kendra moving here a couple of months ago because her Watcher had mentioned it. She explained how the last Slayer was killed here but didn't have any particular details about how she died. Faith's Watcher had said that Buffy had been the Slayer for about three years, and almost let slip that that was longer than-- but stopped herself. But Faith had known what she almost said. That Buffy stayed alive longer than most Slayers.

"Why should it bother me?" Kendra asked.

Faith shrugged. "It's just . . . I would think that some of the girls would not like having their whole life turned up-side-down." She watched Kendra from the corner of her eye but the other Slayer didn't look at her. "I'd imagine that some of them would even be scared."

"Probably," was all she said.

"So, how well did you know Buffy?"

This finally got Kendra's attention. But she didn't answer right away. Faith couldn't tell what she might be thinking.

"Were you guys tight?"

"We didn't know each other very long. I didn't even live in dis country."

"But still," Faith persisted. "Both of you were Slayers. That gives you two a lot in common."

"I suppose."

Kendra didn't say anything else and the silence started to linger. Faith sighed.

"You don't like to talk much, do you?" she said.

"It's better to be focused while on patrol," Kendra said, a little pointedly.

Faith narrowed her eyebrows slightly. Finally, she said, "Right." Then, softer, "I guess I haven't been a Slayer long enough to hone my focusing skills."

"You'll learn," Kendra said.

Faith shot her a look. "So you do got something to say?"

They turned the corner at the end of the dark alley and were walking through an opening in a chain-link fence that led to a construction site. Everything was quiet. Except for them.

When Kendra didn't say anything, Faith said, "Well?"

The other Slayer just regarded her calmly. "You said it y'self."

A challenging tone entered Faith voice. "What? Just because I feel like striking up a conversation while on patrol, that makes me unfocused?"

"Someting like dat."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be friendly. Now I understand what your friends were talking about."

This made Kendra stop. Faith continued walking a few paces before she realized this then turned around to face her.

"What were dey saying?" Kendra asked. She kept her voice even but Faith thought she finally saw a glint of something in her eyes. So, the Ice Slayer wasn't so frozen after all, she thought.

She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Oh . . . not much really. They were just saying how you were taken away from your family and raised by your Watcher. The same Watcher you said died a couple of months back, huh?"

Faith could swear she saw something simmering inside the Slayer. Kendra didn't even seem to realize she had taken a step toward Faith. Faith didn't step back and crossed her arms, a slight grin playing on her lips.

"I was not taken from me family," Kendra said. "My people believe in de Slayer's cause so strongly dat dey would sacrifice anyting to ensure de world's safety."

Faith raised her eyebrows. "Wow. I gotta say I'm impressed, Ken. I think you just said more to me just then, than you have since I've been here. To be honest, I wouldn't have mind if my family had sent me away to be raised by a Watcher. Maybe then I would be more like you."

Faith started to turn to continue walking.

Kendra's eyes narrowed slightly. "What d'ya mean, like me?"

Faith turned to her again. "Well, you know. Have that one-track Slayer mind. Never let anything get in the way of `your calling.' Be the perfect little girl for the Watchers. Do your homework, floss your teeth, don't smoke, don't drink . . ." Faith grin became a little harder. "Don't mess around with boys." She shook her head slightly. "Were you really not allowed to even talk to boys back in your country? Was that something your people believed in also or was that something your Watcher thought up?"

Kendra opened her mouth to reply, but stopped, a conflicted look on her face. But it was only for a couple of seconds and her expression returned to its neutral state. But Faith had seen enough to realize . . .

"You really don't know, do you? Damn, they really sheltered the hell out of you, didn't they? What, they only let you out when they need you to kill some evil monster?"

Kendra took another step closer to Faith and this time the brunette knew she saw anger in her eyes. "I tink you have said enough. We still have a duty to perform, if y're not here to do it, I suggest you go home. I can handle it meself."

Faith continued to grin. "Well, it took some work, but I finally got some kind of reaction from you. So, tell me . . how does it feel?"

Kendra seemed to calm down and regarded Faith with that cool expression again. "I know what y're trying to do."

"Really?"

"Buffy tried de same ting."

"And what's that?"

"She t'ought it would help to anger me. She said a Slayer's strength comes from her rage."

Faith considered this. "A girl after my own heart. Maybe she just figured it was time for you to join the human race? She sounds really wise."

Kendra's tone was cold, when she said, "And now she's really dead."

Faith was caught off guard by this and before she could recover, Kendra had already walked past her to continue further through the construction site. Turning, Faith said, "I guess you guys weren't that tight, after all."

Kendra quickly turned on Faith, the anger returning to her eyes. "Y'don't know de first ting about Buffy. Or me."

Faith stood right in front of her. "Oh, yeah? I'll tell you what I do know." Faith looked over Kendra's shoulder and saw something. "I know that you have to MOVE!"

Before Kendra could respond, Faith grabbed her by the shoulder and shoved her roughly aside where she tumbled to the ground. This left the path clear for the vampire that had been charging Kendra from behind to plow right into Faith.

Faith managed to take control of the fall and when she landed on her back with the vampire on top, she kicked her legs up and continued the roll until she was on top, sitting across the vamp's chest. She quickly sent hard right and left punches into its fanged face, but before she could continue the beating, Faith brought her arms up to block the front kick aimed at her face from the second vampire that had followed close behind the first one. She retaliated with a right uppercut to the second vamp's groin, making him bend forward, then sent her other fist in an uppercut to his chin knocking him several feet back. This allowed the first vampire time to recover and it pushed Faith off of itself.

By the time Kendra looked up, she was watching Faith being knocked off the first vampire and was rising to her knees as a third and fourth vamp emerged from the shadows and converged on the brunette as well. Kendra drew her stake and rushed after the last vampire, leaping forward, and struck a sidekick into its back. It staggered forward and his middle hit a sawhorse, with blinking yellow caution lights, and he tumbled over it onto his back.

She checked on Faith's progress, who was already on her feet again, and spinning into a roundhouse kick that knocked the second vampire aside as the third one came at her while the first one was getting to its feet.

"Faith!" Kendra called out and tossed the stake to her.

The brunette had caught the third vamp's arm when it swung at her face and slammed her own fist into his face, followed with a hard knee to his gut, then flipped him over her shoulder when she heard Kendra. She saw the stake coming through the air towards her and made a move to catch it, but at the last instant, turned her attention to the first vamp as it rose from its knees. She swung a roundkick into its face, sending it back down and the stake fell to the ground, ignored.

This caused Kendra to pause in surprise.

Then she was slammed hard to the ground, the air getting knocked out of her lungs. As her vision regained focused, she felt a weight on her back, and the growling told her it was the fourth vampire. She berated herself for getting distracted and tried to knock the creature off.

"For Kakistos we live!" she heard it say. "For Kakistos you'll die!"

As she struggled against it, a part of Kendra's mind was telling her she had heard the word "Kakistos" before, but was unable to dwell on it further. She felt the vampire leaning down towards her neck, its growling filling her ear, and she squirmed, not giving it a chance to bite her. The vamp roared in frustration and yanked her around onto her back. Kendra used the momentum of the move to swing her arm up and hit him across the face with a backhand fist, and he tumbled off her.

Meanwhile, Faith was backed up against a wall and was blocking a punching combination from the second vamp as the other two moved in on either side of her. She lashed out with her left hand to strike a backhand into the third vamp's face as he moved in, but this gave the second vampire the opening he needed to finally get a punch through her defense and hit her in the face. Faith fell back against the wall and the first vampire launched a high kick at her face. She let herself drop to the ground, kicking out and the heel of her boot connected with the second vamp's knee with a crunch, as the first vampire's foot broke through the wall where her head had been, and its leg got hung up. Faith got back to her feet as the second vamp staggered on its wounded knee, and she lashed out with another backhand to the third vamp before it could recover from the first one, and it fell to the ground. She closed on the second vamp and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling its face close to hers.

"My dead mother hits harder than that!" she shouted in his face.

She cocked back her fist and smashed it into the creature's face. Then again. And again. And again.

Kendra was on her knees, as was her vampire foe. It swung a fist at her which she blocked with a forearm and countered with a punch of her own across its face, then swinging the same arm in a backhand, sent the vampire down. She shook her left arm and a stake slipped out of the sleeve of her jacket and closed her hand around it as she threw a glance in Faith's direction. She saw the brunette pummeling away on one of the vamps while the other two closed in behind her.

"Faith!" Kendra shouted.

But it didn't look as if Faith had even heard her. She just kept pounding her fist into the vampire's face, screaming.

"You dead bastard!" Her face was twisted in an angry sneer and she was emphasizing her words with punches. "You can't touch me! Piece of shit! Motherfuck--"

That was when the first vampire grabbed her from behind, wrapping her tightly in his grip pinning her arms at her sides. Before she could try to struggle, the third vamp punched her hard in the face snapping her head back.

Kendra rose to her feet and was about to hurry to Faith's aid when the fourth vampire lunged at her again. She drove an elbow back and let its face run into it, smashing his nose. While it was stunned she plunged the stake into its heart. Its ashes were still falling as Kendra ran towards Faith.

The third vamp was about to hit Faith again when it sensed Kendra coming up behind it and was turning to face her, just in time to take her heavy boot in the center of his chest. He flew several feet back and Kendra was already following through, spinning into a roundhouse kick aimed at the vampire holding Faith. The brunette saw it coming and managed to duck her head just enough for Kendra's heel to connect with the side of the vamp's head and she stumbled as the creature released her.

"That was cool!" Faith said, with a grin. She was turning to face her former captor when Kendra grabbed her by the wrist. Faith saw Kendra slap a stake into her hand, closing Faith's fingers around the weapon.

Then Kendra had to focus her attention on the third vampire again.



****



Standing on the rooftop of a three-story building a couple of blocks away, Spike was watching the fight taking place in the construction site. He brought his cigarette to his lips and winced as he exhaled.

"Now that had to hurt," he said. He shook his head slightly. "Where did Kakistos find this lot of Nancy Boys?"

Spike turned his head to look over his shoulder. "'ey, mate? Are you gonna hide in the shadows all night?"

Mr. Trick stepped out from around the stairwell nook.

"How did you know I was there?" the vampire in the suit asked.

Spike turned to face him as the battle continued behind him. "How long have you been a vampire? Thirty . . . forty years?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Trick asked.

"Well, if you live long enough you start to get a better feel for your surroundings. Sometimes sense when someone is sneaking about. Say . . . spying on one even."

Taking a drag on his cigarette, Spike turned back to continue watching the fight. "Your boys aren't really doing too well, are they? Is that you're girl?" He smiled, expelling the smoke from his nostrils. "She is a *lively* bird, that one is. She's got that kind of manic streak you just have to admire."

"Interesting," Trick said, as we walked up to stand beside the blonde vampire.

"And what's that?"

Trick nodded down at the fight, where the Slayers were down to only three vampires now. "There's the target but here you are, up here. Why aren't you down there giving a hand?"

Spike regarded him calmly. "Probably the same reason you're up here, mate. In case your vision isn't too great, there happens to be *two* Slayers down there. I've tangled with two Slayers at once before, m'self. Not an altogether pleasant experience."

"Maybe I just don't trust you," Trick replied.

Spike smiled. "Then you're not as dumb as I first pegged you."

Trick let the insult slide. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing up here. I thought the arrangement was that you and your people would patrol the other side of town while mine take this area?"

"And my boys *are* on the other side of town on the hunt. But I prefer making my own path. I don't go in for assignments much."

"I guess my boys were just *lucky* that they found the Slayers first," Trick said, with pleasant sarcasm.

"Yeah," Spike agreed. "It's a good thing they're not going to be around to report their failure to Kakistos. I'd wager he's not the sort of chap to be happy with letting your girl get away."

Trick looked down at the fight, which wasn't going to last much longer, he noted as another vampire was dusted. "Well, the big guy likes to follow that 'do or die trying' tradition. Doesn't leave much room for retreat, I'll tell you that."

"Tradition," Spike smirked. "The older buggers really get on my nerves sometimes."

Trick nodded. "It's fortunate that there's not many left then, ain't it?"

Spike regarded the sharp-dressed vampire for a few appraising seconds. Neither one of them took notice as silence fell down in the construction site. Spike pulled out his pack of cigarettes and offered it to Trick.

"Smoke?"

"Never touch the stuff," Trick said. "It'll kill you."

Spike chuckled.



****



Faith had the last vampire up against the wall and was repeatedly punching it in the face, bouncing its head so hard with each blow that a crack had started to form in the wall behind it. Finally, she drove the stake into its chest, leaving it there to turn into dust along with the creature. She turned away and began to dust the dirt off her clothes, when she looked up and saw Kendra staring at her, arms crossed.

"What?" Faith asked.

"Is dat how yer Watcher taught you to slay vumpires?" Kendra's voice was laced with disapproval.

"What are you talking about? I was getting the job done."

"Ye almost got y'self killed."

Faith scoffed. "By these guys? Not likely. I've handled twice as many, who were a lot tougher, than these guys before."

"When?" Kendra challenged.

Faith seemed about to respond but stopped. Kendra noted the uncertainty, --or anxiety-- Kendra couldn't tell for sure, in the brunette's eyes. Then Faith composed herself.

"Hey, they're dead and we're still alive so you can bitch about my slaying techniques, so we must have done something right. Right?"

Kendra just stood there silently, regarding the other Slayer for a long moment. She let her arms fall to her sides. "I tink we've had enough patrolling for one night. We should report dis to Mr. Giles."

"We barely started," Faith said.

"We now know dat de vumpires are in de area. And dere is information dat needs to be researched."

Faith frowned at her. "What information? Did you interrogate one of them when I wasn't looking?"

"I could have been reading a book and ye wouldn't've noticed!" Kendra countered.

"Meow!" Faith chuckled. "So you can hit below the belt when you feel like it. You know, I might have been wrong about you, Ken."

Kendra didn't respond to this.

"What say you and me scout the area and see if we can find these creeps' hideout?" Faith continued. "You said so yourself, that they must be close by. We can take care of this tonight and be done with it."

Kendra's voice was firm. "We are going to de Watcher. We're not going t'be reckless."

Faith didn't say anything for a moment. "Okay, maybe I was only a little wrong about you. You're still a tight-ass." Then she smiled. "But at least there's some hope for you."

Kendra glared at her. "Let's go."

"Hey, I'm sure you and Mr. Watcher can handle the book thing." Faith reached into the pocket of her leather pants and pulled out a slip of paper. Kendra realized it was the piece of paper that boy Scott had given her earlier that day.

"But the night is still young for those of us who can talk to boys. So . . . I'll see ya!"



End of Part Eight



*******



FIRST THREAD: Part Nine






He didn't know why he had come to the Bronze tonight. Cordelia had an appointment with her hairdresser, Oz and Willow had a date, and . . . .

Well, that didn't leave anybody else, Xander thought, as he stepped out of the Bronze. It was pretty dead in there anyway. Even if everybody inside seemed to be having a great time, the dance floor full of happy couples, and cheery gossipy conversations going on at every table. Okay, he thought, so maybe it was him.

He just wasn't in the partying mood right now. And he hated going out alone anyway, which brought the question up again, why did he come here? He just didn't feel like staying in tonight, for some reason.

Both of the Slayers were out patrolling the Sunset Ridge District right now. That was practically on the other side of town. Maybe he should see what Giles was up to? More than likely he was at home waiting for Kendra to return. Though he tried not to show it, Xander --and he was sure Willow noticed it too-- could tell Giles seemed to be extra protective of Kendra. Not that he hadn't been overprotective of Buffy as well, it's just he knew Buffy better. Had known, he corrected himself. Knew what Buffy had been capable of. It still must not have been easy to let his Slayer go out alone at night.

But Kendra wasn't alone tonight. Faith was with her.

The new Slayer was certainly something. So alive and full of energy. She reminded him a little of Buffy when they had first met her. Before everything that had happened to her; the Master having killed her for a couple of minutes and especially after Angel turned evil. During those last few months, Buffy had lost that certain glow she seemed to always have. Even her experience with the Master hadn't taken that away. She really did love Angel that much, he thought. Him going bad had nearly killed Buffy all by itself. Drusilla just finished the job for him.

As Xander neared the corner of the building, he kicked a small wooden crate in anger. Why had things turned out the way they did? He had lost count of how many times he had asked himself that question. Buffy wasn't supposed to die. Sure he and Willow, even Buffy had said so herself, knew that Slayers usually didn't live long lives, but it still never really hit them that she could be taken away from them so easily.

Although he was ashamed to admit it, he sometimes wished that Buffy had lived and Kendra had been the one to die. And it made him feel worse now because he did consider Kendra a good friend. Sure she kept to herself and never really confided in anyone but Giles, if even her Watcher, but there was still just an ordinary young person under that Slayer exterior. Hell, if Cordelia could see it than it must be true, he thought. But it just wasn't the same. Would never be the same.

Kendra wasn't Buffy.

He knew it was unfair to keep comparing Kendra to Buffy, but he just couldn't stop himself.

Xander raised his head, from looking at the ground, as he was turning the corner and realized he was heading the wrong way. Giles' apartment was the other way. He turned away from the alley and started in that direction when something grabbed him by the back of his jacket. Something very strong.

Oh, shit, he thought, as he heard the vampire growl while it yanked him into the alley. He was thrown against the wall and felt the air rush out of his lungs and bright spots danced across his vision. He slid to the ground and looked up as the creature approached him. It was a female vampire with long black hair.

Oh, she looks kind of attractive, he thought, then shook his head. What the hell was he thinking?! She was trying to eat him! And him without any protection. A stake or a cross, that is. He shook his head again. Great, he was about to die and he was still making with the jokes. At least he had no breath to say it out loud. Wouldn't want to go out sounding like a total spaz. Not that he was about to go down without a fight.

The vamp reached down and pulled him to his feet. He used the momentum to swing a punch at her face. He was slightly surprised when his fist connected and snapped the creature's head back with a satisfying impact, sending her staggering back as it released him and Xander stumbled himself. He managed to stay on his feet and regained his balance only to be rocked by the vampire's backhand, that sent him flying back against the wall.

A good thing he hadn't caught his breath or else it would have been knocked out of him again, he thought, as he fell back to the ground.

"Just my luck," he wheezed out. "Two Slayers in town and never one around when you need her."

He was on his hands and knees trying to push himself up when he saw the vampire coming for him out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't make himself move any faster.

"I love playing with my food," she said.

Before Xander could use any of the whitty remarks that sprung to mind from that statement, another voice filled the alley.

"Sorry, babe," it was a female voice, "but you're really not his type-- well, actually you are, but you still can't have him."

The vampire whirled on the newcomer but before it could attack, Xander heard several punches and kicks connecting loudly, then, a few seconds later, the comforting sound the vamps made when they turned to dust.

He managed to sit back on his knees with a groan. That definitely wasn't Kendra, he thought. But what was Faith doing here? he wondered. Wasn't she supposed to be with Kendra? Not that he was complaining. "I take back what I said. Slayer timing is--"

He looked up and his words died in his mouth. His jaw fell and his eyes widened.

"Are you okay, Xander?" his savior asked, as she stepped closer to him.

She reached a hand down to him to help him up. Xander just glanced at the hand numbly then looked up at her face again.

"Xand?" she said.

He moved his mouth trying to make his voice work.

"Buffy?" he was finally able to force out.

"Xander?" She frowned at him.

He shot to his feet, ignoring the offered hand, and threw his arms around her. Held her tight. She was real!

"Of course I'm real," she said, sounding puzzled.

He must have said it out loud. But he didn't care. She was here! He didn't know how this could be, but he could feel her, smell her--

He suddenly pulled away, holding her at arms' length, getting a closer look at her.

"Xander, are you sure you're okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.

But he didn't hear her. He suddenly brought his hand up to her face, rubbing his fingertips against her forehead a little roughly.

"Hey!" she protested. "What are you--"

But he cut her off when he slapped his hands against her cheeks and lifted her upper lip with his thumbs, looking at her teeth. She shook her head out of his hands and grimaced, making a few spitting sounds.

"Urgh!" she exclaimed. "That was--"

But she was cut off again when he pulled her in close and pressed the side of his head against her chest.

"Xander!"

But he was listening to something else. A heartbeat! She had a heartbeat!

The sound of Buffy's knuckles cracking as she closed her hand into a fist barely registered in his brain.

"Xander, I don't care if you are suffering from a concussion, if you don't--"

But she stopped when he stood up straight again and shouted, "You're alive!"

Buffy frowned at him again. "Huh? What--"

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed. "This can't be happening!"

Buffy opened her mouth again.

"But you're really here!"

"Xander, I think I better take you home," she said.

"Home," he repeated, numbly.

"Or the hospital."

"Hospital," he echoed. He shook his head. "No! Home-- I mean, I need to Giles you to take!"

"Huh?"

"Uh, I need to take you to Giles!" he said, grabbing her hand. She was holding the stake she had used to slay the vampire in that hand.

"Wait!" she said, as he started to pull her after him. "I left my jacket inside." When he didn't let go of her hand, she jerked it free from his grip.

"What?" he said. "I was just in there, you weren't--"

But she was hurrying around the corner heading back towards the Bronze.

"Buffy, wait!"

Xander ran after her. He rounded the corner and--

Stopped in his tracks.

"Buffy?"

He looked up and down the alley. It was more than a hundred feet to the entrance of the Bronze and he had only been a few steps behind her. But he didn't see her anywhere.

"Buffy!?"

There was no one else out there except for him.

"No. This can't be happening," he said, softly. He didn't just imagine this, he insisted. She was just in his arms, he had been holding her just a few seconds ago.

Feeling a little dizzy, Xander brought his hand up to his forehead and hit himself with a piece of wood. He looked at his hand and saw he was holding the stake she had used to save him with. Or had she? he wondered. He did get knocked around pretty hard. Was it possible that he imagined the whole thing in a concussion induced haze?

And slay a vampire all by himself? he reasoned. Not bloody likely, as Giles would say.

Xander tightened his grip around the stake, searching the alley again.

"BUFFY!!"



End of Part Nine







*****A CHANGE OF SCENERY*****


SECOND THREAD: Part Ten






"Giles, I'm telling you, I saw her!"

Giles stepped out from behind the check-out counter, carrying a couple of old tomes, and Xander stayed close behind the librarian as he headed for the book cage. It was still a few minutes before the first bell and they were the only two in the library right now. But then the likelihood that any of the students of Sunnydale High would actually walk in anytime during the rest of the day was fairly unlikely.

"Xander, are you, uh, absolutely positive of what you saw?" Giles asked. "I mean, with everything that's happened it's very likely your mind may have altered your perception into seeing something you wanted to see."

"Giles," Xander said, slightly offended. "I'm not some schlup who cries wolf. Okay? And when I tell you that I saw her, then you can bet your tweed boxers I saw her."

Giles looked over his shoulder to glare at Xander for a couple of seconds then placed the old books on one of the shelves. As he stepped out of the book cage, a voice asked, "Saw who?"

Xander and Giles had not heard anyone enter the library and faced the new arrival as she walked towards them.

"Oh, uh, Xander said he might have--"

"No, not might have!" Xander cut him off. "I *did* actually see her!"

"Okay, who *did* you actually see?"

Buffy threw her bag on the study table and let herself drop a little tiredly into one of the chairs. Giles noticed this right away. She was dressed for school but she looked a bit weary.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "Did you run into any problems last night?"

Buffy scoffed. "Did I." Then she looked at Xander, narrowing her eyes slightly. "And what happened to you last night? You just took off."

Xander just frowned at her, not saying anything for several seconds. "What do you mean?"

"You were acting all wiggy, I got worried when I couldn't find you."

"Buff, what are you talking about? We all left the library at the same time yesterday."

"Not here," she said. "At the Bronze." She saw the confusion on his face. "Last night? You were getting your ass handed to you by that vamp? Ringing any bells?"

Xander shook his head. "Not even a ding." He exchanged a look with Giles.

"You're saying you saw Xander being attacked by a vampire last night?" Giles asked her.

"I saved him," Buffy told him. She looked at Xander again. "Oh, Xander, please! You don't have to thank me! You would have done the same for me! You know how I hate when you make such a big deal about something as trivial as saving your life."

She saw the expressions on Xander and Giles' faces. She let her head fall on her open palm and rubbed her forehead. "Oh, god. I'm sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"What happened?" Giles asked.

"Well, after I saved Xander," she saw Xander give her that 'what are you talking about?' look again. "Uh, anyway . . . after I slayed that one vamp I tried to patrol, but it turns out the cops have been tailing me."

"What?" Giles said, in surprised.

"Yeah. You know that one cop, uh, Detective Stein?"

"The one who was investigating the deputy mayor's murder."

"That's him. I was patrolling my second cemetery when I noticed the same parked car from the first cemetery I patrolled. Luckily I hadn't slain anything or I don't know how I would have explained it." Buffy shook her head. "I tried to lose him, but it was like he always seemed to know where I would be. He would just show up. He knew I had seen him, he didn't try very hard to stay out of sight, but he never approached me. I couldn't exactly patrol under those conditions. I finally had to hide out at Willow's for the night."

"Like he knew where you would be?" Giles said, thoughtfully.

"Like someone was feeding him my usual patrol patterns," Buffy said, hintingly raising her eyebrows.

"Someone like the good Mayor Wilkins," Giles finished her thought.

"And I wonder who could possibly have the Mayor's ear?" Xander offered, laced with sarcasm.

"Faith," Giles said.

"Faith," Buffy said.

"All the judges agree, then," Xander said.

"But why the sudden interest in the deputy mayor's murder again?" Giles wondered. "The attention to the case seemed to fade only a couple of days after the fact."

"Despite the Mayor's passionate speech on TV not to rest until the killer was brought to justice." Xander added. "Like the hounds were called off while the trail was still warm," He saw Buffy glaring at him. "Uh, I mean, not that you're bad at covering your tracks." He realized how that sounded and said quickly, "No, I mean, not that you had any tracks to cover, since you weren't the one who murdered the deputy mayor, it's just that . . . . . Well, this being the Sunnydale Police, we're talking about cops who have problems putting two and two together and coming up with three with one left over. But this isn't exactly the first time that they tried to pin a murder on you, Buff. Okay, so seeing you standing over Kendra's body did make them jump to the wrong conclusions but--"

Now Giles was glaring at him, too.

"Okay," Xander said. "That's about it for me."

"Thank you," Giles said.

"And I don't think it was just coincidence that the case lost steam right around the same time we all figured Faith jumped into the Mayor's camp," Buffy said.

"Well, if you just added a rogue Slayer to the payroll," Xander said, "It would be pretty hard putting her to good use if she was, say, oh . . . arrested for murdering your deputy mayor."

"He's protecting her from prosecution."

"But if the police had enough evidence on Buffy, surely they would have come for her by now," Giles said.

"Then why are they turning on the heat if they can't touch her?" Xander asked.

"They could be trying to shake you up, Buffy," Giles suggested. "Or catch you in the act of--"

"Of what?" Buffy asked. "Slaying? They can't exactly arrest me for that, Giles."

Xander nodded. "The advantages of hunting vampires. No pesky bodies to dump."

Buffy shot him another look.

Giles removed his glasses. "Well, uh, maybe they're trying to keep you off balance? Or draw your attention away from something else. The Mayor does have this `Ascension' planned."

"But if Faith spilled the right beans, then that's not until graduation day," Buffy said. "Which is still almost three months away. That leaves quite a lot of free time to kill." She frowned at her choice of words. "Literally."

"But I assume this Ascension would also need a great deal of planning."

"So the Mayor still has a lot of legwork to do before the big day." Xander offered.

Giles nodded in agreement. "They may be trying to draw your attention elsewhere so they can focus on those preparations."

"Well, it sure worked last night," Buffy admitted. "If they had something they needed to take care of, I certainly wasn't in their way."

"But what could they have been doing?" Giles polished the lens of his glasses with a handkerchief as he pondered this. "It must have been something out in the open if they were worried you might--"

Giles stopped and his eyes filled with realization. And, Buffy noted, something resembling dread.

"Giles, what is it?" Buffy asked, becoming concerned.

The former Watcher glanced at Xander. "I'm beginning to suspect that you weren't mistaken after all, Xander."

Xander gave him an exasperated look. "As if there was any doubt!"

Buffy looked back and forth between the two of them. "What? What are you two talking about?"

Giles and Xander exchanged another look. They seemed a little reluctant to say anything to her.

"Will one of you talk to me?" she demanded.

Giles put his glasses back on. "Uh, Buffy . . . why haven't you told your mother about Faith?"

This caught Buffy completely off guard and she opened her mouth but couldn't say anything. She closed it again looking down at the table. She met his eyes again. "How did you know Mom didn't know about Faith?"

Xander spoke up before Giles could answer, his tone sharp. "Well, seeing as how I saw your mom giving Faith a ride last night and not trying to run her down, I'm thinking *someone* forgot to post a note on the refrigerator door."

Buffy's heart leapt into her throat. "Oh, god," she said, softly. She shot up from her chair and was turning to run to Giles' office.

"It's okay, Buffy," Xander said, stopping her. "Your mom's all right. I stopped by your house. She was fine and Faith wasn't there. I don't know where she dropped Faith off and I couldn't really probe your mother about it."

Buffy shot him a look.

Xander quickly said, "Uh, I mean, ask her a lot of questions without opening a big can of worms on why her daughter wouldn't inform her how a certain Slayer joined the Dark Side."

Buffy lowered her head again, chastised. She slowly returned to her chair and sat down again. "Thank you, Xander. For looking after my mom. I owe you."

Xander's expression softened and he nodded sitting down on the edge of the table.

"But why haven't you told your mother about Faith?" Giles asked again. "If Faith planned to take revenge on you, last night, she could have easily struck at--"

"I know!" Buffy cut him out, her voice cracking slightly. She was fighting back the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes. "God, Giles, do you think I don't know what Faith is capable of? You have no idea the images that went through my mind when Xander told me Faith was with Mom!"

She was clutching the armrests of her chair tightly, trying to keep it together. This was not the time to lose it, she told herself. But it just seemed as if everything was just happening so fast for her to keep up. She was getting hit from every direction at once. First, barely a month ago, she and Faith had been fighting their way through a bunch of vampires in a dark alley when someone --a human-- appeared out of the shadows and, thinking it was another vampire, Faith had staked him. Buffy could only watch him die, unable to do anything for him.

The next day, Buffy had gone to Faith to see how they were going to deal with this. Turned out Faith had took it upon herself to take care of the situation her own way. By dumping the body and pretending it never happened, claiming she didn't care that it was a human being she had killed. Then things went from worse to completely worse when the body was discovered a day later and turned out to be that of Deputy Mayor Allan Finch. It was bad enough that he had been the right-hand man to Mayor Wilkins, but then they discovered that the very same mayor turned out to be the number one evil in Sunnydale.

And just when it seemed like they were helping Faith deal with what she had done, they find out she had secretly joined forces with the Mayor. And how they discovered this hadn't exactly been easy either. Not only did Angel pretend to lose his soul again to gain Faith and Mayor Wilkins' trust, but he had to treat Buffy as his demon, Angelus, would have just as he had tormented her last year. Which had struck too close to home for Buffy. And on top of that she had to pretend to be chained up as she watched Angel and Faith kiss and practically fondle each other right in front of her. And there was no telling what Angel had done with Faith when Buffy hadn't been around, she thought. Stop it, she told herself. Nothing like "that" happened. Angel wouldn't have let it. But it was hard convincing herself of that. So hard, in fact, that after they tricked Faith into revealing what she knew about the Ascension, Buffy had gone to Angel and asked him for a little "break."

It had nearly been a week already since she last saw him. She just needed to put some time between herself and seeing him evil again, even if it had only been a ruse, which Buffy herself had asked him to do. And just when they had been trying to rebuild their relationship from where they had been forced to leave off when he had lost his soul over a year ago.

Add to all that the Mayor somehow making himself unkillable and the fact they had no clue what this Ascension of his was, and it wasn't exactly the best of times in Sunnydale.

Buffy was brought out of her thoughts when the armrest under her right hand suddenly broke off from her chair. She stood up, startled, and dropped the armrest to the floor then brought her hand up to her forehead, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Giles began, but Buffy shook her head.

"It's just--" She took a moment to compose herself and finally opened her eyes. "When Mom first met Faith, she was just so in love with the idea of there being another Slayer around to help me. But I screwed up by telling her exactly how a new Slayer was called."

She saw the look of surprise on Giles and Xander's faces and had to look away.

"You told her you died," Giles stated, solemnly.

Buffy nodded even though he hadn't phrased it as a question. "And she really liked Faith. And I know Faith liked her, too. And when Faith went bad . . ." She let herself trail off.

"I just didn't know how to tell her, uh . . . ."

Xander jumped in. "How the only other Slayer in the world is now your arch enemy?" His tone was understanding.

Buffy nodded again, then looked at her former Watcher with pleading eyes. "I never thought she would come after my mother, Giles. You have to believe that."

He regarded her for just a second and nodded. "I believe that, Buffy," he said, gently. "But you must tell her."

"I know," Buffy said, firmly. "Tonight. She'll be at the art gallery all day. She's pretty much safe there with other people around. I don't think even Faith is crazy enough to try something there."

"But telling your mom Faith is evil doesn't exactly keep her safe from Faith," Xander said, pointing out the hard truth. "Faith doesn't turn to dust in the daylight and she can pretty much kick in the door to any house and just walk right in."

"I know." Buffy's voice suddenly became very calm. "I'll take care of that."

Giles didn't like the resolved look that came over her expression. In all the time he had know this young woman he had only seen her like this a few times, and he tried very hard *not* to think of those times.

He tried to keep the worry out of his voice when he asked, "H-how do you plan on doing that?"

"By doing the only thing I can do," Buffy replied.

"Which is?"

"Kill her."



****



Willow opened her locker and grabbed her text book for first period. She swung her yellow "smiling face" backpack around on her shoulder and unzipped it quickly shoving her book into it. Buffy had overslept --not that Willow blamed her considering the night she had-- and as a result they were running a little late. When they reached the school she had told Buffy she would grab their books for their first class while Buffy checked in with Giles. But she needed to hurry. She still needed to get into Buffy's locker. Good thing her locker was right next to hers, she thought.

So intent was she in her task, that when Willow slammed her locker door closed to reveal Anya standing right next to her, the redhead nearly jumped out of her skin. This caused her backpack to slip off her shoulder and fall to the floor spilling out her text book as well as a couple of pens, a folder, and a spiral notebook.

"Willow," Anya said.

Trying to catch her breath, Willow looked down at the mess her stuff made at her feet then glared at the former demon. "What do *you* want?"

Anya narrowed her eyebrows slightly. "You're still sore with me," she stated.

"Me? Sore?" Willow said, dripping with sarcasm. "Now what possible reason could I be sore at you about?" She made a show of tilting her head, looking up at the ceiling as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Ohhhhhhhh . . . let me think. Hmmmmm." Her eyes brightened. "Oh! Could it be that little incident where you tricked me into helping you do that spell to try to get your demony powers back but instead accidentally summoned my vampire twin from that alternate reality? Because I'm seriously doubting that!"

"That's sarcasm, isn't it?" Anya asked.

"Gee, what gave it away?" Willow reached down and picked up her pack trying to scoop up a notebook which was hanging halfway out of it, but it fell all the way out. She sighed loudly and stood up straight again. "What, you, who used to be an immortal demon, have never heard sarcasm before?"

"Of course I have," Anya said, importantly. "Just . . . never directed at me."

"Well, I'd get used to it if I were you."

"But all that happened almost three weeks ago. Shouldn't you be over it by now?"

"Well, the funny thing with humans, we tend to hold grudges when someone causes trouble that can kill her and her friends." Willow smiled sarcastically. "Welcome to the human race. Bye."

Willow knelt down and started picking her stuff up. Anya just watched her for several seconds, but Willow seemed oblivious to her.

"Well?" Anya finally said.

With an impatient sigh, Willow looked up at her. "Well, what?"

"Aren't you curious as to why I came to see you?"

"Oh." Willow offered her a smile and started to nod. Then the smile suddenly disappeared. "No." She continued packing her stuff into her backpack.

Much to the aggravation of Willow's nerves, Anya kneeled down next to her.

"I was just wondering if you had sensed anything . . ." Anya shrugged, unable to describe it. "I don't know. Weird?"

"Weird? Weird how?" Willow asked, finding herself interested despite her feelings toward the ex-demon.

"I'm not sure. But something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Then Willow had another thought. "And how is it that you can sense anything? I thought you lost all your powers when your necklace was destroyed?"

Anya seemed a little offended. "Hey, I'm not completely inept. My necklace may have been the source of my power but I've forgotten more about magic than you can possibly hope to ever learn."

Willow was taken aback. Really hit a sore spot, she thought, and couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic towards the now young mortal woman. But only a little.

"It could be just me but I don't think insulting people when you're asking them for help is the best way of getting their help."

"Well, you've been insulting to me for the two minutes I've just been standing here," Anya said.

"That's different," Willow countered. "I've earned that right."

"Oh, so if I let you be mean to me some more than I'll have the right to be mean back to you?"

Willow started to open her mouth, then shook her head. This was going no where. "When did you start feeling this weird sensation?"

"Ever since I had this dr--" Anya stopped. She seemed to reconsider what she was about to say. "I mean . . . ever since my *reluctant* participation in that ritual to send that vampire slut back to her world--"

"Hey!" Willow interjected. "That vampire slut was me!" She realized what she just said. "Uh, I mean . . . that's what I would have been if I had been turned into a vamp--" she stopped again. "No, I mean, I doubt I really would have turned out that way. I mean how reliable can alternate realities be, anyway?"

Not missing a beat, Anya said, "Oh, alternate realities are just the results of something --sometimes even the tiniest things-- happening just slightly different than they happened in this reality. For instance--"

"Getting off the subject here," Willow warned.

"Well, you started it."

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't!"

"I just mentioned that vampire slut and you lost it," Anya said, nonchalantly.

"She's not a slut!"

Willow was about to say more then saw the way Anya was looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows. She sighed. "What were you saying about the ritual?"

"Well," Anya continued, "ever since, I've just been sensing this strange . . ." She narrowed her eyebrows in concentration. "Gods," she said, in frustration. "If I had my powers I could just show you."

"Show me what?"

As if it was of no great importance, Anya said, "The universe."

"The . . . universe?" Willow asked. "As in THE universe? `The Final Frontier,' `Mankind's last, best hope for --' oh, wait, that one wasn't--"

"Don't be silly."

"But you just said--"

"No one can actually see the entire universe." Anya considered her words. "Well, some actually come really close but no one has done it yet."

"Then--"

"What I'm talking about is the universe's signature." She noticed the confused look on Willow's face. "The universe has a certain pattern in it's energy flow." Anya brightened. "Oh, that's really good! I like that. Yes, the energy flow of the universe seems to be experiencing some kind of disturbance. See, whenever I granted a wish the universe would fluctuate in order to adjust to any changes the wish created." She smiled slyly. "You should have seen the color scheme that was created when I granted Cordelia's wish! I'm telling you for such a simple wish it probably had the greatest effect on the universe than any I've ever--"

"Cordelia's wish?" Willow asked, even more confused.

Anya paused for a second. "Oh, that's right. None of you, not even Cordelia, remembered any of it." She waved her hand dismissively. "That's where that alternate reality came from. No big deal." Then Anya thought about what she just said. "Although, that's ultimately how I lost my powers," she said, bitterly. "So it was actually a very big deal."

Then she noticed the way Willow was staring at her. "But allow me to digress."

"By all means," Willow agreed.

"Anyway, ever since we returned your evil twin back to her world, the disturbances have been gaining strength. At first, they were hardly noticeable. I just figured there was some powerful demon or magic user close by wreaking havoc or whatnot. But lately, these fluctuations are becoming bigger." A little miffed, she said, "They've been waking me up at night."

"Pity," Willow said, without feeling.

"If I still had my powers I would be able to just take a look at the universe's signature. That would tell me exactly what's going on."

"Well, maybe --and I can't believe I would even consider this-- we can do a spell that will reveal the, uh, universe's signature?" Willow offered.

Anya regarded her seriously for several seconds. Then she literally laughed in Willow's face.

As Anya tried to calm herself down, Willow wiped away a bit of spittle that had hit her cheek and glared at the ex-demon.

"Oh," Anya sighed, a hand on her chest, tears in her eyes. "No human has, nor can ever, see the signature of the universe. Uh, their head would explode! It would just be too much for a puny human to handle. But thank you for offering. I haven't felt this good since . . ."

Her mood seemed to darken a little. Probably remembering the good ol' times when she still had her necklace, Willow figured.

"So, you're saying this is all my fault?" she asked.

Anya seemed to ponder that. "I hadn't thought of that. But I suppose it is really your fault. It was your decision to send your twin back to her reality rather than just stake her and be done with it."

"Well, uh, I just couldn't--" Willow began, then said, "Wait. I don't need to justify myself to you. I mean, if you hadn't tricked me into doing that temporal spell in the first place--"

Anya cut her off. "And since when does any *good* wicca mess with a spell they have no clue what it's for?"

The words hit Willow hard. Defensively, she said, "But you told me it was just a harmless spell."

"And it never occurred to you that I might be --oh, I don't know-- LYING to you?" Willow couldn't think of a response but Anya wasn't finished. "Which it turned out," she gave a mock gasp. "I *was* lying to you!"

Anya smiled, enjoying the effect this was having on Willow. "Hey, this sarcasm is fun to use. I think I'll try it more often. Thank you for showing me how it works."

Defeated, Willow shoved the last notebook back into her bag. Before she could say anything, the school bell rang.

"Damn! I'm late!"

She shot to her feet and yanked the zipper to her backpack closed and swung it onto her shoulder. Anya stood with her. Willow turned and was about to start running.

"Wait!" Anya called. "What about the disturbances I've been feeling?"

"That's really not my problem!" Willow snapped. "You'll just have to make do with less sleep, I guess."

She turned and ran leaving Anya behind. It wasn't until she was rounding the corner that she realized she had forgotten Buffy's books and skidded to a stop.

"Damn!"

Storming off just didn't have the same impact when you had to go back.



****



No one said anything for a long moment.

Buffy's expression remained calmly stoic as Giles and Xander looked at her with increasing worry.

"Uh, Buffy," Giles began, removing his glasses. "We-we shouldn't rush into anything. We don't know why Faith was with your mother."

"Giles, she's sending me a message!" Buffy declared. "She's telling me that she can get to my mother any time she wants to. Well, I'm not going to let that happen. I'm gonna stop her for good!"

Buffy was practically boiling with rage now. Giles took a couple of steps closer to her. "Buffy, I understand how you feel, but--"

"You understand?!" Buffy snapped.

Giles didn't flinch for her gaze and a slight edge entered his tone. "Yes. I do indeed."

Some of the anger left Buffy's eyes. She looked away. "I'm sorry. Of course, you do." She took a breath and met his eyes again. "But I am *not* going to make the same mistake I did with Angel. I'm not going to wait for Faith to start killing those I care about before I get the nerve to stop her."

Again, they fell silent. She knew they were all thinking about the same thing. How when Angel lost his soul, around this time last year, he started targeting her friends. Sneaking into their homes and leaving "messages" on their beds letting them know he had been there. It was worse in Giles' case most of all. Her Watcher had fallen in love with the computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar, whom they later found out was actually a gypsy from the same clan who had first cursed Angel with his soul about a hundred years ago. Angel had somehow found out Ms. Calendar was trying to recover the original spell to give him back his soul and, before she could use it, he had killed her. But not satisfied with just simply killing her, Angel had left her in Giles' home, in his bed, and had fixed the place up as if she had been waiting for him with a romantic evening planned.

"Buffy, killing Faith is not the answer," Giles finally said.

"If you ask me, it's a good start, " replied Buffy.

"Absolutely not!" a clipped British voice announced.

"Man, we really need to put a chime on that door," Xander commented as they turned to look at the new arrival.

"How much did you hear?" Giles asked.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce started walking further into the library from where he had been standing by the double doors. The man, in his mid-twenties, was basically a younger version of Giles. Considering he was supposed to be Giles' replacement as Buffy's Watcher, that wasn't too surprising. And he was every bit as meticulous as Giles had been when Buffy had first met him. But Giles had mellowed somewhat during his time here in Sunnydale. And unlike Wesley who always wore his dark tweed suit, Giles sometimes ditched the jacket. Even now Giles was sans his tweed jacket and had his shirt sleeves rolled up, a fashion --that did not escape Buffy's attention-- Giles seemed to go with more often ever since the arrival of the new Watcher. Or, to be more precise, she thought, ever since he was fired by the Watcher's Council.

"Fortunately, more than enough," Wesley said, hardly giving Giles a glance. His eyes were on Buffy.

He stopped right in front of Buffy, and since he was also as tall as Giles, she was forced to look up at him.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to go after Faith," Wesley declared. "Not in your current emotional state."

Buffy crossed arms. "Well, that might have been a problem if I were asking for your permission, but, lucky me, I wasn't."

But Wesley wasn't about to back down. "Buffy, a Slayer is forbidden to take another human life. You know this!"

"Faith's a Slayer! She's not like other humans!" Buffy countered.

"Nevertheless, I will not allow you to go down the same road she did."

"Why? Because it would look really bad on your resume' to have another Slayer turn murderer while under your supervision?"

This really took the young Watcher off guard and he couldn't respond right away. Buffy realized that had been overly harsh, even to Wesley, but she just couldn't care about that right now.

Finally, he said, "I'm sure Giles can give you more reasons than I can why you can't kill Faith, but as a Slayer it should be more than enough to know that it goes against the Council's wishes." He added, "I'm only looking after your well-being."

Buffy seethed silently for a moment. "Wesley, that was almost sweet of you to say, but I'm more concerned with my mother's well-being. The Council can't protect her from a Slayer, not that they would even give a damn in the first place."

Giles knew what Buffy was referring to. For her eighteenth birthday, the Council had ordered Giles to inject Buffy with a specially created drug that would temporarily rob her of her Slayer strength and abilities. This was to prepare her for the Tento di Cruciamentum. Very literally a test of torment. A right of passage all Slayers, who were fortunate enough to reach their eighteenth birthday, were to face, Giles scoffed inwardly. The powerless Slayer was to be entrapped with a vampire foe of the Council's choosing and must then defeat him in order to pass the test. Success was the only way the Slayer could survive. Giles had gone against the Council's orders when the vampire Buffy was to face had escaped and he confessed everything to her. But the vampire had kidnapped Joyce Summers forcing Buffy to go through with the test, after all, under his own terms.

She did succeed in slaying the vampire and saving her mother, but it had severely strained the relationship between Giles and Buffy. And as a consequence of his actions and "father's" love for his Slayer, the Council declared Giles unfit to be Watcher and fired him.

"I'm the only one who can protect her from Faith," Buffy continued, "Therefore, I get to decide what's the best way to protect her."

"But killing Faith, Buffy, it's--" Giles started to say.

"What you are proposing is wrong!" Wesley interjected, cutting him off. "And if you go through with this the Council will declare you a rogue Slayer as well. Do you really want that?"

Buffy was silent for a few seconds, pinning him with her cold eyes. "The Council can go to hell," she said, slowly.

Wesley flinched back in shock. Even Giles seemed surprised by this.

"Buffy--" Giles started to say.

The bell rang cutting him off. Buffy finally turned her gaze away from Wesley. "Come on, Xander, we're late for class."

She grabbed her bag off the table and headed out of the library in quick strides. Xander glanced at Giles, who gave him a nod, and hurried to catch up with his friend. When the double doors swung shut behind them, Wesley turned to Giles.

"Someone needs to talk to that girl," he said. "She's treading on very dangerous ground."

"She's been treading on dangerous ground for over three years," Giles said, slipping his glasses back on and leaning against the table.

"Well, I'm so glad you're taking this very seriously," Wesley said, with a bit of sarcasm.

Giles just crossed his arms. "And what do you suggest I do?"

"Talk to her!" the young Watcher said, indignantly.

"Because it worked so well just now," Giles replied. He nodded towards the doors Buffy just left through. "I've seen Buffy like this many times. Talking to her now is only going to incite her further. I'll try talking to her again later. Right now we need to give her some time to cool down."

"Do you think that will help?"

Giles just continued to stare at the doors for a few seconds, trying to keep the worry from his expression. Finally, he looked at Wesley. "Absolutely."



End of Part Ten.







SECOND THREAD: Part Eleven






"You wanted to see me, boss?"

"Yes, Faith. Please, have a sit."

Faith closed the door to Mayor Wilkins' office. She crossed the room to the chair in front of his desk. All the window blinds were closed pitting the room in an evening gloom, but the lights on the wall behind the Mayor provided enough light to see her employer clearly. She sat down leaning back and casually crossed one leather clad leg over the other.

"Don't you ever get goosebumps?" he asked.

Faith, who had been determined to keep her expression normal, was completely thrown by the question and frowned. "Huh?" she asked, before she could stop herself. She quickly composed herself and blanked her face again. But Wilkins had seen it, and smiled.

"Sorry," he said. "Sometimes it's hard to remember that such a sweet looking girl is a strong Slayer. I suppose the cold wouldn't bother you as it would most other people."

She noticed his eyes were on her stomach and couldn't help herself by glancing down at her smooth belly, left bare by the cropped dark tank top she was wearing under her black leather jacket. If any other guy had been looking at her like that, Faith would have said they were ogling her, but for some reason she just didn't get that sort of vibe from him. Which was sometimes more creepy than when creeps were staring at her, she thought.

Out of all the men she'd known in her life, none of them had puzzled her more than the Mayor of Sunnydale did. Even with Angel --despite his poor tortured soul and one-track Buffy mind-- she still had a pretty good idea what to expect. But the Mayor was totally in left field.

"How long have you been working for me?" Wilkins asked.

"Uh, a few weeks," Faith replied.

"Four to be precise."

Faith didn't respond to that. Just waited for him to continue.

"And are you happy working here?"

Alarm bells went off in Faith's head, but she kept her expression calm. This was sounding a lot like a "we have to let you go" speech. And if being fired meant what she thought it did . . . .

Faith glanced around the office, trying to make it look casual. The closed blinds. Her sitting down with her back to the doors. Perfect for an ambush. She didn't sit up, but her body was now tense, ready to spring into action. She looked at Wilkins again.

She nodded. "Yeah. The perks are really wicked."

And they really were. No longer did she have to stay in that flea-trap motel. The tight-ass Council hadn't even bothered to spring for something a little more worthy for a Slayer to stay. Of course, now that her cover was blown, she couldn't go back to that place even if she wanted to. But the Mayor was different. Aside from her attempt to take Angel's soul away about a week ago, he hadn't really asked her to do any big jobs yet. And yet, he had set her up in a spacious loft, top floor, great view. Well, great view if you liked looking at the town, she thought. And it came with all the trimmings. Big screen TV, nice expensive furniture, a sound system that really rocked, and even a Playstation. And a bed so comfortable she almost didn't need a guy.

Almost, she thought.

Mayor Wilkins smiled. "That's good. I strongly believe that a happy employee is a productive employee. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Faith just shook her head, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Wilkins picked up a pink box that was on his desk, opened it and offered it to her. She saw rows of glazed, chocolate, and sprinkled donuts inside. She glanced at him to see him smiling.

"Go on," he urged. "Something to hold you over till breakfast."

Faith couldn't stop herself from frowning slightly. "No, thanks."

Still smiling, Wilkins sighed, disappointedly. "I really wish you would eat a little more. You only have a couple of more years before you stop growing. You need to help your body along as much as possible." He closed the box again.

"So," Faith began. "Why am I here?"

"Ah, yes." Wilkins seemed to lose some of his cheeriness. "The reason why you're here. Now, Faith, before we begin, I just want to assure you that I'm not jumping to any conclusions. I will hear your side before I make any decisions. Okay?"

Now Faith didn't bother to keep the question out of her expression. "What's going on?"

Wilkins didn't answer the question but said. "I received a report last night, on you, that disturbed me a great deal."

He met Faith's eyes as if expecting her to respond. Well, she thought, she wasn't going to make it that easy for him. "Umm, sorry?" was all she said.

Wilkins' tone became just a little more serious. "Faith, this is very serious. You'll do well to treat it as such."

Faith sighed a little impatiently. "Fine."

With a nod, Wilkins continued. "I was told that you went out slaying last night." Faith opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. "Now, you'll get your turn, don't worry. Just listen for right now."

Wilkins stood, straightening his suit jacket, and rounded to the front of his desk. "Now, I know you're a Slayer and certain habits can be hard to break. Especially for a fiery spirited young woman such as yourself." He leaned against the edge of his desk right in front of her. "But I do have, shall we say, an arrangement with a certain element in this town."

"Vampires?" Faith asked, in a bored tone.

Wilkins smiled at her bluntness. "Yes. A working relation. They work for me or they die. Simple, easy to remember. Even for them." He chuckled. "But, unfortunately, there are some vampires who do not accept this. Not a problem. I didn't hire you to keep the rogue element in place, though just knowing I have a Slayer in my employ is very effective in keeping those demons in line as well as the ones who are working for me.

"You see, I allow them . . . feeding grounds, if you will. There are certain neighborhoods they're not allowed to enter, citizens they're not allowed to touch. Like members of the city council, the school board," he met Faith's eyes again, "A certain Slayer you are well acquainted with."

Faith's eyes became cold. He didn't even say Buffy's name and she could feel her anger rising. Wilkins noticed this. "That is, until any of them start interfering with my plans.

"And it looks bad on my part when I've given them these allowances and then have the Slayer *who is* working for me slay two of them while they're trying to hunt." He shook his head, a little disappointed. "Do you see what I'm getting at, Faith?"

Faith didn't say anything for several seconds. Then she simply said, "Yeah."

He waited for her to say more, but Faith remained silent. "Would you like to add to this little story I've just told you?"

Faith was fidgeting with her boot, wiping away an imaginary smudge on the leather. Then she looked up into his eyes again. "No."

Very rarely had Faith seen the Mayor look as serious as he was looking at her now. "Now, think about what you're saying, Faith. Are you sure that's your answer?"

She took a steady breath before answering. "Yeah."

"Okay, if that's the way you want it? You leave me with no choice."

Wilkins rounded his desk and sat down again. Faith unconsciously gripped the armrest of her chair a little tighter, waiting. Well, it was a wild ride while it lasted, she thought.

"But to accept that as your answer." Wilkins burst out laughing.

Faith was stunned and had to stop her jaw from dropping as she watched the strange mayor try to calm himself down. Smiling, he leaned back in his leather chair.

"Oh, boy," he wiped a tear at the corner of his eye. "You really enjoy testing me, don't you? That's what I love about you. You never back down."

Faith shrugged, a little more relaxed. "Just the way I am."

"And don't you dare change, you hear me," he said, with mock firmness.

She couldn't keep the smile completely off her face. "Damn, boss. You really had me going there."

He raised a warning finger. "Ah-ah, watch the language."

"Right."

"Come on , now," Wilkins said. "Do you really think I'd let something like that come between us?"

Faith regarded him for a moment. "But how does the guy in the other room feel about that?"

"Can't put anything past you. Come on in, Stephen," he called towards the door behind her.

Faith looked over her shoulder and saw a lean looking vampire enter the room. He was wearing his vamp face which automatically let her know he was only a few years old, if even that. Not because he couldn't keep his face human, just because he probably thought he looked more intimidating this way. As he stood next to her, he glared down at her, lifting his upper lip to show off his fangs a little. Faith just rolled her eyes.

"So what is to be done with her?" Stephen demanded.

"I was thinking of taking her to the circus that's in LA right now," Wilkins said, pleasantly.

"The circus?" Faith said.

"You don't like the circus?" Wilkins seemed worried by this. "I thought all kids loved the circus."

Faith grimaced. "Those clowns. They just make me want to stake them."

"Well, we can't have that, now, can we?" He seemed to ponder for a moment. "Miniature golf?"

"I think I'm about this close to conquering the motorcycle jump."

They were hardly paying any attention to the vampire anymore, who was looking back and forth between them, becoming enraged.

"You're not going to do anything?" said Stephen. "She killed two of my crew last night!"

Wilkins just shrugged as if it were of no great importance. "I'm sure she had a good reason." Then he looked at Faith. "Faith?"

"God, I really wish I could say I did it just for the hell of it," she seemed disappointed, "but I actually did have a reason for staking those losers."

Wilkins' eyebrows rose with interest. "Which was?"

"Well, it goes back to what you were just saying, about certain people the vamps aren't allowed to feed on."

"We are well aware of the Mayor's `list.' " the vamp interjected.

Faith's gaze became cold as she looked at the new vamp. "If you interrupt me again, I'll stake you right here."

Stephen started to sneer at her, but it faded when he glanced at Wilkins and saw the "you better listen to her" expression on his face. Wisely, he closed his mouth.

Faith continued, her attention back on Wilkins. "Okay, for some reason you don't want me going after Buffy."

Wilkins nodded his head, in a way that said they'd had this conversation many times already. "As I already told you, I have something special planned for her. And she hasn't done anything that has threatened my plans yet, so, for the moment, she isn't a problem."

"Right," Faith said. "So how do you think Buffy would react if her mother was eaten by a couple of stupid vampires last night?" Wilkins perked up in surprised, but Faith went on throwing a glance at Stephen. "And what if she found out those two vamps worked for you?"

"I'd imagine she wouldn't be a very happy camper right now," Wilkins said.

Faith chuckled a scoff. "She'd tear up half the town coming after you. It wouldn't matter to her that you can't be killed, she would probably enjoy cutting you up into as many pieces as she could just to see if you can put yourself back together."

Wilkins was quiet, *his* expression stoic for a change. He just sat there with his elbows on his desk and his fingers steepled.

"Well," he finally said. "I must say . . ." He looked at Stephen. "I am very disappointed with this news."

The vampire lost what little cool he had, and stammered, frightened, "But . . . sir. We didn't know that was the Slayer's mother!"

"Hey!" Faith exclaimed, pissed. "She's not THE Slayer. She's a burnt-out imitation of one."

"Right you are, Faith," the Mayor agreed. He turned to Stephen again. "Everybody knows that Joyce Summers; a very important citizen to this community, I might add, owns the Art Gallery. Just because her daughter has the power to cause trouble for me is no reason to blame her for it." He gave the vampire a scolding look. "Maybe if you young people took the time to appreciate the finer things, such as art, you might have realized that.

"Stephen, I want you to go back to the others and tell them that anyone who feeds on, let alone snacks, on young Summers' family or any of her friends without my permission will be in a heap of trouble."

The vamp just nodded his head nervously. Faith loved the way the Mayor was able to speak in such a cheery manner and still scare the shit out of demons.

Wilkins stood up and moved over to the windows. Not looking at Stephen, he said, "That'll be all. You can go now, Stephen. Thank you for stopping by." He was smiling when he opened the blinds.

When he realized what Wilkins was about to do, the vamp turned and started running to the door he had come in through. But the morning sunlight that blasted into the office still caught him and he growled in pain, leaving behind a cloud of smoke as he slammed the door closed behind him.

Wilkins chuckled as he sat back down at his desk. "So, anything else exciting happen last night?" he asked Faith.

Faith shook her head. "But the night before I thought I saw something."

He noticed the serious expression on her face. "And what's that?"

Faith shifted in her chair, uncrossing her leg and crossing the other over that one. "There was this cop that questioned me right after . . . they found the body."

Wilkins just nodded. He knew immediately which body she was talking about. Although he never asked her about Allan Finch's murder, he assured her that it was all water under the bridge and what was past was forgotten. But Faith still tiptoed around the subject --actually she never brought it up-- but she needed to tell him about this.

"I think he was following me."

Wilkins raised his eyebrows. "Well . . . just when I thought the morning couldn't get any more interesting." He had a thoughtful expression on his face for a few seconds before asking, "And he wasn't following you last night?"

"No. I didn't see anybody following me last night."

"Hmm. I'll have to talk to Bob about this."

"Who's Bob?"

"Oh, the police chief. I need to tell him that one of his detectives seems to be on his own crusade. We can't have that. If there's one thing I will not stand for, is a vigilante."

"What if this guy doesn't back off?" Faith asked.

"I would really hate to use the last resort, Detective Stein is really a fine police officer. Also very dedicated, it seems. I'd really hate to lose him."

He focused his gaze on Faith. "If it comes to that, do you think you can handle it?"

Thrown by the question, she blurted, "Me?" She quickly composed herself. Just three weeks ago, Faith --before Buffy and the others had found her out-- discovered that Willow had been trying to hack into the Mayor's personal files. That time Wilkins had authorized a hit on the young redhead, but he had told Faith he wasn't asking her to do it, not so early in "their" relationship. He'd sent vampires to do it instead, but those guys were never heard from again and Willow was still alive. They both figured Buffy must have saved her and Faith was a little nervous that he would ask her to do it, after all, but by then his files had been deleted and he figured it would look suspicious if there was another attempt on Willow's life while she was trying to access them.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Wilkins asked, a little pointedly.

Faith didn't answer right away. "No," she finally said. "No problem at all."



******



"Yes, Joyce Summers, please. This is her daughter. I'll hold."

Buffy started to tap her fingers against the side of the payphone as classical music filled the line. She wasn't sure how long she had waited, but she remembered there were still a few students in the hallway when she had first dialed, now as she looked around the hallway was empty.

The music was cut off. "Buffy?"

At the sound of her mother's voice Buffy's shoulders sagged in relief. Not that she had doubted Xander when he told her she was all right, she just needed to reassure herself.

"Yeah. Hey, uh, hi, Mom," Buffy said.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Uh, no. No. I just didn't get a chance to talk to you after patrol last night. Didn't want you to worry."

"Thanks, honey. I did get your message that you were spending the night at Willow's. Rough night?"

"It . . ." Buffy hesitated, ". . was a little more exciting than usual. But no problems."

"Oh, good."

"Hey, I was wondering what time you were going to be home tonight?" Buffy said. "I thought it might be nice to have dinner. You know, with our schedules being so busy lately . . ."

"I'd like that. In fact I was going to call you later to see if you were free tonight."

"Really? Guess we're thinking on the same wavelength. It would also give us a chance to talk. Something we haven't really had a chance to do lately."

"It wasn't from my lack of being ready to talk." Even though Joyce's tone hadn't changed, Buffy did hear the slight implication there.

"Right," Buffy said, in a softer voice.

"So. . . I'll have dinner ready by six."

"Sure. I'll be home early to help you."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Are you sure everything's all right?"

"Yeah." Buffy tried to find something else to say, but then said, "Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight then. Be careful."

"Sure." Buffy hesitated and the line was disconnected when her mother hung up.

"You too."

Buffy slowly hung up and just stood there staring at the phone.

In a cheery voice, she said, "Oh, by the way, if you happen to see Faith don't go near her because she flipped out and is now evil --can you pass the mash potatoes?"

She shook her head. "Somehow I don't think that would work."

"Buffy!"

She turned and saw Willow hurrying down the hall towards her, a couple of books in her arms. The redhead was slightly out of breath when she reached her.

"Sorry I'm late. Had a little run-in with a demon." She saw the alarmed look on Buffy's face and quickly added, "Uh, I mean, Anya. But I took care of her. Uh, not in the fisticuffs way, you know I'm not violent in the sense of . . . being violent, though I must confess a little guilty pleasure at punching her out that night." She saw the way Buffy was staring at her and decided to hand over her books. "Anyway, here are your books --and why are you out here in the hallway? Now you're late for class, too."

"I had to call my mom."

"Oh." Then Willow took notice of her solemn expression. "Is everything okay?"

Buffy sighed. "I'll tell you about it in class."

As they started to walk down the hall, Willow asked, "But don't we have something else to do in class?"

Buffy looked at her. "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know, school work maybe?"

Buffy frowned. "Oh. We can do that after we talk."

"Of course," Willow said, shaking her head.



End of Part Eleven