"Oh man," Xander said, slamming the book in front of him. "I think it's time to wave the white flag. Give up. We're gonna die."

"Xander!" Buffy and Willow scolded.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "I'm just tired is all. A good night's sleep and I'll be optimism guy again."

The bell over the door jingled.

"Okay," Giles said, taking off his jacket. He was followed quickly by Faith, who popped up onto the counter. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Oh good," Xander said. "I was hoping somebody would say that. I'm making coffee."

"Actually, don't," Giles said. "You need to listen."

"I'll make the coffee," Tara said, standing from her seat.

"No, we need you here too," Giles said.

"I'll do it?" Pike asked.

"Yes, thank you, Pike," Giles said. He climbed the ladder at the back of the shop. A minute later he descended with four books.

"Oh good, books," Xander said, surveying the table top already full of dusty tomes. "Something new for us."

"You can do away with those. We have a specific spell we're looking for, and I believe it to be in one of these books," Giles said, putting the books on the table. "It is called the Joining of the Souls, and it's a spell."

Willow perked up. "What kind of a spell?"

"The kind that is very difficult, and very dangerous, and might possibly allow us to defeat Adam."

"Well," Buffy said. "Tell us what we're dealing with."

Giles nodded. "The spell was originally created a very long time ago. Its original purpose was to aid in healing of someone who had been severely injured. It would take the. . . the essence of one person, their energy, and transfer it into the other, but it wasn't merely an additive spell. What was found is that it would take the one person's strength, their energy, and multiply it with the other, in effect making the one person much, much stronger."

"How come people don't use it all the time, then?" Willow asked.

"One of the problems of the spell was when the two people were incompatible, they were simply too different, and their energy would fight against each other," Giles said. "This would end up only hurting the injured person more, often resulting in death, for both parties, as the energy would expend itself. More than that, it took an enormous amount of power to cast, and left the person lending their energy as well as those doing the casting of the spell completely vulnerable for the duration of the spell. That happened whether the energies were compatible or not."

"Those are some pretty serious problems," Buffy said. "How exactly is this supposed to help us?"

"As I said, the biggest problem was when the two energies were in opposition to one another. This is a problem we do not have."

"How do you figure?" Xander asked.

Angel rolled his eyes. "You guys aren't very bright, are you?" He pointed to Buffy. "Slayer." He pointed to Xander. "White Knight. Your energies are specifically attuned to each other. The entire point of you is to help her out, there's no way that this spell going from you to her would hurt her."

"Precisely," Giles said.

"But there's still the problem of Xander being completely vulnerable," Willow said.

"Yes," Giles said. "I had thought of that. And this is the reason we need to find the spell, not only to cast it, but to find out the specifics of it."

"Wait, why are we assuming I'm the one doing the lending, and Buffy's the one doing the fighting?" Xander asked.

"Because I'm the Slayer," Buffy said.

"Yeah, and I'm the White Knight. Got some pretty nifty powers here too," he said.

"All of which shall be transferred to Buffy," Giles said. "As Angel said, your entire reason for being is to aid her. The Slayer is built for fighting, the White Knight for aid. It so happens a great deal of that aid comes in the form of fighting as well, but when it comes right down to it, Buffy is better equipped to handle your powers than you are to handle hers. That's just the way it is."

"I don't like it," Xander said.

"You don't have to like it, you just have to do it," said Giles. "It will work better this way. Trust me."

Xander sighed and nodded his consent.

"Y-you said it takes a lot of p-power," Tara said. "Are Willow and I going to be enough?"

"I honestly don't know," Giles said. "All the more reason for us to look into this quickly."

With only four books between them, some of the Scoobies were forced to share books.

"No," Giles said, leveling a glare at Buffy and Xander.

"No, what?" Buffy asked.

"If you two share a book, you'll soon be sharing a chair, and none of the work will get done."

Xander popped up from his chair. "I'm donut guy," he said.

"Ooh, I'm donut girl," Faith said.

"Actually, Xander," Giles said, "it never hurts to have more help on hand, especially that of magical power."

Xander looked at him expectantly. "And?"

"And it occurs to me that we know another witch who might come in handy, should we require her help."

Xander's eyes lit up in understanding. "You want me to go get Amy."

"It very well might be helpful, yes," Giles said.

"Why don't I go?" Angel asked. "It's late, so she probably wouldn't want to be disturbed right now. I can also get my people in LA up here tomorrow."

"Cordelia and Wesley?" Giles asked.

"Them, and someone else, if he's willing. All the help, right?"

"I suppose anybody you can procure would be of use, yes," Giles said.

"All right," Angel said, sliding back from the table. "I'll see you all in the morning, then."

"Which makes me still donut guy," Xander said. "Do I still have a donut girl to back me up?"

"Sure thing," Faith said, hopping of the counter.

Xander and Faith walked out the door, leaving the others to their research.

* * * * *

"Where do you get donuts at this time of night?" Faith asked, when they had been driving for a few minutes.

"There's an all night diner just outside of town," Xander said. "They've got some wards up to keep the nasties out."

"Gotcha," Faith said, before turning to stare out the window. They continued the drive in silence. On arriving at the diner, they got out, picked up two dozen donuts and headed back to the Magic Box, Faith still staring out the window.

"You all right?" Xander asked.

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

Faith looked at him for a moment. "Thank you."

Xander was startled. "Uh. . . for what?"

"You saved Riley's life, earlier," she said.

"Well, I mean, we all do what we can," he said, uncomfortable with gratitude.

"Yeah," Faith replied. She took a deep breath. "There was a point, not too long ago, where I pretty much figured the only thing I'd care about in my life was me, you know? Look out for number one. And I kind of stayed that way for a while. Then the whole thing last year with the mayor. . . and then you guys woke me up, and you accepted me, you know, as me. But I still kinda felt, anytime, if I had to, I could just drop it and take off, you know?"

Xander nodded.

She shook her head. "Then I had to go and fall in love with Riley."

"Not so easy to just pick up and go," Xander said.

"And I don't want to, either," Faith said. "For the first time since Linda –that's my first watcher—for the first time since she died, it's like there's really something anchoring me to a place, you know?"

Xander nodded.

"I mean, you guys are great, and I love you and all, but. . . "

"But it's different," Xander said. "I know. And for the record, we love ya too."

Faith looked back out the window.

"Faith?"

She turned back to him.

"You're welcome."

She looked at him for a moment, nodded, and turned back to the window.

Xander looked at the road sign he was approaching and made a split second decision, followed by a hard left.

"What the—"

"Faith, don't take this as a statement of your importance to the group," Xander said, "but we don't need you."

"Is there some other way to take that?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"What I mean is, we don't need you tonight," Xander said as he swerved into the hospital parking lot and screeched to a halt at the front entrance.

She looked at him. "Visiting hours are over."

"Visiting hours were over by the time Giles and Joyce went to see Dawn," Xander said. "This hospital doesn't exactly force us to keep to its time schedule. And if they try to, I've got ten bucks that says you can find a way around it."

Faith looked over at him from the passenger seat.

"Go," Xander said. "He needs you more than we do tonight, and you need him too."

Without a word, Faith unbuckled her seatbelt and popped the door open, then paused. She turned around, gave Xander a kiss on the cheek, and bolted from the car as fast as she could, slamming the door with tooth jarring force.

Xander smiled after her, then put the car in gear and drove off.

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End Chapter 29