That evening, Willow walked into the living room. Buffy was sitting on the couch, looking bummed. "What's wrong?," Willow asked.

"It's Spike."

"Yeah, the scumbag," Willow answered. "I'm still pretty peeved at him myself."

"I miss him," Buffy told Willow.

Willow couldn't believe it. "What did you just say?"

"I miss Spike."

"No, Buffy. Don't do this to yourself. You're better off without him."

"Sure doesn't feel that way. I know I shouldn't, but I miss him. I try to hate him."

"Hating him is a very good idea," Willow interjected. "I've been doing a lot of Spike-hating myself lately."

"But I can't," Buffy finished. "I've spent years hating him, and there's nothing left. It's all used up."

"So, Spike's so rotten he's exhausted your capacity to hate him. Buffy, that just proves how much of an evil weasel he is."

"Yeah, he sure was," Buffy said with a little laugh. "But he's changed."

"He hasn't," Willow responded. "We all wanted to believe he had. But it was all an act. He made us trust him just so he could hurt us."

"It's because I hurt him," Buffy said. "All the times I said he was a worthless loser, all the times I said I could never love him. He believed me."

"Buffy, you're scaring me. Listen to yourself. You're sounding like, well, like a battered woman."

"Willow, what are you talking about?" Buffy battered? By Spike? By any man? What could sound more ridiculous than that?

"Buffy, think about it. Your relationship with Spike – it's always been abusive."

"I guess I have beaten him up a lot."

"Think back to last year. When did you first sleep with Spike? After you found out he could hit you. You finally break free of him, and he attacks you. He tries to rape you. Then he comes back. Says he's changed. Promises this time things will be different. You see a pattern here? Even now, listen to yourself: he's not bad.' It's all my fault.' If I was just nicer to him he'd be good to me.' Buffy, you're better than this. You're definitely better than him."

"I'm too good for him. I'm too good for any guy. That's my problem. That's my curse. It's why I'll always be alone."

"Because you're afraid of being alone, you'll stay with scum like Spike?"

"It's not like men are exactly trampling down my door trying to date me. It's not easy for me to find a guy who can understand me. Spike could."

"He understood you all right. The way a virus understands the person it infects."

Anya burst in without warning. "The taste. Uh! That awful taste! I can't get it out of my mouth."

"Bad dinner?," Willow wondered.

"Worse. Bad vengeance. Curdled, years-past-its-expiration-date vengeance. Not like fresh vengeance. Not like - " Anya paused to take in Buffy's fresh, ripe vengeance. But she quickly realized something was wrong. "Oh no. Oh no. You've turned the vengeance in on yourself."

"So you noticed that too," Willow commented.

Anya tried to help. "Buffy, you can't blame yourself. You can never blame yourself." Right then, Xander entered. The three women in the living room hadn't yet noticed. Anya continued. "It is always the man's fault. Always."

Willow concurred. "It's like what you said last week, Buffy. Men bad. Men very bad.'"

Xander was mightily confused. "Have a come at a bad time?," he asked innocently.

Buffy was glad to see Xander. Finally, she could end Willow's and Anya's self-righteous intervention. "Don't you remember?," she asked Xander. "Tuesday night is man-hating night around here. But for you, we always make an exception."

"Glad to know I can spend the evening with three of my four favorite women in the world."

"Four? Someone new in your life?," Buffy queried.

Anya explained. "Haven't you heard the news? Xander's got a girlfriend. And she's completely and totally human."

"A human? That's whole new territory for you," Buffy joked.

"You too," he replied.

Willow tactfully changed the subject. "Anya, you were saying something interesting happened to you at work today. The thing that left that awful taste in your mouth?"

"Yes, of course, the stale vengeance. This woman comes in. She knows I'm a Vengeance Demon. And she's got a good story. Definitely sounds entitled to vengeance. So she makes the wish, I'm doing the deed, and it feels all wrong. It won't work. Her man betrayed her – 10 years ago! I'm sorry, but vengeance delayed is vengeance denied. Nothing I could do about it. And the worst part is, she accuses me of malpractice! Says she called on me when it happened but I never showed up. The nerve of her, questioning my dedication. I prided myself on always answering the call to duty. I always delivered."

"You're like the post office," Xander quipped. "Neither sleet nor snow nor dark of night will keep you from causing men agony."

"It's impossible. I couldn't have missed her."

"So she made it up? She never summoned you?," Willow asked.

"She sounded like she had. She must not have been qualified. Maybe she still loved him. Not all scorned women are eligible for my services. I can't wreak vengeance on a man the woman still loves. She has to have once loved him, had that love betrayed, and then stopped loving him. Like Cordelia with Xander. So, even after she was betrayed and had her life ruined, part of her still loved him, still held out hope. Hence, no vengeance."

"Hold wait a second!," Xander interjected. "Cordelia loved me?"

"By definition," Anya calmy answered. "Otherwise, I couldn't have come here. What, you think I help every girl who's been hurt by her boyfriend? Come on! I do have standards, you know."

Xander was dumbstruck. "She loved me? Me? She never told me."

"She told me," Buffy added. Xander and Willow gave her looks of disbelief.

"Since when did Cordy confide in you?," Willow wanted to know.

"We were surrounded and trapped, and she thought she was going to die," Buffy explained. "Imminent death exception." Willow and Xander had heard that one before. It's what Willow said to Xander before they kissed, and Cordelia burst in, and Cordelia fell through the floor and was impaled. Of course, Buffy didn't know this.

Anya went on as if she had revealed nothing especially important. "Don't get me wrong, I feel for this woman. The only man she's ever loved leaves her for trailer trash, and she has to raise their daughter all alone. But there's nothing I could do about it. Those are the rules."

Xander felt horrible. He got up and walked into the kitchen. Anya continued. "And you know what the strangest part was? She was a witch. A witch! When I explain the situation, she tries some amateurish spells on me. "Goddess Hecate, blah blah blah." Willow wasn't listening. She went into the kitchen to talk to him. Anya continued telling her story to Buffy.

"I didn't know. I - I didn't know."

"Neither did I. Who woulda thunk it? Cordelia, capable of love," Willow joked, trying to comfort Xander. Usually Willow was the serious one and it was Xander with the jokes.

"And I didn't even, I didn't even feel, I mean, it's not like she was number two in my book. No, she was number three. That's how little she meant to me. I didn't even notice. I didn't even care. That's horrible. I'm horrible."

"Xander that's crazy. You're the polar opposite of horrible."

"Really? Look at my track record. Look at what I did to Anya. Look at what I did to you."

"You saved my life."

"I'm not talking about that. Think back to high school, all those year I ignored you. And then I only noticed you when you were taken, when you were unattainable. That's it. That's my problem. I only want what I can't have. That's why I've turned my back on every woman who ever gave me a chance."

"Xander, that's not who you are. You're not like that. You're being too hard on yourself."

"And you know what the worst part is? I get away with it. I don't even have to defend myself. You're doing it for me. You saw Anya after what I did to her. You saw how much I hurt her. And still you think I'm a decent guy. Hell, even she thinks I'm a decent guy! Would a decent guy do half the things I've done? I've hurt everyone who's ever cared about me. I've let down everyone who's ever expected anything from me. And I never have to pay for any of it."

Willow kept defending him. "Look, we all make mistakes. We all hurt people we care about without meaning to. That doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you human."

Buffy was beginning to think this woman Anya met sounded familiar. "So she's a witch. But not a powerful one?"

"She seemed powerful, but very raw and self-taught. No refinement. I'm guessing she could bring down some serious pain on a few hapless mortals if she felt like it. That's the thing. She could have cursed her husband herself. But she couldn't bring herself to do it."

"Did she happen to mention her name?"

"Cathy, Catherine. That's what she told me."

Buffy had heard enough. "Willow! Xander! We have a new problem on our hands." They both came back into the living room. Willow hoped this would bring an end to Xander's bout of self-flagellation.

"Willow, do you remember what Amy's mom's first name is?"

"Catherine, I think. Why?"

"Oh no," Buffy groaned.

"Buffy, what's wrong?," Xander asked.

"Do you guys know when Amy's parents split up?"

"I think it was sixth grade," Willow reported. "I remember Amy took it pretty hard. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Think about it," Buffy began. "Woman by the name of Catherine who's a pretty powerful witch whose husband left her and her daughter ten years ago. Who happened to be in Anya's store today."

Xander and Willow realized what Buffy was getting at. "Oh no. It can't be," Xander declared. "I mean, how? How could she get free?"

"Amy!," Willow exclaimed. "I saw her yesterday. She said she was lonely and seemed to be fishing for a magically-inclined buddy."

"So she brought back the woman who tried to steal her life?," Buffy asked. "That just doesn't make sense."

Anya was confused. "Who's Amy's mom?"

"So this Buffy girl's a busybody," Catherine said to Amy. "Always sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. A real self-righteous do-gooder. Lemme guess: when it comes to her own life, she's no angel. That's always the way it is with these holier-than-thou types. Am I right?"

"To call her history with men scandalous would be the understatement of the century," Amy answered.

"I knew it! See, everyone's got skeletons in their closet. The goodie-goodies, they got a whole graveyard. That's why they always get on everyone else's case. Too scared to face their own problems, so they try to solve other people's."

"Cheerleading! Who could care that much about cheerleading?," Anya wondered. "I mean, come on! Is there a more degrading, pointless activity for teenage girls to participate in?" Xander and Willow started looking nervous. Buffy wasn't amused. Anya didn't notice. "Who even came up with that idea? Hey, let's wear short skirts and tight tops and jiggle up and down so the boys will noticed us, and then if I'm lucky after the game the quarterback will want to feel me up!' Cheering on men like they're the center of the universe or something. What self-respecting young woman would willingly choose to turn herself into such a vapid, superficial sex object?"

"I was a cheerleader," Buffy told Anya.

"No you weren't. I don't remember that."

"Before I was the Slayer, I mean."

"Before you were a Slayer, you were a cheerleader? Well then thank God for Slaying! I guess we were all clueless once upon a time."

"And apparently some of us still are," Buffy remarked about Anya's extreme insensitivity.

Anya started laughing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to picture you with the pom-poms, doing the whole Yeah Team!' school spirit thing. It's like imagining you, as Cordelia! You have to see the absurdity in that. To think there's some vampire-free Bizarro Dimension where you two are best friends and talk about boys while doing each other's nails."

"Okay, that is frightening," Willow conceded.

"Can we make a new rule? No more discussion of alternate dimensions of any kind – ever," Xander suggested. Between VampWillow and mental institution Buffy, Xander had had his fill of alternate realities.

Anya got back on topic. "Trapped for six years like that, nothing to do but think about getting revenge on the person who put her there. Buffy, I wouldn't want to be you right now."

"Thanks for your support," Buffy added sarcastically.

"Don't worry, I'll help you. I didn't sell her any supplies. And I won't. No matter how much money she offers me. Did I mention that Witchy Woman's walking around with 50 grand in cash? Forget magic. She can just hire a hitman to gun you down on the street in broad daylight."

"Anya, you're not helping," Xander gently prodded.

"How do you know this?," Buffy wondered.

"I realized I could charge her for vengeance, so I suggested a price of $50,000. It was a joke. I expected her to bargain, haggle me down to a couple grand. But she just left, and came back two hours later with a bag full of money. Who knows what she'll do with that moolah now."

"Let's calm down for a second," Willow suggested. "We don't even know for sure if it's Amy's mom. First things first. Tomorrow morning, we go to school, check the trophy case. If she's gone, I'm gonna have a talk with Amy, try to find out why in the world she did this."

"Then what do we do tonight, sit back and let her make the first move?," Buffy asked with frustration. She hated doing nothing.

"Willow's right. She probably wants you to come after her. You don't want to do anything rash and walk into a trap," Anya advised.

Willow tried to offer comfort. "Buffy, I wouldn't worry about her. You took her down once. And back then, she had the element of surprise. She's no match for you."

Xander, Willow and Buffy took Dawn to school the next morning and headed straight for the trophy case. "It's gone," Buffy said.

"How can you tell?," Dawn asked.

"Her eyes used to follow you around," Willow explained.

"Wow! That is so cool!," Dawn exclaimed. Buffy gave her a dirty look. Dawn didn't appear to comprehend the gravity of the situation. Then Clarke came over to talk to Dawn.

"Hi Dawn. What's up? How's it going?"

"I'm good, Clarke. How are you?"

"Can't complain. Watchya lookin' at?"

"Nothing. Just killing time."

"Say, I was going to the commons to grab a bagel. Seems like a better place to kill time than here."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." And Dawn walked off with Clarke.

Buffy looked at the two of them and smiled. "He seems like a very nice boy," Xander said to Buffy. The two of them appeared more taken with Clarke than Dawn did.

"There's something about him I really like," Buffy cooed.

"How did it survive the explosion?," Xander asks.

"The trophy case kind of creeps me out," Clarke said to Dawn.

"Really! Why?," she wondered nervously.

"My father's state champion trophy's in there. Sometimes I feel like it's watching me. I don't mean literally, of course. That would make me nuts, right? It just reminds me of everyone's expectations, you know? Like I'm supposed to be in that case one day."

"Not literally, of course," Dawn joked. "That would also be nuts."

"Like a Twilight Zone' episode."

"Like they say, be careful what you wish for, cause you might get it." Dawn responded. She sure knew the truth of that.

"That's too bad," Clarke told her. "Cause I was wishing you'd hang out with me some more."

"Wish granted," Dawn said with a smile.

Now that they knew it was true, Willow tracked Amy at the UC-Sunnydale campus. "Look, if I knew you were that lonely, I wouldn't have blown you off."

"So you've heard."

"Why, Amy?"

"She's my mother."

"She tried to take your life away. She tried to kill you."

"Your mother tried to burn you at the stake. Or have you forgotten about that?," Amy tartly responded. She did have a point. "Tell Buffy my mom's looking forward to seeing her again." And with that Amy walked away. She knew she was in control. And she liked that feeling.

Willow told Buffy. Always one to be proactive, Buffy paid Catherine a house call. Catherine opened the door. "Buffy! It's been so long. I've been thinking about how to repay you for what you did to me." Buffy wasn't going to give Catherine the chance. She punched her in the face and charged into her house.

"That's not being polite, now is it?," Catherine told Buffy with a wicked smirk and a cold, calculating laugh. "I thought Joyce raised you better than that." Buffy threw Catherine into the credenza. Then she pulled Catherine's right arm behind her back and shoved her face against the top of dining room table.

"Now you listen to me, and you listen good," Buffy began.

"No, you listen to me," Amy interrupted. Buffy looked to her left. Amy was holding a gun. Buffy let go of Catherine and backed away from Amy. Amy followed her. The gun was pointed at Buffy's forehead. Amy cocked the weapon. Buffy had not anticipated this.

"Amy, listen, this is crazy. You pull that trigger, and everything changes. Things will never be the same for you. Please, just relax, put the gun down. Okay?"

"I don't see the harm. I mean, you already died once, right? I'm just putting you back back you belong."

Buffy was genuinely frightened. "Amy, please, stop!"

Amy smiled. "What, you're gonna beg for your life? Sorry. I don't have the patience to listen." Then Amy pulled the trigger. Buffy flinched. The chamber rotated. The gun didn't go off. Amy pulled out the revolver's chamber and spun it around for Buffy to see. "It's not loaded." She laughed. Catherine laughed. Buffy was furious. If there was one thing she hated more than having her life threatened, it was being made the butt of a practical joke.

Amy gloated to Buffy. "You thought I was gonna do it! You actually believed I was capable of killing another human being in cold blood? You're so gullible!"

"Either that or you're paranoid," Catherine told Buffy. "Of course, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get you." Buffy got in Catherine's face. Catherine laughed. "You're real good at looking tough, Summers. But what are you gonna do to me? Right here, right now, what are you going to do to me?"

That was the problem. Buffy couldn't do anything because Catherine hadn't done anything. She couldn't lay a hand on her. After all, Catherine was a human being. Buffy knew this. And apparently Catherine knew it as well. Buffy glanced over at Amy. She shook her head, as if she couldn't believe Amy was a part of this sick charade. Buffy backed out of the Madison house, glaring at both Catherine and Amy. She knew this wasn't over.

After she left, Catherine congratulated her daughter. "Amy, you were brilliant! That look on her face. It was priceless! What a performance!"

"You were right mom. She did everything you said she would. You got Buffy's number."

"It's about time someone taught that brat a lesson," Catherine declared.

Early that evening, Willow went over to Xander's apartment. She was worried about him. "You okay buddy?," she asked. "What's on your mind?"

"It's Elise. I really like her. And I think she really likes me. I've been here before. We'll have some great times, make each other happy, then I'll break her heart, just like I always do."

"So what are you gonna do? Break up with her now, so you don't have to break up with her later? That's not a nice thing to do to a girl."

"I just don't want to hurt her."

"Then don't. Stop being afraid. You can't run scared from someone new who might make you happy just because of bad things that happened in your past. If you don't take a chance, you'll just end up lonely and miserable." Funny how Willow never applied this line of reasoning to her relationship with Zooey.

Later on, Willow was back home to hang out with Buffy. "It's been a crazy week," Buffy told her.

"Sure has," Willow remarked.

"Nothing's the way it should be."

"Topsy with a side of turvy."

"Everything's so complicated. Nothing's what it seems anymore."

"Things we took for granted, out the window." Here Willow was referring to the reports she had read but didn't yet have the guts to tell Buffy about.

"I think we both really need a good slay," Buffy proposed.

Willow and Buffy were out on the hunt, or patrol as Buffy euphemistically referred to it. It this instance, hunt was the proper term. They were looking for something to kill. After all, killing always made everything better.

"This is what I like about slaying," Buffy told Willow as they walked through the graveyard. "Good kills evil. Evil disappears. It's all so simple." They saw a vampire rise and prepared to dust him. Before they got the chance, the vampire fell face first onto the dirt. Standing behind the vampire was Patrick Gugan. He was holding a tranquilizer gun. Buffy and Willow saw the dart in the vampire's back.

"Mind if I rescue this one?," he asked politely. Now even slaying wasn't so simple anymore.