I have come curiously close to the end, down
Beneath my self-indulgent, pitiful hole, defeated
I concede and
Move closer
I may find comfort here
I may find peace within the emptiness
How pitiful

It's calling me

-Reflection by Tool

"This isn't going to work, Fai," Nathaniel commented innocently, his soft, pre-pubescent voice barely making a sound over the roar of the altitude's wind. Stone tumbled down to the ground below as his foot slipped on a loose chunk of granite and he slid several feet down before managing to wedge his shoe into a crevice. Nate shook his unruly black locks away from his eyes so he could better view the girl seated casually on the rock face nearly forty feet off the ground.

Fai scoffed at her gangly friend, watching with amusement as he tried to scramble up to the ledge she was comfortably sitting on. Though a full head and shoulders shorter than Nate, and nearly a whole year younger Fai had seen enough during her short stint in the world to know that the sheer rock face wasn't the thing to be afraid of. "Chill, Nate," the girl murmured in a tone that she thought should soothe him. It sounded false and forced even to her own ears, her practise with comforting sounds limited, but Nate took it to heart and hoisted himself up onto the shallow outcropping beside the brunette. "Everything's gon' be cool. Y'know? Like 'the Fonze' cool."

Nate's cherubic face lit up in an uncharacteristic grin and the perpetual worrier of the two friends managed to loosen up enough to point and croon "aeeeh," and then gesture in a pseudo-Fonzie manner despite the ludicrous height. The wind took the opportunity to make itself known again and he yelped and clung to Fai's worn jean shorts subconsciously.

"Real brave, Fonzie," Fai giggled before wrenching her shorts free. "C'mon, it's only another couple of feet."

"Or I'll loose a foot." The brunette giggled again. Nate could be so silly sometimes.

They had been climbing for what had seemed like an eternity but in truth had only been a few hours. It would have taken far less time to reach this projection but Fai had to keep stopping to wait for Nate to gather up enough courage to pull his twiggy frame another few feet up the cliff. She sighed and rolled her eyes heavenward. He just took so long… but she had promised him not to try this alone.

Pouting, Fai realized that she should have taken into account Nate's climbing ability before she agreed to bring him along.

"I still don't see why this is necessasy… nessessessy… why you have to do this."

The girl gripped another protrusion a few inches above her head and pulled, using all the upper-body strength her diminutive form would provide. She scraped her hand-me-down Reeboks against the hard stone and finally found enough purchase to reach up to the next support. Nate simply stood and uncoiled himself to his full length, seizing a natural handhold that was out of Fai's reach. "Show-offer," the girl muttered under her breath. "You're such a dork."

"What was that?" Nate asked, pretending, badly-he'd never win an Oscar- that he had not heard his friend's deprecating remark. Fai poked her small pink tongue out in his direction and pulled herself another foot or two up the cliff face.

There was dirt scattered around the top, and a small smattering of shrub life to conceal small birds from the midday's hot sun. Even for a Boston summer the day was searing. From the top of the cliff the children playing in the flooded quarry below resemble mere ants to the two dark-haired children. Or perhaps not ants, and more so those little Lego people, because surely the children didn't have feelers and many legs and the weird gripping teeth things like the ants crawling through the dusty soil to the left of Fai, right? But wouldn't it be cool if they did?

"Wow," Nate whistled out of amazement, impressed with the view.

"Yeah," Fai echoed his sentiment. "It's wicked cool, huh?"

"Totally."

The pair took a moment –an unusually quiet and calm moment for those two- to admire the scenery. Fai broke the silence first. "Okay, so should I go off that rock there, or take a running jump over the far side?"

Nate groaned in disbelief. The girl had a one-track mind sometimes.

A few of the boys-in-blue were already wrapping up the crime scene by the time Kate arrived. She scowled in annoyance as on of the younger and obviously more rookie of the officers flicked on a table lamp with gloveless hands. There could have been a print on that, the detective wanted to scream but she caught herself before verbally lashing out at the young man. He was an idiot, and would have deserved a verbal lashing but this wasn't her crime scene and drawing unnecessary attention to herself would have been a stupid move. Just gonna have to wait, she thought with a mental pout. Get his badge number later and bust him back down to parking tickets.

You are so lucky I'm busy right now.

A camera flash went off to the left of Kate's peripheral vision and she moved into what was obviously the kitchen of the flashy studio apartment. The owner, a man who had been mugged by what he had described as "the Bitch from Hell" would probably not appreciate the semi-large pool of blood that stained his stylishly tiled floor once he returned home from the hospital. Kate frowned and crouched down, her eyes drifting over the footprints that tracked away from the bloodied patch of floor. One, two… a third half dragged…

Detective Paul Kendrick wiped away a lone drop of sweat from his forehead with the edge of his coat. The man, slightly overweight, was sweltering inside the apartment and for all his detective skills couldn't think of a solid reason why the regulations stated that all detectives must be presentable, and why presentable included suits in California's disgustingly hot weather. Gesturing over a blue suited officer he pointed out of the apartment door. "See if the neighbors heard anything."

"Right."

This was getting ridiculous. The series of muggings that had started a few days ago had been pinned on a woman who was only the size of Kendrick's younger sister, which was a ridiculous thought in itself, but now the detective had lost all track of his quarry. She had been trailed to this apartment –not as much "trailed" as this was where the first mugging victim lived when he wasn't confined to a hospital bed- but now she was gone. Kendrick shook his head and sighed, not having a clue what to do next. "Oh, well," he muttered under his breath. "At least things can't get any worse." Glancing up he groaned and wished he hadn't jinxed things by opening his mouth. Great. Lockley. "Kate. What are you doing here"

Kate raised an eyebrow at the large man as if he were an idiot. "I'm a detective, Kendrick. See?" She waved an evidence bag containing a large knife she had found resting in the blood. "I'm detecting. Heard we have a fugitive."

Kendrick scowled. Kate seemed to hear everything that went down at the precinct lately. "Yeah." The blonde woman shoved a piece of paper into his hands. "Felony arrest warrant form a place up north called Sunnydale. I've seen it," the man scowled at the paper as if it were the flattened tree-bark's fault Kate was muscling in on his case.

"So do we think she is the one who threw the party here" Kate asked, oblivious to the man's annoyance with her presence. She fiddled with the knife inside the bag, more interested on rushing the item to forensics to see if they could get a solid print off the soiled weapon.

Paul sighed. He would rather be at home with his wife… or more likely a beer and the Cowboys game. Anything was better than dealing with the precinct's resident Ghost-Buster right now. "The guy who lives here identifies her as the woman who mugged him. Put him in the hospital, stole his keys, his wallet. We're lifting prints now, my bet is we get a match."

Kate nodded. She had already suspected as much. "Anything else"

"That's it. You mind telling me why you're here examining a crime scene that wasn't assigned to you"

"It looked interesting."

"Right." Kendrick sighed and shook his head. That Bud that he had in the chiller back at his place was looking tastier and tastier by the second. "You've heard the rumors, haven't you"

"What rumors" Kate asked, playing dumb. It wasn't a very convincing act, surprisingly. She had thought all blondes had no trouble acting like idiots.

An officer in the background knocked the table lamp that Kate had eyed up before. She scowled but Kendrick ignored the man and his apologizing. "You know what I'm talking about. This girl supposedly has some kind of supernatural powers…"

"Really" The other detective wasn't buying her helpless blonde act.

"Come on, Kate. Everybody knows you've gone all Scully." Kate blanked for a split-second. What the hell is he talking about? "Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone's desk you're always there. What's going on with you"

It took her a moment to contain herself from slapping Kendrick up the side of his head. Sometimes the man could be such an idiot. It was no small wonder there were so many unsolved crimes floating around Los Angeles with officers like Kendrick on the force. Not quite believing she actually had to explain it to the man Kate ground out"Scully is the skeptic."

"Huh"

Oh, my God. "Mulder is the believer," she said slowly, making sure the man heard every syllable. "Scully is the skeptic."

Kendrick scratched his head, still not quite getting it. "Scully is the chick, right"

"Yes," Kate said flatly. She fleetingly wondered why he would even use the X-Files as an example if he had no idea what he was talking about. "But she's not the one that wants to believe."

"And you wanna believe..." Kendrick asked, becoming more confused by the second.

"Oh, I already believe. That's the problem." Kate turned on her heel and left the man with his obviously confused thoughts, determined to have the lab analyze the knife before they closed for the evening. If it were left up to Kendrick the weapon would probably be left in the security locker for weeks before it was even classed as evidence. And she needed to follow up an idea she had about those footprints that lead away from the kitchen and into the hall. Standing around explaining pop-culture to an idiot would take up too much of her night.

Kendrick stared at the wall blankly, trying to absorb what Kate had just told him. "So… Kate wants to be the guy then?"

That didn't sound right.

Faith glared at Cordelia, utilizing the "I hate everyone, leave me alone" look she had perfected in the fourth grade. It lost a lot of it's effect when she swayed a little out of exhaustion but she managed to keep her scowl focused on the taller woman anyway. "Move."

Cordelia just stared in shock, not knowing what to do. If she made the wrong move Faith could kill her, even if it didn't look likely at the time. In fact Cordy had a vague feeling that she could probably take Faith down herself right now, but she didn't want to voice those thoughts to an already confused and angry Slayer in case she was wrong. She stood her ground silently and waited for the weakened brunette to make the first move, praying she wasn't wrong in her assumptions.

"Cordelia," Faith growled, using the woman's full name, a rare occurrence in itself. "Move. Please." The ex-cheerleader shook her head and Faith took what was supposed to be a menacing step toward her. "Just get out of my way."

"N-no," Cordy stuttered quietly glancing at the floor. This is wrong, she thought to herself and then frowned. She wasn't going to cower to a woman who could barely stand without looking like she was going to throw up. She was Cordelia Chase, for God's sake. Staring Faith directly in the eye defiantly, in a way that hadn't been used on Faith since she had become the Slayer except by Buffy herself, Cordelia steeled herself. "No. You're not supposed to be up. Go back to bed and wait for Angel to get back."

"What?" Faith asked, immediately confused. What happened to that wimpy teenager I knew back in Sunnydale? The one who moaned over a chipped nail? She shook her head. "I'm not going to be bossed around by you. I'm not one of your minions," she sneered out and tried to push her way past Cordelia.

A strong right jab connected with her jaw. The technique was poor but years of physical activity had made Cordelia a force to be reckoned with amongst normal human woman. Faith fell onto her butt, her arms protesting catching her fall. "Ouch," she muttered sitting a bit stunned a few feet away from where she had been standing. Cordelia Chase had literally just knocked Faith the Vampire Slayer off her feet and both parties involved seemed to have a hard time accepting that fact.

"Jesus," Cordy breathed out, her right hand still fisted and hanging pointlessly in the air across from her face. "That wasn't supposed to happen…"

From the floor, disheartened and trying desperately not to show it, Faith responded with a cocky grin. "You're telling me," she said quietly, stalling for time. It was hard enough making it this far across Angel's basement apartment, and with Cordelia blocking her escape route wielding a mean right jab Faith was beginning to think that going back to bed was the best idea she had heard since arriving in this city. "Lucky shot," Faith grunted out, pushing herself to her feet much the chagrin of her arms. The room did a little jig and she closed her eyes for a second to steady herself before bringing her fists up. "Dare you to try that again."

Cordelia shook her head emphatically. "No. No way. I'm not going to start scrapping with you like some kind of animal."

"Yeah, didn't think you could take me," Faith sneered. "Even Buffy got in a lucky shot every now and then."

"Oh, I could take you," Cordy proclaimed, annoyed and yet strangely relieved by that fact she knew the statement was true. "I can take you. I just don't want to."

Faith shook her head. "Fine. If you aren't going to fight then get out of my way."

"No."

"C, move," Faith said, her voice taking on an almost whining tone. "Just let me leave, okay?"

Cordelia almost found herself feeling sorry for the younger girl. "Then what?" Faith raised an eyebrow in question. "I let you go, then what? You go back to trying to kill us? Trying to kill the Scoobies? Trying to kill God knows who else?"

Faith winced at each comment, feeling every allegation like it was a physical blow. She hung her head, not meeting Cordelia's eyes. "No. Then you never ever see me again."

"Why? Because you'll have killed yourself?"

That regained Faith's attention. "What? No. I-"

"You would. You've already tried," the other woman accused, pointing at the pink-hued bandages that covered Faith's arms.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself."

"Looked that way to me."

"I wasn't! I was just… Things just got out of hand and I… What do you care!" Faith yelled, anger welling up inside her. She wanted to lash out at Cordelia but knew any attempt would be pointless.

"I care!" The other woman responded, surprised to realize that in some way she actually did.

"Bullshit." Faith tried to storm past once more, only to find herself pushed down onto the floor by an equally angry Cordelia. The Californian put pressure on Faith's arms to keep her from squirming free and the East-Coaster bit her lip as the force of Cordelia's grip split open some of the recently sealed cuts.

"Bullshit my ass!" Cordelia yelled, finally having enough of Faith's attitude. "Some people actually do care about you, y'know!"

"Liar!"

"I am not!" Kneeling next to the girl Cordelia managed to catch a glimpse of Faith's eyes and recoiled at what she found there. The shocked brunette released the Slayer's arms and sat back on her heels. Faith really believed that she was lying, that nobody gave a damn about her. "I am not a liar," Cordelia reiterated quietly but firmly.

Faith just lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. "Sure you're not. And I'm freakin' Santa Claus."