"I don't get it. Why hasn't the First shown itself by now?" Buffy hadn't meant to be so abrupt to Giles or Willow during their latest conference call, but she had been bottling up her frustration on so many things that it seemed to just slip out without her meaning for it to. Methos was in his room quietly staying out of her way since their latest encounter on patrol, a fact that made her angrier than it would if he had tried to make amends. He was doing just as she asked, but inside both she and he knew it wasn't what she really wanted.

She wanted to fix this. She didn't want to be angry with him. She didn't want things to have to change between them. She wanted the simplicity of what they had before.

But she had grown up, and the world could never be simple again. She had accepted it, but she didn't have to like it.

The lack of the First's presence as well as her inability to find the Italian slayer only made her angrier. She had called Willow, hoping for some sort of clue as to where to look next, but instead of talking to her best friend and her former watcher, she had jumped down their throats almost from the get-go. She immediately regretted it, but didn't have the chance to apologize. Willow was already responding.

"I don't know Buffy, I really don't." She told her sadly. "I know there's something there-something evil. I felt it. I know the First is planning something, I just don't know what."

"It came to us before," she reminded them. "When it was in Sunnydale. It appeared to us in the disguise of people who are dead. It took an exceptionally great amount of pleasure in tormenting me. Surely it knows I'm here in Rome. Why hasn't it come back to brag? Let me know I haven't defeated it? Ultimate evil means ultimate ego, but I haven't seen so much as one single dead person. What gives?"

"Perhaps since you thwarted its plans in Sunnydale it wishes to remain hidden. It may be incredibly powerful, but it isn't stupid." Giles' voice was reasonable, so much so that it almost placated her. Almost. "It might not want to make the mistake of letting you have the upper hand again."

"No," she said shaking her head, though she knew they couldn't see her. "The First would want me to know what its doing…it would want me to know I couldn't stop it. Willow are you sure that I should be here? Maybe the vision you got was from the First…a mislead to get me out of the way or something."

"Anything's possible Buffy, but I don't think so. I felt that this was the right place for you to be."

"But if it really is the First then it would know you were trying to tap into your powers to stop it," she reasoned. "Maybe it only made it hard for you to do that so you would think you were on the right track."

"If that were true than I wouldn't be getting these headaches," Willow replied softly. A thrill of fear surged through her.

"Willow are you OK?" She asked. "Are they getting worse?"

"They're not any better," was her guarded reply, "but I'm OK Buffy really."

"Willow are you sure?" Giles sounded just as worried as she did.

"Honest Giles." Willow protested. "There are more important things to worry about."

"I still think it should have shown itself by now." Buffy muttered, her thoughts turning back to her initial concern. She wasn't entirely sure she believed Willow's insistences that she was fine, but she would deal with that if it became a more major problem. For now, they had a lot to deal with.

"Maybe it can't." Willow suggested. That got Buffy's attention.

"What do you mean?"

"Well when you beat it in Sunnydale, you drained it of a lot of its power." Willow explained.

"It still had enough to attempt to block your spell." Giles pointed out. "It clearly knows how to find you. Why not Buffy?"

"I was tapping into some fairly elemental power," Willow said thoughtfully. "Power that the First would be able to tap into as well…the lines between good and evil aren't always so clear cut you know. Maybe it was able to locate me because of the mystical connection I had to those slayers. It's the whole reason the First is still trying after all."

"But that's my fault." Buffy said, almost guiltily. "Why shouldn't it know where I am as well?"

"What's happening now is not your fault," Giles told her quietly. "You had no idea this would happen."

"I should have." Buffy said, cutting him off and leaving no room for argument. "Anyway, that isn't the point. These slayers are connected to me. So why can't the First see me?"

"I don't think it's powerful enough yet Buffy." Willow said with a sigh. "I think when it tapped into me, I might have tapped into it. When I get the headaches…I sometimes feel things…things that aren't….right."

"What do you mean Will? I thought you said you were OK."

"I am!" She exclaimed, not wanting Buffy to worry any further. "I just get these feelings sometimes…pretty intense…like something blacker than hell itself. They only last for like a second, but they seem pretty…angry. And…and frustrated. As if they're trapped behind a wall they can't break through."

"It sounds as if your connection might still be there." Giles posited thoughtfully. "Those emotions and feelings seem awfully similar to the First itself. Perhaps you are feeling its frustration at its own weaknesses and limitations."

"Maybe…" Willow trailed off nervously. "But if I can feel it, does that mean it can sometimes feel me? And if so, what if it can read my thoughts? What if it can somehow use me to get to you Buffy?"

"I won't let that happen Will." Buffy said fiercely. "I won't let this thing hurt any more of my friends, I swear to you."

"Buffy you have to find that slayer as soon as possible." Giles' voice sounded slightly more urgent. "I have the feeling she is the key to…to all of this. I have Joe, and the others in Paris looking up whatever they can on legendary or mystical evils, but…well you're the only one who can actually locate her."

"I know Giles," she whispered, feeling the weight of her responsibility rest heavily on her shoulders once more. "I'll find her somehow."

"Has Adam been able to help you at all?" Willow asked. Buffy looked towards his bedroom door, wondering if somehow he could hear Willow's question. She didn't want to talk about him on the phone…not yet.

"He does what he can," was her vague reply. "Look Willow, let me know the minute you find those witches. If the first can tap into you, then you need to know that and find out how to fight it."

"I know Buffy. I'm doing my best."

"I know you are Will," she told her softly. She felt almost sick with guilt. If something happened to Willow because of this…

No, she wouldn't think about that. She would concentrate on the matter at hand. Giles cleared his throat.

"Buffy, there's also another matter that I felt I should bring to your attention."

"What is it?" She was alert once more, the hesitation in Giles' voice not sounding at all like a good thing.

"Angel called me. It seems he and his…team, now own a law firm that has a particularly evil reputation."

"A law firm?" It almost sounded ridiculous. It certainly didn't sound at all like Angel. Something else had to be going on.

"An evil law firm," Giles stressed. "Their clientele is generally demonic in nature."

"Well whatever he's up to I'm sure it's part of his mission to fight it." She replied, not believing for a second that Angel might have reverted to his old ways. If Angelus had somehow surfaced again, Giles would have told her already. Whatever Angel was doing, she trusted him. However, she could tell from Giles' tone that he didn't. "Look Giles, whatever you're thinking just…don't OK? I know Angel. If he's not Angelus, then he's one of the good guys. End of story."

"I'm afraid it isn't Buffy." Giles' voice sounded deeply apologetic, causing her heart to plummet. What else was she going to have to deal with? "Angel contacted me earlier today. It appears that one of the girls that gained slayer powers when Willow did that spell wasn't quite all there to begin with."

"What do you mean?" She suddenly felt it hard to swallow. "What's wrong with her?"

"From what Angel told me, she was brutalized as a child by a mad man and put away in a mental hospital that she…" he paused, obviously working up the courage to finish, "that she just broke out of. She's already killed a few people rather viciously. She needs to be dealt with."

"Do you need me to go?" She asked, immediately planning out a strategy in her mind. She hadn't had any luck locating the Roman slayer, but that didn't mean Methos and Xander possibly wouldn't in her absence. She was responsible not only this slayer, but also the people she had killed because of the powers Buffy gave her. She had to do something.

"I've already sent someone." Giles assured her. "I just wanted you to know the situation."

"Giles if she's killed people because I gave her that power…"

"You aren't responsible for the entire world Buffy." He told her gently. "This girl was disturbed before she became the slayer."

"But now she has the strength to hurt people with it." She shot back. "I did that. Me."

"And me," Willow put in softly. "It was my spell."

"Someone is on their way to Los Angeles to help her, I promise you." Giles replied. "I am deeply sorry I had to tell you about her, but I wanted to know…what do you think we should do with her when Angel and his group find her? She cannot be held in any conventional facilities and yet…"

"Angel will know what to do." She replied, feeling relieved at least that she had broken out in his city. She could count on him to make sure the girl didn't hurt anybody else.

"I don't think it's wise to leave her in LA." Giles said firmly. It was then the penny dropped.

"That's why you're telling me this," she realized. "You don't trust Angel anymore, so you want me to tell you she should be where you guys are."

"It's not as if I don't have good reason not to trust him," Giles pointed out.

"You may not have any reason to trust him, but I do." Buffy said firmly. "If he can handle this girl, then I think you should let him. You want to bring her back to the council? Fine. Just make sure she stops hurting people. That's…that's all I care about."

"I'll do as I feel is best then," Giles concluded. Buffy nodded, not wanting to ask what that was. She suddenly felt very very old, and very tired.

"Look, I gotta go." She said, shaking the thoughts from her head. "Willow I'll talk to you later OK? Let me know if you find anything, no matter how insignificant it seems."

"I will Buffy." She promised.

"Buffy…"

"No more Giles OK?" She cut him off. "I just don't want to hear it right now."

She hung up the phone before he could reply and grabbed her coat. Before she left the house, she knocked lightly on Methos' bedroom door. Before it was even open all the way she spoke.

"I'm going out to patrol." She said flatly. "Don't follow me. I can deal with it myself."

Methos merely nodded and shut the door.