Chapter Twenty-Nine: Confessions

"Where've you been bitch?" Aunt Jo was waiting in the kitchen when Joy came in. "I sent you out for groceries over two hours ago! It shouldn't have taken you more than thirty minutes! What took you?"

Joy sighed and started unloading the grocery bags, slowly because her arms still ached when she reached for the higher cupboards. "I'm sorry Aunt Jo, I must've lost track of time. I didn't mean to take so long."

"Sorry? You're always so damn sorry!" Jo exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know what else to say! I am sorry, but you don't seem to care too much about that." Joy realized that she was being a little overly outspoken and no doubt she would upset her aunt, but after her confrontation with Angel, Joy was still uptight and not in the mood to be meek and apologetic.

"Don't sass me wench!" Jo stood quickly and shoved Joy hard against the counter. Joy banged her already bruised back against the counter edge and yelped in surprise pain.

"Aunt Jo, please not tonight!" Joy begged, pressing her hand over her ribs trying to control the pain she was experiencing.

"You're not in any position to ask favors from me!" Jo slapped her niece across the face. "I'm sick of your ignorance and your disobedience!" She took her niece's shoulders and threw her to the ground and then proceeded to kick her repeatedly in the stomach. Joy gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut until her aunt's kicking ceased. She stayed still on the floor praying that the beating would be over but unfortunately for Joy, Jo had been drunk for an hour and her temper was only just beginning. "Get up!" Jo demanded.

Whimpering, Joy struggled to her feet and stood slightly trembling. She waited silently for her aunt to decide what to do to her next. Before her aunt had a chance to respond though, they were joined by Dale who had heard Jo's shouting and decided to come to her aid. Joy grimaced when she saw her uncle standing in the kitchen doorway. His fingers were slowly unbuckling the belt from his pants. She shook her head as tears gathered in her eyes. She started backing out of the kitchen into the adjoining dining room.

"Please Uncle Dale!" Joy begged hopelessly.

"Shut up!" Dale smacked her face to silence his niece. When he had his belt free from his waist he folded it over and gripped it tightly in his hand preparing to strike. Joy gasped as he slapped her hard with his leather belt. He ignored her exclamations of pain as he continued to administer fierce slaps with the belt. Joy didn't bother to beg for any more mercy but instead stayed perfectly silent as her uncle continued to beat her unmercifully.

Outside the dining room window, Angel remained crouched behind the bushes barely daring to lift his head, not wanting to be seen by anyone inside. When he finally brought his head up enough to see inside he unconsciously let out a low growl in response to what he saw. He watched in stunned silence for almost five minutes as Joy was thrown about the dining room, crashing into furniture and walls while she started bleeding from various newly created cuts. He frowned as Joy took the beatings without fighting back. He didn't understand why she was being so accepting of the abuse. Just when Angel decided he couldn't watch any longer and started to stand he became aware of someone standing beside him.

"Well, it's been a long time Peaches," Spike grunted, crouching beside his sire in the bushes.

Angel turned with wide eyes. "What're you doing here Spike?"

"I was watching you with Joy and I followed the two of you back here." He shrugged. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight, Angel."

Angel sighed. "I know."

"How long have you been in Sunnydale?"

"For the same amount of time as Joy." Angel admitted.

"You're the one that trained her before she came to Buffy, huh?" Spike figured. "That's why she could fight so good before Buffy's training." He glanced sideways at his sire. "Why haven't you told anyone?"

Angel didn't answer for a minute. "I thought it'd be best for Joy."

Spike nodded. He seemed to understand and didn't press the matter any more. He turned his attention to the inside of the house where Joy was still being tossed about violently. "I don't get it. Why the bloody hell is she taking that from him? I've seen her fight vampires, she could stop him in a second!"

Angel agreed. "So why isn't she doing something?"

The vampires watched for a few minutes longer in bitter silence until finally Joy was thrown the hardest yet against the large window. It smashed into pieces and Joy flew outside above the vampires' heads. She landed a couple of feet away from the house against the trunk of a tree. Angel and Spike reacted immediately leaping to their feet and running to the young slayer's side.

"Joy," Angel knelt beside her and cupped her head with his hands. "Joy can you hear me?" Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving. "Joy!" He called her name loudly and shook her gently.

Dale and Jo were standing at the broken window and they noticed the two men with their niece. Both started screaming at the men to leave her alone and ran to the front door and all the way to where the men were still kneeling by Joy.

"Get away from her!" Dale shouted at Angel, shoving Spike away.

Spike growled but restrained himself for a moment as Angel stood to face Joy's drunken uncle.

"Back away from me now and I'll spare you pain!" Angel demanded in a low, ferocious voice. Dale cackled defiantly.

Spike noticed Joy's eyelids fluttering and he knelt quickly. "Joy, are you okay?"

When she noticed Angel threatening her uncle Joy started trembling. "Please..." She gasped, coughing and sputtering for stronger breathing. "Leave him alone." She ordered to Angel.

"What?" Angel looked at her in shock. "Joy, you can't be serious!" He shook his head keeping his eyes on Dale. "He could've killed you! And I'm pretty sure this wasn't the first time this has happened!"

Joy shook her head slowly and pushed herself up on her elbows. "Angel, please..."

Dale grinned. "See, my little niece is loyal to her family, aren't ya?" He shook his head laughing horribly. "You pathetic little bitch!" He lunged towards her damaged form.

Angel grabbed his arm and threw him onto the ground. "Don't touch her!"

Spike jumped up to join the fight leaping on top of Dale and pounding his face repetitively.

Joy started to whimper as the guys beat harshly on her uncle. She couldn't explain her mixed emotions. She wanted revenge on him but at the same time she couldn't stand to see him harmed. He was family and as horrible as he was, she had lost enough family already. The guys ignored her tears though and continued their abuse until Jo ran screaming into the house and Dale stopped trying to fight back and simply laid on the ground in pain. The vampires returned to Joy's side and they both knelt down to her.

"Are you okay, Joy?" Angel asked with genuine concern.

She tried to talk but her lip had swollen to twice its regular size and her head was throbbing with pain.

"I don't know what to do for her." Angel told Spike. "We can't leave her here, with them!" He nodded towards her aunt and uncle.

"We should take her to Giles. He'll know what to do." Spike decided. "Or at least to Buffy. She can take care of her better than we can."

Angel nodded and scooped the young girl up into his arms. He felt a bulge in the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her car keys. "We'll take her car." Angel decided. Spike agreed and took the keys from Angel to hurry ahead and open the back door. Angel set her down on the back seat and shut the door. "I'm driving." He climbed into the driver's seat and Spike got in the passenger's side. Angel sped the entire way to Buffy's house and had barely parked the car in the driveway before Spike had jumped out of the car and hurried around to unload Joy. Angel took her from Spike and carried her up to the front door. On the front steps Angel started getting nervous.

"Come on Angel, we've got to get her inside. She's going to need a doctor or something!" Spike ordered.

Angel hesitated. "I can't go in there Spike. I can't see Buffy!"

"This is no time for your damn pride Angel! Joy's in serious trouble and if you care about her half as much as you've let on just by taking care of her for the past few months, then I'm sure you don't want to let her go now. Isn't Joy more important than whatever's happened between you and Buffy?" Spike lectured.

Angel frowned. He hated it when Spike seemed wiser than himself. "You're right, let's go." Angel waited for Spike to knock. Nobody answered right away so Spike tried the door and found it unlocked. He quickly entered and waited for Angel to follow him.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't think I've been invited. I don't remember the last time I was here," Angel sighed.

"Oh come on, you've been in the house before!"

"But, not for a while. Buffy could've blocked me," Angel decided. He stepped forward and as he had predicted he was not able to enter.

Spike paused. "Hang on." He darted into the kitchen shouting out loud for someone to respond. He returned to the front door just as Dawn came skipping down the stairs.

"What's up Spike?" She stopped with a gasp when she saw Angel standing in the doorway. "Angel..." She stopped short when she noticed who Angel was holding in his arms. "What happened!"

"Hey niblit there'll be plenty of time for your questions later. But, could you invite him in first?" Spike asked.

Dawn seemed confused but then looked at Angel and nodded. "Right, of course, Angel come in!"

"Thanks Dawn," Angel hurried into the front room and deposited Joy on the long couch. "Where is everybody?" He asked quickly.

Dawn was preoccupied with her best friend's well being and she didn't respond.

"Dawn, where's your sister?" Spike repeated Angel's question.

"Oh, she's out patrolling with Riley."

Angel straightened up. "Are they coming back here?"

Dawn nodded, "I'm sure they will eventually."

"Where's everyone else?" Spike asked quickly, trying to get Angel's mind off of his biggest rival.

"Willow's upstairs in her room and Tara's taking a shower." Dawn informed.

Angel glanced towards the door. "Maybe I should go. You guys can take care of this without me." He started to leave but Dawn quickly hurried after him.

"Angel, don't leave! I don't understand why you're here or how you know Joy, but you have to stay. I know Buffy will want to see you, and besides we can't take care of this alone! You have to stay and help us!" She insisted as she took Angel's hand and pulled him back over to the couch. "Spike, make him stay."

Spike shrugged. "I don't know how, but I do think it'd be better if you stayed Angel."

Angel sighed and looked at Joy who seemed to have fallen asleep. If he wanted to regain her trust he had to show her how much he cared about her. He couldn't just leave her here. "Fine, I'll stay, but if Buffy's angry at me..."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to her!" Dawn promised. "Let's try and get Joy comfortable."

The guys agreed with Dawn and started gathering throw pillows from around the living room. They propped up her head and her legs. Dawn ran upstairs to retrieve the witches and a moment later returned to the living room with Willow and Tara at her heels.

"What happened?" Tara exclaimed.

"Angel?" Willow gasped. "What're you doing here?"

"Uh," Angel hesitated.

"I'm sure it's a long story, Willow, and right now Joy's more important." Dawn reminded the redhead.

Willow nodded and quickly took charge. "Alright, tell us what happened." She demanded the vampires as she knelt beside the couch to inspect Joy's wounds.

Spike and Angel exchanged uncertain glances. Finally Angel answered. "Her family abuses her."

"What?" All three girls responded together.

"You're joking right?" Dawn's eyes watered instinctively. "She said that it was a fight. She said there were too many vampires for her to handle..." She shook her head and tried to stop crying. "I could tell that something was wrong but...I should have known!"

"Dawn, it's not your fault!" Willow tried to comfort the young girl. "You can't blame yourself for Joy's problems. If she had wanted you to know she would have told you!" Tara nodded in agreement.

Dawn sniffed. "I know. She wouldn't tell me. She didn't want anyone to know. She's always trying to be so brave. I just wish that she would have told someone. We could have helped...maybe." She shrugged. "I don't know how, but I'm sure Buffy could have come up with some solution!"

"Well, we know now, so we'll just have to make sure that it doesn't happen again!" Willow decided.

Joy started to stir but just as she opened her eyes the front door swung open and Buffy and Riley bounded into the front room. Everyone stood still and silent waiting to see Buffy's reaction to her past vampire lover.

"What's going on in here? You all look like you've seen a ghost or something!" Buffy grinned as she surveyed the solemn faces in the room. When she noticed Angel her smile faded. "Angel..."

"I shouldn't have kept it a secret for so long." He apologized quickly.

"What?"

"My being here, in Sunnydale, training Joy." He acknowledged the young slayer who lay motionless on the couch watching the others with expressionless eyes.

"You've been training Joy?" Buffy gasped. "I should have realized. She was too good of a fighter not to have been trained by someone!" She shook her head. "Why didn't you tell me Angel?"

"I didn't plan on ever telling you actually. I didn't want to interfere with your life."

"Interfere?" Buffy frowned. She noticed Riley standing at her side and hung her head in realization. "Oh, right..."

No one spoke for a minute. Everyone was uncomfortable in the room and no one quite knew what to say or to do to make things less awkward. Joy's moaning quickly brought everyone's attention back to the more pressing matter at hand.

"Joy, how're you feeling?" Buffy pulled a chair over to the couch to sit by the younger slayer.

Joy was feeling a little groggy and didn't exactly comprehend what was going on. "Buffy..." She coughed and tried to sit up but Buffy shook her head motioning for Joy to stay still. "I'm fine." Joy insisted with a forced frown.

"No you're not! You look like hell!" Spike rolled his eyes. "Listen to the Slayer, Joy, she knows what she's doing."

Joy sighed and dropped her head back on the pillows.

"Dawn, go get Joy some water." Buffy ordered. "Willow, bring me some bandages." She rolled up Joy's sleeve to see how much of her body was covered with injuries. Her eyes widened as she realized that most all of Joy's body seemed to have been damaged and Joy let her know how much it hurt with her constant yelps and whimpers. "Joy, how long has this been going on?" Buffy inquired with obvious worry.

Joy felt tears burning her eyes again. She hated all these people seeing this side of her. This was her weak side, the side that she kept hidden from the world.

"Joy, you can't handle this situation on your own!" Buffy commented softly. "Talk to us..." She noticed Joy's swollen lip and quickly added, "If you can."

Joy cleared her throat and forced herself to speak. "I can handle this." She tried to assure everyone. "It's my problem." She coughed again and tried to pull her sleeve down over her bruised arm. She didn't want them to see all of her wounds. They wouldn't be able to understand. They all knew that she could have prevented the pain that she endured, but they wouldn't understand why she didn't. "Please..."

"In the past Joy, your life may have been just your problem, but now you're a part of our group and so now your problems are ours as well." Buffy told Joy with a genuine smile. "You don't really have a choice, Joy. You're stuck with us!" She turned to Riley. "Will you get me some ice please? Maybe we can reduce some of this swelling." Riley quickly headed to the kitchen.

Dawn and Willow returned a moment later with their items. Buffy held the glass of water to Joy's lips and Spike quickly came around to support Joy's head so that she could drink. When she was finished Joy pulled her head away from the glass.

Buffy sighed and glanced around the room at her friends. "Dawn can you stay here with Joy for a minute. I want to talk to everyone in the other room." Buffy led the way into the dining room and closed the dividing door to make sure that Joy wouldn't be able to hear their conversation. "Alright, I know that Joy likes to pretend she's tough, but we all know that this is beyond her control. She's been beat so bad that if she wasn't a slayer she probably wouldn't be able to recover! Now, I don't know why she let it go this far, I mean she could easily have defended herself, but like I said this is obviously beyond her control!" Buffy took a seat at the table and made brief eye contact with everyone. When she looked at Angel he quickly looked away, feeling a little awkward being a part of one of Buffy's talks again. "Angel, there's a lot that I need to talk to you about but right now Joy's my first concern." Angel nodded understandingly. "I think we should call Giles." Buffy suggested. "He's the only person that I know of that is mature enough to know how to deal with Joy's issues."

The others all nodded their consent. Willow immediately left to phone the watcher and explained everything that they knew. He promised to come over right away. With that settled, they returned to the living room to wait Giles's arrival and try and keep Joy as calm and comfortable as possible.

"How is she doing?" Angel asked Dawn.

"Actually she seems a little better. She's talking more, and she's actually moving a little now." Dawn informed the group. Joy nodded to prove Dawn's point.

"That's good," Buffy leaned against the wall. "Do you want anything Joy?"

Joy shook her head. "I'm fine, I promise." She grunted as she tried to readjust her position. "I'm just a little sore." The others grinned at her inability to lose her pride or bravery. "I'd actually like to stand up."

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea yet Joy."

Joy sighed, "I'm not crippled Buffy! I'm a slayer and I'm strong enough to stand up!" She insisted, beginning to move her legs over the side of the couch. Spike was at her side in an instant, offering her an arm to keep her steady as she stood. Angel came to her other side and offered her a hand but Joy refused it with a glare. "Just because you acted all 'knight-in-shining-armor' tonight, that doesn't make things better between us." Joy reminded him. "I still don't like you." She glared and leaned more on Spike as he helped her walk away from the couch. "Thank you Spike." Joy offered Spike a weak smile.

Angel fumed as he realized that Joy was obviously oblivious to the fact that Spike was also a vampire. He moved to the other side of the room.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Spike asked considerately.

Joy nodded, "Thanks for your concern Spike, it means a lot." Angel rolled his eyes. A moment later the front door swung open again and Giles hurried into the living room.

"Good lord!" Giles exclaimed when he saw Joy's disastrous state. "Joy are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" She sighed in frustration at how many times she had to answer the same annoying question. "Look, I appreciate everyone's concern and everything, but seriously I'm fine. I just need to go home and get some rest. Okay?"

"No way!" Dawn exclaimed. "You can't go home! You're uncle's just going to beat you up again!"

Joy frowned. "You don't understand. He's not a bad person, it's just that sometimes he has too much to drink and I make him angry if I do something wrong and...he's just trying to teach me to obey him better. I mean, Uncle Dale and Aunt Jo sacrificed a lot to take me in when my parents died. I'm grateful that..."

Spike cut her off. "You know you don't believe all that shit, Gidget!"

Angel agreed. "You're smarter than that Joy."

Giles seemed to notice the vampire for the first time. "Angel?"

"Oh, right, hey Giles, I'm back. I've been training Joy from the beginning, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner, and so on. I'll explain it all later once we've taken care of her." He explained in a rush.

Giles seemed to accept that explanation and returned his attention to Joy. "Joy, you can not return to your family if your uncle is going to abuse you!"

Joy sighed. "I know, but I don't really have a choice."

"Yes you do Joy! You're a bloody slayer! Why've you let this go on for so long?" Spike demanded.

Joy shook her head. She dropped back on the couch as her legs started to tremble from her weak state. "You wouldn't understand. None of you would!" She tried to explain but she didn't know what to say to make them accept her reasons. "Dale and Jo are the only family I have. If I was to leave them, I'd...I'd be alone!" She started to shiver from a mix of cold, pain, and nervousness. Willow brought her a blanket and draped it over Joy's shoulders. "I can't fight them. They wouldn't let me stay with them."

"You can't stay with them Joy!" Dawn insisted. "If you won't fight them and you won't leave them, they'll end up killing you! They almost did tonight!"

Angel agreed. "If Spike and I hadn't of shown up..."

Joy silenced him with a fierce glare. "Look, like I said, I appreciate the concern, but it's really not your problem." She stood again and started walking towards the door. "I've been in worse situations than this, trust me." Everyone looked at her curiously but nobody spoke. Spike came to her side again and she let him place his arm around her waist. "I'm okay, Spike..."

Again the door swung open and this time Xander and Anya barged in. When they saw Joy they instantly started fawning.

"Are you okay, Joy? Giles called us and told us what had happened! I can't believe that you were letting your uncle hurt you so badly." Anya exclaimed.

Joy rolled her eyes but didn't answer Anya. Instead she dropped her head on Spike's shoulder and looked up at him. "I want to leave. Could you just help me out to my car?"

"Don't be an idiot Joy!" Buffy followed her to the door. "You can't go!"

"Whoa!" Xander exclaimed suddenly. "Sire and childe together again, hey Spike?"

Joy paused at the doorway and turned to Xander who had just noticed Angel in the living room. "What does that mean Spike?"

Spike shook his head but Xander explained. "Oh, do you know Angel, Joy? Well, you know it's kind of strange seeing him back here with Spike, Angel being Spike's sire and all..."

Buffy motioned to Xander to be quiet. Joy gasped and looked at Spike pitifully. "It's not true!" She spoke in almost a whisper. "Not you too!" Spike hung his head, unable to deny Xander's accusation. "No!" Joy pushed Spike away from herself and stumbled back into the living room. "What kind of people are you? I thought I had signed on to learn how to kill vampires, not to befriend them," She glared at Buffy, "and bed them!" Buffy frowned. "How could you possibly associate with their kind!"

"Joy, I thought I made it clear when I told you about Angel. I told you that he had a soul, he's good now!" Buffy reminded Joy.

"Oh, so are you trying to tell me that that thing has a soul too?" She nodded towards Spike who was standing in shock by the door.

Buffy shook her head, "No, Spike doesn't have a soul, but he's not dangerous! Please trust me!"

"How could I?" Joy was nearly screaming but her voice was hoarse and it was obvious that she was in pain because she had almost doubled over and her arm was wrapped tightly around her stomach. "You've all lied to me! You brought me here promising to help me destroy the evil demons in this world and now I find out that you're friends with them!" She backed away towards the door. "Well, I won't be friends with those things! There's no such thing as a 'good' vampire. They're all demons and they all should die! Maybe you should too!" Joy growled at Buffy through gritted teeth. "You're just like her!" she whispered fiercely, mostly to herself, but the others heard her.

"Just like who Joy?" Giles questioned her.

Damn, he doesn't miss anything, does he? Joy shook her head. She felt her energy draining and her head started throbbing. She knew she couldn't drive home in this condition and she also knew that she couldn't go home to her aunt and uncle anyway. Buffy was at least right about that. "It's not important." She lied trying to blink away the tears that had formed in her eyes.

"Joy, what are you keeping from us?" Giles asked sincerely. "There is no reason for you to dislike Angel and Spike when you have obviously been friends with them for the past few months."

Joy's lip quivered and she started to whimper as she relented to the group staring at her and waiting for her to answer. She slowly sat down on the couch, leaning back to rest her aching body before finally confessing the truth to her past. "My parents didn't die accidentally." She started.

"How did they die, Joy?" Buffy asked, sitting next to Joy on the couch.

"They were murdered." Joy announced. "They were brutally murdered by creatures like you." She glared pointedly at Spike and Angel.

"Vampires killed your parents?" Dawn asked.

Giles didn't seem too surprised by Joy's statement. "And you killed these vampires did you not?"

Joy nodded. "And the person that sent them."

"The person?" Buffy questioned. "You make that sound like it was a human."

"She was."

"She is the person you meant a minute ago, Joy, correct?" Giles asked.

Joy nodded. "She associated with vampires, just like you guys do."

"We don't assign vampires to murder, Joy!" Buffy exclaimed. "Angel and Spike are the only vampires that I have ever been on speaking terms with!" She promised. "They aren't murderers anymore Joy, they're on our side, you have to understand that!"

"I don't believe that vampires can be good, Buffy. You're going to have to accept that."

"And you're going to have to accept that they can be." Buffy retorted.

"Girls, enough," Giles cut off their debate. "Can we return to when you said that you killed a human?"

Joy sighed. "I didn't want to. I didn't actually realize that she was a human until we started fighting. If I hadn't have killed her she would have killed me." Joy shook her head. "She deserved it anyway. She sent those vampires to kill my parents!" Joy's tears had dried and had been replaced with anger.

"Why would anyone want to have your parents killed?" Dawn asked.

"I wondered the same thing." Joy sighed. "After I killed her I did some research and found out that she was one of my dad's cases. My dad was a judge. He didn't give her the verdict that she wanted so she had him and my mother killed." Joy explained. She realized that everyone was staring at her accusingly. "I know I shouldn't have murdered a human okay, but she did deserve it. I even tried to find her family to explain what had happened but I couldn't find anyone. I don't think she had a family though."

Buffy was still in shock. "You killed a human, Joy! Doesn't that mean something to you?"

"She was no more of a person than any of the vampire's I've killed. She sent them to murder two innocent people. She deserved death!" Joy insisted.

"Who are you to make that decision Joy? How can you decide who deserves to live and die?" Buffy asked.

"Murderers like her and her demonic friends deserve death! Vampires, demons, they deserve death and I've killed my share of them!" Joy had started crying again. "I don't give mercy to vampires just because I want to Buffy! God knows I wish I could, then maybe I could have saved Henri!" She drew in a sudden breath after her last statement. She hadn't meant to tell them that much.

"Joy, I thought that Henri died." Dawn replied softly.

Joy sighed, "He did. He was killed by vampires." She confessed. Everyone was silent. They hadn't anticipated so much bad history in the new slayer's life. They didn't know how to respond.

"Joy, I'm sorry..." Dawn whispered.

"Actually, he wasn't killed by vampires, he was changed by vampires. They made him one of them. They made my boyfriend a vampire and then I killed him." She shrugged. "I had no other choice. After I found out what had happened to him...he had to be destroyed." She realized that everyone was staring at her and she began to get frustrated. "Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing...oh wait a minute, that's right you don't kill vampires that you're sleeping with." She glared at Buffy who gasped in response.

"Joy, that's not fair..." Buffy started.

"Well, it's true!" Joy defended her statement.

"Joy that is not exactly relevant at the moment..." Giles tried to soothe the girls before they broke out in another argument.

"Like I said you're no different than her, the girl that killed my parents!" Joy accused angrily.

"Joy you murdered a human being!" Buffy exclaimed, equally angry. "Don't you feel a little guilty about that?"

"Faith wasn't a human, she was just as much demon as the vampires she associated with," Joy glanced around the room and realized that everyone's faces had turned suddenly blank. "What now?"

"Did you say Faith?" Giles asked slowly.

Joy nodded, "Yea, that's the girl that killed my parents."

Giles looked at Buffy and she shook her head. "It couldn't have been her, Giles. She would've killed Joy in an instant!"

Joy became defensive and irritated. "I'm not that easy to kill, but thanks for the vote of encouragement!" Joy struggled to her feet, very aware of her still feeble condition. "I can't stay here any longer. I should've known you were al the same! I never should have trusted you, any of you!" She glared at Angel pointedly. "I can't trust anybody but myself..." She stumbled to the door and this time no one followed her. Joy's ankle was throbbing and she was certain that it was twisted, possibly broken. She slammed the door behind her exit and wobbled down the front steps to her car. She realized that she didn't have the keys to her car and sighed with frustration. Why did I trust them? Why did I tell them everything! I knew they wouldn't understand, nobody understands me! She started to cry again and almost fell against the car as she started to tremble from the pain. She had to get away from that house. She couldn't stand to be around those people. She didn't really hate them like she said, she was more just embarrassed that they knew so much about her. She had tried so hard to hide her tragedies from everyone and now they knew everything. She felt certain that they would pity her. Joy hated pity. Joy moved away from the car and started limping down the sidewalk away from the house, trying to distance herself from the scoobies. Less than a block away from the house, Joy lost her balance and collapsed on the sidewalk. She didn't have the strength to stand again and so she stayed crumbled in pain on the ground, crying and wishing she had never come to Sunnydale.

"I don't understand why she never told me any of this before!" Dawn stood by the large window in the living room, staring out into the darkness and trying to see where her friend went. "I thought she told me everything." Dawn's eyes started tearing. "I thought we were best friends."

"Dawnie, I'm sure Joy is your best friend," Willow tried to comfort the teenager. "There's just a lot of pain in Joy's past."

"Willow's right Dawn," Buffy told her sister. "Joy still needs a best friend. She just needs some time to calm down."

"Joy can't go back to her house, Buffy," Dawn insisted. "Her uncle will hurt her again, he could kill her!"

"The niblit's got a point, Buffy," Spike consented. "We shouldn't leave the girl to get herself beat up again." He straightened up as though he were preparing to go and fetch the runaway slayer.

"I don't know what to do!" Buffy whined. "We can't exactly force her to come back to us if she doesn't trust us." She looked at her watcher. "What do you suggest Giles?"

"Buffy, I am also uncertain how to go forward with Joy's training if she refuses to come back here. However, you must understand that we need her, just as much as she needs us." Giles sighed. He seemed defeated. "All we can do is wait and hope that she returns." He removed his glasses and dropped onto the couch.

Willow and Tara sat down together on the other couch. Both witches seemed to share Giles's hopeless feelings. Xander and Anya stayed silent by the doorway, waiting and watching uncertainly as Buffy began to pace the room. Dawn stayed glued to her watch at the window, biting her lip and waiting hopefully. Spike still seemed considering going after Joy but he didn't make any movement towards the front door. Finally Buffy stopped pacing and fixed her hands on her hips impatiently.

"I feel useless just waiting here. She's in no condition to be out there on her own right now! Any demon that wanted to fight her right now could kill her without trying! She's too weak to be alone!" Buffy decided. "I have to go after her!" She pushed past Spike at the doorway and reached to open the front door.

Angel rushed over to stop her. "Buffy, if anyone's going after her, it's going to be me."

"No offense Angel, but Joy didn't exactly seem to want to be around you at the moment. I don't think you're the best candidate to be going after her." Buffy commented.

Angel shrugged, "True, but this whole thing is sort of my fault. If I hadn't lied to her for so long about being a vampire, she never would have gotten so angry."

Buffy shook her head. "If you go after her Angel, she might just run farther. Okay?"

"I've got to try Buffy," Angel told her. He opened the door and hurried outside before the slayer could try to stop him again.

"He shouldn't go..." Buffy sighed. She debated going after him.

Riley put out his hand to stop her. "Let him go, Buffy. Maybe he's right. Maybe this is something that he has to do."

"I just hope that he is not too late." Giles spoke up. Dawn pressed her face against the window, following Angel with her eyes until he was no more than a night shadow.