Chapter 45: Cat House Part 2
February 8, 2001 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
Dawn opened her eyes as she returned from the memory.
"Another?" Buffy asked.
"Another memory," Dawn replied with a nod. She looked at Phoebe. "Saw how you broke the spell on Prue."
"Okay, you didn't tell me you blew up Leo too." Paige said looking at her sister.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine, just as long as we don't mess anything up," Phoebe said as Paige shot her a look. "What? You said you wanted to know what we were like before we met you, right?" She chuckled. "Voila."
"Okay, does evil stump lady come back with the book anytime soon?" Dawn asked.
"If you saw the end you already know the answer, Aunt Dawn," Phoebe said looking at her aunt.
"No," Dawn sighed.
Phoebe nodded. "Which means we have to figure this out by ourselves. I don't remember anything about a warlock with the power to jump through time, do any of you?"
Buffy and Dawn shook their heads.
"No, but I still think he's from the past," Paige said.
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"Because Katrina, our innocent, said she knew us from the past," Paige explained. "The warlock's after her so hey, it only figures, right?"
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. But I don't know how he's jumping us through time. Or why."
"Maybe he's not, maybe there's some other reason." Paige said.
"Maybe. But if he is behind this, we have to figure out a way to force him to bring us back." Phoebe said.
"I think I know a way how. Remember the muses?" Paige asked as they nodded. "Remember the potion that Piper made to blind the warlock and keep him from blinking?"
Buffy smiled. "Yeah, do you remember how to make it?"
"Yeah," Paige answered, "if the right herbs are in the kitchen."
They heard Piper and Phoebe's voices as they came up the stairs.
"So what are we supposed to do now?"
"I don't know, kill innocents?"
"No, I mean about Prue."
"Prue." Buffy said with a sigh.
Phoebe grabbed Paige and Buffy's arms as Dawn grabbed her free one. "Orb us, orb us out of here."
"How are we supposed to find her without the book?"
Paige started to orb out, but they bump into something and orb back in.
"Whoa, what happened?" Dawn asked in surprise.
Paige shrugged. "It's like we got bounced off something. I think we're stuck."
Suddenly they disappeared again.
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Dr. Berenson's Office
Piper paced up and down the room. "Of course, I don't want to lose Leo, that's why I'm here," she admitted. "It's just, I don't know, sometimes it seems like our entire relationship has been one big fight."
"Really?" Dr. Berenson asked.
Piper nodded. "And I don't mean arguing, fighting, I mean..."
"All the obstacles we had to overcome. Especially early on," Leo added looking at his wife.
Piper sighed. "And honestly? Sometimes I've wondered whether we're really meant to be together at all."
"Even on our wedding day," Leo added with a sigh of his own.
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Okay, much with the weirdness on Principal Wood, as Willow searched for data on him, Kennedy, Tara and Amanda looking on. "I've Googled till I just can't Google no more," she asserted.
Then Anya and Giles stomped into the room, Anya with a stack of papers.
Anya handed them to Willow and said, "Giles made these for Chao-Ahn, and now she's locked herself in the bathroom."
"Those are flashcards," Giles said. "I—I made them to facilitate her training. Chao-Ahn never had a Watcher."
Crude black-and-white stick figures were swathed in blood as they were menaced by various knife-wielding evildoers labeled VAMPIRE and BRINGER. TUROK-HAN was especially hideous, looming over a girl who had been ripped in two. They reminded Willow of the pictures Giles had drawn when the Gentlemen had glided into town and stolen everyone's voices.
"Perhaps I'll rethink the approach," Giles conceded.
Then Willow invited him to get researchy, and that was the first Giles heard about Faith's . . . event.
"Faith has a date?" he asked, blinking.
"Faith's actually investigating Principal Wood," Willow allowed. "It's not a date."
"Really?" Giles asked, somewhat mollified.
"Of course not. Or have you forgotten that Faith is married to Dawn and that they have a daughter together?" Willow reminded him.
"I set her up," Tara added. "He wanted to ask me out. But I thought since we were looking into him…"
"Faith would make for a better person to see if he was aligned with The First," Giles concluded. "Wise thinking, Tara."
February 22, 2001 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy, Dawn, Phoebe and Paige appeared in the middle of the living room.
Suddenly, a guy rode through the front door on his motorcycle knocking over the flowers and the table containing the glassware, which shattered on the floor. He stopped in front of the table the wedding cake was sitting on. "Prue," he said.
"Prue," Buffy whispered as she started to head for her eldest daughter but was held back by Phoebe and Paige.
"Mom, don't," Phoebe reminded her mother.
"Oh, oh, oh no," Prue said, before fainting.
"Prue?" Phoebe asked.
Astral Prue appeared. "TJ." She ran over to him as Grams gasped. "You came." She hopped onto the back of his motorcycle.
"Had to beat the cops. I won't let them take you," TJ told her.
"Prue, what the hell is going on?" Piper asked.
"Prue, you get your astral ass back here," Phoebe shouted at her eldest sister.
"I remember this one." Buffy said as they hid out of sight around the corner. "It's Piper's wedding. One of the few times you girls summoned me."
"Technically we didn't," Phoebe reminded her mother. "We were told the Elders let you come down. Of course that was before we learned that you were astral projecting to us."
TJ and Prue rode off, knocking over the cake table. The three tiered cake fell off the table landing on the floor.
"Alright, that's it! The wedding is off" Piper said, as she threw her veil on the floor. She tried to walk away but she found her baby sister standing on her dress. "Phoebe!"
"Sorry, sorry," Phoebe said as she stepped off the dress and Piper walked over by the door putting on a sweater. "Piper, Piper, you cannot just leave," she said, as she tried to get Piper to stop.
"Yes, I can," Piper said. "A demon I could have handled, but my big sister ruining my wedding, I cannot handle that."
"Poor baby." Buffy said with a sigh.
"Okay, just listen to me for one second. All we have to do is find a way." Phoebe said.
Piper shook her head. "No, no, I don't want to find a way to get married on my wedding day. It's-it's too hard. There must be a reason."
Leo walked over to Piper. "Piper..."
"Leo, I'm sorry, but this is just the final straw. It's just not meant to be." Piper said as she headed out the door.
"What just happened?" Leo asked as he walked into living room and sat down.
"Are you okay?" Cole wondered.
"Oh, yeah, great." Phoebe said sarcastically.
"I wish we could save you the heartache," Dawn said as she motioned toward Cole.
Phoebe nodded.
"Maybe Piper's right," Victor said. "Maybe the wedding just wasn't meant to be."
"Victor," Patty said.
Buffy's eyes went wide. She noticed that Patty was looking right at her.
"Buffy?" Patty mouthed. She looked at Phoebe, Cole, Leo and Victor. "Excuse me for a moment," she said as she walked around the corner out of sight of the others and over to Phoebe, Paige, Dawn and Buffy.
"Mom!" Phoebe said suddenly worried that Patty seeing them could change their future. "You can't."
"It is alright, Phoebe," Patty said. "I will cast a spell when you leave to erase my memory of this encounter."
"I take it when the spell was in effect you remembered our life as Buffy," Buffy said.
Patty nodded. "Yes. If I may ask."
"Willow," Buffy said, "About a year after this. Our memories and powers became permanently unlocked by a spell she had cast. At the same time Dawn's powers became unbound also. And with time we told Piper, Phoebe and Paige about us."
"I'm glad we manage to defeat Glory," Patty said. Then she looked at Paige confused. "Paige?" She looked back at Buffy.
"Our daughter with Sam," Buffy said.
Patty nodded. "So the Power of Three is …"
"Patty," Buffy said. "I'm sorry, I've said too much already as all of this is in your future. And when our memories are finally unlocked I …"
"I know," Patty said. "Don't worry your past will be preserved. You won't remember any of this when you get to this point so as not to pollute my future, your past." She looked at Dawn and saw that Dawn was reeling. "What's wrong with Dawn?"
Buffy, Phoebe and Paige spun as Dawn fell backwards into Buffy's arms as another memory surged forth.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Phoebe sat on the couch when Astral Prue astral projected into the room. "No, I will not let you take me," Astral Prue said, before looking around.
Phoebe slammed the Book of Shadows closed. "Nice spell, huh?"
"How dare you." Astral Prue said.
"How dare you. You destroyed Piper's wedding along with Piper," Phoebe said. "Now, Prue, I don't know what's going on with you but you have got to pull yourself together."
"I'm out of here," Astral Prue said, before walking away.
Phoebe stood and rushed forward, grabbing Astral Prue's shoulder. Astral Prue flipped Phoebe onto the ground. "You know what?" Astral Prue said as she grabbed Phoebe by the throat. "You cannot stop me, alright. I am never going back. I'm not going..." Phoebe swung her around onto the couch. "Alright, you know what? I am sick of this. She is all about duty and obligation, well not me. Alright, I want to be free, I want to find love, I want to have a life."
"Well, Prue, you have responsibilities whether you like it or not," Phoebe said.
"Don't talk to me about being responsible, Phoebe. Alright, you were not very responsible when you went and fell in love with a demon," Astral Prue said.
"Oh, please, you have got to let this whole Cole thing go, okay? You can't stay mad at me forever." Phoebe said.
"I'm not mad at you, Phoebe, I never was. Alright, she was. I was rooting for you," Astral Prue told her baby sister.
"Okay, now you're scaring me," Phoebe said.
"You risked everything for love, just like Piper and Leo. I dream of having that kind of freedom but instead I get stuck watching my sister and best friend live my dream," Prue said.
"Wait a minute, you astraled out in a dream when your subconscious takes over," Phoebe said as she began to put two and two together.
"So what?" Prue asked.
"So I just studied this in psych 101. Freud. You're the ID. Prue's inner desires. Which means that she is the ego. The control factor," Phoebe explained.
"Yeah, well, she is one big remote control and she's always got me on pause," Astral Prue retorted.
"I think I understand. The sacrifices that you've made for us over the years. They made you suppress your inner desires," Phoebe told her sister.
Astral Prue sat down beside Prue. "Yeah, well, don't tell me, tell her."
"No, I'm telling you because you are Prue. I mean, you are both two sides of my sister," Phoebe said. "Prue, you have to stop devoting your entire self to the Charmed Ones. It'll tear you apart. Literally."
"Is Piper very mad at me?" Astral Prue asked.
"She'll get over it. And you know why? Because we're okay now, Piper and me. We've both got passion and purpose in our lives and you gave us that," Phoebe told her big sister.
"I did?" Astral Prue asked.
"You took care of us," Phoebe explained. "And now it's time to take care of you."
Astral Prue astral projected back into her body and Prue sat up.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Welcome back," Phoebe said when she saw Dawn open her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Patty asked looking at Dawn with concern.
"I'm okay, Buffy," Dawn said looking at Patty who smiled. "I've been getting Prue's memories. No one seems to know why. And I've stopped trying to find out. I came to the conclusion it was nice seeing things that you and I didn't get to be a part of."
Patty nodded as she pulled Dawn into her arms and hugged her. "I'm sure you will find out when the time is right, Dawn. If it's one thing I believe, everything happens for a reason. I am sure there is a reason you are remembering Prue's life," she told her. She looked at the other room. "I better get back." She looked at Buffy one last time. "I'll give them your love." She turned and walked back into the other room with the others. "And I will give them yours as well, Prue," she thought to herself with a brief glance over her shoulder at Dawn.
"So this is two years ago?" Dawn asked as Phoebe nodded. "I figured that out from her comment about being glad we defeated Glory. That was little under two years ago."
It was then that they heard a meow and saw Kit come over to them.
"Oh my god. Kit." Phoebe said as she picked up Kit and looked at the triquetra collar. "It is Kit."
"I didn't know you had a cat." Paige said.
Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, she ran away a couple of years ago." The Warlock blinked in and they stared at each other, surprised. The Warlock stepped back and smashed the bride and groom figurine from the wedding cake before blinking out. "Okay, that was weird. We got to work on that blinding potion."
"Uh. Didn't he just change history?" Dawn said as they looked at the figurine.
"Yes he did," Buffy said. "The cake topper was in the case with Piper's wedding photo."
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Dr. Berenson's Office
Piper gasped and grabbed her chest in pain. ""What's the matter, honey?" Leo asked. "What is it?"
"I don't know, I just got a sharp pain in my heart," Piper admitted.
February 22, 2001 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
Dawn and Phoebe stood next to the door keeping an eye out for anyone from their past as Buffy and Dawn made the potion.
Paige waved her hands over a smoking pot. "Oops."
"Paige, shh!" Buffy said.
"What?" Paige said with a glance at her mother. "Potions go poof, that's what they do."
Phoebe shook her head. "Just hurry up."
"Mom and I are done. I just hope we didn't use any herbs we're going to need in the future. I've already been to one alternate reality; I don't care to go home to another." Paige said as Phoebe groaned. "What's the matter?"
"I don't know, this whole thing is sort of odd, it doesn't make any sense." Phoebe said.
"Like half the things we go through do?" Buffy said. "Like me for example it doesn't make sense that I'm back in your lives yet here I am."
"I know, but didn't the warlock seem surprised to see us in there?" Phoebe said.
"Yeah, now that you mention it. Why?" Dawn said.
"Because I'm beginning to think that maybe he didn't have anything to do with this, maybe he's stuck in this same weird time loop just like we are." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, well, he's still dangerous. It'll probably be easier for him to kill us in the past without Piper around." Paige said.
Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, and I'm also beginning to think that Piper's the reason we're stuck here. I mean, think about it. What's the common denominator in all of this? Piper and Leo, right? Every past event has centered around the two of them."
"You think this is a spell?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, one gone awry obviously," Phoebe replied. She looked at Dawn. "I think Piper took our advice to heart with the marriage counselor. They're taking a walk down memory lane... literally."
"But it seems too real just to be a memory," Dawn countered. "I mean, what are we doing here?"
"They obviously have a lot of issues to work through." Phoebe said.
"Yeah, well, I hope they work through them soon." Paige said as she bottled the potion and just in time as they disappeared.
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Dr. Berenson's Office
"Thank you," Piper said as she took a drink of water.
"You feel any better?" Leo asked looking at Piper.
Piper nodded. "Yeah, a little bit, that was really weird."
"Piper, you know, sometimes bringing back old memories, old feelings, can have a psychosomatic effect. Especially when you're dealing with inner demons," the doctor told her as he noticed the couple looking at each other. "Let's talk about before your wedding, about when you knew for the first time that you really loved Leo."
Restaurant, Sunnydale
"This isn't right," Faith said, hesitating as Principal Wood—let's call him Robin—led her down a small dark alley.
"I know it doesn't look promising," he said, "but I swear this place is great. The best-kept secret in town. It's just down this way."
They headed into the alley, and then . . . vampires attacked!
They came at them from the shadows, surrounding them, and Faith got into melee mode. She vaulted over one to land on the back of another, staking him through the back, and landing on the ground while he dusted under her.
Then she kicked out with her feet from that position to work on the other two; she was dusting another one and then doing a flip and shouting at her date, "You set me up!"
And then she had the chance to observe him in action and he dusted two vampires in quick succession, pffft pffft,—yeeeea! just like that.
He held out a hand to help her up. "The restaurant's right there," he said.
And so it was.
May 19, 1999 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy, Dawn, Phoebe and Paige appeared in the attic and crouched down at the back of the room. Piper sat next to the couch and held Leo's hand tightly in hers while her head rested on the edge of the cushion. "I love you, Leo," she whispered.
Piper's shoulders shook with soft sobs and a tear fell from her cheek to land on her hand. Her hand began to glow with a soft golden light that she didn't notice at first as her eyes were tightly shut. When she did Piper froze in surprise but she realized immediately what it meant. "I found it. Leo, I love you," she repeated, holding her hand over Leo. "Can you hear me? I love you, Leo. Please hear me," she pleaded when there was no response. The light disappeared from her hand and she was about to start panicking that it didn't work when Leo's eyes fluttered open.
"Piper," Leo breathed, a small smile forming on his face.
A grin spread across Piper's features, quickly followed by her throwing her hands around Leo's neck. "Oh, thank God. I tried so hard and I couldn't make it work before. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, her voice muffled because she had buried her face in Leo's shoulder.
Leo's hand carefully stroked her hair. "That love was the trigger? You had to find that out on your own," he explained gently. "Why couldn't you tell me?"
"I don't know. I was afraid, afraid that if I admitted how I really felt it would hurt more if I lost you," Piper choked out with a slight shrug. "I'm so sorry. I should have said it before."
"It's better late than never," Leo allowed, pushing Piper a little away from him so he could see her face. He smiled and pulled her back forward until their lips met in a passionate kiss.
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Dr. Berenson's Office
Dr. Berenson smiled as he looked at Leo. "You know, Leo, the fact that you seem to be able to relive your wife's experience to such a degree is very telling."
"It is?" Leo questioned, obviously concerned.
"I think you might have some co-dependency issues," the doctor explained.
Piper nodded and smiled slightly. She turned her head when Leo looked at her.
May 19, 1999 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
Buffy, Dawn, Phoebe and Paige stood up when Piper and Leo left the attic. They were moved at what they had just seen as Paige herself started to cry.
"Here you go, sweetie," Phoebe said as she handed her baby sister a tissue. "Here you go. You okay?"
Paige nodded. "Yeah, this is better than home movies. They've just been through so much," she said as she noticed that Dawn and Buffy nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we all have. It's good to remember, even for me. It makes me realize how much I really have changed."
Dawn reeled once again, this time falling into Phoebe's arms as another memory surged forth.
"This is getting old, quick," Buffy said looking at her baby sister.
Golden Gate Park
"She's mine." Alec stated harshly. He started to black orb out after Daisy.
"Son of a…" Phoebe started as she squinted. She sent Alec flying through the air where he hit the ground several feet back.
"What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine. Let our powers cross the line…" Prue chanted.
"You really should have stayed out of this," Alec threatened, activating his touch of death power.
"…I offer up my gift to share, switch our powers through the air," Prue finished.
The red glow faded from Alec's hand and a moment later Prue's hand began to glow the eerie bright red. "What? Where's my power?" Alec demanded, staring at his hands in disbelief.
Prue's gaze was on her hand before she glanced over at Phoebe. "Hate," she realized. She knew Phoebe would get what she meant.
Phoebe nodded. "Then hate him," she ordered.
"No, problem. Bring him to me, Phoebe," Prue said as she held her hand out as Phoebe telekinetically brought him to her. She grabbed hold of Alec when he was in reach. Alec yelled in agony as his skin began to blister under her touch of death and he dropped to his knees. She fell down next to him and whispered under her breath the spell. "What's mine is yours, what yours is mine, let our powers cross the line. I offer up my gift to share, switch our powers through the air."
The glow faded from her hand as it had Alec's moments earlier signaling that she had finished the spell in time. She pulled back quickly, a little horrified at the power of the touch of death.
"You okay?" Phoebe asked quickly, running over to kneel down next to Prue.
"I can't believe how much hate that took. I never want to feel like that again," Prue said. She allowed Phoebe to pull her to her feet.
Halliwell Manor
Dawn blinked as she looked up into Phoebe's face. "Hate," she said. "She hated how much hate it took."
Phoebe nodded in understanding as she looked up at her mother and sister. "It seems the memories Aunt Dawn is seeing are all tied into the memory we are witnessing." Just then Kit ran into the attic from the stairwell. "Kit?" The warlock came barreling in after Kit. "Whoa. Okay, throw the potion!"
"Don't bother," The warlock said as he blinked out.
"Wait a minute. Is it just me or is he not after us?" Dawn asked.
"No, I think he's after Phoebe's cat." Paige said.
Kit meowed and walked around their ankles as they pet her.
"Kit? Really? Why?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know," Paige said as she looked down at Kit. "Unless there's something you're not telling us. It's funny, she's so familiar to me though. It reminds me of this old stray that used to hang outside my loft."
"Of course." Buffy said as she walked over to the Book.
"Mom?" Paige and Phoebe asked.
"Oh, I am so glad the book is still here in this memory," Buffy said.
"What are you looking for?" Dawn asked.
"I am looking for..." Buffy said as she flipped to a page and smiled. "Familiars. That's what I'm looking for."
Dawn moved beside her sister. "Enchanted creatures who follow and guide new witches to protect them while they learn the craft," she read. She then looked at Kit as she thought about the cat.
"Hey, is there something you haven't been telling me?" Phoebe said as Kit rubbed around her ankles. "Huh, Kit? Hey, don't you kiss up to me. Answer the question."
"You sure you didn't know about this?" Paige asked.
Phoebe shook her head. "What, that Kit was our familiar? No, we just thought she was this cat that we found on the porch."
"Better hope the warlock doesn't get her in the past otherwise our future..." Paige said.
"Is screwed," Buffy finished for her youngest daughter.
"Buffy?" Dawn said as her sister looked at her. "Do you remember that stray that hung around during the year leading up the final battle with Glory."
Buffy looked at Kit for a moment her eyes going wide as she realized what Dawn had. Kit was the stray that had hung around their house in Sunnydale. "You're right."
"Mom?" Phoebe said.
"Your cat appears to be the entire family's familiar not just yours, Phoebe," Buffy said. She looked at Paige. "When did the stray hang around at your loft?"
"It was just around the time just before I met you guys," Paige answered.
"Which would be after the battle with Glory," Dawn said.
"This cat has guided each of us unknowingly," Buffy said. "Even Dawn and I. How it survived the trek from San Francisco to Sunnydale and back to San Francisco I have no idea. But it has guided all of us."
It was then that they disappeared yet again.
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Dr. Berenson's Office
Leo stood up. "I'm screwed. This is a no-win situation," he said. "I work, she says I'm never around. I quit my job, she says I'm around too much. I gave up everything for her."
"Ha!" Piper chuckled. "Co-dependent, thank you."
Leo spun on his wife. "Okay, so what? Maybe I am. But you want to talk co-dependent?" He looked back at the doctor. "Ask her about her damn family. They're frickin' inseparable."
Piper threw her hands up.
"Um, I think we should go back to talking about some of your more positive memories, things that you've overcome as a couple," Dr. Berenson suggested. "Free associate. Let the memories flow. Whatever comes to mind."
Leo sighed as he sat back down.
Restaurant, Sunnydale
The restaurant was intimate and romantic, just the place for good food and true confessions, as Robin opened up to Faith about the battle they'd just won.
"I've had a little practice," he allowed. "Never took on two at once before, but I've taken out a vamp here or there. And some demons."
"So, you're . . . freelance?" she asked.
"Freelance." He considered that. "Yes, I guess that would be a good way to put it."
"And you know who I am?" she asked him.
"You're the Slayer."
"Right." She took that in. "So . . . I'm guessing that you don't work in an office about fifteen feet over a Hellmouth because you love educational administration."
He grinned at her. "I actually do enjoy the work, but you're right, I maneuvered myself into that school, that office, just like I maneuvered Tara there. I knew from sources that she worked with a Slayer… Anyways the Hellmouth draws the bad things in close, and now we're headed for something big, Faith. Really big." His demeanor lost all traces of amusement. "Really big, and I need to be here where it happens. I want to help."
"So, you didn't want Blondie for her counseling skills?" she asked obliquely.
"Blondie?" Robin questioned.
"I tend to give nicknames to good friends," Faith admitted. "Blondie is Tara's."
He burst into a flurry of laughter then caught himself and assured her, quite seriously, "They're valuable, too."
"Why didn't you tell Tara about you?" she asked, cocking her head.
"I wasn't sure about things yet. Not sure I was ready yet. Now the fight is starting and I don't have time to worry anymore. I have to do something."
"So, you knew who I was before you even came here," she said. "How do you know about Slayers?"
He nodded, as if they were getting down to brass tacks. "See, when I was a little boy, my mother was one. The one, actually. The Slayer."
"Your moth . . ." She caught her breath, shaken. "Wow. I thought I was the only Slayer to ever have a kid."
"Wow," he said in surprise. "I wasn't aware there were any other Slayers who had kids."
"Technically I didn't give birth to her, my wife did," Faith explained as Robin raised an eyebrow. "Yes I'm married and yes I'm gay, well actually bi, but I prefer women. Anyways some higher beings made some changes to her DNA making her both of ours biologically. And from what we've been told she will be a Slayer when she grows up. So what about your mom?"
"She was killed when I was four. I still remember her, but it's a little . . ." He searched for a word. "Fuzzy? You know?"
"Yeah, I know," Faith admitted. "I was given up when I was five, I remember bits and pieces of her. So I take it something got your mom . . . a demon?"
"A vampire." He got a faraway look in his eyes. "I went through this whole 'avenging son' phase in my twenties, but I never found him. So now I just dust as many of them as I can find. I figure eventually I'll get him. That's probably why we got jumped outside. I'm not very popular with the bumpy forehead crowd. I bet you aren't, either."
Faith shook her head. "No. Not most of them. Along with demons upper and lower level demons, warlocks and Darklighters. Especially Darklighters."
"Why especially Darklighters?" Robin asked.
"My father was a Darklighter," Faith answered as Robin raised an eyebrow in question. "My mom was seduced by him before she knew who he really was. My mom gave me up to keep me away from him. I know my little girl inherited my powers, did you inherit any from your mom?"
"No, I don't have powers," he told her. "No super-strength or mythic responsibilities. I'm just a guy with a few skills because her Watcher took me in and raised me."
November 25, 1998 – Thursday
Halliwell Manor
"Ah, you better not. I'll just wind up knocking it all over again," Leo laughed, beginning to head toward the washer and dryer room. "Truth is, caffeine makes me a little clumsy, you know." He turned to walk away.
Piper hastily took several steps after him, for whatever reason, not willing to let him go just yet. "Leo, wait," she called hopefully.
Leo turned back around curiously. "Yeah?" he asked cheerfully.
"Can I ask you a question?" Piper wondered, playing nervously with her hands.
"Sure," Leo allowed, falling silent as he waited for Piper to ask something.
Piper bit her lip, chickening out again. "Do you need another shirt?" she finally offered, unable to come up with something else to ask.
Leo smiled at the offer but declined. "No, I got one in the truck, thanks." He started to leave again when Piper stopped him again.
"Leo, wait… that wasn't my question," she called after him and Leo turned once again to face her.
"You have beautiful eyes," he commented and Piper let out a breath of relief.
"That's a good way," she laughed.
Leo smiled, but looked embarrassed at having admitted it. "I'm sorry. That was totally inappropriate, wasn't it?" he apologized.
"No, not at all…" Piper began, but trailed off, getting tired of dancing around the question. "Ah, what the hell… Leo, how do you feel about women who make the first move?" she asked, using every ounce of confidence she ever had.
Leo shrugged after a moment of thinking about it. "I don't know, I'm still waiting for it to happen."
"Goodness," Piper whispered to herself before closing the few feet between them and pulling Leo into a kiss. After a moment she pulled away trying to study his reaction.
"Uh, how do you feel about guys who make the second move?" he laughed.
"Love 'em," Piper allowed, feeling his arms wrap around her and pull her back toward him. She was pulled into a passionate kiss with the man she had fought Phoebe for.
"Nice kiss!" Paige said moments before they disappeared
Dawn reeled again this time collapsing into Paige's arms as she was sucked into yet another memory.
Andy Trudeau's Apartment
"I don't have time, Andy. I need to know before eight," Prue argued.
Andy looked over her curiously as he pushed the door open. "Well, why don't you come inside and we'll talk about it," he suggested, nodding for her to go in first.
Prue bit her lip and backed up a step. "I can't."
"Prue…" Andy muttered with a roll of his eyes.
"Andy, no. Look if I come inside we'll have drinks, there will be small talk, and precious minutes will pass. I need to know now. Can you or can you not accept that I am a witch?"
Andy was silent as he thought over what he had come up with so far. "If I have to answer right now… I don't think so, Prue. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it I guess. It's just not a future I envision having," he finally decided. In the background Prue heard the chime of a clock as it struck eight. Andy looked at her in confusion trying to remember what was going on. "What were we just talking about?" he asked after not being able to remember it himself.
Prue looked at her hands as she felt the tears well in her eyes. "You don't remember?" she whispered.
"Honestly, no," Andy admitted.
"You don't remember anything you've said to me in the last twenty four hours?" Prue pressed.
Andy thought back, but couldn't remember anything of this day. "No, it's really weird," he laughed softly until he looked Prue over more carefully. Her eyes filled with tears that she was stubbornly holding back. "You want to come inside?" he offered gently.
Prue reached up and wiped a stray tear away. "Um, no. I have to go," she breathed, taking a step toward him and lightly kissing him one last time. "Goodbye, Andy." She turned away before she could fall apart, leaving Andy to stare in stunned silence as she turned the corner. She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, letting her tears fall freely.
Halliwell Manor
Dawn blinked as she looked up into Paige's face. Dawn looked down at her hands as tears fell from her eyes.
"Aunt Dawn?" Paige said as she held her aunt. "What's wrong?"
"Truth spell," Dawn whispered.
Phoebe let out a sigh in understanding. "I think I know. She saw the moment when Prue broke up with Andy."
Once again they disappeared.
March 13, 2003 – Thursday
Summers Home, Sunnydale
Still mired in the wrongness, Andrew parlayed with The First Evil, who was in the guise of his deceased friend Jonathan, in the living room. Andrew had a paper bag and Jonathan had a question:
"Did you get the gun?"
"Yes," Andrew reported. He had told Faith, Willow and Tara what the First Evil had instructed him to do. They had decided to play along and Willow hesitantly had bought a gun.
"Show me," Jonathan ordered as Andrew opened the paper bag to show him the gun. "Great." He got down to business. "There's going to be panic and fleeing when you start firing, so you're going to have to get them trapped someplace like the basement."
Andrew said, "Uh-huh. And we're killing them because . . . ?"
"Because they're the future of the Slayer line. When they're gone, the line is gone."
"Mmhmm, uh-huh. So why not have Spike do it?" Andrew asked. "He's the one with the trigger."
"It's not time for him yet. You can wait for the next time they're training in the basement, but don't rely on a locked door."
"Okay." Then Andrew asked, with as much casualness as he could muster, "Say, um, do you have any weaknesses I should know about if I'm going to work for you, like, uh, kryptonite or allergies? Ah, are you made out of the evil impulses of humans, so if everyone was unconscious at the same time, you would fade away?"
Jonathan looked at him suspiciously. "You're asking a lot of questions."
"Yes, well, I . . . because I'm evil." Andrew was nervously playing with desk accessories. "And I want to do the best I can at that, so I want to . . . know stuff . . . like when—when do we kill Faith?"
"Are you wearing a wire?"
Uh-oh. 'Cause he was.
"Do you think you can trick The First?" Jonathan demanded. "I told you, Andrew. I made you do this . . ."
He pressed his hands against his sweater. They came back wet with blood.
"Jonathan suffered," The First murmured. "He was your friend, and he trusted you, and now he spends eternity in pain because of what you did."
"No," Andrew gasped. "What's happening to you?"
Like a time-delay special effects in an old horror movie, Jonathan's face began to decay, all white and green and shiny with decomposition.
"This is what you did to him. You started down a road with that action. You have to keep going."
"Stop looking like Jonathan," Andrew protested in a tight, frightened voice. "You're not him. You're The First, and you're trying to get me to shoot innocent girls, but I won't do it. I'm good now. When the fight is over, I'm going to pay for killing Jonathan."
The First shook his head. "You're going to pay for more than that. Do you know why? Because the biggest, baddest First Evil in the world is angry with you."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
And Willow, listening in on Andrew's wire at the dining room table, finally thought she heard something.
"You think you can trick me, women?" Jonathan's voice boomed.
Beside her, Tara bolted out of her chair and took off Willow's headphones.
"You hear only what I want you to hear," The First proclaimed. "You see only what I want you to see."
Then Jonathan appeared behind Amanda, who screamed and backed away with the others.
He was gross, purple-black; one eye milky. His flesh was opening, putrefying, and it was terrifying to see those dead lips open and say, "So many dead girls. There'll be so many."