Author's note: Hi sorry for the delay in updating, life's been kind of hectic at the moment. Plus I just got a kitten, who likes to attack me whenever I go near my laptop :-) Actually started writing this chapter a little differently, which turned into chapter 6 lol, still not too happy with this chap though. Thanks for the reviews, and thanks again for reading this fic :-)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Joss owns everything, except Jessie, sadly she's mine.

Chapter 5

Having ate nearly the entire stock of ice cream at the ice cream parlour, the gang had decided to end their evening in the bronze. Xander, Buffy, Willow and Kennedy, where currently sat on the sofa's near the back of the room, while Faith was at the bar ordering their drinks.

Xander stretched his arms above his head, and glanced around the club, he couldn't help but groan as he saw a familiar face amongst the crowd. "Don't look, but everybody's favourite girl is sitting three tables away." he said, sighing as his friends automatically looked. "Does anybody actually listen to me." He mumbled.

"You've got to be joking me, what the hell is she doing here?!" Kennedy exclaimed, as she laid eyes on Jessie.

"Sadly she's got the same right to be here as we do." Willow said.

"Doesn't mean we have to make her feel wanted." Kennedy said, standing up from the sofa.

Willow automatically grabbed Kennedy's hand, and pulled her back down beside her. "Sweetie, just leave it. We don't want to start any trouble tonight." she said calmly.

"Yeah, we're supposed to be having fun, and enjoying ourselves before all the stress of tomorrow." Xander said, reminding them of why they were here in the first place.

"Fine, but if she so much as farts in my direction, I'm going over there." Kennedy grumbled.

"Nice analogy sweetie." Willow said, patting Kennedy on the arm.

Buffy looked over at Jessie anxiously, so far it seemed as if the other girl was oblivious to their presence, and if Buffy had her say it would remain that way. "Guys, please don't mention Jessie to Faith." she said addressing her friends, "I'm trying to get Faith to relax, and if she knows that Jessie's here, there's no chance of that happening."

"Sure thing Buffy." Willow replied, nudging her girlfriend, when she didn't acknowledge what Buffy had said. "Kennedy."

"Okay." Kennedy grumbled, "But I'm not happy about it." she said.

Xander grinned, "We can see that."

"What's with you K." Faith said, as she returned to the table with their drinks, "You got a face like a cats ass." she said.

"Ha ha, laugh it up Lehane." Kennedy said, reaching over for her drink, "You're just jealous cause you know I'm gonna score more goals than you tomorrow."

Faith snorted, as she sat down next to Buffy. "You wish chump."

"Hey!" Willow said loudly, "No hockey talk at the table." she said scolding the pair of them.

"Yes mom." The two brunettes replied.

Buffy sighed happily, and leaned her head against Faith's shoulder, smiling softly as she felt Faith's lips press against her head. Lifting her head from it's comfortable position, she looked up into her girlfriends eyes.

"You feel like tearing up the dance floor B?" Faith whispered huskily, her hand tenderly tracing Buffy's cheek.

"You bet baby." She replied, kissing Faith roughly, before grabbing her hand and dragging her towards the dance floor.

Xander shook his head in something akin to a mixture of awe and amusement as he watched his friends turn up the heat, "And this is them relaxing?" he said, turning to Kennedy and Willow, who where currently proceeding to make out as if there lives depended on it. Sighing heavily, he stood up and decided to head out onto the dance floor himself, "I wish I was a lesbian." He muttered.

Jessie slammed back another shot, whilst pretending to pay attention to the cute blonde beside her. While the girl was cute, and was showing definite interest in her. Jessie couldn't draw herself away from Buffy Summers, who was currently doing some seriously dirty dancing, with her bitch of a girlfriend. She could feel the jealousy churning away in the pit of her stomach, as she watched Faith dancing with what should be, her girl.

Faith Lehane. Those two words where enough to send Jessie into a violent rage, and she wanted nothing more than to put the bitch in her place. Faith had everything Jessie ever wanted, she had the respect of the school, the hockey team, and she had the hottest girl in school as her girlfriend. The bitch had her life made, and Jessie wanted a piece of the action.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw Buffy break away and head towards the toilets, she saw Faith heading back towards her table where the rest of her loser friends sat, before changing direction and heading outside. Grabbing her coat, she quickly downed the rest of her beer, before heading outside after her.

Faith sighed as she felt the cool night air against her skin, moving away from the door to the club, she found a wall to lean against, before she pulled her packet of smokes out of her back pocket. Tapping one out of the packet, she was just about to put it in her mouth, when she saw Jessie come stumbling out of the club. "You gotta be kiddin me." she moaned. Holding back the urge to run over and kick the shit out of the girl, she quietly ducked into the alley behind her, not wanting or needing to have a confrontation. Not when today had been so good.

However luck wasn't on her side, as soon as she'd lit her cigarette, Jessie poked her head round the corner of the alley. "Hey, if it isn't my best friend." she crowed, making her way towards Faith.

"Listen Jessie, I'm not in the fuckin mood okay." Faith said warily, taking a much needed drag, before blowing the smoke into the air.

Jessie frowned, "And what makes you think I'm here to start trouble." she said, feigning hurt. "I jus wanna talk." she slurred, stepping closer to Faith, who was able to smell the drink on her breath. "I jus wanna say I'm not too happy about getting dropped from the game tomorrow."

"And whose fault is that, you started all this shit, so you've only got yourself to blame." Faith said.

"If you would leave Buffy and let me have my shot, I might let all this go." Jessie said.

"She doesn't belong to me, and she sure as shit doesn't belong to you." Faith spat. "If she woke up tomorrow and decided she wanted to be with you, I wouldn't stop her, cause that would be her choice. But there's no way in hell, I'm gonna let you fuck things up between us."

"Hey, I'm sure you'll manage that all by yourself." Jessie said, her smirk was short lived as Faith's fist collided with her face. "Oh you'll regret that Lehane." she growled, rubbing her hand across her mouth. Throwing a backhand at Faith, she caught her upside the head, and sent her into the wall behind her. Momentarily stunned, Faith never saw the knee that was heading for her stomach, she doubled over, winded, unable to block the right hook Jessie sent flying towards her face.

Faith could feel the blood trickle down her chin from her split lip. She managed to get her arm up, to block another punch, that would have had her seeing stars, and retaliated with a kick that sent Jessie stumbling backwards. Pulling herself up, Faith panted as she tried to get her breath back. She could hear Kennedy shouting her name from the end of the alley, but before she could reply, Jessie was back up on her feet, and rushing towards her.

Buffy frowned as she came back from the toilet and saw no sign of her girlfriend, "Where's Faith?" she asked curiously.

Kennedy broke away from her marathon make out session with Willow, and looked around her, "I don't know. She might have gone out for a smoke. She was here a minute ago." she looked over and saw Xander returning from the dance floor, "Hey did you see where Faith went?" she asked.

"Yeah she passed me on the way outside, said she was going to get some fresh air." he commented sitting back down on the couch.

"I'll go and see if she's okay." Buffy said, grabbing her coat from the back of the couch.

Willow glanced at her watch, "Guys it's getting late, we should probably head home, if we want to make sure we're all rested for the big day tomorrow." she said, earning nods of agreement from the rest of her friends.

"Lets go ladies." Xander said, slinging his arm over her and Buffy's shoulder and escorting them out of the club. Kennedy rolled her eyes, and headed out ahead of them to find her best friend.

When she got outside she frowned as she saw no immediate sign of Faith, after calling her name and hearing no reply, she began to get worried. Sounds of a scuffle from the alley opposite, caught her attention, and what she saw when she neared the entrance caused her blood to boil. Faith was slumped against the alley wall, blood coating her face and top, as Jessie stood above her. "Get the hell away from her!" She yelled, grabbing Jessie, and flinging her away from Faith, before stalking over to her and getting up into her face. "What the fuck is your problem!!"

"You and your dipshit friend over there are my problem, cause of her I'm not on the team tomorrow." she spat angrily, before her face split into a grin. "And now it looks like she won't be either."

Kennedy growled and slammed her fist into Jessie's face, sending her flying back into the wall.

Buffy, Willow and Xander came out of the club to see Kennedy laying into Jessie. Scanning the area Buffy felt her heart leap in her chest, as she saw Faith lying slumped against the alley wall.

"Faith!" She cried, quickly making her way to her girlfriends side. Kneeling beside her, she was relieved to see that she was conscious, however blood was dripping from her lip and a cut above her right eye.

"I-I'll go and bring the car round." Willow said, before rushing away.

Buffy gently cupped Faith's face in her hands, "Baby I need you to tell me where it hurts." she asked gently, however Faith merely looked up at her with a dazed expression. "Faith, did you hurt your head?" she asked, carefully running her hands through her hair, checking for any signs of injury.

"No, jus stings." she slurred, looking round the alley in confusion. "Smells funny here, an there's too many lights." she said, rubbing roughly at her eyes.

Buffy recognised the signs of an oncoming seizure, and gently pulled Faith away from the wall. "I know baby, just lay here for a minute while Willow gets the car." she said softly, coaxing Faith to lay down in the alley, with her head resting in her lap.

"Don't take me home B." Faith pleaded, "They won't let me play tomorrow if they see me like this." she slurred, still rubbing at her eyes.

"Sssh, it's okay. I won't take you home." she replied, stroking her hair soothingly, although she knew there was no way, that Faith would be fit enough to play in tomorrows game. "We'll go to my house baby okay." Buffy saw Faith's eyes roll back in her head, and felt her body stiffen in her arms, before she started convulsing. She continued to whisper words of comfort, knowing that some part of her girlfriend could still hear her.

Xander looked over and saw that Kennedy had beaten Jessie to the ground, rushing over to her side, he grabbed a hold of her before she could kick Jessie, where she lay. Kennedy squirmed in his grasp as she desperately tried to get at the other girl.

"Fucking let me go!" she yelled, "You saw what she did to Faith!"

"Kennedy stop, she's not worth it." Xander said tightening his grip on Kennedy as she fought to get at Jessie's prone form. "Faith's had a seizure, we need to get her home." he said, knowing this was the one thing that would break through Kennedy's rage.

Kennedy immediately relaxed when she heard her the mention of her friend's name, knowing that her safety and well being was more important, than pounding sense into the girl before her. "Okay." She said, shrugging out of Xander's grip, and holding up her hands. "I think I made my point." she said, looking at Jessie in disdain, as she glared back at her from her position on the ground.

"I'll see you at the game tomorrow Sanchez." Jessie spat.

"I wouldn't count on it O'Connor." Kennedy said, before turning and making her way over to her friends, leaving Jessie to lay there and ponder what she meant.

Tbc.

A/N: The next chapter should hopefully be up within the next couple of weeks, after that it might be a wee while, as I'm hoping to get the next chapter of Carnage finished, then maybe Fighting you're demons :-)