AN: From here on out, I'm going to have to edit things to insert parts for Kendra, of course. I'll also be giving some of the other characters' lines to her, so don't freak out if she says something that Willow, Xander, Buffy, or, god forbid, even Giles said in each actual episode. Each new chapter will be named after the episode it's based off of.

Chapter 2- Ted

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Xander, he was obviously in charge." Willow says, exasperatedly.

"He was a puppet! She was using him!" Xander protests.

"He didn't seem like the type of person who would let himself be used."

"Well, that was her genius! He didn't even know he was playing second fiddle!" Xander turns to me. Me, who have fallen behind Willow and Xander due to lots of Kendra kissage. "Buffy?" Xander asks, clearing his throat.

"Huh?" I ask as I pull away from my girlfriend. Heh. Kendra's my girlfriend.

"Who was the real power?" Xander asks. "The Captain, or Tennille?"

"Ummmmm..."

"Who are dese people?" Kendra asks, curiously. A confusion I share in.

"The Captain and Tennille? Boy, somebody was raised in a culture-free environment!"

"I'm sorry." Kendra apologizes. "I was just..."

"It's okay, Kendra." I assure her with a smile. "He was just teasing."

She smiles back and kisses me again. I can't get enough of her kisses. It's short but sweet. When we pull away, my mind is completely blank. It feels nice to stop thinking.

"Buffy!" Willow says, and I snap out of my thoughtlessness.

"What?"

"What's going on?" Xander asks.

"Sorry. I was just..."

"Thinking?" Willow asks.

"No. Not thinking. Having a lot of happy non-thoughts. I love it when things are quiet around here." I say, pointing to my head, but Xander takes it to mean around Sunnydale. Though, I love it when things are quiet on the Hellmouth, too.

"Yeah, with Spike and Drusilla... who knows where... we've really been ridin' the mellow, and I am jinxing the hell out of us by saying that." He mentally facepalms.

"Yes. But I think we will let you off dis time." Kendra laughs. She's really opened up a lot and embraced having a semi-normal life in the past week. Of course, a lot of that has to do with me, but still. I like this new Kendra. Not all work, no play anymore. Now she's more on my level.

"So we're pretty sure there's not more Tarakan assassins coming our way?" Willow asks as we turn down the walkway to my house. The house that Kendra's now living in as well. My mom was more than willing to let her stay with us. She's cool like that. Always wanting to help someone in need.

"Giles' less than human sources say the contract's off. Spike and Drusilla only wanted them to hold me off until the ritual could be completed, so apparently, they paid up, and the job's done." I say.

"How are you holding up?" Will asks. Everyone knows she's talking about Angel.

"I'm doing good." I say, and it's the truth. "It hurts. A lot. Knowing I'll never see him again. But I don't feel like I'm about to burst at the seams all the time. Kendra's been great." I say, turning to my girlfriend and smiling. She smiles back and kisses me again, and Xander has to clear his throat again to break us up. "Xander..." I growl playfully.

I reach in my pocket to get my key out to unlock the door, but when I try to put my key in the keyhole, the door swings open easily.

"You guys wait here a second." I say to Will and Xander. Kendra follows me inside, both of us stakes at the ready.

"No!" I hear my mom say from the kitchen. I look at Kendra, and she nods to me.

We burst into the dining room to see the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life, even as a Slayer.

My mom's sitting up on the counter top, legs wrapped around some guy, and they're kissing!

"Mom!" I shout, getting their attention

"Oh, my... I'm sorry... I... I heard..." I stammer in disbelief, and Kendra looks down at the ground in shame.

"Uh... I-I-I broke a wineglass." My mom stutters as she slides down off the counter awkwardly. "You're home early."

"Hi." The guy says nervously.

"Hi." I say.

"Hi." Kendra says, too.

"Oh!" My mom says to the guy. "Uh, this is my daughter Buffy... and her... her girlfriend, Kendra." She points to each of us in turn. "Girls... this is Ted."

We just stare back at the guy.

We're all sitting around the kitchen while Ted cooks. Willow and Xander were invited to stay for dinner. Already, I don't like this guy. He gives me major wiggins.

"Okay, here we go!" He says as he slides mini-pizzas into the oven. My mom dumps the remnants of the broken wineglass into the trashcan.

"So... All these late nights at the gallery recently... I gather you were cataloging more than art." I say to her.

"Well, I... I've been looking for the right moment to introduce you two. He's a wonderful man." She has stars in her eyes, something I've missed seeing ever since long before the divorce.

I look over to Ted, wondering what's so special about him that can make my mom get all goo-goo eyed at him.

"Sprinkle that on." he says to Xander, sprinkling something on his pizza.

"Uh, a little more." Xander says when Ted tries to pull away. "Okay, more."

"How'd you meet?" I ask mom.

"Oh, he sells, uh, computer software. He redid my entire system at the gallery, freed up a lot of my time."

"To meet new people. And smooch them in my kitchen."

"You weren't supposed to see that." mom blushes.

"Y'know," Xander says as Mom and I come back into the kitchen, "you should market these things. I mean, you can get two, three hundred bucks apiece!"

Ted laughs and slides the mini-pizzas over to me. "Hungry?" He asks.

"No thanks." I say softly. Kendra looks at me sympathetically.

"Buffy, I want to apologize. That wasn't how I wanted us to meet. I wanted it to be... perfect. I'm very fond of your mother, I guess that's pretty obvious. I know you're the most important thing in her life, and, well, gosh, that makes you pretty important to me, too."

"Buffy, I really want you to be okay with this." Mom says, wrapping her arms around Ted, who embraces her back.

"I'm okay." I smile. I'm definitely not okay. But, you know, Kendra wrapping her arms around me and resting her chin on my shoulder definitely helps. I sigh into the embrace, squeezing her arms gratefully.

But, of course, I see Ted kind of glare at us at the show of affection. But, if he's allowed to smooch my mom in my kitchen, then I'm allowed to hug my girlfriend. It's not like I'm about to tear her clothes off and have sex with her on the counter, no matter how much I'm sure Xander would appreciate that.

I slam the vampire down on the picnic table in the park, shattering it. The table, not the vampire. I'm not quite done with him yet. He shakes it off as he gets back up and charges me. I grab the lid from a trashcan and use it as a shield. His fist slams into it, then I swing it around and bash him in the head. He falls down on his knee and gets back up. I slam him again, and he gets up again. I slam him one more time, and barely hear Giles stammering, "Buffy? I-I believe he's... um..."

I slam him with the lid again, and he absorbs the attack, then swings a fist at me. I block the fist again with my shield, then counter with another head slam. I'm enjoying this. I block another punch then throw the lid away and kick the vamp in the face.

"Buffy, dontcha think it's staking time?" Kendra asks, almost nervously.

I kick him again,ignoring both Giles and Kendra, then punch him in the jaw. The vampire, not Giles. I jab him again in the face, then kick his knee, causing him to crumple to the ground. I stake him almost reluctantly. I was having fun with him.

"Any others?" I ask Kendra and Giles when the vamp is dust on the ground.

"I actually hope not. For their sakes." Kendra says. I raise my eyebrows.

"What? I kill vampires. That's my job."

"Well, true, although you don't usually beat them into quite such a bloody pulp beforehand." Giles points out, and I shrug. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Fine." I lie. I sigh, sitting down next to Giles. "I killed a vampire here on Wednesday. Why are they hanging out here at the park?"

"Well, they're scattered, you know. Now their leaders have disappeared, with any luck, dead by some means. In times of crisis, they usually return to the easiest feeding grounds." Giles explains.

"Vampires are creeps."

I think dat's why we slay dem." Kendra agrees. I smile up at her, and crane my neck to kiss her gently.

But, my mind is still elsewhere.

"I mean, people are perfectly happy getting along, and then vampires come, and they run around, and they kill people, and they take over your whole house, they start making these stupid little mini-pizzas, and everyone's like 'I like your mini-pizzas', but I'm telling you, I am-"

"Uh, uh, Buffy! I-I believe the... subtext is quickly becoming, uh, well, text. Are... Are you sure there's nothing you want to share?"

"Ms. Summers has a new boyfriend." Kendra explains. Giles sighs.

"And this bothers you, does it?" He asks me.

"No. Forget it." I say. I stand back up and look around. "Think there'll be any more? I-I can wait."

Kendra and I are laying on my bed in my room, kissing. Until, that is, I pull away, exasperated.

"So mom's like, 'Do you think Ted will like this?' and 'This is Ted's favorite show,' and 'Ted's teaching me computers,' and 'Ted said the funniest thing,' and I'm like, 'That's really great, Mom,' and then she said I was being sarcastic, which I was, but I'm sorry if I don't wanna talk about Ted all the time!"

"So den, you're going to talk about something else, den?" Kendra says, teasingly.

"I'm sorry. I just have so much to deal with, I don't need some new guy in my life."

"No, but maybe she does." She smiles, and I can't help but smile back.

"Well sure, if you're gonna use wisdom."

She laughs quietly. "Loneliness is just about the scariest thing dere is. It took me long to figure dat out, but I finally realize it meself."

"Okay, so my mom needs a guy in her life. Does it have to be Ted?"

"Doe ya have somebody else in mind? Is dere a guy out dere dat would satisfy you?"

I hesitate. I know what she's getting at. "My dad? Yeah, okay, that's not gonna happen. Fine, fine, I'll give Ted a chance. I'll play mini-golf, and I'll smile and curtsy and be the dutiful daughter. Do I have to like him?"

Kendra smiles and leans into me. I love how she takes the initiative to kiss me. I never thought I'd ever be attracted to a girl, but here I am, falling more and more in love with Kendra every day.

"Ah, the dreaded five-par cuckoo clock. Ha! So many have come, so few have conquered." Xander says as he tees up and gets ready to shoot. Then, he shoots. A very weak shot.

"You know how rare it is to find a man who cooks?" Mom asks Ted.

"I know!" He replies humorously. "I've been looking for a long time! So, Buffy, I bet the boys are lined up around the block tryin' to get a date with you."

"Not really." I reply.

"Oh, they are, but she's only interested in..." I nudge Willow to shut her up, "uh, her studies! 'Book-cracker' Buffy, it's kind of her nickname."

"Well, glad to hear it. I bet that means your grades will be picking up soon." Ted says meaningfully.

"My grades? How does he know about my grades?" I ask my mom.

"I told him. He wants to know everything about you. He's concerned. That's a good thing." She says as Ted makes his swing. "Ooo, nice shot, Ted!"

I stead up to make my swing at a new course with a castle on it.

"Keep your eye on the ball and watch those elbows!" Ted suggests, and I lose my temper.

Who does he think he is?! Looking at my grades?! Trying to tell me what to do?! He's not my father!

I swing too roughly, and the ball bounces off the castle and into the rough on the other side.

"Oh, bad luck little lady." Ted says.

"Oh, we won't count it." Mom says with a smile.

"We won't?"

Everyone turns to look at Ted.

"Well, honey, it's just miniature golf."

"It is, but the rules are the rules. And what we teach her is what she takes out into the world when we're not there, whether it's at school, or at an unchaperoned party." He counters, and my rage grows with each word. "I don't mean to overstep my bounds, this is between you and your mother, I just think right is right." He says to me.

Mom looks at me nervously, and I look into Kendra's eyes like "see? told you so?".

"He has a point." Mom agrees with Ted.

"Fine. I'll just... go hit my ball from the rough." I say noncommittedly.

I walk around where no one can see me, and I pick my ball up and drop it in the hole.

"He, how 'bout that! Got a hole in two!" I shout to everyone.

"Beg to differ." I turn to see Ted glaring at me.

"Okay, so fine my score. Whatever." I say.

"I think you're missing the point here, little lady. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Why don't people see that?"

"It's just a game." I growl back.

"Right. It's just a game. Do your own thing. Well, I'm not wired that way. And I am here to tell you..." He starts hitting his ankle with his club really hard, "It is not a game. It does count. And I don't stand for that kind of malarkey in my house!"

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not in your house." I fire back.

"Do you want me to slap that smart-ass mouth of yours?!"

I look around to see if anyone heard that. I can't believe this son of a bitch just threatened me!

"Who's up for desert?" He asks cheerfully.

What's up with Captain Mood-swing?

"I made chocolate-chip cookies!" Ted says with a smile as Mom opens the bag of cookies.

"Yummy!" Xander says as he takes a bite out of one.

"Cookies!" Willow says, equally excited.

I notice Kendra's being more supportive of me. I think she agrees that something seems... off about Ted. So, she's turning down the cookies politely.

"Yeah! I-I made, uh, too many. So you guys are gonna have to take some home!" He says to Will and Xander.

"Mm! Buffy! You've got to try one of these! They're really good! Mm!" Mom says, moaning with each bite. I swear, she sounds like an extremely bad porno made for children with that cookie.

The whole time, I just stare at everyone, seething at Ted.

"Good morning sunshine!" Mom says, chipper.

"Hey." I say.

"Good morning, Ms. Summers." Kendra says as she follows me down the stairs.

"Kendra, please, feel free to call me Joyce. Or mom, if you'd prefer. I mean, you're living with us, after all!" My mom laughs, and Kendra laughs back. How are they both morning people?"

"I've got juice, I've got sticky buns, oh, don't they smell good!" My mom says, motioning to the spread of breakfast laid out.

I smile, seeing Ted isn't here. I pick up a bun. They do look good.

"Ted made them." Mom says, and I freeze, then put the bun back down. Hearing this, Kendra puts hers down, too.

"What?" Mom asks us. I can tell she's getting mad already, but I really don't care right now.

"I'm just allergic to honey." Kendra explains, washing her hands in the sink and making a point of sanitizing them, then taking some allergy medicine. Mom accepts this, but glares at me.

"I'd just like to eat something around here that Ted didn't make." I say.

"What kind of attitude is that?"

I breathe in deeply, then exhale, trying to keep calm, though even the mention of Ted has me seething now. "Look, Mom, I know you think he's great and all, but I-"

"Y'know, he went out of his way to be nice to you, and you couldn't say too words to him on Saturday. I do not expect you to love him right away like I do, but I do expect you to treat him decently." Kendra and I both freeze at the mention of the "L-word". That's something even we haven't said to each other yet.

"You love him?" I ask quietly.

"I-I-I don't know." Mom stutters. "That just slipped out. But I guess, I mean, it's not exactly like men beat down the door when you're a single-"

"When you're a single parent." I finish.

"Honey, look. I wouldn't have anything to do with anybody if they didn't care about you. But he does! I don't understand why you can't see that!"

"He threatened me." I say softly.

"What?!" Mom asks incredulously. I especially have Kendra's attention now. Her eyes have flames in them.

"He threatened me. He said he was gonna slap my face."

"He said no such thing! Honey, Ted told me what happened! He caught you cheating, didn't he?"

"Yeah, I kicked my ball in, throw me in jail! But he totally wigged!"

"He didn't say anything in front of the others, did he?"

"No, but I don't think that's the-"

"Well I thought that was pretty decent of him! Ted said we are just going to have to give you time to come around. Oh, speaking of which, he's making dinner for us tonight, so I'd like you at home, please, promptly at six."

"Maybe I should go to a movie tonight." Kendra suggests. "Don't want to intrude on anything."

"That might be a good idea." Mom agrees.

"No." I say, and they both look at me.

"Buffy?" Mom asks.

"No. Mom, if Ted is coming over tonight, and I have to watch you two being all 'old-married-couple', then I get to have my girlfriend here. I'll come. I'll be a good girl. I'll listen to Ted, and I won't give him a hard time or anything. But I get to have Kendra there."

Kendra looks back and forth between us hesitantly as we stare into each other's eyes. But I know I've won already. My mom always listens to reason, and I think that this is all pretty fair.

"Alright, Buffy. Kendra, you live here, too, I'm not going to ask you to leave just so that Ted and I can sit down with Buffy at dinner alone. And Buffy does have a point. Please, if you want to stay for dinner, then by all means. I'll just call and tell Ted that I'll be setting the table for four."

"Thank you." I say politely. Then, I grab Kendra by the arm, and we leave for school.

"Will, I'm not wrong here." I say after Xander leaves for some reason. I just asked her to check into Ted, see what his deal is. "Ted has a problem with me. He acts like I'm in the way or something. ANd Mom's been totally different since he's been around."

"Different... like happy?"

"Like Stepford." I emphasize. "Will you help me?"

"You know I will. What do you want me to look for?"

"Let's start small, can you find out where he works?" Will nods.

"Ya want me to come with ya?" Kendra asks as Willow starts typing.

"No. This is something I need to do myself." I say. Kendra nods, understanding.

"Yeah, i-i-it's a terrific product. No PC should be without it." The guy next to Ted says into his phone.

"No, Mrs. Lawnsdale, it is not an inexpensive piece of software." Ted says to his customer. I notice they're both taking two totally different approaches to selling stuff. "As a matter of fact, it's a very expensive one. Which removes the risk of crashing your whole system. Of course, if you prefer something cheap, I can always recommend... Trust me, you won't be sorry. Thank you very much."

Ted sets his headset down and I duck down behind a snack bar. I see Ted put another hash mark by his name on a marker board. Wow, this guy is a salesman!

"Goin' to lunch!" Ted calls out, then walks out the door.

"You're new, aren't ya?" The guy sitting next to Ted says to me.

"Oh..."

"I'm Neal." He says, pouring a cup of coffee.

"I'm B... Linda. Belinda. I'm just temping for the day." I look back at the board, acting impressed. "Wow. That guy's a salesman. I guess he's the one to beat around here."

"Nobody beats 'The Machine'. The guy's a genius. Knows everything about computers, never loses a client... If I sound bitter, I am."

"Well, nobody likes an overachiever. Uh, he's probably got ex-wives and, and families to support."

"Nah. He's just got a girlfriend. I'm amazed he let her clutter his desk."

I look over at Ted's desk and see one single, solitary photo on his desk. Nothing else.

"Thank god he's taking time off for the wedding."

"Wedding?" I ask, panicking.

"Yeah, he's got it set for two months from now. Believe me, I am counting the days." He chuckles, then looks like he's panicking himself. "Uh-oh. The über-boss. Back to the salt mines." He says, returning to his desk. I recognize the photo on Ted's desk. It's the one from the refrigerator back at home. Of me and my mom. Only, the "me" part is folded back.

"We thank you for what we are about to receive, and we ask that you bless this house, and help the people in it to be more productive, more considerate, and more honest. Amen."

"Amen." Mom says when Ted finishes his prayer. I just glare at them both, and Kendra squeezes my hand encouragingly. I told her already what I'd found out.

"Well, another great day at work!" Ted says cheerfully. "How was school today, Buffy? Did you learn anything?"

"Quite a bit."

"Good for you! Well, Joycie, what do you think?"

"I think every home should have one of you. It's fantastic!" Mom turns to me and Kendra. "Don't you think?"

"Looks good." I say.

"Yes." Kendra agrees, smiling at Ted, but only to be polite. She starts eating, but I haven't touched my food yet.

"Well you know, little lady, it's not just for looks, it's for building strong bodies." Ted says to me.

"Dis is very good!" Kendra exclaims from beside me, and I jump in my seat.

Great, now he's won my girlfriend over!

"Honey?" Mom says, looking at me.

"Are you two engaged?" I ask my mom and Ted. Kendra freezes, swallows what's in her mouth, and excuses herself, touching my shoulder reassuringly.

"Goodness no!" My mom says. "Whatever gave you that idea?" Gret, now my mom sounds like some old housewife from those 50s sitcoms or whatever where what the dad says is law, and the wife is just one of those mindless slaves.

"Now Joycie, let me handle this." Ted says.

And now he's treating her like one! And she's listening!

"Buffy, your mother and I are taking it one step at a time. And if things go the way I hope, maybe someday soon, I might just ask her to tie the knot. How would you feel about that?" I don't answer right away. "It's okay to have feelings, Buffy. And it's okay to express them."

"I'd feel like killing myself." I reply. He doesn't flinch.

"Buffy!" My mom shouts.

"No, no. I, I told her to be honest." He says, and his words seem to placate my mother slightly. "Sweetheart, you should try to get used to me, 'cause you know what? I'm not going anywhere."

"May I be excused." I ask my mom.

"You can go to your room, young lady, that's where you can go." She replies. "And not Kendra's room, your room."

I get up and leave without another word.

"Vampires..." I call out longingly. I really want to pummel some right now. "Here, vampires..."

It's been almost an hour since I left, and no vampires have popped up. So, frustrated, I head home, climbing back up into my room through my window.

"What are you doing in here?" I growl when I see Ted sitting in a chair in my room.

"Your mother told you to go to your room, Buffy. You and I both know she didn't mean climb out a window and go gallivanting about town." He growls in reply.

"First of all, this is my room. Second..." I look at my desk and see that he's pulled out my diary and all my Slayer equipment. "You've been going through my things?!"

"Yes, I have." He admits nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.

"That's my personal property! How dare you?!"

"I don't see how it's any different from you snooping around my office, do you?" He picks up my diary and reads it. I'm not seeing red. I'm beyond seeing red. I'm seeing black and blue. All over Ted's face and body. In the form of bruises and swelling from where I'm going to beat the shit out of him. "What exactly is a Vampire Slayer?"

"It's none of your business." I growl.

"Beg to differ, little lady. Everything you do is nothing but my business from now on."

"I think you better get out of here. Now!"

"Or what?" He asks, standing up and walking towards me. "You'll slay me? I'm real. I'm not some goblin you made up in your little diary. Psychiatrists have a word for something like this: delusional. So, from now on, you'll do what I say, when I say, or I show this..." He holds my diary up, "to your mother, and you'll spend your best dating years behind the wall of a mental institution. Your mother and I are going to be happy. You're not going to stand in the way. Sleep tight!" He says, turning to leave my room.

"That's mine, and you are not leaving this room with it!" I growl, grabbing his wrist.

"Take your hand off me."

"No."

Ted slaps me hard, and I hit the wall. That actually hurt.

"Oh... I was so hoping you'd do that." I say softly.

"Buffy, don't!" I turn to see Kendra standing in the hall.

"Kendra, you saw that, didn't you?"

"Of course."

"Good. Then I have a witness." I turn back to Ted and punch him in the face. He stumbles back into my door, then rights himself and backhands me. I fall against my bed and crumple to the floor. He tries to pick me up by my collar, but I kick his shin, then elbow him in the face. just as my mom shows up in the doorway.

"Buffy! Stop that! Stop it!" She's screaming at me. He pushes me away, and I see a dark blur behind him as Kendra knees him in the back, sending him toppling to the floor. He gets back up and pushes Kendra away gently. He needs to behave in front of my mom. I don't.

I kick him in the chest, and he flies back into the hallway, sailing right past my mom. I follow him and punch him in the face again.

"Buffy, stop!" Kendra shouts after me. "You'll hurt him!"

I kick him again when he's regained his balance at the end of the hall. Unfortunately, my kick sends him rolling down the stairs. He hits the ground, and his body looks broken and battered, and he's not moving. I'm paralyzed. What did I just do?

Kendra's behind me, her hand on my shoulder, both wary and reassuring. My mom ran down the stairs and knelt by Ted.

"Ted..." She says softly. My heart has stopped beating. "Ted! Ted!" She cries hysterically. Kendra squeezes my shoulder, and pain shoots down my arm at the strength of her grip, but I barely notice it. "You killed him!" My mom cries.

I stare down at Ted's limp, lifeless body, not believing... refusing to believe... that I just killed him.

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Stein. I'm sorry, but I need to ask you a few questions. Your relationship with the deceased?" The detective asks my mom as the coroners wheel Ted's body out of the house.

"We were, uh, seeing each other." My mom sounds numb. I feel numb. Nothing seems right. I hated Ted, I'll admit that. I wanted to beat the crap out of him for taking my mom away from me, for trying to take my dad's place, for threatening me, for hitting me, for so obviously despising Kendra just because we were in a relationship with each other. But I never wanted him to die. I especially never wanted to kill him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Detective Stein asks.

"He fell. Down the stairs. He fell." My mom says, and I can't believe she's covering for me. I just killed her boyfriend, and she's still covering for me.

"I see. Uh, did he slip? Do you know what made him fall?"

"I hit him." I answer, and everyone looks at me. "I hit him." I say again, still not really understanding what happened.

"He was in my room. And we got into an argument." I explain to the detective. It's just me, Mom, and Detective Stein. Kendra's being questioned somewhere else as another witness. I wish she was the one beside me, not Mom. Mom refuses to even look at me right now.

"About what?"

"He, um..." I trail off.

"Was this the first time that you two had had an argument?"

"No. He threatened me. He... He said he would slap me."

"That was tonight?"

"No. But he had my diary. And I-I tried to take it back, a-and that's when he hit me."

"Where?"

I point to my cheek, which obviously is clear, due to my Slayer abilities.

"Well, it doesn't look like he hit you very hard."

"I don't bruise easily."

"So you've been hit before?"

"Yes."

"But Ted never hit you?"

"I told you-"

"Before tonight, Ted never hit you before tonight?"

"What do you want?" I ask, feeling helpless. "I-I told you what happened, I didn't mean to!"

"I believe you." He says softly, and I feel like he's telling the truth. "Things get out of hand. He's a big guy."

"Are you charging her with something?" Mom asks, exasperatedly.

"We're not bringing anything up against your daughter right now. She says Mr. Buchanan struck her, and if that's the case... Anyway, we've got to examine it further. Right now, I think you should just take her home and the two of you should get some rest."

"Three." I say.

"Excuse me?"

"There are three of us. My, um... My girlfriend... She lives with us..."

"Well, in any case, it would be best for everyone to go home and rest. If we need anything else, we'll call beforehand, let you know whether we'll show up at your house or if you need to come into the precinct."

"Thank you, officer." Mom says. We wait for Kendra to get out of her interview, then the three of us go home.

"Buffy!" Xander calls as he and Willow climb up the steps to the couches. Kendra's sitting right next to me, holding my hand, occasionally squeezing it, trying her damnedest to comfort me. "Are you okay?" Xander asks.

"How come you're here?" Willow asks.

"I couldn't stay home." I say softly, fighting back tears as I say, "Mom won't even look at me."

"What happened? U-unless you don't want to talk about it?"

"We had a fight and I lost my temper. I really let him have it." Kendra squeezes my hand again.

"The paper said he fell."

"He fell." I agree. "Hard."

"What was he?" Xander asks.

"What?"

"What was he? A-a demon? A giant bug? Some kind of dark god with the secrets of nouvelle cuisine? I mean, we are talking creature-feature here, right?"

I meet Xander's eyes for a second, then look down at the floor as a tear rolls down my cheek, and I don't need to answer as I feel everyone's hearts drop.

"Oh man..." Xander all but whispers.

"But I'm sure it wasn't your fault!" Willow protests. "He started it!"

"Yeah. That defense only works in six-year-old court, Will."

"Court? Wa-wait... Are they charging you with something?"

I shake my head slightly. "I... I don't know yet..." I keep my eyes on the floor as I continue. "He... He was a person, and I killed him."

"Don't say dat." Kendra says.

"Why not? Everyone else is. And it's the truth."

"It was an accident."

"I'm the Slayer. I had no right to hit him like that."

"Look, Buffy..." Xander says. "I don't know what happened, exactly. But I do know you. And I know that you would never hurt anyone intentionally. Well, you know, unless-"

"Unless they were dating my mother?" Xander can't answer that. "I gotta go." I say, standing and running away. None of them, not even Kendra, follow me.

"Can I help?" I ask my mom, who's packing away pots and pans.

"It's done." she snaps. "I've been meaning to clean this junk out for months. Do you, uh, have homework?"

"I didn't mean to hurt him." I whisper.

"I don't wanna talk about this."

"Mom, please, you have to know-"

"I can't. Not yet. Please, Buffy, just... Just go to your room."

I run from the room, up the stairs, trying hard not to cry. I get to the top of the steps and look back down at the ground, where Ted's body had been only last night. After I killed him.

I actually think about throwing myself down the steps right now. I deserve it, don't I? I took a human life. It should only be fair that I meet the same fate, right?

The only things that keep me from throwing myself down the steps right now is a) the knowledge that I'd survive it, anyway, due to my Slayer strength making suicide much, much more difficult, and b) the thought that I can't hurt my mom any more than I have. The only thing that'll hurt her worse than losing the man she loved is losing me. I can't do that to her.

I look at my door, thinking for a minute. But no, I need to talk to someone, and Kendra's door is open slightly. She prefers the light of candles to the light of electric lights, to the flickering lights cast a warm glow through the crack around the doorway. An inviting glow.

So, instead, I go into her room, and find her meditating on her bed.

I watch her for a few minutes before she notices me, and she stands up, pulling me inside.

"Sorry. I... I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, Buffy. I understand." She has me sit down on her bed, and she closes her door. She sits down next to me and puts her arms around my shoulders, pulling me into her, hugging me tightly. I let it all out, sobbing into her shoulder, drenching her shirt and hugging her tighter and tighter with each second. If she'd been a normal human, I'd have broken her ribs by now, but she just takes the bone-crushing hug and returns it.

It must have been ten at night before I finally woke up in Kendra's bed and left quietly, not wanting to wake her up. Now, I'm sitting at my desk in my room, facing inwards. I hear the floorboards creak outside my room, so I call out.

"Mom?" No one answers, so I breathe out. "The hell with this." I get up and walk over to my window, trying to go outside and get in some slayage. But the window won't budge. I look around the windowsill, and see that she'd nailed it shut.

"She nailed it shut. Well, it's official. This day can't get any worse."

"Beg to differ." Ted says behind me, and I whip around, startled.

"You... You died." I say, scared.

"That's right, little lady, you killed me. Do we have something to say about that? Are we sorry?"

"What are you?" I whimper.

"I'm a salesman! That's what you should've remembered. No matter how you put him down..." He picks me up and throws me across the room, "a good salesman always bounces back!" I crash into my desk chair, hurting all over.

I get back up and kick him in the gut, following through with a left cross to the jaw. He flinches, but doesn't appear to be fazed. I punch him twice in the stomach again, then another to the face, but he still doesn't back off. He grabs me by the throat and slams me against the wall.

"You see, I had to shut down for a while to get you off my back. You should've seen the intern's face when I got up off the table, it was a hoot! Fun's over, though." His iron-like grip tightens around my throat, cutting off my air.

I reach desperately for a weapon of any kind on my dresser, and find a nail file. I stab his arm with it, and he pulls back, opening a long gash on his arm. I fall to the ground, coughing.

"That wasn't playing fair, missy." He scolds me like a three-year-old. I look up at his wound and see wires and bits of metal sticking out.

"You're gonna find..." His head jerks to the side suddenly. "Hell of a day! Makes you feel like you're eighteen again!" His head jerks back like nothing had happened. "... that I don't like being disobeyed!"

He kicks me in the jaw suddenly, and my world goes black.

I'm shook awake what seems like only seconds after I was knocked out by the Terminator, and I look up into Kendra's eyes.

"Kendra?" I ask.

"I heard de commotion, and came in to find you on de ground, out cold. What happened?"

"It's Ted. He's alive. Kind of..."

"What do ya mean, "kind of"? Vampire?"

"No, but he's not human. He's some kind of robot."

She grins. "Robot, eh? Then that means ya never killed anything at all, Buffy." I smile at the sudden realization, too.

"I guess not." Then, another realization hits me as I hear my mom scream just downstairs, then a thud. Kendra and I spring to our feet and run towards the stairs. I see my mom on the ground, unconscious.

The stairs creak under my weight, and Ted looks up at us. We're still in the shadows, so he can't actually see us, but he does know we're here.

"Buffy, come out! And bring your silly little freak of nature girlfriend with you! I don't stand for this kind of malarkey in my house!"

"Uncle Teddy?" I quip, then slam him in the face with one of the cast-iron skillets from the box Mom was carrying. "This house is mine!" I growl. Ted rols around, and some of the "skin" on his face peels off, revealing dented circuitry.

"Buffy? How about a nice game of Parcheesi?" He asks cheerfully.

I raise the pan again and slam it down on his head again. He falls backward and writhes on the floor for a minute before he shorts out.

Mom and I are sitting on the front porch, peacefully. Apparently, Xander, Cordy and Willow found four bodies hidden in Ted's apartment, so my mom isn't mad at me killing him. Then again, she saw him, so she knows I didn't actually kill him. But since I couldn't tell her he was a robot, because that would lead to me talking about me and Kendra being Slayers, and that's a convo I hope I never have to have with her.

So, we're sitting alone on the front porch, just talking.

"Do you want to rent a movie tonight?" She asks.

"Sound fun." I agree.

"Just nothing with horror in it. Or romance. Or men."

I laugh as I say, "I guess we're 'Thelma and Louise'ing it again."

"Mm-hmm. Good call." She sighs. "I still think he's gonna jump out at me. Especially after what was found in his house. It's just too horrible."

"I wouldn't worry. He's not coming back."

"I wish I could be so sure."

"Trust me. He's on the scrap heap..." I quickly come up with something because of the look I get, "... of life."

She nods at my witty metaphor, like she actually believed I'd meant to do that.

"Just one favor, Buffy?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Do you think you could convince Kendra to stay over at Willow's tonight, or something? I'd like it to be just a 'you and me' night, okay?"

"I think arrangements could be made." I agree. We haven't really had just a 'mother/daughter bonding night' in a long time, anyway.

The next chapter's going to be, of course, "Bad Eggs", based on the season 2 episode of the same name. However, I think I'm going to put my own darker twist on that episode, so it won't be following the actual script as closely as the previous two chapters. Forgive me for anything I may change that you don't like about my version, I promise you, after "Bad Eggs", I'll be returning to following the script almost directly, minus the addition of Kendra into the script. Basically, I'm changing the next "episode" to incorporate a thought I had when I was first watching the episode on tv, when I didn't really know what was going on. It was a thought that absolutely disgusted me, but I thought it might add a bit more of a horror element to it. So, anyway, if you don't want to read this next chapter, feel free to wait for "Surprise", the fourth chapter of this story. I won't be offended!