Buffy had had it with emotions. She had defeated the literal First Evil, she had averted the apocalypse, and now she had to deal with all these feelings, like exhaustion and love and embarrassment and anxiety.

And Faith was so calm through it all. Buffy didn't get how she did it. But then again, Faith hadn't gotten where she was by wearing her emotions on her sleeve. And Faith wasn't the one standing next to her girlfriend and asking to crash at her ex's.

So Buffy backed up and did some Slayer wrangling, making sure that everyone had roommates they could deal with while Faith talked to Angel about rooms. Soon enough, most of the Slayers had gone up to their rooms to sleep, and Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, Kennedy, Giles, Dawn, and Angel sat in the hotel lobby.

"So, you've all been busy," Angel said.

"Pretty much," Buffy said.

Angel surveyed the group. "Who's…" He gestured at Kennedy.

"This is Kennedy," Willow said. "She's a Slayer."

"Huh. Seem to be a lot of those lately."

"You said you had some?" Giles asked.

Angel nodded. "One's been living here. She's asleep on the third floor. There's another in the suburbs, who has a pretty picturesque life. She doesn't have much interest in being a Slayer, and she won't cause trouble if you leave her alone. There are a couple more who would go with you if you asked, and one who's a trickier case."

"Never seen one of those before," Buffy muttered.

"I'll take care of it," Faith said, shooting Buffy a glare.

"She's holed up in an abandoned movie theater," Angel said. "I think she's using vampires as slaves."

"Good for her," Kennedy commented. She leaned forward and addressed the group. "But what are we going to do with all these girls?"

"Spread out," Buffy said, sitting up straighter. "We set up a base for training, and then when we've got girls trained up, we send them into the world." She looked around at the others. "I mean, that makes sense, right?"

"I'd say I'm looking right at the core training staff," Angel said.

"Works for me," said Faith. "Where's our base?"

"Might I suggest England?" Giles asked. "The resources of the Council-"

"Didn't the Council explode?" Willow asked.

"Yes, but that was not their only stronghold," Giles explained. "The Council, as a rule, is careful, and it is old. Furthermore, for all intents and purposes, at this point, I am the Council, as the only remaining active Watcher. Therefore, I will be able to take over their resources in order to properly train and support Slayers."

"Sounds like a plan," Faith said.

"So, we all head overseas?" Dawn asked.

"Pretty expensive proposal," Xander said.

"The Council has always been a wealthy organization," Giles said. "It has had thousands of years to accumulate wealth and resources."

"We'll have to ask the girls if they actually want to go," Buffy said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I mean, if there's not a chosen one, surely they can do their own choosing, right?"

"Jealous?" Faith asked.

"What? No!" Buffy exclaimed. When everyone in the room stared at her, she sighed. "Well, a little. I wouldn't have chosen to be a Slayer."

"Neither would I," Kennedy said, "but I can't go back to my life now that I know about this."

"We'll let the Slayers decide," Giles said. "Some may agree with you, Kennedy. But they deserve the choice, now that they have it."

"And so do all of you," Buffy said. "If any of you non-Slayer types don't want to stay with us-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Willow interrupted.

"We're with you, Buff," Xander agreed.

Buffy shrugged. "Just checking."

"I can get you plane tickets," Angel said. "I just need a head count."

"Some of us should stay back," Willow said. "For the new new Slayers."

"Faith and I can handle it," Buffy said. "One last California quest before we go to the land of no sun and scones."

Faith laughed. Giles scoffed.

"I'll have you know-"

"Yeah, I get it," Buffy said. "England's better than we think." She grinned. "If your name is Earl Grey."

"Well," Giles said, hiding his indignation behind his Britishness in such a familiar way, "I'm going to bed. I'll make some calls in the morning and get access to the Watcher Council funds." He stood and left, up the stairs to his room.

Willow got up, saying a quick good night and pulling Kennedy after her, and then Dawn made a wisecrack about it being past her bedtime, and even Faith left, and a moment later everyone was gone but Angel and Buffy.

Buffy sighed. "And here we are again." She stood to leave. "I'm going up, too. Thanks for letting us stay."

Angel stood too. "No problem. I'm always glad to help."

"Helping the helpless, right?"

"You've never been helpless."

Buffy smiled and went up the stairs to the room, where Faith was already curled up under the covers. Maybe Buffy had never been helpless, but she had been afraid, and she realized in this moment that she wasn't.

How strange.

She got into bed and fell asleep in moments.

The morning brought with it a frenzy of activity; everyone was calling somebody, everyone had to be updated on what was going on, and all the Slayers were being put on the bus to the airport, either to go to England or to go back to their homes. Angel's co-workers were around, too, trying to actually run their business, which was awkward when one of them was Wesley, and when their clients came in to see twenty teenage girls packing weapons into suitcases. Buffy wound up answering a million questions from what seemed like a million Slayers, and then Fred came up to her, grim-faced girl in tow.

"Buffy, this is Madison. She's a Slayer."

"Hi, Madison," Buffy said. "I'm Buffy. Um, I'm also a Slayer. Are you joining the group?"

Madison nodded.

"We're glad to have you." Buffy tried for a warm smile. She didn't really know what else to say. "Have you Slain anything yet?"

"I've gone with Angel's team a couple of times," Madison said. "Killed a few vampires."

"She's being humble," Fred said. "She took down three at once her first time out."

"I almost died," she said, her face still expressionless. "I want to learn how to live."

"Can I tell you something?" Buffy asked.

"If you want."

"I've almost died more than I can count. I even actually died a couple of times. It's hard, being a Slayer, but more people are alive at the end than would be if you hadn't been there, even if you're not one of them. Three vampires your first Slay is incredible. But don't think it's going to get easier."

There was a moment of silence, and then Madison nodded again. "I don't feel safe here," she said. "I want to go with you."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Do you want to go today, or in a few days when Faith and I bring the other local Slayers?"

"I'll go today."

"Fred, can you tell Dawn to add her to the count?"

"I'm on it," Fred said, walking off.

Buffy turned back to the girl in front of her. "We'll be glad to have you, Madison." She paused. "Do you want to go talk to some of the other Slayers? There are lots of them. I'm sure one of them will be your friend."

"Okay." Madison walked away, towards the center of the lobby where girls were gathered, talking and laughing. Buffy looked at them, at Madison hanging out on the edges, and was glad for a moment that these girls had each other. Never again would there be one girl in all the world, or one girl in all the world and the one other girl in all the world.

Buffy looked at the scene in front of her, and then she turned away to look for Faith.

Finally, two hours later, everyone was on a bus to LAX, and Buffy stoodwith Faith in the lobby of Angel Investigations, feeling oddly adrift.

"So, now we look for those other Slayers?" Buffy asked.

"Guess so," Faith answered. "Come on, let's go ask Angel where they are."

Fifteen minutes later, Faith and Buffy were on the streets, addresses in hand.

"We should split up," Faith said. "You get Tina, I get Jaya, we meet up for Nadia."

"No," Buffy said. "This is our last mission as the Chosen Ones. We go together."

Buffy could practically hear Faith's eye-roll, but Faith didn't say anything.

They got to the first address, a shabby apartment building not too far from the hotel. Buffy stood awkwardly at the doorway, unsure of what to do, but Faith walked right in and pushed a buzzer, and so Buffy took a few more steps in and stood behind Faith.

"Aren't these buildings supposed to have doormen?"

"The nice ones are," Faith answered.

A voice crackled over the speaker.

"Hello?" It couldn't have been the voice of anyone over twelve.

"Hey. This is Faith and Buffy. We're Angel's friends. We're here to see Tina."

"That's me. Come upstairs."

Faith led the way up the stairs to Tina's apartment. She knocked on the door, and a tiny girl with wide eyes opened the door. Behind her Buffy could see a sofa and the edge of a coffee table against gray walls.

"Are you guys Slayers?" she asked.

Faith and Buffy exchanged a look.

"Yes," Buffy said. "Just like you."

Tina backed away and held the door open, so Buffy and Faith stepped through and into the living space.

"You guys can sit down if you want," Tina said.

"Okay." Buffy sat on the sofa, and after a moment, Faith sat next to her. Tina sat cross-legged on the coffee table, her eyes darting between Buffy and Faith. She leaned in.

"Do you guys really kill vampires?"

"Every day, practically," Faith said.

"Wow."

"Have you seen any vampires?" Buffy asked.

"Angel showed me one," Tina said. "He took it down. He's not a Slayer, is he?"

"No," Buffy said. "He's just had a lot of practice."

"So, Tina, do you want to learn to do that?" Faith asked. "Be a Slayer?"

Tina nodded. "I think so."

"You might have to go far away," Buffy said.

"That's okay," Tina said. "My mom doesn't really care about me. She doesn't stay here most of the time."

Buffy looked around the room. She had thought that it was so clean because it was well-kept, but she realized it was so clean because no one used it.

"Do you want to come with us now?" Faith asked.

"Can I?" Tina asked. Her posture was suddenly straighter. "Can I go with you and never come back here? Ever?"

"It'll be hard," Faith said. "Being a Slayer is hard. But we'll feed you, and give you a place to sleep, and what more could you ask for? Bit like prison in that way."

"Don't scare her, Faith," Buffy hissed.

"What? It's the truth."

"But it'll be like you have lots of sisters," Buffy said. "You won't be alone."

They left the building with Tina between them. It was a short walk full of questions and answers, and before long they were in another building, ringing another buzzer.

Jaya actually appeared just as they were asking for her over the intercom; a man's voice had just said that she was out when she walked in. She was right in the middle of letting her hair out of its braid when she stopped and glared at Buffy and Faith.

"Why're you looking for me?" she demanded, crossing her arms and leaning back on one foot, hair half-braided. Buffy almost laughed; it was a pose she was so used to from Faith. Jaya was about as old as Faith and Buffy had been, too, when they had met.

"We're Angel's friends," Faith said.

"Angel?"

"Tall, dark hair, leather jacket?" Buffy asked. "Might have talked to you about being a Slayer?"

"Oh, that Angel." Jaya's posture relaxed. "You two are going to teach me to kill vampires?"

"Something like that," Buffy said.

"If you want to," Faith said. "And if you can come to England."

Jaya shrugged. "I'll do anything if you can convince my parents."

"Can we set up, like, a fake boarding school?" Faith asked Buffy. "With a ton of financial aid?"

"Could probably set up a real boarding school," Buffy said. She turned her attention back to Jaya. "Stay here until next fall. By then, we'll either have someone in L. A. to teach you, or we'll be able to sell an impressive boarding school."

Jaya's facade of strength cracked. Her arms fell to her side. "Will I be safe here? Without training?"

"Angel can help," Buffy said. "He and his people can protect you and teach you some stuff."

"I don't trust him," Jaya said. "He's weird. Isn't this Slayer thing supposed to be about girl power or something?"

"How about Fred?" Faith asked. "You know her?"

"Yeah. She's okay."

"Hang out with her," Faith said. "She can help you, too. Just let Angel teach you some cool kicks, okay?"

Jaya nodded. Her eyes traveled from Faith to Tina.

"You a Slayer, too?"

"Yeah," Tina answered. "I'm going to England."

"Good luck, kid." Jaya held up her hand for a high five. Tina slapped her hand with force that would have moved a lesser soul to tears, but not a Slayer.

"Thanks," she said.

"We'll be in touch," Buffy said. "If Angel's people call, answer."

And they left, still towing Tina.

"Where's the third?" Faith asked.

Buffy held up the address sheet. "The address is just the movie theater."

Buffy looked down at Tina. "We can worry about her tomorrow. We should probably go in daylight, if she's got vampire slaves."

"And maybe we shouldn't take an inexperienced kid?"

Tina poked Faith's hip, which was the only part she could reach. "Hey!"

"Sorry, Teeny." Faith shrugged. "But trust me, you don't want to walk into an abandoned movie theater with a potentially rogue Slayer after dark. Even with me and B along."

"You want dinner?" Buffy asked. "We could order pizza to the hotel."

"I like pizza," Tina said.

A few minutes later, they were back at the hotel and Buffy was on the phone, calling in an order for the whole Angel Investigations team. The rest of the evening felt a little bit like a party, with everyone sitting around with pizza, talking about- well, mostly about the demons they had killed, which ruined the mood a little bit, but it wasn't every day that they had a wide-eyed newbie hanging on to their every word.

Although maybe it was, now.

At any rate, it was exactly what Buffy needed: a regular evening without twenty teenagers relying on her to know what to do, even if one of them was her vampire ex, and one of them had been a Watcher she had hated, and one of them was an eleven-year-old who was really not old enough for everything she was about to experience. She enjoyed watching Angel bicker with his friends (including and especially Faith), and she enjoyed the tag-team storytelling that she, Angel, and Faith could pull off, with memories of when life was just a couple of Slayers against an entire world of evil. And she liked hearing the stories that Angel's people had, too; they had been through as much as Buffy.

Later, when she was lying next to Faith in their room (Angel had offered separate rooms, but he hadn't seemed too surprised when neither Buffy nor Faith wanted to switch), Buffy asked, "Are we like moms now? Telling stories of the good old days and trying to figure out what to do with eleven-year-olds?"

"I told you," Faith said. She was lying on her stomach and doodling on a pad of paper that Buffy was pretty sure she had stolen from the motel. "I'm the weird aunt."

"I'm serious, Faith. We're going to go to England, and there are still going to be all these people looking up to us."

"To you," Faith said. "Who'd look up to me?"

"Girls like you," Buffy said, her voice quiet. "The ones who are seventeen and confused and in a bad place. You're not so bad, Faith."

"Nicest thing you've ever said about me," Faith joked, but it wasn't quite a joke.

"Not true!" Buffy sat up and faced Faith. "I've said lots of nice things about you. Like, you're good at Slaying when you're not evil, and your hair is really nice, and-" Buffy stopped, distracted by Faith's hair. It really was nice, especially with the way the low light was making it glow as it fell over Faith's shoulder.

Faith looked at Buffy. "And what?"

"Nothing." Buffy blushed. "I, um, got distracted by your hair."

Faith sat up, tossing her head. "You wouldn't be the first." She leaned in, her face close to Buffy's, their foreheads almost touching. "Are you distracted by anything else?"

With a smile, Buffy pulled Faith in for a kiss.