Chapter 12: Departures

A/N: For Disclaimers, warnings see Chapt. 1

A Schism in Stars Hollow

A Father Goose Digression

Chapter 12: Departures

The trouble with being bored, Jules thought, was that it was so fucking boring.

This was turning out to be one lousy Saturday night. He'd been forced to eat dinner with his parents. The food had been good, he had to admit, but his mother had kept saying how terribly fattening it was and she shouldn't have any more and then stealing stuff off of his plate. Dessert had been called prophet rolls or something, fancy little balls of dough with ice cream inside covered in the best damn chocolate sauce he'd ever had. But his mom had refused hers and he'd seen the look in her eye and bolted his so fast he'd been near-puking for fifteen minutes after.

Finally he'd made his escape and went looking for Vanessa only to find she was being forced to go to some women's thing with her mother. She'd given him the "What can I do?" shrug. She'd had a little bit of chocolate sauce on her lip. Jules had felt like crying.

He hadn't, frankly, looked all that hard for Dustin, but he'd found him anyway, in line to join the Twinkie eating contest. Jules had figured he'd pass on that.

So here he was, up in the room, watching some old movie on TV, with his laptop open, trying to log into his SuitWar: Clash of the Incorporated RPG but having a bit of trouble with the Inn's shaky wi-fi connection. All I need now, he thought, is a pocket protector and some acne, little touch of asthma. At least he had the room to himself, his father had gone off to some hush-hush meeting and his mom was off to the same thing Vanessa was at.

And then suddenly life got better. There was a tapping at the window and it was Vanessa out on the ledge. He opened the window and helped her inside.

"I escaped," she said, "women, alcohol and swords," she said, "it was ugly. Watchya doin?"

"Nothin' much. Just… checkin' out slayer sites and stuff, see if maybe there was a picture of the real Faith…" he said with sudden inspiration.

"Oh, yeah? Any luck?" Vanessa said eagerly.

"No, not really," he said and she sagged.

"Yeah," she said sadly, "I figure they're actually pretty careful about that. God, I feel so... " she sighed, just a trace of tears in her voice.

Jules thought frantically, the primordial male need to avoid female tears overriding the part of his brain that was jumping up and down trying to point out that if she cried she would need to be comforted….

"I did have another idea," he said quickly, "do you still have the list of names?"

"Yeah," she said, pulling a much folded paper out her pocket. Jules took it and spread it out on the bed, moving the laptop aside and taking advantage of the moment to close the SuitWar page.

"So," he said, "what do we know? We know Xander's here and we know Giles is here. So there's a whole bunch of Xander's and Faith's, but there's hardly any British guys, right? I guess cause the whole Council being in England thing. So I thought, maybe we should look for Giles…"

"Ohmigod, I'm such an idiot," Vanessa said, hopping up on the bed beside him and beginning to run her finger down the list, "I saw that name, God, I remember thinking it was like a Monty Python thing. Yeah, Reginald Smythe-Smythe. He has a single. And next door…. Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Pull up babelfish on that thing would you?"

"Okay," Jules said. "Just give me a sec. Okay, waddya want?"

"Italian to English. Alba … a-l-b-a Estate e-s-t-a-t-e. And…?"

"I'll be damned," Jules said excitedly, "Dawn Summer," and turned expecting to see a pleased and eager Vanessa only to see the tears starting down her cheeks, heard her wail,

"God, I'm such an idiot. A moron. "

"No, you're not. You're the one who figured…"

"Don't you get it? That was Buffy and Dawn. I met The Slayer and her sister and all I could do was babble on about how much I wanted to meet Faith…"

"Um…" Jules started, only to be overridden,

"They were laughing at me!"

And finally the wiser half of Jules' brain got a moment at the controls and Jules held out his arms and Vanessa lunged forward and buried her face in his shoulder and mumbled on,

"I don't know what I was thinking, what would a slayer have to say to me anyway, I'm nothing, I'm not a potential, I'm just some dumb girl with crazy parents, God I'm glad I didn't find her…."

Jules closed his arms around her. She was soft and warm and she smelled … quite a bit like chocolate really, but also … other things, nice things. He began to gently stroke her hair and let her babble on his shoulder.

And then, because this was how things happened in Jules' world, there was a clatter and a crash and Dustin fell in through the open window, then picked himself up, said,

"Watchya guys doin… oh, hell dude, I'm sorry, If I'd known you were getting some I'd stayed outside and watched…"

At which Vanessa of course thrust herself away from Jules, announcing, "No one's getting anything here."

"No, we were just…" Jules mumbled.

"So we still on the great slayer hunt then?"

"No," Vanessa stated, "I'm sick of fucking slayers and all this bullshit."

"Oh, okay," Dustin shrugged, "So, you wanta go burn a bowl by the lake then?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Faith possessed herself of patience. She ran through some of the exercises she'd developed over the years, she pictured fish swimming through a reef, pictured herself swimming with them, let herself float … brought herself back to Giles' room and tried to pay attention.

Any other time she would have kicked back and enjoyed watching Giles' bring the hammer down on these whackjobs but just at the moment she had other things on her mind. One of which was attacking her finger. She let him worry her pinkie for a moment then flipped him over on his back and tickled his round little belly. He was messing with her mind, the little furball. Bringing back funky memories, remembering begging her Mom to let her have a puppy, another time to let her keep this alley mutt who'd followed her home (allright, the rope around his neck might have had something to with that but still…). But that wasn't it, really. She'd had Windy for just hours now, but she'd held him against her chest, felt his heart beating, seen him look up at her with those trusting, eager eyes… and she knew she would kill to keep him safe, she would never, ever let anyone do the kind of things … her mother had let people do to her.

So maybe six months from now when he'd chewed her favorite boots and shit on the carpet she'd feel different, but she didn't think so.

Besides she knew Windy was more symptom than cause. She'd been thinking thoughts … ever since they'd made plans to come to this shindig and she'd seen how excited Xan was to get together with the old gang again.

He never complained, and hell, after all, he was the one who made the travel plans. Either he'd get a call from Giles or some other source and off they'd go. Oh, he'd check with her but she was always with the "whatever" and she meant it. One place was like another to her. He always managed to get them some scuba time or some hang-gliding time in between gigs which was the only thing she would have asked for anyway.

But she wondered sometimes if maybe he'd schedule a bit more time in Rome or England if she got along better with Buffy and Red. Not that they fought or anything, but … well, there was just always going to be a 'but.'

For one thing, if Red ever realized just how many close calls Xan had had over the years backing her up … the sort of close calls that wouldn't have happened if she'd waited for slayer backup… yeah, if Red ever got the full story Faith figured she'd spend at least a few hours hopping around and eating flies.

And probably deserve it. She felt as strong as ever herself and hell, Xan was in his prime and not really starting to slow down. Not yet. But it wasn't true that whatever didn't kill you made you stronger. Sometimes what didn't kill you made your bad leg weak and painful on days when the weather changed. Or made you sneak off three days a week to see a physical therapist for help rebuilding the torn muscles in your left shoulder. Arriving too late too save a young slayer who'd got in over her head made you harder…. But stronger, not so much.

Sometimes what didn't kill you made you get up in the wee hours and sit staring out into the night when he thought she was asleep. Sometimes what didn't kill you slowly wore you down.

Much as she loved having him all to herself, loved knowing even as they settled into the guestroom of this or that slayer house for a week, a month, sometimes even longer, they were still XanderanFaith, she knew it wasn't enough. He needed friends. Family. A place to call home. A place to rest. She wanted him to have that, she wanted to give it to him. She just wasn't sure if she could, if she knew how to give him what she'd never had. But she had to try.

What was it B said? Love made you do the wacky.

So maybe she wanted it too, just a little. Windy was just the first step. But it had been a big one, that's what the pitty-pat of the little bastard's heart in her hand was telling her. There was no going back.

Deep thoughts. Sometimes this whole getting older and wiser thing sucked.

Giles, she told herself, meeting. Funny.

She watched as the guy with the wine farm, Jaime, dropped the bomb, saw their jaws drop and their eyes goggle and then, and this was the really funny part, she watched them all take moment to try to figure out just how much trouble they were in and what the odds getting out of it unscathed were. All except the big guy, Joe B. who had no guilt at all, just suspicion and anger, glaring over at Jaime, then at Giles, at Xan, at her.

She watched Xan shake hands all around, doing that thing he did she could never quite manage, the whole charming, being nice to people thing. She watched the nerdy guy, Harvey, get all stammery, she watched F. Erin M. go all giggly. She watched them all exchange glances as Xan turned and came back to sit beside her. She felt a sudden rage. She could see it in their eyes, they were …. disappointed. What the fuck, did they expect him to be eight feet tall? Pansy shits had no fucking idea what he'd done, who the fuck were they to…

Fish. Gliding through blue water. The sun's golden rays on the reef.

"Well," Joe B. said, "very convincing, but considering we are at a convention of Xander and Faith imitators …. you wouldn't be trying to kid a kidder here, would you, Jaime?"

Ah, that would be her cue. She handed Windy over to Xan and bounced off the bed and paused a moment to give Sarah B. a smirk, then eased into Joe B.'s personal space,

"What'samatter, baby," she said, "Don't you think I'm real?" She leaned in, reached around his waist and under his shirt and found the pistol holstered in the small of his back where the smell of gun oil had told her to expect it. She took the weapon and stepped back said,

"Expecting trouble?" She popped the clip, cleared the chamber and then, holding the gun up high enough to be sure they all could see, she bent the barrel in half, crushed the plastic handle and bent the metal frame up over the pretzled barrel and tossed the remains to Sarah B. who caught it with a glare.

"Satisfied? We could do that thing where I close my eyes and throw knives…"

"Thank you, Faith, I don't think that will be necessary," Giles said dryly. "Gentlemen, ladies, please have a seat."

Faith went back to the bed, gave Xan a quick kiss and reclaimed her puppy, turned and watched the XLHer's settling nervously into their seats.

"For the record," Giles was saying, "Jaime here had nothing to do with our being here. That is … the result of a fortuitous accident. Jaime recognized me, and approached me earlier and we had pleasant chat. And as a favor I asked him to help me organize this little meeting. I want to say first we bear you no animosity, in fact I must admit to being rather impressed. To be quite honest I was expecting … something much less professional. You all, and I am definitely including the ladies in this, have great intestinal fortitude, to say the least. We've done a little checking into your charities and with a few exceptions….

"Three of the orphanages in Eastern Europe," Dawn interjected, "are nothing but maildrops. Besides cutting them off from more funds, there probably isn't much you can do about them. The runaway home in Atlanta is a front for underage prostitution…"

"What? No, it can't…" Harvey started, his face going pale.

"The nosy parker's back at the Council are convinced you didn't know, Harvey," Giles added. "Our preliminary investigation shows no demonic involvement so we'll be providing you with a package of documents and details tomorrow and if you go to the FBI first thing Monday, you should be able to close them down and still limit the damage to your legitimate agencies. As far as we can tell within the limited time we've had to look around, the rest of your charities are doing good work…. All of which, I'm afraid, is rather beside the point. I just want you to understand that Xander and I have listened to your presentations and discussions … we've talked, we've tried to find some way to let you continue, but I'm sorry, there really isn't. You have to stop."

Faith watched their faces, she saw the disappointment settle in. A couple of them nodded, it was what they'd expected, the others … little flares of anger, surprise, resentment flashed over their faces before the acceptance. Only Joe and Sarah B. seemed stubbornly resistant.

"And if we refuse?" Joe B. said.

"In two weeks," Dawn said, "we are going to start spreading the word that anyone claiming to be Xander, or in fact to be anyone associated with the slayers and the council, and demanding payment, is a fraud and is not under our protection. If you play nice, we'll include a bit about how we'd frown on retaliation for past extortions. If not…" she smiled. Sweetly. Sort of. Like a happy shark.

Faith almost laughed out loud, Little B was picking up a few skills of her own.

"How much? Ten percent? Twenty?" Sarah B. said. Faith felt her hackles raise, not so much at the question which she thought reasonable but at the tone of voice. She didn't, she decided, much like Sarah B.

"No," Giles said. "I'll not pretend I didn't play with the idea, we could certainly use the money. But no."

"Why the hell not!" Joe B. exploded, standing, "You'd rather the demons keep it….?"

"Joe, please," Harvey tried to intervene, but the larger man pushed him roughly away.

"No. Who the hell are you to just decide what we do? Who are you to play with our hard-earned futures? Maybe we're not super-heroes but we take risks, our people have died, and you're going to just sic the demons on us..."

Faith started to rise but felt Xander's hand on her leg, and settled back and watched Giles sigh and remove his glasses and give them a quick polish and then put them in his pocket. And then he stood, gave a glowering Dawn a quick pat on the shoulder, and came around the desk and if Faith hadn't known better she would have thought Willow was there doing a glamour of some kind so much did the older man seem to change, his back straighten, his eyes go hard, his voice cold, if still quiet,

"Sit down, Joseph Barton," Giles said and the big man sat.

Waddya know, Faith thought, the Ripper lives.

"This is not a debate," Giles continued. "No, you're not super heroes, you're not any kind of heroes. You're parasites, trading on reputations earned with blood and I'll not have it. Do you think if we wanted to sell protection to demons we would need your help? You're cute with your look-alike contests and you're well-meaning charities, so we're trying to be kind here. But like any parasite, you do harm. One of you expressed the hope that maybe some random vamp would hesitate to kill because you had convinced it that Faith was around. Maybe that happens, now and then. But that's not how the world works, not among humans. Not among demons. What happens is that vamp sits there thinking he paid for his protection, he's entitled to his kill. That night and the next and the night after." Giles paused, stood still, his gaze moving slowly from one XLHer to the next until he'd found them all.

"I'll not embarrass Mr. Harris by reciting his virtues and achievements, you seem reasonably well versed in those. But what he's done he's never done for gain and you dishonor him by taking money in his name and it will stop. Now." And he turned and ambled back around the desk, took out his glasses, gave them a polish and put them on, and when he spoke into the silence the Ripper was gone and the genteel Britisher was back, speaking sadly,

"It is a big cold world. And there are far more demons out there then slayers. We cannot be everywhere, so we must be anywhere. We must be the thing that goes bump in the demon's night, we must be the vampire's bogeyman. And a bogeyman who takes bribes … just isn't that scarey anymore." He sat forward.

"You've had a nice run, Joe. You've got a capital and pool of self-starting personnel, I should think an entrepreneur of your caliber should be able to find a new source of income before long. Now, about that capital, which, you understand, we could simply take…."

"Yes?" Joe said.

"I trust a portion of it and its proceeds will be allocated to the charities which I believe we all trust Harvey to oversee…"

"Of course."

"Now, about tomorrow, I assume you would like to make the announcement …"

And this, Faith thought, suddenly wanting very much to be out of the room, is my other cue. She stood, looked to Giles who nodded with a smile and she left.

"So, poor Giles, huh, Windy?" she said. "Gotta make damn sure no one thinks they can buy a slayer, yeah? 'Cause sooner or later they'll find one for sale and then the shit hits the fan. What? Don't look at me, I'm a good guy now. Yes I am, uhuh, yes I am." She held the puppy to her face to reiterate her point eye to eye and got her nose licked and ended up laughing instead.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Miss Patty stared in horror at the huge snake wrapped around Richard Gilmore's shoulders. She still couldn't see any auras but she could feel the evil in the air, this particular evil she could even recognize somehow. She glanced over at Lorelai and saw her face was ashen and she moved to take her arm even as the younger witch moved to support her other side.

The chair squeaked then and began to turn, and Miss Patty braced herself for the sight of death and the fainting or screaming that was bound to come with it and….

Richard looked up and smiled, carefully marked his place in the book he, and, apparently the snake, over his shoulder, had been reading.

"Lorelai, really, this is a family matter. Was it really necessary to involve these people?"

Lorelai tried to speak, then stumbled and Miss Patty and the little witch, Kaitlyn, that was her name, eased her down into a chair.

"Dad," she managed to gasp out, "what is …..?"

"This is, as you would know if you hadn't decided to run away just as we were preparing your final and full initiation, is Amsherket, who has been the Gilmore family demon for as long as records have been kept. He has taken, as you can see, the form of an asp for some esoteric reason of his own, and sometimes claims it was he who took Cleopatra's life but personally I believe that to be mere braggadocio."

"I bit her on the left breasssst," the snake said, "jussst above the heart. She died in ecsssstacy."

"And sometimes," Richard continued, "he affects a very annoying lisp, which I trust he will cease forthwith."

"Spoilsport," the snake said.

"The Gilmore family demon," Lorelai managed to gasp out. "All this time… it lived in the basement?"

"Not always. Sometimes he traveled with my mother."

"The slave-driving bitch," the snake said.

"Keep a civil tongue, Amsher, that's my mother you're talking about."

"Ah, you recognize the description," the snake said. And stuck out his tongue.

"The Gilmore family demon," Lorelai repeated. "I'm just trying to understand. What is a family demon?"

"It's quite simple, Lorelai. Long ago one of our ancestors made a bargain. His soul for…. " he gestured toward the elegant surroundings, "all this."

"And you, you just inherited…"

"Yes. Although every Gilmore gets a choice…"

"I've never been turned down," the snake said. "You're venal bunch, really."

"And my mother…."

"Is sitting right here," Emily said, "and yes, I made the choice as well. My soul for life with your father."

"Oh, pff," the snake said, "you make it sound so romantic. You wanted the house and trimmings too, just like all the others. And a very pallid soul it was, I must say. I wanted the other one."

"No one cares what you want," Emily snapped.

"Alasss," the snake said. "Truer words were never spoken."

"But I turned you down, right?" Lorelai said, "I ran away."

"Yes you did. But you didn't go far."

"I found a safe place."

"Did you? The silly witch blessed the child, not the place. You could have moved on. But its not really a question of geography. You're very much your mother's daughter. Practically a mirror image."

"I am not!"

"What does your mother do, for a living, as it were? She arranges parties, she supervises cooks and maids. What is it that you do? You manage an Inn, you oversee cooks and maids, you arrange parties. A little larger scale, perhaps, but same same."

"That just happened, Mia is the one who took me in. If Fran had taken us I'd be a baker."

"Perhaps," the snake said. "You think your mother is a petty tyrant, full of silly protocols? Who is it that has rules about how to watch a movie? Who is it when she's upset makes a sarcastic remark or twelve and goes off and sulks? That would be… both of you. You think your mother was angry and rigid when you had Rory, you think you would be all sweetness and light if Rory had turned up pregnant at fifteen? You think you would simply stand back and let her raise the kid any way she saw fit?"

"Maybe not, but there's a reason that didn't happen," Lorelai snapped. "I made sure that didn't happen."

"And you think your mother is the controlling one?" the snake snickered. "You wait and see, how kind and understanding and non-judgmental you are when Princess Rory finally does something you don't like. And let's talk about this obsession with Harvard. You don't think little Rory came up with that on her own, do you?"

"I just want the best for my daughter."

"What, life in Stars Hollow not good enough for Rory? I wonder who would agree with you on that? Your mother, possibly? And the best? Rory wants to be a journalist, right? Harvard and Yale don't even have journalism programs. One doesn't go to Harvard and Yale to get the best education, one goes Harvard and Yale to meet the right people, right Richard?"

"Absolutely."

"Gilmore kind of people. Our sort. Sure you ran away, Miss Lorelai," the snake hissed, "but you came running right back. There are many ways to succeed, to build a life. There are great universities all over this country. You picked the one path that would bring Rory, and you, right back into the world of your childhood, into the world of the Gilmores. Chilton, Harvard or Yale. Exactly what your mother wanted for you. You couldn't stay away. You just wanted an excuse to return, to save face, to blame your needs on your daughter. I'll admit your soul is a slightly spicier morsel than your mother's, but you sold it to me just as she did, and for the same things."

"That's not true!"

"What is this," a new voice spoke, "All My Children? Can we just cut to the chase here?" There was a sudden flash of movement and Miss Patty stared in amazement as the little blonde girl lunged forward and grabbed the demon by the neck just above the hood and again with her other hand just below the hood and stood with eyerolling impatience as the snake writhed and roiled and utterly failed to break free, managing only to knock Richard Gilmore out of the chair and onto the floor where he stayed until the snake quieted, albeit still hissing angrily. He pulled himself to his feet where he stood staring.

"Lorelai Gilmore," he said, "just what did you bring into this house?"

"So," the blonde said, ignoring him, "what's the deal here, Will? We just kill the demon or do we have to twist his tail 'til he sets everyone's soul free first?"

"You can't kill me," the snake whispered hoarsely.

"You know, I've lost count of how many demons have told me that, but I do know this," the blonde said, "they're all dead."

"I don't know, Buffy," Willow said, "You know anything about this demon, Miss Patty?"

"Only that is it is the same one that was chasing the girls that time. And that what he really wanted was the baby."

"I see," Willow said. She stepped forward, leaned over and looked the snake in the eye, "So, Amsherket, was it? This choice you spoke of, more a formality than an actual choice, yes?"

The snake snickered. "You know what the Jesuits say, give me the child until the age of seven and he is mine for life." he said. "The old woman," he said, pointing his tail at Emily. "She chose, all on her own."

"Yes, well, not the point, Amsher. The point is if the choices had truly been voluntary, we might have found a way to let you live. But now…. Well, we can only offer you a choice between slow and painful and quick and clean. Set these people free, and we'll make it quick."

"Go hump a broomstick, witch," the snake snarled. "What business is it of yours, anyway, you meddling hags…"

"Ohhh, sweet talker. Give him a taste, Buffy," the redhead said and Miss Patty saw the blonde girl tighten her grip and twist…

They screamed then, all three of them, Emily, Richard, and Lorelai, and suddenly Willow was waving frantically for Buffy to stop, she did and the three Gilmore's sagged, moaning and groaning,

"Ohmigod, honey, are you all right?" Miss Patty asked urgently, bending over Lorelai's limp form.

After a moment she nodded weakly, "Please," she whispered, "whatever you did, don't do it again."

"They are part of me," the snake said, "I am part of them. Kill me and they die too."

"Lorelai," Willow said then, her voice suddenly firm, commanding, "Lorelai, call your daughter."

"What?"

"Call your daughter. Ask her if she felt a sudden pain."

Miss Patty waited then, growing unusually impatient as Lorelai chatted with her daughter, apologizing for the evening lost, promising to explain later, listening to what her daughter had been up to in her absence, finally slipping in the question about the sudden pain. Finally she closed the phone.

"No pain," she said and Miss Patty released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She felt Willow's hand on her shoulder,

"You did it, Patty," the witch said quietly. "You broke the chain. You set the daughter free."

After that they sat in awkward silence waiting as Willow and Kaitlyn went off to the kitchen where they argued in low voices and sorted through the spice rack, then came back with a bowl and a candle and led a small parade down into the basement where Buffy deposited Amsherket back into his vivarium and slid the top shut. Willow sat cross-legged on the floor and Kaitlyn set the bowl before her, set the candle in the bowl and lit it and stepped back as Willow began to chant.

Miss Patty felt the magic gathering, tasting it in the air, watching in fascination as white streaks appeared in Willow's red hair, as her eyes glowed a pale silver reminiscent of moonlight, and the candle flared up and melted rapidly and the vivarium began to grow opaque.

And Amsherket began to demonstrate a truly phenomenal gift for rapidly spewed obscenity that gradually faded into a muffled distance, then ceased to be heard at all.

The candle finished, the flame hit the spices at the bottom of the bowl and filled the basement with an aromatic cloud that dissipated to reveal Willow returned to her normal coloring, allowing Kaitlyn to help her to her feet. She turned and looked at Lorelai.

"I'm sorry," she said, "We'll talk to Giles, we'll do some research when we get home, but I don't think I can undo the damage that's been done. But this will put an end to it. When, in the fullness of time, your death comes, you'll take him with you, if that's any consolation. Let's go home, Kait. I'm tired."

The small parade went back up the stairs, outside to the waiting jeep. Miss Patty watched as Lorelai paused at the door and looked back at her still stunned parents, standing together in the hall, looking two parts angry and three parts lost.

"See you Friday," Lorelai said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vanessa took a half-hearted hit and passed the pipe back, she leaned against the boathouse and watched the ripples slide across the dark water of the lake. The smoke had taken a little of the edge off the pain but she was still feeling down and dumb and sad. It had been kind of nice, letting Jules hold her, but Dustin had spoiled that. She looked up at the night sky and felt tiny and alone in a vast universe, and then she felt like a stupid teenage drama queen. She felt….. feelings, swirling pointless feelings.

She felt like jumping out of her skin when the voice spoke right beside her,

"Not that I care," the voice said, "but you don't gotta be a slayer to smell what you guys are doing from the clear across the lawn here. If you ain't careful those broads in the bar are gonna get a whiff and you may have to share."

Vanessa looked up, the voice belonged to one of the Faith's, all in black leather with long black hair she was pushing back from her face with her right hand as she settled down on the grass beside her.The woman reached into her coat and withdrew a long thin cigar, bit the tip off and spit it into the darkness.

"Pass the fire, wouldya, guys," she asked and added a raspy thanks as Jules handed over the lighter. She flicked the flame on and lit the cigar, taking a moment to get an even burn started. In the red glow Vanessa saw a movement and realized the woman had a small white puppy snuggling in the crook of her left arm.

"Thanks," she said again and passed the lighter back. "So," the woman said, "it's Vanessa, right?"

"Yeah," Vanessa said cautiously.

"I'm Faith," the woman said, holding out her hand, "I understand you've been looking for me?"

"Buh," Vanessa said, but managed to reach out and shake hands.

"And you are….?" Faith said.

"J-Jules…"

"Ah, the one who knows even badasses love puppies. Pleasetameetchya. And you are….?"

"Dustin."

"Ah, the one who wants to see me naked," Faith said and Vanessa snorted and suddenly her brain unfroze and she found she could speak again.

"You're really her," she said.

"Yeah."

"Cool." They sat silent for a moment. "So," Vanessa said, "What's your puppy's name? Can I hold him?"

-30-

Next: Epilogue