Sorry guys, I know I said 10 days and its been like 2 weeks instead. It's been done, but with the crazy easter weekend I didn't get time to go through it until now.

Big, big thank you's to everyone who reviewed, one day I'll get around to doing them individually, until then just know that I love you all :)


Twenty minutes later Buffy had dressed herself properly and was waiting outside with Oz. She was feeling more awake now as she rested her arms on the open passenger window of his van, making small talk about the day ahead.

She wanted to say something to him about Xander's little bombshell, while they waited for Willow to finish getting ready and join them, but she hadn't come up with a good reason for sticking her nose in yet. She liked Kennedy – a fact that still surprised her – but if Willow chose to go the other way, well, Buffy would support her wholeheartedly, because that was what best friends did.

She really needed to speak with Willow about it, not Oz, who wouldn't tell her anything he didn't want to and so was hardly a credible informant. Not that she hadn't already talked to Willow about this many times – many, many times – in the past two weeks, but maybe she wasn't being entirely honest; or maybe she was just subconsciously crushing on Oz again and that was what all these little wolf missions to various parts of the State were about.

It was a bit suspicious, how Willow kept complaining that Kennedy was being awkward and distant, but at the same time was spending a good number of days a week with her ex-boyfriend. Whether there was anything going on or not, Buffy knew she'd be jealous in Kennedy's situation.

Willow was her best friend, though, and so got all the benefits that came with. A sympathetic ear to barrage with complaints; a chaperone so she could have her frosty cake and eat her ex… well, not eat, because that was kinda the point of her chaperoning in the first place. Willow got burgers at The Mouth to get away from Kennedy's silence at the dinner table and cocoa in Buffy's room at night to put off going to her own tension-filled room.

On top of all that, Buffy was running with Kennedy in the morning, letting her pound her in sparring matches in the afternoons and then taking over her patrolling so that Kennedy could go out every evening.

Truthfully, Buffy would much rather be spending all that time with Faith, but with Faith so busy all the time too… Buffy just bit her tongue and did it all with a smile on her face.

Maybe it was cosmic payback for their first couple of months here, when Buffy's pity-fest had been a drain on Willow's time and Kennedy's patience. She'd left the slaying completely to the younger, inexperienced slayer, not to mention training up the even newer newbies.

Actually, maybe the cosmos had nothing to do with it and this was just Will and Ken's payback.

"So, we'll be back between five and six," Oz was saying. "If the traffic's okay."

"That late," Buffy whined. "I thought this was a morning meeting."

"It is, but Willow's arranged to see a guy she met online in Wooster after."

"See, this is why I say the internet is bad," Buffy groaned. "You start off in some harmless chat room for the K.D Lang-obsessed and the next thing you know you're off to Wooster to meet strange men."

Oz cracked a smile, "It's a Wicca thing. This guy is like a major mogul. It's big that Willow's getting to meet with him."

"Okay, I suppose a day-trip isn't really a day-trip if it doesn't last the whole day, right?" Buffy shrugged. She just hoped whatever Faith arranged for their date wouldn't start too early. She added nonchalantly, "But if it's such a big thing, how come Kennedy isn't going with Will?"

"I don't know," Oz met her gaze, unblinking, unbothered. "Maybe she isn't that interested in Wicca."

Buffy accepted that with a nod as Willow came flying out of the back door, running towards the van as she pulled her coat on. "Sorry, overslept! If Kennedy hadn't woken me I'd still be in snoozeville. I haven't made us too late, have I?"

"No, we have time," Oz smiled.

Buffy greeted her friend with a grin as she pulled the passenger door open.

"Morning, Buffy," Willow grinned back, ready to climb in and slide along the bench seat.

"Oh, wait, Will." Buffy pulled her back out gently by the hood of her coat. "I should probably sit in the middle, you know how car sick I get if I have to be by the window."

"You do?" Willow frowned, but moved out of the way to let Buffy get in first.

"Oh yeah, all the time," Buffy lied.

Climbing in next to Oz, she gave him a bright smile. He returned a mellower version, but didn't seem put out by the new seating arrangement.

As Willow slammed her door and Oz started to drive, Buffy took a deep breath, thinking, 'Please be wrong, Xander!'


Dawn opened her locker, and then jumped slightly as Fen bounced her shoulder loudly against the one next to it.

"Happy Halloween." Fen gave her a wicked smile as she chewed her gum. "Looking forward to tonight?"

"Oh my God, you have no idea how much!" Dawn promised, pulling out her books. "My last couple of Halloween's have kind of blowed; and I've never been allowed to an actual party before."

"But your Sister knows you're going tonight, yeah? Not that I'm trying to discourage you from breaking the rules or anything," Fen winked. "But you would lose so many cool points if she comes and drags you out."

"She was dubious," Dawn admitted. "But she's been a lot less controlling since Faith turned up. Typical Buffy, she starts having sex and I drop way down the list of her priorities. Plus, when she heard the Sl…girls were coming with me, she kind of figured I couldn't get into too much trouble."

Fen didn't notice her slip, or found it uninteresting enough to ignore. "Sweet. So how many are coming? I know some of the boys have been dying to meet your delinquent chicks."

"They're not delinquents!" Dawn chucked. "And I'm not sure. Miranda, Cici and Alison already said yes. I know Vi has to, uh, study tonight, and Rona said she'd let me know later. Ooh, Andrew and Craig are coming, so Nai might tag along, but I haven't asked her yet. And, of course, Reece is coming with me," Dawn smiled.

"Of course," Fen grinned.

Dawn slammed her locker shut and the two girls headed to Homeroom. "Uh, Buffy did want to know where it was going to be, though."

Fen looked alarmed. "You didn't tell her did you?"

"Well, seeing as I don't even know where it's going to be, I couldn't. So I just made up a guy and said it was at his house. I've been making up random facts about him all week to drop into conversation, just so she wouldn't get suspicious."

Fen laughed, "I knew there was a reason why you're my best friend."

"I'm your best friend?" The news surprised Dawn because, well, Fen was so cool, and popular, and rich – three things Dawn most definitely wasn't.

"Sure," Fen linked her arm through Dawn's and they squeezed through the classroom door together. "I'm not gonna settle for less than the smartest chick in school, am I?"

Dawn blushed as she sat at her desk and whispered, "So where is the party?"

Fen did a couple of eyebrow lifts as she grinned. "It's awesome. I'm going to check it out with a couple of the guys this afternoon. You wanna come?"

Dawn nodded, excited.


Is an increase in unsightly body hair getting you down?

Do you suffer from monthly bouts of amnesia?

Do you like your steaks rare; your eggs with a complimentary chicken attached?

Do you ever get so wild you just want to howl at the moon?

If you think you are suffering from any of the above it's possible you have a rare lunar-related condition known as Lycanthropy.

Call or email today for a free consultation.

Buffy read the printed words on the little white business card again, a slight smirk tugging up one side of her lips. Who in their right mind would respond to something like this?

Apparently, the smart, sexy-looking navy-blue tailor-suited woman currently sitting in a very expensive office behind a very important looking desk would. Whether she was in her right mind was still on the cards and what Willow and Oz – sat on the opposite side of the desk – were trying to find out.

Buffy was staying in the background, checking out the titles on a few of the zillion smartly-bound books on the shelves – she didn't understand any of them – and the framed diplomas and certificates on the walls. The woman had more letters after her name than in her name.

Apparently the woman was a psychologist. Had they been lured here under false pretences? Maybe the woman didn't even think she was a werewolf, she'd just seen the ad and saw her chance to get a bunch of crazies off the street. She probably wanted a shot at analysing the kind of weirdo that really believed in werewolves – this could be a big career break for her.

Buffy didn't know how to take psychologists. One the one hand, she could probably benefit from several…hundred… hours of therapy herself, but on the other, there was the bad taste in her memory of Maggie Walsh, her Psych professor back in college. The woman who had truly put the psycho into psychology.

That whole affair had put her off more than a little, but was it fair to assume all psychologists wanted to play mommy to a modern day Frankenstein's monster? They couldn't all be evil; probably some of them were even mostly normal.

Therapy though?

Someone whose sole mission one hour a week was to listen to you talk about you! Someone who wasn't allowed to get bored and turn the TV on halfway through your heartfelt rant. Someone to unload all the crap of your day onto so you could go about your business crap-free.

It sounded awesome if you put it like that.

Joking aside though, there was the talking to a complete stranger about the stuff on your mind, and not just the annoying stuff, but the big stuff too. And there was the poking and probing into the dark places you'd really prefer to keep everyone else out of. And there was the chance that they might realise you actually were complete and totally batshit crazy and section you under the mental health act of whenever whenever…

Faith had to go and see a psychologist soon.

Deb Devenrowe was setting it up. She said it was standard procedure. Buffy wasn't sure if she believed her, but then how many parolees did she actually know? Deb Devenrowe had also said that it was Faith's decision, but she highly recommended it.

Faith had agreed more readily than Buffy would have imagined.

More readily than Buffy had when Deb Devenrowe had suggested that her presence would probably be beneficial at some point in the future. Faith had looked at her, one eyebrow raised; leaving the decision to her, but it had been obvious Faith was hoping she'd say yes.

And so Buffy had. And now she was crapping it, and Deb Devenrowe hadn't even found anyone yet. Apparently, after a conversation with Giles, she agreed that – providing he paid for it – someone outside the parole system would probably be a good idea. Buffy had a feeling it was going to be a Council Psychiatrist they brought in, but no amount of bugging Giles was getting her the info.

This session – when it happened – wasn't going to be all laying on a comfy leather couch and talking about her dreams. And it wasn't going to be lying on an uncomfy tomb and talking about her daddy issues either. Or maybe it would be, but the dreams would be of the stalking Faith through a graveyard before stabbing her to death kind, not of the waking up naked with a zebra in front of her Math class kind. And if she did have to talk about all the ways she felt her dad had screwed her over, she couldn't have the satisfaction of dusting her counsellor afterwards.

Buffy wasn't stupid, she knew there were things – dark, horrible things – in her and Faith's past that they were going to have to deal with. Stuff, that if it stayed buried, would rise up at a later date and be as dangerous to their relationship as a vampire would be to their lives – more dangerous in fact. In truth, there was so much badness in their history that it was crazy to fall in love with Faith…

But it had happened, and now Buffy just wanted to bury her head and enjoy it. Why pick at scabs that might just get infected and slowly poison that love? Why couldn't they at least leave the picking until they were more solid, more sure of their new role in each others lives?

For the same reason I can't sleep with her yet, Buffy answered herself. For the same reason Faith found the streets a better place to be than with me for a week.

Buffy looked up as Willow left the desk and joined her by a large inset aquarium. Some tropical fish were doing what they do best inside.

Buffy, head on one side as she watched, wondered, "How do you suppose they get the fish in and out?"

Willow pondered briefly and shrugged, "Maybe there's a secret tunnel in the wall."

Buffy accepted that as a plausible theory and nodded her head in the direction of desk. "So kook or wolf?"

"Definitely wolf," Willow grinned, "Which is a relief, because the last three people we met with were definitely all kook."

"Probably not much relief for her."

Willow's grin dropped to a sheepish smile, "Probably not, but, hey, at least she knows what's going on now. Way better than just waking up naked on a sports field and not knowing why. Oz is just doing his 'This isn't the end of the world, it can actually enhance your life' bit." Her grin came back tenfold, "He's really good at it."

Uh oh, thought Buffy, but decided not to mention it.

"Well, I'm not surprised you're getting a high number of cranks." She handed the business card back to Willow. "Isn't it a bit risky putting the word lycanthropy in there?"

"A little," Willow admitted. "But I spoke with Giles about the wording and we agreed that anyone who knew what the word meant, but didn't have any of the symptoms we mentioned, would just take it as a joke, just another screwball on the Net. And those that do have the symptoms wouldn't be quite so freaked by the word lycanthropy as they would by the word Werewolf."

"Okay, but what about the so-called experts, like the Government or that hunter-guy that came to Sunnydale after Oz?"

"Oh, well, for those types…" Willow lowered her voice even further. "The email account is brand new, set up under a false name at an internet café in Cleveland. The phone number is for our monster hotline…"

"Monster hotline?" Buffy smirked. "I didn't know we had a monster hotline."

Willow grinned, "I ran a secure line into Giles' office, no one can tap it or trace it, and it they try I'll know about it. It's the big old fashioned black phone on his desk. Xander and I wanted him to get a bright red one, you know, like Danger Mouse, but he chose to go another way."

"Right."

"It's as safe as it can be, which still isn't as safe as Giles would like, but this is an important project, Buffy. It's worth a little risk."

Educating Werewolves and keeping them off the streets at night was a very good project. Also, a Slayer without a tranquilliser gun was pretty much a dead Slayer when it came to the single-minded kinda supernatural; and according to Giles, and the coven in England, there was still hundreds of Slayers out there that hadn't been found yet.

She didn't know if Werewolves were drawn to Slayer meat in the same way a Vampire was drawn to Slayer blood. She couldn't remember Oz ever showing any special interest in her when he was wolfisized. In fact he'd always seemed to make a beeline for Willow's throat.

Damn demonic creatures and their desire to turn/kill/torture their mates!

In their silence, both women had tuned into the conversation at the desk.

"I have a fiancé. Does he have to know?" The woman still sounded all business.

"He might wonder where you are three nights of the month if you don't tell him." Oz replied in his usual one-tone-fits-all voice.

Buffy watched the woman nod slowly and make a note on the pad in front of her. Was she planning on Memo-ing her fiancé about it, or was she making notes on Oz. The thought of Oz visiting a therapist was funny; the shrink would probably find herself being shrunk.

"We were planning to start a family in a year or two. Will that still be possible?" The woman sounded like she was asking about the possibility of a vacation.

Hopefully Faith would end up with a therapist a little more human.

"Yes. The conversion doesn't damage your human physiology at all, except for the three nights a month you're a wolf obviously," Oz told her.

Just don't screw your honey when you're wolf-shaped, Buffy thought as Oz went into a slightly more lengthy answer about her reproductive paraphernalia. Or you might find yourself with a litter.

Willow changed the subject. "So where is Faith taking you on the big date tonight?"

"Oh, I…" Buffy hesitated as a big smile took over her face. "… Have absolutely no idea. I was kinda in shock when she asked and she was all cagey with the details."

"Was she all sweet and shy?" Willow asked, grinning along. "Or all smooth and confident?"

"Actually, she was giving off more of an edgy, detached vibe," Buffy admitted with a small shrug.

"Oh," Willow looked surprised. "You don't think she was nervous, do you? I mean, why would Faith be nervous? She's been with millions of peop…" Willow saw Buffy frown. "Well, not literally millions… probably. Uh, my point is… what was my point? Oh yeah, she doesn't come across as the type who wastes time on dating angst."

"If the dental-extraction look wasn't down to nerves then that doesn't forebode good things for me." Buffy pointed out. "Plus, as far as we know, she's never experienced the angst of dating before. Faith never did dating back in Sunnydale, remember? Xander can testify to that."

Willow looked down at the luxurious deep red carpet, a twinkle in her eye. "And me."

"What?" Buffy fired the word out loud enough that Oz and Wolf-woman stopped their meeting and looked over.

"Just kidding," Willow looked up again with a big grin on her face. Buffy's eyes narrowed and Willow hurried on. "So, the nerves thing probably explains it then. Case closed. Although, I still don't get why, it's not like you two aren't together now. You weren't going to say no."

"Well, no, I wasn't going to say no," Buffy's eyes followed an electric blue fish as it darted around the tank. "But we're not really, as in totally, one hundred percent together… yet. We're kinda still in pre-togetherness time."

"Oh," Willow said again, looking confused. "But there are smoochies… actually there aren't… I mean, there are, but not as many as I expected. Whenever I pictured you and Faith together it was always big with the indecent displays of affection."

"Pictured?" Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Not pictured! I mean, when I imagined, in a totally abstract way with absolutely no pictures of any kind at all!" Willow rushed out, but couldn't help the evil little smile at the end. She seemed extra extra chipper today.

Buffy smiled too, sighing, "Well, there will be, I expect, one day, but right now we're keeping it, or I'm keeping it, to polite, kid-safe kisses… most of the time anyway. I have a tendency to forget my good intentions when she comes to say goodnight."

Buffy blushed slightly and pressed her forehead lightly against the fish tank as she remembered going pantiless the night before. It hadn't been completely deliberate. She really had been planning on keeping Faith out of her room, but she should have known she wouldn't stick to it. Teasing Faith like that though was probably a bad idea, especially with all the stress the other Slayer was already under, but Buffy was finding she kinda enjoyed teasing herself.

"But why does being with Faith fall into the bad intention category anyway?"

That was a good question, and it had a good answer, usually. "Well, there are issues." Was all she could come up with right now.

Willow nodded, "Your issues kinda have issues."

"Exactly."

"Your last boyfriend was a violent, blood-thirsty fiend!"

"Meaning?"

"Not like you haven't dealt with this stuff before," Willow gave a little shrug. "And at least Faith doesn't literally get thirsty for blood, so there's one less issue right there."

"As much as I'd like to refute your wacky logic, I find myself Willow-stumped. But…" Buffy sighed deeply, "Spike would have brought me flowers – okay, so they'd be stolen – but, he'd have written me poetry and… and serenaded me under street lights and stuff."

"Spike?" Willow frowned, "I think you're romanticizing your ex-cold blooded killer. And… and that's not really fair on your current cold blooded killer, is it?"

"Will!" Buffy gave a choked little laugh and smacked her best friend's arm.

Rubbing her arm, Willow grinned, "I'm right! You can't compare Faith to Spike. You should never compare any relationship you have to Spike. You and Spike were… were… I don't even have a handy analogy for how stupid the two of you being together was. But you and… Faith…" Willow's voice petered out.

"Just as stupid?"

"No…" Willow winced a little. "Buffy, have you thought about celibacy, I mean, really considered the option, 'cause I think it might be the way to go."

Buffy stared at her best friend, her jaw locked in a scary, teeth-grinding smile. "Well, look who got out of the funny side of the bed today. How come you're so darn chipper anyway? Last I heard, you're love life was sucking harder than mine."

"Can't a girl just be happy that she's having a day out with her best friend," Willow grinned. "We never do stuff together any more."

"We've been doing stuff together every day for the past two weeks."

"I know, it reminds me how much I miss the old days, ya know? Back when we were in high school and all we had to worry about were swim team monsters and Zombie gatecrashers."

Uh oh, Buffy thought again.

"You really miss high school, though?" She said aloud.

"Not most of it," Willow admitted with a little shrug. She glanced across at the meeting still taking place, maybe a little too casually.

Okay, Buffy thought, enough about me then.

"Sooo, how are you and Kennedy doing? Things getting any better?"

Willow gave a slight grimace and turned her eyes to the big fish tank. "Yes and no. So where do you want Faith to take you tonight?"

"The opera. What does yes and no mean?"

"Since when do you like the op…?"

"Okay, scuba diving. Have you two even tried the communicating thing yet?"

"Yes!" Willow finally looked at her. "I'm large with the communicating, I'm… I'm communicating my ass off! And Kennedy's just… impervious."

"So things aren't better?" Buffy asked gently.

"No, they are," Willow slouched, looking tired. "Things are better, but that doesn't seem to be making things – as a whole – better."

Buffy's expression obviously said it all, because Willow went into a deeper explanation.

"We're talking, but it's like we're friends, nothing more. We sleep in the same bed every night but that's all we've done in it since the lust spell. She kisses me on the lips, but she might as well be kissing an attractive, non-blood related aunt. It's like she's there, but she's not there, ya know?"

Buffy nodded. Willow sounded really distressed with the situation. Her chipperness

all chipped away.

"I thought I had her last night." A little of Willow's smile came back. "We kissed and it was like old times and I thought, yay, we're getting somewhere, but then she pulled away like she'd just realised she was kissing a nasty old frog, that I was a nasty old frog, and then she went out with Vi."

"Yeah, she's not been patrolling much recently," Buffy downplayed Kennedy's complete lack of patrolling.

"I know, and that's not Kennedy. Kennedy loves patrolling! She's always been so Slayer2000, like it was what she was built to do, and now she's just not interested. And I feel like it's my fault, and I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Maybe you two just need a break."

"But I don't want to break up with her!" Willow's voice grew louder.

Buffy saw Oz glance over; actually it was more of a stare than a glance. When he finally looked back at their… was client the right word? Buffy said,

"I meant a vacation or something, perhaps a weekend away for the two of you."

"We don't have time for that," Willow griped. "Or any money until Kennedy gets a job."

"Well what about a date?" Buffy suggested. "You could take her out somewhere tonight."

Willow looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I suppose we could double with you guys; Kennedy might be more interested then."

"No, no, no, no," Buffy said quickly. "This is our first date, and I think it's going to be interesting enough with just the two of us."

She didn't want to be mean, but this was her night and something she'd been thinking about and looking forward to long before Faith even asked her. The last thing she wanted was Willow and Kennedy putting a dampener on it.

"Anyway, I think it would probably do you both more good to go alone."

"I guess," Willow sighed, before brightening a little. "Actually, maybe your right and this is just what we need. I'll ask her when we get home."

Buffy's grin of encouragement was only slightly muted by noticing Oz was staring over again; his face quietly thundery.