A/N thanks for the reviews thus far.

A/N for those who read my story "A New Beginning" and found that it didn't end correctly, it has been fixed thanks to a reviewer bringing the mistake to my attention. I had accidentally posted the same chapter twice rather then the ending chapter so you might want to take a look at the last chapter again. thanks

Chapter 7

Willow sat at her house waiting for Britney later that evening. The last that she'd heard was that Britney would be there at 05:30pm and needed to run out for work at around 08:30 for an hour or so. It was 07:15 and the redhead was getting worried. Britney had never been this late without phoning minus the one time that work had got in the way but Willow had been informed Britney would have work to do later. She wondered if she was overreacting and should just wait on her girlfriend or if she should call Buffy. As she reached for the phone, a knock at the door disrupted her action. "Hey," she said and opened the door. The look on her face was one of utter shock because Harmony Kendall was the one standing there.

"Hi," the cheerleader said in an uncomfortable tone of voice. "Um, Buffy asked me to drop you off at the Mayor's office and she would see you later." Harmony was clueless as to why Buffy begged her to do this for her but went along with it.

"Do you know where Buffy went off to?" Willow asked in a nervous tone. She knew that Harmony had supported her in her heartbreaking fight with Xander but still didn't trust the cheerleader.

"No," Harmony said and moved away from the door. "She was on the phone and then took off and told me that it was urgent that you be dropped off."

"Are you going to wait for me?" Willow asked and followed the blonde out to her car.

"Sure," the cheerleader replied and pulled away from Willow's house.

- - - - - -

Britney Walsh stood stoically outside the college. After viewing Faith laid out on what looked like an operating table with all sorts of machines hooked up to her, she knew what she had to do. Her decision was quick but she felt that it was the right thing to do. Betraying ones family was not an easy thing to do but something inside of Britney screamed that it was the only way to stop whatever was about to happen to the other slayer. She hoped that she had stopped Riley in time before he changed the security codes to the compound and hoped that her blow to the back of his head wasn't too hard. As she looked around the building, Buffy Summers raced up to her. "All right, this better be good and what's this about coming clean?"

"I don't know if we have time for that right now Buffy." Britney turned towards the slayer with an urgent look in her eyes. "One of my jobs for the military is to test demons to see what makes them tick and kill them if necessary. We're on the same page as the vampire slayers, or so I thought until today. The fact is that I know that you are a slayer and there is another one out there."

Buffy looked at Britney with hardened and dangerous eyes. "What's your game Britney?" She questioned with a warning tone in her voice. Maybe Xander was right to not trust this woman. She thought that she should get out of there and warn Willow, that maybe this entire mess was a trap. Anger and fear showed through in her eyes at the same time as she stared the officer down.

"The other slayer is in the compound that we are working on. My aunt had me track her down and bring her to her. I thought she was trying to help the girl out but now I'm afraid not. There was this monitor in her house and it displayed the other slayer laid out like a slab of beef on a table with a bunch of machines hooked up to her. I didn't know what else to do so I called you for some help. I'm getting my ass in all sorts of trouble with the military by giving these confidential secrets away but I'm afraid that my aunt has gone on her own path."

"How do I know that this isn't a trap to get me inside this compound as well?" Buffy asked as the angered look on her face turned to one of a sudden rage. She was not in the mood for games at all and feared that games were being played with her head.

"Your boyfriend is involved in the organization also. He is with you to find out information on the slayers. If they have their way, you will be in there with that other slayer. If you help me, we may be able to save you both. You're not strong enough to fight off the military Buffy so the way I see it, you need my help as much as I need yours." Britney countered with an impatient tone in her voice. She feared that time had ran out for the other slayer and would for Buffy if they didn't act quickly.

"Give me the codes and you be the look out. I'm not sure if I trust you enough to have you go inside with me." Buffy countered in a defensive tone. She didn't know if she even believed all of what this woman was saying and certainly wasn't going into some compound with her.

"No," Britney countered back with a growing defensive look on her face. "I won't give you the codes and they may not even work now. The longer you stand there and argue with me, the less time the other slayer has. It's up to you slayer."

- - - -

Willow left the Mayor's office with two important books in her hands and a box that was said to be of the utmost importance to his mission. She also took a small journal that appeared to be of a personal nature out of his desk. She got back into Harmony's car and a cold shiver ran up her spine. She feared that what she had just done was too easy to be true. It was as if someone had laid the ground work for her to get the necessary books to stop the Mayor. "Did Buffy call?" Willow asked in a small fearful voice.

"No," the cheerleader answered in a nonchalant tone of voice, though she too was growing worried. Part of her had a bad feeling as to what was going on with Buffy, while the more uppity part of her wondered why she cared. Deep down she knew why she cared and was trying to force herself to not go there. Harmony had a secret and it was one that would ruin her social standing forever, in her mind, thus she kept it a secret for as long as she could remember. She supposed that secret was the main reason that she helped defend Willow to Xander. She also knew that she had a great admiration for Willow for being able to come out of the closet.

"Harmony!" Willow shouted for what seemed the 50th time and the cheerleader finally turned her gaze towards the redhead. "I asked you several times where we are going." Willow said with a growing impatient tone in her voice, as she pointed at the sign that read welcome to Sunnydale.

The cheerleader did a quick turn around and headed back into town. "I'm sorry Willow," she said in a sincere manner. "I just got lost in thought for a moment."

"Well Britney isn't answering her phone and we have no idea where Buffy is," Willow let her words drop off at that and hoped that her way of speaking would turn on a light bulb in the cheerleader's brain.

"Do you think something is wrong with Buffy and your girlfriend?" Harmony asked as she turned the car into Willow's driveway. "Do you want to go look for them?"

"I wouldn't know where to begin looking," Willow said as she stepped forward to unlock her door. "I'm sure that Britney just got tied up at work but it's not like Buffy to call to find out if I got what we needed out of the office."

"What could you possibly need out of the Mayor's office?" The cheerleader asked in an ever-growing annoyed tone of voice.

"It's a long story," Willow said as she placed the books on a table and grabbed the phone. After speaking to Giles quickly, she hung up and checked her machine. There were no messages left on it, which caused a worried look to crease her features.

"Come on Willow," the cheerleader urged in an impatient manner. "I've done the things that Buffy asked me to and think that I have the right to know what's going on. Am I in any kind of danger by helping you bunch of…" the cheerleader stopped her tirade before it got rude because the truth was, she no longer wanted to be rude to this gang of people.

"I hope not Harmony," Willow said and went into the kitchen for drinks for the two of them. If she was going to give Harmony what she deserved, an explanation, she knew that it could take awhile.

After Willow had finished telling the sorted mess to the cheerleader, the knocking at the door jerked them both out of their own reverie. "Britney," the cheerleader heard Willow exclaim in a highly relieved tone of voice. "I was getting worried about you, are you all right?"

"It's a long story Willow," the officer replied in an empty tone of voice. "Buffy is in a h hospital on the outskirts of town but I think that she is going to be all right."

"What happened, why is she in the hospital and why are you the one who knows where she is rather then Willow?" Harmony blasted the questions at Britney before Willow could get her mouth open, as she moved towards the front door.

"I thought that Willow might want to go see her friend so I came to pick her up." The officer replied to the cheerleader in an indignant tone of voice.

"I'll take her," Harmony said having made the quick decision that something was wrong here and Buffy would want her to look after Willow. In the back of her mind, she wondered why she cared what Buffy wanted though she knew the answer to that question all to well.

"Why don't we just all go together?" Britney asked in hopes of avoiding a confrontation with the agitated blonde.

"Why don't we start telling what happened to Buffy?" Harmony countered as she looked over at Willow, who had a look of utter confusion on her face.

"I will explain that soon but right now, I want to take Willow to see her friend and you are starting to piss me off." Britney spat back at the blonde in a stern tone of voice but found that Harmony was not backing down either, which surprised both she and Willow.

"If it will make Harmony feel better, I can ride with her and we can follow you." Willow offered in an effort to stop the strange stand off between the two newly formed adversaries.

"Here's the deal," Britney said in a frustrated manner. "You both get in the damn car and let's go see Buffy. I will explain once you've seen her but right now it's urgent that you listen to me." She didn't mean to speak so harshly towards Willow but after the things that she witnessed in the compound, there was no way that Willow was getting out of her sight for any length of time.

At that moment, her phone rang and she grabbed it with impatience written all over her face. "Hey it's me," Graham said quickly. "I think Riley found out where we are."

Britney shut off her phone and headed out the door quickly. "You either come with me or stay behind," she said in a stern tone of voice. She didn't notice the hurt look on Willow's face at all, as she jumped into her truck. As Willow and Harmony reluctantly followed her, none of them saw a looming figure with deep brown eyes and half-demon features watching them.

A/N ok ok I did it, I love the character but sacrifices must be made sometimes to further the story. Sorry for the long delay in updates but I'm back on track and hope you like this chapter.