And here I give you the two chaps up on AFF already. They're both kind of short, but they're what's written. I consolidated them into one, longer chapter here, with the too-common-to-buffy-fics divider added in. They were both kind of short, and what happened between them was pretty much just what you'd see in the episode anyway.

Faith casually slipped the quart container of blood she'd been able to get off of the butcher under the table. It was beef-blood, but that was the best they would get for now, and she felt Buffy's thankful grasp over her fingers before the container slipped from one hand to the next and then into the blonde's bag.

"… This creature is especially brutal. I believe the phrase coined by the coroner when describing Mr. Platt was 'pureed'. But he did confirm that Platt was killed shortly before Buffy found him." Giles explained, cleaning his glasses and trying not to dwell too much on the man's body.

Faith looked at the blonde, surprised at that bit of information. No one had mentioned that Buffy was the one that found the guy. The girl didn't look too broken up, though there was a bit more stress around the line of her mouth, but then, a supernatural killing, something they were both familiar with, didn't exactly compare to Angel returning from hell. "So a daytime slice'n'dicer."

"Yes!" Everyone turned abruptly to stare at Willow, who'd practically leapt from her seat with the exclamation. Faith smirked and raised her eyebrows, while Buffy and Giles looked dumbfounded. "Er… I mean… terrible… I just… and…"

"It's okay Willow. We're all happy to hear it wasn't Oz." Buffy said with a soft smile, and Faith could see the relief in the blonde's eyes as well. Meant that it couldn't be the wild vampire either. The brunette fidgeted in her seat, attempting to ignore the niggling sensation from her necklace, and not think too hard in that she, a Slayer, was helping to rehabilitate Angel, Buffy's ex-boyfriend and vampire. Okay, not so much with the helping to rehabilitate yet, all she'd done was sweet-talk some blood out of the butcher, but it was close enough. Faith's inner babble and aggravation was cut short with Buffy's next observance. "Speaking of which, shouldn't he be here soon? It's almost sundown."

"I am sure that Oz will be in shortly." Giles offered with a somewhat relieved smile of his own. "Our task now is to determine what sort of killer we are dealing with. Clearly, we're looking for a depraved, sadistic animal."

The doors swung open to allow the werewolf in and he raised a single hand slightly. "Present."

When Willow jumped up to rush to him, nearly pushing Giles aside in her eagerness, Buffy and Faith exchanged glances. Buffy had a small smile on, and Faith only nodded. She was sure that if Angel was coherent enough to understand that he'd been let off the hook, and tame enough to not bite the blonde, Buffy would have done the same to Angel. Faith would be wondering, privately, if Angel was even worth the effort of their attempts at help, except for that she already knew, from her other self's information, that he would recover, and be a brief pain in her side when it came to the blonde. She wasn't going to screw up, though. She was damned sure of it. As freaked out by everything as she was, she was determined to not allow those things she'd been warned of come to pass. She wasn't going to kill a human, and she sure as hell wasn't going to join the other side. Even if it meant cozying up to and spoon-feeding a feral, disgusting vampire.

"I…. it's a kill in the day monster!" Willow was asserting to her boyfriend, eyes bright and excited. "A hundred percent for sure."

The musician's eyes and shoulders seemed to loose a level of tense stress that was his only admission to intense relief. A single, simple, "Okay," left his lips in response.

"Now, what we must figure out is what it is that connects the two of them, Mr. Platt and Jeff Orkin." He nodded his greeting to Oz, looking a bit relieved as well, which was enough for the stoic musician, it seemed. "For Platt to have been attacked in his office, alone, while there are also plenty of students here to stand as victims as well, there must be some sort of connection."

Faith raised her hand and offered something fairly obvious, smirking. "Missing internal organs?" Hey, it could be a valid point. Weren't there demons that harvested organs?

"Besides that." Buffy said, rolling her eyes and nudging the other Slayer. It made Faith smirk just a bit more.

"Debbie." Everyone turned to Oz, surprised at his answer. "Well, victim number one, Jeff. He was in jazz band with us. They used to horse around."

"They were screwing?" Faith looked a bit surprised, then impressed, and everyone turned to stare at her incredulously before looking again at Oz.

"Well, I don't think so." Oz paused, blinking a few times. "But he hid her music comp book once."

"And we know that Debbie knew Platt." Buffy chimed in, nodding and nudging Faith again. "I mean, she was seeing him and way vocal about not having love for the guy."

"Add this and stir. I just saw Debbie a minute ago sporting a nasty black eye." Oz added, putting an arm gently around Willow, relief still filling him from the news that he hadn't gotten out. Willow looked at him in confusion. "I was lending my old notes, 's why I was late."

"Okay," Willow nodded, turning back to the others, "so pretend Debbie wanted Platt dead. Maybe he fought back."

Buffy stood, shaking her head and trying to think. "No. Platt was dead in an instant. He didn't even drop his cigarette." She paused and let out a breath, then frowned. "Now… what if boyfriend Pete's the one doling out the punishment?"

Giles looked at Buffy, then frowned around at everyone. Faith was already standing. "We should find them both immediately." He gestured to the dark-haired Slayer. "Faith, you and I shall team. Willow, you'll go with Buffy."

Oz looked at them, and then at himself. "And I'll lock myself in the cage. I er… Debbie and I met in the quad."

Willow hugged him quickly before moving out with Buffy, nodding that they'd start from there, with Faith following quickly after Giles.

~BtVS~BtVS~BtVS~BtVS~BtVS~BtVS~BtVS~

Faith slipped quickly out of the library now that she'd assured that Willow, Xander, and Giles all had the handling of the now thoroughly unconscious werewolf under control. She knew, logically, that the blonde Slayer would be fine, that she would survive simply from knowing that there was a possibility of their slaying and her fucking up with the future… but she still couldn't help but worry over that the other thing, that had been fighting Oz, was still out there and possibly mauling the blonde. Instinct drew her outside, and she saw Buffy frozen in place, holding a shivering, half-naked man. One that happened to have a vaguely familiar tattoo, and dark hair… with chains dangling from his wrists.

She approached as slowly as she possibly could, unsure of how the creature would react to someone else nearing, not wanting to spook it into tearing out Buffy's neck. He looked tame, if pathetic, for the moment, but he was still a vampire, as her senses were currently screaming at her. "B… Buffy…." His voice was broken, soft, but Faith still heard it, and she paused where she was, waiting for the other Slayer to do something.

"Angel, we have to get you back to the mansion. They can't find you out here." Buffy whispered, keeping still and quiet herself, much like Faith had. She hesitantly smiled over the shivering shoulder at the brunette. "This is Faith. She's going to help us hide you, for now. She got you some blood."

The creature spun, faster than Faith had thought he'd be able, and she reached for a stake that wasn't currently on her, finding the tranque gun instead. Maybe it'd work on him, if he turned on them and she was fast enough. The deep, haunted brown eyes bore into her, and Faith, for a split second, understood what Buffy had seen in him, how he was different. In that second, she barely saw the hint of his fractured, broken soul. "Hey Fang, lets get you back to your nice, big mansion, yeah? Wicked cool stone walls. Protection from sunlight when it rises. All that jazz. Then ya can drink some disgusting red stuff while B tells me what the fuck is happening."

He continued to stare at her, warily, before Buffy gently touched his arm. "It's okay. You get used to her." Faith frowned at the blonde when Angel turned to stare at the original Slayer, wondering what exactly that meant.

By the time Faith had gotten Angel settled back into the mansion, blood warmed and served, and the manacles off of his wrists, Buffy was finally joining them. She didn't mention anything regarding what had happened with the two dead students, or Oz, and only slumped into a chair to watch as Angel crouched in a corner, looking frightened and confused. Other than her Slayer senses telling her that it was a demon, kill it kill it, Faith thought he looked somewhat like a monkey that had just had the shit scared out of it.

"I told them that you decided to go out and patrol, to burn off some energy." Buffy finally said, breaking the uncomfortable, cold silence that had been building while the slayers stared at the be-souled vampire, and he stared right back at them. Faith changed her gaze to Buffy, fidgeting uncomfortably. Patrol sounded really good right now. Get the blood pumping, relieve that urge to slay… maybe return to the world of sanity for a bit. "You… I… he saved me."

"No shit B. What else? The broken chains just a form of artistic expression? They represent the shackles of humanity?" Faith responded sarcastically, ignoring the look of utter shock and memory on Buffy's face. "Or maybe he just got himself broken out and followed your damn scent. Do we know if he ran into anyone? Is that why he won't drink it?"

"Pete almost killed me… and he saved me." Buffy whispered, unable to confirm or deny that statement, looking down into her lap. Faith winced, mentally berating herself for making the blonde feel guilty. Likely, if it had happened, it happened in the other world, time, whatever.

Angel is not evil. Keep telling yourself that. The vampire is not evil. The vampire is not evil. Fucking A this is fucked up. The vampire is not evil. Faith thought to herself, changing her gaze over to Angel, who was staring at her fearfully. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she crouched where she stood, watching his eyes track her, and mimed drinking from the mug. He stared at her more, and when she nodded and gestured again, finally began to drink his blood. "You're getting the damn blood from now on, B. That's nasty." She shivered and stood, slowly so as not to startle the damned thing, and approached Buffy. "So he got out… but he's also not all feral bite-y snarl-y anymore, so that's progress. What ya wanna do now?"

"Sleep." Buffy whimpered, shaking her head and looking up at Faith as if the brunette had all the answers.

The darker Slayer, in turn, snorted. "Right. You wanna sleep, I wanna slay, and that thing wants to look like a freaked out chimp… but one of us's gotta stay here an' watch him tonight, cause we obviously can't lock 'im up right now. Morning comes, he can't leave anyway, so we're cool for a rest then, but we got a few hours afore that happens."

"Go and slay, Faith. He's my responsibility." Buffy sighed, looking at the vampire in a pained, but hopeful way.

Swallowing hard, she turned and readied to head out and follow that advice. The weight around her neck felt warm and uncomfortable, and clenching her fist, she spoke as she reached the exit, hoping that a few words of comfort and reminder would ease Buffy's pain, and the reminder that weighed on her so much. "B… Buffy… it was never your fault. The vampire's maybe… maybe the gypsies'… but it wasn't yours, and it wasn't Angel's. He ain't the same as the vampire… Angel's a person, a man… much as I don't like admittin' that and much as our instincts say otherwise." She let out her deep breath and looked over at where Buffy had turned to face her. "It wasn't your fault, wasn't his. When it came down to it, you did what you had to. What you had to, Slayer. That there is Angel, the man. It ain't just a demon. Don't let it tear you up. Slayer I know is stronger'n that."

Buffy just continued staring at her as she nodded once more and walked out, ready to take the brief chance of a last minute patrol. The weight around her neck wasn't so heavy or warm anymore, much more comfortable, and though she felt awkward and mushy for having said that to the blonde, a strange feeling of accomplishment had settled in as well.

Fuck this mushy bullshit is complicated. Damn necklace.

TBC