Act one
The sickly yellow blast of magic shot out into the clearing. Separating into thinner tendrils and zigzagging to avoid the Slayers, with a loud crackle it struck each of the thirteen demonic lizards simultaneously.
Faith threw her fist into the air with a cry of: "Yeah, that's the… Whoa!"
As the magic hit the demons she saw it flash, increase and then zip back like Xander's tape measure when he hit release. She tried to jump back out of the way, but there were no longer individual tendrils, but a wide, sweeping disk of yellow expanding outwards from each five foot lizard.
She heard Kennedy yell duck, but she was already diving to the ground herself. She rolled over as she landed, ready to shout at the three non-slayers to get down, but seeing Buffy running in towards the demons – Xander's sword raised high to strike – stole her attention.
"B, you idiot! Get…"
The magic was faster than she could speak and with a sound effect straight out of a Batman comic – Pow! – the blast hurled her backwards so far and fast that Faith lost sight of her.
Slightly panicked, she didn't even think to move as she just stared into the woods after her. "Buf…"
She heard Xander call out, "Oh damn!", a "Good Lord!" from Giles and Kennedy screaming out: "Willow!"; and cut her eyes back to the group in time to see all three of them get hit by the magic and flung out of sight.
Kennedy was up, ready to run after them.
Faith flipped upright and grabbed her arm. "Wait. The demons."
"To hell with the demons."
"If we don't take advantage of the magic, then they just got blasted to Kingdom Come for nothing," Faith reasoned, and she wanted a cookie for it later because she was feeling about as unreasonable as Kennedy was acting.
"And if we don't go after them they might actually end up in Kingdom Come for real," Kennedy reasoned back.
"Yeah, and if we don't kill the demons a hell of a lot more people might be joining them."
"My first priority is to my friends." Kennedy tried to pull away.
Faith held on as she countered that argument. "Your first priority is too the innocents that are gonna get eaten if we leave them alive."
"What do you know about protecting innocents? I didn't think you even believed in the concept."
Kennedy finally got her arm away as Faith let it slip through her fingers at the jibe.
Sounded like Buffy had been talking about her again. Pity she never seemed to talk about her good points. Okay so they were fewer and further between than her bad ones – especially if Buffy was telling tales about their past – but surely their rarity should have made them more interesting topics of conversation.
"Let's just say I've been doing this a lot longer than you, Kenny, and I know what I'm talking about."
"Just because you've spent four years fighting your inner demons in prison doesn't make you an expert at the slayer gig, you know?"
Faith's mouth opened, but for a second she wasn't entirely sure how to respond. She even almost smiled at the kid's audacity. She didn't believe in pulling any punches, that was for sure. Faith had to respect that, even though it pissed her off. In the end she shook it off. Brat had a point and knocking her on her ass for making it would only make her look petty; and she didn't need that right now.
"Yeah, well kiddo, four months patrolling around this second rate Hellmouth don't make you one neither. So I'm calling rank by number of years served: I say, you do, got it?"
They stared each other down, until Faith suddenly remembered something.
"Hey, did you catch the complete lack of demons tearing us apart right now?"
Kennedy went to retort on instinct, but then the actual question sunk in. "Yeah."
They both looked around cautiously.
Faith couldn't see or sense any demons in the area any longer. The clearing was empty aside from the two of them standing in the centre and the woods around them were dark and still.
"Did they run off or did the magic make them disappear?" Kennedy asked, turning on the spot to check all around.
Faith shook her head. The last thing she'd seen was the magic slamming Buffy and her Besties through the air at high speed. Now the demons were gone, how didn't matter, she could turn her attention to finding the others and making sure they weren't hurt or… the other thing."
"You go that way," she instructed as she pointed through the trees in the direction Xander had disappeared. "I'm going this way. Red and Giles should be somewhere in the middle. Stay within shouting distance in case those green bastards are still around."
"I'm agreeing because it's a good plan, not because its you telling me to do it," Kennedy grumbled as she started towards the woods.
"I'll make sure that's goes on the record," Faith muttered sarcastically as she did the same.
There was a crashing of dead, brown undergrowth in the direction Faith had chosen and they both tensed, expecting a demon to emerge. It didn't, but a short blonde did.
"The green bastards went that way," Buffy slurred as she stumbled drunkenly out of the trees. "Ran right by me."
Striding over, Faith took one of Buffy's elbows to keep her steady. "You saw them? Why didn't you stop them?"
Buffy turned her head slowly to blink at her. "I'm sorry; I was too busy trying to remember which end of me to put on the ground. What was your excuse?"
"Kennedy." Faith said, feeling that it explained everything simply.
"Handful, isn't she?" Buffy smiled affectionately.
Stone-faced, Faith let go of her elbow. "Like that, do you?"
"Yeah," Buffy said absently, swaying as she watched Kennedy rush to take an unconscious Willow from a staggering Xander.
"Guess you don't need me then. More than a handful being a waste and all that."
Faith walked off to give Giles – who was just lurching into the clearing – a shoulder to lean on.
"Kinda reminds me of you, but without the low down…" Buffy continued with a dreamy smile on her face as she turned to where Faith was no longer standing. "…tickle. Where'd you… Oops."
Hearing the thud behind her, Faith turned to see Buffy face down on the grass. It didn't look like she'd even tried to catch herself, but she couldn't have done much damage because she was giggling.
Giles was wobbly on his feet, but he didn't seem as loopy as Buffy. He'd been further from the backlash of magic. Willow hadn't been that close either, but she was like the magic tamer – she was always gonna get mauled the worst when it turned.
"She okay?"
"She's unconscious, but she sounds like she's breathing fine," Kennedy said, still looking worriedly at the witch in her arms.
"Her pulse is strong," Xander added. "Let's just get her to the car."
For every few steps forward he took he was taking a couple of steps sideways. He checked his reeling with his arms out for balance, only to reel to the other side on his next attempt.
With the way he was going, they would wind up in Lake Erie before they made it to the car.
"What the hell was that spell?" she asked as she led Giles over to Xander and made them support each other. "I thought it was just meant to leave 'em vulnerable to us killing them."
"Well, it was supposed to be," Giles said as he and Xander meandered this way and that into the trees with their arms around each other for stability. "But, it would seem that not only were they protected from physical attacks, they were also protected from…"
"Magic?" Kennedy guessed.
"It would appear so," Giles replied sheepishly.
"But why's it… why's it making us…?" Xander asked, his speech disrupted by the bush he'd walked himself and Giles into. "... stupid thing. Like this?"
"I don't know. Willow will be able to tell us more, I'm hoping, when she wakes up. Xander, we clearly cannot go directly through the bush!"
Faith chuckled, letting them all sort themselves out and walk ahead as she stopped beside Buffy's prone form. She nudged her arm with the toe of her boot.
"Think you can stand?"
"I don't know," came the muffled reply. "How's that one go again?"
"Tell ya what?" Faith squatted down next to her. "I'll hum a few bars and you join in when you remember it."
"Okay. I'll name that tune in…" Faith grabbed her under the arms and dragged her upright. "…Whoa, head rush!"
She sagged, but Faith kept her on her feet. "Think you can walk?"
Buffy leant against her for a moment and it looked doubtful, but then her head seemed to clear and she stood upright under her own steam.
"Yeah, just give me a sec for the spinning to stop." She was swaying again, her arms out slightly to keep her steady as she took a few deep breaths. "Wooo. Next time we have a party, we should just buy a keg of that spell. Okay, I'm good." She stood up straight and swung an arm out in gesture. "Lead the way."
Faith watched her warily, but Buffy grinned in encouragement, gesturing again. Nodding, she turned to follow the others to the car.
Thud!
Rolling her eyes and biting back a grin, Faith turned slowly back around.
"Okay, Giggles, that's it." She rolled Buffy over with her boot. "You're forcing me to carry you to the car."
"I have no problem with that." On her back now, Buffy was trying unsuccessfully to stifle the laughter still bubbling out of her. "Just promise me you'll be gentle?"
"I'll do my best, Twinkie."
Stooping, she grabbed Buffy's wrist and hauled her up again. Once unsteadily on her feet, Buffy waited patiently to be taken in Faith's arms, but she had other ideas. Bending her knees, she put an arm around Buffy's thighs and boosted her up over her shoulder.
"Okay, I've changed my m-m-mind." Buffy's voice came out a little wavery now that Faith was heading across the grass and into the trees. "I have a p-p-roblem with this."
Faith just grinned and gave Buffy's ass a light smack with her free hand as she kept on walking.
"H-h-hey!"
When Kennedy pulled the truck along the side of the house, Faith helped first Giles and then Buffy out of the back of it. Buffy was already starting to feel better, although still a little shaky in her head, but this was possibly the best she and Faith had gotten along recently and she was loath to end it too soon.
As Giles walked slowly to the house, she stayed next to Faith waiting for the others to get out. Xander also seemed a lot better although he held on to the door as helped Willow to the ground. Buffy was pleased she was conscious again, but the witch still looked pale and shaky and didn't let go of Xander once she was on her feet. He kept her steady, but they didn't speak.
Nobody seemed to speak much to each other at the moment unless it was with raised voices or snide comments. It worried Buffy more than a little, but there didn't seem to be a lot she could do about it. The house was divided down strange lines and she supposed that for now she just had to take comfort in the fact that they could all still be there for each other when it really mattered, even if it went back to strained straight afterwards.
Faith caught her eye and nodded her head towards the house. "Think you can walk okay?"
"I think so."
She looked over at Willow next and saw how wobbly she still was. "You want a shoulder to lean on back to the house, Red?"
"It's okay, I've got her." Kennedy finished locking the truck and came around to their side.
Willow didn't object as Kennedy put an arm around her and together they made their way slowly around to the back door with Xander following.
"You ladies coming?" he asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, we'll just be a minute?" It came out like a question as Buffy looked hopefully at Faith.
Faith was looking back, and her eyes seemed almost as hopeful, but she just muttered. "It's cold out here, B."
"I know, but…"
"What? That spell make ya horny as well as loopy?" Faith smiled.
"No! I just want to talk."
"Well, we can talk in the warm."
"But will we?" Buffy asked doubtfully.
Faith shook her head. "It's late. Maybe tomorrow."
Buffy shook her head too in frustration. "Tomorrow never comes!"
"Don't go getting deep on me." Faith chuckled. "Come on, I'm going in."
Buffy watched her walk away, thinking she was just going to leave her out here, but Faith stopped at the corner of the house and waited patiently until she pushed off of the truck and walked unsteadily after her. Once they were level, Faith put an arm around her shoulders and wordlessly helped her the rest of the way.
"Thanks," she muttered once they were in the kitchen, extricating herself so she could sit down.
Everyone else was already seated except Kennedy who was rooting through the refrigerator. Faith went to stick her head in it too.
Andrew had waited up and was bustling behind the breakfast counter making tea and cocoa. He was the only Scooby – Oh God, had she just called him a Scooby? – the only ex-Sunnydalian who hadn't taken sides in the current tension war. He still fussed over, griped at and generally annoyed everyone equally when he wasn't off doing stuff Buffy didn't want to think too hard about with Ethan Rayne's son.
"So how come you didn't get them?" he was asking. "I gave you all you needed to know."
"Actually you didn't," Kennedy said irritably. Although it was possible she was more irritated with Faith than Andrew; the older Slayer kept pushing her as they both searched for snacks. "Would you stop it?"
"No, I'm hungry too." Faith gave her another little push out of the way as she inspected a tub of sweet chilli dip.
"I didn't?" Andrew asked uncertainly.
"You didn't say they were magic," Xander clarified.
"They're not," Andrew replied sure of himself.
"Trust me, they are," Willow told him quietly. She still looked sick, but she was getting a little colour back in her cheeks.
"They're not," he repeated obstinately. "Nothing in any of the books said that."
Willow glared at him and he shrank back a little but still looked defiant.
Buffy put her hand over Willow's to get her attention. "Don't waste your energy frogifying him. He'd just be more annoying with all the hopping around and he wouldn't be able to reach the stove."
Willow started to smile, but quashed it and pulled her hand away. "I don't turn people into frogs. I don't turn people into anything unless they really deserve it."
Buffy sat back, rolling her eyes. "Fine, turn me into whatever you think I deserve if it'll make you feel better and end this silly fight."
With the way Willow looked at her, Buffy thought she was going to regret her flippant remark, but Giles cleared his throat before she turned into a rat or a snake or a pile of dog dirt.
"Ladies please, we have more important matters to discuss." As Andrew started putting mugs and cups on the table, Giles looked up at him. "The demons we battled tonight may not have been magical themselves, but they were most certainly impervious to magic. Are you sure none of the texts you and Naomi read mentioned anything like that?"
"I'm sure." Andrew never slowed down his table service but he was deep in thought for a few moments. "There were records of magic being used successfully against them so how could they be impervious. Are you sure it was the Meluthian Hedrays you were fighting?"
"Yes they fit the rest of your description perfectly," Giles assured him.
Andrew wore a proud smile, but Buffy shook her head as she took her cocoa from him.
"Don't preen just yet. You still missed the can't be killed by magic bit."
Andrew deflated. "I didn't miss it! It wasn't there."
Kennedy came back to the table munching on a carrot as Faith, head still in the fridge, demanded,
"Why do you have no decent food in here, Andrew?"
"Well they've scarpered now anyway so let's just figure it out in the morning," Xander said through a yawn.
"Yeah, sleep is definitely needed before I help puzzle out this puzzler," Willow backed him up as she sipped from her lemon tea.
Giles agreed too. "Yes, fresher heads will prevail, I'm sure." He stood up with his tea cup. "Goodnight everyone, I'm afraid I must retire."
"Don't you want…?" Andrew began, but Giles had already left the kitchen.
"Yeah I gotta hit the sack too," Xander decided, wearily getting to his feet.
"But I…" Andrew began again.
Xander cut him off. "Don't wake me when you come in, Andy, or I might just have to kill you."
"I'll try not to." Andrew forlornly watched him leave the room.
Faith came back to the table with the dip and a bag of plain chips and took the seat Giles had left next to Buffy.
"Hungry, B?" She shoved the dip towards her.
Buffy just wrinkled her nose, but Willow quickly covered her mouth and stood up.
"I need to go and lay down."
"Are you okay?" Buffy and Kennedy asked at the same time.
She ignored Buffy, but answered Kennedy. "I think so. I just need to be somewhere quiet and horizontal for a while."
"Okay, well if you need…" Kennedy let the sentence peter out.
They silently shared a look.
Willow dropped her gaze first. "Thanks for looking after me earlier."
"Anytime."
"Really?"
Kennedy didn't answer but she was still looking at Willow even if Willow wasn't looking back. After more silence, Kennedy watched Willow walk up the back stairs.
Once she was out of sight, Kennedy sighed heavily and stood up herself. "'Night."
Andrew tried to step in front of her. "Don't go yet."
"No point staying awake for the sake of it now," she said as she grabbed the remains of her carrot and walked around him. "You should probably go up soon too. You know what happened last time Goorzie tried to get in bed with Xander."
"But…" he began, but she was already walking out of the back door.
"Okay, well I guess the debriefing is over then." Buffy smiled as she stood up, her eyes lingering on Faith as she shoved chips covered in dip into her mouth. "And I'm really tired so…"
She yawned on cue and stepped away from the table, hoping Faith would take the hint and get up and do the same. She didn't.
Disappointed, she continued. "Okay, night guys."
"'Night," Faith said without looking up.
"Aren't you hungry?" Andrew asked, slightly pleading.
"Not really." She wrinkled her nose again at Faith's snack. "Thanks for the cocoa though."
She went up the back stairs slowly, not realising Faith was watching her now in the same way Kennedy had watched Willow.
Faith slowly crunched up the chips in her mouth and then replaced the lid on the dip. She sat there for a moment staring into space and then pushed her chair back and stood.
"'Night Andy."
"No," he whined. "You can't be full already."
"No, but what am I gonna do," she said and walked swiftly through the kitchen door without looking back.
Andrew slumped against the kitchen counter for a moment before going to the pantry and staring dejectedly at the platters of sandwiches and Buffalo wings he'd prepared as a post-patrol surprise.
Buffy met Willow on the landing as the she was coming from the bathroom.
"You still feeling oogie?"
"Yeah." Willow nodded and tried to walk by her.
Buffy side-stepped to stop her. "I know you want to lie down, but just give me a second, please."
Willow sighed heavily, but waited.
"How long is this going to go on for, Will?"
"What?"
"You know what. Us barely speaking. I can't stand it."
"Neither can I," Willow admitted in a small voice.
"So why can't we just draw a line under it?" Buffy asked, ducking her head to meet her best friend's eyes.
"Because it's not that simple! You have the hots for Kennedy and I'm not over her yet. Until I am…"
Buffy caught her arm as she interrupted. "I do not have the hots for Kennedy, okay? That's ridiculous!"
"I know what I see!" Willow pulled her arm back.
"I'm in love with Faith!"
"Yeah, well I don't see that! A…and I bet she doesn't either. But I do see you and Kennedy all over each all the damn time."
"We're not all over each other!" Buffy snapped exasperated. "The only reason we spend any time together is because you and Faith won't give us the time of day."
"If you say so." Willow started for her bedroom again. "Sounds like a convenient lie to me though."
"Will!"
"Look, whatever, Buffy. If you and Kennedy want to get together I'll deal with it, okay, eventually. But not tonight and probably not this year… and you'll just have to deal with that."
"Willow!" Buffy said in a shouted whisper, but the bedroom door shut with no response. "Fine! You know what? I give up. But the real convenient lie here is you thinking there's something going on so you don't have to deal with leaving your girlfriend to be with your ex-boyfriend!"
Buffy waited, listening over her own heavy breathing, but there was still no response from Willow's room. Finally, with a snarl of frustration, she turned to go to her own room and came face to face with Faith. She stopped, staring at her, too angry at the moment to smile or say anything pleasant. So she bit her tongue and didn't say anything at all.
"You really believe that?" Faith asked quietly, gesturing Buffy away from Willow's door.
"About Oz? I don't know," Buffy said as she followed Faith down the hall. "But I definitely believe she's delusional. What are you doing on this side of the house anyway?"
Faith shrugged. "I heard the shouting. Wanted to make sure everything was okay."
"Well, its not, nothings okay." Buffy stopped outside her bedroom door and Faith stopped with her. "Do you think there's something going on between me and Kennedy?"
Faith looked at her feet for a beat or two before meeting her eyes again. "Not really, I guess. Think there could be if you wanted there to be though."
"I don't," she promised. "And there couldn't be either. Kennedy's as mad about Willow as I am about you."
Faith smiled but she said, "Gotta admit it doesn't look that way most of the time."
"Well it is that way." Buffy pushed her bedroom door open. "Wanna come in for five minutes and let me prove it," she added with a playful smile.
Faith's eyes lit up at the idea, but then she shook her head. "We got bigger problems than whether you want into Kennedy's pants."
"I don't!" Buffy insisted.
Faith held her eyes for a second before saying, "Still got those bigger problems though."
"Okay, so we'll talk about them," Buffy said hopefully.
"Don't think five minutes will be long enough."
"How's fifteen sound then?"
Faith chuckled softly and ran a hand through her hair. "My first shrink appointment is this week."
"Oh." This was news although it shouldn't have been. "Why didn't you didn't tell me?"
"Only found out myself a couple of days ago and we haven't exactly been talking much."
"You still should have told me."
"Its okay, B, you're not expected to be there or anything. According to Double D the first few are gonna be all about me anyway."
"I'm not worried about that," she said quickly.
Although she was and it was a relief to hear she wouldn't have to go to a session just yet. Faith could see right through her too and smiled knowingly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Buffy asked, nodding into her room.
"Not right now. I just wanted you to know."
Buffy nodded. "Okay, well if you don't want to talk about us now, maybe you will afterwards."
"Maybe. Probably." Faith shrugged. "I should go. Let you get to bed. That spell seems to have wiped everyone else out."
"Yeah, I am tired," she admitted. "But you can still come in for a while if you want."
Faith hesitated before asking, "Can I spend the night?"
Buffy hesitated also, wishing it felt right to say yes. "I don't, uh, know, like you said, we haven't exactly been, you know, with the talking or being all that friendly… so maybe we should…"
"S'okay, B." Faith held her hands up as she backed away a little. "When you're ready is fine."
"Okay," Buffy said softly, pleased to be let gently off the hook, but a little bothered that Faith was giving in so readily.
"So I guess I'll see you at breakfast," Faith said backing away some more but never dropping eye contact.
"Yeah. Don't you want your goodnight kiss first?" She blurted out before Faith could turn away. It was the first time she'd asked in two weeks.
"Yeah." Faith smiled. "Yeah, I really do." And then she turned and walked away down the hall.
Buffy gazed dreamily after her for a moment or two before going into her room and shutting the door as she grumbled, "Well, why didn't you come and get it then, you moron."
Kennedy eased the barn door open and entered as quietly as she could. Naomi was a motionless lump under her covers; she could hear her faint, muffled breathing even from the doorway. The other beds were all empty and neatly made for a change.
All three of the young slayers had gone home for the two week Thanksgiving break, even Alison who had declined vacation time in the past. It made the camp seem really quiet, but they were all making the most of it while it lasted. After the holiday not only would those three be back, they were expecting more Slayer-babies to join them as well. The fruits of Robin's and Giles' recruitment missions.
Also sometime before Christmas the next bunch of Watcher cadets were coming to stay for their two week selection period. Kennedy still hadn't gotten over the last lot yet.
She stripped quickly and pulled her warmest pajamas on. Xander had promised he'd have heat in here before the first snow fell, but if it was getting to the point where she was thinking of buying some thermal underwear to sleep in.
She didn't even bother brushing her hair before she slipped beneath the cold covers of her single bed. What was the point? There was no one in here to see it. Except Nai and she wouldn't care either way if it was stuck up and tangled in the morning.
Lying on her back she stared at the ceiling, knowing sleep wasn't around the corner for her. It had been hard sleeping sharing a bed with Willow those last few weeks, but not as hard as it was being in a bed without her.
She still wanted to put things right, work things out with her, but with every day that passed it was like they were drawing further apart. Sometimes, a lot of the time, she was sure it tore Willow up as much as her, but that didn't stop them from having the same dead arguments dispersed amongst the freezing silences.
It was getting to the point where Kennedy knew something had to drastically give or what they'd had was going to be lost forever. She was stubborn though, and still convinced she was in the right. And so was Willow.
So the question had to be – how did she get past that? How did she get Willow back fair and square so that the cause of their break up was no longer an issue?
There had to be a way.
Willow sat on her bed with her pre-bed stuff laid out on the comforter. She was still feeling dizzy, so standing was bad right now, but she was still going to moisturise her arms and face and brush her hair like normal. Just because she was all alone in their big bedroom now didn't mean she could slack off, right? Such slovenliness at bedtime might creep into other things and then where would she be? A big slovenly mess, that's where!
She finished squirting the white cream up her arms and capped the lotion bottle irritably. She had to stop thinking of it as their bedroom. It was her bedroom now and hanging on to the old terms wasn't helping. She felt a little guilty that it was her bedroom. After all they'd broken up equally. Kennedy might have been the one to say the words, but she hadn't given her even a second to detract them. It had obviously been a mutual thing, even if it felt less than mutual to her most of the time, so it seemed a little unfair that she had automatically gotten to keep the room in the house and Kennedy had had to move into the dorm.
Although, she supposed it made sense. It was a Slayer dorm after all, and Kennedy was a Slayer. Still, it had felt a bit mean and presumptuous and like a way of pointing out that Kennedy wasn't really a part of the family after all.
And she totally was. It was just unfortunate that her free ride into the middle of the gang had come on Willow's shirt tails. But she had been here from the start. She and Willow had picked this room out together. Had chosen the new paint and stuff for it together after it had almost burned down.
Probably though, the loss of the room didn't mean that much to Kennedy. After all, she was still in the inner circle. Buffy made sure of that. With all their little training sessions and private talking sessions and secret slaying sessions… okay, maybe they weren't so secret, but was there a good reason why the two of them had to pair up all the damn time? Shouldn't Buffy want to pair with Faith instead?
Okay, she knew there was a good reason for that. Faith didn't seem to want to slay with Buffy at the moment, and besides, she was taking Alison out nearly every night and Giles would frown if Buffy tagged along. There were other newbie slayers that needed a big sister, though, so why did Buffy always seem to go with Kennedy?
Willow squirted some lotion into her hands ready to do her face and wished she could stop feeling sick for five minutes. Sure, she hadn't done much magic recently – she didn't feel centred enough, and she had a secret fear that this thing with Kennedy would tip her over the edge. It wasn't going to happen. Rationally she knew that. Plus, if it was, she would already be all veiny by now. So she was really just being wary of the big stuff, the stuff that might potentially pack a different punch than it was meant to if she happened to be thinking of Kennedy at the time.
The spell she had performed tonight though shouldn't have had any ill side effects. Even with the way it has lashed back at them like that it shouldn't have had the strength to knock them off of their feet, let alone all this residual yuckiness to boot. It must have been something in the demons that corrupted it. Or if Andrew was right about them not being particularly magical, then maybe something on the demons. If they, or more likely something stronger, had the power to protect them magically, maybe that something had mixed a little something special in with it. Something that could take her magic and turn it into something else more nasty as it was deflected.
She had read through Andrew and Naomi's research too and nothing they had found out suggested the Meluthian Hedray's could do that, but maybe their cousins with the bigger brains could. Or maybe it was something or somebody else.
Ugh. It was all hurting her brain to think about it right now. It could wait until morning like Giles said. She finished rubbing in the last of the lotion and picked up her hair brush as her thoughts returned to Buffy and Kennedy.
She hated arguing with her best friend. It was just wrong. Some of her worst moments in the last seven years had been when she was on the outs with Buffy. What she hated more though was the thought of Buffy and Kennedy getting along when she and Kennedy could barely stand to look at each other. How was that fair? She liked to think she was too mature for jealousy of that nature, but… she obviously wasn't! And that just added to her annoyance.
Surely if Buffy was really her friend she wouldn't be quite so pally with her ex when she knew it burned Willow up inside? It would help - in a totally selfish way, but still – if Buffy and Faith were getting along as well as she and Kennedy weren't, but that wasn't the case. Okay, so they weren't exactly a happy couple right now, far from it, but they were both still hanging in there even if it was from opposite sides of the house.
They acted more like casual acquaintances with a secret crush most of the time, than a couple who had already declared love for each other six months ago, but at least they both knew they were vaguely on the same wavelength.
It felt like she and Kennedy had even lost that much. Even casual conversation was a thing of the past for them. Being in the same room was awkward, the same conversation more so. They couldn't even act professional any more when it came to work stuff, although at least you could say the same for Buffy and Faith on that score, but theirs was more a battle of Slayer wills and she and Kennedy didn't have that excuse.
Shakily she got up from the bed to take the lotion and brush back to her dressing table. If Kennedy was here, she would have done it for her, and then she would have tucked her in too. Just another reason why it sucked that they had broken up.
She missed her so much, all the time, which seemed stupid when they lived in the same house. Why couldn't they just work things out? Why couldn't they just be together again? She had known she was falling for her seriously before all this had happened, but it had taken the last few weeks of distance to point out just how much. And now it seemed too late to fix it. Kennedy was obviously, if not happy, then resigned to things as they were now. She had made no move to try and change things anyway. Neither had she, she knew, but she hadn't been the one to mess things up in the first place.
She wanted to get past that way of thinking – it wasn't helping anyone that was for sure – but she needed something from Kennedy first, something that made her sure putting their difference of opinion behind them was the right thing to do.
She flicked her bedside light on before putting the stuff back and then turned the overhead light off before she made her way back to the bed. Halfway there a sneeze took her by surprise.
"Oh please don't tell me I'm getting sick on top of… hang on a good darn minute!"
She looked about herself with uneasiness and then patted the comforter that was smoothed over her legs. She was pretty sure – as in absolutely – that she hadn't gotten into bed yet, and here she was, all tucked up like her Mom had paid a visit.
It was nice though, and she felt herself relaxing into the bed immediately. She was so tired and ughy feeling and the sheets felt cool against her too warm skin. It would have been nicer if she hadn't been alone, but that was something else she could deal with in the morning. Right now, she just wanted to turn her light off and go to sleep.
She sneezed again so abruptly that she didn't even get her hands over her nose in time. As the fuzzy-sneeze feeling subsided her eyes went wide. Her room was in darkness and she was comfortably on her side, but she couldn't remember accomplishing either task on her own.
"Okay… this is weird."
[Tbc...]