"Yes! That's more like it." Giles had seen Oz off and was back in his study. "I think if we use Salamander Root… no, I'm sorry, Salablade Root, we may be on the right track."

There were three books open on his desk and another on the floor to the side of it. He was cross-referencing between the four, checking for ingredient availability with difficulty at one of the online Wicca stores Willow had bookmarked and was holding a telephone consultation with Miss Harkness of the coven in Devon.

"So the Salablade, the other three I've written down and, what did you say? Nagasaki Discus? Ah, Nagyszemet Dizno… Um, I have no idea, I'm afraid. Then why can't they just call them Hungarian pig's eyes?"

He scrolled down the web page looking for them as he spoke.

"Do they have to be from Hungary, because time is of the essence? The more distressed Willow becomes the faster the corruptive magick may spread through her."

He found the eyes and clicked to put three lots in his virtual basket. It all seemed very expensive. He missed being able to get things at cost prices. He knew Willow was growing many of her own magickal herbs these days. Maybe it would be wise to cough up the money for a couple of Hungarian pigs too.

"No, I'll be performing the spell myself. I agree it's not ideal, but the only other person here who has shown any inherent magickal ability isn't in fact here at the moment. No, even if I could get him back today, Craig's far too wet behind the ears to be entrusted with a spell as important as this."

A movement at the window caught his eye. Xander was trudging past looking miserable, coatless despite the rain, with a beer bottle in his hand. Giles sighed. He still had to talk to him about the depressed mood he'd been in for months on end, but there just never seemed to be the time. It would have to be soon though because it was starting to cause tension for everyone

He focused on what Miss Harkness was saying again while still watching Xander through the window.

"Yes, perhaps you're right. Having Craig tutored will probably be for everyone's benefit in the future, but right now I'm afraid I have enough people's futures to worry about."

Faith expected to find Willow in bed. She wasn't.

Instead, as Faith got to the top of the stairs and made to turn towards her room, she saw the witch shivering outside on the veranda.

She banged on the little window to get her attention. "What the hell're you doing out there in your pajamas? I thought you were meant to be sick?"

"I sneezed!" Willow yelled back, like that explained a damn thing.

Frowning, Faith pointed her finger to the back of the house. As Willow got it, Faith walked down the hallways to the door to the veranda. She let Willow in, soaking wet and shivering madly, and then ducked into her own bedroom to grab the blanket off her bed.

"Why didn't you at least put a coat on," she griped, wrapping the blanket around Willow's grateful shoulders.

"I didn't plan on going out there!"

When Faith just looked at her like she was crazy, Willow realised no one had properly clued her in.

"It's part of my… condition. When I sneeze I teleport."

"Oh. Right."

Willow nodded as she shuffled along the corridor back to her bedroom. "I ended up on the roof last night."

"Huh. What was that like?"

"Cold and scary. But Buffy was there with me."

They were back at her room now. Her nightdress was soggy, but she didn't feel up to changing right away. Keeping Faith's blanket around her, she crawled under her own covers and pulled them to her chin.

"Buffy's teleporting when she sneezes too?"

She hadn't looked sick to Faith. Annoying as ever, but not sick. She started to tuck Willow in better, then realised what she was doing and dropped the covers to step back and have a word with herself. Willow wasn't a little kid, and even if she had been, Faith didn't tuck little kids into bed! She'd be offering to read her a bedtime story next!

Willow didn't seem to notice she was flustered as she griped. "No, she just grabbed me as I sneezed. I told her not to. But as always, she did what she wanted to."

Faith almost smiled. "Yeah, tell me about it. It's like she's got cotton balls in her ear whenever anyone else has something to say."

"Except Kennedy."

"Yeah, exactly."

They stared at each other, both realising they were being a little unfair, but then shrugged in unison and Faith dropped down into the chair by the bed.

"Thing that gets me, she makes this big deal about wanting to talk, but then doesn't listen. Every time I try, she takes something I say wrong, and then goes off in a shit. I don't even know what I've said half the time. How'm I supposed to deal with that?"

"It doesn't seem to stop you kissing her."

"Yeah, well, gotta do something. I'm hoping if I keep it up she'll realise what she's missing and cut the crap, ya know? Maybe if she finally chills and gives me a little something back to go on, I will too."

"At least she still wants to be your girlfriend."

"She doesn't wanna be my girlfriend. She wants to be my keeper with a side of sex. We had a name for people like that back in the penn."

"Oh, yeah." Willow sat up a little more now the shivering was subsiding, interested. "What was it?"

"Gracie."

Willow's nose scrunched up. "Huh?"

"Gracie. She was this guard who… well, she wanted to screw all the inmates." Faith shrugged like it was self-explanatory. "Anyway, B's like her. Except she won't even have sex with me."

Willow shook her sore head. "Okay, now you've totally lost me."

"Never mind, forget it. So, Ken been to see ya yet."

"No!" Willow said, her tone surly.

"Well maybe if she knew you had the handcuffs ready to go she would." Faith winked.

Willow gave an embarrassed chuckle and buried her head in her covers for a moment. She'd been hoping Faith wouldn't spot them. "They're not for that! They're in case my sneezes get out of control and I start teleporting across Boudenver."

"If you say so." Faith fiddled with one for a moment. "I thought for a minute you and Oz had been up to something naughty."

"No!"

"No need to bite my head off. So you two ain't getting back together?"

"Believe me, I really wish I wanted to. Life would be so much easier if I was still attracted to him, you know, like that."

"Like what? Either you're attracted to him or you're not."

"I still love him. I know I still love him." She lowered her voice. "I think a part of me is even still in love with him. He still gives me the warm and fuzzies, but he doesn't," she paused and released a deep breath. "He doesn't give me the… the…"

Faith helped her out. "The hot and tinglies?"

"Yeah," Willow agreed softly.

"But Kennedy does?"

"Kennedy doesn't want to give me anything."

"But you want her too?"

Willow opened her mouth to answer but a sneeze came out instead. Faith found herself staring at an empty bed.

"Well, I'll be," she began and got up to go look for the teleported witch.

Giles was in the kitchen making a cup of tea now.

Buffy was still fussing with food between the counter and the stove. Xander was dripping rainwater all over the table as he tried to clean the mysterious oil stains off of it. They didn't appear to speaking much to each other, he noticed.

"So, I believe the spell has every chance of working and curing her of this ailment altogether, but you'll both need to be there to help."

"Why?" Xander asked. "You know what me and magick are like."

"Yes, very successful when you concentrate. So no more beer this afternoon, please."

"Sure, whatever. But can we get it over with early? They're having a pre-Thanksgiving thing down at Barnies tonight and I told Alex I'd show."

"Xander, it's for Willow!" Buffy snapped. "Surely you can put your alcohol abuse on hold for…"

"I said I'd be here, didn't I!"

Hurt silence stretched out until Giles cleared his throat.

"The coven has assured me they can get all of the ingredients here by seven 'o' clock. If all goes well, we should be finished within an hour."

There was another minute of silence. Buffy broke it this time.

"Giles, you never gave me a secret family recipe to do for tomorrow."

He frowned, confused for a moment. His thoughts were far too scattered to remember what she was talking about.

As it dawned, and not wanting to disappoint her, he said, "Peas and carrots."

"Peas and carrots?" she asked. "That's it?"

"Add an onion, a little ginger and salted butter and stir it all up in a pan and you'll see what I mean." He picked up his tea cup. "Xander, can I have a word with you in my study, please?"

"You sure about this, Red?"

"Yes." Willow held her hand to the side of her pillow so Faith could snap a cuff around her wrist. "It's too cold today to keep zapping myself outside."

Faith moved around to the other side of the bed to do the other one. "Okay, but what about if ya need the bathroom?"

Willow hadn't thought about that. "Uh, leave the keys on the side and make sure someone checks on me every hour, please?"

"No problem."

Faith stepped back and grinned down, admiring Willow fastened to the bed with the furry black handcuffs.

"Damn it's been awhile," she joked. "If it wasn't for the Disney nightie and the fact that your face has gone all green I'd be tempted to climb…"

"Finish that sentence and you'll get more than a punch in the eye!"

Faith curbed the urge to spin guiltily to the sound of the voice and instead just looked casually over her shoulder.

"Hey, Kenny. Come to join the party?"

"I came to see if Willow was okay. Obviously she is, so I shouldn't have bothered."

Seeing Kennedy about to turn from the doorway, and catching Willow's stricken face out of the corner of her eye, Faith decided to the do the decent thing.

"Don't be an ass. You know this ain't what it looks like."

Kennedy hesitated in the doorway.

Willow lifted her head and shoulders off the pillow and gave her a quiet, "Hey."

"So if it's not what it looks like, what is it?"

Faith set the tiny keys on the bedside table, gave Willow's arm a pat and shot her a wink before walking towards the door.

"I'll let Willow explain. Gotta get back to work anyway."

She slipped past Kennedy in the doorway and left them to it.

"So?" Kennedy asked.

"Can you come in? It hurts my head leaning up like this."

Kennedy entered slowly. She looked at the edge of the bed, then the chair on the other side and ended up standing two feet away with her hands in her pockets.

"So, you and Oz had a nice visit then?"

Willow sighed. She'd wanted Kennedy to visit, but she wasn't up to an argument. Why had she thought she would get anything else?

"This isn't what it looks like. It has nothing to do with Oz."

"I wouldn't mind, but you're using my handcuffs."

"They're our handcuffs!"

"Yeah, mine and yours, not yours and his!"

"This has nothing to do with whatever you imagine I want to do with Oz!" Willow shouted and then had to lay back and close her eyes.

Kennedy backed off a little. She hadn't come up here to argue, but hearing Faith's comments and then seeing Willow handcuffed to their bed – a bed she hadn't been allowed in for over a month – what was she supposed to think?

"Why are you green?"

"I don't know," Willow said quietly. "Giles pretended like he hadn't noticed and I didn't want to mention it in front of Oz."

She knew she'd said the wrong thing even before Kennedy's hands flew from her pockets to gesticulate wildly.

"No, you wouldn't want to say anything to put Oz off, would you!"

"I was embarrassed!" Willow admitted. "But not because of why you think."

"Why would you be? He'd want you even if you are the colour of a frog!"

Inside her tummy flipped at the mention of frogs, but outwardly she just glared. "And you wouldn't, I take it?"

Kennedy looked away, her mouth a set line. "You have to make a choice, Willow."

"I thought you'd done that for me."

Kennedy didn't answer.

Willow leant up again, really wishing the handcuffs weren't on her right now, because it hurt to shout from this position.

"Maybe if you'd fought for me a little harder I wouldn't have a decision to make!"

Kennedy, chuckling coldly, turned back to her. "I did fight for you, remember? You hated it."

"I didn't mean physically! There are other, better, more creative ways to fight for someone, Kennedy, other than using your fists!"

Kennedy went to shout something back, but her brain got in the way. She shut her mouth again, walked to the bookcase and stared at the books silently while she forced herself to calm down a little.

"Like what?" she said eventually.

"I don't know," Willow's voice was weaker now.

"It sounds like…"

Kennedy ran her hand over the top of the books. What she wanted to say next could be a big mistake. At the very least she'd lose face, at the worst she'd look completely pathetic. In the end, she took a deep breath and let the words rush out of her, because looking pathetic was better than not knowing.

"Do you think we still have a shot? Do you want us to have a shot, I mean? 'Cause I… if it isn't automatically over then… I never meant to… I mean I thought you thought… but I never meant to actually be the one… if you…"

She finally petered out completely. It would have been nice if Willow had interrupted the embarrassing babble, but she hadn't, she didn't even respond now, which was unsettling.

She turned back to the bed, half expecting Willow to either be asleep or gone, teleported somewhere. She wasn't either of those things, although she looked more worn out now than when Kennedy had come in.

She lay back on her pillows, eyes –looking sunken yet too bright in her green face – fixed on Kennedy.

"I don't know," she repeated quietly. "I never wanted things to be over, but it's different now."

"Because of Oz," Kennedy said with a defeated air.

"No, because of us!"

"But we could be okay?"

Willow shrugged awkwardly in the cuffs.

"Don't just shrug, Willow! Tell me if we can save us!"

Willow closed her eyes, feeling her strength seeping away. She needed to sleep, like now.

With her last ounce of effort she said softly, "Show me we have something worth saving, Kennedy, and I promise I'll help you do it."

"What's the what, G-man?"

Giles let the nickname go because Xander looked so nervous standing in the middle of his study.

"Xander, please, sit down." Xander did so. "I meant in that chair, not mine!" Xander grinned and started to get up. "No, you might as well stay where you are now."

Giles took the less comfortable chair on the other side of his desk. He went to shuffle some papers as a distraction but realised that would look foolish seeing as they were all upside down to him now. He took his glasses off to clean instead.

"Uh oh," Xander said. "What did I do?"

That was as good as cue as any to get straight to the point.

"Your work is exemplary, Xander."

"Thanks." After a brief silence, Xander added, "Can I go now?"

"No. Your work is excellent but I can't help wondering if you are happy doing it."

"Sure I am. Some of it's a little over my head still, but now you're letting me contract out that's no problem, and with Faith helping…"

"She's not simply helping. She works for you."

"No, she works for you."

"She works for us," Giles corrected. "I've explained already. Everything to do with building and maintenance is your responsibility. Without you…"

Xander cut him off. "Yeah, but I work for you, so technically…"

Giles cut him off this time. "You work with me."

"You're my boss," Xander said flatly.

"There has to be some a hierarchy within the Council, it's true, but I like to think that here in this camp at least, we're more of a democracy."

"Where's this going, Giles?"

"It's been brought to my attention that you've been feeling under appreciated."

"Willow's been telling tales."

"Actually I overheard your argument last month," Giles admitted.

"Oh, right. Well, don't worry about it. I was just having a bad day." Xander started to get up from the chair again.

"Xander, please sit." Giles waited until he had. "You've been having a lot of bad days since we arrived here."

"So that's what this is really about," Xander groaned. "Nice of you to big me up before hand, Giles, but you needn't have bothered. I'm getting used to this lecture."

"Maybe if you stopped seeing it as a lecture and started seeing it for what it really is, you wouldn't be so defensive."

"And what is it really?" Xander asked, humouring him.

"Your friends caring about you."

Xander started to get up again.

Instead of saying anything to stop him this time, Giles simply said, "Xander, I care about you."

Xander faltered half out of the chair. After a second, he forced out a grin. "That kiss didn't mean anything, you know."

Giles smiled and put his glasses back on. "Thank heavens for that. But I still care about you. I care about what you do every day and I care about what you are going to do with your future."

Xander had sunk back into the chair again, but his answer was sullen. "I'm not sure I have one."

"You do, I assure you of that, but you've dug yourself quite a rut since Sunnydale. I understand why of course, but now it's time to start digging yourself back out of it."

"What do you know about it?"

If Xander's reply had been flippant or cold Giles would have chucked a book at his head, but he just sounded miserable and little desperate.

Giles took a deep breath, preparing himself. "I lost the only woman I ever truly loved to my Slayer's ex-boyfriend. I know he wasn't Angel when he murdered her, but believe me, that didn't make it any easier when she decided to continue relations with him. Seeing him all the time…" he trailed off but he was sure his face told the rest of the story.

He was usually very careful not to talk about Jenny around Buffy, Willow and Xander, but this situation called for dire measures.

"I know it's not the same thing you're going through…"

"No, it's worse."

Giles nodded. "In some ways. My point is, I drank for a good many weeks after Jenny's death. Oh, none of you knew it, I was very careful not to get caught, but I sank fairly deep into a depression I had never experienced before. The only thing that eventually pulled me out of it was realising that Buffy, that all of you, needed me to be there. Really there, not just in body, but in every way."

Xander sat back and the leather creaked. "Nobody needs me like Buffy needed you."

Giles hesitated, not because he didn't have an answer, but because he wasn't quite ready to give it to Xander yet. Xander needed to make a few steps in the right direction first.

Eventually, he said, "Well, we, your friends, need you, Xander. So let's start getting you out of that rut. What do you say?"

He said, "How?"

"Perhaps going to speak to someone," Giles began.

"No way!" Xander said firmly. "Sure I'm a little out of sorts these days, but I don't need a shrink!"

Giles didn't want to add anything that might make him run, so he settled for watching him patiently. Xander didn't crack like he'd hoped, though, and after another minute or two the lad got up and walked out.

Giles watched him go with a sigh. Now what did he try?

Buffy sighed as Faith came down the back stairs. She had finally got some peace and quiet and now this, again. Having said that, as soon as Faith only gave her a little wave and kept going for the back door, she got annoyed.

"Hello!"

"Hey." Faith opened the back door, letting the rain in.

"I need your help."

"What with?"

"The pumpkin pie."

Faith closed the door again but stayed beside it. "I wrote down the recipe like you asked."

"I can't read your writing," Buffy lied.

Faith raised her eyebrows but gave in and went to sit at the kitchen table.

"Fine, chuck me the piece of paper and I'll read it out to you. You can write it down in your own perfect handwriting."

Buffy bristled but did her best to stay calm. Reminding herself she was thankful Faith was here, even if she was turning out to be a pain in the ass to have around. It was strange how she didn't remember that from the first time.

"Can't you just stay in here and help me?"

"I have a job, B! Actually, right now I pretty much have four of them if you count slaying, studying and keeping Debbie D happy so she stays off my back and doesn't start snooping around this place. I don't have the time to mess around in here cooking like you do!"

The outburst surprised her. Faith had been pretty mild mannered recently. Detached, gently sarcastic and a little too frosty for Buffy's liking, but certainly non-combative. Obviously she'd pushed a button. Good. Maybe if she pushed a few more Faith would actually stay and talk to her, or shout at her, either would be better than nothing.

"I have a job too!"

"No, B, you don't. You slay, sometimes, when you feel like it, but there's nothing you have to get up in the morning to do, there's no one standing over you making sure you do it right, either."

"Xander doesn't stand over you," she scoffed.

"My parole officer does that for him!" Faith shouted. Her chair scraped back with a sharp noise as she stood up. "And when she's not around, she's got people reporting back to her. My asshole teacher up at the Adult Learning Centre, my therapist, Giles! You know I have to have an hour long meeting every morning after I take Alison out on patrol?"

Buffy shook her head.

"Well, I do. Giles tries to fool me into thinking they're all about Ali's progress. Making sure she's getting on alright out there. But it's bull. I don't see him dragging Reece into his study every morning asking how Rona's getting on. He doesn't ask the other slayers how their night went, he leaves that to Kennedy, but he makes me sit and talk about it every damn morning. Where did I take her, what did we meet there, did we slay it, how long were we out, did I take her anywhere afterwards, did I use pre-approved training methods – what the hell are the pre-approved training methods? You see a vamp, stake it, ya see a demon, cut its head off – how friggin' pre-approved does that have to be?"

"He's trying to help you, Faith!"

"I know that! Why ya think you haven't heard me bitching about this before? Wouldn't be now, but you don't seem to get how fucked up each of my days is right now without having a freaking picture painted for ya."

"I'm not asking you to spend a whole afternoon taking bubble baths and painting my toenails! I just want my girlfriend to want to speak to me in her lunch break!"

"And I just want my girlfriend to sleep with me in my lunch break!"

Buffy turned away, shaking her head and laughing. "Oh, would you change the record for once?"

"Would you? All you wanna do is talk, talk, talk. Aren't you sick of hearing yourself ask?"

"What I'm sick of is you never actually answering."

"I answer you every time."

Buffy slammed the pie plate on the counter. "Yeah, with a 'maybe later' or a 'not right now'. You never actually do the talking thing though. This isn't a relationship if we never talk about anything more than the weather. It's not even the beginning of one; it's just… something awkward."

"You know what would make it more of a relationship?"

"I already told you I don't want a relationship that's just sex. So if that's all you want now, or you've decided that's all you have the time to give me, then we have a real problem."

"You know that's not all I want."

"Do I? It's all you act like you want?"

Faith, on the other side of the counter, slammed her hands down as hard as Buffy had slammed the pie dish down.

"What I want is for you to meet me halfway! Give me something to go on here, B. I don't want another person I feel I have to report to all the damn time. I want you to be someone I can have a laugh with, and screw about with and, yeah, screw occasionally! Preferably in inappropriate places and at in appropriate times. Like this counter… on my lunch break."

She didn't smile as she said it but she held Buffy's eyes like they were locked-on missiles. Buffy felt her skin heating up under her clothes. It was probably just because the oven had been on all morning, she told herself as she inwardly, and perhaps a little outwardly, gulped at Faith's intensity.

"So maybe if you give me a little of that," Faith continued. "A little taster of how we're actually gonna be when we get into this relationship for real. Maybe I'll find it a little easier to relax around you and do that talking thing you're so in to."

Buffy groaned, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "I can't believe we're in a 'no talking, no sex' stalemate."

Faith shrugged. "Me neither, who the hell doesn't wanna have hot sex?"

Buffy shook her head. "Who doesn't want to talk about themselves to a captive audience of me?"

Faith looked down at the counter, fingers tapping at it, her voice uncomfortable. "I've never been good at, ya know, letting people in and stuff. Even when I was a kid. After a while I guess people stopped bothering and so I never properly learned."

"Why?"

"Well, ya get told to stay the fuck outta someone's business enough times…"

Buffy chuckled softly, making Faith look up at her in surprise.

"I meant why weren't you good at it? I used to tell my friends everything when I was a kid."

"You still do," Faith said dryly. "But maybe back then you had a bunch of stuff you wanted to talk about. I didn't. Still don't, really, not yet anyway. So if you wanna talk about baseball, or food, or –" she grinned again. "-sex, that I can do, but anything heavier, you either gotta wait patiently for the therapy to kick in, or ya gotta earn it."

Buffy raised a sceptical eyebrow. "By sleeping with you?"

Faith shrugged one shoulder. "I'll settle for less than that the first time." She spotted the time on the clock. "My lunch break is past over. You want me to write that recipe down for you again?"

"No, that's okay, I can read it."

"Right, I'll see you later." Faith boosted herself up on the counter and leaned over it.

Maybe it was because they were already standing just a short space apart, maybe it was because they'd been looking into each others eyes, or maybe it was because Faith did it pretty much every time she left the room now, but Buffy was ready for the kiss this time when it landed on her lips.

She even had the chance to kiss back. It made a difference; the kiss lasted, no drive-by smacker this time, and when Faith did break the kiss, it was unhurriedly and with a smile on her lips.

Dropping back to her feet, Faith turned away and left the kitchen without another word.

Buffy watched her go with a confused sigh.

Tbc...