Someone aside from me, probably Joss Whedon, owns the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. No-one owns zombies, aside from Simon Pegg, because they make terrible pets.

This chapter contains coarse language, but no scenes of violence, nudity, torture, or other adult subject matter, so I'm keeping the rating at "T" for now.

Buffy felt nervous as she approached the music room after class on Friday. She'd already had two sessions, but they made her nervous. She hesitated as she reached for the door knob, but finally managed to just push past her apprehension and open the door.

From inside the soundproof room came the sound of very mellow R&B, played by the Scoobie musician on the bass. Oz looked up as she walked in and nodded, but didn't stop strumming his acoustic. Buffy took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of brass, sweat and patchouli, walked over to the beanbag chair and inelegantly dropped into it. She turned a defiant glare at Oz, and he stopped his playing to turn and look at her with a raised eyebrow.

Buffy held his gaze for all of five seconds before crumbling. "I-it's just that, well, I don't like talking about my feelings and stuff. And I don't like psychiatrists! Because they lock me up! Which was totally unfair, because I'd just saved everyone from Lothos, even if I did burn down the gym to do it!"

Buffy leaped up and started pacing the floor at this point. "I mean, people always talk about your screw ups, right? But what about my successes? Luke, Darla, the Master, the Judge, that creepy Zookeeper, I've stopped some pretty horrendous big bads, and a ton of smaller ones in between, I should get credit for that, right? I mean, sure, I had help, but I was in the front, risking my life! Do I get a thank you for any of it?"

"Thank you."

Buffy stumbled, and lost track of her rant, looking at Oz as though she had forgotten he was in the room. Her mouth dropped open, so much was the shock of his interruption.

"I know you don't like shrinks. I'm not one. And I won't think you're crazy if you talk about vampires, considering I'm a werewolf. And you have done some amazing things, and fought and killed some terrifying evil. That's what I wanted to talk about."

Buffy continued her impersonation of a goldfish for a few seconds before going back to the beanbag chair and sitting down.

Oz resumed playing his bass, switching from mellow R&B to something almost classical. It was slow, and just hovered at the edge of her mind, bleeding off some of her tension.

"Slaying? Stressful. Secrets? Stressful. Boyfriend trys to destroy the world? Beyond stressful. You aren't here because you're in trouble. You're here to deal with stress."

Buffy nodded slowly and he continued. "Talk. About anything. I won't tell anyone, even Willow or Giles what you say. I won't judge. I'll listen, and when you're done, give you some advice. That's it."

Buffy took a deep breath. She did feel wound up inside, like her guts were tied in knots. She wondered if this would help.

"Ok. Do you know about the incident at the zoo last year? Well…"

"…and when Xander told me that Willow had done the curse to restore his soul, and he'd hidden it from me, I wanted to scream, and shout, and cry, and hurt him, but I knew he was right. I hadn't been doing my job, and I knew that Xander told me what I needed to hear. I knew, at the end, when I looked into Angel's eyes, that it was him, that he had his soul back, but I had to send him to hell because of Alcatha. Because of what the monster that shares his body did. And I don't know how to forgive either of them. Xander for lying to me, and letting me send my love to hell, and Angel for becoming a demon after losing his soul."

Buffy stopped, her throat dry from talking. She looked over at the clock in the room and realized with a shock she'd been talking for over an hour, close to an hour and a half. She felt drained, as though she'd run a marathon, and somewhat empty inside. She stopped, not knowing what to do now.

Oz stopped playing and flexed his fingers, tired and cramped after strumming for so long. He looked at his blond friend, and considered what to say.

"I don't have your answers. But I have some stress-lowering advice. Talk. To Willow, to Giles, to your mom, to Xander. Talk to them, get advice, use your friends as a sounding board. Second, start seeing a massage therapist. There's money for it, and it helps with the physical stress issues. Finally, eat more." Buffy gave him a dirty look at that comment. "Yeah, your mom told me to say that, but food helps you heal. And as a Slayer, I don't think it's possible for you to get fat. So eat. If you want chocolate, have some. Burgers, steaks, whatever. Muscles are powered by food, right?"

Buffy considered the idea. As a cheerleader at Hemery, she had routinely starved herself to fit in. But as a slayer, she didn't need to fit a physical ideal, she needed to slay vamps. Not to mention permission to pig out on double chocolate ice cream would be…tempting.

"So, did Xander go and find a list of hot Swedish massuses? Massuseurs? What's the plural for massage-er anyhow?

"Though he begged, and pleaded, and eventually threatened dire revenge, we let your mom choose a few for you to check out. Why not head home, grab dinner, and ask her about it?"

"That sounds something like a workable plan. Give a girl a lift?"

"Sure. Let's swing by the library first. I have a dinner date, and I think she needs a lift as well."

Faith was puzzled, a little nervous, and kind of pissed off. The Scoobies, the gang that follows her sister Slayer around had been both incredibly accommodating, and strangely remote. They were all willing to stop, and chat, and certainly made patrolling much less boring, but she felt a wall that she couldn't get past, and was wondering when the other shoe would drop. She wasn't paying anything for the room she had been given, fully furnished and a hell of a lot nicer than the fleabag motel she'd checked into when she got into town, and she was apparently not expected to, because she was a Slayer. She'd tried to pay rent the old fashioned way with X-man when he helped her get her stuff, but even though she could tell he was flustered and interested, he'd turned her down. On one level, she was glad she didn't have to prostitute herself for the basics, but on the other, she'd never been turned down before. Wasn't she still smoking hot? Checking herself in the mirror, she smiled. Yep, still got it. She'd met G yesterday, the man from the land of tweed, and he gave off a vibe, not the creepy uncle vibe of the older guys that get handsy, but the dangerous vibe she picked up from some vamps, the smart ones. Shit, all that travel and stuff must have messed up her slay-dar, if G twigged her out.

The girls, well, Queen C certainly lived up to her name, giving her a shit-ton of 'tude every time she walked by, but if Faith was in the library when she came in, it was almost as though she was a different person. There was obviously something between her and X-man, which may be why her turned Faith down. Queenie seems the controlling type. Red is cool, though she seems terrified of her, jumping when Faith walks up and says hi. And then talking her ear off. B, well, she's complicated. She seemed both happy and depressed to meet her, and hasn't really got it straightened out yet. Patrol yesterday was pretty cool. Faith had never used a paintball gun before, and shooting the vamps with shit that won't hurt your guys? Rockin'.

But now, she wanted answers, and she knew how to get them. X-man had got back from school about an hour ago, and was in the gym he'd set up, pumping iron or some shit. She figured she'd corner him there, and pump him. Maybe even get some answers, if she did it right.

With a sultry grin on her face, Faith swaggered down the stairs to the large, well-lit room filled with weights and mats, to see Xander ducking and weaving around the heavy bag. She could hear the thud of his fists hammer at the bag, sending it swaying more than she'd expected given his build. She was surprised to see just how much definition his muscles had. 'Shit, X-man's cut! This could be fun.'

She crept up behind him, planning on giving him a surprise, but stopped in shock when he paused in his assault on the bag and turned his head, catching her movement out of the corner of his eye. He steadied the bag and then turned, gazing at her with unsettling yellow eyes. His hands were clenching at his sides for a few seconds before he took a staggered step towards her and closed his eyes, swaying and would have fallen over had she not caught him.

"Shit X, you ok? What's going on?" Faith tried to keep her voice even, but there was too much stuff piling up that she just didn't get, and she was starting to get sick of it. She was going to get answers one way or another.

Xander ran his gloved hand through his hair, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the hyena, and the confusing desires flowing through him.

"You know that we back up Buffy on patrol, right?" Faith nodded, hoping this was going somewhere. "Well, Oz and Willow found a way to give him some of the strengths of the wolf, not enough to match a Slayer, but he can hold his own against fledgling vamps one-on-one. Add in the weapons and armor we use, and he's almost a match for a young Master."

"Whoa, hold the phone. You guys have armor? The fuck I don't get any? I'm just southie trash, is that it?" Faith was starting to get pissed at how she was left out. First no-one tells her anything, and now she finds out that she's the only one walking around without real protection? Fuck no! She came here looking for help, not to be treated like trash again.

"What's a southie? Anyhow, our armor is custom fitted, and takes six weeks to make. A Kevlar vest isn't all that useful against a punch that can dent steel or fangs, y'know? We've got the contact information for your Watcher so she can order you some." Xander noticed Faith's flinch, and mentally nodded, seeing that match up with what Giles and Willow had found.

"Shit. Sorry, X. I didn't mean to fly off at you, but…"

"You feel like you're on the outside. Well, we've kind of closed ranks to protect each other, it makes it hard to get in, I realize, but I'll try and give you some more intel as how our little group works. As I was saying, Oz has the wolf on a leash, and it lets him stand by Buffy and fight, so I asked Willow to set up something like that for me."

"You go fuzzy on the full moon as well, X-man? Wolfie give you a nip, get your mojo going?"

Xander's smile fell off his face as he remembered how he got the powers of the hyena. "No, I was possessed by a primal spirit last year, which really boosted me up physically, but left me out of control. I did a bunch of things I wasn't proud of, and there was a ritual to evict it, but there were still echoes of it in my head. Willow and Giles re-did a modified version of the ritual, gave me a lower power up, but not a constant one, which should protect me from future possession, but I have to go through a ritual and some meditation to channel, so most of the time, I'm just plain me. But when I get the time to power up, I'm on par with Oz, maybe a half step past him, though I don't have his control. When you snuck up on me, I had to remind the hyena who's in charge, and slap him back in line. I put him in his place, but it left me kind of dizzy for a few."

"Hyena? That's your possessing animal? Kind of bad-ass, X."

Xander blushed again. "Thanks Faith. Anyhow, we've spent a lot of time coordinating how to best patrol so everyone is safe, and everyone gets some free time. So we were just getting into the swing of things when you showed up, and now it's a new dance. Don't get me wrong, it's great you're here, but it's like tossing a juggler another knife unexpectedly. He's got to shut down and focus while he gets the rhythm again, but when he does it's that much cooler, right?"

Faith smiled, some of her tension melting away with his explanation. It didn't explain everything, but at least she wasn't feeling that wall in front of her again.

"Alright, I'm not going through my damn meditation again, so I'm calling this work-out for now. Join me for Twinkies and burgers?"

"X-man, you sure know how to sweet talk a girl."

Xander and Faith had continued to talk, mainly about lighter things, as he prepared dinner for the two of them. A half-dozen large burgers and several packs of Twinkies later, they were sitting around the table relaxing when Faith decided to push a little harder for information.

"So, X, what's up with Queen C? About half the time she's giving me fashion tips, and the other half she looks at me like she's planning on slamming an axe through my spine. The two of you got a thing going on, or what?"

Xander let out a long sigh. "It's a complicated story, Faith, what happened was…"

His sentence was interrupted by 'God save the Queen' playing on his cell phone, announcing Giles. He shrugged and flipped it open.

"Hey G-man, what's…What? … Buffy's place? … How many? … Ok, Faith's here, we're on our way."

Faith was already standing up as he closed his phone. "Saddle up. Buffy's home is under attack, and we're going to be seriously outnumbered. Hope you're full of Slayer pep and energy, Buffy's estimate was over thirty vampires."

As they raced to the basement to grab the bags of weapons kept down there, Faith cracked her knuckles. "Five by five, X. Let's go show 'em they should never have left their graves."

AN: Next chapter – a fight scene!

Please review. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, like I swallowed a teddy bear.