Annoyed, Faith walked into the bathroom and went to the toilet.

"What's B's freakin' problem?" she wondered aloud.

"Faith? You okay?" Helen's voice carried from the door.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Wicked fine." Faith grumbled from the stall.

"You don't sound fine."

"I'm fine Mom. Really."

"Funny."

Faith flushed the toilet and came out of the stall, and proceeded to wash her hands at the sink. Helen leaned against the wall and observed her carefully.

The Slayer looked up and saw the concern in Helen's eyes reflected in the mirror. She looked back at the massive blonde and turned back to washing.

"Helen." Faith began.

"Yes?"

She paused, and then said, "Nothing."

"Obviously it's something, Faith." Helen said gently.

"It's just-"Faith started, and then stopped, as if she expected Helen to interrupt her. When she didn't say anything, Faith continued.

"How do you know when you're in love?"

Helen smiled.

"We wanted to have a little girl talk with our favorite bottle blonde, did we?"

Faith smirked at Helen's last comment.

"Bottle blonde? Heh."

"Yep. Puts her in a whole new fake perspective, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah. I suddenly realized you probably know a lot of B's deep dark secrets."

"A few." Helen replied slyly.

"Suddenly thinkin' I'm strayin' off topic, but we are gonna definitely have a little gossip session later on. You're in love with that tall, hunky stud, right?" Faith asked, turning away from the sink and drying her hands with a paper towel.

Helen nodded.

"So you would know, wouldn't you?"

"To answer your question, I have to ask one of my own. How do you feel when you see her?"

Faith mused on this a moment.

"All warm and tingly inside, like I've got a swarm of bees flyin' around in my stomach, stinging me from the inside, but on second thought, that might be gas pain. She just brightens my day, y'know? Makes me all happy and glowin' inside, like she completes me. Jesus, can I have corn for a 100$ Alex?"

"Except for the possible gastrointestinal distress, I think you described the accurate symptoms of being zapped by Cupid's arrow. Of course in this town, that might be the literal truth." She noticed Faith's confusion and said, "Gastrointestinal distress is a fancy phrase for gas pain."

"Oh. But why me? I'm strictly get some, get gone girl. Want, take, have, girl, not stick around and get dreamy eyed girl. How the hell did this happen?"

"You act like it's a horrible thing. You deserve to be loved Faith. Everybody does."

"There's always an exception to the rule."

"I always kind of thought that line was horseshit."

Faith just blinked in surprise.

"You love her Faith, and she adores you. Don't let your past hold you back. The past is passed. Over and done."

"But everybody I love dies."

"That doesn't mean Athena will though. It's better to risk it and claim happiness, no matter how short or long it lasts, than throw it away and keep hurting yourself over what might have been. Regrets last a lifetime."

"Damn, that's deep, girl."

"The pool of romance is always deep, so be careful, but the rewards are great. It's worth it. Don't be afraid to take a dip."

"Should I pack my water wings?"

"Smartass. You and Athena will get along just fine."

Faith smirked that little smirk of hers.

"I never quite know how to react her sometimes though. She's wicked wacky."

"You'll get used to it. I had to put up with it for years. Athena's nutty like that. She's a nutty ball of fun, like a ball of yarn."

"I'm likin' that image for some reason. I could unwind her all day long."

"Good luck. She's high-strung."

"I noticed. Hyper as hell. Even when fuckin'."

"Not news to me."

Faith raised an eyebrow.

"You and her, huh?"

"Probably all of us at one time or another. She wants to drag us into that BDSM shit."

"Really? Huh." She looked Helen up and down.

"Jesus Christ. You're into that too aren't you?"

Faith nodded eagerly.

"Oh god. You and Athena and Lilith. What's the attraction of it?"

"That really serious chick is into it too? Are any of the guys into it? You could always use a guy in the mix."

"Neil might be. Well, maybe."

"That'll work. Want to hear about my first time?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Nope. See, I met this guy who liked this bullwhip, see, and he would take it and then dress me up as a cheerleader, and then he had to establish fuckin' safety words, and I was like, "what the fuck you goin' on about?", and then-"

Helen groaned and walked out of the bathroom with Faith following, still chattering away gleefully.

As night fell, Neil's personalities (except Helen of course) emerged from him and snuck from the room, except for Athena, whose turn it was to stand guard.

None of them noticed the spiked black crystals that were sunk into the floor under the bed.

Lilith and the others were walking past the nurse's station when they overhead one of the nurses complaining.

"Did you know Mary didn't clock out? I had to clock her out. Her shift was over four hours ago!"

"That's not like her." The other nurse at the desk responded.

"I know! She's always been so responsible! Weird."

After giving each other a look, Lilith walked up to the desk and the nurses turned to her.

"May we help you?" the complaining nurse asked.

"One of my friends who is currently a patient here often talked of what a good nurse Mary is, and I feel like I've become her friend through hearing him talk about her. Where was she last seen? I'm concerned."

The nurses looked at each other.

"Well, she apparently was last at Room 314, checking on a Neil Church. I probably shouldn't be giving you this information, but I just feel like I should."

"Me too." the other nurse said.

"Thank you. How helpful you are."

"Y-you're welcome." The nurses said together, and shivered.

When Lilith walked back to the others, the Wonder Woman look-alike said, "Hypnosis?" in a disapproving tone. Lilith gave her a look.

"Yes. She's been here. She's moving faster than I anticipated. It was foolish not to ask for a daytime guard from Elizabeth and the others." Lilith replied as they walked back to Neil's room to inspect it and Neil himself.

When they walked into the room, Athena glanced at them.

"Sleepy so soon?" she quipped.

"Ha ha. Neil's dark side has been in here today." Bellona replied.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Athena asked, rising from her seat.

"Converse later. Investigate now." Lilith directed.

Examining the room and Neil himself for 30 minutes proved fruitless. They even looked under the beds with no luck.

"Now what?" Apollo asked.

"We should leave another guard, but I doubt she will reappear here tonight. She has already accomplished whatever she has set out to do." Lilith said.

"How do you know?" Neptune asked.

"She's not the sort of person who would waste time." Diana (the Wonder Woman look-alike) said in response.

"Precisely." Lilith replied.

"Then the most obvious course of action is step up our search for her." Bellona suggested.

"Agreed. Bellona, since you're the strongest, you should join Athena in watching over Neil this evening. The rest of us should proceed to the library and inform the others of the situation."

Without another word, they left the room and then the hospital, leaving Neil in Athena's and Bellona's care.

"Good luck." Athena said softly to herself.

Unseen by either woman, the mysterious crystals shimmered back into existence underneath the bed.

"So predictable. Neil is threatened and you close around him like a little flock of sheep." Neil's dark side mused, staring into her ball of energy.

"So this is the fellow you want us to help you kidnap?" The Mayor asked.

"Oh, definitely. After he has served his purpose, and once he has, no one will be able to stop your Ascension."

"That's just great!" The Mayor gushed, giggling.

"This guy is going to allow us to do all that?" Mr. Trick asked.

"Yes. You'll see."

"I know I can't wait!" the Mayor said enthusiastically, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Neither can I. Neil's dark side thought, well aware that Mr. Trick was watching her closely.

"Darn it, I missed a smudge on my shoe! How the heck did that happen?" the Mayor grumbled, taking out a handkerchief and polishing the offending stain with vigor.

Mr. Trick and Neil's dark side rolled their eyes.

The Scoobies and Helen were well into researching when Lilith and the others walked in with a flourish, catching everyone's attention.

"What's going on?" Helen asked in concern. "Is it…?"

"Neil's dark side has been in his hospital room." Lilith replied bluntly, "And a nurse that was last seen in Neil's room has been missing for four hours."

"Shit." Faith remarked.

"I-I assume you searched his room and found nothing?" Giles asked, getting straight to the point. Lilith nodded.

"I believe spells may be in order to perceive something we may have missed." Lilith said.

"What kind of spell?" Willow inquired.

"A general sensing spell would be adequate. Since tomorrow is a Saturday, Willow and I should go to Neil's room with the necessary materials." Giles explained.

"Why would she go to Neil's room and not krrrkkk?" Cordelia made a cutting motion across her throat.

"Yeah, why not kill him and then just leave? What's up with that?" Xander asked, puzzled.

"If she murders him, she will die herself. She is part of him after all." Lilith replied. "But she has almost certainly accomplished her objective."

"How do you know that?" Buffy asked.

"I fought her back for years. I know how she thinks. But I admit she has taken me by surprise. Even with all of us assisting Buffy and Faith on patrol, we have been unsuccessful in locating her. There is no telling what powers she may wield. She could be observing us at this very moment."

Everyone stirred uncomfortably at this possibility.

"If that is the case, we will need to find a spell to obscure us from her sight." Giles mused thoughtfully, chewing on a tip of his glasses.

"The question, of course, then becomes, what's her plan? And where is she?" Helen asked. Her eyes suddenly widened.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"The Mayor." Lilith echoed Helen's thought aloud.

"That's right. He's the Big Bad for this year!" Neptune realized.

"Which would only make sense. He has the greatest resources and influence in town." Diana said.

"Why the Mayor?" Oz asked.

"Yeah. Spill." Buffy said.

"He's planning to Ascend and become a Pure Demon, and then obliterate the town and feast on the populace." Lilith explained.

"Oh." Buffy said in a small voice.

"Pure Demon?" Giles asked.

"All the demons on Earth are human-demon hybrids. A pure demon has no humanity at all in their makeup, and is larger and more dangerous. He needs the Books of Ascension and the Box of Gavrock to reach this state. I would be unsurprised if he has already acquired one of these. Neil's dark side possesses the same knowledge we do, after all."

"But why help him get this stuff? I mean, if he gets all this power, wouldn't he turn on her? She doesn't exactly seem, you know, trustworthy?" Willow put in.

"This is apparently part of her deal in exchange for his assistance. There must be something she wants from him, otherwise why go to him? He almost certainly wouldn't help her without favors in return. The Mayor is too intelligent for that. "

"And you were going to inform us about the Mayor, when, exactly?" Buffy said, annoyed.

Lilith shot her a look.

"I'm informing you now." Lilith said coldly.

"So what else are you not informing us about?" Buffy challenged.

"I believe you are an expert on not informing others about matters they should know about, Elizabeth." Lilith shot back. "So, cease the depleted hypocrite tradition."

"Can I pop you up aside your annoying fucking head now?!" Hera growled at Buffy.

"Buffy." Giles said warningly as Buffy rose from her seat. She sat back down grudgingly.

"Please, let's focus on the matter at hand without reaching for each other's throats, please?" Giles said in a placating tone. "We still need to discover what Neil's dark side has planned for him and all of us. Lilith, since you have confronted her directly, we will be depending on your advice the most concerning her. Obviously, we need a strategy as quickly as possible. Since she has apparently accomplished her objective with Neil, what would most likely be her next step?"

"Turn us against each other by deception and misdirection. An enemy divided is an enemy that will fall quickly. If any of us have any dark secrets, they will be used as ammunition in this cause. And she will undoubtedly attempt to utilize Neil against us in some manner. These are strategies she has used before." Lilith explained.

"Yeah, but she probably knows you know that, right? She'll probably try something new this time, don't you think?" Xander pointed out.

"Possibly. She is already one step ahead of us. Obviously, she has done something to Neil by now, perhaps preparing him for some sort of control or corruption."

"Whatever she has done, it hasn't seemed to affect any of us, or at least me. Does anyone feel any different?" Diana asked.

Neil's other personalities shook their heads.

"I guess breaking into the Mayor's building is out of the question?" Neptune asked.

"Too likely we will run afoul of the authorities. He is an authority, after all." Lilith replied.

"I'm forced to agree. Such overt maneuvers are out of the question at this time, but we do need to ascertain if he has all the items he needs for Ascension." Giles said.

"Stake-out?" Xander said, interested.

"What do you think this is, Miami Vice?" Cordelia said, elbowing him in the ribs. Xander rubbed his side with a wounded look.

"How long has he been preparing for Ascension anyway?" Willow wondered.

"A century." Lilith said bluntly. The Scoobies' eyes widened.

"This dude's a hundred years old? Damn." Faith said in wonderment.

"Boy, I need his health plan." Xander joked.

"Focus Xander." Buffy said, poking him in the shoulder hard. Poor Xander was now rubbing his shoulder and side.

"Quite. We need to research into magics that will allow us to screen ourselves and see inside the Mayor's office building, but it is possible he may have magical defenses erected against such intrusion if he has been preparing for this for so long. Why has he waited so long, by the way?"

"Unknown. It was never explained on the show. But we need to deal with this as quickly as possible, as he eventually works a ritual to make himself unkillable at some point in preparation." Lilith replied.

"Well, ain't that great?" Faith commented.

"Why does he need to be unkillable for the Ascension? Just for protection, or something else?" Oz asked.

"Another mystery that was never explained, but it may have something to do with the physical strain of changing into a Pure Demon, or the Box of Gavrock. There are fifty billion large insect-like creatures inside, and he needs to consume some of them to further the process after becoming invulnerable."

"He needs to eat big demon bugs?" Buffy asked, making a face.

"That's really wicked gross!" Faith laughed.

"Yuck! Why do I hang around you people?" Cordelia exclaimed in disgust.

"Well, I've read bugs are high in protein." Willow said helpfully.

"I didn't need to hear that Will. Now I'm going to have nightmares about eating bugs all night." Xander grumbled.

"I though it was insightful." Oz said.

"Children, please." Giles chided.

"Moving on," Lilith prodded, becoming seriously annoyed, "the Box of Gavrock or Books of Ascension must be captured as swiftly as possible. In the show, he received the Box of Gavrock through the airport, at night. The Books are unquestionably here in Sunnydale, come to think of it, so if he has one of the pieces, that is most likely it."

"Then the airport should be our primary objective, but if she is observing us…"

"We should cover other areas as well. Excellent idea." Lilith and Giles smiled at each other knowingly.

"Do you two need a room?" Faith smirked.

"And have a private meeting?" Buffy teased.

"Yes, that is precisely what this meeting needs, American teenage hormones on parade." Giles said dryly.

"Anyway, back on topic," Diana said, "we require at least two people to stake out each area where the Box of Gavrock might arrive, and someone should stay here and safeguard Giles and the others. There's no telling what she might attempt in the meantime."

"I guess that should be one of us. Buffy and Faith need to patrol." Helen pointed out.

"Agreed. We'll "stake out" the airport and other areas while the Slayers patrol." Lilith said.

"And we will stay and research. I can't think of a better way to spend my night." Giles said happily. Everyone gave him an amused look. "Well, pardon me for enjoying a good read." Giles huffed. He got up and walked up to the second floor and started pulling out books.

"Hey, you said stake-out. I contributed? Cool." Xander commented with a goofy grin on his face.

"Yeah, but the question is, contributed what, exactly?" Faith said, poking Xander in his nipple.

"Ow! What am I, the Pillsbury Doughboy?!" Xander complained.

"Don't poke my boyfriend, you hussy!" Cordelia growled.

"You weren't whinin' when B poked him earlier!" Faith replied hotly, "you rich stuck-up bitch!"

"Yeah, but Buffy is like a nun. I know she won't try anything!" Cordelia shot back.

"Hey! How the hell am I like a nun?" Buffy snapped.

"Because you never date since Scott Hope dumped you, you just sit and mope at home all day and night!" Cordelia sneered.

"She's got a point B." Faith acknowledged.

"You can quit talking now, F."

"Heh heh, like a nun." Willow chuckled. Buffy gave her a death glare and Willow stuck her nose back in her book.

Rolling their eyes dramatically, Giles pulled out more books and Neil's personalities headed for the doors, deciding to leave Neptune guarding. The arguing Slayers and Cordy didn't even notice. Xander, caught in the middle, sank down in his seat.

Once they had exited the school, they briefly teleported inside Neil at the hospital, had a brief conversation, and then materialized back outside the school again, morphed into bats, and flew off in all directions.

Observing in her energy ball, Neil's dark side raised an eyebrow at this maneuver.

"Covering all your bases I see, but what was the point of going inside Neil and out again? Such clever little children to pull that little trick, for I didn't overhear what you said while you were in Neil, but I have some small tricks of my own."

Her dead eyes swirled with shadows as she prepared her surprise.