"You're my best friend, Willow!" Buffy didn't even pause to consider that because it was a given. "What happened in the kitchen…" She wanted to writhe in embarrassment at the memory. "God, that wasn't me, Will."

Willow didn't accept that. "It was you, Buffy. Maybe you on drugs, but it was you." Her voice broke. "I ran out on you when you tried to explain everything in the Bronze. What kind of best friend does that?" She wiggled and went to pull away from Buffy. "If I were you, I wouldn't like me, either."

Now it all made sense. It wasn't just what Cave-Buffy had said; it was also what Willow had done and said to Buffy at the to let Willow move out of her embrace, Buffy whispered, "We both made mistakes, huh? I shouldn't have sprung the news on you at the Bronze. I should have owned up a long time ago, but I was afraid. I knew what Cordelia did to you over the years, and I thought you'd lump me in with her and the Cordettes."

"Not anymore, Buffy. Never." Willow's head rose from Buffy's shoulder, and her tear-filled eyes met Buffy's. "You're nothing like Cordelia!"

"Then why the big blow up?" Buffy had to know. "If you don't think I'm like that anymore…Why?"

Lids dropped over Willow's eyes, and her cheeks turned fiery red. "I don't know, Buffy." Stiffening in disbelief, Buffy started to demand a better answer and then Willow rushed on. "I mean, I was going to tell you it didn't matter. That I understood what happened at Hemery. And…and all of a sudden, I was the old me, Buffy. Afraid and shy and bullied. I hated those feelings." Her eyes opened again; although, she looked somewhere near Buffy's ear rather than make eye contact. "So I ran."

"We're some pair, Will." Chuckling softly, Buffy let her hands fall to her side as she slipped away from the counter. "You freak at the return of defenseless Hacker Willow. And me?" She opened the refrigerator and pulled out cans of soda. "I think the whole world's against me and nearly become a notch on a very notchy bedpost."

"What?" Voice rising to a squeak, Willow surged forward and grabbed Buffy's arm. "What do you mean? What happened, Buffy? Is that why you were in the bar?"

Buffy had forgotten that Willow didn't know about her time with Parker. "Ah…" Not ready to make that admission, she blatantly changed the topic. "Can you grab some glasses, Will? The cans don't feel very cold, and we'll need some ice."

Willow's laser-like look burned into Buffy. "What happened, Buffy? I'm not letting you not talk about this!"

Of course she wasn't. Grumbling, Buffy slumped and gave in. "Fine. I can't believe you're giving me Resolve Face over this." She pouted and glanced at Willow. "That's so not fair." The look didn't fade, and Buffy surrendered. "I met a guy at the Bronze – after you…left."

"Do I need to have Faith make him sorry?" Willow asked immediately.

That got a laugh out of Buffy. "No, Will. If I wanted Parker to be all bruise-y, I could do it myself. I am a Slayer, remember?" She grinned at Willow's huff. "Nothing happened…then. I went to Mom's, borrowed her shoulder for a long crying jag, and spent the night. Alone," she reinforced. "When I went looking for you this morning, I ran into Parker again." The story got harder from there. "We…we went back to his frat house. To meet some of his friends."

Buffy stopped talking for a minute and concentrated on finding the glasses that Willow was obviously not going to supply. When the task was complete, she continued. "We did. Meet some of Parker's friends and played pool. It was nice, and I thought it was going to be OK. Then, right before we left, I got a chance to look around his room while he talked with the guys." The tinkle of ice in the empty glasses was loud; almost as loud as the remembered conversation she'd overheard in Wolfhouse. "Slayer hearing sucks sometimes, you know?"

"Buffy?" Willow reached out and took Buffy's hand. It was warm in contrast to Buffy's frozen one. "What happened? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Define hurt, Will," Buffy whispered sadly. "I thought sharing a morning after kiss with Angelus hurt. I have to admit, though, that hearing my new friend and possible date discussing how many points he'd get for having sex with me rates pretty high on the Hurt Meter, too."

It was clear they were back on familiar footing when Willow wrapped both arms around Buffy and held on tight. "I'll turn him into a rat for you if you want, Buff. Let Amy have him." Willow's voice was fierce. "No one gets to hurt my best friend like that and get away with it."

The comment eased the ache in Buffy's chest and she laughed softly. "Don't worry about it. It's the least of our problems right now. And…" She turned in Willow's embrace. "I've got you back in my camp. Parker? Who needs him?"

Willow beamed. "Thanks, Buffy. I really am sorry for running away…"

To stop any more discussion of the past, Buffy placed a finger over Willow's lips. "We're good, Will. It's over. Now," she announced in a firmer voice, "let's get the drinks poured and see what our newest Scooby and Giles have managed to dig up on Ethan Eradication."

***

Tara padded into the small living room and sat down on the floor near Rupert. There were books piled haphazardly on every surface in the room. "H-Hi. Have you f-found anything new?" she stuttered, absently reaching for one of the large, leather-bound tomes on the coffee table in front of her.

"I'm afraid not, my dear." Rupert sighed impatiently and glared at the book in his hands. "There is nothing in any of these that would shed light on what Ethan hopes to accomplish. No signs or portents that indicate some dire evil in the area. I cannot imagine why he has chosen to return to Sunnydale."

"Didn't you say B-Buffy defeated him the other times he was in t-town?" Tara looked up through the curtain of her hair. "Why would this Ethan need any more reason? It s-seems like he might be m-mad and out for revenge." It made sense. After all, Tara ruefully acknowledged, she'd entertained similar thoughts about Buffy.

Rupert gave her a rueful smile. "I hadn't considered than notion. It does make sense." Breaking off, he slumped back against the couch and rubbed his chin.

Tara waited for him to go on. When he didn't, she offered, "Shouldn't we c-concentrate on finding Ethan? Or why he chose that par-particular spell?" She pointed to all of the books. "Do you think th-these are actually going to help with that?"

For a second, Tara thought she'd offended Rupert. Then his glare softened. "Perhaps. At least with the information on the spell. Although…" He stopped talking and sifted through a pile of books on the couch. "I'm fairly certain Ethan used this text for the basis of the spell. I have yet to uncover a motive behind his selection. While throngs of Neanderthal college students would provide a disruption, it is not – by itself – enough of a distraction keep Buffy from her duties as a Slayer."

Brow furrowed, Tara considered that. "It d-doesn't seem like a big deal." Relaxing enough to smile slightly, she said, "After all, even without a sp-spell, most colleges specialize in Cave Students when alcohol is involved."

Rupert smiled back. "An alarming statistic, yes. If we are correct in our determination then Ethan must have had a second phase to his plot."

Suddenly, a new piece of the puzzle dropped into place. "The vampires," Tara said. She straightened and moved her hair out of her eyes. "On the way here, B-Buffy felt a lot of vampires downtown. We r-ran all the way here." And then both she and Buffy had promptly forgotten about it when Willow opened the door. Tara shook her head. "I'm s-sorry I forgot to men-mention it."

"Don't worry, my dear. As soon as the girls are through…ah…making our drinks," Tara looked up at the suppressed laughter in Rupert's voice and saw his slight smile, "we can begin to examine that avenue. I'll give Faith a call on her mobile phone, too, and have her make her way back in this direction." He hunted through the research materials on an end table, finally holding aloft the handset to a cordless telephone. "I feel as if I've discovered buried treasure."

As he began to dial, Tara refocused her attention on the magical text Rupert had indicated held information on Ethan's spell. The tome was old, its pages yellowed and fragile. Carefully turning each page, Tara scanned the information, looking for…something to help explain Ethan's plan.

Her perusal was interrupted by a clipped and impatient, "Faith! I am not suggesting you to return to the apartment. I am telling you!" from Rupert. When Tara glanced up, she noticed his face had turned red and his lips were pressed into a thin line as he listened to whatever Faith was saying on the phone.

Tuning out, as best she could, the increasingly heated conversation, Tara went back to the book. Rupert had been right; the basis for the caveman spell was here. She touched the aged paper gently as she read through the particulars. "It doesn't make sense," Tara whispered. The foundation of the magic fit – creating confusion and causing an age-regression in the victim. It didn't explain Ethan's motivation, or give any clues about his proposed goal.

"Bloody hell. That girl is trying to drive me mad." Rupert returned to his seat on the couch and set the phone down with more enthusiasm than necessary. "She argued with me about returning to the apartment to examine the new information on the vampires Buffy sensed."

Although Tara had only met Faith the day before, the news wasn't shocking. She didn't mention that, however. "Did F-Faith find anymore of the ca-cave students, sir?" If Ethan had allied with the vampires, this would be a good time for a resurgence in spell victims on the campus. Faith and Buffy would be hard pressed to fight a battle on two fronts.

Rupert shook his head. "Not more than a handful, I'm afraid." His look was grim as he continued. "Faith did, however, mention that she, too, had sensed a large contingent of vampires or demons on campus. It was one of the excuses she used in her attempt to avoid returning to help with the research."

"You know Faith, Giles," Buffy commented suddenly from the hallway. "She's big on the Slaying. Maybe I should go join her. Research is fine, but… There were a lot of vamps downtown. It's going to be a lot harder holding them off if we're here, buried under the books."

"Buffy, we don't know if the vampires are even the threat. What if Ethan is simply waiting for the right moment to create more havoc with his magic?" Rupert pointed out. "Neither you nor Faith actually saw any of the alleged vampires. I would hate to have you searching for them if they are merely a decoy." Waving his hand at the piles of books, he stated, "These have all been deemed relatively useless. I think the remaining research may be more along the lines of a strategy session. We have reached the end of our resources, I'm afraid."

Tara had to agree. She'd read the particulars for the spell several times, and nothing seemed to indicate it was anything more than an attempt to create widespread panic and chaos. And that had been mostly neutralized, thanks to the discovery of Cave Buffy. "Why w-would there be so many vampires on campus? Or…Or downtown?"

"Campus is a good place to feed," Buffy said with a grimace as she shoved books off the coffee table, clearing a space for the tray of drinks in her hands. "Co-eds don't usually pay attention when they walk home from a party, and guys never think they have to be careful. Plus, there are a lot of badly lit spots, too. Faith and I spend a big portion of our patrol time there these days."

"You know…" Willow had already taken a seat on the floor near Tara. "I hadn't thought about that. Faith came in a couple of nights ago, complaining about that. It doesn't make sense. Not that vamps don't like a tasty sorority-girl snack. That makes perfect sense."

Tara saw both Buffy and Rupert close their eyes and bow their heads slightly at Willow's rapid-fire chatter.

"I'm thinking about where the vampires come from." Willow waved both hands as she talked. "They usually hide out in crypts and warehouses. Not a lot of those anywhere near campus. How come we haven't found a nest of them in weeks? Where are they staying, Buffy?"