Once she and Faith had left the library, Buffy nodded towards an empty classroom, and they walked in and closed the door.

"So, you gonna rat me out, is that it?" said Faith.

"Faith, we have to tell," said Buffy imploringly. "I can't pretend to investigate how he died. I can't pretend that I don't know."

"Okay, then maybe I can't pretend to our new Watcher that I don't know your undead honey isn't really dust."

Buffy blinked. "You're blackmailing me?"

"If that's what it takes," said Faith, shrugging indifferently.

"Yeah, well, nice try," said Buffy through clenched teeth, "but it won't work. Wesley and Angel already know each other, and they're friends."

"Whatever. There're still plenty of other Watchers I can tell."

"How is that even balanced? I'm just talking about asking Giles and Wes for help, which, by the way, doesn't involve turning you in, and you want to sell Angel out to people who will lock him up and maybe kill him? And possibly do the same to me?"

"Hey, he's a vampire. If I had my way, he'd be dead already, and it's not my fault you've got a thing for dead guys."

"Faith, I'm trying to protect you," said Buffy angrily. She had to shove her hands into her pockets to save herself from the temptation to throttle her. "If we don't do the right thing, it's only gonna make things worse for you."

"Worse than jail for the rest of my young life?" Faith scoffed heatedly. "No way!"

"Faith, what we did was—"

"Yeah," Faith interrupted ominously. "We. You were right there beside me when this whole thing went down. Anything I have to answer for, you do too. You're a part of this, B. All the way."

"I can't believe you!" said Buffy. "I was there, yeah, but I tried to stop you, and now you're threatening to drag Angel and me down with you? I thought you were my friend."

"So did I," said Faith contemptuously, before striding from the room, leaving Buffy in turmoil yet again.

How serious had she been about being willing to tell the other Watchers about Angel? Well, Buffy thought, she certainly couldn't let Faith find out that she'd told him about all of this, or he'd be in even more danger from her. And if his safety really was at stake, she couldn't risk talking to Giles or Wesley about what had happened yet, and she should probably warn Angel to stay off Faith's radar, just in case. Ugh! She hated this! Faith had her completely backed into a corner because of something she had done!

Buffy left the classroom a few minutes later, her insides a knotted mass of anger and worry. Rounding a corner into the student lounge, she spotted Willow sitting alone on a couch, apparently absorbed in the book open across her lap. She walked toward her eagerly, thinking that her best friend was definitely someone in whom she could confide safely about this recent development.

Willow saw Buffy coming and quickly looked back at her book, shifting uncomfortably on her seat as she drew nearer.

"Hey," said Buffy tentatively, sitting down next to Willow. She suddenly remembered leaving her all alone in her room two evenings before, bailing out of the chemistry test on Friday, and standing her up when they were supposed to get together to study. In light of everything that had happened since all of that, Buffy now felt horrible that she'd ever chosen Faith over Willow. She mentally vowed never to make that mistake again.

"Hey," said Willow. "Where's Faith? I-I saw her around. Figured you two were gonna go kill some more nasty stuff."

"Not right now," said Buffy, her expression hardening slightly at the mention of Faith. "I think she bailed."

There was a short pause, and then they both began to speak at once, then broke off awkwardly.

"Um, you go ahead," said Buffy, trying to sound as friendly as possible but still seething about what Faith had said.

"I'm late," said Willow, putting her book back in her bag. "I-I'm meeting Michael. The warlock guy? We're still trying to de-rat Amy."

"Okay," said Buffy with a weak smile, her heart sinking.

"So, see you," said Willow after another awkward silence, and she got up and left.

"See you," said Buffy gloomily, long after Willow was out of earshot.

[o]

Before sundown, Buffy made a quick stop by Angel's apartment, so frazzled by nerves at that point that she felt almost as if she were unraveling.

"Hey," said Angel, letting her in and closing the door behind her. Then, almost immediately, "What's wrong?" The tidal waves of tension rolling off Buffy would be easy to spot for pretty much anyone, but he was the resident champion of reading her emotions.

"I, um, I don't think you should come with me tonight," she said, her expression anxious.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "What happened?"

"It's Faith. She—she said she'd tell the Watchers' Council you're still alive if I told anyone about what happened."

"She what?" he growled, looking shocked and angry.

"If she's going down, she wants to take someone else with her. She sure knows how to pick her weapons," said Buffy with a bitter laugh. Faith probably didn't even realize just how much power she wielded over her with that threat. She looked miserably back up into Angel's face. "So, just, try to stay out of her way until we can figure something out. I don't want to give her any reasons to get jumpy and spill the beans on us first. I'm going with her to City Hall in a little while to look for stuff about the deputy mayor. I'll try to talk some sense into her then." She scowled. "Or maybe beat it into her."

"Be careful," he said. The atmosphere in the apartment could not have been more different from what it had been the previous evening. It was hard to believe that only a day before, they had both been happier than they had ever been in their lives.

"I will," she promised. Almost as if they were drawn together by some magnetic force, they wrapped their arms tightly around each other and kissed fiercely for a moment, trying to reassure themselves through the embrace that everything was going to be okay.

"I'll get in touch with you as soon as I can," said Buffy after they broke apart. Angel nodded, his expression still serious as he watched her depart.

[o]

The tension and hostility between Buffy and Faith was almost tangible, but Buffy wasn't going to be the one to ignite it, for fear that Faith would decide to make her threat a reality if she did.

"I'm telling you, we did the world a favor," said Faith. The two Slayers had snuck into City Hall, and were in the process of scouring Allan Finch's office for useful information—none of which they had managed to find so far. "This guy was about as interesting as watching paint dry."

"Faith," said Buffy, appalled that she could say something like that.

"I'm joking. Jeez, lighten up a little, B." She picked up a picture of Allan and Mayor Wilkins and stared at it while Buffy went through the papers in the inbox on the desk. "He came out of nowhere," she said quietly.

Buffy looked at her sympathetically. Was this the remorse she'd been waiting to hear from her? "I know," she said.

Faith's expression instantly became annoyed, and she put the picture down hard. "Whatever," she said. "I'm not looking to hug and cry and learn and grow. I'm just saying it happened quick, you know?"

Buffy did know. She could still see the whole thing in her head.

It only took a few more seconds for Faith to lose patience with the search. "You know what? Let's just blow," she said. "Who cares what this guy was about? It's kind of moot now, don't you think?"

"I don't think he was in that alley by chance," said Buffy. "I think he was looking for us. I'd like to know why." She pulled open a drawer in the filing cabinet and found that all of the files were empty.

"So, what, you think there's some big conspiracy?" said Faith.

Buffy opened another drawer and found more empty files. "You were saying?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"So his papers are gone," said Faith, still bored. "That doesn't prove anything."

"Except that somebody didn't want us to prove anything," said Buffy.

Faith's eyes widened slightly in comprehension.

After a few more minutes, they left the room, but had no sooner stepped into the hall than a door farther down it opened. The mayor emerged, accompanied by none other than the vampire who had hired Ethan Rayne to sell the candy that made the town's adults act like teenagers the previous fall. Buffy and Faith scrambled hastily back into Allan's office and closed the door. They stared at each other in alarm as they listened to the voices traveling down the hall outside.

"Get as many men on it as you can," said the mayor.

"Yeah," replied the vampire. "We'll be wanting to turn up the heat."

Once the voices faded into the distance, they left City Hall as quickly and quietly as they could. They only slowed down once they'd gotten a couple of streets away.

"So, the Mayor of Sunnydale is a Black Hat," said Faith, sounding intrigued. "That's a shocker, huh?"

"Actually, yeah," said Buffy. "I didn't get the bad guy vibe off of him."

"When are you gonna learn, B?" said Faith flippantly. "It doesn't matter what kind of vibe you get off a person, 'cause nine times out of ten, the face they're showing you is not the real one."

"I guess you know a lot about that," said Buffy under her breath.

Faith rounded on her. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her lip curling slightly.

"It's just, look at you, Faith," said Buffy. "Less than forty-eight hours ago, you killed a man. A-and now it's all zip-a-dee-doo-dah? That's not your real face, and I know it." She paused and tried to make her tone a little less confrontational. "Look, I know what you're feeling because I'm feeling it, too."

"Do you?" asked Faith insolently. "Then fill me in, 'cause I'd like to hear this."

"Dirty," said Buffy. "Like something sick crept inside you and you can't get it out. And you keep hoping that it was just some nightmare, but it wasn't. And we are gonna have to figure out—"

"Is there gonna be an intermission in this?" Faith interrupted.

"Just let me talk to Giles, okay?" asked Buffy pleadingly, "I swear—"

"No!" Faith almost shouted. "Did you not hear me earlier? We're not bringing anybody else into this, unless you want some of Giles's stuffier Watcher buddies to know about Angel. You gotta keep your head, B. This is all gonna blow over in a few days."

"And if it doesn't?"

"If it doesn't," she said, shrugging, "they got a freighter leaving the docks at least twice a day. It ain't fancy, but it gets you gone."

"And that's it?" said Buffy in disbelief. "You just live with it? You see the dead guy in your head every day for the rest of your life?"

"Buffy, I'm not gonna see anything. I missed the mark last night and I'm sorry about the guy, I really am, but it happens! Anyway, how many people do you think we've saved by now, thousands? And didn't you stop the world from ending? Because in my book, that puts you and me in the plus column."

"We help people!" said Buffy. "It doesn't mean we can do whatever we want!"

"Why not?" asked Faith. "The guy I offed was no Gandhi. I mean, we just saw he was mixed up in dirty dealings."

"Maybe, but what if he was coming to us for help?" Did Faith really believe that they could just decide who got to live?

"What if he was? You're still not seeing the big picture, B. Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill."

"To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else!"

"We are better!"

Buffy stared at her, utterly speechless and unable to believe her ears.

"That's right," said Faith, "better. People need us to survive. In the balance, nobody's gonna cry over some random bystander who got caught in the crossfire."

"I am," said Buffy quietly.

"Well, that's your loss," said Faith scornfully. With that, she turned her back on Buffy and walked away.

More canon-lifting. Joy. And rapture. And other lovely things. *scowl* Anyway, Faith has had less than a month to get used to the idea of a good vampire, as opposed to half a year, and it doesn't help that Buffy's the one who gets to snog him. Hence blackmail. And there really is nothing Buffy can do but go along with Faith in this situation. Then there's the lovely little Buffy/Angel scene, which I like because of how serious it is in spite of more snogging.