Faith remained unconscious for about half an hour, during which Angel had plenty of time to haul her to the mansion and restrain her with some heavy chains he found in a trunk underneath some of Drusilla's dolls. He made a mental note to burn those as soon as he could—along with anything else that might still remain in the place of his, Dru's, and Spike's stay there. After making sure the chains would hold Faith satisfactorily, he left to find Buffy. He managed it in a matter of minutes, but neglected to mention to her that he'd done so by following her scent.

"Angel!" she said, jumping in surprise and hastily lowering her stake. "What are you doing here? And it's not really a good idea to sneak up on a Slayer in a graveyard, by the way."

"Sorry," he said. "It's Faith."

Buffy's expression became serious and worried. "Faith? What happened?"

"I went to her place to check up on her." He paused. "She was strangling Xander."

"Xander?! But h-he's—"

"He passed out, but he's gonna be fine. I got her away from him before—he's gonna be fine."

"Oh, God," she said, her voice high and squeaky. Angel moved forward quickly and pulled her into his arms. "Was she really trying to-to—"

"Yeah. It didn't sound like she planned it, but she would have killed him if I hadn't gotten there in time."

"I thought we could help her!" Buffy burst out, her face streaked with angry tears.

"I think we still can," he said. "Let me talk to her."

"Where is she?"

"The mansion. She's chained up and unconscious." He hesitated, suddenly experiencing a vivid flashback to what that had been like for him. It made him slightly uncomfortable to think that he was the jailor this time, even though it was a necessary precaution.

[o]

They wasted no time in getting back to the mansion, where Buffy stayed in the courtyard to wait and Angel sat on the table in front of the enormous hearth, his eyes on Faith. She woke up a few minutes later, and spotted him a few seconds after that.

"Finally decided to tie me up, huh? I always knew you weren't really a one-Slayer guy."

Angel almost snorted with derision. Including his time in Hell, he was over three and a half centuries old. Did she really think she was going to put him on the ropes with her weak suggestive taunts? Amateur. "Sorry about the chains," he said, toying idly with the bat he'd knocked her out with. "It's not that I don't trust you…," he set the bat aside and stood up. "Actually, what with framing Buffy, wanting to sell me out to the Council, and trying to strangle Xander, it is that I don't trust you."

"The thing with Xander? I know what it looked like, but we were just playing," she said in the most unconvincingly innocent tone Angel had ever heard, though that was probably intentional.

"And he forgot the safety word," said Angel dryly, walking towards her. "Is that it?"

"Safety words are for wusses," said Faith.

"I bet you're not big on trust games, now, are you, Faith?" he asked, crouching down in front of her.

"You gonna shrink me now? Is that it?" she said scathingly.

"No. I just want to talk to you."

"That's what they all say. And then it's just, 'Let me stay the night. Won't try anything.'"

"You want to go the long way around, hey, I can do that," said Angel, standing up again. "I'm not getting any older." He turned his back on her and walked across the room and out into the courtyard, where Buffy was still waiting.

"How's she doing?" she asked anxiously.

"It's like talking to a wall," he said. "Only you get more from a wall."

"But you'll keep trying?" The words came out a little half-hearted. Buffy wanted to help Faith, she really did, but the marks against her were really starting to tally up.

"Sure. We're just getting started."

"So, what do I do?" she asked, wanting to make up for her flagging enthusiasm by doing something productive. Angel seemed to understand this, for when he spoke, his tone was gentle.

"Look, right now, there's nothing that you can do," he said.

"Well, this could take awhile, right?" she asked, going to the stairs. "So, I'll just go to Faith's and I'll get some of her stuff. That way she'll see that we're on her side."

"That's a good idea," said Angel.

"Okay," she said, sounding encouraged. "I'll be back."

"Look, I—I don't want you to get your hopes up, Buffy," he said hesitantly. "She may not want us to help her."

"She does," said Buffy firmly. "She just doesn't know how to say it."

"She killed a man. That changes everything for her." Something he probably knew more about than anyone, he added mentally.

"Giles said with counseling, they might not even need to lock her up," said Buffy, clearly not understanding his point.

"That's not what I mean," he said, looking away. "She's taken a life."

"I know."

He looked back into her eyes. "She's got a taste for it now."

Horrified comprehension flashed across her features, but then she shook herself and backed a couple of steps up the stairs. "I'll, um, I'll be back soon," she said, and departed.

Angel watched her go somewhat gloomily, then turned and went back to Faith, who scowled and looked away from him. "I know what's going on with you," he said.

"Join the club," she said in a bored voice. "Everybody seems to have a theory."

"Hmm," he said, walking to the wall across from her. "But I know what it's like to take a life. To feel a future, a world of possibilities, snuffed out by your own hand. I know the power in it. The exhilaration. It was like a drug for me."

"Yeah? Sounds like you need some help. A professional, maybe."

He chuckled. "A professional couldn't have helped me. I stopped when I got my soul back. My human heart."

"Goody for you," said Faith. "Look, if we're gonna party, let's get on with it. Otherwise, could you let me out of these things?" she asked, holding out her shackled wrists.

"Faith, you have a choice," he said, ignoring her words. "You've tasted something few ever do. I mean, to kill without remorse…is to feel like a god."

"Right now," she said, struggling angrily against the chains, "all I feel is a cramp in my wrists, so let me go!"

"But you're not a god," he continued, crouching in front of her again. "You're not much more than a child. Going down this path will ruin you. You can't imagine the price for true evil."

"Yeah?" she sneered. "I hope evil takes MasterCard."

He chuckled again. She reminded him a lot of himself when he was her age, rebellious and unruly—though his main problem then had been sloth, while hers was clearly wrath. "You and me, Faith," he said, standing up, "we're a lot alike. Time was, I thought humans existed just to hurt each other." He turned and sat next to her. "But then I came here. I found out that there are other types of people. People who genuinely want to do right. And they make mistakes. They fall down, you know, but they keep caring. Keep trying." He glanced at her and saw that she seemed to be listening for the first time. At the very least, her scowl was gone. "If you can trust us, Faith, this can all change. You don't have to disappear into the darkness."

There was a long silence that was eventually broken by Faith. "How do you know I haven't already?" Her tone was unreadable.

"You didn't kill Xander. If you had, I might have run a little short on benefit of the doubt."

"I almost did," she said. This time, he could clearly distinguish both horror and wonder in her voice.

"That rush of power and control, right? You wanted to see how far it would take you. Problem is, darkness like that? You can't just touch it. It seems powerful at first, but before you know it, you're its slave. I don't know you very well, but I do know that you're stronger than this. It was no coincidence that you were chosen to be a Slayer: a force of good in this world. You don't want to go from that to where I am. Trying to make up for the past, afraid that it'll never be enough, because you can't ever repair the damage you did no matter what you do. But you have a choice I never had. You haven't gone over it yet; you still have the chance to step away from that cliff."

He knew he had her now—that she was seeing what her future would be if she continued down her current path. "Look, Faith, what you did to Allan Finch was an accident, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. You can't move on if you don't accept that it did." He reached slowly into his pocket and drew out the key to her manacles. "I'm on your side. We all are." He placed the key on the floor next to her and stood up. "Never forget that."

She picked up the key and looked at him, slightly bewildered. "So you're gonna let me go? Just like that?"

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't run off and tell the Council I'm alive, but yeah. Just like that. What happens next is up to you."

"I won't tell them," she said, and he knew she meant it, even though she avoided his gaze. She unlocked her manacles and rubbed her wrists, remaining seated and still looking away from him. "Uh. Xander. He's okay, right?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't expect him to like you very much from now on, though. And the same probably goes for Wes, at least for now."

She gave a small, humorless chuckle.

"Doesn't change what I said. You messed up, Faith, and that's always going to have consequences. I'm letting you go, but even if you run, you'll never escape it all. Believe me. This isn't something you can do on your own."

Okay, the post-canon bit of the conversation between Angel and Faith was hard to write. Hence the posting delay (though that was also caused by my sudden obsessive desire to watch all four seasons of Bones before season five starts). I almost wanted to just let it get interrupted like in canon so I wouldn't have to write it, but I think it worked well in the end. What say you?