Xander and Cordelia materialized in an alley. They headed out towards the street.
"Well, looks like we're back on Earth." Cordelia said, pointing at a sign on a building that said New York Public Library.
"And I see someone we know." Xander said, pointing to a girl sitting on the steps of the library.
"Faith." Cordelia said. "I wonder what she's doing in New York?"
"Well, we can always ask her." Xander suggested.
"Okay." The two headed over to her, as they could hear her talking on the cell phone she was holding.
"Look, Harrison I need your help, okay? This guy asked for help, but I can't get to him in time. You're closer to where he is. He's at the Flatiron building. Thanks little brother, you're a life saver, literally." And told him the man's name and where Harrison could find him.
"Faith?" Xander asked. The girl looked up and saw him, she frowned and looked confused. "No, my name is Tru, Tru Davies. Who are you?"
"Alexander McCleod, people call me Xander, this is my girlfriend, Cordelia Chase. You look just like a friend of ours named Faith. Well, you're probably a couple of years older then her, now that I'm close enough to really see you. I'm sorry to bother you."
"No, it's just - I wasn't expecting you. I'm sorry, it's just my life is really weird and this has never happened before and I know that sounds as confusing to you as it does to me."
"That's okay. Our life can be pretty strange too. You want to talk about it? Sometimes, a stranger can give you a perspective a friend can't. And I'm sorry, you look really stressed out."
"I am. I feel like I'm running on empty. I'm an intern at a morgue, I've got medical school and people who ask me for help and I just feel pulled in so many different directions at once and now there's a guy trying to convince me I'm not actually helping people when they ask me for help." All that came rushing out in near Willow levels of babble.
"Do you feel like you have to help them?" Cordelia asked.
"I think so. I honestly don't know what will happen if I don't. This guy, he's telling me I'm interfering in fate by helping them."
"Maybe you are or maybe you're not." Xander said. "But if you're given the opportunity to help someone, does fate really matter? Isn't helping enough?"
"I thought so, but now I'm confused. As if people asking me for help isn't confusing enough."
"Then simplify." Cordelia suggested. "Don't think about what someone else's opinion of the matter is, think about how you feel. When someone asks you for help, what do you feel?"
"That I should help them."
"And does helping them feel good or does it make you feel like you did something wrong?" Xander asked.
"It feels good. I feel like I did the right thing."
"The thing your conscience can live with?" Xander asked.
"Yes, exactly. Not doing something just doesn't feel right."
"Doing nothing can hurt worse then something." Xander said, remembering their visit to the Grimm reality.
"Yes, exactly." Tru agreed.
"Do your friends and family have a problem with you helping people who ask you for help or is it just this guy?" Cordelia asked.
"Just this guy. The ones who know, they're willing to help too."
"So why exactly does this guy have a problem with you helping people?". Xander asked.
"Well, people ask him for help too, but he insists we're supposed to let them go. I've seen someone ask him for help and it felt weird. Dark, in some way I can't explain."
"Then maybe what they're asking him for is something bad and he assumes what people are asking you is also something bad." Cordelia suggested.
"Maybe." Tru looked thoughtful. "Oh, I've got to go, I've got class. Thanks for listening to me, I know I sounded crazy. It's just, you weren't here before. That's never happened to me before." And with that cryptic comment, Tru Davies was gone, hurrying down the steps of the library.
"Okay, that was one of the weirder ones." Cordelia exclaimed. "What are people asking her for help on that would involve fate?"
"I don't know." Xander answered. "But hopefully we helped her sort out her thoughts and decide what to do. Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's head back to the alleyway."
Tru Davies, medical intern and student. Girl who could rewind time when dead people asked her for help, hurried to catch a cab and get to class. She wondered who those kids were. They hadn't been there the last two times this day had rewound as she tried to save multi people on opposite sides of the city. Which is why she'd finally asked her brother Harrison to help save the one she just couldn't get to, no matter how hard she'd tried.
Xander and Cordelia headed back to the alleyway, unaware that someone was watching them from a window in the library. And like Tru Davies, was wondering who the Hell they were and where they'd come from. He watched until they disappeared into the alleyway. He turned to the older man next to him.
"That's never happened before. That alley dead ends. There's no doors into any of the buildings. Where did they come from? And why did they interfere with her. She was close to giving up, I know she was."
"I have no idea myself. We'll just have to keep an eye out and see if they show up again. Someone else interfering in fate's natural course." The older man, Tru Davies father, answered.